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The Rio Grande valley's Tejano population was once reliably Democratic but traditional loyalties have been erodedAnna Holcomb is preparing her Ram pickup truck for the big event on Saturday, festooning it in Make America Great Again (Maga) flags that flap restlessly in the searing hot Texas wind.Holcomb is gearing up for a show of strength by Donald Trump supporters in the Rio Grande valley, the region of south Texas that flanks the Mexican border. From 8am on Saturday morning, thousands of similarly decked-out vehicles will form convoys along a 300-mile stretch, from Brownsville on the Gulf of Mexico all the way north to Eagle Pass. Continue reading...

Park rangers suspect changing water levels and erosion to blame for the collapse of the popular tourist attractionA large geological feature in southern Utah known as the Double Arch", the Hole in the Roof" and sometimes the Toilet Bowl" has collapsed, National Park Service officials said on Friday. No injuries were reported.The popular arch in the Glen Canyon national recreation area fell on Thursday, and park rangers suspect changing water levels and erosion from waves in Lake Powell contributed to its demise. Continue reading...

The island nation has long punched above its weight at the Games. But in Paris it has been the country's field athletes who have been winning medalsJamaica has been on such a cold streak in Paris, that it's fair to wonder whether the country is planning for the Winter Olympics. In place of its usual dominance in sprinting, it's been one disappointment after another.The misfortune kicked off in June with Elaine Thompson-Herah, the fastest woman alive, injuring her achilles and losing out on a chance to challenge for golds in the 100m and 200m for the third straight Olympics. Then, during the Games themselves, Shericka Jackson, Thompson-Herah's heir apparent, withdrew from the 100m and 200m with an undisclosed injury, a shock development that drastically changed the complexion of both races. My 2024 Olympic dream has been shattered," the three-time medalist wrote in a silence-breaking Instagram post on Friday. Continue reading...

More than 600 python hunters registered for the event that aims to reduce the population of the invasive speciesFriday marked the start of the annual Florida Python Challenge, during which hunters head into the Everglades to track down invasive Burmese pythons in hopes of grabbing a share of $30,000 in prizes.The annual 10-day hunt, which started more than a decade ago, promotes public awareness of issues with invasive species in Florida while engaging the public in Everglades conversation, said Sarah Funck, the wildlife impact management section leader with Florida's fish and wildlife conservation commission. Continue reading...

With a diary suddenly freed up by the end of his re-election bid, the president is looking to safeguard his achievementsWhen a reporter asked if the White House had already started the transition process, Karine Jean-Pierre seemed bemused. Why?" the press secretary retorted. Are you trying to kick us out already? We've got five months."Whatever excitement there is in American politics at the moment, the White House is not the centre of the action. What was expected to be a hectic final sprint towards the presidential election, with Joe Biden pinballing between swing-state rallies, has been replaced by long, languorous afternoons in humid Washington. Continue reading...

The presumptive Democratic nominee for the US presidential election addressed Gaza protesters after they interrupted her campaign speech in Glendale, Arizona. She said 'now is the time' to agree a ceasefire deal which would end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages still held there, and Biden and herself were working around the clock to help secure this

Party enjoys resurgence of excitement that was lacking during Biden's bumpy re-election campaignWith Kamala Harris now poised to take on Donald Trump in the 5 November US presidential election, her fellow Democrats are enjoying a resurgence of optimism that was sorely lacking for much of this year, as Joe Biden struggled through a bumpy re-election campaign that he ultimately abandoned.Since the president's stumbling performance in his late June debate against Trump and his shock decision to withdraw from the race weeks later, Harris has rapidly ascended to become the party's presumptive presidential nominee. Polls have shown her drawing even with, and sometimes overtaking, Trump in the support of voters nationally, and in the handful of crucial swing states that will determine the election. Continue reading...

Vice-president addresses Gaza after protesters interrupt speech on immigration, abortion and Indigenous rightsKamala Harris and Tim Walz rallied a packed arena outside Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday - drawing perhaps the largest Democratic crowd of the election cycle this year.The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, her running mate and the local leaders who joined them on stage whipped up the crowd, discussing immigration, abortion rights and Indigenous sovereignty. Continue reading...

