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Second gentleman tells LGBTQ+ fundraiser his phone was on fire' after wife Kamala Harris entered spotlightDoug Emhoff has described being caught by surprise by the timing of Joe Biden's announcement last Sunday that he was dropping out of his re-election campaign, telling an LGBTQ+ fundraiser that he was in an exercise class in Los Angeles when he heard the news.Emhoff, 59, the husband of US vice-president Kamala Harris, explained to attendees on a fundraising call organized by a group called Black Gay and Queer Men for Harris that he was with a gay couple friend" having coffee, messing around and talking" when people started coming up to them. Continue reading...

Louisiana's Elizabeth Francis, America's grandmother', was born before women could vote and has seen two world warsThe oldest person in the US offers two bits of advice when asked for the keys to her longevity: If the good Lord gave it to you, use it" and Speak your mind, don't bite your tongue!"Elizabeth Francis's pearls of wisdom were recirculated widely as she celebrated her 115th birthday on Thursday. The milestone cemented her place as the world's fourth-oldest living person, according to the LongeviQuest website, an authority on supercentenarians, or those who are 110 or older. Continue reading...

Marchand, Peaty, Ledecky and co mean the pool is stacked with big names despite shadow of Chinese doping scandalYou can't miss Leon Marchand in Paris, his picture runs right up along all 200m of the only skyscraper in the city limits, the Tour Montparnasse. Marchand is 22 and has never won an Olympic medal, but he is one of the three French faces of the Games, along with Antoine Dupont and Victor Wembanyana. It means that for the first time since Michael Phelps set himself the impossible job of winning eight gold medals at Beijing in 2008, a swimmer is the star turn at the Olympics. It's no coincidence that last year Marchand finally beat Phelps' last surviving solo world record, in the 400m individual medley.Marchand goes in four separate solo events in seven days, the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke, with the finals just an hour and a half apart on Wednesday evening, the 200m later in the week and the 400m medley, which is the first event up, on Sunday evening. That night he will share the top of the bill with Adam Peaty, who is trying to become the second man, after Phelps, to win the same event at three consecutive Games. There was a time Peaty was the nearest thing to a sure thing in sport, but he has had a rough three years since Tokyo, and, while he has set the fastest time in the world this year, he is still searching for his very best form. Continue reading...

Amid anger at US vice-president's call to end Gaza war, many families of hostages held by Hamas agree with her

Sure, Harris deserves scrutiny. But she doesn't deserve smears and stereotypes amplified by journalists and pundits addicted to clicksIt's going to be ugly, that much is already clear.In the few days since Kamala Harris began her 2024 campaign for president, the media has shown us where some of their coverage is headed: no place good.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Heritage Foundation leader has long received spiritual guidance from group and his policy goals align with its teachingsKevin Roberts, the Heritage Foundation president and the architect of Project 2025, the conservative thinktank's road map for a second Trump presidency, has close ties and receives regular spiritual guidance from an Opus Dei-led center in Washington DC, a hub of activity for the radical and secretive Catholic group.Roberts acknowledged in a speech last September that - for years - he has visited the Catholic Information Center, a K Street institution headed by an Opus Dei priest and incorporated by the archdiocese of Washington, on a weekly basis for mass and formation", or religious guidance. Opus Dei also organizes monthly retreats at the CIC. Continue reading...

Kamala Harris has gained the support of key figures including Biden, Obama and Clinton since Sunday Continue reading...

France still doesn't have a government but at least it can unite in the joy of seeing Parisians even more peeved than usualGetting to the Left Bank is easier said than done. Actually it's fine by metro, but crossing the river by any other means is, temporarily at least, a bit of an ordeal: innumerable detours for closed bridges, and cops as confused as you are. Continue reading...

Outsiders can't fathom his success. But Trump's supporters believe his gaffes and misdemeanours prove he's one of them'There is no such thing as a universal leader. Leaders always represent a specific social group: a political party, a religion or a social movement. The more they are loved by insiders, the more such adulation seems bizarre and inexplicable to outsiders - to the extent that we often dismiss adoring followers as deluded or deplorable in some way. Think Margaret Thatcher, or Jeremy Corbyn, or Boris Johnson.But perhaps the greatest enigma of contemporary politics concerns Donald Trump - a man who elicits messianic fever and revulsion in equal measure. A liar and serial philanderer championed by evangelists; a felon supported by law and order" enthusiasts; a man who boasts of groping women and yet was elected with a majority of white women voters; a billionaire who likes posing in the golden lift of his New York skyscraper while also posing as the champion of the working class. How on earth does any of this make sense? Yet, at the same time, how can Kamala Harris - if, as is near-certain, she is crowned the Democratic nominee - hope to win in November unless she is able to make sense of it? Continue reading...

