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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...

Charli xcx declared the VP brat and the KHive is rejuvenated - can gen Z's enthusiasm make a difference in November?In a series of events over 24 hours that would have been unimaginable a week ago, Kamala Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket, secured the backing of Joe Biden and key leaders, brought in a record-breaking $81m, and became the face of brat summer.kamala IS brat," pop star Charli xcx declared on Sunday, a reference to her new album released last month that has launched countless memes declaring it the season of the brat. A brat, in the British singer's own words, is that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes, who feels herself, but then also maybe has a breakdown, but kind of parties through it". Continue reading...

Make sure you don't miss a thing with our full, updating guide to the dates and times of all the events at Paris 2024Search for every event and start time at the Paris Olympics with our comprehensive live schedule. From the football pitch to the pool, via track and field and much more, use our filter tool to pinpoint the sports and disciplines you want to follow most so that you don't miss a thing. Continue reading...

Black Americans with diabetes are four times more likely to suffer amputations than white AmericansAfter her right foot became infected and riddled with gangrene last summer, Jemia Keshwani, 40, was terrified that it would need to be amputated.Keshwani is a former warehouse security guard from LaGrange, Georgia, and she had spent quite a lot of her career on her feet. She was first diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 25 years ago, just after her father died while in a diabetic coma. Like many people with the silent disease", the condition marked by dangerously high sugar in the blood, her father did not realize he had diabetes until he was hospitalized. Several years ago, a friend of Keshwani's with diabetes underwent a below-the-knee amputation. This was both a disease and a procedure with which she was dreadfully familiar. Continue reading...

The GOP ticket of JD Vance and Donald Trump, from menstrual surveillance' to sexual assault, has made itself clearThe Republican party of the United States remains the party of denying women fundamental human rights. The US press as a whole remains the instrument of softening up or ignoring this reality.Trump has long been criticized for his public treatment of women," ran a CNN headline. The ones in his life argue he's different in private." What follows is a puff piece in which prominent Republican women say nice things about him, and his history of alleged sexual assault is mentioned several paragraphs down. Continue reading...

Rightwing playbooks used in past election campaigns are being dusted off for an all-out assault on the vice-presidentFor Barack Obama there was birtherism" and a name they said sounded like a specific Middle East terrorist. For Hillary Clinton there was Lock her up" and merchandise that said, Trump that bitch", Hillary sucks but not like Monica" and Life's a bitch: don't vote for one."Rightwing playbooks deployed in past election campaigns are being dusted off for an all-out assault against Vice-President Kamala Harris, the de facto Democratic nominee aiming to become the first Black woman and first person of south Asian descent to be US president. Continue reading...

It was hard to get the president to talk about abortion at all, but Harris seems to realize that abortion rights are a winning issueWhen he was still the nominee, Joe Biden's preferred euphemism for abortion was Roe". He would talk about upholding" Roe v Wade even after June 2022, when the US supreme court struck it down. Reproductive rights advocates bristled at this, pointing out how many people had been denied abortions under Roe, and how flimsy the decision's protection of reproductive rights had been on personal-autonomy or sex-equality grounds.Frankly, it was hard to get the president to talk about abortion at all. He seemed to avoid even the word abortion". When he did talk about the procedure - and the bans on it that Republicans have unleashed across the country - he preferred to focus on women who had been denied emergency abortions for wanted pregnancies in the midst of tragic health complications.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

I've decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation,' Biden said. Plus, Monday was world's hottest recorded day

Will the US top the medal table? Will we see the arrival of a new global star? Our writers answer the biggest questions as the Olympics get underwayMedal count winner ...USA. In terms of overall medals, it'll be a wide margin. In terms of gold medals it'll be a bit narrower because China so thoroughly dominates diving and table tennis. For the first week or so, China may be ahead, but USA's track and field contingent will take charge in week two. BD Continue reading...

My dad, my brother and I maxed out the credit cards and went to the Serengeti, working through our grief amid the animalsThe summer after my mum died, my brother came up with a plan. Rather than mark the first anniversary of her death in London, where we had all lived together, we should take ourselves on the most extravagant holiday possible. Why cry at home, he reasoned, when we could cry on the beach in luxury?It was June 2014 and I was 20, on summer break from my second year at university. For the previous four years, I had been living with the fear and understanding that my mum's death was imminent. She had been diagnosed with a rare form of sarcoma in 2009 and only given six months to live. Thankfully, a brutal surgery and experimental dose of chemotherapy helped her into remission before the cycle began again: surgery, chemo, recovery, fear.Ammar Kalia is a writer and author of A Person is a Prayer Continue reading...