Massey's father and state's governor had called for Jack Campbell to quit after his officer shot Massey in her homeAn Illinois sheriff who hired the deputy charged in the death of Sonya Massey announced on Friday that he would retire, five weeks after the deputy fatally shot the 36-year-old Black woman in her home.The Sangamon county sheriff, Jack Campbell, who won the office in 2018, said politics stood in the way of his effectiveness as sheriff and suggested he and his family had received death threats. Campbell, a 30-year veteran of the department, had previously said he did not intend to step down". Continue reading...

Imane Khelif triumphed in the women's 66kg category, while Nafissatou Thiam edged epic duel with Team GB starSpeaking of US dominance of basketball, Serbia almost pulled off one of the all-time Olympics upsets when they had the men's Dream Team" on the rack and 76-62 down at the start of the final quarter of last night's semi-final. Coming into the Paris Games, the US had won gold in eight of the last 10 Olympics, with their last stumble coming in 2004 when they won bronze. Luckily, Steph Curry came to the rescue....Heard about the Opal who wanted Gold? Australian basketball GOAT Lauren Jackson is at her fifth Olympics and is yet to win the shiniest medal of all. Instead, at every turn, Jackson and her Opals teammates have been foiled by Team USA whom they meet tonight in the semi-final at Bercy Arena. Can they snap the hoodoo and send Lauren out a winner? Kieran Pender asks: why not? Continue reading...

This blog now closed. You can find the latest US politics coverage here.Ahead of her and Tim Walz's campaign in Arizona later today, Kamala Harris wrote on X:We are running a campaign on behalf of all Americans.It is great to be in Arizona with governor Tim Walz." Continue reading...

Podcast host calls independent candidate for president a legitimate guy' but says he is not offering endorsementRobert F Kennedy Jr's independent presidential campaign may be seeing poll numbers fall and funds dwindle, amid bizarre tales about brain worms and pranks with dead bears and accusations of dangerous conspiracy mongering, but he has nonetheless secured a sought-after supporter: Joe Rogan.The popular podcaster appeared to offer his endorsement on Thursday, saying Kennedy was the only one that makes sense to me". Continue reading...

Warren Luther Alexander, 73, was arrested for the decades-old killings of three women in southern CaliforniaA 73-year-old man has been charged in the strangulation deaths of three southern California women in 1977, after cold case detectives obtained a DNA match. Authorities said they believe there could be more victims.Warren Luther Alexander of Diamondhead, Mississippi, made his first court appearance on Thursday but his arraignment on three counts of first-degree murder was postponed until later in August, the Ventura county district attorney's office said. Alexander remained jailed without bail. Continue reading...

Democratic party's presumptive nominee 2.1 points over Trump in FiveThirtyEight's national averageKamala Harris continues to gain strength in the US presidential election, as polls nationally and in battleground states show her building leads or catching Donald Trump.On Friday morning, FiveThirtyEight, a leading polling analysis site, puts Harris, the Democratic party's presumptive nominee for president, up by 2.1 points over her Republican rival in its national average. Continue reading...

Local police said they told Secret Service the building the 20-year-old opened fire from needed to be securedIn the chaotic aftermath of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally last month, a local police officer told a fellow officer he had warned the Secret Service days earlier that the building where the 20-year-old gunman opened fire needed to be secured.I [bleep] told them they needed to post guys [bleep] over here," the officer said in police body-camera footage released by the Butler township police department, with expletives bleeped out. I told them that [bleeped expletive] Tuesday." Continue reading...

Kevin Roberts, who leads thinktank that drafted blueprint for second Trump presidency, made remark in JanuaryIn a speech earlier this year, Kevin Roberts, the architect of Project 2025, a vast plan for a second Trump administration, compared abortion to slavery, lynchings, the Holocaust, antisemitic violence and terror attacks.Every slave auction, every lynching, every concentration camp, every abortion mill, every pogrom, every terrorist bombing from the Middle East to Kermit Gosnell, from Herod to Hitler to Hamas, has been justified on the same inhuman pretense that the victims aren't really people," Roberts said. Continue reading...

