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Joe Biden has withdrawn from the race for the US presidency, an extraordinary decision upending American politics, that plunges the Democratic nomination into uncertainty just months before the November election against Donald Trump, a candidate he has warned is an existential threat to US democracy. Biden thanked the vice-president, Kamala Harris, in a letter announcing his decision, and later endorsed her as the Democratic nominee for president in a tweet.In this video the Guardian US's politics correspondent, Lauren Gambino, explains why Biden has ultimately decided to step aside

We're closing this blog. You can read all the latest updates on Biden's decision to end his re-election campaign in our new dedicated blog

Pennsylvania congressman says evidence coming to light has shown unacceptable operational failures'The Pennsylvania congressman Brendan Boyle has become the first Democrat to call for US Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle to resign as more security lapses that may have contributed to the near-assassination of Donald Trump on 13 July continue coming to light.In a statement issued after the Washington Post reported on Saturday that the presidential protection agency had for two years denied Trump requests for additional security, Boyle said he had no confidence" in the Secret Service leadership. Continue reading...

Man, 72, suffered significant injuries before killing bear with handgun, says Montana fish, wildlife and parks officialsA 72-year-old man picking huckleberries in Montana shot and killed a grizzly bear after the animal attacked him in a surprise encounter, injuring him badly enough that he had to be hospitalized, authorities said Friday.The man was alone on national forest land when the adult female charged him Thursday. He suffered significant injuries before killing the bear with a handgun, said Montana fish, wildlife and parks officials. Continue reading...

Reagan's assassination attempt led to bipartisan support for reforms. Now, the GOP will probably focus on security insteadMore than a week after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump with an assault weapon, his political supporters and fellow members of the Republican party have remained silent on the issue of tightening America's notoriously lax gun control laws.That intransigence plays out against the backdrop of a US election that was already deeply marred by fears of political violence and the possibility of civil unrest before a 20-year-old gunman fired a AR-15-style rifle at the former president, injuring him and two others and killing one rally-goer at an event in Pennsylvania. Continue reading...

It's all very well sticking up posters calling for respect, not regrets', but what we really need is to tap the power of the baked potatoGo steady, we've got enough history," reads one of York's new purple street signs. Respect your bar staff and taxi drivers, give them gratitude not attitude," says another, while a third says: Hold it! It's not a place to pee."This is the latest initiative to try to tame our city centre. The signs follow a guide for stags and hens", a hospitality code of conduct" (no admittance for offensive inflatables", or people we believe to be drunk" which, hmm) and cards for buskers to try to prevent people nicking their microphones. Continue reading...

Trump's vice-presidential pick seen as relatable for ties to rural white poor, but some say his book sanitized' his pastJD Vance regaled the attendees of the Republican national convention on Wednesday with stories of his childhood - a life of poverty and struggle, surrounded by people who he said had found themselves at the mercy of economic downturns and forgotten by the country's governing elites.My work taught me that there is still so much talent and grit in the American heartland," said Vance, who had just been anointed Donald Trump's vice-presidential nominee. But for these places to thrive, my friends, we need a leader who fights for the people who built this country." Continue reading...

From JD Vance to Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican party put radical figures front and centerIn Cleveland, Ohio, in 2016, Donald Trump received the Republican presidential nomination as the leader of a successful political insurgency against the party elites, and far-right extremists the party had once tried to ostracize crossed the convention's threshold for the first time.Along with the likes of the far-right media figures Alex Jones, VDare's Peter Brimelow, and Milo Yiannopoulos, the white nationalist Richard Spencer was a prominent attendee that year, and he told the Washington Post that he and other extremists had enjoyed one big, bourbon-fueled party" in unofficial side venues around the convention center. Continue reading...

Committee to recommend patients should pay no more than $100 or 10% of a bill, depending on which is lessA committee chartered to find ways to stop ambulances from sending patients exorbitant bills is set to tell Congress that patients should pay no more than $100 or 10% of a bill, depending on which is less.The recommendation, which still relies on the convoluted private insurance industry, comes as nearly half of all ambulance rides in the US result in a surprise bill" of often hundreds of dollars. Continue reading...

