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Ex-president praised Harris as champion' of people and took a dig at Trump's weird obsession with crowd sizes'Amid chants of Yes, she can!", Barack Obama returned to the scene of past triumphs on Tuesday to pass the mantle of political history to Kamala Harris - and eviscerate her opponent Donald Trump.The former US president delivered the closing speech on night two of the Democratic national convention in his home city of Chicago. Obama prompted raucous cheers as he delivered a withering critique of Trump, who succeeded him in the White House in 2017. Continue reading...

Appearing at a rally in Milwaukee at the same time the Democratic national convention was running in Chicago, Harris took aim at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, criticising him for saying he had no regrets about the US Supreme Court's 2022 ruling that overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade decision that had recognised women's constitutional right to abortion. Democrats see abortion rights as a winning issue in the 2024 election and Harris has led the charge as vice-president

Michelle and Barack Obama energized the crowd and Bernie Sanders emphasized progressive policies as notable Republicans trounced TrumpThe second night of the Democratic national convention in Chicago featured Barack and Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, some notable Republicans and other Democratic heavy-hitters. Here are the key takeaways from the day:Joan E Greve and Chris Stein contributed reporting Continue reading...

With a self-deprecating tone, second gentlemen Doug Emhoff told the DNC how he courted his now wife Kamala Harris, who he was set up with by a client at his law practice. He said he left a long and awkward first voice mail which Harris now plays for him every year on their anniversary.

Vice-president recalled ex-president's boast about ending abortion access and said he will face the consequences in November in Milwaukee rallyKamala Harris has pushed back on Donald Trump for saying he has no regrets" about overturning Roe v Wade and ending women's access to abortion in much of the US.Yesterday, when he was asked if he has any regrets about ending Roe v Wade, Donald Trump, without even a moment's hesitation - you would think you'd reflect on it for a second - said: No regrets,'" said the vice-president at tonight's rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just after a raucous ceremonial roll call at the Democratic national convention being held in Chicago confirmed her as the party's nominee for president. Continue reading...

Former first lady introduces husband at convention and urges party to remember the contagious power of hope'

Senator laid out progressive agenda in convention speech which also focused on raising minimum wage and reducing higher education cost

Appearing at the Democratic national convention in Chicago, US senator Bernie Sanders spoke on the cost of living pressures faced by Americans, saying the top 1% 'have never had it so good' while 'oligarchs tell us we shouldn't tax the rich'. 'Well, I've got some bad news for them: that is precisely what we are going to do,' Sanders said. Sanders also called for 'big money' to be removed from the US political process, universal healthcare and a lift in the minimum wage, before saying 'we must end this horrific war in Gaza'

Bernie Sanders and Barack and Michelle Obama were the top names at the convention on day two in Chicago

I decided to enrol in an economics degree partly because of masochism and partly because AI is rapidly stealing my jobEvery day (most days) I get out of bed, sit at my laptop and write words. Usually, they're not terrible. Sometimes they're even great. I type and type, breaking only to watch cat TikToks and eat yoghurt from a tube.In the beginning, every tiny acknowledgment felt like standing on a podium. An editor's kind rejection of my pitch? A retweet from another writer? Publishing my work without paying me? Each milestone was life-changing. The mere suggestion that I might be anything less than awful at the thing I was trying to do felt like a glitter bomb had exploded in my belly. Continue reading...

Stephanie Grisham excoriates ex-president at Democratic convention and says he has no empathy, no morals'

Barack Obama will headline the second night of the Democratic convention. Here's a look at other notable speakers on the schedule

Speaking on the second day of the Democratic national convention and describing herself as a former 'true believer' and part of the Trump family, Stephanie Grisham, who served as White House press secretary for part of Donald Trump's term, denounced her former boss. Grisham accused the former president of mocking his supporters in private and calling them 'basement dwellers'. Grisham said the former president once advised her: 'It doesn't matter what you say, Stephanie, say it enough and people will believe you'

Ex-president falsely claims US is in grip of violent crime wave, and vows to shield officers from legal accountabilityDonald Trump has pledged to shield police officers from legal accountability if he is re-elected as president after falsely claiming the US is in the grip of a wave of violent crime that he blamed on the Black Lives Matter movement and people crossing the Mexican border.Speaking to police officers in Michigan on Tuesday, the former president sought to pin responsibility for the imagined crisis on his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, whom he characterised as among Marxist district attorneys" with a record of being anti-police and pro-criminal during her term as the district attorney in San Francisco in the 2000s. Continue reading...