Republican still mostly ahead in swing states but data suggests presumptive Democratic nominee gaining groundA spate of opinion polls carried out since Joe Biden abandoned his presidential campaign last Sunday show Vice-President Kamala Harris closing the gap on Donald Trump but still narrowly trailing in a tight race.While still often narrowly behind, the ability of Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee, to gain ground on her Republican opponent suggests her elevation to the top of the ticket has reset the presidential race, pollsters say, especially after weeks of plummeting Democratic poll numbers under Biden. Continue reading...

The US vice president has now won the backing of all the Democratic party's high-profile figures. Plus: a sweltering summer in Las Vegas

Breathless calls for justice and reform - even when they come from the highest office in the land - feel stale and hollowThe police killing of Sonya Massey, the 36-year-old Black woman who was shot in the face by a white sheriff's deputy in her own home after she called for help reporting a prowler, is just the latest episode of the hellish TV show that is Black life in America.And if you've been paying attention, the script is often the same: person calls cops for help, cops go into their house, cops shoot them, cops lie about what happened, cops get off (relatively) scot-free.Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Hatred will continue to ooze from the right. Pay attention - because that bigotry isn't just talk, it's Republican policiesLike a warm compress drawing pus from a wound, the Democratic presidential candidacy of Kamala Harris immediately brought out the misogyny and racism of the Maga Republican party.Tim Burchett, the Tennessee Republican representative, called Harris, the child of a Black Jamaican father and an Indian mother, a DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) hire - picked, that is, because she is Black, not because she's qualified. Donald Trump's running mate, JD Vance, insinuated that Harris is a welfare queen. What the hell have you done other than collect a check?" he asked at a Michigan rally of Harris, a former state attorney general, US senator and now the vice-president. At the same time, social media posts showing Harris with her parents falsely claim she's not really Black, because her father is light-skinned.Judith Levine is a Brooklyn journalist and essayist, a contributing writer to the Intercept and the author of five books Continue reading...

Site of proposed Atlanta police training center has changed greatly since arrest of protesters charged with racketeeringAfter months of stonewalling by Georgia prosecutors, defense attorneys were allowed on Tuesday to visit the forest at the center of the state's criminal conspiracy case against a movement opposing the police training center colloquially known as Cop City" - only to come away frustrated by how much things had changed on the ground.The attorneys also found confusion about where arrests and alleged crimes occurred during the last two years, according to a handful who spoke to the Guardian. Continue reading...

Let's Protect Workers act would also increase fines for wage and hour violations, from $1,100 each to $25,000 eachDemocrats introduced a bill Friday proposing increased penalties for employers found guilty of child labor violations and toughening rules around minimum wage, overtime violations and breaches of health and safety rules.The Let's Protect Workers act would also set new penalties for retaliating against workers who exercise their right to take family and medical leave, toughen oversight of workplace injury records, improve mine safety and ensure funding for workers affected by black lung. Continue reading...

The world's biggest basketball league had steady but unspectacular ratings last season but its blockbuster deal could predict the future of sports broadcastingIf there were ever any doubts that the future of television is streaming, the NBA just put them to rest. After months of protracted negotiations over the 11-year media rights deal set to begin in 2025, the NBA announced last night it has signed deals with incumbent Disney's ESPN, which was already a rights holders, and new partners, NBCUniversal and Amazon. What's even more remarkable than the eye-watering $76bn price tag, is just what the deal tacitly predicts for the future of sports coverage.Several things stand out. Firstly, the NBA's new partners have notably strong streaming platforms, while still maintaining ties to network television (ABC/ESPN and NBC) and an over-the-air presence. Continue reading...

The English coach was brought in to transform a team that had stumbled badly at last year's World Cup. The early signs are encouragingFor US women's national team manager Emma Hayes, just one roadblock seemed to be troubling her team as they made their way to France for their Olympic opener: the invisible brick wall that had been erected in front of goal.In the team's two pre-Olympic warmup friendlies, Hayes' squad had 43 shots. Just 18 landed on target, and only one resulted in a goal. The team showed in a 1-0 win over Mexico and a 0-0 draw with Costa Rica that they had improved as an attacking unit over the course of Hayes' first games in charge, but their ability to finish off plays was in question. Continue reading...