Macaulay Culkin might have convinced the billionaire to shun political ambition when they met on the film sequel, but didn'tThe assassination attempt on Donald Trump last weekend is a tragedy; a tragedy for democracy, a tragedy for America and, above all, a tragedy for the whole world, because it means Donald Trump will be re-elected. And it is a tragedy for Donald Trump, who, whatever one thinks of his politics or his personality, is still a living creature, and as such, like Eamonn Holmes, is capable of suffering.Last week, I had a standup special, Basic Lee, on Sky Comedy, which even came as a surprise to me. I wish someone had shot me last weekend. The resulting publicity might have driven some traffic towards my work. Here's hoping I'm at least wounded by a gunman while it's still available to view on the Now streaming service. (Did you see what I did there?)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...

A leading social historian argues how, by rekindling the understated qualities of Attlee, Labour can prioritise the lives of working peopleA fortnight after the election, Icannot remember a time in my life when a sense of hope was so inextricably entwined with a sense of trepidation, even doom. We live in 2024; we are grateful for the downfall of a Tory administration so little imbued with imaginative empathy about the daily lives of the people it governed; but our thoughts are already tuned, fearfully and obsessively, to 2029 and beyond. Almost everywhere abroad we see the rise of the populist, authoritarian right. Is it really plausible to think Britain can stay immune?Perhaps - just perhaps - we can. There is a decent argument that with the Brexit vote in 2016 we have already had our populist, boil-lancing moment - a moment that was ultimately, in my view, a cry of impotent despair (especially from older people) against modernity and the bewildering forces of change. Maybe that was enough; and it is notable how, on the issue itself, a long static period post-2016 of entrenched views on both sides has in the last year or so given way to a significant majority seeing that vote as a mistake.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...

Trump's running mate was raised in poverty but he is typical of a new wave of elite politiciansThe tragedy of Trump's candidacy is that, embedded in his furious exhortations against Muslims and Mexicans and trade deals gone awryis a message that America's white poor don't need: that everything wrong in your life is someone else's fault."That was JD Vance, Donald Trump's pick for vice-president, writing on the eve of the 2016 presidential election about the manwho is now his boss. Trump, Vance wrote in another essay, serves up cultural heroin", his promises theneedle in America's collective vein", providing an easy escape from the pain". Voters would eventually have to trade the quick high of Make America Great Again' for real medicine".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...

Historical requests for more staff and equipment were rejected because of lack of resources, US reports said, as Trump says he was not warned of problems ahead of Pennsylvania rallyThe US Secret Service repeatedly rejected requests from Donald Trump's security team for more resources and staffing in the past two years, according to multiple US reports, amid further scrutiny of the agency in the wake of the assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.Some agents' requests for more security equipment and agents to screen attendees at public events were denied owing to a lack of resources, reports in the New York Times and Washington Post said. In a statement to the Times on Saturday, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said security was instead sometimes supplemented with state and local law enforcement staff, or plans were changed to reduce risk. Continue reading...

US presidential contender's reference echoes the love letters' he received from North Korea's Kim Jong-un as he calls authoritarian leaders smart, tough' peopleDonald Trump has said China's president wrote him a beautiful note" after the assassination attempt a week ago, as he continued to court leaders whom Joe Biden has criticised as dictators.In his first campaign rally since narrowly escaping the attempt on his life in Pennsylvania, Trump told a crowd in Michigan on Saturday: [President Xi Jinping] wrote me a beautiful note the other day when he heard about what happened." Continue reading...

Supporters crowd Michigan arena to see first rally after assassination attempt and meet VP pick: I had to Wikipedia him'He was spared by the hand of God!" a man wrapped in a flag chanted as he walked past a line of people snaking outside the 12,000-seat Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.The display prompted a smattering of loud cries of USA! USA!" but the general tone of the packed-in crowd who had gathered to see Donald Trump's first rally since a would-be assassin opened fire on him at a campaign event in Pennsylvania a week ago was more laid-back. Continue reading...

