President Joe Biden had banked on June’s presidential debate turning around a race that was slipping away from him. Now, Donald Trump may be laying a similar bet after reversing himself by agreeing to debate on ABC next month as his new Democratic opponent enjoys surging momentum. Trump clearly doesn’t believe he’ll suffer the kind of debacle that ended Biden’s campaign, but his decision — and call for another two debates on NBC and Fox, which Vice President Kamala Harris has not agreed to — tells an emerging truth about the election. After a barnstorming week for Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Trump suddenly looks like old news — a crushing new experience for an ex-president who prides himself on driving the narrative. A huge test for both candidates The build-up to the debate on September 10, assuming it goes ahead, will be intense, and the truncated nature of the new campaign means it could create another historic pivot point on the dwindling road to the White House. Already, Trump is playing his idiosyncratic expectations game of denigrating the skills of his opponent, who could be the first Black woman and South Asian president. At a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort Thursday, he compared Harris unfavorably with Biden, who he’d long argued lacked the mental acuity to serve. “She’s actually not as smart as he is. I don’t think he’s very smart either, by the way. I’m not a big fan of his brain,” Trump The clash also looms as an extreme test for Harris. The vice president has a mixed record in debates — she performed strongly in such events early in her failed 2020 presidential campaign. But at others, she struggled. And her most unflattering moments in office have come when she’s been asked to explain her positions or answer tough questions in major interviews. But as she grows in confidence as the Democratic nominee, Harris is a more accomplished politician than she was four years ago — and supporters are keen to see her leverage her skills as a former prosecutor to skewer the four-times indicted former president. Harris jabbed Trump over his change of heart over the ABC debate and said she was happy to have a conversation about a second, later encounter. “I’m glad that he’s finally agreed to a debate on September 10. I’m looking forward to it, and I hope he shows up,” she told reporters before boarding Air Force Two in Detroit. Trump is grappling for traction in a transformed race After Harris turned the campaign upside down in less than three weeks, Trump showed in his news conference that he’s still grappling for an effective response. The ex-president appears to be grieving the contest against 81-year-old Biden and in denial about the early success of the energetic new Democratic ticket. Asked why he wasn’t doing more to campaign and to counter the rollicking rollout of the Harris campaign, Trump argued, “I’m leading by a lot and I’m letting their convention go through.” He insisted he hadn’t “recalibrated strategy at all” as he made the same arguments that the US is swamped by open borders and immigrant crime. But there’s a growing feeling his campaign needs such a reboot. Harris has erased the ex-president’s previous advantage over Biden with the race now neck-and-neck in the latest CNN Poll of Polls. A new Marquette Law School poll released Thursday morning found Harris leading 52% to Trump’s 48% among registered voters nationally. Trump’s problem is not that there are not solid arguments against Harris and her new running mate: Millions of Americans are hurting over high prices and are stalked by economic insecurity. The world is an increasingly dangerous place as American enemies team up to challenge Washington’s power. And Harris is intimately linked to everything the unpopular Biden administration did in these areas. The new Democratic team hasn’t offered concrete policies to tackle such issues, and the vice president is yet to submit to detailed questions from reporters or do a major television interview. And many Republicans and right-leaning independents are receptive to Trump’s arguments over the southern border crisis even if arrivals of undocumented migrants have eased since Biden tightened enforcement earlier this year. But Trump isn’t making many of these points effectively as he stews over his personal grievances. His characteristically off-the-rails news conference at one point digressed into him comparing his and Martin Luther King Jr.’s crowd sizes. And the former president also seems to be laying a predicate to challenge another election if he loses — untruthfully insisting on Thursday that the Democratic Party’s switch of nominees was unconstitutional. “We have a constitution. It’s a very important document, and we live by it,” Trump said, apparently oblivious to the irony of such comments coming from a former president who tried to steal the 2020 election and has threatened the fabric of US democracy. In a statement, the Harris campaign tried to spin Trump’s ramblings as proof that he’s losing at a time when it is seeking to brand Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, as “weird.” “Donald Trump took a break from taking a break to put on some pants and host a press conference public meltdown,” the campaign said in a statement that included the strike-thru. “He hasn’t campaigned all week. He isn’t going to a single swing state this week. But he sure is mad Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are getting big crowds across the battlegrounds.” The return of American carnage Trump’s strategy on Thursday was familiar. He reinserted himself into a news cycle he was losing with a dark, dystopian message. This is “the most dangerous period of time I’ve ever seen for our country,” he said, and he predicted a Great Depression and World War III if he’s not elected. His return to the politics of fear and his dark, American carnage narratives presented a contrast with the lightness and joy that has erupted in huge Democratic rallies this week

  President Joe Biden has tasked his team with coming up with an agenda for his final six months in office, defining key priorities for the administration as he looks to secure a one-term legacy – including a robust schedule on the world stage. On a call with political appointees across agencies Wednesday afternoon, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients laid out four main pillars for Biden’s team to execute in a lame duck period: the continued implementation of key legislation; lowering costs and growing the economy through additional moves on student debt relief and efforts to bring down prescription drug prices; defending personal freedoms and civil rights by calling out hate and extremism; and ensuring US strength, security and leadership in the world, according to audio of the call obtained by CNN. On the fourth point, national security adviser Jake Sullivan suggested Biden would keep a busy schedule in international matters: “You can expect to see very busy months of activity, of summits and trips to ensure that we do everything we can to leave it on the field,” Sullivan said, adding that there would be “high-level summits both here and a But before that, Sullivan said Biden’s most urgent priority “is to avoid escalation into a larger war in the Middle East and to deliver the ceasefire and hostage deal that he’s worked so hard to deliver.” Those comments come as the US is working through diplomatic channels – including Biden calls with the Egyptian president and the emir of Qatar this week – amid heightened tensions in the Middle East. Hezbollah has vowed retaliation for Israel’s assassination of a top commander. Sullivan also defined Biden’s hopes and expectations for the war in Ukraine as the clock ticks on his time in office with no immediate resolution in view: “President Biden is determined to put Ukraine in a position to prevail and ensure that Russia fails in its effort to conquer Ukraine. And he wants them in the best possible position on the battlefield so they’re in the best possible position at the negotiating table. And you can expect a flurry of work, along with our partners, with President Zelensky to achieve that result before he passes the baton.” He also noted that the Biden administration will be rolling out a “major national security memorandum on artificial intelligence” in the coming weeks. Zients told the team that Biden encouraged his top lieutenants to form a plan “to finish as strong as we started” when he announced last month that he would not seek a second term and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden, Zients said, “asked us to continue to push the envelope and look for opportunities for new policy in addition to the implementation of legislation and current policy,” but he conceded that some efforts that require new legislation could be “challenging” given time constraints and a divided Congress. “Even if we can’t get the legislation passed, it’s really important to put a stake in the ground,” Zients said, pointing to last week’s rollout of Biden’s proposed Supreme Court reforms. He encouraged the team to spend the next month recharging before the final stretch. “August, this month is a good period to get a little rest and recharge. … I encourage you to do that, and I encourage your teams to do it too because we all want to run through that tape together through January 21,” Zients said. Political appointees typically turn over from administration to administration. With Biden no longer running for reelection, it is unclear whether a potential Harris administration would keep Biden’s political appointees in place, though there would likely be some turnover. And while there is sometimes overlap for continuity, along with career officials, most of Biden’s political appointees would be unlikely to stay in a potential second Trump term.

Three years ago, they became bonded for life and in Olympic history by deciding to share the men’s high jump gold medal. On Wednesday in the Stade de France, they created another moment that exemplified what these Games are all about. High jumpers Mutaz Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy starred in perhaps the most iconic moment of the Tokyo Olympics, opting to forego a jump-off to determine the gold medal and instead sharing the top prize in their sport. Their wild hug, followed by Tamberi’s explosive celebrations, became a defining image from a pandemic Games that so many looked to for a sign of hope after a long period of isolation. In Paris, they came together again. Barshim and Tamberi were both struggling to clear the 2.27-meter mark as qualifying wound down. The Italian had just failed his second attempt when the Qatari prepared for his next jump. As he ran toward the bar, Barshim suddenly pulled up. Hopping on one leg, he fell to the ground behind the pad, writhing in pain. The first man to his side? Tamberi. Tamberi checks on Barshim holding his calf following an injury on August 7. Andrej Isakovic/AFP via Getty Images The Italian comforted Barshim, who is almost certainly in his last Olympics, as a Puerto Rican medical team member also rushed in to render aid. The Italian stretched out his fellow Tokyo gold medalist’s calf, attempting to ease the pain coursing through the 33-year-old’s leg. With the help of his friend and doctors, Barshim was able to make it back to his feet. On his third and final attempt at 2.27 meters, Barshim cleared it to qualify for Saturday’s final. “I hope he will be fine by Saturday,” Tamberi said afterward. “I need him on the field. I have to be fit myself, but I want him to be there in the competition.” The Italian failed to clear the 2.27 meter height but managed to qualify for the finals anyway. It’s also likely to be his last Olympics. The bond this unlikely friendship shares in the Stade de France this year is unlikely to be one of gold, instead more one of grit. In addition to Barshim’s injury worry on Wednesday, Tamberi has had to fight through a bout of kidney stones to even make it to the competition. While he’s feeling better, the Italian said he’s still getting his confidence back after an emotional stretch during which he had to grapple with the idea that his Olympics may be over before they began. “Being ill was very difficult. I struggled a lot mentally. I was very scared to lose this chance after I worked so hard. I am not hiding, I cried a lot because I didn’t want to lose my Olympic moment, but I am here now and the past is the past,” he said. “It was just a couple of hours in hospital. The doctors told me to stay the night, but I signed to go out because I didn’t want to be in hospital for three days before the competition. I took a risk but everything is about risk. As far as I know everything is gone, the fever and the pain.” Now, all eyes turn to Saturday to witness what could be the final Olympic chapter of this sporting friendship.

The family of a French explorer who died in a submersible implosion has filed a more than $50 million lawsuit, saying the crew experienced “terror and mental anguish” before the disaster and accusing the sub’s operator of gross negligence. Paul-Henri Nargeolet was among five people who died when the Titan submersible imploded during a voyage to the famed Titanic wreck site in the North Atlantic in June 2023. No one survived the trip aboard the experimental submersible owned by OceanGate, a company in Washington state that has since suspended operations. Known as “Mr. Titanic,” Nargeolet participated in 37 dives to the Titanic site, the most of any diver in the world, according to the lawsuit. He was regarded as one of the world’s most knowledgeable people about the famous wreck. Attorneys for his estate said in an emailed statement that the “doomed submersible” had a “troubled history,” and that OceanGate failed to disclose key facts about the vessel and its durability. Related articleUS Coast Guard recovers remaining debris and evidence from Titan submersible According to the lawsuit, the Titan “dropped weights” about 90 minutes into its dive, indicating the team had aborted or attempted to abort the dive. “While the exact cause of failure may never be determined, experts agree that the Titan’s crew would have realized exactly what was happening,” the lawsuit states. “Common sense dictates that the crew were well aware they were going to die, before dying.” The lawsuit goes on to say: “The crew may well have heard the carbon fiber’s crackling noise grow more intense as the weight of the water pressed on Titan’s hull. The crew lost communications and perhaps power as well. By experts’ reckoning, they would have continued to descend, in full knowledge of the vessel’s irreversible failures, experiencing terror and mental anguish prior to the Titan ultimately imploding.” A spokesperson for OceanGate declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in King County, Washington. The defendants must respond to the complaint in the coming weeks, court papers state. The lawsuit describes Nargeolet as an employee of OceanGate and a crew member on the Titan. The suit also criticizes Titan’s “hip, contemporary, wireless electronics system, and states that none of the controller, controls or gauges would work without a constant source of power and a wireless signal.” video Related videoUS Coast Guard convenes marine board of investigation into implosion of Titan submersible Though OceanGate designated Nargeolet as a member of the crew, “many of the particulars about the vessel’s flaws and shortcomings were not disclosed and were purposely concealed,” the attorneys, the Buzbee Law Firm of Houston, Texas, said in their statement. Tony Buzbee, one of the attorneys on the case, said one of the suit’s goals is to “get answers for the family as to exactly how this happened, who all were involved, and how those involved could allow this to happen.” Concerns were raised in the aftermath of the disaster about whether the Titan was doomed due to its unconventional design and its creator’s refusal to submit to independent checks that are standard in the industry. Its implosion also raised questions about the viability and future of private deep-sea exploration. The U.S. Coast Guard quickly convened a high-level investigation, which is ongoing. A key public hearing that is part of the investigation is scheduled to take place in September. The Titan made its last dive on June 18, 2023, a Sunday morning, and lost contact with its support vessel about two hours later. After a search and rescue mission that drew attention around the world, the wreckage of the Titan was found on the ocean floor about 984 feet (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. OceanGate CEO and cofounder Stockton Rush was operating the Titan when it imploded. The lawsuit describes Rush as “an eccentric and self-styled ‘innovator’ in the deep-sea diving industry” and names his estate as one of the defendants. In addition to Rush and Nargeolet, the implosion killed British adventurer Hamish Harding and two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood. The company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic is in the midst of its first voyage to the wreckage site in years. Last month, RMS Titanic Inc., a Georgia-based firm, launched its first expedition to the site since 2010 from Providence, Rhode Island. Nargeolet was director of underwater research for RMS Titanic. He was part of an expedition to visit the Titanic site in 1987, shortly after its location was discovered, and had supervised the salvage of innumerable Titanic artifacts, the lawsuit states. His estate’s attorneys described him as a seasoned veteran of underwater exploration who would not have participated in the Titan expedition if the company had been more transparent. The lawsuit blames the implosion on the “persistent carelessness, recklessness and negligence” of OceanGate, Rush and others. “Decedent Nargeolet may have died doing what he loved to do, but his death — and the deaths of the other Titan crew members — was wrongful,” the lawsuit states.

It’s 5:55am on a wet May morning in northern Kenya. The sun is yet to rise, but a group of runners emerge from a mud path onto the side of a road. They briefly pause, each tightening laces or adjusting a watch; then, without warning, the group sets off into the darkness at a blistering pace. Soon all evidence of them has disappeared, save for their shoe prints in the dirt. This is what Olympic preparation looks like for arguably the greatest distance runner of all time, Eliud Kipchoge. The run concludes 30 kilometers later, back where it began, at the training camp where the 39-year-old is gearing up for what could be his final bow on the Olympic stage. Kipchoge stands, once again, on the precipice of history, aiming to be the first person to secure three gold medals in one of the most iconic Olympic disciplines, the marathon. Kipchoge (left) prepares for a pre-dawn run with a member of his training team. The elite group of runners has been preparing for the Paris Olympics at a remote high-altitude camp in Kaptagat, northern Kenya. Courtesy NN Running Team Camp Kipchoge The training camp set up by Kipchoge and his management team Global Sports Communication feels more to the tastes of Rocky Balboa than Ivan Drago. There are few modern comforts and little more than a small TV room and the company of their fellow athletes to keep the residents occupied. “Discipline is sacrificial of personal pleasures,” Kipchoge tells CNN, reflecting on the daily routine that has shaped his adult life. “I always wake up at 5:45 in the morning, for the last 22 years, and that’s what discipline has meant to my mind.” Perhaps the biggest sacrifice for Kipchoge is time spent away from his wife Grace and their three children when he’s in camp. “It’s really difficult, but all in all, Grace has adapted well … my family and kids are the reason I wake up in the morning, without them I would be a much lesser person,” Kipchoge told NNRunningTeam.com in a 2022 interview. Kipchoge’s commitment and daily acts of discipline have been the bedrock of his success, building a mental strength that he believes is paramount in the marathon. “The mind is what drives the body,” he asserts. “If the driver is lazy and if the driver doesn’t have enough energy to drive you, then you cannot go anywhere.” Kipchoge with training equipment at his camp, where life is stripped back to basics in the pursuit of running excellence. Courtesy NN Running Team The 39-year-old would become the oldest male marathon winner at the Olympics, should he succeed in Paris. Courtesy NN Running Team Kipchoge racks up around 200-220 kilometers in training every week. His schedule features track and road sessions, alongside a group of elite training partners, all under the watchful eye of his long-time coach, Patrick Sang. The intense routine is fueled by a diet of traditional Kenyan food, including the fabled ugali,  a carbohydrate made from maize flour and water. Related articleFaith Kipyegon on motherhood and the quest for history For Kipchoge, recovery is just as crucial as training. “After a long run, I sometimes take an ice bath, then just relax for another two-and-a-half hours, have a massage, lunch, and an afternoon sleep,” he explains. With so much riding on Paris, life here has been stripped back to the basics. Middle distance superstar Faith Kipyegon has trained alongside Kipchoge since 2019. “To be alongside Eliud every day and hearing what he’s saying about motivation and about the hard work we always put in, early in the morning, and going for a run together and just enjoying sport together, I think it has really changed my mind set and changed my goals,” she says. History maker has eyes on Paris Eliud Kipchoge is no stranger to rewriting history. In 2019, in Vienna, he shattered one of the most formidable barriers in sports by becoming the first person to run a marathon in under two hours. “Breaking the two-hour (mark) was great for me, in making history and telling the world that we are not limited at all in any barrier, in any profession.” Eliud Kipchoge broke the barrier for the two-hour marathon on October 12, 2019 in Vienna, Austria. His time of 1hr 59min 40.2sec was an unofficial record due to the specially prepared conditions. Herbert Neubauer/AFP via Getty Images This achievement was a group effort, reflecting Kipchoge’s philosophy that running, traditionally seen as an individual sport, thrives on teamwork. “We had a great team in Vienna, from the technical team to athletes, coaches, and performance staff,” he says. “We bring our minds together, we think together, and we make history together.” With the Games upon us, Kipchoge remains laser-focused on clinching his third consecutive gold medal in the marathon. “My goal is to win for the third time. My goal is still to run and inspire the next generation,” he says. This pursuit is not just about personal achievement but about demonstrating the power of longevity and dedication in sports. For Kipchoge, the Olympics are also a platform for showcasing Kenyan excellence and promoting the country’s image globally. “Olympics is the soft spot to meet world leaders in sport and politics, and to sell our country,” he says, highlighting the broader impact of his participation. “This is the soft power, for us to tell people what’s inside Kenya.” Historically, Kipchoge says, not enough has been done to leverage the positive image that Kenyan athletes are projecting around the globe. “After huge success in the Olympics, I think it’s high time for politicians to use the platform for development, to sell the country.” After weeks of protests in the country, and with political and social tensions escalating, the Olympics could arrive at a crucial moment for Kenya, leveraging the unique power of sport to unite the nation. A lasting impact Kipchoge (left) hopes his legacy will prove inspirational to runners near and far. Courtesy NN

