The opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics starts in an hour

✅For the 1st time in the history of the Olympics, the ceremony will have no audience

✅The only attendants of the event are the athletes (6 members from each delegation) and VIP guests, with a total of 950 people allowed at the ceremony in line with coronavirus precautions

✅It is forbidden to speak loudly, shout, actively greet athletes and sing at the ceremony

✅The Tokyo organizing team removed Kentaro Kobayashi from the post of director of the opening ceremony on the eve of the event due to his past comments on the Holocaust

✅Another organizing team member, Japanese composer Keigo Oyamada, also left his post amid criticism over past bullying of children with disabilities

✅The Russian delegation will come 77th under the Russian Olympic Committee flag. The flag bearers are volleyball player Maksim Mikhaylov and fencer Sofia Velikaya

✅The ceremony will kick off at 8 p.m. local time (11:00 GMT). The parade of athletes will begin at 8:30 p.m.

2020 Summer Olympics has kicked off in Tokyo.

Check out some news you may have missed:

▪️ George Soros has reportedly donated $1 million to the Color Of Change political action committee, which campaigns for US police to be defunded.

▪️ A group of Democratic senators has claimed that new materials indicate the FBI's failure to fully investigate sexual misconduct allegations against US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh ahead of his confirmation in 2018.

▪️ The Opening Ceremony for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has officially taken place in the Japanese capital, marking the beginning of the Summer Games after a year-long postponement.

▪️ A 10-year-old girl has died from the plague in La Plata County in southwestern Colorado, marking the first fatality from the disease since 2015.

▪️ House Republicans have demanded that President Biden provide the details of his campaign to combat social media misinformation regarding vaccination against COVID-19.

#BREAKING: Japan's Emperor Naruhito declares #TokyoOlympics open

#BREAKING: China slaps sanctions on seven US citizens, entities over Hong Kong row

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has announced that Beijing will impose sanctions against seven American entities and citizens, including Trump-era Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.

Beijing's move comes in response to Washington's decision to sanction seven officials from the Hong Kong liaison office over allegedly infringing on the freedoms of the island's residents.

#BREAKING: Blinken says Taliban takeover would make Afghanistan 'pariah state'

#URGENT: Shots reportedly fired at funeral of late Haitian President Moise, no information on injuries

#URGENT: Trump ally Thomas Barrack, indicted over illegal UAE lobbying, reaches bail deal with prosecutors

A bail agreement between US prosecutors and lawyers representing Thomas Barrack, a billionaire businessman who served as a longtime confidant to former US President Donald Trump, has been reached, it was revealed on Friday.

The US Department of Justice announced earlier this week that the longtime Trump ally had been taken into custody for violating foreign lobbying laws.

The agency's investigation had been ongoing for at least two years.

The first cases of a potentially deadly fungus resistant to all drugs, called Candida Auris, have been reported in care facilities in Texas and Washington, DC.

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found no epidemiologic links between the clusters in Texas and DC.

The fungus, first reported in Japan in 2009, is thought to live on the skin and inside the body, prompting complications in the immune system for those who are already in poor health.

It has since caused outbreaks in hospitals in India and the UK, as well as in parts of Latin America, where it has shown resistance to anti-fungal agents.

#URGENT | Pentagon says systems produced by Da Jiang Innovations 'pose potential threats' to national security

🏚 Months of endless riots in Portland have turned a once-hospitable town into a city devastated by the invasion of vandals. Local residents have had no choice but to continue to struggle with the consequences of frequent and heavy protests.

🙄 However, it seems like Mayor Ted Wheeler remains somewhat removed from reality: why else would he offer to arrange "fun, family friendly activities" for residents?

#BREAKING | Venezuela says US military aircraft have invaded its airspace - reports

Remember the agreement established by the White House that preserves the anonymity of all bidders and buyers at Hunter Biden's auction?

🙃 Now Hunter is planning to meet the potential buyers of his paintings ahead of the auction. The paintings are expected to sell for at least $75,000 each.

The House Freedom Caucus has called on US House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to force a vote to oust Nancy Pelosi from her post after she vetoed two Republican picks for the Capitol riot select committee.

✍️ “Speaker Pelosi’s tenure is destroying the House of Representatives and our ability to faithfully represent the people we are here to serve,” reads the letter addressed to the Republican official.

The question is: why did they wait so long?

😷 During a CNN Town Hall, Joe Biden made it clear that the administration would try to put masks on Americans. However, not everything is as sad as it seems.

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis plans to fight for the rights of citizens because he is aware that people have the right to choose if they wear a mask or not.

@RonDeSantisTelegram told the Biden administration that he would hold a special legislative session if the federal government demands masks in schools.

🗣 "We’re not doing that in Florida, OK? We need our kids to breathe.”