In first rally with running mate JD Vance, ex-president jibes at leadership chaos within Democratic partyDonald Trump launched a full-throated attack on Democratic rivals Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday as he returned to the campaign trail a week after surviving an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.In his first rally since the shocking shooting, and his first with new running mate Ohio senator JD Vance, Trump appeared on stage with the conspicuous white ear bandage he wore during the Republican national convention replaced by a smaller covering. He referred to the assassination attempt as a horrific event" and said he stood before supporters by the grace of God. I shouldn't be here, but let's face it, something very special happened." Continue reading...

Event in swing state of Michigan with Ohio senator JD Vance first for pair since they officially became Republican nominees. This blog is now closed.

Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm remain well off the leaders as Greg Norman oversees underwhelming displaysGreg Norman was on site at Royal Troon on Saturday. The chief executive of LIV Golf and bete noir of the bastions of the game has previously found himself excluded from attending the Open. Two years ago he was snubbed of an invitational letter to St Andrews, but this weekend he has been afforded the full privileges" that befit a former champion golfer.There's more to it than that, as there often is in tidbits relating to LIV, the rogue Saudi-funded competition. The R&A had joked a couple of months ago that Norman was not on the list for the Open but that there were still tickets available on the resale platform or hospitality; he's very welcome to look there." When faced with the knowledge that Norman was coming after all however (whether via a tout or more likely guest list from one of his players), the R&A this weekend rolled out the red carpet. Continue reading...

Former US Open champion earned his spot in the field at Burnham and Berrow and is now making the most of itIt was a slow day's trade at the ice cream stands roundabout Royal Troon. The rain clouds closed over just as the leaders were arriving at the practice green, and misery spread over the links like a puddle no one got around to mopping up. It was the sort of weather that makes you turn straight around as soon as you open the front door, and after an hour of it the crowd started to thin out as people made their way home early. Even the locals' dry sense of humour was wet through. Compelling as the Open is, you needed a damn good reason to want to be out when you could be back watching it on TV.Justin Rose had one. Rose, five under and two shots off Shane Lowry's overnight lead at the start of the round, was one of the few men left in the field who fancied he had a proper shot at becoming the champion golfer of the year. It's a chance he has been waiting for ever since he finished fourth at Royal Birkdale as a 17-year-old amateur back in 1998, and he kindled it right through his four-and-a-half-hour round. By the time he finished, it was still alive. Continue reading...

The former president and his running mate, JD Vance, will hold a joint rally in Grand Rapids, MichiganRepublican nominee Donald Trump will hold his first public campaign rally since a shocking assassination attempt a week ago by appearing in a crucial rust belt battleground state alongside his new running mate, Ohio senator JD Vance.The return to the campaign trail by Trump comes after the attempted killing of the former US president at a Pennsylvania rally last Saturday when a 20-year-old gunman opened fire, injuring Trump and others and killing one rally-goer. Continue reading...

More than 30 Democratic officials have publicly called for Biden to quit, or reportedly done so in privateAfter Joe Biden's disastrous performance in his first debate against Donald Trump supercharged concerns about his age and fitness for office, the president has faced calls from members of Congress to stand down as the Democratic nominee this November.At first Biden pushed back hard, claiming elites in the party" were behind such calls, saying he had strong support from actual voters, and challenging doubters to run against me. Go ahead. Announce for president - challenge me at the convention!" Continue reading...

Latest high-profile name to call on president to step aside is Sherrod Brown, the embattled senator from OhioDemocrats were caught in an apparent stalemate on Saturday as a dug-in Joe Biden continued to endure high-profile calls to end his re-election campaign after a week of astonishing party moves to unseat the president in favor of a candidate many hope will be more likely to beat Donald Trump.In the weeks since his disastrous debate performance against Trump, the 81-year-old Biden has attempted to fight off calls for him to step down from the top of the ticket amid concerns that his age and mental acuity are no longer up to the job. But a series of interviews, a press conference and speeches have done little to quell party nerves. Continue reading...