Watergate sparked a political reckoning 50 years ago. The scandal wasn't just an abuse of power, but it was a campaign finance scandal - with lessons for todayIt was 50 years ago - on 9 August 1974 - Richard Nixon resigned as president amid the Watergate" scandal. In the American consciousness, Watergate typically means the botched break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and the resulting illegal cover-up (facts that are newly relevant in the wake of the US supreme court's much-criticized decision on presidential immunity last month). But there is an equally relevant part of the story that is often skipped. Watergate was not just about abuse of presidential power. It was also a major campaign finance scandal.By the time Nixon resigned, Americans were outraged to learn that the Watergate break-in and cover-up and other dirty tricks" had been financed from a secret slush fund made up of donations from corporations and wealthy individuals. In response, Congress passed historic reforms designed to increase transparency and curb the influence of big money in politics. This was a watershed moment that helped reshape the ethos of government in America. Today, however, our elections are once again dominated by big money and secret spending. The post-Watergate reforms are in dire need of repair.Daniel I Weiner is director of the elections and government program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU LawOwen Bacskai is a policy associate at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law Continue reading...

The reigning men's champions will face the hosts, led by the brilliant Victor Wembanyama, and thousands of feisty home fans in the Olympic gold medal gameSteph Curry could admit he was feeling the heat. The USA men's basketball team were trailing Serbia and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Joki by 13 points in the fourth quarter of their Olympic semi-final on Thursday night after falling behind by as many as 17 in the first half, their quest for a fifth straight gold medal dangling by a thread.It was Curry's first encounter with the unique pressure faced by a USA Basketball program with an all-time record of 142-5 in the Olympics, including 35-1 since their notorious flop at the Athens Olympics two decades ago. Win and it's business as usual. Lose and risk a permanent blotch of infamy. Just ask LeBron James, the NBA's all-time leading scorer and two-time Olympic gold medalist who has never entirely outrun the LeBronze branding he earned for his peripheral role as a teenage backup on the US squad that finished third after shock losses to Puerto Rico, Australia and Argentina. Continue reading...

Media reports showed volunteer in charge of bankruptcy expenses admitted to a stunning lack of qualificationsA group of attorneys representing clergy abuse claimants involved in the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans' bankruptcy case - which has cost the church about $40m but remains unresolved - has formally requested the removal of the volunteer tasked by the organization to manage the four-and-a-half-year-old case's expenses after he testified to a stunning lack of qualifications for the role.The abuse survivors' lawyers also requested the appointment of an outside trustee to substitute the volunteer in question, Lee Eagan, in a motion filed late on Thursday. Continue reading...

Direct guilt sits with those who brought violence to our streets, but their hatred was inflamed by lies spread on XOne man is missing. Of course, it's good that so many of those responsible for a week of terrifying far-right violence are facing an especially swift and severe form of justice - but there's one extremely rich and powerful suspect who should join them in the dock. If the UK authorities truly want to hold accountable all those who unleashed riots and pogroms in Britain, they need to go after Elon Musk.To be sure, direct guilt belongs to the culprits on the ground, those currently being fast-tracked in their hundreds through a usually glacial court system - moving from arrest to charges, trial, conviction and (heavy) sentencing in a matter of days. Guilt belongs to those who surrounded hotels housing migrants and refugees, attempting to set them on fire and threatening to kill those inside. It belongs to those who saw fit to trash and loot not only shops, but also libraries and advice centres, many of them lifelines for those who have next to nothing. It belongs to those who smashed and threatened mosques, terrifying those within and whole Muslim communities beyond with a kind of menace many will have heard about in stories passed down from parents or grandparents, but which they will have hoped belonged to a long ago past. Continue reading...

Personality is always central to elections. But this year, it's about who you think the candidates could beNow that the Democrats have found their vice-presidential candidate in Tim Walz, can anyone say what either of the parties are planning to do if they win?Of course not. Donald Trump says immigration is bad, but having claimed a wall would fix things, he's pretty much run out of options. The Democrats are pro-reproductive freedoms, anti-inflation and environment-friendly, but what do they plan to do about it? It's not at all clear. Not to worry though. This election is not being fought on proposed policies or past accomplishments. It's being fought on vibes. Continue reading...

Our panel talks about the riots, their fear, the racial harassment they are experiencing and their hope that inclusive values will prevailI am an asylum seeker from west Africa and have been in limbo for nearly two decades now. My life is just waiting before another refusal. Waiting, refusal; waiting, refusal.The contributor is a west African asylum seeker living in LondonThe contributor is an Afghan asylum seekerThe contributor is an asylum seeker from the Middle East living in Manchester. He works as a journalistThe contributor is a Sri Lankan refugee living in South YorkshireMinnie Rahman is chief executive of the migrant and refugee charity PraxisDo 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...

