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Western wildfires, Biden's APEC address, 'Space Jam: A New Legacy': 5 things to know Friday

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Wildfires continue to rage in the West; Paradise, California on edge

Paradise, California, was virtually destroyed by the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history less than three years ago. Now, the town is nervously watching the Dixie Fire — 10 miles away. Since igniting Wednesday, the uncontained blaze has swept through more than 3½ square miles of mostly brush and timber. The fire is one of more than 70 in 12 states from California to Minnesota fueled by weeks of heat and drought in a relentless loop this summer. The largest blaze is the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, which has burned through more than 330 square miles since igniting July 6. It remains only 7% contained, the Forest Service says, and full containment is expected before October.

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Biden, Pacific Rim leaders to discuss economic way out of pandemic

President Joe Biden, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among the Pacific Rim leaders gathering virtually Friday to discuss strategies to help economies rebound from a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will chair the meeting of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Biden, who is expected to address several topics, will discuss his administration's efforts to serve "as an arsenal of vaccines to the world" and how alliance members can collaborate to bolster the global economy, the Associated Press reports. The meeting comes as the U.S. has seen new cases per day more than double compared to the week of June 22. New cases hit a six-month high in Tokyo on Thursday, just eight days before the Olympics are set to begin.

IOC officials visit Hiroshima, Nagasaki amid opposition

Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, visited Hiroshima in Japan on Friday and his vice president John Coates visited Nagasaki, ahead of the start of the Tokyo Olympics next week. A group of 11 anti-Olympic and pacifists groups submitted a letter to Tokyo opposing Bach's visit. The Games are happening despite a state of emergency in Tokyo and persistent opposition in Japan from the general public and the medical community due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bach and Coates are using the backdrop of the cities, hit with atomic bombs by the United States in 1945, to promote the first day of the so-called Olympic Truce — a tradition from ancient Greece that was revived by a United Nations resolution in 1993.

Docuseries about tennis champ Naomi Osaka premieres on Netflix

"Naomi Osaka," a three-part docuseries about the four-time Grand Slam tennis champion, debuts Friday on Netflix. Film of wins and losses is interwoven with scenes of Osaka's time with family and her boyfriend, the rapper Cordae; her training and business demands; Osaka's reflections on her career, multiracial identity and her decision to protest police killings of Black men and women. Osaka, 23, withdrew from the French Open in May, citing "huge waves of anxiety" before speaking to the media and revealing that she has suffered long bouts of depression. She also skipped the just-ended Wimbledon. In a recent Time magazine essay, Osaka wrote that, "I do hope that people can relate and understand it's O.K. to not be O.K., and it's O.K. to talk about it."

'Space Jam: A New Legacy' premieres in theaters, HBO Max

Welcome to the Space Jam, LeBron James style. Twenty-five years after Michael Jordan took to the court with Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes gang, James on Friday entered the beloved film arena with his own take, "Space Jam: A New Legacy." And once again, a new generation's basketball GOAT battles for his very existence against impossibly formidable Goon Squad opponents. How did James carve his own path? We asked the filmmakers. "We made our own movie, paying homage to the past. We did copy that structure," says director Malcolm D. Lee. "But we didn't want to call it 'Space Jam 2' because it's not truly a sequel. It's a new version, a new legacy."

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Western wildfires, Biden's APEC address Space Jam: 5 things to know Friday

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