Largest US strike so far this year could take place if negotiations, including over wages, fail next weekMembers of four unions representing 14,000 workers at the Disneyland in Anaheim, California, have voted to authorize a strike amid contract negotiations.The vote does not mean the workers will go on strike yet, but that the unions can call a strike at any point. If a strike takes place, it will be the largest strike so far in 2024. Continue reading...

Donald Trump and Joe Biden's failings put a focus on their understudies, but in JD Vance and Kamala Harris there's precious little to cheerWhat a shambles! What a shame! With less than four months to go, America's presidentialrace, global democracy'sshowpiece event, has boiled down to a choice between a crook, a codger, a cheerleader and a charlatan. Four folks who, for varying reasons, are barely fit.Voters deserve better. Or perhaps, by applauding and rewarding bad behaviour, they really don't. Friends and allies look on aghast. Chinese and Russian online election trolls sneer with delight. No worries, guys. The US is busy screwing itself. Continue reading...

It's been tumultuous few weeks marked by concerns about Biden's acuity and an assassination attempt on TrumpThey may go down as the wildest three weeks in the history of the US presidency, when the prospects of Joe Biden's candidacy surviving until polling day seemed to change from day to day - sometimes even from hour to hour.Here is a summary of the milestone events as Biden's re-election effort went through a maelstrom of uncertainty. Continue reading...

The meaty king's speech heralded several striking and radical departures from the Tory years that came beforeWhen Labour was in opposition, but looking very likely to be the next government, some intrepid explorers gathered together all the food and water they could carry and set off in search of Starmerism. Those hardy souls who made it back from the quest invariably reported that, if such a thing existed, they had not managed to locate it. This came as no surprise to elements of both left and right who always maintained that the Labour leader's animating philosophy was a terra incognita because he stood for nothing. Keir doesn't really have any politics," some of his close colleagues would whisper to me over a lunch table or a cup of tea, saying this in a disapproving tone of voice. That critique persisted through the election campaign, during which the most frequent complaint about the Labour leader was that he was impossible to pin down.Well, you can call off the search parties now. This is turning out to be a very political government led by a very political prime minister accompanied by a very political cabinet. Sir Keir is still confusing people somewhat by declaring that he leads a government unburdened by doctrine", but the ideological contours of the new order are already coming into focus. Continue reading...

The search engine's response to ChatGPT and its ilk is to take a highly partial approach to what it considers worthy of attentionOnce upon a time, a very long time ago in internet years - 1998 - Google was truly great. A couple of lads at Stanford University in California had the idea to build a search engine that would crawl the world wide web, create an index of all the sites on it and rank them by the number of inbound links each had from other sites. In other words, they built a kind of automated peer review for the web, and it came as a revelation to those of us who had been struggling for yonks with AltaVista and other search engines.The only problem was that Google initially didn't have a business model (partly because the founders didn't like advertising) but in 2000 it came up with one. It involved logging everything that users did on the platform, analysing the resulting data stream so that its real customers - advertisers - would know what users might be interested in. Continue reading...

Veteran civil rights leader hesitated to call for president to step aside, noting Biden's strong first-term recordWhen Al Sharpton recently hung up the phone with Joe Biden, a man he has known for more than 30 years, first as a senator, then as vice-president and now as president, the message was clear: He assured me he wasn't going anywhere."In their conversation, Sharpton said he never asked Biden to exit the 2024 presidential race. Continue reading...