Trump apparently misremembered a flight with then California governor Jerry Brown during a press conferenceIn his press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Donald Trump's stream of invective, wild claims and outright lies included a story about a brush with death during a helicopter ride with Willie Brown, a veteran California politician who once briefly dated Kamala Harris, now Trump's Democratic rival in the presidential election.Claiming to know Willie Brown very well", Trump said: In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought, maybe this is the end. We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together, and there was an emergency landing. This was not a pleasant landing, and Willie was ... a little concerned. So I know him pretty well." Continue reading...

In Congress, Walz was endorsed by gun rights advocates. But after the Parkland shooting, he changed his toneAt his first rally as Kamala Harris's running mate Tuesday, Minnesota's governor, Tim Walz, invoked an issue at the forefront of many Americans' minds: the right for our children to be free to go to school without worrying they'll be shot dead in their classrooms".But Walz wasn't always a fierce advocate against gun violence. The evolution of the vice-presidential candidate, who once boasted an A rating from the NRA, shows the growing relevance of gen Z voters, who've grown up amid a surge in mass shootings in the US and are enthusiastically backing Harris. Continue reading...

Surge caused by rebound in market activity very likely to influence payouts for European outposts of banksBonuses for Wall Street's investment bankers are forecast to jump as much as 35% this year - although experts have warned that payouts could be knocked by stock market volatility and an economic slowdown in the US.Fresh predictions suggest that staff across a range of financial firms - including hedge funds, asset managers and investment banks - will see payouts rise for the first time in two years. It follows a rebound in business confidence and market activity, with companies more willing to take risks amid easing inflation that has started to translate into lower borrowing costs. Continue reading...

The former Catalan president staged a dramatic flight from Barcelona - but his charade could fuel extremism in the region and beyondAn egotistical and polarising rightwing election loser addresses his adoring supporters in a speech, casting himself as a victim and questioning democracy, just hours before parliament is set to vote for the formal investiture of the actual winner. The crowd hold aloft pictures of the loser's face, chanting that he is their rightful president, and then turn their anger on the media, harassing reporters who are covering the event. Chaos ensues as some of the leader's supporters attempt to assault the parliament building. Sound familiar?Carles Puigdemont, the fugitive former president of Catalonia and the leader of the Catalan separatist party Junts, who fled Spain to avoid prosecution after organising an unlawful independence referendum in 2017, staged a dramatic reappearance on a Barcelona stage on Thursday.Maria Ramirez is a journalist and deputy managing editor of elDiario.es, a news outlet in Spain Continue reading...

ABC confirms US presidential candidates will face off for the first time on 10 September. Plus: the return of panda diplomacy

We're vulnerable to presidential whims - and that's opened the door to the far right. We urgently need to build a Sixth RepublicWhen Emmanuel Macron called a shock election after the French far right's victory in the 9 June European elections, he gambled on one of the shortest and most high-risk electoral campaigns in our country's history. At a moment when the far right had just gained a record number of seats in the European parliament, the president's unilateral and reckless act - deciding to dissolve parliament three years before elections were due - plunged the country into fear and uncertainty.Macron was certainly not banking on the left forming a new alliance called the New Popular Front (NFP) and putting a solid programme together in record time to contest the elections. In the end, enough voters mobilised against the far right as a threat to the republic, and the election led to the consolidation of three parliamentary blocs in the national assembly. The NFP came first, beating Macron's centre-right alliance, Ensemble, into second place. Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National (the National Rally) came third. Continue reading...

Some have noticed the Minnesota governor bears a resemblance to several former Australian PMs, as one website dubs the VP candidate Oz-coded'Kamala Harris's newly minted running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, has had a whirlwind week, in which he's been variously characterised as a teacher, a veteran, a football coach and now, the most Australian prime minister looking American politician" of all time.When US vice-president Kamala Harris chose Walz as her running mate, Australians instantly saw something familiar in him. Continue reading...