Ex-president headlining in Chicago on Tuesday brings memories of 2004 appeal for unity that inspired Democrats

This live blog is now closed. Please join us for all the latest developments from day two of the DNC in Chicago in our dedicated live blog:

Federal judge vows to hire adviser after attorneys' efforts have not yet led to compensation for clergy abuse victimsIn a move opposed by high-priced attorneys on both sides of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans' expensive and lengthy effort to reorganize through a bankruptcy, a federal judge vowed Tuesday to hire an outside expert to assess whether the church and those it owes - including clergy abuse survivors - can come up with a viable settlement plan.People are tired. They are frustrated," bankruptcy judge Meredith Grabill said from the bench, after hearing attorneys for the archdiocese and a committee of creditors urge her to give them a few more weeks to come up with two competing proposed reorganization plans. Continue reading...

Most American men support abortion rights - but activists say too many are sitting on the sidelines. So they're calling, texting and knocking on doors to build support

Milwaukee-based company no longer has minority-owned supplier goals and plans to exit socially motivated trainingMotorcycle maker Harley-Davidson has become the latest manufacturer to drop diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives amid sustained pressure from anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck.In a statement Monday, the Milwaukee-based company said it has not operated a corporate DEI function since April, no longer has minority-owned supplier goals and plans to exit socially motivated training for employees. Continue reading...

Strategists fear that feelgood factor around Kamala Harris risks underestimating scale of challenge in swing states

Women have been stripped of their freedom, dignity and livelihoods. The international community must heed their demandsWomen barely feature in Hollywoodgate, the chilling and remarkable documentary on the Taliban currently showing in selected cinemas. Three years after their fighters marched back into Kabul in August 2021, thisabsence tells its own story of systematic marginalisation and subjugation.The Taliban's war against girls and women has intensified. Deprived of education, work and even the opportunity to walk in parks or visit public baths, half of Afghanistan's population live especially shrunken and fearful lives. The Taliban's rule is not merely a cruel and humiliating blow to their rights and dignity, but an existential threat. In a May report, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, quoted one woman: I was the breadwinner and now [I] have no job, no income and my children are asking for food, I have no choice but to consider suicide."Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Former president will speak at the party's convention in Chicago following an address from MichelleExactly 20 years ago, Barack Obama was a relatively unknown state legislator when he delivered a keynote address at the Democratic party's convention.I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that, in no other country on Earth, is my story even possible," Obama said that evening.Wednesday 21 August: The former president Bill Clinton will join the Minnesota governor and nominee for vice-president, Tim Walz, on the convention's third night.Thursday 22 August: The vice-president, Kamala Harris, will close out the fourth night of the convention. Continue reading...

Federal jury to hear arguments whether city is responsible for assault by on-duty police officer of 15-year-old in 2020A federal jury in New Orleans has started hearing arguments about whether the city is liable for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl by an on-duty police officer.The federal civil trial, brought against the city of New Orleans by the teen's family, began Monday and is expected to last four days. Continue reading...

Theme set for Tuesday of Kamala Harris's bold vision' will contrast with Trump's dystopian vision of the USThe Democratic national convention enters its second day in Chicago on Tuesday with Kamala Harris's presidential campaign seeking to lay out what it calls a bold vision for America" as it seeks to move forward from Joe Biden's emotional valedictory speech.Carrying the flame on the second night of primetime speeches will be the Obamas, with Michelle Obama addressing the convention shortly before her husband Barack takes the stage. The couple's endorsement of Harris in July was seminal in securing the Democratic presidential nomination for the current US vice-president, helping to bypass a potentially ugly internal fight.What is the DNC?Joe Biden speaks at DNC night one following surprise appearance by Kamala HarrisPro-Palestinian protesters march before DNCHere are the rising stars and politicians to watch this weekWhat to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz Continue reading...

Research shows play is one of the most fundamental elements of a child's development, critical to their way of connecting with others

Chrystul Kizer pleaded guilty to reckless homicide of man she says sold her as sex worker when she was teenagerA Milwaukee woman who maintained that she legally killed a man when she was a teenager because he was sexually trafficking her received an 11-year prison sentence on Monday after pleading guilty to a reduced count of reckless homicide.A judge in the Wisconsin county of Kenosha also sentenced Chrystul Kizer to five years of extended supervision following her release from prison in the 2018 death of Randall Volar, 34. She was given credit for 570 days, about one and a half years, of time served awaiting her case's outcome. Continue reading...