Organizers have canceled three Taylor Swift concerts in Austria after authorities said they foiled a terror attack planned for the Vienna leg of her blockbuster Eras tour. The extraordinary decision – which could come at significant cost to Vienna’s businesses – has devastated fans and renewed focus on the vulnerability of huge concerts as soft targets for terror networks and spree killers. Swift was scheduled to play three shows in the European city from Thursday to Saturday – which have all been canceled, according to Barracuda Music, the promoter for her concerts in Austria. “With confirmation from government officials of a planned terrorist attack at Ernst Happel Stadium, we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety,” Barracuda Music said Wednesday in a post online. Swift’s official website also listed the concerts as canceled. CNN has reached out to her representatives for comment. Speaking at a press conference in the capital, police said a 19-year-old Austrian citizen, who they identified as a sympathizer of ISIS, was arrested Wednesday morning in Ternitz, lower Austria, while another arrest was made later in Vienna. The suspects had become “radicalized by the internet,” with the 19-year-old pledging his allegiance to ISIS’ leader in July, police said. Later Wednesday, police said they had made “further detentions” but did not give a number or any other details. The suspects had undertaken “concrete preparatory measures” for a terrorist attack after police suspected explosives were stored at the home of the suspect in Ternitz, authorities said. Police also said chemical substances were secured at the home of the 19-year-old and were being evaluated, the Associated Press reported. “From the current standpoint of the investigation we assume that the target of the attack were events in the Vienna region,” police said. In a post on X, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer called the cancellation a “bitter disappointment for all fans in Austria” but said a tragedy had been prevented. “We live in a time in which violent means are being used to attack our Western way of life,” he said. “Islamist terrorism threatens security and freedom in many Western countries. This is precisely why we will not give up our values ​​​​such as freedom and democracy, but will defend them even more vehemently.” Barracuda Music said all tickets for the canceled shows will be automatically refunded within the next 10 business days. Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour began in Glendale, Arizona on March 18, 2023, and has been extended several times. It has since passed through the United States, South America, Asia and Australia, and is currently on its European leg before it makes a return to North America. Heartbroken fans Canceling three high-profile shows will not have been an easy decision for Viennese authorities given the windfall Swift’s shows bring. Her tour has made headlines for boosting the economies of the places that she visits – including generating an estimated $380 million in London, the city’s mayor said in June. It’s a stark illustration of her star power and the accompanying “Swiftonomics” that have accompanied her mammoth tour. Vienna was scheduled to be the penultimate venue of the European leg, with Swift slated to play five nights at London’s Wembley Stadium next week before moving on to Canada for the tour’s final dates in November and December. Authorities said they had expected around 65,000 audience members at each of Swift’s Vienna shows, and another 15,000-20,000 fans outside the stadium. Just a day before the announcement of the Vienna cancellation, Swift posted on Instagram after performing in Warsaw, Poland: “I can’t believe we have 2 cities left on the European leg of The Eras Tour. It’s truly flown by. See you soon Vienna!” The cancellation has left fans both shaken and disappointed, including many who had traveled to Vienna for the shows. Vanessa Szombathelyi, 24, flew from Ireland to Hungary – where she and her best friend had planned to drive across the border to Vienna for the show. It would have been her first Swift concert since she first became a fan in 2018, and she’d been excitedly waiting since buying the ticket last summer. “(I’m) feeling mixed emotions, everything from tears to being angry,” she told CNN on Wednesday, adding she was grateful the suspects were arrested. Concerts as attack targets In recent years, music performances and venues in Europe have become targets for mass attacks by Islamist militants. In November 2015, ISIS gunmen attacked the Bataclan theater in Paris – part of an assault that hit other targets in the French capital – killing at least 130 people in total. And in May 2017, the group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. Swift herself has called these types of attacks her “biggest fear.” In a 2019 essay for Elle Magazine, she wrote: “After the Manchester Arena bombing and the Vegas concert shooting, I was completely terrified to go on tour this time because I didn’t know how we were going to keep 3 million fans safe over seven months,” referring to the 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival that killed 60 — the deadliest by a lone gunman in the US to date. “There was a tremendous amount of planning, expense, and effort put into keeping my fans safe,” she wrote at the time, adding that those fears have carried over into her personal life – with the star carrying around emergency first-aid equipment like bandage dressing for gunshot or stab wounds.

It was the first big day of the wrestle for the Midwest that is likely to decide the 2024 election, and someone important was missing — former President Donald Trump. The Republican nominee left it to his vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, to troll the newly minted Democratic ticket through the critical swing state territory Wednesday as a fresh 90-day race for the White House burst into life. Vice President Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held two high-energy rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan that showed the euphoria inside a once-despairing Democratic Party for its two new candidates. The Democratic nominee borrowed a trick from Trump’s playbook, performing a dramatic arrival scene aboard Air Force Two in Michigan that mirrored his past use of the bigger presidential jet before a packed airport rally. For the second day in a row, Harris appeared before thousands of excited supporters who spelled out a collective warning sign for Trump — who is known to obsess over crowd sizes. She appeared to be quickly settling into her novel role as her party’s official candidate, displaying flashes of charisma and increasing confidence as her political honeymoon showed no signs of ending. The Trump team begins its counter-attack Trump’s team, meanwhile, tipped its hand on how it plans to halt Harris’ momentum and discredit her new sidekick, whom she delights in highlighting as a coach, a veteran and an archetypal midwestern dad. The former president has struggled to find a way to respond to the sudden change in his opponent after President Joe Biden bowed to Democratic fears that he was too old to serve a second term. Trump’s claims that Harris is not really Black and his deliberate mangling of her name in juvenile social media posts as “Kamabla” only underscore how he seems adrift. Trump on Wednesday called into his safe space on Fox News from his Florida club to claim he was “thrilled” that Harris had chosen Walz, billing the Democratic team as radical and too far left for America. “This is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner,” Trump said. His attacks, however, were mostly unfocused and of only limited effectiveness as he again failed to spell out a clear and concise case against his rival. Vance was more forensic. In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, he held an event that was much smaller than Harris’ outdoor rally but that directly addressed key economic concerns that preoccupy voters in the region, including high prices, the cost of housing and energy and food. “I know that we can do better. We were doing better when Donald J. Trump was president,” Vance said. In a new rhetorical twist, he all but ignored Biden and kept referring to the “Harris administration,” implying the vice president was the real power in the White House. Harris showed in the same western Wisconsin city that she understands that the economic issues that bedeviled the Biden administration, despite a strong post-Covid-19 rebound, are a huge concern. “We will continue to fight for affordable housing, for affordable health care, affordable childcare and paid leave,” she told the crowd. “While our economy is doing well, by many measures, prices for everyday things like groceries are still too high. You know it and I know it.” How Vance and Trump think they can trip up Harris In another front of its emerging offensive against Harris, the Trump campaign cranked up pressure on the vice president to do a major media interview, apparently hoping to goad her into a forum in which she’s historically been more vulnerable than when delivering scripted speeches. “I think it’s really disgraceful, both for Kamala Harris but also for a lot of the American media that participates in this stuff, to have a person who has been the presumptive nominee of the Democrat Party for 17 days and refuses to take a single question from the American media,” Vance said in Wisconsin. Harris, especially early in her vice presidency, sometimes waffled in interviews and unscripted moments, and the Trump campaign clearly sees this as a potential way to slow her strong start. But with the Democratic National Convention looming in less than two weeks, there seems little incentive yet for the Harris camp to take any risks, especially since Democrats can argue for now at least that the vice president has been spending her time frantically building a new campaign and hurriedly seeking a running mate. But such a position will be hardly sustainable in the longer term, and Harris will come under pressure to demonstrate she’s qualified to serve as president – especially amid increasing challenges to American power abroad. The way that Vance is pursuing the vice president through the nation’s most contested political real estate was illustrated in one rather odd moment on Wednesday. As he arrived in Wisconsin and saw Air Force Two on the tarmac, he walked toward the plane in what he later said was an attempt to talk to the vice president. “I just wanted to check out my future plane,” he said. A Trump shift on a second debate? There was another sign on Wednesday of the shifting political sands underneath the campaign. Days after saying he’d refuse to take part in a previously arranged presidential debate on ABC and demanding that Harris meet him on Fox, the ex-president showed new openness to a one-on-one clash. “We’ll be debating her, I guess, in the pretty near future. It’s going to be announced fairly soon, but we’ll be debating her,” he said in his Fox interview, leaving open the possibility it could happen on a different network. “I’d do it right now, because I want to debate her. I think it’s important for the country that we debate,” he said. After trying to dictate terms for a showdown on the conservative news channel, Trump then added, “I think Fox would do a really good job, but two people have to agree.” The fight for

For Moroccan b-boy Bilal Mallakh and b-girl Fatima El-Mamouny, the Paris Games will always hold a special significance. They’re the first Olympics to feature the sport of breaking, and the Moroccan pair are the only Africans competing in the discipline. “Representing Morocco is a beautiful thing,” Mallakh, who dances as “B-Boy Billy,” told CNN in an interview ahead of the Games. “The Olympics are certainly an important step (that) will definitely bring me more self-confidence and more opportunities.” Mallakh and El-Mamouny earned their ticket to Paris by winning their respective finals at the inaugural World DanceSport Federation’s (WDSF) African Championship in Rabat, in May 2023. El-Mamouny, aged 23, has previously represented Morocco in international competitions but Mallakh, who was still a teen at the time, was discovered at a competition just a month before the African Olympic qualifier by coach Rachid “Roshdi” Boutini, from the Royal Moroccan Federation of Aerobics Sports, Hip-Hop, Fitness and Assimilated Disciplines. “I think what makes him special is his soul,” Boutini said. “He has the spirit of sacrifice, the spirit of learning and spirit of trust. This is what makes a champion become a champion.” Mallakh, now 20, says that as part of Morocco’s national team he still has a lot of skills to master. “You have to manage your stress, listen to the introduction on stage, occupy the whole stage, choose the right combinations. It goes beyond dancing for the sake of dancing,” he said. Breaking into the Olympics Breaking, or breakdancing, as it is most commonly known, originated on the streets of New York’s South Bronx in the early 1970s. Dancers would show off their moves during percussion “breaks” in songs played at clubs and block parties, giving the discipline its name. Mallakh says he was surprised to find out some in the breaking community disagreed with it being an Olympic sport. “Without breakdancing in the Olympic Games, it would have never been regulated in Morocco and we will not give it the attention it deserves,” he added. According to German b-boy legend Professor Niels “Storm” Robitzky and British DJ Kevin “Renegade” Gopie, the global breaking community has needed new blood and a bigger stage for years. The International Olympic Committee, which had been testing new sports as part of its strategy to bring in younger audiences, incorporated breaking for the first time at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Japanese b-boy Shigelix (right) competes against Russian b-boy Bumblebee during a battle at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in October 2018. EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP via Getty Images “Breaking was having a crisis before the YOG and Summer Games announcements, (with) not many new generations in various nations,” DJ Renegade said. “It’s a symbiosis – the Olympics and the community will both gain from this relationship.” Storm and Renegade developed The Trivium judging system for the Youth Olympics, a threefold approach to each performance, based on the “physical (body), interpretative (soul), and artistic (mind)” abilities. In 2023 the World DanceSport Federation introduced changes to the Trivium system, to be used in Paris. “The WDSF changed the judging system and now use criteria. In the (original) Trivium, judges react to what they see and therefore act to the evidence presented. They don‘t prescribe but describe,” Storm said. In the Trivium Interface (using software called “and8 Judge”), space is equally divided between red and blue, which represent each competitor. Depending on which side is performing, each judge presses either the red side or blue side button on their hand-held device. Dominik Fahr International Olympic-certified breaking judge Emmanouil “Emmanuel Fox” Chalkiadakis told CNN via email that for the first time in breaking, the judges for the Olympic qualifiers were trained to base judging on breaking principles, with creativity being the one of the most important aspects. “(Breaking) is not only a dance; it also borrows from acrobatics, clowning, capoeira, gymnastics, and kung-fu movies. If you’ve followed breaking for years you will observe that creativity has never stopped,” added Chalkiadakis. “With the implementation of the new system, there is full transparency and accountability on the judge’s side and actual feedback for the competitors.” In Paris, the Moroccan duo, along with the 16 b-boys and 17 b-girls, will compete in one-on-one battles and will be judged on “technique, vocabulary, execution, originality and musicality.” El-Mamouny says the biggest challenge so far is training with the rigor of an Olympic athlete while keeping the essence of breaking in each performance. “We’ll encounter several difficulties like any athlete on the eve of the Olympics but I’m not going to give up. It’s both stressful and exciting,” she added. Morocco’s Fatima Zahra El Mamouny competes during the WDSF Breaking Continental Championship Africa, in Rabat, May 2023. Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images Moves to watch B-boy “Billy” Mallakh got into breaking when his older brother introduced him to hip-hop culture at a very young age. “This is art that allows me to express myself and encourages creativity,” he explained. That creativity is expressed through a variety of established moves that he practices in his “cypher,” when he and his breaking friends meet. In a battle, however, Top Rock is how dancers introduce themselves to their opponent, matching the groove of the music they’re performing to, and setting the tone of the competition. Top Rock is how a breaker starts their performance. CNN The Freeze is a breaker’s “exclamation point” and is usually performed upside down. A Freeze is when a breaker holds a move. CNN Footwork and Power moves require the most balance and acrobatic skill of all the moves in breaking, according to Mallakh, and are performed on the floor and using hands and feet at the same time. Power moves see breakers spinning their body on the floor. CNN Mallakh says the moves require more than athleticism — a dancer’s style, taste, and heritage all help them to stand out on stage. “Breakdancing is 50% physical effort, 50% artistic ability,” he added. “If you focus only on the physical you will not have enough to win.”

Tim Walz was in the midst of his interview with Vice President Kamala Harris’ vetting team when he told them there was something important they needed to know. He doesn’t use a teleprompter, the Minnesota governor said. He doesn’t even have one, in fact. So if he was the pick, Walz said, Harris’ team would have to get him a teleprompter and teach him how to use it. It was a lighter moment, but it was also part of an interview process with Harris’ team that Walz aced, multiple sources familiar with the meeting told CNN. The Minnesota governor was upfront about his vulnerabilities, noting he wasn’t from a swing state or a household name. He also said he was a bad debater. But Walz made it clear he would be a team player. Asked how he saw his role as VP, Walz said he would perform the job however Harris wanted him to. Asked if he wanted to be the last person in the room before Harris made a decision, Walz said only if she wanted him to be there. And asked if he had ambitions to run for president himself one day, Walz said he did not, a point that sources said was not lost on a team looking to minimize the potential for any internal drama in a future Harris administration. “He had a very clear understanding that it was to be a partner, but to support the president, go out and connect with America and be that governing partner,” said Cedric Richmond, a former Louisiana congressman and Biden White House adviser who was deeply involved in the selection process. “It’s not the easiest of positions, but it’s a very important position.” The vetting interview  was a key step for Walz to ultimately lock up the selection that Harris made after sitting down with the three finalists, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, for one-on-one interviews at her residence on Sunday. “It was a home run,” said one source familiar with Walz’s meeting with Harris’ vetting team. “Everyone loved him.” Related articleA look at Walz’s progressive policies as Minnesota’s governor Beyond the personal chemistry Harris and her team felt toward Walz, people familiar with the interview process said that Walz was also someone Harris felt could attract the kinds of voters that Democrats have lost to Donald Trump— voters that Harris may not be able to connect with on her own. “He hunts, he fishes, you want to have a beer with him,” said the source familiar with Walz’s meeting. “He will play in Michigan, Wisconsin, Western Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina.” A longtime Democratic operative who has known Walz for years agreed, saying: “He talks and looks like a lot of the voters we’ve lost to Trump.” By Tuesday, staffers at the Harris campaign headquarters were already joking about the “Blue Walz,” referencing the key midwestern battleground states that they hope he will help her lock up. Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appear on stage together during a campaign event at Girard College on August 6, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images A walk-on player Shapiro – who was favored by some of the Democratic Party and anti-Trump Republicans as a more moderate selection – did not go over as well with Harris’ team during his vetting interview, sources familiar with the process told CNN. While Walz came across as deferential and cooperative, Shapiro struck some as overly ambitious, with “a lot of questions” about what the role of the VP would be. And while Shapiro did “very well” in his in-person meeting with Harris on Sunday, multiple sources said, Walz was seen as a pick that would come with less drama and palace intrigue – both on the campaign trail and, if they win in November, at the White House. “It was a striking contrast” between the two, said the source familiar with the meeting. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro arrives at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, August 6. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Walz was an unexpected contender to become the No. 2 on the Democratic ticket – he was hardly mentioned among the potential contenders when Joe Biden dropped out a little over two weeks ago. But sources familiar with the selection process described Walz as the walk-on player who was ultimately picked for the team over the five-star recruits because he was a Midwestern governor who can campaign as a natural on the stump as a fellow “happy warrior.” Walz, who was a 24-year Army National Guard veteran and high school teacher before entering politics, brought a “joy and excitement” to the process that ultimately won Harris and her team over, said another source. Walz was the running mate option that Harris knew the least — but he won over the Democratic nominee, as well as her team, by making clear he would adapt to her style and policies. Harris had not been expecting Walz to say he didn’t plan to run for president, a source familiar with her thinking told CNN. But afterward, as she sat around the same dining room table in the Naval Observatory, Walz’s answer stuck with her. “That showed his willingness to say, ‘Look I’m not concerned about my image or my approval rating or what’s next for me in the next chapter of life. I’m going to stay in this moment, be your vice president, run through walls, fight for the American people and demonstrate our values,’” said Richmond. “That’s a strong and compelling argument.” ‘At ease and very natural’ The elevation of Walz was the culmination of a remarkable whirlwind, a capstone to a two-week campaign to join the Democratic ticket – first, with a goal of catching the attention of the Harris team and second, to win over the vice president herself. “He was at ease and very natural,” said a senior Democratic adviser who was briefed on Walz’s face-to-face interview with Harris. “It was a ‘know-it-when-you-see-it’ type of thing.” While much of the attention around the vetting process focused

Microsoft on Tuesday blamed Delta Air Lines for its weeklong bout of cancelations last month, claiming its aging technology caused the airline to recover far slower from the global tech outage than its rivals. Microsoft also claimed Delta turned down help after the CrowdStrike bug led to “blue screens of death” on Windows devices. Microsoft, CrowdStrike and Delta have been in a war of words since the airline hired a high-profile attorney to seek compensation from Microsoft and CrowdStrike. Delta CEO Ed Bastian lashed out at CrowdStrike in a CNBC interview last week and said the computer problems cost Delta $500 million. CrowdStrike’s flawed software update caused widespread computer outages on July 19 at Delta and hundreds of other companies around the globe. CrowdStrike then fired back on Sunday, saying the airline had refused offers of help to get through the outage faster. On Tuesday, Microsoft joined in. In a letter by attorney Mark Cheffo, the tech company said that even though Microsoft’s software did not cause the outage, it “immediately jumped in and offered to assist Delta at no charge.” Microsoft employees asked Delta if they needed assistance every day from July 19 to 23, the letter said. “On the morning of July 22, a Microsoft employee, aware that Delta was having more difficulty recovering than any other airline, messaged a Delta employee to say, ‘just checking in and no pressure to reply, but if you can think of anything your Microsoft team can be helping with today, just say the word.’” The letter continued. “The Delta employee replied, saying ‘all good. Cool will let you know and thank you.’” But meanwhile, the computer problems at Delta knocked its crucial crew tracking system offline for the better part of a week, making it impossible for the company to find the pilots and flight attendants it needed to fly its aircraft. While other airlines were quick to resume normal operations after the CrowdStrike outage, Delta was forced to cancel about 30% of its schedule over those five days, leaving an estimated half-million passengers stranded. It took many days after that to re-book affected passengers on other flights and return their checked bags. On July 24, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella emailed Bastian as well, according to the letter. “In fact, it is rapidly becoming apparent that Delta likely refused Microsoft’s help because the IT system it was most having trouble restoring—its crew-tracking and scheduling system—was being serviced by other technology providers, such as IBM, because it runs on those providers’ systems, and not Microsoft Windows or Azure,” the letter said. Microsoft said a preliminary review suggested Delta hasn’t “modernized its IT infrastructure” though its competitors have. “Delta has a long track record of investing in safe, reliable and elevated service for our customers and employees. Since 2016, Delta has invested billions of dollars in IT capital expenditures, in addition to the billions spent annually in IT operating costs,” a Delta spokesperson said. Who is responsible for the travel woes? Last week, Bastian claimed CrowdStrike was nowhere to be found during the meltdown. “They haven’t offered us anything. Free consulting advice to help us,” said the Delta CEO in an interview on CNBC. “If you’re going to have priority access to the Delta ecosystem in terms of technology, you’ve got to test this stuff,” Bastian said. “You can’t come into a mission critical 24/7 operation and tell us we have a bug. It doesn’t work.” A person familiar with its actions confirmed to CNN that Delta had hired the law firm of high-profile attorney David Boies to pursue compensation from Microsoft and CrowdStrike. “We have no choice,” Bastian told CNBC. “We have to protect our shareholders, we have to protect our customers (and) our employees for the damage, not just the cost but the reputational damage.” On Monday, CrowdStrike’s legal counsel sent a letter to Delta’s legal counsel, saying it was “highly disappointed by Delta’s suggestion that CrowdStrike acted inappropriately and strongly rejects any allegation that it was grossly negligent or committed willful misconduct.” Like Microsoft, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz offered onsite assistance personally to Delta CEO Ed Bastian but received no response, the letter said, adding that Delta later told CrowdStrike no help was needed. Delta’s public litigation threat “contributed to a misleading narrative that CrowdStrike is responsible for Delta’s IT decisions and response to the outage,” attorney Michael Carlinsky wrote in the letter, “Should Delta pursue this path, Delta will have to explain to the public, its shareholders, and ultimately a jury why CrowdStrike took responsibility for its actions—swiftly, transparently, and constructively—while Delta did not.” The letter also said Delta would have to explain “resiliency capabilities of Delta’s IT infrastructure.” Delta has not yet filed a lawsuit against Microsoft or CrowdStrike. In a statement, a CrowdStrike spokesperson said the letter speaks for itself. “We have expressed our regret and apologies to all of our customers for this incident and the disruption that resulted. Public posturing about potentially bringing a meritless lawsuit against CrowdStrike as a long-time partner is not constructive to any party. We hope that Delta will agree to work cooperatively to find a resolution,” a CrowdStrike spokesperson said.