At the city-funded D10 Community Market, clients in the Bayview neighborhood can choose their produce instead of being handed a boxWhen Nancy Gonzalez walked into the D10 Community Market in San Francisco on a recent afternoon, her refrigerator at home was empty.Right now, I'm out of food stamps and Wic," said Gonzalez, 25, referring to the USDA supplemental food program for women, infants and children. She pushed her one-month-old daughter in a stroller as her sister-in-law and two-year-old niece followed with a shopping cart choosing the necessities: milk, eggs, bread, cornmeal, fresh pasta and organic fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, red onions and sweet potatoes - all for free, with no line. Continue reading...

Rather than being miserable', as Trump's running mate once said, women who are childfree by choice are often happier and healthierHere's a fun little fact for you. Did you know that, despite all evidence to the contrary, the US is run by childless cat ladies"? Forget the statistic that, up until fairly recently, there were more men called John running big companies than women. Forget the fact, while there may be a record number of women in government at the moment, they still make up just over a quarter of members of Congress. Forget the tiny little detail that the US has never had a female president. It is very clear that it's actually the cat ladies who are in charge.We are effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. And it's just a basic fact if you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC - the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we've turned our country over to people who don't really have a direct stake in it." Continue reading...

Seth Moulton says president's apparent failure to recognise him at D-day event in France is part of deeper problemA US congressman has said he decided to join calls for Joe Biden to exit the presidential race after he claimed the 81-year-old appeared not to recognise him at a recent event.Seth Moulton, a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, was one of the first Democrats to call for Biden to drop out of the race shortly after his disastrous debate performance last month. On Friday, Moulton ramped up his efforts to oust the president from the 2024 ticket in a damning op-ed for the Boston Globe. Continue reading...

Political violence has long shaped the gun control movement, but it appears little will change from this weekIn the aftermath of the assassination of John F Kennedy in 1963, the calls for stricter gun regulation came quickly. Senator Thomas Dodd proposed new legislation five days after the president's death.Almost two decades later, the 1981 shooting of Ronald Reagan prompted swift demands for action, including restrictions on handguns. Continue reading...

Ex-Overstock chief Patrick Byrne using Maga-allied America Project to steer large amounts to groups pushing fringe theoriesThe multimillionaire and prominent election denier Patrick Byrne has been boosting his funding to the Maga-allied America Project and using it to steer six-figure checks to far-right groups that push voting conspiracies in Arizona, Michigan and elsewhere, according to tax records and voting experts.Byrne, the former CEO of online retailer Overstock.com, said last fall that only $3m of the $30m the Florida-based project had raised at that point came from the public", with the rest coming from him. Continue reading...

Republican national convention described as the happiest place on Earth' as Democrats fight and Biden gets CovidThey browsed Trump bobbleheads, Trump mugs (Make coffee great again!") and Trump T-shirts, including a new line celebrating his defiance of an assassin's bullet. They lined up at food stalls for beef sticks, gourmet popcorn, Puerto Rican roasted chicken and the local speciality, fried cheese curds. Beer was flowing, the sun was shining and Republicans were experiencing something they had not felt for a long time: joy.This year's Republican national convention in Milwaukee had the swagger of a party that believes it is on a glide path to the White House. Entirely in thrall to Donald Trump, it was more united than it has been in decades. The former US president might offer a notoriously dark and divisive vision but his supporters exuded optimism in what one journalist dubbed the happiest place on Earth". Continue reading...

The 14-year-old Philadelphian marked for Man City stardom has broken Freddy Adu's youngest ever' MLS record, re-igniting age-old debates of how young is too youngThe most newsworthy debut of the year in US men's soccer lasted just eight minutes on a midsummer Wednesday evening in Chester, Pennsylvania. The debutant's actions consisted largely of pressing the opposition, one loose touch, and an easily saved shot from distance as the game's last action. He also completed some tidy passes, made intelligent runs, and withstood a physical challenge from an MLS veteran that knocked him to the turf.As debuts go, it's a blip on the radar. As debuts for 14-year-olds go, though, it was extraordinary. Continue reading...