Netflix's documentary about the killing of the American football star reveals almost nothing you wouldn't learn in 10 minutes on the webThe Netflix documentary strand Untold revisits dark moments in sport: controversy, failure, chicanery and injustice. It has a strong record for finding fascinating stories. Its latest episode, The Murder of Air McNair, looks into the suspicious death of an American football star, which sounds promising - but if there is fresh ground to be trodden, Untold doesn't find it.The basic test for an hour-long documentary is whether it can provide a more insightful summary of events than the viewer could get via 10 minutes on Google. Untold only just clears that low bar. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Group is covertly seeding violent propaganda on to mainstream social media channels, report findsAs the presidential election approaches, a recently designated neo-Nazi terrorist group is covertly seeding violent propaganda on to mainstream social media channels - exposing tens of thousands of unknowing followers to radicalizing messages - according to background research and a report provided to the Guardian by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).One of those channels on Telegram purports to be associated with Steve Bannon's War Room podcast, with an administrator claiming in group chats discovered by ISD to have had direct contact with the longtime Trump ally who is well-known for playing footsie with extremists and admitting to fomenting revolution. Continue reading...

In a car-crash promotional tour for the adaptation of Colleen Hoover's controversial novel It Ends With Us, the actor has tried to flog not only her husband's gin brand, but also a haircare lineGrab your friends, wear your florals, settle down with a tasty cocktail and kick back: this year's sexiest movie about domestic violence is upon us!Er ... what? If that was your general reaction, you are not alone. For weeks, the weird marketing for It Ends With Us, the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling novel, has been raising eyebrows and causing intense drama on the internet. Continue reading...

The University of Louisville guard has spent the offseason in Paris while preparing for her fourth, and likely final, collegiate season with an eye on next year's WNBA draftAt this point, it's tough for University of Louisville guard Jayda Curry to remember a time when she wasn't playing basketball. The way she remembers it, her dad Gary put the ball in her hand at four - and she just never put it down.Gary recalls things a little differently. For starters, Jayda and her sister Layla, who are a year and a half apart, were playing golf before they ever touched a basketball. One day Jayda saw former NFL linebacker Terrell Owens on TV and decided that's who she wanted to be and she started asking her dad to throw a football with her. She would wave her arms and set up and do exactly what she saw Owens do," he explained. I would throw her the ball, and she would run to the door, slam it, and then go down and run and jump into my arms." Continue reading...

Daniela Larreal Chirinos was one of Venezuela's best-known athletes and living in exile after criticism of Nicolas MaduroThe five-time Olympian Daniela Larreal Chirinos was found dead inside her Las Vegas apartment after the retired cyclist choked to death on her food, police have said.The 50-year-old's body was found after she failed to show up at the hotel in Las Vegas where she worked and was checked on, Fox Sports reported. Continue reading...

Members of committee on education and workforce say in letter it is an important tool for enforcing labor safetyUS lawmakers have written to the Department of Labor inquiring into reports some state safety agencies are tipping off employers before workplace inspections are conducted.The letter from ranking Democratic members of the House committee on education and the workforce, the congressman Robert Bobby" Scott and the congresswoman Dr Alma Adams, cites testimony from farm workers and advocates in California and a New York Times article on child labor where an employer in South Carolina admitted to ordering workers to clean up and prepare for an inspection after receiving a tip-off about an upcoming inspection from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha). Continue reading...

The president strikes an optimistic note in address at the opening night of the Democratic national convention. Plus, should licking popsicles be part of the curriculum?

Hadley Duvall, from Kentucky, told how she was raped by her stepfather and became pregnant at age 12. Duvall was part of a panel of speakers from Republican states who had personal experiences of the impact of abortion bans.She noted Donald Trump's previous remarks calling abortion bans 'a beautiful thing', to which she responded: 'What is so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent's child?'

We needn't be puritanical about having a drink, but we can no longer deny that it harms us, even in small quantitiesTo say yes to that glass of wine or beer, or just get a juice? That's the question many people face when they're at after-work drinks, relaxing on a Friday night, or at the supermarket thinking about what to pick up for the weekend. I'm not here to opine on the philosophy of drinking, and how much you should drink is a question only you can answer. But it's worth highlighting the updated advice from key health authorities on alcohol. Perhaps it will swing you one way or the other.It's well-known that binge-drinking is harmful, but what about light to moderate drinking? In January 2023, the World Health Organization came out with a strong statement: there is no safe level of drinking for health. The agency highlighted that alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, including breast cancer, and that ethanol (alcohol) directly causes cancer when our cells break it down. Continue reading...