The launch of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, an endeavor planned to ferry four astronauts to the International Space Station — which could also serve as a backup vehicle for the crew assigned to Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft — will be delayed, NASA announced Tuesday. The space agency said the move “allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning” for the Starliner and its crew, according to a written update from the space agency. NASA will host a news conference on the change Wednesday at 12:30 pm ET. The brief NASA update lands as rumors swirl about the fate of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which has remained attached to the space station for roughly seven weeks longer than expected, leaving its two crewmembers — veteran NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore — in limbo aboard the orbiting laboratory. NASA now says the SpaceX Crew-9 mission won’t launch until September 24 at the earliest. Back in July, the agency indicated SpaceX could launch its Crew-9 mission as soon as August 18 — after Williams and Wilmore returned to Earth aboard Starliner. Boeing also said July 25 that engineers had conducted rigorous ground tests and narrowed down the likely root cause of issues Starliner experienced in June on the first leg of its historic crewed test flight — including five thrusters that abruptly stopped working and helium leaks that cropped up en route. That process of testing and discovery, officials said, was meant to pave the way for NASA to determine whether Starliner could bring Williams and Wilmore home. But now those efforts appear to be stalled. NASA had said July 26 that it expected to begin a “flight readiness review” for the Starliner in the first couple days of August. That review process still has not started, NASA confirmed to CNN, because the space agency has not yet decided on a target return date. Ultimately, NASA administrator Bill Nelson will make the final decision about how and when Williams and Wilmore return home, according to Meira Bernstein, NASA’s acting press secretary. “His top priority, as always, is the safety of the crew,” Bernstein said. SpaceX and Boeing personnel won’t be participating in the Wednesday news conference, leaving the job of addressing the murky status of both missions — SpaceX Crew-9 and Boeing’s Starliner Crew Flight Test — to space agency officials alone. Starliner’s uncertain future NASA told reporters in July that Starliner will have to fly home solely under computer control even if there are astronauts on board. Though Boeing and the space agency allowed Williams and Wilmore to briefly take over control of the Starliner on the way to the space station, engineers later determined manual operations caused increased strain on the propulsion system. “Some of the manual maneuvering put some extra stress on the thrusters,” Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial crew program manager, said July 25. Boeing, however, has not wavered from its stance: The company maintains that it has worked to understand Starliner’s propulsion issues and is confident that the vehicle is safe to bring its crew home, according to an August 2 statement from the company. Williams and Wilmore docked at the space station on June 6 and have now been there for 61 days as mission teams conducted tests and analyses to determine the cause of the thruster issues and helium leaks. NASA has said tapping SpaceX to step in and bring the Starliner astronauts home was a contingency for the mission, but the space agency has consistently stated that it is not the desired scenario. “There is a lot of good reasons to complete this mission and bring Butch and Suni home on Starliner,” Stich said during the July briefing. Mark Nappi, Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program manager, added, “Of course, I’m very confident we have a good vehicle to bring the crew back with.”

The Belgian triathlete who fell ill after swimming in the women’s race says that she did not contract E.coli. In a post on her Instagram page Tuesday, Claire Michel said she felt the need to “clarify a few things” following “conflicting information.” “Blood tests showed that I contracted a virus (not E. Coli),” Michel said, adding that after three days of vomiting and diarrhea, she ended up needing “significant” medical attention at the Polyclinic in the Olympic village. Michel did not specify the virus she contracted. On Sunday, the Belgium Olympic Committee announced that its team was dropping out of the triathlon mixed relay race after Michel fell ill. The move – along with the Swiss team needing to replace one of its athletes who had developed a gastrointestinal infection – raised more questions about the water quality in the Seine. The statement did not specify Michel’s illness but had pointed words that appeared to be aimed at organizers: “The COIB and Belgian Triathlon hope that lessons will be learned for future triathlon competitions at the Olympic Games such as guaranteeing training days, competition days and the competition format, which must be clarified in advance and ensure that there is no uncertainty for the athletes and support personnel.” Michel, who has now returned to Belgium, said she is “gradually” doing better. The triathlon races took place in the River Seine after water quality results were deemed “very good” by the organizers. The marathon swimming races are also scheduled in the Seine for Thursday and Friday. Marathon swimmers were cleared to enter the water to train Wednesday morning in the French capital, a day after organizers canceled a training session due to “water quality concerns.” Paris 2024 said in statement Wednesday that the latest test results “have been assessed as compliant by World Aquatics,” allowing for the familiarization session to go ahead. Cleaning up the Seine The decision to hold some swimming events in the famous river that splits Paris raised eyebrows when it was first announced. Swimming in the Seine has been illegal for a century but, in their desire to put the host city on full display, organizers worked up a plan to clean up the river so the world’s best athletes could use it during Paris 2024. About $1.5 billion (1.4 billion Euros) had been spent trying to clean up the river ahead of the Games and Paris officials have made a big show of displaying its suitability. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the river earlier last month to display her confidence in the river’s water quality and promised to put a swimming pool in the river after the Games. The French sports minister has also gone for a dip in the Seine. One of the key infrastructure projects designed to help tackle pollution has been a new rainwater storage basin – called the Austerlitz basin – which can hold 20 Olympic swimming pools worth of water, according to a statement from Paris 2024. Following rainy weather on June 17 and 18, the basin filled to 80% capacity, successfully preventing 40,000 cubic meters (40 million liters) of wastewater and rainwater from being discharged into the Seine, according to the city of Paris. But the water quality can change fast. Official data shows one-off rainfall events can quickly cause E. coli levels to spike again, and as recently as June 30 – following rain the previous day – E. coli levels increased to around 2000 CFU/100mL at Alexandra III Bridge, where the race is set to begin. That’s double the level needed for “good” water quality, as per World Triathlon standards. For much of the month before the games, E. coli levels were above acceptable levels, which could expose athletes to serious health concerns. If E. Coli levels are above 1000 CFU/100mL, the swimming leg of the triathlon will have to be cancelled, according to World Triathlon competition rules, unless the organization’s medical committee decides the race can go ahead. The individual triathlon races took place with a 1.5-kilometer swim, followed by a 40K bike race – passing by the Le Grand Palais and the Champs-Élysées – before finishing with a 10K run through the heart of the city. The mixed team relay race involving four athletes – two men and two women – saw each team member completing a 300-meter swim, followed by a 5.8K bike ride and 1.8K run.

Hours before former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi formally launched the first impeachment investigation into former President Donald Trump in 2019, she received a call from the subject of the probe himself. “Why are you doing that?” Trump asked, according to Pelosi in her new book, “The Art of Power.” In the more than 20-minute back-and-forth, Pelosi described Trump as “becoming increasingly whiny by the end” and framed the conversation as “contentious” as the former president defended his actions and Pelosi explained why she planned to move forward with the investigation. Reflecting on the phone call with CNN’s Dana Bash, Pelosi, who rarely shares details from her private conversations, said she included the specifics in the book “because it was the basis for how to go forward. He was saying, ‘It was a perfect call, it was a perfect call.’ And I was saying it was a perfectly clear call, and we will be going forward.” Trump communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to CNN, “Sounds like Nancy Pelosi continues to prove herself to be a liar and a fraud. Everything that comes out of her mouth is pure garbage, just like that fake title she gives herself because she can’t stop living in the past. What a loser.” In December 2019, the House impeached Trump on a party line vote as the result of a Democratic-led investigation into allegations that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call to investigate his political rivals while withholding US security assistance and a White House meeting. But he was acquitted in the Senate in February 2020. During the September phone call, Pelosi said Trump claimed she would be impressed with his “lack of pressure,” that he “didn’t threaten anyone” and “there’s no reason” to impeach him. “I’ve done a great job as president,” Trump said and, according to Pelosi, kept repeating, “It’s very, very unfair.” Pelosi, who referenced her decades long stint on the House Intelligence Committee, said in their conversation she pointed to the need to investigate the allegations stemming from an anonymous whistleblower complaint, and added her perspective. “I do not believe that the president (needs to directly) make a quid pro quo to intimidate a foreign leader,” Pelosi told Trump. “I didn’t do that,” Trump replied, to which Pelosi replied, “You withheld aid, and there is an inference drawn.” As Trump continued to claim that his call with Zelensky was “flawless,” Pelosi responded, “We’ll find out. Don’t be afraid of it.” “This is unfair,” Trump persisted. “The call was perfect.” In her final reply to Trump before the end of the call, Pelosi said, “That call was perfectly clear. The truth will come out.” Pelosi said she was scheduled to call Trump, but the former president beat her to it and placed the call at 8:16 a.m. ET that morning. That day, Trump was speaking to the UN General Assembly, and during the call, Pelosi said he complained that her announcement launching the impeachment inquiry would overshadow his speech. “I was thinking, Well, good for you. That’s what you are doing today. I’m telling you what I’m doing today,” Pelosi wrote in her book. Once the approximately 20-minute phone call with Trump ended, Pelosi reflected, “I’ve had a lot of conversations with this man, and at the end of nearly all of them, I think, Either you are stupid, or you think that the rest of us are.” New book describes aftermath of attack on Pelosi’s husband In her book, Pelosi gives her most in-depth and personal recounting of the violent attack against her husband, Paul, in October 2022 that resulted in the attacker being sentenced to 30 years in prison. When Pelosi was awakened by her security detail in Washington, DC, in the early hours that morning to be informed of what happened in their San Francisco home, she did not know whether her husband of nearly 60 years was still alive. She recounted how hectic it was trying to inform their five children who were spread out across the country what she knew so far before they could learn about it through press reports. Pelosi shared that her youngest daughter, Alexandra, told her while they were in the ICU after the attack that she regretted her mother ever entering public service. “If I had known what we were signing up for, if I had known this was where it was going to go, I would never have given you my blessing thirty-five years ago,” Alexandra said, according to Pelosi. The former speaker expressed the deeply profound impact the attack on her husband has had on her and her family — how family members still avoid parts of the house where the attack happened, how Paul has never spoken about the attack with his family and the physical toll it still takes on Paul. “Paul was not the intended target that night, but he is the one who paid and is still paying the price physically,” Pelosi wrote. “And our entire family is paying the price emotionally and traumatically.”

Social media has played a big role in fueling the anti-immigration riots engulfing towns and cities in the United Kingdom. And agitator-in-chief Elon Musk is not sitting on the sidelines. The Tesla chief executive and owner of X posted to the platform Sunday that “civil war is inevitable” in response to a post blaming the violent demonstrations on the effects of “mass migration and open borders.” On Monday, a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer addressed Musk’s comment, telling reporters “there’s no justification for that.” But Musk is digging his heels in. On Tuesday, he labeled Starmer #TwoTierKier in an apparent reference to a debunked claim spread by conspiracy theorists and populist politicians such as Nigel Farage that “two-tier policing” means right-wing protests are dealt with more forcefully than those organized by the left. He also likened Britain to the Soviet Union for attempting to restrict offensive speech on social media. Musk’s decision to amplify the anti-immigrant rhetoric highlights the role that false information spread online is playing in fomenting real-world violence — an issue of growing concern to the UK government, which vowed Tuesday to bring those responsible for the riots, as well as their online cheerleaders, to justice. Later on Tuesday, a 28-year-old man in Leeds, northern England, became the first person to be charged with using “threatening words or behavior intending to stir up racial hatred” online, according to the UK Crown Prosecution Service. The charges related to “alleged Facebook posts,” Nick Price, the director of legal services at the CPS, said in a statement. In recent days, rioters have damaged public buildings, set cars on fire and hurled bricks at police officers. They also set ablaze two Holiday Inn hotels in northern and central England believed to be housing asylum seekers awaiting a decision on their claims. Hundreds have been arrested. The riots broke out last week after far-right groups claimed on social media that the person charged with carrying out a horrific stabbing attack that left three children dead was a Muslim asylum seeker. The online disinformation campaign stoked outrage directed at immigrants. The suspect, who has since been named as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, was born in the UK, according to police. But false claims about the attack — Britain’s worst mass stabbing targeting children in decades and possibly ever — spread rapidly online and continued garnering views even after the police had set the record straight. According to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank, by mid-afternoon on July 30, the day after the attack, a false name circulated online for the alleged asylum seeker had received more than 30,000 mentions on X alone from more than 18,000 unique accounts. “The false name attributed to the attacker was circulated organically but also recommended to users by platform algorithms,” the ISD said in a statement. “Platforms therefore amplified misinformation to users who may not otherwise have been exposed, even after the police had confirmed the name was false.” According to the UK government, bots, which it said could be linked to state-backed actors, may well have amplified the spread of false information. Tackling ‘online criminality’ Although social media companies have their own internal policies barring hate speech and incitement to violence from their platforms, they have long struggled to implement them. “The problem has always been enforcement,” Isabelle Frances-Wright, a technology expert at the ISD, told CNN. “Particularly in times of crisis and conflict, when there is a huge groundswell of content, at which point their already fragile content moderation systems seem to fall apart.” It does not help matters that Musk himself has promoted incendiary content on X, a platform that European regulators last month accused of misleading and deceiving users. If he can do it, why not others? For example, shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing outbreak of the war in Gaza, the self-declared “free speech absolutist” publicly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory popular among White supremacists. Musk later apologized for what he called his “dumbest” ever social media post. On his watch, X has also relaxed its content moderation policies and reinstated several previously blocked accounts. That includes far-right figureheads like Tommy Robinson, who has published a stream of posts stoking the UK protests while criticizing violent attacks. In 2018, before Musk bought Twitter, as X used to be known, Robinson was banned from the platform for violating its rules governing hateful “conduct.” The UK government this week vowed to prosecute “online criminality” and has pushed social media companies to take action against the spread of false information. “Social media has put rocket boosters under… not just the misinformation but the encouragement of violence,” UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Monday. “That is a total disgrace and we cannot carry on like this,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live in an interview, adding that the police will be pursing “online criminality” as well as “offline criminality.” During a cabinet meeting Tuesday, Starmer said those involved in the riots — in person and online — “will feel the full force of the law and be subject to swift justice,” according to a readout seen by CNN. At the same meeting, Peter Kyle, the minister for science and technology, said that in conversations with social media companies he had made clear their responsibility to help “stop the spread of hateful disinformation and incitement.” At a briefing following the meeting, Starmer dodged questions from reporters about Musk’s comments. X, Facebook owner Meta and TikTok have not responded to CNN’s requests for comment. It is unclear that the UK government has the tools to hold social media platforms accountable for their role in the riots. The UK’s Online Safety Act, adopted last year, creates new duties for social media platforms, including an obligation to take down illegal content when it appears. It also makes it a criminal offense to post false information online “intended to cause non-trivial harm.” But the legislation is not yet in effect because the regulator in charge of upholding it, Ofcom, is still consulting on codes of practice and guidance. In a statement Monday, Ofcom said tackling illegal content online is a “major priority.”