The best players in the NBA are no longer exclusively American, while other countries play better as team units. We could see an upset at Paris 2024The 2024 Olympic Games are shaping up to be the most competitive international men's basketball tournament of all time, with powerhouse nations like Canada, Australia, Spain, France, Germany and Serbia loading up on talent as they aim to take down the juggernaut Team USA.The American men have won gold at each of the last four Olympics and have assembled The Avengers" in hopes of doing so again. Led by LeBron James and Stephen Curry, Team USA is packed with NBA All-Stars being coached by NBA champions. But unlike many other teams they will face at the Olympics, this American roster had not played together until a series of warmup games in the last few weeks. And despite their significant talent advantage, they will have less time than any other team to come together, put their NBA habits aside, and play Fiba basketball, which has different rules such as smaller courts and shorter games, as a unit. Continue reading...

From Los Angeles to Cairo, the global water crisis is escalating - but Valencia's Tribunal de les Aigues could inspire a solutionEvery Thursday at noon, outside the west door of Valencia's cathedral, nine black-cloaked figures - one wearing a banded cap and with a ceremonial harpoon by their side - gather for their weekly meeting, as they have done for hundreds of years. This is the Tribunal de les Aigues (Tribunal of Waters) - a water court that may be the oldest institution of justice in Europe.It may seem like a relic of the past, but in fact, in the midst of a global water crisis, the tribunal is more relevant than ever. We are a civilisation at risk of committing aquacide. Due to droughts caused by climate change, expanding industrial agriculture and growing urbanisation, one in every four people will be affected by water scarcity over coming decades, with cities from Los Angeles and Cairo to Melbourne and Sao Paulo facing acute shortages. Water conflicts are on the rise, both within and between nations - we are increasingly fighting over water rather than oil and land. Moreover, in countries such as the UK, private water companies are jacking up prices and siphoning off super-profits while dumping sewage in the rivers. Continue reading...

We are no closer to understanding why some men hate women so viciously - but we can transform how misogyny is policedNatalie Fleet was only 15 when she got pregnant by an older man. At the time, she says she didn't really know how to describe what was happening; didn't see herself as being groomed, or as a child still not legally old enough to consent. If anything, she worried that she might be the one who had done something wrong, given she was the one being called a slag and a slapper. Only now, more than two decades later, does the newly elected Labour MP for Bolsover feel able to say publicly that an experience about which she apparently still has nightmares was statutory rape.Having met the force of nature that is Fleet five years ago when she first stood unsuccessfully for election, I'm struck but not surprised by her courage in volunteering a story that perfectly illustrates what a complex crime rape can be to investigate, and how horribly common abusive behaviour is - or at least, how common it would look if everyone was as willing to talk this openly about it. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed. You can read our full report on Kamala Harris' meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu hereThe Harris for President campaign has launched its first official video, less than a week after US President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the race.The ad caps a week during which Harris also broke funding records and quickly clinched enough delegate support to become the presumptive nominee in an election that is now just over 100 days away. Continue reading...

Suspect allegedly pushed burning car into gully which started Park fire as other fires scorch Pacific north-westA California man was arrested on Thursday and accused of starting the state's largest wildlife of the year by pushing a burning car into a gully.The flames have since exploded into what is now the Park fire, which has burned more than 71,000 acres (28,733 hectares) near the city of Chico. Evacuations were ordered in Butte and Tehama counties, with the blaze only 3% contained early on Thursday. Continue reading...

Harris ready to debate Donald Trump' but rival refuses to finalize plans until Democrats formally make nominationKamala Harris has accused Donald Trump of backpedaling" from a previously agreed presidential debate in September, as the Trump campaign said that it would not agree to finalizing plans until Harris formally becomes the Democratic nominee.Harris told reporters on Thursday that she was ready to debate Donald Trump". A debate, hosted by ABC News, was planned for 10 September. Continue reading...

After meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, vice president Kamala Harris said she supports Israel's right to defend itself, but said 'how it does so matters'. Harris expressed concern over the 'devastating' humanitarian situation in Gaza and images of civilians killed in the conflict, saying 'we cannot look away in the face of these tragedies'. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu met separately at the White House with president Joe Biden before his meeting with Harris to discuss the war in Gaza and the possibility of securing a cease-fire deal

Just days after Kamala Harris launched her White House campaign, she posed for photographers with Benjamin Netanyahu before meeting in the vice-president's ceremonial office. The Israeli prime minister met separately with Joe Biden earlier in the day, in his first White House visit since before Donald Trump left office in 2020.