Thousands of pro-Palestinian gathered outside the Democratic national convention calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel. Some protesters were handcuffed and detained after breaking through a security barrier. Other demonstrators made it inside the convention centre and unfurled a banner saying 'stop arming Israel' a few minutes after Joe Biden started his speech. The US president commented on the protest while on stage, saying 'they have a point' and reiterated his ambition to secure a ceasefire and end suffering 'on both sides'. Critics of Biden's handling of the war in Gaza have suggested it will go down in history as the most shameful part of his legacy

People still think that, once a woman is a grandmother, the rest of her life becomes irrelevant. That's an absurdly outdated ideaNans against Nazis" read one large placard brandished at the recent anti-racism protests in Liverpool. It belonged to 71-year-old Pat. Someone said to me, You're too old, don't be doing this,'" she told the Independent. But as long as they're here someone's got to do it." She's not the only one who refuses to be invisible. As the editor of BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour for more than a decade, I became so familiar with countless stories of active, busy older women that I've now written a book of advice for today's grandmothers.I interviewed more than 100 women. Many of them were exasperated at the tired old stereotypes that either portray us as frail, ancient, hobbling, lonely old biddies, or the equally cliched antithesis: battling grannies" or granny heroines". The very word granny" has become a shorthand for old lady", a handy way to define us by our age and dwindling status (and it bears little relation to whether or not you actually have grandchildren). Continue reading...

Joe Biden was welcomed with rapturous applause at the Democratic national convention in Chicago. He waited for several minutes for the cheering to die down before he could start speaking. When the applause finally calmed, he said: 'Folks, let me ask you: are you ready to vote for freedom?' The audience shouted 'yes!' in response. Just one month after withdrawing from the presidential race, Biden delivered a reflective and optimistic address, urging the nation to elect Kamala Harris to protect American democracy

When the stories of people like me who lived in the old socialist republic are dismissed, shame can spiral into anger that fuels the far rightWhen I went to school in the 1990s, GDR literature wasn't taught or read. It was treated as something shameful. I didn't dare to pick up a book by an East German writer, even though many of them were in our library at home in Leipzig. Looking back, I believe the reason was the public perception of the old socialist republic. It scared me off.When the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, it marked the beginning of the end of East German art and literature. Everything that had shaped our cultural history was thought away, spoken away and written away. West Germans took sovereignty over the narrative, and their verdict was clear: the former East German state was wrong in every aspect and worth nothing. This also meant books, plays, paintings, sculptures, films and music were buried and left behind, because they too were considered wrong.Carolin Wurfel is a writer, screenwriter and journalist. She is the author of Three Women Dreamed of Socialism and a regular contributor to Die Zeit Continue reading...

Biden's voice was strong and clear, and the crowd was far warmer to him as an outgoing presidentJoe Biden took the stage and held his daughter, Ashley, in a long embrace, whispered some tender words and wiped tears from his eyes. She smiled and kissed the hand of her ageing dad. The pair seemed to be at the quiet centre of a storm.Around them more than 20,000 stood, applauded, roared and chanted, We love Joe." They held tall narrow signs that said, We Joe". The US president walked to the lectern, smiling, pointing, looked pensive, smiled again and dabbed his nose with a handkerchief.What is the DNC?Joe Biden speaks at DNC night one following surprise appearance by Kamala HarrisPro-Palestinian protesters march before DNCHere are the rising stars and politicians to watch this weekWhat to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can read our full report on Biden's speech here.Democrats aren't shying away from discussing the Covid-19 pandemic, with Minnesota's lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan taking the stage to talk about the tragedy the virus brought upon her family, and how Donald Trump was to blame.My brother Ron was the second person to die of Covid in the state of Tennessee. We couldn't see him. We couldn't have a memorial. And millions of American families went through the same thing. Our communities were suffering, our economy was struggling, and Donald Trump was playing games. Our country was brought to the brink by his failure to respond, but the Biden-Harris administration stepped in with quick and decisive action," Flanagan said. Continue reading...

Some argued the suit was actually camel, while others online speculated Harris was trolling Republicans - or simply wearing her off duty suitIt is a truth universally acknowledged that a prominent female politician in possession of a wardrobe will have her outfits divined for clues about who she is and what she thinks. The Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, is no exception.But the dissection of Harris's choice of outfit took on a different tone after her surprise appearance at the Democratic National Convention in Monday evening, with some asking simply: is she trolling us? Continue reading...

US president delivers reflective and optimistic address on first night of the Democratic national convention

First night of the convention included impassioned speeches as pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside

Clinton gave one of the most powerful speeches of her career at the first night of the Democratic national convention

Speaking at the Democratic national convention, US first lady Jill Biden reflected on her husband's decision to step down from the presidential election campaign, saying, he dug 'deep into his soul'. Jill Biden said the decision was perhaps the biggest of his political career, and one that came only after some serious soul-searching. 'Joe knows that our nation's strength doesn't come from intimidation or cruelty,' she said. 'It comes from the small acts of kindness that heal deep wounds, from service to the communities that make us who we are, from love of a country that shines with promise and renewal. Kamala Harris knows that too.'

US president took the stage in Chicago after speeches from Hillary Clinton and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Congresswoman promises Harris would be a voice for working Americans and issued stark warning against reelecting Trump