How to teach a horse to dance
GUNTHWAITE, England — At the Paris Olympics, hundreds of competitors will try to marry athletic prowess to artistic grace, but only those competing in dressage will attempt it while sitting astride a willful animal.
Olympic officials defend fighters’ eligibility in women’s boxing controversy
PARIS — Lin Yu-ting strode toward the boxing ring Friday fully aware that she was walking straight into a swirling controversy that has turned the Paris Olympics into a forum for a fierce debate about biology, gender and fairness in women’s sports.
Olympic surfing comes to a ‘poisoned’ paradise
TAHITI, French Polynesia — Fifty years ago this July, as the waters of the South Pacific rushed toward the shores of Teahupo’o in a perfect, powerful curl, as they have always done, another wave visited the tiny hamlet. This time it was an invisible and airborne one: a surge of radiation escaping from a nuclear weapon test conducted by France in this far-flung reach of their republic.
Defense secretary revokes plea deal for accused Sept. 11 plotters
GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III on Friday overruled the overseer of the war court at Guantánamo Bay and revoked a plea agreement reached this week with the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and two alleged accomplices.
Tropical storm warning issued for parts of Florida
Parts of Florida were under a tropical storm warning on Friday as a cluster of storms moved over Cuba toward the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to bring heavy rain, gusty winds and the potential for flash flooding.
Hamas leader’s funeral comes amid fears his killing may block cease-fire deal
JERUSALEM — Thousands packed Qatar’s largest mosque Friday for the funeral of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader, hours after President Joe Biden said his killing could hurt the monthslong effort to negotiate a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
Chevron, in snub to California, will move its headquarters to Houston
Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, is moving its headquarters to Houston, from California, formalizing a long-expected breakup with a state that has pushed aggressively to address climate change.
Job market slows significantly, raising economic jitters
American employers reined in their hiring significantly in July, intensifying jitters that the economy is cooling faster than expected.
US to send more combat aircraft and warships to Middle East, officials say
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday ordered additional combat aircraft and missile-shooting warships to the Middle East in response to threats from Iran and its proxies in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Yemen to attack Israel in the coming days to avenge the death of Ismail Haniyeh, the Pentagon said.
Many of Gaza’s medical workers have been detained or killed
Dr. Khaled El Serr last spoke to his family in mid-March, a week before Israeli troops raided the hospital in the Gaza Strip where he worked as a surgeon.
Maui wildfire plaintiffs reach $4 billion settlement as anniversary nears
Nearly a year after a ferocious wildfire on Maui killed 102 people and leveled the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii’s largest utility has agreed to pay the largest share of a legal settlement totaling just more than $4 billion and compensating more than 10,000 homeowners, businesses and other plaintiffs.
Harris begins final phase of accelerated VP search
The law firm hired by the Harris campaign to investigate potential vice presidential candidates has completed its work, leaving the final decision — the most important yet of the still-new campaign — squarely in Vice President Kamala Harris’ hands.
Not one of us: Trump uses old tactic to sow suspicion about Harris
She is not one of us.
US sues TikTok over child privacy violations
The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing it of illegally collecting children’s data and escalating a long-running battle between the U.S. government and the Chinese-owned app.
Schumer promises year-end judicial push as courts gain new political importance
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are planning a new push this fall to make overhauling the nation’s courts a marquee political issue, preparing to press for ethics restrictions on Supreme Court justices and the reversal of some rulings while sprinting to confirm dozens of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees.
Bomb smuggled into Iran guesthouse months ago killed Hamas leader
Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader of Hamas, was assassinated Wednesday by an explosive device covertly smuggled into the Tehran, Iran, guesthouse where he was staying, according to seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Iranians, and a U.S. official.
Several Senate Republicans criticize strategy, but not substance, of Trump’s comments on Harris
Former President Donald Trump’s comments at the National Association of Black Journalists’ conference Wednesday, in which he questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’ identity as a Black woman, put congressional Republicans in a familiar position: surrounded by reporters asking whether they could defend what their standard-bearer had said.
This scientist has a risky plan to cool Earth. There’s growing interest
CHICAGO — David Keith was a graduate student in 1991 when a volcano erupted in the Philippines, sending a cloud of ash toward the edge of space.
Major inmate swap frees dissidents and US journalists from Russian prisons
BERLIN — A prisoner swap Thursday among seven countries freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and two other Americans held in Russia, along with several jailed Russian dissidents, in a deal whose size and complexity has no parallel in the post-Soviet era.
Arizona Republican who said 2020 election was not stolen loses primary
PHOENIX — Republican voters on Tuesday ousted a top elections official in Arizona’s most populous county who angered conservatives by defending the state’s voting system against false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, according to The Associated Press.