Netanyahu meets Biden to discuss end to nine-month war in Gaza and has separate meeting with Kamala HarrisWhite House officials said Israel and Hamas were closer now than we've been before" to reaching a ceasefire deal as Benjamin Netanyahu met Joe Biden on Thursday to discuss an end to the nine-month conflict in Gaza.The talks at the White House came amid unprecedented political turmoil in the US and domestic pressure on the Israeli prime minster to rescue the dozens of hostages still being held captive after Hamas's 7 October attack. Netanyahu also met the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, who is likely to replace Biden as the Democratic candidate for November's election. Continue reading...

The birds, protected as an endangered species, will remain under zoo care for year and a half before being sent into wildNearly 20 new California condors will fly across the western sky after a record-setting hatching of baby birds this summer at the Los Angeles Zoo.The zoo marked a record of 17 California condor chicks hatched during this year's breeding season, with staff members preparing to set the birds into the harsh wild as they are currently protected as an endangered species. Continue reading...

Trump attorney general's unusual actions certainly not consistent' with justice department policy, report findsThe former attorney general Bill Barr was personally involved in a decision to release an unusual and misleading justice department statement on the eve of the 2020 election suggesting there may have been voter fraud in Pennsylvania, according to a new inspector general's report that was released on Thursday.The 76-page report from the justice department's Office of the Inspector General focused on the department's handling of an investigation into nine military ballots that were found discarded in the trash in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. Barr briefed Trump on the ballot issue before it was public and the president subsequently disclosed it in a radio interview. David Freed, the US attorney overseeing the matter, also released a statement and letter detailing the investigation. Continue reading...

Kamala Harris, who is leading the race to become the Democratic nominee for the US presidential race, said she would be prepared to debate the Republican nominee and former president, Donald Trump. Speaking to reporters upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, she said: 'I have agreed to the previously agreed-upon September 10th debate. He agreed to that previously. Now it appears he's backpedaling. But I'm ready ... I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage.'The 10 September debate was the second date at which Joe Biden was meant to face Trump before he decided to pull out following a poor performance on CNN at the end of June

The White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said Hamas and Israel were closer to a ceasefire and hostage release deal than they'd ever been before, during a press conference on Thursday, though gaps remained to be bridged. Kirby told reporters: 'We are closer now than we've been before. Both sides have to make compromises ... But it's going to require, as it always does, some leadership, some compromise and an effort to get there.' He also said the US president, Joe Biden, believed a deal needed to be struck soon

Prosecutors say supreme court ruling has no bearing on case and urge judge to deny Trump's bid to toss verdictThe Manhattan prosecutors who secured Donald Trump's historic criminal conviction disputed the former US president's claim that the verdict should be set aside in the wake of a US supreme court ruling on presidential immunity.In a court filing dated July 24 and made public on Thursday, the prosecutors said the supreme court's ruling had no bearing on their case, which stemmed from hush money paid to a porn star. Continue reading...

Research from Black Futures Lab also finds Black voters concerned about low wages, gun violence and schoolsA vast majority of Black Americans trust Kamala Harris and distrust Donald Trump - 71% compared to 5% - according to the largest-known survey of Black Americans since the Reconstruction era. The survey of 211,219 Black people across all 50 states showed that the presumptive Democratic nominee may have a higher chance of winning over Black voters than the Republican candidate.At a virtual press conference on Thursday afternoon, the Black-led innovation thinktank Black Futures Lab, revealed findings from its 2023 Black Census, which was conducted with the help of 50 Black-led grassroots organizations and national partners across the country from February 2022 to October 2023. The latest survey garnered seven times the respondents from the first census in 2018, which received 30,000 responses. Two-thirds of the respondents were women, a majority were from the south, and nearly half were from 45 to 64 years old. Black Futures Lab believes that the census results will help inform voter mobilization efforts ahead of presidential and local elections. Continue reading...

About half of Democrats in Congress boycotted the PM's speech as thousands of protesters rallied outside the CapitolBenjamin Netanyahu's speech before a joint session of the House and Senate may look like a political victory: the prime minister of a foreign country speaking before Congress, only interrupted by multiple standing ovations. But the political events serving as a backdrop for the speech reveal Netanyahu's political career, and the bipartisan pro-Israel consensus in the US, in sharp decline.At home in Israel, it's virtually unthinkable that Netanyahu could have found such a supportive audience. A staggering 72% of Israelis want him to resign over failures that permitted the 7 October attacks by Hamas to succeed. Continue reading...

