Winter storm, Naomi Osaka wins Australian Open, coronavirus vaccine rollout: 5 things to know this weekend

Editors, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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As winter storm moves into Northeast, Texans will see better weather ahead

Entire swaths of the country this weekend will begin to recover from an epic winter blast that shocked Texans, who were subjected to a paralyzing deep freeze along with some snow, and widespread power outages. Frozen-then-bursting water pipes have wreaked havoc on numerous water supplies — including that of America's fourth largest city, Houston. Mayor Sylvester Turner expects residents will have to boil tap water at least until Sunday or Monday to ensure it's safe to drink. The region's customary much warmer weather lies ahead for Texas next week. Meanwhile, another snowstorm will hit portions of the Midwest, Great Lakes and interior Northeast on Sunday and Monday, AccuWeather said.

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Coronavirus vaccine rollout: Making up ground after shipment delays

UPS and FedEx will be making deliveries across the country Saturday after the power outages and ongoing winter storms affected more than 2,000 COVID-19 vaccination sites, slowing the pace of administering doses. Government vaccine distribution partners "have all faced challenges as workers have been snowed in and unable to get to work to package and ship the vaccines," said Andy Slavitt, White House senior adviser for COVID-19 response. "We will be able to catch up, but we understand this will mean asking more of people," Slavitt added. More than a third of U.S. states have reported shipment delays.

#AusOpen: Naomi Osaka adds more silverware to her trophy cabinet

Naomi Osaka captured her second Australian Open title and fourth Grand Slam on Saturday after defeating American Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-3 in the final. Osaka's dominating performance was her 21st consecutive win dating to last February and has nudged her ahead of every active women’s player aside from Serena and Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters in the Grand Slam count. The next challenge for Osaka? Transferring her command of hard courts to other surfaces — she hasn’t been past the third round at the French Open or Wimbledon in a combined seven appearances at those tournaments. Meanwhile, in the men's final, Novak Djokovic will aim for his ninth Australian Open title and 18th Grand Slam trophy overall when he faces No. 4 Daniil Medvedev on Sunday.

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US amenable to Iran talks before nuclear deal deadline

Meetings between the United States and Iran over a deal monitoring the Middle East nation's development of nuclear resources are apparently in the offing, just ahead of a Sunday deadline set by Iran for the U.S. to signal its interest in renewing the deal. The Biden administration said this week it would agree to meet with Iran and other world powers involved in negotiating the 2015 nuclear deal, the first public step toward renewed diplomacy with Tehran after the Trump administration pulled out of the agreement. No meeting has been set yet. The nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, was negotiated by the U.S. with Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom.

Dylan and Mia Farrow take part in 'Allen v. Farrow'

A new four-part HBO project, "Allen v. Farrow," debuts Sunday ( 9 p.m. ET/PT) which puts the spotlight once more on writer Dylan Farrow's accusation of sexual assault at the hands of her adoptive father, filmmaker Woody Allen. The docuseries goes beyond rehashing the nearly three-decades-old incident, providing viewers with new evidence including the first look at the long-discussed footage of Dylan, at age 7, recounting the alleged abuse. Ziering says Dylan and Mia weren't eager to participate in the docuseries — it took one month for a "cautious" Dylan to agree to be interviewed, they said, and 10 months to convince Mia. The four-time Oscar-winning "Annie Hall" director has repeatedly denied Dylan's allegations that he assaulted her in the summer of 1992 in the attic of Farrow's Connecticut home.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas winter storm, Australian Open: 5 things to know this weekend