As fewer Britons have children, more will be left to navigate our threadbare social care system and overstretched hospitals aloneIt was visiting time at the hospital, and the corridors were full of dutiful middle-aged sons and daughters. The woman who held the ward door open for me was balancing a formidable stack of Tupperware boxes: home-cooked food, in case the nurses were too busy to make sure her elderly father ate. Why hadn't I thought of that? But there's always something more you probably should be doing; always a ball you might have dropped.So much about looking after ageing parents reminds me of early motherhood, that old juggling act that, in retrospect, looks almost like a rehearsal. Hello again, my old friend nagging guilt. And hello again, that sense of needing to be in two places at once - except now it's three, if you are so madly ambitious as to want a job, children and parents.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Prosecutors in court filing ask Tanya Chutkan for additional time to sort through impact of absolute immunity' rulingDonald Trump's criminal prosecution over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election is expected to be delayed by another month after special counsel prosecutors said they had not finished assessing how the US supreme court's immunity decision would narrow their case.On Thursday, the prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smith's team told Tanya Chutkan, the US district judge presiding over the case, that they needed her to delay until 30 August a deadline to submit a possible schedule for how to proceed with a complicated fact-finding mission ordered by the court. Continue reading...

Candidates will face off for first time after Trump had previously cast doubt about debating Harris on the networkKamala Harris and Donald Trump will face off for the first time in a televised debate on 10 September, ABC News has confirmed.The event is expected to draw a huge viewership, and could be a make-or-break moment for both candidates in what polls indicate is an extremely close race. Continue reading...

This blog is closing for now. You can find the latest US politics coverage here.In a new tweet on Thursday ahead of her address with workers from the United Auto Workers union in Detroit, Michigan Kamala Harris wrote:This campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. Our campaign is about fighting for the future." Continue reading...

Second activist also arrested during summer of heat' protest against second largest financier of fossil fuelsA 63-year-old climate activist and professional cellist faces up to seven years in prison after being arrested on Thursday while performing a Bach solo outside the headquarters of one of the world's largest fossil fuel financier Citibank in downtown New York.John Mark Rozendaal, a former Princeton professor, and Alec Connon, director of the climate nonprofit group Stop the Money Pipeline, were arrested for criminal contempt in the public park at the bank's global headquarters as the crackdown against nonviolent climate protesters escalates. Continue reading...

Officials say unnamed woman, 57, was discovered entangled in conveyor belt system in baggage roomA dead woman was found entangled in machinery in a baggage-processing area at O'Hare international airport in Chicago on Thursday.Larry Langford, a spokesperson for the Chicago fire department, said firefighters were called to the airport at about 7.45am for a report of a person pinned in machinery used to move baggage. He said they discovered the woman entangled in a conveyor belt system in a baggage room. Continue reading...

The American confirmed her status as one of the most dominant athletes of the modern era with victory - and a world record - in the 400m hurdles final

Company behind Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon and CBS writes down value of its cable networks by nearly $6bnThe entertainment conglomerate behind Paramount Pictures is to cut about 2,000 jobs in a bid to reduce costs ahead of a merger with the independent film studio Skydance.Paramount Global, which also owns CBS, Nickelodeon and the UK's Channel 5, announced plans to cut about 15% of its US workforce alongside its latest earnings on Thursday. Continue reading...

Storm system brings heavy rain and flooding to Carolinas after making first landfall in FloridaTornadoes spawned by Tropical Storm Debby leveled homes, damaged a school and killed one person early on Thursday, as the system dropped heavy rain and flooded communities across North and South Carolina.It only took 15 seconds for a tornado to devastate Genesis Cooper's home in Lucama, North Carolina, a small town about 40 miles (64km) east of Raleigh. He almost slept through it - if not for an alert on his wife's phone. Continue reading...

Former president attacks Democratic rival in rambling press conference and complains media is favoring herStruggling in the polls and charged with running a lackluster presidential campaign, Donald Trump faced reporters on Thursday for an hour-long press conference that swiftly descended into a familiar mess of freewheeling invective, outlandish claims and outright lies.Nobody was killed on January 6," the former president and Republican presidential nominee said, of the day in 2021 when he incited an attack on Congress now linked to nine deaths, including law enforcement suicides and the shooting by a police officer of Ashley Babbitt, who Trump voters widely claim as a martyr. Continue reading...