Spencer Gear, 32, faces 22 counts of threats to kill, including Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and Justice Juan MerchanA man in Nevada has been charged with making a death threat against the prosecutor who secured Donald Trump's criminal conviction in New York and the judge who oversaw the trial, according to court records and a person familiar with the case.Spencer Gear, 32, was charged in Nevada federal court on 16 July with 22 counts of making threats to kill or injure federal and state officials, including making a call threatening to kill two individuals in New York referred to as AB" and JM". Continue reading...

Officials say the transition is fueling new energy as they address questions over the process of choosing a new candidateJoe Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race and the emergence of Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee seems to have been absorbed by Democratic delegates faster than a spill in a napkin commercial.Delegates to the Democratic national convention seem to have been poised for a pivot. In conversations since Biden's decision, many say they've moved from fear to relief to a kind of euphoria almost instantly. Continue reading...

Ronny Jackson, former White House doctor who examined Trump after shooting, pushes back: It was a bullet'

Executive order gives guidance on how to remove tents and says decision for removal remains up to local authoritiesThe California governor, Gavin Newsom, issued an executive order on Thursday calling for the removal of homeless encampments across the state.The policy calls for shutdowns of encampments on state property and urges local governments to follow suit. The order cites a controversial US supreme court decision in June saying unhoused people sleeping outside can be ticketed and jailed even when there is no shelter available. The ruling was the most consequential on homelessness in the US in decades and sparked widespread concern from advocates for the unhoused, who argued that criminalization exacerbates the crisis, making it harder for people to get the help they need. Continue reading...

Lim Si-hyeon set an archery world record while the women's football, handball and rugby sevens events got under wayEarly drama in this second-half. The Dutch score early to make it 20-18 but then Nenganga gets brought down and earns a penalty. She is 4/4 from the line but her fifth is saved by Yara ten Holte, who is only being brought on to save penalties. Nenganga looks at her bench in disbelief.At the other end, Juliana Machado pushes an opponent hard from behind. She gets a two-miunte suspension. A moment later, her teammate gets a one-minute suspension. A double power-play! Dutch take advantage and it is 23-20. Continue reading...

Presidential hopeful tells American Federation of Teachers convention: When unions are strong, America is strong'Kamala Harris sought to bolster her pro-labor credentials on Thursday days into her run for the presidency, telling a convention of one of the US's biggest unions: When unions are strong, America is strong."Addressing the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) convention today in Houston, Texas - her fourth event in four days across four states - the vice-president said: Donald Trump and his extreme allies want to take our nation back to failed trickle-down economic policies, back to union-busting, back to tax breaks for billionaires." Continue reading...

The vice-president blends a prosecutor's precision with pearls of wisdom. Experts shed light on her languageWhat can be, unburdened by what has been" is a phrase Kamala Harris uses so often there are minutes-long supercuts available to watch on YouTube. It even has its own Wikipedia page. In other speeches, Harris has also expressed a belief in the significance of the passage of time" and a desire to honor the women who made history throughout history".Since becoming the presumptive nominee, Harris has invigorated the Democratic party. It's not only that she's a much younger candidate than Biden; she also has a stump speech style that embraces metaphor and a new age vernacular not often heard in national politics. The meme accounts love to quote it. It's even led some to draw comparisons with Julia Louis-Dreyfus's portrayal of Selina Meyer, the frothy politician in Veep. (In one episode, Meyer stumbles through a speech saying: We are the United States of America because we are united ... and we are states.") Continue reading...

Christopher Wray, the FBI director, said there were doubts about whether Donald Trump was hit in his ear by a bullet or shrapnel during the assassination attempt. Testifying before Congress, Wray said: 'With respect to former president Trump, there's some question about whether or not it's a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear'

Former president further pushes self-mythology with new book and sneakers featuring shooting images

Former president and current vice-president are discussing appearing together on the campaign trail, sources say

The makeup of the assumed shortlist is based in a reality bias, both implicit and explicit, that plagues the nation

The actor criticised Trump's running mate's views on Kamala Harris and other Democratic politicians in the US - adding that she hoped his daughter never needed IVFJennifer Aniston has taken issue with JD Vance's description of some of the most powerful people in US politics as childless cat ladies".Writing on Instagram, the actor said: I truly cannot believe this is coming from a potential VP. All I can say is ... Mr Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day". Continue reading...

Optimistic video has Beyonce's anthem as a soundtrack and touches on gun violence, health care and abortionThe Harris for President campaign has launched its first official video, less than a week after US President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the race and his vice-president Kamala Harris said she was running for the nomination.The ad caps a week during which Harris also broke funding records and quickly clinched enough delegate support to become the presumptive nominee in an election that is now just over 100 days away. Continue reading...