Ukrainians are determined to fight on whatever the result, but without US support their position would be perilousIt's a safe bet that no leader outside the United States is following its current election more closely than Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy - and with good reason. If Kamala Harris wins the US presidential election in November, she will almost certainly continue Joe Biden's policy toward Ukraine, but if Donald Trump returns to the White House on 20 January, he could cease military support for Ukraine, meaning it would eventually run out of the weaponry it needs to resist Russia.Or Trump could continue arming Ukraine for a while, but as a segue to a settlement - ideally one presided over by him. During his speech accepting the Republican party's presidential nomination, Trump vowed to end the war in Ukraine. In a phone call with Zelenskiy the next day, he pledged to achieve a just peace", but Kyiv has good reason to fear that he would, at a minimum, allow Russia to retain the Ukrainian territory it holds and also shut Nato's door on Ukraine. Continue reading...

Many sub-Saharan Africans feel they have no choice but to leave home, myself included. I wanted them to know that their lives - and stories - matterI knew of the global migration crisis involving crossings of the Sahara long before I wrote a novel about it. Military dictatorships, interventionist policies by foreign governments, poverty, corruption, hunger and violence have left many sub-Saharan Africans feeling they have no choice but to abandon their home in search of perceived safety and prosperity in Europe or the US.The continent's many problems have instilled a sense of desperation among its youth. There is also the perception that anything western is superior due to a deeply ingrained colonial worldview. Continue reading...

In a speech marking both the conclusion of his re-election campaign and the beginning of the end of his more than five decades in politics, Joe Biden warned America that the fight for democracy was far from finished. 'Now, in just a few months, the American people choose the course of America's future,' the US president said Continue reading...

In Oval Office address, Biden said it was time for fresh voices', emphasized his track record and endorsement of Kamala HarrisJoe Biden addressed the nation Wednesday to explain his historic decision to withdraw from the presidential race, delivering a reflective and hopeful message about the need to begin a new chapter in America's story.I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America's future all merited a second term, but nothing - nothing - can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition," Biden said in the Oval Office. Continue reading...

In the 1970s, David Duke was grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. In the 80s, he was elected to Louisiana's house of representatives - and the kinds of ideas he stood for have not gone awayOn 21 January 1989, the day after George HW Bush's inauguration, David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, a neo-Nazi, and the head of an organisation called the National Association for the Advancement of White People, finished first in an open primary for the 81st legislative district of the Louisiana house of representatives. Running as a Republican, he came out ahead of the state party's preferred candidate, John Treen. Republican National Committee staff members went to Louisiana to bolster Treen's faltering campaign and work against Duke. We will do anything to defeat this man," the Bush campaign manager and then RNC chief Lee Atwater declared to the Wall Street Journal.The former and current Republican presidents endorsed Duke's opponent and made advertisements on his behalf, to little avail: Duke would go on to win the runoff vote a month later and enter the state legislature. Over the next three years, Duke would aspire to higher and higher office. These subsequent campaigns, unsuccessful though they were, garnered Duke an ever-expanding platform for himself and his cause, bedevilled the establishment, and suggested deep structural failures in American society and its political system. But how did Duke, previously an abject failure in personal and political life, come to defy the direction of his chosen party and represent the crack-up of an old order? Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can read our full story on Biden's address at the link below:

Biden called for generational change and buried his resentments, but not without a pointed comment about his qualificationsThere was 6 January 2021, and a violent coup attempt by a president desperately trying to cling to power. Then there was 24 July 2024, and a president explaining why he was giving up the most powerful job in the world.Joe Biden's address on Wednesday night was a moving piece of political theatre, the start of a farewell tour by a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings" who entered politics in 1972 and made it all the way to the Oval Office. For diehard Democrats it was a case of: if you have tears, prepare to shed them now. Continue reading...

I've decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation,' Biden said in a speech from the Oval OfficeJoe Biden has explained his decision to drop out of the presidential race, saying it was the best way to unite our nation".The US president's remarks were broadcast from the Oval Office, his first televised appearance since announcing he would end his bid for re-election, and conveyed a reflective and hopeful message.My fellow Americans, I'm speaking to you tonight from behind the resolute desk in the Oval Office. In this sacred space, I'm surrounded by portraits of extraordinary American presidents.Thomas Jefferson wrote the immortal words that guide this nation. George Washington showed us presidents are not kings. Abraham Lincoln, who implored us to reject malice. Franklin Roosevelt, who inspired us to reject fear. Continue reading...