Harris has secured enough Democratic delegate votes to be the party’s nominee, committee chair says
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris says she’s “honored” to be the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said Friday that Harris had secured enough votes from delegates to become the party’s nominee. The online voting process doesn’t end until Monday, but the campaign marked the moment Friday when she crossed the threshold to have the majority of delegates’ votes. Harris is poised to be the first woman of color at the top of a major party’s ticket. The Democratic Party’s convention in Chicago begins Aug. 19. Harris was endorsed by President Joe Biden after he left the race, catapulting her to the forefront of the campaign to beat Republican Donald Trump.
An assassin, a Putin foe’s death, secret talks: How a sweeping US-Russia prisoner swap came together
WASHINGTON (AP) — The 24-person blockbuster prison swap carried out this week required the U.S. to regroup after the unexpected death in February of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who’d been seen as a key cog in a potential exchange. It depended on the willingness of Germany to release from custody a Russian who just five years earlier had committed a cold-blooded killing on its soil, and for other European countries to give up their prisoners. And it forced Russia to part with Americans, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, it had stockpiled as trade bait.
Kremlin acknowledges intelligence operatives were among the Russians freed in prisoner swap
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — New details have emerged on the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, with the Kremlin acknowledging for the first time that some of the Russians held in the West belonged to its security services. Families of freed dissidents, meanwhile, expressed their joy at the surprise release. President Vladimir Putin embraced each of the eight Russian returnees at a Moscow Airport and promised them state awards. Among them was Vadim Krasikov, a Russian assassin who was serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 killing of a former Chechen fighter in Berlin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Krasikov is an officer of the Federal Security Service — a fact reported in the West while Moscow denied any state involvement.
Masked assailants ransack Venezuela opposition’s headquarters as post-election tensions mount
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Half a dozen masked assailants have ransacked the headquarters of Venezuela’s opposition in an escalation of violence against President Nicolás Maduro’s opponents after the disputed presidential election. The stakes have grown higher for Venezuela’s electoral authority to prove that Maduro won after the United States recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González as the victor. The U.S. announcement follows a flurry of diplomatic activity from multiple governments, including Maduro’s close regional allies, to force Venezuelan authorities to release precinct-level results. The opposition says it has enough of the printed vote tally sheets from electronic voting machines that prove Maduro lost the election.
Mourners pay respects to slain Hamas leader Haniyeh as worries of regional war mount
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Mourners gathered in Doha to hold funeral prayers for slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as Iran and its regional allies vowed to retaliate against Israel. The assassinations of Haniyeh and other top leaders of Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah mark a victory for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as Israeli forces continue to operate in Gaza. But they set off a scramble among mediators to salvage a cease-fire deal on the table and avert regional war. U.S. President Joe Biden late on Thursday urged Israel to move quickly on the cease-fire deal as demonstrators poured into the streets from Morocco to Iran in a show of support for Haniyeh.
Few Americans trust the Secret Service after a gunman nearly killed Trump, an AP-NORC poll finds
Few Americans have high confidence in the Secret Service’s ability to keep presidential candidates safe after last month’s attempt on Donald Trump’s life. That’s according to a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Only around three in 10 Americans are extremely or very confident that the Secret Service can keep the presidential candidates safe from violence before the election. The law enforcement agency tasked with protecting presidents for more than a century is under intense scrutiny after a gunman got within 150 yards of Trump and fired several bullets from an AR-style rifle.
UK police brace for more far-right protests as government warns of tough response
LONDON (AP) — Several suspects arrested in violent protests that erupted after the fatal stabbing of three children in northwest England appeared in court as officials brace for more clashes over the weekend. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has condemned the unrest and blamed it on “far-right hatred.” Starmer has vowed to end the mayhem and says police across the U.K. will be given more resources to stop “a breakdown in law and order on our streets.” Demonstrations over the coming days are being promoted online in Sunderland, Belfast, Cardiff, Liverpool, Manchester and other places using phrases including “enough is enough,” “save our kids” and “stop the boats.”
For college students arrested protesting the war in Gaza, the fallout was only beginning
AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — More than 3,200 people were arrested on college campuses this spring during a wave of pro-Palestinian tent encampments protesting the war in Gaza. Many students have already seen those charges dismissed. But the cases have yet to be resolved for hundreds of people at campuses that saw the highest number of arrests, according to an analysis of data gathered by The Associated Press. In addition to the legal limbo, those students face uncertainty in their academic careers. Some remain steadfast, saying they would have made the same decisions to protest even if they had known the consequences. Others have struggled with the aftermath of the arrests.
After the end of Roe, a new beginning for maternity homes
ORANGE, Va. (AP) — There has been a nationwide expansion of maternity homes in the two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the federal right to abortion. Christian anti-abortion advocates want to open more of these transitional housing facilities for pregnant women to meet a growing need. It’s part of what they see as the next step in preventing abortions and providing long-term support for families. But maternity homes also have a traumatic history of coerced adoptions, particularly in the three decades before Roe v. Wade. Today’s activists and former residents of maternity homes are still grappling with that legacy.
Who is Imane Khelif? Algerian boxer facing gender outcry had modest success before Olympics
VILLEPINTE, France (AP) — Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has landed in the middle of a divide about gender in sports after her Italian competitor, Angela Carini, pulled out seconds into their bout at the Paris Olympics. Khelif has fought at numerous major amateur boxing tournaments over the past six years, including the Tokyo Olympics. She’s a formidable athlete with respected fighting skills. She’s even won a few regional gold medals. But Khelif was decidedly not known as a dominant champion, an overpowering force or even a particularly hard puncher at her weight. The reality to those who actually watch Olympic-style boxing is quite different.
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