A layer of diamonds up to 18 kilometers (11 miles) thick could be tucked below the surface of Mercury, the solar system’s smallest planet and the closest to the sun, according to new research. The diamonds might have formed soon after Mercury itself coalesced into a planet about 4.5 billion years ago from a swirling cloud of dust and gas, in the crucible of a high-pressure, high-temperature environment. At this time, the fledgling planet is believed to have had a crust of graphite, floating over a deep magma ocean. A team of researchers recreated that searing environment in an experiment, with a machine called an anvil press that’s normally used to study how materials behave under extreme pressure but also for the production of synthetic diamonds. “It’s a huge press, which enables us to subject tiny samples at the same high pressure and high temperature that we would expect deep inside the mantle of Mercury, at the boundary between the mantle and the core,” said Bernard Charlier, head of the department of geology at the University of Liège in Belgium and a coauthor of a study reporting the findings. RELATED ARTICLEThe discovery of a possible sign of life in Venus’ clouds sparked controversy. Now, scientists say they have more proof The team inserted a synthetic mixture of elements — including silicon, titanium, magnesium and aluminum — inside a graphite capsule, mimicking the theorized composition of Mercury’s interior in its early days. The researchers then subjected the capsule to pressures almost 70,000 times greater than those found on Earth’s surface and temperatures up to 2,000 degrees Celsius (3,630 degrees Fahrenheit), replicating the conditions likely found near Mercury’s core billions of years ago. After the sample melted, the scientists looked at changes in the chemistry and minerals under an electron microscope and noted that the graphite had turned into diamond crystals. This mechanism, the researchers say, can not only give us more insight into the secrets hidden below Mercury’s surface, but on planetary evolution and the internal structure of exoplanets with similar characteristics. Mercury owes its gray surface to the widespread presence of graphite, which is a form of carbon. Researchers recreated the extreme high temperatures and pressure of the planet’s early environment to find out whether the carbon could have transformed into diamond crystals. NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington Mysterious Mercury Mercury is the second densest planet after Earth. A large metallic core takes up 85% of Mercury’s radius, and it’s also the least explored of the solar system’s terrestrial planets. The last completed mission to Mercury, NASA’s MESSENGER, orbited the planet between March 2011 and April 2015. Also known as the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging mission, it gathered data about the planet’s geology, chemistry and magnetic field, before the spacecraft ran out of fuel and impacted the surface. “We know there’s a lot of carbon in the form of graphite on the surface of Mercury, but there are very few studies about the inside of the planet,” said Yanhao Lin, a staff scientist at the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research in Beijing and coauthor of the study, which appeared in June in the journal Nature Communications. “Compared to the Moon or Mars, we know very little about Mercury, also because we don’t have any samples from the surface of the planet,” Charlier said. Mercury is different from all the other terrestrial planets, he added, because it is so close to the sun and therefore has a very low amount of oxygen, which affects its chemistry. The research team used an anvil press, located at the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research in Beijing, to replicate the conditions likely found near Mercury’s core for the study. Yanhao Lin One of MESSENGER’s findings was the fact that Mercury is rich in carbon and its surface is gray due to the widespread presence of graphite, which is a form of carbon. Diamonds are also made of pure carbon, formed under specific pressure and temperature conditions. The researchers wanted to see whether this process could have played out during the planet’s formation. When Lin, Charlier and their colleagues were preparing the experiment to mimic Mercury’s interior shortly after the planet’s formation, one crucial element was the knowledge that sulfur is also present on Mercury, as evidence from previous studies had shown. “We found out that the conditions are different from Earth because there is a lot of sulfur on Mercury, which decreased the melting point of our sample,” Charlier said. “It fully melted at a lower temperature compared to a system without sulfur, which is good for the stability of diamond, because diamond likes high pressure but lower temperature. And this is mainly what our experiments tell us — the magma ocean of Mercury is cooler than expected, and also deeper as we know from the reinterpretation of geophysical measurements,” he added, referring to data also from MESSENGER. These two factors, according to the study, are what makes the formation of diamonds possible. Diamonds on the surface? Charlier warns that the thickness of the diamond layer, between 15 and 18 kilometers (9.3 and 11.1 miles), is only an estimate, and it might change because the process of formation of the diamonds is still ongoing as the core of Mercury continues to cool. It’s also impossible to tell how large the individual diamonds may be. “We have no clue about their size, but a diamond is made of carbon only, so they should be similar to what we know on Earth for their composition. They would look like pure diamonds,” he said. Could the diamonds ever be mined? According to Charlier, that would be impossible even with future, more advanced technologies, because they are at a depth of about 500 kilometers (310 miles). “However, some lavas at the surface of Mercury have been formed by melting of the very deep mantle. It is reasonable to consider that this process is able to bring some diamonds to the

A new promotional video by tech giant Apple has been met with heavy criticism in Thailand, with many social media users claiming it offers an unrealistic, outdated view of the country. The 10-minute clip, which has received 5.4 million views since its release on Apple’s YouTube channel on July 18, is the fifth installment of the tech firm’s “Apple at Work – The Underdogs” series. The plot follows four characters – known as the underdogs – and their attempts to overcome workplace crises using Apple devices and software. Since the series’ debut in 2019, the characters have left their corporate jobs and founded their own company. The latest episode is centered on their work trip to Thailand, where they hop from trains to tuk-tuks as they race against time to find a factory capable of producing a million tailor-made boxes to meet the demands of their difficult tycoon client, played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, the actor best known for playing McLovin in high-school comedy “Superbad.” RELATED ARTICLEWhy Thailand is making it easier for travelers to stay longer Complaints have flooded social media since the video’s release, with residents saying it fails to show the modern side of their country. Many claim the footage was edited to seemingly appear old-fashioned, with a faded sepia tone, and that the camera focuses on shabby architecture. Others have complained about the video’s airport scenes, during which one of the characters loses his luggage and seeks help from a local ground staff member called “Happy.” “When I watched it, I was thinking, this was Thailand 50 years ago. This looked like Thailand 70 years ago. There were no segments showing the modernity of my home,” David William, an American content creator based in Thailand, said in Thai in a TikTok video that has been viewed over 11 million times. In an interview with CNN, he said he’s never seen “a cab that looked that bad before” in his nearly 10 years in the country, adding Thailand’s main gateway, Suvarnabhumi Airport is just as modern as New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. “Thailand is a modern, safe and beautiful country,” he said. “I just hope [people] don’t misunderstand.” Echoing his view, Facebook user Nipawan Labbunruang said the video makes Thailand look “terrible.” “What is this clip trying to present?” she wrote in a post that received 1,900 likes. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat database, a nonprofit organization that tracks urban development, ranks Bangkok 13th in the world in terms of the number of skyscrapers. The Thai capital also has some of Asia’s biggest luxury shopping malls and is filled with five-star hotels. A view of the Bangkok skyline, taken on May 14, 2024. Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images ‘I have watched it. It’s fine’ But the video has also won some local fans – including the government. Indochina Productions, a Thailand-based studio, was involved in the Apple production, according to its website, with Thai authorities hailing it as a win for the country on the world stage. RELATED ARTICLEWhy mango sticky rice is one of Thailand’s most beloved summer dishes “The prime minister has continuously supported the development of the country’s potential by implementing policies to promote Thai soft power as a magnet to attract people worldwide to visit, work and live in Thailand, making Thailand a key destination for people globally,” said Chai Wacharonke, spokesperson for Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, in a statement issued to media following the release of the Apple video. Others pointed out that the video isn’t really that much of a departure from reality. “I have watched it. It’s fine,” wrote Thai social media user Sakchawit Attasillekha on Facebook, pointing out there are “plenty of old hotels in Bangkok” and “old taxis decorated with Buddha amulets.” “However, we also have good things too,” he added. Sombat Boonngamanong, a prominent social activist, also weighed in on Facebook saying that he was surprised the video had caused such a stir. “The movie was cute,” he said, and stressed that he is an Android user. Apple has not issued an official response to the criticisms.

Within 72 hours of the start of the Paris Olympics, star Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei had already climbed the champions’ podium twice. The former gold medalist won two bronzes as China fights to best rivals like the United States and Australia. But the wins for Zhang, dubbed China’s “butterfly stroke queen,” have come under scrutiny – both from her legions of fans and the wider sporting world. The Chinese team is at the center of a controversy that’s roiled international sport following revelations that nearly half the group Beijing sent to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, including Zhang, had months earlier tested positive for a banned performance enhancing substance. Ad Feedback The swimmers had been cleared by China’s Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) shortly before the Tokyo Games, after it ruled that the positive tests for banned heart drug trimetazidine – believed to aid endurance and recovery time – were the result of contamination, likely from a hotel restaurant. The global sports doping watchdog World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted the assessment without an appeal. But the situation, first reported by the New York Times and German public broadcaster ARD in April, has sparked backlash in the swimming world, where doping can result in years-long bans for athletes who violate the rules. The Times reported that Zhang was one of the swimmers who tested positive at the time. Concern only deepened Tuesday, after WADA acknowledged a separate 2022 case in which two Chinese swimmers tested positive for “trace amounts of a prohibited substance metandienone,” a banned anabolic steroid. They were provisionally suspended but later cleared of a violation by CHINADA – again citing contamination linked to food, WADA said. Since the 2021 case came to light, prominent athletes have voiced concerns about the anti-doping system. US Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart accused WADA of engaging in a cover-up and earlier this week said its failures had “overshadowed” the Olympics. The US government is separately pursuing a criminal investigation. The furor has continued even after the release earlier this month of interim results from a probe into WADA’s handling of the 2021 case. The report, conducted by an independent investigator, backed the anti-doping body’s decision not to appeal the case. A separate audit by swimming governing body World Aquatics also said it found that body hadn’t mismanaged the case when it too decided not to appeal. Deepening controversy For China’s athletes, however, the pressure is apparent. As races got underway this weekend, Zhang told reporters she was “deeply worried” that other athletes would view her through a “biased lens” and be reluctant to compete against her. “I feel so wronged,” said Zhang, denying that Chinese swimmers engaged in doping. And concerns about transparency within the anti-doping system continue to swirl, especially following the latest revelation. RELATED ARTICLEChina’s LGBTQ+ community celebrates rare scenes from Paris Olympics. But the internet is divided The 2022 case, reported by the Times earlier this week, involves a swimmer on the Chinese roster in Paris, according to the paper. WADA said in its statement that it had thoroughly reviewed that case, which it linked to two other positive tests from Chinese athletes in other sports earlier this year, and “concluded that there was no evidence” to challenge the Chinese finding that contaminated meat was the source of the positive tests. It noted that Chinese authorities had found the steroid in meat samples it tested. The body also said it had been “unfairly caught in the middle of geopolitical tensions between superpowers” – in an apparent reference to the pushback it’s received from the US and its anti-doping agency. In a statement CHINADA said the latest news report “distorted the fact(s) and quoted the relevant case out of context,” noting the “issue of meat contamination of prohibited substances is prevalent worldwide and similar cases have occurred in many countries and regions.” In a statement sent to CNN earlier this month following the release of the independent probe of WADA’s handling of the 2021 case, CHINADA said the findings proved its “investigation and handling of the facts of the case are reasonable.” China’s Pan Zhanle wins gold and breaks a world record in the final of the men’s 100-meter freestyle swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 31. Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images Under pressure In China, where the swim team has long been a source of Olympic glory, the situation has brought outrage and accusations of unfair treatment. Chinese social media was flooded with an outpouring of support for Zhang over the weekend, as fans called for her not to be upset over a third-place finish Monday in the 100-meter butterfly. Zhang, who won silver in the event in Tokyo, was seen with tears in her eyes at the podium. “Despite the immense pressure, the fact that you have won a medal is the best outcome,” wrote one social media user on the platform Weibo. “It mirrors China’s continuous growth and revival, even as it faces encirclement and suppression from the West,” the post added, echoing a point made by many users who portrayed the latest controversy as orchestrated by the US. “It’s high time to slam our fists on the table over the exclusive global drug system that the US has orchestrated,” said another. At the heart of the outrage in China is the scrutiny the Chinese swim team has faced in Paris. Earlier this month, global swimming body World Aquatics acknowledged the 2021 case had “weakened” community trust in its anti-doping system and pledged to test certain athletes “including Chinese athletes taking part in the Paris Olympic Games,” more frequently than others. Last week, the body said Chinese swimmers have been tested more than those from all other countries, averaging 21 times per swimmer since the start of the year. That compares with an average of four times overs the same period for Australian swimmers and six times for Americans. GALLERY RELATED GALLERYThe best photos of the Paris Olympics China’s Pan Zhanle, who took gold in the 100-meter men’s freestyle on Wednesday after smashing the

A teenage boy has been charged with murder after three young girls were killed in a stabbing attack at a dance class in northwest England on Monday, British police said. Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and 9-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar were stabbed to death while attending a Taylor Swift-themed class in the town of Southport, in one of the worst assaults against children in the country in decades. Eight other children suffered stab wounds in the attack and five of them are in critical condition, police said. Two adults also remain in critical condition after being injured in the attack. Merseyside Police said Wednesday that they charged a 17-year-old boy from the nearby village of Banks with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder, as well as possession of a “bladed article.” Police have not named the suspect because he is a minor. The suspect will appear at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. “Whilst these charges are a significant milestone within this investigation, this remains very much a live investigation and we continue to work with our partners from Lancashire Police and Counter Terrorism Policing North West (CTPNW),” Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said in a statement. Left to right: Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, 6, and 7-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe. Merseyside Police Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Mersey-Cheshire Sarah Hammond stressed that “criminal proceedings against the defendant are active and that he has the right to a fair trial.” “It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary, or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings,” Hammond added. The charges came as grieving Southport residents cleaned up after far-right protesters crashed a vigil held on Tuesday for those killed in the attack, clashing with police, throwing bricks at a mosque and setting vehicles alight. The violence followed a peaceful vigil in the seaside town attended by hundreds of mourners who laid wreaths, toys and candles in an emotional tribute to the three girls who were killed. Police said five people have been arrested so far in connection with the violence in Southport, in which more than 50 police officers were injured. “Our work to identify all those responsible for the despicable violence and aggression seen on the streets of Southport on Tuesday continues,” Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss said in a statement. “The individuals involved in the disorder had no regard for the families and friends of those who so tragically lost their lives, and a community in grief. It has been heartening today to see the reaction of the whole community, who have pulled together to clean the streets, rebuild walls and re-glaze broken windows.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the protests in Southport as “thuggery” and said those involved “will feel the full force of the law.”

The US has reached a plea deal with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants accused of plotting the 2001 terror attacks, according to the Defense Department. The pretrial agreement – reached after 27 months of negotiations – takes the death penalty off the table for Mohammed, Walid Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa al Hawsawi, prosecutors said in a letter, obtained by CNN, sent to the families of 9/11 victims and survivors shortly before the Department of Defense announced the news in a press release Wednesday evening. After beginning negotiations in March 2022, the three men agreed to plead guilty to all charges, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charging sheet, the families were told. Mohammed and his co-defendants will enter guilty pleas at a plea hearing that could come as early as next week, according to the letter. “We recognize that the status of the case in general, and this news in particular, will understandably and appropriately elicit intense emotion, and we also realize that the decision to enter into a pre-trial agreement will be met with mixed reactions amongst the thousands of family members who lost loved ones,” prosecutors wrote in the letter. “The decision to enter into a pre-trial agreement after 12 years of pre-trial litigation was not reached lightly; however, it is our collective, reasoned, and good-faith judgment that this resolution is the best path to finality and justice in this case.” ‘The least bad deal’ The plea agreement avoids what would have been a long and complicated death penalty trial against Mohammed. “This is the least bad deal in the real world that would ever happen,” said Peter Bergen, a terrorism expert and CNN national security analyst who has written extensively about Osama bin Laden. The government faced the difficult challenge of advancing a case that had stalled over the course of the two decades since Mohammed’s capture in Pakistan in 2003 for his alleged involvement in the terror attacks. “They were still in pre-trial hearings,” Bergen told CNN. “Getting some kind of deal is better.” With the skeleton of the World Trade Center in the background, New York City firefighters work amid debris after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Mark Lennihan/AP/File In 2008, Mohammed was charged with a list of crimes including conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, and terrorism and material support of terrorism. The US had said it would seek the death penalty for Mohammed. But the military trial against Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators was delayed for years as the US tried to determine how to handle the issue of torture used against Mohammed and others at secret CIA prisons in the 2000s. The issue posed a legal problem for prosecutors about whether evidence obtained through torture was admissible in court. The trial was set to begin on January 11, 2021, but delays brought about by the resignation of two judges and the coronavirus pandemic pushed the date back again. The three alleged conspirators will still face a sentencing hearing where the parties will present evidence to argue for an appropriate sentence short of the death penalty. That sentencing hearing will not occur before next summer, according to the letter sent to families. “During the sentencing hearings in this case, there may be an opportunity for a member of your family to testify about the impact the September 11 attacks have had on you and your loved ones, and to provide a victim impact statement that will be considered by the military jury in determining a sentence,” prosecutors said in the letter. The letter notes that prosecutors met with families for feedback about possible plea agreements as is required by law. As part of the agreement, the defendants agreed to answer written questions from the surviving victims and victims’ families about their roles and reasons for conducting the attacks. The families now have 45 days to submit questions to be answered by the alleged co-conspirators by the end of the year, the letter says. According to the letter, the prosecutors plan to travel to meet with the families in person this fall to discuss the plea agreements. Families of victims push back But some families pushed back on the plea agreements Wednesday. Brett Eagleson, the president of 9/11 Justice, an organization that represents 9/11 survivors and family members of victims, said in a statement that the families are “deeply troubled by these plea deals” and pushed for more information about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the attacks. “While we acknowledge the decision to avoid the death penalty, our primary concern remains access to these individuals for information. These plea deals should not perpetuate a system of closed-door agreements, where crucial information is hidden without giving the families of the victims the chance to learn the full truth.” “We urge the administration to ensure that these deals do not close the door on obtaining critical information that can shed light on Saudi Arabia’s role in the 9/11 attacks. Our quest for justice will not waver until the full truth is revealed, and justice is served for the victims and their families,” Eagleson said. A woman wipes away tears as she views photographs of people missing after the 9/11 terrorist attack, on September 16, 2001. The posters were put up in front of the Armory on 25th Street, which had been converted to a family center for victims of the attack. Charles Dharapak/AP/File Terry Strada, the national chair for 9/11 Families United, said the news came as a gut punch as she stepped out of a Manhattan federal courthouse Wednesday afternoon from a daylong hearing in the families’ ongoing litigation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Strada expressed concern that the plea deal news will overshadow the newly unsealed evidence in the families’ fight to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its purported role in the terror plot. The kingdom has denied any involvement in the attacks. “No family member knew this was coming,” she said.

The Israeli military said Thursday that its fighter jets killed Hamas’ military chief in Gaza – Mohammed Deif – in a strike in Khan Younis on July 13. Israel’s confirmation that Deif was killed in southern Gaza came nearly three weeks after it carried out the strike, which killed at least 90 Palestinians in the sprawling tent city of Al-Mawasi. Footage from Al-Mawasi, which has been designated as a safe zone for Palestinians fleeing the fighting elsewhere, showed bodies in the street and destroyed tents. What does Israel say? An Israeli military official told CNN they recently received new intelligence that gave them the confidence to confirm Deif was killed in the airstrike, but declined to specify the nature of that intelligence. The Israeli military said that they launched a “precise, targeted strike” where Deif was staying, adding that “additional terrorist operatives were also eliminated during the strike.” CNN cannot independently verify IDF statements. At the time of the attack, Israeli officials said they had indications their strike was successful but were not able to confirm that he was killed until now. Who is Mohammed Deif? Deif is understood to be one of the masterminds behind the Hamas-led October 7 attacks into southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and another 250 abducted.

