Good morning. We’re covering catastrophic floods in China, a shift by governments to a new pandemic normal and protests over water shortages in Iran. |
 | | More than one million people have been affected by the floods across Henan Province.Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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Floods trap train passengers in China |
The terror began on Tuesday evening when floodwaters breached a retaining wall near an entrance to the subway’s Line 5, which makes a loop around the city center. The water poured into the system between two stations, flooding the train. |
Trapped passengers posted videos as the disaster unfolded. Other photographs and videos — some later apparently removed by censors — showed several lifeless bodies on a subway platform. |
Passengers called relatives or emergency services while they waited to be rescued from chest-deep floodwaters. After two hours, survivors said, it became difficult to breathe in the remaining congested air. |
The response: China’s leader, Xi Jinping, ordered the authorities to give top priority to people’s safety and called the flooding “very severe.” Although flooding is common in China, researchers have attributed the extreme weather sweeping the planet to the consequences of climate change. |
 | | In Singapore, where cases are rising, people attended a class in a gym on July 13.Ore Huiying for The New York Times |
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How countries are learning to live with Covid |
Governments in Asia, Europe and the Americas are encouraging people to return to their daily rhythms and accept that rolling coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions are a necessary part of recovery. Increasingly, the message is: We have to learn to live with the virus. |
England has lifted nearly all virus restrictions. Germany is allowing vaccinated people to travel without quarantines. Mask mandates are gone in Italy. And shopping malls remain open in Singapore. |
Those governments, and others, are encouraging citizens to shift their pandemic perspective and focus on preventing severe illness and death instead of infections, which are harder to avoid. But some scientists warn that the moves may be premature, especially because they do not fully understand the effect of variants or “long Covid.” |
Quotable: “You need to tell people: We’re going to get a lot of cases,” said Dale Fisher, who heads the committee to prevent and control infections at Singapore’s Health Ministry. “And that’s part of the plan — we have to let it go.” |
- Half of Australia is under lockdown as the Delta variant drives outbreaks across three states.
- A South African plant will handle the final stages of manufacturing for Pfizer shots that will go exclusively to countries on the continent.
- High-profile political prisoners in Myanmar are dying of Covid, unable to access oxygen or other lifesaving care.
- Life expectancy dropped 2.9 years for Black Americans and three years for Hispanic Americans in 2020, a more staggering drop than for white people.
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 | | A protest this week in Khuzestan, Iran. |
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Iranians protest water shortages |
Several people have died in clashes with security forces, just a few weeks before an ultraconservative new president is set to take office. The government has known for months that Iran was facing the driest summer in 50 years, but failed to prepare. |
Context: The unrest in Khuzestan, home to an often-marginalized Arab population, only added to the swirl of challenges. A fifth wave of the coronavirus is sweeping the country, and U.S. sanctions are straining the economy. Talks about rescuing the nuclear agreement have also stalled. |
 | | Jeff Bezos peered through goggles that belonged to Amelia Earhart during a post-launch news briefing.Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press |
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- Jeff Bezos drew criticism for saying that Amazon employees and customers “paid for all of this” during a news conference after his spaceflight.
- The top U.S. military officer said a “complete Taliban takeover” could happen in Afghanistan.
- Kodak, the camera company, deleted an Instagram post featuring images of Xinjiang after a backlash from supporters of Beijing.
- The three major drug distributors in the U.S. and Johnson & Johnson have reached a $26 billion deal with states that would release them from all legal liability in the opioid epidemic.
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 | | Sweden celebrates after scoring the first goal of the 3-0 game against the U.S.Doug Mills/The New York Times |
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 | | Migrants seen on a dinghy near Deal, England, in September after crossing from France.Ben Stansall/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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 | | The conductor Mei-Ann Chen said people had canceled meetings and withdrawn performance opportunities after learning that she is Asian.Chris Ocken/Chicago Sinfonietta |
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Are Asian classical musicians really accepted? |
In top-tier institutions like the New York Philharmonic, Asians now account for a third of that orchestra, though they represent about 6 percent of the U.S. population. Asian artists often win top prizes at competitions. |
Asian artists often get feedback that their performances are soulless and mechanical. They are treated as outsiders in a world with its main lineage from Europe. “You get written off as an automaton,” said Akiko Tarumoto, the assistant concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who is Japanese American. |
Some musicians say cultural institutions often exclude Asians from discussions about bringing more diversity to classical music because they are assumed to be adequately represented. |
There have, however, been some signs of progress. San Francisco Opera will next month welcome Eun Sun Kim, a South Korean conductor, as its music director, the first woman to hold such a post at a major U.S. opera company. |
“On the surface, Asians are accepted in these realms of orchestras, ensembles and as soloists,” said David Kim, a violist at the San Francisco Symphony “But are we really accepted?” |
 | | Craig Lee for The New York Times |
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This “ice cream” is just four ripe bananas, blended and frozen. |
Pauline Viardot, born 200 years ago, was a famous opera singer and composer whose music is only now being salvaged from obscurity. Discover her music here. |
That’s it for today’s briefing. See you next time. — Amelia |
P.S. Meet Olympians and ask Times journalists about the Tokyo Games at this virtual event on Thursday. If you’re a Times subscriber, R.S.V.P. here. |
The latest episode of “The Daily” is on Chinese cyberattacks against the U.S. |
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