--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Friday, July 23rd. I'm Shamita Basu. Duarte Geraldino is off. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's finally here. Opening day of the 2020 Summer Olympics. Yes, we're still calling at the 2020 Games. The opening ceremony was a scaled-down event this year. There was the usual music, field full of dancers, impressive light show, but there wasn't the same cheering crowd, just some dignitaries and waves of empty seats.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As we join together here in the Olympic Stadium, across Japan and around the world, let us all take a moment to remember all those friends and loved ones who are no longer with us, in particular because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a stark reminder of just how fraught this year's Games are.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So far, dozens of people associated with the Olympics have tested positive for COVID. The decision to move forward with hosting the Games remains deeply unpopular in Japan. Most people there won't get much financial benefit from a mostly made-for-TV Olympic Games.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As for the athletes, this day couldn't have come soon enough. They've endured a grueling, extra, very odd year of training to make it to Tokyo. The Wall Street Journal has the story on the bizarre things these athletes went through to stay in fighting shape.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One U.S. fencer, Jake Hoyle, acted quickly when things started shutting down last year. He swiped some equipment from the club where he trains, and luckily his roommate is a fencer too. But they didn't have the space for sparring in their Harlem apartment, so they took it to the narrow alley next to their building. Out there, by the dumpsters, they drew their weapons and got to work.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This was a tough year for anyone who does water sports. Anita Alvarez is competing as an artistic swimmer also known as synchronized swimming. She used to spending anywhere from six to eight hours a day in the pool with her team. Can you imagine what it was like for her to try training on dry land over Zoom? She said it was mentally draining and she really missed the water.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So she bought a pool. Not a pool pool, a cheap kiddie pool. She said, of course, it doesn't compare to the real deal, but it gave her some comfort to be back in a body of water.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It was a strange road to these games, but now they're here. Athletes can finally put that behind them and get to competing in events they've been training for all these years. The replay of the opening ceremony is on NBC tonight. And stick with us in the days ahead. Apple News is partnering with NBC Olympics to bring you the latest, including right here on Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is one of those stories that confirms something you've kind of always thought was true, but never had a way to prove. It's about sexual harassment in restaurants. A recent survey found 7 out of 10 women in the industry say they've been sexually harassed. The federal government gets complaints from restaurant workers more often than any other sector.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, NPR is reporting on new research that goes deeper into the topic. The findings from a new set of scientific studies back up what might be obvious to a lot of servers. Working for tips and being required to be pleasant to customers create a culture of sexual harassment.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Researchers found this through a combination of survey questions and dining simulations. One of the business professors behind the study said those two factors combined seem to give customers an increased sense of power. Something about tipping and service with a smile together is a toxic combination that makes diners more likely to behave badly.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As the researcher put it, if restaurants are serious about creating a better working environment, they need to either stop forcing servers to smile or pay them differently.
--:-- Shamita Basu: An island off the coast of Louisiana is disappearing. It's the site of a crisis involving climate change and the indigenous people whose homes are threatened by it. Il Dijon Charles has lost 98% of its landmass in the last six decades. Its residents are America's first federally funded climate migrants.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The government is offering them money to resettle elsewhere because their home is being swallowed up by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Inside Climate News went to the tiny island to tell their story.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Il Dijon Charles band of Biloxi Chinamacha Choctaw has joined with other tribes to file a complaint with the United Nations, accusing the U.S. of failing to take action on climate change, which results in forced displacements.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I spoke to reporter Dalia Fahid about the impact. They're not just losing their land, they're losing their connections to others. And so when we talk to people, they said, oh, you know, we used to do this in this land, but now that land has disappeared. or we used to know this family and now they've moved away. It has basically changed their whole way of life.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's a common story for indigenous people affected by climate change, communities broken, sacred sites and traditions disrupted. It forces families to make difficult choices. Reporter Katie Livingstone says the relocation plan is dividing people on the island. Some people are moving and some people aren't.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The main chief that was behind the project is no longer supporting it because a lot of the tribal leadership was not able to have the sort of input that they wanted. But a lot of the tribe is, of course, still relocating. It's a difficult situation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Scientists anticipate that the entire island will be underwater in 50 years. Almost all of the families have decided to relocate to new homes. But you hear in the piece just how painful it is to leave. One resident promises to come back to visit for as long as he can. He says I just don't want this place to be erased.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, sulfur-crested cockatoos are opening up people's trash cans and making a mess of their garbage. It's a big nuisance. But scientists say something special is going on here.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This story's from Sarah Zhang, a science reporter at The Atlantic who writes a lot of interesting stories about animals. What bird researchers find so remarkable here is not just that the cockatoos figured out how to open heavy trash can lids. It's that the birds are learning from one another how to do it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Researchers studying the cockatoos found that the trash can opening phenomenon spread from three suburbs to 44 over about a year. Plus, scientists have noted that as this behavior spread, different cockatoos develop their own idiosyncratic ways of getting into the trash cans.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Some hold the lid with their beak alone. Others get their foot involved. And according to recent research, the closer the birds were geographically, the more similar their technique. The scientists say this spreading innovation is like a form of bird culture, with smaller subcultures in certain areas.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As the trend spreads, variations on the theme emerge. The Atlantic compares it to the way a human dance craze can mutate as it becomes more and more popular.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Bird experts are going to keep tracking these clever cockatoos to see how far this behavior continues to evolve. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Plus, check out our weekend interview show, In Conversation. This week, I sit down with Olympic athlete Lolo Jones. She talked about the high points of elite sports and shared some surprising thoughts on her lowest points.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The biggest failure in my life turning into one of the most peaceful moments. I used that failure for many years. Enjoy that weekend listen.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We'll be back with the news on Monday. Thank you.