A golden bikini costume worn by Carrie Fisher on the set of “Return of the Jedi” has sold at auction for $175,000. The seven-piece outfit, which also includes hip rings, an armlet and a bracelet, went to an unidentified bidder during a two-day sale featuring over 500 items of Hollywood paraphernalia. Worn by Princess Leia after she is captured by Jabba the Hutt and forced into slavery, the costume has become a cult favorite among “Star Wars” fans. Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, which hosted the sale, described it as being “among the most memorable” outfits in the franchise’s history. But the costume has also attracted criticism for sexualizing Fisher and her character. In 2016, the late actor described her discomfort at being “nearly naked,” telling NPR: “It wasn’t my choice. When (director George Lucas) showed me the outfit, I thought he was kidding and it made me very nervous.” Princess Leia’s iconic costume pictured on show at an exhibition in New York City in 2015. TJ Roth/Sipa USA/AP Based on sketches by costume designer Nilo Rodis-Jamero, the outfit was created by jeweler and sculptor Richard Miller using resin and urethane. In a behind-the-scenes documentary, Miller later said that the costume’s “skimpy” appearance had been intended to illustrate how Fisher’s character had grown through the course of the original trilogy. “George (Lucas) said, ‘We want to show that Princess Leia is growing up,’” recalled Miller, who died in 2022 aged 80. “The three episodes spanned a certain amount of time, so she got mature. And that’s why the slave costume was introduced.” RELATED ARTICLEC-3PO ‘Star Wars’ head goes on sale in huge movie memorabilia auction Miller recalled that Fisher “didn’t like” the bikini, which he attributed to it fitting poorly. He had designed the garment using a mannequin cast from Fisher’s body, but when it came to shooting the movie “she must have lost 10 pounds if not more,” he said, adding: “So the costume really hung on her.” The two-day Heritage Auctions sale, which concluded Friday, fetched a combined $5.9 million. The auction’s other big-ticket item was another piece of “Star Wars” history: a screen-used model of the Y-wing that leads an attack on the Death Star before being destroyed by Darth Vader in 1977’s “A New Hope.” The work of modelmaker Colin Cantwell, the starfighter sold for $1.55 million to become the third-most expensive screen-used “Star Wars” prop ever to go under the hammer, according to Heritage Auctions. (The current record is held by an X-wing model, which sold for $3.1 million last October, while an R2-D2 unit fetched $2.75 million in 2017.) Video Ad Feedback Related video: Remember when Princess Leia wore this hairstyle? 01:55 – Source: CNN Elsewhere, an original “Scrooge McDuck” artwork sold for over $312,000 and the Oscar statuette awarded to Celeste Holm in 1974 for her Best Supporting Actress performance in “Gentleman’s Agreement” fetched $93,750. A wand prop used by Daniel Radcliffe in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” meanwhile sold for nearly $94,000, with a hammer from “Thor: The Dark World” and a sword from “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” also achieving five-figure sums. “I’ve said it repeatedly: Collectors’ desire to own a piece of Hollywood history remains intense and insatiable, and we take great pride and pleasure in sharing these indelible moments,” said Heritage Auction’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, in a press release following the sale’s conclusion.

Money can’t buy happiness, of course. Of course. But it can really, really help. Here’s the deal: For years, there’s been a popular theory in behavioral science research that people hit a kind of “happiness plateau” around the $75,000 a year threshold (or around $100,000 adjusted for inflation), and above that level, more money isn’t going to make you significantly happier. But according to new research from Matt Killingsworth, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, there is an “ever-increasing association between more money and higher happiness.” Or, to quote the old adage: Mo’ money, mo’ yacht trips to Mykonos with your best friends and personal chef. In short, Killingsworth said that the income threshold idea wasn’t wrong, per se. But his research suggests that if such a level exists, “it is considerably higher than incomes of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.” So that’s it, we solved it: If you want to be happier, just quadruple your income … LOL jk. (I mean quadruple your income if you want to, but the happiness equation is, of course, a little more complicated than that.) I called Dr. Killingsworth earlier this month to discuss his latest findings on the correlation between money and happiness, what the earlier science on the subject got wrong and why people need to focus on a “happiness portfolio.” This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Nightcap: Could you talk a bit about your research on happiness? Like, the layman’s version? Killingsworth: At the broadest level, my research aims to understand what makes life worth living. Like, how do we understand the conditions of a good life; what makes people happy? To do that, I collect large-scale data in the course of people’s everyday lives … That’s kind of the 100,000-foot view. One of the things I’ve been looking at recently is this question of, is there a certain amount of money where, once you get to that, happiness stops changing? Is there sort of a threshold? For a long time, researchers thought if people can get to that level — whether it’s $75,000, or $100,000 — then more doesn’t really seem to make a difference. Nightcap: I’ve definitely heard of that one. I don’t think of myself as a particularly money-hungry person, but the idea always felt a little hard to believe. People with lots of money who don’t have to work sure look like they’re having a blast. Killingsworth: Right. It looks like part of the reason researchers had found a sort of plateau was because of how they measured happiness. It was good for measuring happiness on the low end, but not above that. It’s kind of like how a dementia test measures whether people can do basic math or identify an animal. But a dementia test isn’t very good for differentiating the average person from a genius, because they’ll all get a perfect score. A couple of papers I released in the last few years challenged that, and what I find with really high-quality data is that actually, happiness keeps rising. Nightcap: I have a sort of cynical question. I wonder if part of the happiness for the very wealthy is that maybe their satisfaction comes from being so much further above the fray than everyone else? Like, if the floor were higher and there were fewer poor people in the world, would the rich still feel so much happier? Killingsworth: I think it’s not impossible that what you’re describing is part of what’s going on. But I’m reasonably confident that that isn’t the whole story. Statistically, what I find is the most explanatory factor is that when people have more money, they feel a lot more in control of their lives. And I think that’s the kind of thing that doesn’t really stop at any magic threshold. More money gives you more choices. The fewer resources you have, the more constrained you are, you don’t have so many options. Nightcap: Can you talk a little bit about how geography makes a difference here? The US has a pretty weak social safety net, and I’m wondering how it might change the calculus if you had less money but weren’t living on a knife’s edge. Killingsworth: My data is all from the US, so it doesn’t speak directly to what the pattern looks like in other countries. Certainly, I think it’s true that everywhere the happiness gradient is positive, it certainly makes sense that the gradient might be steeper in places where the stakes are higher. I totally share your intuition that the US in particular is an increasingly challenging place to be poor. Nightcap: What do you think of the practical implications of your findings? Are we culturally reverting to a kind of Reagan-era greed? Killingsworth: I would really want to be careful about that, for a few reasons. Money is just one of a bunch of factors that explains why some people are happier than others. So even if more money really does cause people to be happier — my study is really just looking at the correlation between them all, though I think there’s a decent chance that that’s reflecting the causal structure — there’s tons of other stuff that’s also important. A mistake that I think we should try to avoid is prioritizing money so much that we’re not doing all the other stuff that’s important. I think people need to think about this more of kind of like a happiness portfolio. There are other things that you can control, like spending more time with other people, getting into the gym more often or riding a bike, that are really pretty easy. Whereas, like, 5X-ing your income? That’s not so easy. It’s more that you want to have the control, the freedom, the flexibility to be able to move through life. Making money is one way to do that. But there are other ways you can do it too, and one of them could just be by spending less. Nightcap: So one last quick question: The secret to happiness. What

Venezuelans across the country took to the streets on Monday to protest a disputed election, clashing with police as uncertainty swirls around the results amid allegations of election fraud. The election on Sunday was the most consequential one in years, with Venezuela’s future on the line. Many young opposition supporters said they would leave the country if authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro was re-elected, pointing to the devastating collapse of the country’s economy and violent repression under his rule. But the opposition was also energized, presenting the ruling establishment its toughest challenge in 25 years. Though Maduro had promised fair and free elections, the process has been marred with allegations of foul play – with opposition figures arrested, the opposition’s key leader banned from running, media outlets blocked and overseas Venezuelans largely unable to vote. That’s why, even though Maduro was formally named the winner by the country’s electoral body – which is stacked by the president’s allies – the opposition has rejected the results and other Latin American leaders have refused to recognize his win. Here’s what you need to know. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro after the presidential election results were announced in Caracas on July 29, 2024. Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images Who’s running against who? Maduro has been in power since the 2013 death of his predecessor Hugo Chávez. If he takes office again, it will be his third consecutive six-year term and the continuation of “Chavismo,” the left-wing populist ideology named after the former leader. On the other side is a unified opposition movement that overcame their divisions to form a coalition. Its energized campaign stoked hope among a disillusioned populace that was desperate for change, in a country in such dire economic straits that some 8 million Venezuelans have fled overseas. The opposition candidate, former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez, stepped into the role after the highly popular leader Maria Corina Machado was barred from running, following allegations she didn’t include some food vouchers on her asset declaration. But many still see her as a driving force behind the opposition, which had promised to restore Venezuela’s democracy and rebuild its once impressive economy if it won. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado (right) and presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez (left) hold a news conference after Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner of the election in Caracas, Venezuela on July 29, 2024. Matias Delacroix/AP Who won? The results are disputed. Officially, the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro the winner late Sunday, with 80% of the ballots counted. It said Maduro had won 51.2% of the votes, while Gonzalez received 44.2% of the votes. The CNE has yet to issue final vote tallies. But the opposition has rejected the results, claiming their own tallies showed Gonzalez had won. On Monday, they said they had obtained more than 73% of the tally sheets showing more than 6 million votes for Gonzalez and only 2.7 million for Maduro. Speaking from the capital Caracas, Gonzalez and Machado said all their tallies had been verified and shared online for the public and global leaders to see – something world leaders and opposition figures have called on the CNE to do. What are the allegations of foul play? Opposition leaders decried alleged irregularities on Sunday as the votes were being processed and counted. The opposition said its witnesses were denied access to the National Electoral Council (CNE) headquarters as votes were being counted; their presence was supposed to ensure transparency and fairness. Only a very limited number of election observers were allowed to monitor the vote. These included The Carter Center, which called on the CNE to publish polling station-level results, saying that information was “critical to our assessment.” RELATED ARTICLEProtests erupt in Venezuela as questions grow over strongman Maduro’s victory The United Nations was also present, with a spokesperson saying afterward that UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for “complete transparency” and for the electoral body to “undertake their work independently and without interference to guarantee the free expression of the will of the electorate.” The opposition also alleged that the CNE had halted data being sent from polling stations to the central body, thus preventing more votes from being processed. The government has also been accused of rigging votes in the past, which it has denied. Maduro’s government controls almost all state institutions, including the CNE, which was accused in 2017 of manipulating turnout figures by a software company that provided the voting technology. The CNE previously denied the assertion. CNN reached out to the CNE for comment on Monday. The body has not yet addressed the opposition’s allegations. How are Venezuelans reacting? Though Maduro supporters celebrated his win in parts of Caracas, Monday was marked by wider protests by the opposition. In Caracas, hundreds of people marched through the streets, waving Venezuelan flags and chanting, “Liberty!” Videos from across the country, from Charallave to Caucagüita, show crowds banging their pots — a rattling cacophony so loud it can be heard from far away across an entire city. This Latin American practice is known as cacerolazo – a spontaneous, accessible form of protest also used in Chile and Spain. CNN teams witnessed dozens of national guard soldiers in riot gear repressing the mostly peaceful protests with tear gas and batons. A demonstrator reacts as Molotov cocktails hit the ground in front of security forces during protests in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, on July 29, 2024. Samir Aponte/Reuters “We want peace for Venezuela, for our family members,” a protester, who chose not to be identified, told reporting teams on the ground. Gonzalez and Machado have called for protests to continue Tuesday. Maduro decried the protests on Monday saying his government “knows how to confront this situation and defeat those who are violent.” He also claimed, without providing evidence, that the majority of the protestors were hate-filled criminals and that their plan was hatched in the US. For Venezuelans this is grimly familiar territory. Previous periods of opposition protests have resulted in harsh crackdowns from by the police and military, who have a long history of protecting the Chavismo system, including in 2017 and 2019. Police and protesters clashed in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 29, 2024, with police firing tear

It was a celebration worthy of the ages — or at least viral fame. Surfer Gabriel Medina was taking on Kanoa Igarashi, the man who beat him at the Tokyo Olympics and eventually won silver, and he was looking to turn the tide this time around. The Brazilian not only managed to take down the Japanese surfer, he did so in part thanks to a near-perfect 9.90-scoring wave on Day 3 of the surfing competition in Tahiti – taking part halfway around the world from Paris. It was the highest-scoring wave in Olympic history. The resultant jubilation produced another moment of perfection: Medina leapt from his surfboard, raised his finger aloft and his board just managed to fly parallel to him as photographer Jerome Brouillet from Agence France-Presse snapped the shot. GALLERY RELATED GALLERYThe best photos of the Paris Olympics “The conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected,” Brouillet told The Guardian. “So he [Medina] is at the back of the wave and I can’t see him and then he pops up and I took four pictures and one of them was this one. “It was not hard to take the picture. It was more about anticipating the moment and where Gabriel will kick off the wave.” Brouillet added: “I was just checking my phone on the six-minute break after the shoot and I had lots of notifications on social media and I thought something is happening with this shot and it was shared on ESPN and I thought: ‘Cool.’” “It’s very cool, it’s a nice shot and lots of people love it. It’s not really a surf photograph so it captures the attention of more people.” The remarkable picture has spread across social media with Brazilians celebrating their surfer’s progress into the final eight of the competition, including Real Madrid and Seleção forward Rodrygo. When Medina posted the picture to his Instagram page, amidst all the praise from astounded Brazilians and the more than 2.4 million likes, Igarashi commented: “Damn he didn’t even leave one for us hahahaha (laughing so I don’t cry).” Medina beat Kanoa Igarashi to make the final eight of the surfing competition. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images Still, while Medina has made it one step closer toward his goal of an Olympic medal, he certainly felt that the judges could have been more considerate of his efforts. “I felt like it was a 10,” the three-time WSL world champion said after his round. “I’ve done a few 10s before and I was like, ‘For sure, that’s a 10.’ The wave was so perfect.” Still, while the performance on the water might not have been a 10 out of 10, the picture was certainly the image of perfection.

The quickest way for Kamala Harris to grow her support may be to consolidate the voters who agree with her on abortion. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has been a much more comfortable and cogent messenger on the issue than President Joe Biden, who wasn’t winning nearly as much support in 2024 as he did in 2020 – or major Democratic candidates did in 2022 – among voters who support legal abortion, according to previously unpublished results from multiple public polls. Biden’s slippage with voters who support legal abortion partly reflected the same problems that hurt him with other segments of the electorate, such as concerns about his age. But his decline with those voters also underscored the risk to Democrats that abortion’s relevance has been reduced since 2022 by voter concerns about other problems, especially inflation, and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to downplay the issue. With Harris at the top of the ticket, Democrats now see a chance to refocus voters on the issue and restore their margins among the abortion rights voters who had notably drifted away from Biden. “She is able to talk about it in a way that, quite frankly, that Biden was not,” said Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg, expressing a widely held view in the party. “It’s not that the issue hasn’t been talked about at a national level, but it hasn’t been articulated in the way she does.” Biden’s lackluster showing in polls this year among voters who support abortion rights, though rarely discussed, represented one of the most important changes in the political landscape from the past two national elections. In both the 2020 and 2022 campaigns, voters who backed legal abortion provided overwhelming support to Biden and other Democratic candidates. In 2020, Biden won almost exactly three-fourths of voters who said abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances, according to the exit polls conducted by Edison Research for a consortium of media organizations including CNN. In 2022, the exit polls found that Democratic House candidates again won almost exactly three-fourths of voters who said abortion should always or mostly remain legal. Democrats maintained that elevated level of support even as the share of voters who said abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances spiked from 51% in the 2020 exit poll to fully 60% in the 2022 election coming just a few months after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned the constitutional right to abortion with the Dobbs decision. In an array of recent national public polls before he quit the race last week, Biden this time was not winning nearly as large a share of voters who support abortion rights. A merge of the results from three national Marquette Law School polls this year found Biden carrying a little less than two-thirds of the voters who said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to results provided by Charles Franklin, the poll’s director. In a CNN poll conducted by SSRS this April, Biden won exactly three-fifths of the voters who said they disapproved of the Dobbs decision, according to data provided by the CNN polling unit. Two other recent polls put Biden’s support among voters who support abortion rights even lower: surveys this spring by Quinnipiac University and Yahoo News/YouGov, which measured attitudes about abortion in different ways, each showed Biden winning only about half of voters who identified as supportive of abortion rights, according to results provided by the pollsters. The Marquette, CNN and Quinnipiac polls each showed Trump winning about 85% of voters who opposed legal abortion, even more than his 76% support among them in 2020, according to the exit polls. State level polls told the same story. In 2020, Biden won between 72% and 77% of voters who supported legal abortion in all or most circumstances in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia, according to the exit polls. In 2022, most Democratic gubernatorial candidates did even better: the exit polls found that Democrats Tony Evers in Wisconsin and Katie Hobbs in Arizona each carried about three-fourths of the voters who supported legal abortion, while Josh Shapiro and Gretchen Whitmer won more than four-fifths of them in Pennsylvania and Michigan respectively (the 2020 exit poll did not ask about attitudes on abortion in Michigan.) Across all of those battleground states, Biden this year was performing well below that level with voters who support legal abortion, polls have found. A large YouGov survey for a consortium of major US universities and the Times of London earlier this month found that Biden did not exceed 59% support among voters who say abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances in any of the seven major battleground states, according to results provided by YouGov. Even among women who support legal abortion in all or most circumstances, Biden’s best showing in the poll was exactly 60% in Michigan. By contrast, in the 2020 exit poll, Biden carried at least 75% of women who supported abortion rights in each of the four states where the question was asked; in 2022, Whitmer won 82% and Shapiro 85% of women who supported legal abortion. This declining support among voters who support abortion rights came after the Biden campaign and allied Democratic groups spent nearly $26 million in this campaign cycle on ads that addressed abortion, according to the ad tracking service AdImpact. One reason for Biden’s decline with voters who support abortion rights, strategists in both parties agree, is that they were not immune to the same factors that had soured all voters on the president. Results from the Marquette Law School national polls provided by Franklin validate that observation: Even among voters who support legal abortion, the survey found that three-fourths believed Biden was too old to serve as president. Those abortion rights voters also split about evenly on whether Biden or Trump was better for the economy. Another factor is that Biden was always an uneasy crusader for the abortion rights cause. Biden resolutely supported national legislation restoring the national right to abortion. But as an 81-year-old devout Catholic, who initially criticized the Supreme