Kelso Cochrane was stabbed to death in 1959. After 65 years, newly released files show the Met has questions to answer

American gymnast has every chance of adding to her medal haul in Paris three years after heartbreak in JapanAs Simone Biles sprinted down the vault runway at the beginning of the women's team final of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the eyes of the world followed her every stride. Biles had already compiled an unprecedented, record-breaking career, marking herself as the greatest ever gymnast and pushing the limits of gymnastics far beyond what anyone could have imagined. Her combination of technique, air-awareness and power had driven her to unheard of successes; she had not been beaten in an all-around competition since 2013.But something was wrong. Although the famed Amanar vault is one of the most difficult skills in the world, Biles has made it look easy throughout her career. This time, though, she completed only one-and-a-half twists, a full twist short of the planned vault, before landing in a deep squat as she barely managed to stay on her feet. Continue reading...

Can France's 7ft 4in NBA rookie of the year and the hosts stop the Americans from claiming a fourth straight gold?A positively stacked United States team headlined by LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid and the Olympic debutant Stephen Curry would expect to be hot favourites to win a fourth straight gold when the men's basketball final tips off on the penultimate day of the Games in Bercy. Quelle surprise, non?Only getting to this gold medal game - and winning it - won't be the fait accompli of years past. A cluster of rivals laden with NBA stars including Serbia (the three-time MVP Nikola Jokic), Canada (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander), Australia (Josh Giddey) and Germany (Dennis Schroder) are each capable of offering stiff resistance to the Americans, especially under Fiba rules. But the gnarliest challenge will be posed by France, buoyed up by rollicking home support and a front line featuring 7ft 1in Rudy Gobert, the four-time NBA defensive player of the year, and 7ft 4in Victor Wembanyama, perhaps the most promising young player since James entered the professional ranks more than two decades ago. Continue reading...

Jackson Lee, who was first elected to Congress almost 30 years ago, had said she was being treated for pancreatic cancer last monthUS representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a strong progressive voice in the Democratic party who was outspoken on African American and women's rights, has died, her family posted on X late on Friday.Jackson Lee, of Texas, announced last month she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was undergoing treatment. She was 74 and had also previously had breast cancer. Continue reading...

Tyler Dykes, 26, who said at sentencing he is supporting Trump to be president, pleaded guilty to assault chargesA Marine who stormed the US Capitol and apparently flashed a Nazi salute in front of the building was sentenced on Friday to nearly five years in prison.Tyler Bradley Dykes, of South Carolina, was an active-duty US marine when he grabbed a police riot shield from the hands of two police officers and used it to push his way through police lines during the attack by a mob of Donald Trump's supporters on 6 January 2021. Continue reading...

US president reportedly feeling angry and betrayed' as speculation swirls that announcement could be imminentA beleaguered Joe Biden entered potentially the most decisive weekend of his 50-year political career on Friday as the growing list of Democratic members of Congress calling on him to step aside surpassed 30, with the latest being the Ohio senator Sherrod Brown.Biden is recovering from Covid-19 in self-isolation at his home in Delaware and reportedly feeling angry and betrayed" by allies and speculation mounted that he might be preparing to announce his withdrawal from the race. Continue reading...

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Largest number of people affected were in New York, and the two who died were from Illinois and New JerseyAt least two people have died and more than two dozen were hospitalized in an outbreak of listeria food poisoning linked to meat sliced at grocery store deli counters, US federal health officials said on Friday.At least 28 people in a dozen states have gotten sick, though the largest number, seven, were in New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The people who died were from Illinois and New Jersey. Samples were collected from 29 May to 5 July and so far, all of the people known to be part of the outbreak have been hospitalized. Continue reading...

County sheriff says bear by side of highway in Santa Rosa Beach is clearly not in the mood for pictures'Police in Florida are urging people to stop taking selfies with a depressed" black bear spotted loitering morosely on a roadside.The unhappy animal took up residence on the north side of Highway 98 in Santa Rosa Beach earlier this week and, according to a Facebook post by the Walton county sheriff's office, quickly attracted unwanted attention from passing motorists. Continue reading...