The USA is the preeminent force in men’s Olympic basketball. It has won the gold medal on 14 occasions and frequently assembles some of the sport’s biggest stars on the international stage. RELATED ARTICLETeam USA survives scare in Olympic warmup, scraping past South Sudan 101-100 So when a new upstart on the block, fresh off a captivating performance at the FIBA World Cup in 2023, pushed LeBron James and co. all the way to the final buzzer in an Olympic warmup game, the basketball world took notice. South Sudan, the world’s newest country, captured the hearts of spectators at the World Cup en route to a 17th place finish out of 32 teams. While that might not appear to be all that impressive at first glance, the Bright Stars finished top of the pool of teams that did not advance to the knockout stages and left the competition with a winning 3-2 record. As the best-placed African team, the result secured the squad a spot at the Olympics for the very first time in its history. Not bad for a country that has only officially existed for 13 years and has no indoor basketball facilities. Among those making their national team debuts at the tournament was Wenyen Gabriel, who’s had multiple stints in the NBA for the likes of the Los Angles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and the New Orleans Pelicans. Like multiple others on the Olympic roster, Gabriel is a refugee. He was forced to leave South Sudan as a young child, escaping the Second Sudanese Civil War. He and his family moved to Cairo two weeks after he was born before eventually arriving in the United States as refugees two years later. Gabriel celebrates after a victory against Great Britain in an Olympic warmup match last Thursday. James Fearn/Getty Images “Growing up, at first we didn’t have a country, you know?” Gabriel told CNN Sport. “It was just Sudan and we didn’t have South Sudan.” Gabriel explained that he was unsure whether his nation would ever have a basketball team so when the opportunity arrived, he jumped at it. “Knowing that, there’s a bunch of kids, a bunch of youth, that are from South Sudan that look up to us, that are inspired by what we do, that think that maybe they can make it next – for me to go represent the country, be one of the first group is just an honor to me,” he said. Sporting roots After decades of civil war, South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 following a referendum, making it the world’s newest widely recognized state. The nation descended into a civil war of its own shortly after, with the war officially ending in 2018 – though violence persists to this day. It is listed as one of the least developed countries in the world by the United Nations. Before becoming an official state, and well before bursting on to the international stage, the country already possessed some NBA pedigree. Manute Bol, one of the tallest players in NBA history at 7 foot 7 inches, gained a reputation as one of the league’s elite shot blockers between 1985 and 1995. Luol Deng is a two-time All-Star who was born in what is now South Sudan, arriving in London – via Egypt – as a refugee, before moving to the US for his professional career. He now serves as the president of South Sudan’s basketball federation. Deng trains young players in the South Sudanese capital of Juba. Akuot Chol/AFP/Getty Images Bol’s son Bol Bol, JT Thor and Duop Reath are examples of players currently in the league with South Sudanese heritage, though the country has never truly been recognized as a force in international basketball. The sport is yet to truly take off in the country, which some players, such as Gabriel, have put down to insufficient resources. “A lot of people play soccer who are maybe 6 foot 8 (inches) because of the availability where you can just go kick a soccer ball around and there’s not a court for X amount of miles,” said the 27-year-old. “When I went back to South Sudan, to my village, I saw people that were 7 feet tall herding cows!” The relatively small amount of people getting into basketball in the country does not mean that there is no interest in the sport. “When we came back from the World Cup, we went back home, we had a parade, and we got to see people dancing in the rain, just a bunch of white teeth, big smiles, like everyone is happy,” Gabriel said. “Just the joy it brings to our country, it can’t be understated.” “For us to continue to push forward and to wave our flag and give people something to be proud of is something that is really fulfilling for us all. And I’m happy that I get to be part of it.” The mood among South Sudan supporters is jubilant as they prepare to watch their nation make history in Paris. After the tune-up game against Team USA last Saturday in London, fans celebrated, danced and waved the flag inside the O2 Arena, on the street and on public transport, despite watching their country suffer an agonizing 101-100 defeat. It has all been about the journey for this nation. South Sudan players celebrate during the game against Team USA. Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images ‘Bigger than basketball’ South Sudan recently held its first news conference ahead of a friendly match against Great Britain in London. Something that repeatedly came up was the notion that the Olympic campaign extends beyond just sport. Putting the nation on the Olympic map and forging a path for the younger generation is at the core of the team. “For all of us it’s a journey that’s bigger than basketball,” Deng said at the news conference. “Sports can elevate and motivate a nation. “These guys know what’s more important is what they’re leaving behind.” “We’re going out there to represent something that’s bigger than ourselves and

President Joe Biden arrived at the White House in 2021 at a time of heightened chaos and uncertainty across a country reeling from the pandemic. Biden used his inauguration address to promote unity, in hopes of delivering a nation that’s “stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future.” But, as Biden has acknowledged throughout his time in office, there’s more work to be done. That task could now fall to Vice President Kamala Harris, who inherits Biden’s campaign promises to rebuild the middle class, invest in infrastructure, boost domestic manufacturing and lower health care costs. Since Harris kicked off her presidential campaign, there’s been a string of good news for the US economy. Strong GDP numbers on Thursday — and the possibility that the US is pulling off the rare feat of bringing down inflation without throwing the economy into reverse — give Harris another point to bring out on the campaign trail in her effort to persuade Americans to give her the White House in November. And on Friday, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge fell closer to the central bank’s 2% target — all but cementing a rate cut in September. Harris will have Biden’s mostly strong economy to run on. Still, one of her biggest challenges is lifting the negative feelings many Americans have about the economy, stemming from sharply higher prices for everything from groceries to rent over the past four years. It remains to be seen whether those perceptions will improve now that Biden is out of the race. Here’s where the economy stands as the presidential race heads into its final 100 days. Inflation, interest rates and a resilient economy When Biden took office, inflation was barely noticeable, with consumer prices rising 1.4% annually. That quickly took a turn for the worse. By June 2021, Biden’s sixth month in office, the nation’s inflation rate jumped to more than 5%. A year later, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices soaring, inflation hit 9.1%, the highest level in over 40 years. But much of that inflation was also the product of hefty spending under both Trump and Biden administrations in the wake of the pandemic. Inflation has since cooled down a lot, and for the first time since the start of the pandemic, prices fell last month. But, on the whole, Americans are paying 20% more for goods and services compared to January 2021, according to Consumer Price Index data. After the Federal Reserve hiked interest rate hikes to a 23-year high to stamp out inflation, the economy — eventually — started to run at a slower pace. However, it hasn’t slipped into a recession, which is one of the risks that comes with the Fed lifting rates so rapidly. Gross domestic product, a measure of all the goods and services produced in the economy, was solid in the first half of the year. GDP rose at a robust 2.8% annualized rate from April through June, after adjusting for inflation and seasonal swings, according to Commerce Department figures released Thursday. A white-hot job market that has started to cool In April 2020, as the US economy came to a screeching halt due to the pandemic, the nation’s unemployment rate soared to nearly 15%, its highest level since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking it in 1948. By the start of Biden’s term, the unemployment rate had already fallen to 6.4%. But for much of his presidency, the ongoing strength of the labor market defied expectations. The unemployment rate stayed below 4% for more than two years, the longest such stretch of time since the 1960s. But it’s since gone above 4% as cracks in the labor market are starting to form. An infrastructure bill finally happened The Biden-spearheaded bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act put more than $1.6 trillion toward rebuilding and modernizing infrastructure, fueling clean energy investments and bolstering America’s manufacturing industry. While it will take years, if not decades, to realize the full effects of the sweeping legislation — the funding, construction and implementation processes take time — the US economy has already seen some of the near-term effects, including booms in industrial facilities, electric vehicles and manufacturing jobs and the start of long-awaited municipal projects to replace bridges and lead pipes. A clean energy and oil production boost Biden’s energy legacy has generally been tied to clean energy, not fossil fuels. His 2022 Inflation Reduction Act included more than $350 billion in support for electric vehicles, charging stations and similar items. He was often seen as anti-oil, attacking oil companies for record gasoline prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But domestic oil production hit a record in 2023, with a daily average of 12.9 million barrels of oil produced. That’s more than any country has ever produced. So far 2024 production is up another 3%. A friend to organized labor Dubbed the most “pro-union president in our lifetimes” by the AFL-CIO, Biden has often been a good friend to organized labor. His National Labor Relations Board has frequently sided with unions and workers. During the 2023 United Auto Workers strike he became the first sitting president to join a picket line. Union membership and organizing rose during his tenure, and unions won double-digit pay hikes for close to one million members last year. But he and Congress also imposed unpopular contracts on freight railroad unions, rather than let them go on strike. And even some labor allies expressed concerns about his reelection bid. President Joe Biden joins striking United Auto Workers on the picket line on September 26, 2023, in Van Buren Township, Michigan. Evan Vucci/AP Relief for consumers, families and seniors From forgiving millions of student loans to clamping down on junk fees, the Biden administration has focused on ways to save consumers billions of dollars every year. That includes a campaign to eliminate or cap “hidden junk” fees and require businesses to be transparent about all fees up front. The Biden administration also finalized a rule to make it easier for airline passengers to get prompt, automatic cash refunds when flights are canceled or significantly changed and to see upfront information about fees for baggage and changing flights. His administration also provided economic relief for

As if people with anxiety don’t have enough to worry about, a new study is adding to that list  — suggesting the disorder may nearly triple the risk of developing dementia years later. The research, to the authors’ knowledge, is the first to look into the association between different severities of anxiety and dementia risk over time, and the effect of the timing of anxiety on this risk, according to the study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. “Anxiety can now be considered a non-traditional risk factor for dementia,” said Dr. Kay Khaing, lead study author and a specialist geriatrician at Hunter New England Health in Newcastle, Australia, via email. More than 55 million people worldwide have dementia, a number expected to increase to 139 million by 2050. With the condition also being a leading cause of death, researchers and health professionals have directed their focus toward prevention, particularly by addressing risk factors such as anxiety or lifestyle habits. Previous studies exploring the relationship between anxiety and dementia have largely measured participants’ anxiety at one point in time, providing mixed conclusions — but how long someone’s anxiety lasts is an important aspect worth considering, the authors argued. The team studied 2,132 participants recruited from the Newcastle-based Hunter Community Study between December 2004 and December 2007. They were ages 60 to 81 or older, and at the study’s start provided health data such as tobacco use or alcohol intake, or whether they had conditions such as hypertension or diabetes. There were three assessments, also called waves, each five years apart. Researchers measured participants’ anxiety at the first and second assessments. Chronic anxiety was defined as having anxiety at both the first and second waves. Someone’s anxiety was considered resolved if they had anxiety only at the time of the first wave. New-onset anxiety refers to anxiety identified only at the second wave. Dementia was identified using codes from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, or pharmaceutical benefits data showing purchase of drugs for dementia, provided by the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care. Ultimately, 64 participants developed dementia. Chronic and new anxiety were associated with a nearly thrice higher risk of dementia from any cause — with an average time to diagnosis of 10 years, the authors found. Anxiety that resolved within the first five years was so unassociated with greater risk that the odds were similar to those without anxiety — a finding that Dr. Glen R. Finney, an American Academy of Neurology fellow, called “a welcome addition to our knowledge about anxiety and dementia.” Finney, director of the Geisinger Memory and Cognition Program in Pennsylvania, wasn’t involved in the study. The results were also largely driven by participants under 70. “We have known for a long time that stress increases risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Rudolph Tanzi, director of the McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who wasn’t involved in the study, via email. “This study agrees with earlier studies that therapy aimed at alleviating anxiety can help reduce risk for (Alzheimer’s disease). But, it’s the size of this study that is particularly compelling.” RELATED ARTICLE‘A study to give us hope’: Lifestyle changes improve Alzheimer’s symptoms for some The authors of the latest research did not have information on what helped some participants overcome their anxiety. The findings highlight “the importance of addressing anxiety early and consistently,” said neurologist Dr. Joel Salinas, founder and chief medical officer of Isaac Health, a virtual and in-home clinical service for dementia and other brain health conditions. Salinas wasn’t involved in the research. Stress and neurodegenerative disease The study has a few limitations, including that measurements of participants’ anxiety were based on the four weeks before the assessments, the authors said. The team also lost 33% of participants who had a higher rate of anxiety at the beginning of the study; not knowing what ultimately happened to those people could result in an underestimate of the effect of anxiety on dementia. “In the future,” Finney said, “having the findings followed up with a prospective study using cognitive measures and biologic measures of stress hormones, inflammation and neurodegeneration including for Alzheimer’s disease would be useful.” The association between anxiety and dementia may be partly explained by the former’s link to vascular disease — a cause of dementia — and harmful effects on cells, experts said. Stress increases cortisol in the brain and inflammation, and both kill nerve cells, said Tanzi, also the director of the genetics and aging research unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. Anxiety is also associated with buildup of beta-amyloid, Khaing said, which is a hallmark sign of Alzheimer’s. The disorder has also been linked with structural brain changes “such as brain and hippocampal atrophy, all processes which are also associated with dementia,” Khaing added. Atrophy refers to the wasting away of a tissue or organ, especially as a result of cell degeneration. RELATED ARTICLETransform your anxiety into something useful. Here’s how However, the study “might also suggest the possibility that anxiety may be an early manifestation of underlying brain disease,” Salinas, clinical assistant professor of neurology at NYU Langone Health, said via email. “Someone’s early cognitive decline may contribute to someone’s anxiety (e.g., making mistakes or being embarrassed in social situations).” At the beginning of the study, the authors excluded people who already had cognitive impairment, but they acknowledged that undetected decline is still possible. People with anxiety are also more likely to make unhealthy choices, such as having a poor diet or smoking, the authors said. Managing anxiety Anxiety is a normal response to stressors, but if it’s excessive, “please seek help,” Khaing said. Talk with your doctor or a mental health professional about your options, which can include lifestyle changes such as stress management, healthy diet, exercise and better sleep, all of which also separately influence your dementia risk, experts said. Important forms of treatment also include different types of therapy or antidepressant medications. “But I recommend avoiding certain brain-impairing medications including tricyclic antidepressants, benzodiazepines and strong antihistamines,” Finney said. Cognitive

It’s an age-old question with which many — including philosophers, economists and psychologists — have wrestled. Even rappers have gotten in on the act. “Mo Money Mo Problems,” a 1997 song by the Notorious B.I.G., contains the chorus “It’s like the more money we come across/ The more problems we see.” Ten years later, the artist formerly known as Kanye West rapped the line “Having money’s not everything/ Not having it is” in his hit “Good Life.” As the lyrics from the two songs indicate, having a lot of money and not having enough can both lead to unhappiness. But few would argue that having some discretionary income doesn’t facilitate happiness to a certain degree. “This notion that money cannot buy happiness is just, like, patently false,” social psychologist Elizabeth Dunn recently told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on his podcast Chasing Life. Dunn, a professor in the department of psychology at the University of British Columbia in Canada, conducts research that focuses, in part, on getting the most enjoyment out of money. “Money can absolutely buy happiness,” said Dunn, the coauthor of “Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending.” “And if you hear anyone say money can’t buy happiness, I would say, tell them to try giving some of it away.” You can listen to the full episode here. One well-known study from September 2010 posited that happiness rises with income until income hits a certain threshold (around $75,000), after which happiness flattens out. But a 2023 reanalysis of that research along with a second study published in January 2021 found that the tapering off of happiness mostly happens in the least happy people, no matter their income. Regardless of how happy you are and how much money you have, you go back to your baseline of happiness after a positive or negative experience, researchers found. It’s a concept known as hedonic adaptation. “We adapt to lots of things, right?” Dunn said. “But hedonic adaptation is about (adapting to) happiness, that feeling of pleasure.” For example, the joy from buying a new car or getting a raise wears off after a while; they just become the normal state of affairs. “When people get an increase in income or say a big windfall, they definitely get happier,” she said. “For a period of time, right? There’s certainly some truth that we are almost on a kind of permanent downward slide back to our baseline level of happiness when something good happens.” RELATED ARTICLEWhy fewer people are choosing to have kids Dunn said the question is whether the return to your baseline is complete or whether your level of happiness has been elevated somewhat. “There’s a famous study suggesting that, oh, winning the lottery doesn’t make you (happier). It turns out that that study wasn’t very well done,” she said. “And when you look at better, bigger, newer studies, it’s like, no — winning the lottery probably does make you happier. And those benefits don’t seem to completely disappear even after a couple (of) decades.” If you do get that kind of money — be it from a raise, an inheritance or some other kind of windfall — you should think carefully about how to spend it, Dunn said. “Because money isn’t just something that automatically rains down on us in the form of drops of happiness,” she said. “We have to find ways to turn it into happiness.” Here are Dunn’s five tips to maximize your enjoyment from money. Buy experiences, not goods For the most part, the joy from buying new things burns off pretty quickly, but experiences, which are transitory by nature, paradoxically provide a lasting degree of joy, Dunn said. “So the idea here is that by buying things like trips and special meals,” she said, “we can actually get more happiness than from buying material things, from couches all the way to houses.” With that in mind, walk away from your 12th pair of trendy sneakers and book that dinner at a special restaurant instead. RELATED ARTICLEA simple tool may be able to predict your risk for both dementia and depression, study finds Make it a treat One way to combat hedonic adaptation is to make what you buy special. “Don’t just buy things you like all the time without even thinking about it,” Dunn said. “Instead, even consider taking a break from the things that you enjoy, and this will help you get more happiness out of them.” Dunn gave a personal example of buying kale smoothies — “the most expensive way you could consume kale.” At first, doing so was a rare treat that brought her joy. But before she knew it, she started buying the smoothies so frequently that she stopped savoring them. Taking a break from “sucking them down,” Dunn said, renewed her capacity to appreciate these drinks. Buy time The concept here is to pay for a service to gift yourself more time, Dunn said. “I think the sort of easiest way to do this is to consider whether there’s a task that you dread, like something you just hate doing,” she said. “And if so, could you use money to buy your way out of it?” Dunn said her research showed that buying time is a great and underutilized way to turn money into happiness. So, go ahead and hire someone rather than spend a Saturday afternoon scrubbing the bathroom, mowing the lawn or assembling a shelving unit from Ikea. RELATED ARTICLEYou shouldn’t want to look like an Olympian, experts say Pay now, consume later Delayed gratification makes you (almost) forget about the cost. “When we pay up front and actually delay consumption, we can enjoy what we buy as though it were free,” Dunn said. As an extra bonus, you can get some pleasure from simply anticipating it, she added. Give to others Call it spreading the joy around or paying it forward — it’s a theme throughout this season of Chasing Life centered on happiness. You turn the focus away from yourself and toward others. “Think about using

An art historian has identified a missing portrait of King Henry VIII after spotting it on social media. British fine art researcher Adam Busiakiewicz was idly scrolling on X when he was stopped in his tracks by a post from somebody he follows. Ad Feedback The post was a photograph shared by Tim Cox, the Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire – an honorary position representing the British Crown in the central English county. It showed a gathering at a reception in Warwick’s Shire Hall, where Warwickshire County Council is based. The distinctive frame was one of the features that helped identify the painting as the missing portrait of Henry VIII. Adam Busiakiewicz But Busiakiewicz wasn’t interested in the people smiling at the camera. His focus was on the background where, hanging on a wall, was what he suspected was a missing portrait of the Tudor monarch Henry VIII. In a post published on his blog earlier this month, Busiakiewicz said he had been “scrolling at speed” when he spotted the painting “with a distinctive arched top” on the wall. He was immediately reminded of a series of 22 portraits commissioned by a local politician and tapestry-maker during the 1590s. Ad Feedback Local historian Aaron Manning (L) and art historian Adam Busiakiewicz at Warwick’s Shire Hall, where the painting was found Adam Busiakiewicz According to Busiakiewicz, Ralph Sheldon commissioned the pictures – which were mostly of kings, queens and “significant contemporary international figures” – to hang in his home, Weston House in Warwickshire. The reason they had arched tops was because they “were once incorporated into an architectural frieze of the Long Gallery at Weston,” Busiakiewicz said. In a press release sent to CNN, Busiakiewicz said the arched top was a “special feature of the Sheldon set,” while the painting’s frame was “identical to other surviving examples.” The painting also showed the king holding a sword and wearing a feathered hat – just as he appeared in an engraving of the Long Hall made by antiquarian Henry Shaw in 1839. RELATED ARTICLE‘Lost’ Botticelli masterpiece worth $109 million found in home in southern Italy The series of portraits was later dispersed at auction and “the majority remain untraced to this day,” according to Busiakiewicz. After making his theory public, Busiakiewicz visited Warwick’s Shire Hall together with local historian Aaron Manning to see the painting close up. “The portrait is large, and completely in-line with the other Sheldon portraits,” Busiakiewicz wrote in a later blog post, on July 22. In a telephone call with CNN, Busiakiewicz revealed that this was not the first discovery he had made thanks to social media. In 2018, he stumbled across a picture a friend had taken at a wedding and posted on Instagram. It featured a portrait that he identified as the work of 17th-century female artist Joan Carlile. “Social media is a crazy thing,” Busiakiewicz told CNN, “because some people use it to watch cat videos and follow what’s going on in the world, and then people like me just look at what people have hanging on their walls.” RELATED ARTICLEA painting valued at $15,000 turned out to be by Rembrandt. Now it has sold for almost $14 million A spokesperson for Warwickshire County Council told CNN in an email that Busiakiewicz and Manning approached them about the painting and arranged to come and see it. “Adam and Aaron viewed the painting at Shire Hall, and have confirmed they think it is definitely one of the Ralph Sheldon commissions,” the spokesperson wrote. “Since this discovery, the painting has been moved into our Museum Collections Centre to allow further research to take place.” Busiakiewicz told CNN that the identity of the painter is not known, but the creator of the portraits is “sometimes referred to as The Sheldon Master.” He is now working on trying to establish the painting’s provenance. It was acquired by the council as recently as 1951 but there are gaps in the records. “Provenance is always such a really tricky thing – it’s very hard sometimes to find, particularly when pictures are sold privately. But there’s no doubt that this is Ralph Sheldon’s painting of Henry VIII,” he said. “Looking at paintings and pictures of paintings is my life and it’s great fun, particularly when you can in some way right a historic wrong, let’s say. Pictures that are overlooked, pictures that aren’t appreciated as much as they might be.”  

The rain that drenched Friday’s opening ceremony may have moved out of Paris, but its effects are still being felt in the River Seine, with water quality concerns throwing the triathlon competition into uncertainty. The decision to hold some swimming events in the river that splits Paris raised eyebrows when it was first announced. Swimming in the Seine has been illegal for a century but, in their desire to put the host city on full display, organizers worked up a plan to clean up the river so the world’s best athletes could use it during Paris 2024. It was a risky move: Pollution in the Seine typically jumps after heavy rains like the ones that fell on the French capital throughout Friday and most of Saturday. Training was canceled for a second straight day on Monday after water quality testing deemed the water unsafe for athletes. Still, organizers are confident the race will go ahead. The men’s triathlon is scheduled for Tuesday and the women’s triathlon for Wednesday. The contingency dates for those races are Thursday and Friday. “Given the weather forecast for the next 36 hours, Paris 2024 and World Triathlon are confident that water quality will return to below limits before the start of the triathlon competitions on July 30,” Paris 2024 and World Triathlon said. The Paris area is also set for its first heat wave of the summer this week, which will hit at the same time as the triathlon.

Fans saw plenty of standout performances at the Summer Games yesterday, from South Korean archers to newly crowned French swimming royalty. But the US in particular brought the star-power during an exciting day of action in Paris. If you’re just catching up, here’s what happened at the Games on Sunday: Gymnastics: Many Americans were just waking up when two things became clear: Simone Biles was feeling some pain during her long-awaited return to Olympic gymnastics — and it wasn’t going to stop her. Biles, who is considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all times, dealt with some calf pain after an awkward landing during warmups for her floor routine, but powered through it to ace each apparatus and register the top all-around score of 59.566. Backed by strong performances from Americans Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey, Team USA finished on top of the women’s gymnastics qualifying scores, putting them in a confident position ahead of Tuesday’s medal round. Individually, Lee and Biles will compete for gold in all-around, while Chiles qualified for the floor exercise and Carey has qualified for the final in vault. Basketball: LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Anthony Edwards led the “Re-Dream team” to an emphatic win over NBA MVP Nikola Jokić and Serbia. James, Durant and Jrue Holiday showed this US team still runs through its veterans, but the 22-year-old Edwards made his presence known — on the court, and with sideline antics — in his Olympics debut. Tennis: British legend Andy Murray, who has said he will retire after these Games, extended his career at least another match with a thrilling comeback win alongside doubles partner Dan Evans. Spain’s Rafael Nadal won in his return to singles action on the familiar clay courts of Roland-Garros, and set up a tantalizing second round match with Novak Djokovic. Nadal had previously suggested he may not compete in the singles tournament at all, and the crowd roared with approval at the veteran’s presence even before the match began. Swimming: French prodigy Leon Marchand set an Olympic record and crushed the field in the 400m individual medley. Marchand entered the Games widely considered the host nation’s top hope for gold in the pool, and the atmosphere was electric in La Défense Arena as the 22-year-old finished up his swim. American swimmers Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh finished in first and second place respectively in the women’s 100m butterfly final. The 21-year-old Huske finished with 55.59 to take home Team USA’s first individual gold medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Other key moments: The US women’s soccer team brushed aside Germany in its second game of the Olympics, using a dynamic three-goal first half to cruise to a 4-1 victory. Forward Sophia Smith had two goals and the USWNT looks on track to shake off several frustrating tournaments. French cycling superstar Pauline Ferrand-Prévot claimed a gold medal in the women’s cross-country mountain bike race — then announced her retirement from the discipline to focus on road racing. The South Korea women’s archery team is now tied for the longest active gold medal streak in an event at the Olympic Games, after defeating China in a thrilling shoot-off. Japanese teenage phenomenon Coco Yoshizawa won gold in the women’s street skateboarding. The 14-year-old was joined by two other teens on the podium: Liz Akama, also from Japan, and Brazil’s Rayssa Leal. 8 min ago

Wedding bells may soon be ringing for Lady Gaga. The actress and singer introduced Michael Polanksy, her boyfriend of four years, as “my fiancé” to French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who Lady Gaga met while attending an Olympic swimming competition on Sunday, as seen in a video posted to the PM’s TikTok page. The Oscar-winner was in Paris over the weekend to perform during the 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony. CNN has reached out to a representative for Lady Gaga for comment. Lady Gaga and Polansky, a tech entrepreneur, first went public with their romance on Instagram during Super Bowl weekend in 2020. While the pair have notoriously been private throughout their relationship, Lady Gaga has shared some insight into their romance on her social media pages. “When your bf sends you all the flowers in Rome for your birthday,” she wrote on Instagram in 2021, showcasing an elaborate floral arrangement that Polanksy gave her for her birthday. “I love you honey. I can’t wait to be home with you and our dogs, that’s all I need.” She also made a rare comment alluding to Polanksy during an interview with the Hollywood Reporter that same year. “My dogs and the man that I love are my whole life,” she said at the time.

Back in May, Amos Hochstein, US President Joe Biden’s point-man for keeping a lid on tensions between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, spoke in a webinar. “What I worry about every single day,” he said, “is that a miscalculation or an accident… hits a bus full of children, or hits another kind of civilian target, that could force the political system in either country to retaliate in a way that slides us into war. Even though both sides probably understand that a fuller or deeper-scale war is in neither side’s interest.” The equivalent of that bus came on Saturday evening in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. A rocket, which Israel says was launched by Hezbollah from Shebaa in southern Lebanon, slammed into a soccer pitch in the Druze town of Majdal Shams. Twelve children, ranging in age from 10 to 16, were killed while taking part in a training session. Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the strike. Will Hochstein’s fear of a fuller-scale war now also come to pass? If Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, is to be believed, it probably will. “We are approaching the moment of an all-out war against Hezbollah,” he said in an Israeli television interview on Saturday evening. “The response to this event will be accordingly.” The United States has apparently blessed retaliatory action, to some degree. “We stand by Israel’s right to defend its citizens from terrorist attacks,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, before adding that the US did not want to “see the conflict escalate.” The response, so far, has been relatively timid. More strikes will probably follow. “We’re fed up with lofty rhetoric and hollow words accompanied by feeble action,” former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told CNN. “The only way to stop all of this, the only way to deter our enemies from hitting us… is to fight back and to hit them. There’s no other way.” For months now, the international community has been trying to de-escalate tensions between Israel and Hezbollah. With Iran’s strongest proxy estimated to have at least 150,000 missiles and rockets pointing south, the fear is of a war that would devastate Lebanon, and do serious damage to Israel. Moreover, as Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told CNN, “it has the potential to create a situation that we have never seen in this region: a major regional war, which could draw in the Gulf”. He warns it could also lead to direct confrontation between the United States and Iran. And yet, over the past near-10 months of fighting, Israel, Hezbollah and Iran have always pulled back from what appeared to be the brink. In January, Israel took out a senior Hamas leader in Beirut. All-out war failed to materialise. In April, Israel killed a top commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRCHG) in Damascus. In response, Iran launched unprecedented strikes on Israel. All-out war failed to materialise. The status quo, of course, can’t continue either. Tens of thousands of Israelis have been displaced from their homes. Large swathes of northern Israel are like ghost towns. A similar picture plays out in southern Lebanon. The best way to avoid all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, says Blinken, is to get a ceasefire in Gaza. Talks aimed at achieving that resume on Sunday. But that would only be a short-term fix. Israel wants to remove the Hezbollah threat entirely, moving it back to the Litani River, in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution that ended the last major war between the two in 2006. “If the world doesn’t get Hezbollah away from the border, Israel will do it,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in December. And so despite the bombast, domestic pressures, the fears and the escalations, the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continues to simmer rather than boil over. No one seems to want this war. But as Hochstein warned in that same webinar: “Wars have started historically around the world even when leaders didn’t want them, because they had no choice.”

Donald Trump will step out onto the campaign trail Wednesday to an entirely new race and a political landscape once again irrevocably altered by an unprecedented election year. The former president’s rally here is his first since President Joe Biden abruptly ended his reelection bid Sunday, setting off a chain of events that appears destined to end with Trump facing Vice President Kamala Harris in November. Biden’s decision and Harris’ elevation has sent a surge of adrenaline through the Democratic Party and unleashed a wave of new donations to compete with Trump’s own strengthened financial position. Meanwhile, Trump and his campaign are working to reimagine a playbook and operation launched to take on an unpopular 81-year-old incumbent. In a campaign already marked by extraordinary events – a significant civil judgment against Trump, a felony conviction, an indictment dismissed and another delayed by a scandal in the Georgia prosecutor’s office, Biden’s confidence-shattering debate performance and an assassination attempt on the former president – the latest twist has plunged the presidential race deeper into uncharted territory. Trump spent Tuesday reacting to his changed political fortunes. In a barrage of social media posts, the former president ripped into his likely new opponent, lamented that Republicans were forced “to waste a great deal of time and money” prior to the Democratic shake-up, suggested that the “Biden/Harris administration” was to blame for the assassination attempt on his life, criticized Democratic tributes to Biden (“He was pushed out of power like a dog,” the former president wrote) and ripped Fox News for giving airtime to the Democratic governor of Minnesota, a state Trump is targeting. Later, Trump held a call with reporters – the first of its kind this cycle – during which he tested new attack lines against Harris. “As a result of her dangerously extreme immigration policies, the largest invasion in history is now taking place at our southern border, and it’s getting worse, not better,” said Trump, who has spent the past 19 months attacking Biden over the border while rarely mentioning Harris. The Democratic National Committee responded to the stepped-up attacks on Harris over immigration by highlighting Trump’s successful effort to kill a bipartisan immigration deal earlier this year. Trump’s team insists it was prepared for a change at the top of the Democratic ticket long before Biden officially dropped out, pointing to an internal memo from May laying out scenarios that would result in an open convention and another Democrat as the nominee. Senior Trump advisers continue to suggest that a campaign against Harris would largely center on the same issues once used to criticize Biden: crime, immigration and inflation. As Biden’s second in command, Harris played a key role in shaping the administration’s approaches to those topics, they will argue. However, some individuals close to Trump acknowledge the uncertainty brought on by Harris’ candidacy, specifically what new Democratic enthusiasm could mean for turnout in November. Already, Trump’s campaign is bracing for the fresh excitement over Harris to generate a bump for her in the polls, as laid out in an expectation-setting memo Tuesday from Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio. He predicted that Harris would start “gaining on or even leading President Trump” in the polls, though he also insisted that the “honeymoon” period would end. Trump’s team faces a race against the clock to define Harris before she can fully turn the Biden election machine into her own campaign. Though polls suggest Harris is a recognizable figure, the Trump campaign remains convinced that the public doesn’t know much about her – referring to the gap as “name education.” The campaign intends to spend the coming weeks trying to fill that knowledge void with as much negative information about Harris as it can. Fabrizio in his memo previewed what the Trump campaign is expected to attack: Harris’ record in California as a prosecutor and state attorney general; her tie-breaking vote as vice president on the Inflation Reduction Act, a law Biden championed to boost investments to reverse climate change; and her response to the rise in migrant border crossings. A source close to Trump also indicated that the campaign and its allies are planning to specifically highlight certain choices she made as San Francisco district attorney in an attempt to portray her as lenient on violent criminals. “So, while the public polls may change in the short run and she may consolidate a bit more of the Democrat base, Harris can’t change who she is or what she’ done,” Fabrizio wrote. The leading pro-Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc., launched a new 30-second spot Sunday, first shared on social media, showcasing another plan of attack. The ad says Harris “covered up Joe Biden’s obvious mental decline” and features a clip of her praising Biden’s performance as president. “Our president is in good shape, in good health, tireless, vibrant, and I have no doubt about the strength of the work that we have done,” Harris says in the clip. The group, which has already spent $77 million on ads boosting Trump so far, announced plans to air the ad in the key battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Trump’s appearance in Charlotte will provide his first opportunity to contrast himself with Harris before voters in a battleground state. Four years ago, North Carolina produced Trump’s narrowest margin of statewide victory, and it was expected to be a top battleground again in 2024. But it was left off the list of states that the Biden campaign viewed as most winnable in a sobering post-debate assessment of the race.

Venice officials have hailed a temporary entrance fee to the city a success, as they experiment with measures aimed at controlling the number of people who come to visit. A 29-day €5 reservation entrance fee and reservation experiment, which began on April 25 and ran on selected days until July 14, brought in €2,425,310 (around $2.64 million), according to Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro. The city initially expected to collect around €700,000 (about $762,163) when the plan was introduced, the mayor had said in April. A CNN team on the ground in Venice noted that local residents told them that the crowds seemed noticeably smaller than normal and that while still busy, the local residents felt that crowds leading up to the city’s summer event, the Redeemer Festival, haven’t been as bad as previous years. The entrance fee officially ended July 14, but the mayor’s office said they will now determine if they should reinstate it during busy times of the year. No official date to do so has yet been announced. A total of 3,618,114 individuals made reservations, of whom 1,398,084 were exempted from payment because they stayed in hotels. Other exemptions included 651,254 workers who travelled to the city on days the fee was in place, as well as 466,819 students and 217,589 residents who were not required to pay the entrance fee. Additionally, 78,224 people were exempted because they were related to residents, and 107,146 were exempted for “other” reasons including being born in the city, religious activities such as the papal visit, and those participating in cultural events, according to data released by the city of Venice. Saturdays are most popular “From a first reading of the data it appears that day-trippers and tourists prefer Saturday to Sunday, and that during all 29 days of experimentation a peak attendance day, equal to that recorded on 30 April 2023, was not reached,” the city said in a statement, adding that the number of people coming to the city on “red flag days” gradually decreased over time. “The experiment worked and we can move forward. A more in-depth analysis of the data collected in the autumn,” Brugnaro said at a press conference Friday. “It’s a positive balance: The first 29 days of experimentation have finally given the city a tool that has allowed us to know how many people would objectively arrive in Venice and will be able to give us a way to act accordingly,” tourism councillor Simone Venturini said in a statement. The mayor of Venice and two aides are currently under investigation for corruption tied to allegedly approving a 3.7-million-square-foot commercial property development by a Singapore developer in exchange for $164 million, according to police. Brugnaro has publicly denied the allegations, but one member of the council has resigned. The CNN team noted a banner calling for the mayor to resign.

While Japan’s overtourism issues may be causing headaches for local residents, there’s one group that seems to be benefiting from the influx of people – deer. Specifically, the deer who live in Nara, the ancient capital outside of Kyoto that is home to a series of UNESCO-recognized historic buildings. Nara and its deer are so closely associated that the light-brown colored animals are pictured in the city’s tourism ads, on buses, train tickets and more. Shops are packed full of deer-themed souvenirs like stuffed animals and antler headbands. The city recently carried out a deer census, determining there are 313 stags (males), 798 does (females) and 214 fawns (babies) in Nara Park. That’s an increase of 92 from last year, and a total of 1,325 deer. But what does this have to do with tourism? Despite Nara being home to attractions like Todaiji Temple, one of the world’s largest wooden structures, the majority of tourists come to meet the deer, who are known for bowing politely when given a cracker. Stalls around Nara sell these special rice bran “Shika Senbei” treats, which are safe for the deer to eat. Nobuyuki Yamazaki of the Nara Deer Preservation Foundation told CNN that “a constant increase in the number of deer crackers eaten has resulted in more active reproduction of the deer. There are also more tourists visiting the park, and the deer can get the crackers more easily.” However, not all of the human-deer interactions are positive ones. Some deer have become too accustomed to having people around and too eager to snatch a cracker out of a tourist’s hand. “As the number of deer and humans increase, so does the number of problems,” Yamazaki added. “In recent years, we’ve seen an increase in accidents with people being pushed over or bitten by a deer.” A study from the Nara Women’s University found that fewer deer were bowing during the pandemic, when the country was closed to international tourists. Bowing in deer is unique to Nara and has not been found in any other deer species. “A long time ago, the deer in the capital Nara were afraid of humans, so they might have started bowing as a result of being stressed. However, the city gradually became a sightseeing spot and the deer learned to bow to people to get Shika Senbei rice crackers,” said professor Yoichi Yusa, who headed the study. According to government data, 9.3 million people visited Nara in 2022. Japan has been coping with a significant influx of tourists since it reopened post-pandemic. March, April and May of this year each saw more than three million foreign tourists per month coming to Japan, breaking all-time tourism records. Some destinations, following similar measures implemented in Europe, have begun charging tourist fees. Beginning July 1, Mount Fuji implemented a daily visitor cap of 4,000 hikers. Visitors must pay 2,000 yen ($12.40) per person. Meanwhile, the popular Itsukushima Shrine near Hiroshima, which was visited by US President Joe Biden in 2023, recently began charging an entry fee for the first time in its thousand-year history.

“We’ve been thrown into an emotional tailspin,” is how Levin described President Joe Biden’s abrupt departure from the 2024 campaign this weekend and his quick endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. “What next? An enormous feeling of relief along with an enormous feeling of anxiety.” Oh, plus this: “Yes, I support Harris.” That was the consensus among Democrats in our All Over the Map project, which is tracking the 2024 campaign through the eyes and experiences of key voters. We heard relief that the president stepped away from a campaign that was on a path to likely defeat, worry that there is not enough time to turn things around, and support for Harris to take the baton. “I’ve always said it needs to be Vice President Harris,” said Angela Lang, a community organizer in Milwaukee’s Black neighborhoods. “She’s the first Black woman VP and I think it would be seen as a sign of disrespect to have someone seemingly jump ahead of her.” Michigan auto worker Tonya Rincon described herself as “kind of stunned” by Biden’s decision but said Democrats have no time to waste. “Vice President Harris is the obvious choice,” Rincon said. “She’s experienced. Qualified. An extremely strong candidate and we need to get behind her immediately.” There was overwhelming support for the California Democrat, but not unanimity. On the plus side for Harris: Democratic voters think she can rebuild lagging Biden support in the Black community and among younger voters, and they see her as a more vibrant and aggressive campaigner on abortion rights and other issues viewed as critical motivators for Democratic voters. But the doubts some voters raised about Harris underscore the challenges ahead, assuming she emerges as the Democratic nominee. They range from concerns the process will become too messy to worries that she is not the strongest candidate to contest critical battleground states. “If it’s Kamala, her choice of a VP must be the absolute best,” said Darrell Ann Murphy, a retiree in Pennsylvania’s bellwether Northampton County. “I wonder if the country is ready for a Black woman president,” said Walter Robinson Jr., an African American union auto worker. “She wasn’t seen so much during her term (as vice president), so I’m still processing the whole thing.” Likewise, Carey Fulks, an African American from Atlanta, said: “I don’t believe Harris is a strong enough candidate to take the presidency this close to the election. … Democrats might rally around Harris, but I don’t know about undecided voters.” Some uncommitted voters not happy with ‘absentee VP’ A Harris campaign would face the same daunting challenge that factored into Biden’s exit from the race: Former President Donald Trump is ahead in major battleground states, at least in polling taken before Biden bowed out. Any Democratic path to victory runs through Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and leading Democrats in those states say the vice president has a lot to prove. Our project includes voters in 10 states, and several who are undecided or at least not firmly committed to a candidate were quick to take issue with Harris as Biden’s replacement. Allen Naparalla, who runs a winery in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, said Biden waited too long. “He was just too old to be president anymore,” Naparalla said. “I don’t think Kamala Harris has it in her to be a competent president.” Antonio Munoz, who owns a restaurant and catering business in Las Vegas, texted two words when asked about the change: “Michelle Obama.” Ray Flores, who owns a handful of restaurants in Tucson, Arizona, was also nonplussed by the Democrats’ changing of the guard. “Our country is lost,” said Flores, who is deeply disillusioned with both major political parties. “We have serious issues, but issues aren’t being considered, just the pocketbooks of the very rich and famous.” Kim Cavaliere, a Georgia independent who backed Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020, said she was happy Biden made the decision to step aside. “However, I am not pleased with Harris running,” she said. “Who is this absentee VP?” And Linda Rooney – a Republican from Media, Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia suburbs, who backed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the GOP primary – likewise does not have a good impression of Harris. “I think, personally, she has done a horrible job as VP,” Rooney said. She is no fan of Trump and said she might vote Democratic if her governor, Josh Shapiro, emerged as the Biden replacement. “If Shapiro was the Dems’ pick, I’d be in a quandary about who to pick in November,” Rooney said. Shapiro, however, was quick to endorse Harris. The swing state governor is on the list of possible Harris running mates. So is Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, whose name as a possible Harris vice presidential pick also came up as our voters shared their initial reaction to Biden’s decision. “Having Mark Kelly at that level would be immensely beneficial for Arizona, as he would fight to protect our reproductive rights, veteran rights, and advocate against the deportation of veterans,” said Melissa Cordero, an Air Force veteran who now works for a conservation group in Tucson. “Let’s continue to push for a ticket that prioritizes these crucial issues.” Kelly, a veteran and former astronaut, was a first choice of Nanette Mees, a registered Republican in the northern Virginia suburbs who tends to vote Democratic for president because of abortion rights and, more recently, issues she has with Trump’s character. “Oh boy, what a sad state our country is in,” Mees said Sunday. “Mark Kelly would be good, but I think it’s extremely sad that Trump is probably going to win.” Like Mees, Las Vegas real estate agent Zoila Sanchez is a longtime Republican but not a Trump fan. “There are no other Democrats I see as presidential,” Sanchez said after Biden withdrew. “I know it is going to be Kamala Harris. I hope they pick a Hispanic woman to be her running mate.” Some of the reaction included unconventional suggestions, perhaps to be expected after such a tumultuous

With President Joe Biden’s support unleashing a flood of endorsements from many prominent Democrats across the country, Kamala Harris has emerged as the favorite to take his place as the party’s nominee for president. Harris immediately received the endorsements of many Democratic party leaders and inherited the Biden campaign’s war chest. The campaign formally amended filings with the Federal Election Commission to rename its principal committee and declare Harris a candidate for president. Now, the conversation is fast moving around who will serve as Harris’ running mate. With only 28 days until the Democratic National Convention begins in Chicago, where Harris presumably will be officially nominated, the scramble to find the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee has begun. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly are among the Democrats who have been asked to submit information about their finances, family histories and other personal details, two people familiar with the process told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny. They are part of a group that includes about 10 names, nearly all of whom are elected officials. Here are some potential candidates to run alongside Harris: Josh Shapiro Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was elected in a landslide victory in 2022, defeating a 2020 election-denying far-right state senator to become the third Jewish governor elected in the crucial swing state. Shapiro, who was previously Pennsylvania’s attorney general, had been floated by Democrats as a potential presidential prospect and is also considered a potential running mate to Harris if she is the party’s presidential nominee. During a stop in Philadelphia earlier this month, Harris called Shapiro a “great partner to the president and me.” CNN previously reported that former President Barack Obama told Shapiro directly that he’s among the 2022 generation of Democrats who need to have a voice in the future of the party, according to people familiar with the conversation. Shapiro endorsed Harris on Sunday, calling her a “patriot worthy of our support.” The assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, has placed the governor in the spotlight. His response to the death of Corey Comperatore, the Trump supporter who was killed while shielding his wife and daughter, has especially been lauded. “Corey was a girl dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community,” Shapiro said at a news conference a day after the shooting. “And most especially, Corey loved his family.” Roy Cooper North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper leads a state that is a crucial battleground in 2024. He was narrowly elected for the first time in 2016 by just over 10,000 votes. He won reelection in 2020 and is term-limited out of running for a third time. He endorsed Harris on Sunday, saying she “has what it takes to defeat Donald Trump and lead our country thoughtfully and with integrity.” Throughout his time as governor, Cooper has clashed with lawmakers in the state legislature, where Republicans have a supermajority, over abortion rights and voting rights, among other things. Cooper previously waved off speculation that he might be on the shortlist for vice presidential nominees if Biden steps aside and Harris becomes the nominee. “I don’t want to play into this new favorite political parlor game, because it’s too important for America to stop Donald Trump,” Cooper told CNN in July.  In office, Cooper overcame longstanding opposition in the state’s Republican-led legislature and achieved one of his top priorities last year when the North Carolina became the 40th state to expand Medicaid to low-income adults. More than 500,000 residents now have coverage through expansion. Biden and Harris heralded the achievement during a joint campaign stop in Raleigh in March in hopes of winning the state. First elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1986, Cooper has been a force in North Carolina politics for years. He rose to be the Democratic majority leader in the state Senate, and won his first statewide race for North Carolina attorney general in 2000. He held the post for four terms. Mark Kelly Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly represents a state that Biden won by only 10,457 votes in 2020 and has national name recognition both as a former astronaut and the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords. He has been a reliable supporter of Democratic Party priorities while in office but has occasionally bucked his party, such as in 2023, when he flatly called the influx of undocumented migrants across the US southern border a “crisis.” If Kelly, who swiftly endorsed Harris for president on Sunday, was elected to higher office, his seat would remain in Democratic hands as Gov. Katie Hobbs would be able to appoint his successor. Andy Beshear Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has been floated as a possible vice-presidential candidate. He won reelection to a second term last November in a deep-red state that Trump carried by about 25 points in 2020. He’s the top elected Democrat in the Bluegrass state and made abortion a major issue in his campaign. After endorsing Harris, Beshear wasn’t shy about expressing his willingness to run alongside her if asked. “Are you at least open to the possibility of being a running mate to Vice President Harris?,” Beshear was asked on MSNBC Monday morning. “Well, I think if somebody calls you on that, what you do is, is at least listen,” he replied. Beshear is one of the nation’s most popular governors. He’s made headlines for his leadership of the state through the Covid-19 pandemic, deadly tornadoes in 2021 and catastrophic flooding in 2022. Should Republicans retain control of the House and gain a majority in the Senate, he has experience navigating clashes with GOP lawmakers. He previously served as state attorney general before winning a narrow gubernatorial victory in 2019, and his time as governor has been marked by disagreements over education, public assistance and tax policy with the Republican-led state legislature. His father, Steve Beshear, was Kentucky governor for two terms and received national attention for lowering the state’s uninsured rate from more than 20% to 7.5%, one of the country’s largest improvements following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. J.B. Pritzker Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt hotel riches, was first elected in 2018 and sailed

Members of the Norwegian Army participate in a military exercise called “Cold Response 2022” amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, near Bjerkvik in the Arctic Circle, Norway, March 24, 2022. Yves Herman/Reuters CNN —  Before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many, including Kyiv, were skeptical that a major war could return to Europe. More than two years on, another shift once unthinkable is underway on conscription. Several European nations have reintroduced or expanded compulsory military service amid Moscow’s mounting threat, part of a range of policies aimed at boosting defenses that are likely to be scaled up even further. “We are coming to the realization that we may have to adjust the way we mobilize for war and adjust the way we produce military equipment and we recruit and train personnel,” said Robert Hamilton, head of Eurasia research at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, who served as a US Army officer for 30 years. “It is tragically true that here we are, in 2024, and we are grappling with the questions of how to mobilize millions of people to be thrown into a meatgrinder of a war potentially, but this is where Russia has put us,” he said. The risks for a larger war in Europe have been rising after Russian President Vladimir Putin “finally resorted to open conflict” in Ukraine, pursuing his aim to “recreate the Soviet empire,” said Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret.), who served as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe. “So we’ve now got a war in Europe that we never thought we would see again,” said Clark, who led NATO forces during the Kosovo War. “Whether this is a new Cold War or an emerging hot war is unclear,” he continued, but “it’s a very imminent warning to NATO that we’ve got to rebuild our defenses.” Those efforts include conscription, he says. Return of conscription underscores new reality A number of European countries halted mandatory conscription after the end of the Cold War, but several nations – particularly in Scandinavia and the Baltics – have reintroduced it in recent years, largely because of the Russian threat. Failure to enlist can result in fines or even jail time in some countries. Latvia is the latest to implement conscription. Compulsory military service  was reintroduced on January 1 this year, after being abolished in 2006. Male citizens will be put up for the draft within 12 months of reaching the age of 18, or graduation for those still in the education system. “At first there was a lot of pushback,” said Arturs Pīlācis, a 20-year-old student. He’s yet to go up for the draft but voluntarily went on a month-long military course. But ultimately, “the need for a state defence service was clear,” he said. “There wasn’t really an option where we can stand by and think things will go on as they were before because of the unprovoked aggression in Ukraine.” Latvian army servicemen with a M109A5 howitzer attend a military parade to celebrate the anniversary of the independence declaration in Riga, Latvia on November 18, 2022. Ints Kalnins/Reuters In April, Norway presented an ambitious long-term plan that will nearly double the country’s defense budget and add more than 20,000 conscripted soldiers, employees, and reservists to the armed forces. “We need a defense that is fit for purpose in the emerging security environment,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said. Conscription in Norway is mandatory and in 2015 it became the first member of the NATO defensive alliance to conscript both men and women on equal terms. RELATED ARTICLE‘Everyone will fight.’ Ukrainian men weigh their options as new draft law comes into effect Economics student Jens Bartnes, 26, completed his military training at the age of 19. “I am happy I did it, I learned a lot from that year that I wouldn’t learn otherwise – about myself, about my physical and mental limits and abilities I suppose, but also about teamwork. It’s a whole different way of life,” he said. “I am willing to fight for my country if need be, because I believe in the values that the Norwegian society is built on and I believe those values of inclusion and equality and democracy are worth fighting for,” Bartnes added. Max Henrik Arvidson, 25, was conscripted into the Norwegian military for one year between 2019 and 2020. Like Bartnes, he sees military service as an essential duty. “I know the only way we can stand against more Russian aggression is by keep supplying Ukraine with weapons and aid, while standing strong together with NATO as a whole and the European Union.” ‘Big mental shift’ Debates about conscription have also been taking place in other European countries that currently don’t require it. In the UK, the Conservatives floated the idea of military service in their ill-fated election campaign. But perhaps the most surprising transformation is underway in Germany, which since the end of World War II has had an aversion to militarization. In another first since the Cold War, Germany this year updated its plan should conflict erupt in Europe, and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius presented a proposal in June for a new voluntary military service. “We must be ready for war by 2029,” he said. Boris Pistorius, Federal Minister of Defense, visits the air base in B’chel and talks to soldiers on 18 July 2024. Thomas Frey/picture-alliance/dpa/AP “We are seeing the debate now raging. And that’s the first step,” said Sean Monaghan, a visiting fellow in the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “This doesn’t happen overnight, it’s a big mental shift.” Not everyone is ready to answer the call. In Lithuania, for instance, opinions about military service among students vary, said Paulius Vaitiekus, president of Lithuania’s National Students’ Union. Since the country reintroduced compulsory military service in 2015 due to a “changed geopolitical situation,” about 3,500 to 4,000 Lithuanians between the ages of 18 and 26 are enlisted each year for a period of nine months. Vaitiekus said students have launched initiatives to send supplies to the Ukrainian frontlines. There was “a shift in the mindset

By Zoe Sottile, CNN  2 minute read Updated 4:55 PM EDT, Sun June 23, 2024 CNN —  A California man spent ten days stranded in the mountains after he got lost on a hike, relying in part on large volumes of water to survive. Lukas McClish, 34, set out for what he thought would be a three-hour hike in the Santa Cruz Mountains on June 11, according to CNN affiliate KGO. But he became lost in the mountains – partially due to the destruction of local landmarks in recent wildfires. His family officially reported him missing when he didn’t show up for a Father’s Day dinner on June 16, triggering search and rescue efforts, KGO reported. Ad Feedback McClish was eventually found on Thursday thanks to a drone from the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office, according to an X post from Cal Fire San Mateo, which said McClish was found in Big Basin Redwoods State Park – California’s oldest state park and home to towering ancient coast redwood trees. VIDEO RELATED VIDEOThis dog fell 30 feet into a volcano fissure. See how she got out “There were multiple reports of witnesses hearing someone yelling for help, but the location of that person was hard to establish,” said Cal Fire. McClish was found with “no major injuries and was reunited with his family,” according to the sheriff’s office. Speaking with KGO, McClish said he was “tired and a little sore” after his ordeal. “I lost my voice,” he added. All he had to survive in the forest were the clothes he was wearing when he left: “I left with just a pair of pants, and my pair of hiking shoes, and a hat,” he told KGO. “I had a flashlight, and a pair of folding scissors, like a Leatherman tool. And that was about it.” He attributed his survival to drinking lots of water from creeks and waterfalls he found as he hiked through the park each day, calling for help, according to CNN affiliate KSBW. “I just make sure I drank a gallon of water every day, but then after, getting close to the end of it, my body needed food and some kind of sustenance,” McClish told KGO. Seeing the number of search and rescue workers who worked to find him was “really humbling,” he said. “It was an awesome experience.” Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified a CNN affiliate that reported on Lukas McClish’s disappearance. It was KGO

Analysis by Nick Paton Walsh, CNN  5 minute read Published 8:22 AM EDT, Mon June 24, 2024 CNN —  Only a fraction of the violence that raged across Dagestan on Sunday is visible at the moment, and it is already horrific. Co-ordinated attacks in Dagestan’s two main cities, hitting synagogues and churches. Reports a priest had his throat slit, hostages taken, and the sons of a local official and an MMA fighter among the five attackers. Videos of the violence showed police responding, racing down Makhachkala’s panicked streets, as darkness fell. And police casualties appear improbably greater than the civilian toll, hinting worse news about civilian deaths may be yet to emerge. The partial information available is entirely by design. Moscow has tried for decades to keep a lid on the raging Islamist extremism its years of brutal suppression and poverty have fomented across the North Caucasus. Some times it is through brutal force, others through the selective release of information. But neither has conquered the problem. This attack – almost three months to the day after gunmen stormed into Moscow’s Crocus City Hall killing 133 – compounds the unpleasant fact that Russia’s Islamist threat has metastised, like it has across the world, and the next, younger generation retains the same vile hatred for the Kremlin’s past and present. The extent of the law enforcement response will be key as Russia’s political elite picks through the wreckage. The high death toll among police suggests they were either heavily targeted, or met fierce resistance when they intervened. The war in Ukraine – with police officers sent to the front – has left Russia’s law enforcement depleted nationwide. But it is particularly bad in Dagestan, where protests broke out in the earlier months of the war, as their sons had been disproportionately mobilized. RELATED ARTICLERussia has seen two major terror attacks in just three months. Here’s what we know This is a poor, febrile pocket of Russia on the Caspian Sea, in places devoutly Muslim, where the war in Ukraine will have left many empty places at the dinner table, and fomented discontent against the Kremlin and its often corrupt local proxies. Dead and absent sons are hard to stomach, but if they come with worse security at home, it can be a critical problem for the Kremlin’s grip on Dagestan. Extremist Islamism became Russia’s curse after the savagery of its two wars in Chechnya. Putin came to power in 1999 graphically pledging to wipe out “in the toilet” the extremists apparently behind apartment bombings in Moscow. Chechen separatist militants like Shamil Basayev grew more radical in their ideology as Moscow’s “clean-up” campaigns raged through Chechnya’s villages in the early 2000s, often executing military-aged males randomly. Over the coming years, the two protagonists fed off each other; militants would reach yet more disgusting depths, and be answered by security forces who saw no limits on what they should do in response. The attacks on Christians in Dagestan on Sunday echo the militants’ most ghastly crime – the siege of the school in Beslan, in 2004, where an Orthodox Christian area was targeted and more than 300 people died, most of them children. The security forces’ response was woeful back then, until special forces arrived and bravely suppressed the siege, suffering great casualties in their ranks. Russian President Vladimir Putin sneaked into the area to see the wounded in hospital in the dead of night. Beslan was a manifestation of the sore he had pledged to cure when he came to power. As he has now, he failed back then, and wanted no photocall with the devastation. In this photo taken from video released by the National Antiterrorism Committee on Monday, June 24, 2024, FSB officers conduct a counter-terrorist operation in republic of Dagestan, Russia. The National Antiterrorism Committee/AP Chechen wars ignited entire region The perpetrators of Beslan had complex histories that spoke of how the Chechen wars had ignited an entire region. They were mostly not Chechens, but from nearby Ingushetia, another Russian region hit hard by its brutal war on extremism and separatists. Their decision to launch such a diabolical scheme – and there could only have been one real outcome from stringing up explosives in the basketball hoops above children’s heads in a gym on the first day of school – came, they said, from the brutalities they had seen. I interviewed the only surviving Beslan gunman’s father back in 2004, in a remote village in the Chechen hills. A tiny man, in a kufi hat and silver beard, he said little about his son’s crimes. We spoke in a hurry, as Russian forces were then busy entering homes on the other side of his village in yet another clean-up operation. He said to me only this: “It is as Lenin said. There is White and there is Red. Always has been, and always will be.” His point: there are two sides in this savage war, and they are irreconcilable. Fast forward a decade, and the North Caucasus came into focus again when two former residents perpetrated the Boston bombing in 2013. Their links back to Dagestan extremism proved slight. Most reporting suggested the elder brother had tried to be recruited by local jihadists, and hung around Makhachkala for weeks, hoping to get the invitation. But by then, Dagestan’s extremists were hugely selective. Recruits would be expected to sit for months in isolation, without using cellphones or other contact, before jihadists would admit them to their training in the dense local forests and ranks of committed militants, eager to take innocent life. The caution was a by-product of Moscow’s crackdown. Surveillance was omnipresent. Police would take no chances when intervening with suspects. Often a potential militant would be surrounded, his family permitted to leave, and then his home stormed, with little option for surrender. That was over 10 years ago. Nothing has improved since, and a younger generation have the lurid propaganda of ISIS’s failed caliphate of 2014 to supercharge their fantasies. They