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| A new Times/Siena poll found Kamala Harris faring better with young and nonwhite voters than President Biden had. Erin Schaff/The New York Times |
New poll shows a tighter U.S. race
Kamala Harris begins a 103-day sprint for the presidency in a virtual tie with Donald Trump, according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, which showed Democrats rallying behind the vice president as the presumptive nominee. Only 14 percent said they would prefer another option.
Trump led Harris 48 percent to 47 percent among likely voters and 48 percent to 46 percent among registered voters in a head-to-head match, a marked improvement for Democrats over Biden’s showing earlier this month. At rallies, Trump has begun caricaturing his new opponent as a left-wing radical and a “lunatic.”
Harris’s swift reassembling of the Democratic coalition seems to have narrowed the significant advantage Trump had over President Biden. She had 93 percent support from Democrats in the poll, the same share Trump was getting from Republicans. Barack Obama is expected to back her candidacy soon, insiders said.
Go deeper: Harris was faring better among groups with whom Biden had been weakest, especially younger and nonwhite voters. Some Democrats fear she might not retain the strengths Biden has had among older voters, among whom the poll does show some erosion of Democratic support.
For more: The poll is full of findings unlike any we’ve seen this cycle, with the exception of Trump’s slight lead, Nate Cohn writes.
Trump conviction: Manhattan prosecutors argued that the Supreme Court’s decision this month granting the former president broad immunity for official actions he took in the White House had “no bearing” on his criminal hush-money conviction.
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| The fuchsia-clad American team at the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona. David Madison/Getty Images |
Let the Games begin
The Paris Olympics are finally here. The opening ceremony is at 7:30 p.m. Paris time. Athletes will float in on boats in the Seine, dressed in their national costumes.
Some competitions have already begun, but the Games get into full swing tomorrow, with women’s swimming, men’s basketball and tennis. More than 300 events, many sprinkled across Paris, will take place before the Olympics end on Aug. 11.
“Gymnastics, swimming and track remain the heartbeat of the Games,” said Andrew Das, our lead Olympics editor. “Good stories there will make any Olympics more memorable.”
Here’s more on what to watch at the Paris Games. Sign up for our Olympics newsletter to follow the highlights.
More on the Olympics:
| Security fortress: More than 400,000 spectators will watch the opening ceremony in person. Protecting all those people is a daunting security challenge.Names to watch: Leon Marchand, a swimmer known as the French Michael Phelps, and Teddy Riner, a fashionable French judoka looking for his third heavyweight gold medal, are generating excitement, as are Simone Biles, the superstar American gymnast, and the American swimmer Katie Ledecky, who is looking to add to her seven gold medals.Speed: Can you guess how fast various Olympic implements move?Soccer: Racheal Kundananji, who will lead Zambia’s team, has become one of the most valuable female soccer players on the planet. |
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| Israeli soldiers carrying the coffin of Kiril Brodski, one of the five hostages whose bodies were retrieved from a tunnel in southern Gaza. Ricardo Moraes/Reuters |
Israel recovers five hostages’ bodies
Israeli forces on Wednesday retrieved the bodies of five hostages from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip, the military said yesterday, amid growing international and domestic pressure for a cease-fire deal that would lead to the release of the remaining captives. Israeli officials say 115 hostages are still in Gaza, a number that includes about 40 who are presumed dead.
The bodies were found on Wednesday in a zone around the city of Khan Younis that Israel had previously designated as a safe humanitarian area, the military said. Israel has been carrying out a new military operation in Khan Younis this week. At least 30 people were killed and dozens more injured over a 24-hour period in Gaza on Wednesday and Thursday, local health officials said.
Biden: The president met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at the White House. Their brief bonhomie masked deep tensions over the Gaza war and American efforts to broker a cease-fire. “We’ve got a lot to talk about,” Biden said.
Kamala Harris: The vice president offered Netanyahu strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself, but she declared that “far too many innocent civilians” had died, saying she would “not be silent” about Gazans’ suffering.
| MORE TOP NEWS |
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| Fred Greaves/Reuters |
| Wildfires: Tens of thousands of firefighters battled blazes in the Western U.S. and Canada yesterday, leading to evacuations and air-quality warnings.Russia: Nearly $4 billion in chips have been sent to Russia since the war began in Ukraine. Many were shipped through shell companies that share a single Hong Kong address.Ukraine: A suspect was detained in the killing of a far-right politician in the western city of Lviv, a crime that shocked the nation.Organized crime: American law enforcement arrested two top leaders of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, a dominant criminal group in Mexico, the Justice Department said.Military: Russian and Chinese strategic bombers carried out a joint patrol near Alaska. The U.S. and Canada scrambled jets to fly alongside them.Burkina Faso: The West African country is being torn apart by escalating violence between Islamist fighters and the military.Royals: Prince Harry said in a TV interview that his legal battle against British tabloids had been a “central piece” of the bitter rift between him and his family.Health: A large study found that for most women, a double mastectomy does not improve the odds of surviving breast cancer, compared to a single mastectomy. |
Business & Tech
| China: The central bank cut a key interest rate, Beijing’s latest attempt to offset a weakening economy and a housing market crisis.U.S.: The G.D.P. rose at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the second quarter, new evidence of the economy’s resilience despite high interest rates.Tech: The U.S. got a head start on A.I. development, but China is catching up.Forecast: Trends already underway make for a sunny economic outlook over the next few years — a likely boon for the next U.S. president. |
| SPORTS NEWS |
| Soccer: An apology was issued to victims’ families after the demolition of a Kanjuruhan Stadium memorial.Tennis: Angelique Kerber will retire from tennis after the Paris Olympics. |
| Basketball: The popularity of the W.N.B.A. has boomed, but players’ salaries have not.Formula 1: Max Verstappen’s frustrated radio messages at the Hungarian Grand Prix show potential fissures within Red Bull’s long-dominant team. And Esteban Ocon joins Haas for the 2025 season on a multiyear contract. |
| MORNING READ |
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| Joshua Bright for The New York Times |
The village of Congham, England, hosted an unusual group of athletes this month: 85 garden snails. Each heat in the World Snail Racing Championships began with a snail master saying, “Ready, steady, slow!” Meet the winner.
| ARTS AND IDEAS |
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| Meghan Pexton, via TikTok |
Call it ‘underconsumption core’
After years of being told what to buy, TikTok users are trying something new: buying and using only what they need. The latest move away from influencer culture features secondhand clothes and minimal skin care collections, rather than fashion fads and makeup bags with the latest products.
“Is anyone just over the era of influencers recently?” one user recently asked her followers. “I can’t do it anymore. I can’t watch any more videos of people going to Pilates at 5 a.m. and drinking their greens and bone broth and walking around the city and sending emails and going to the Hamptons on holidays.”
| RECOMMENDATIONS |
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| Christopher Testani for The New York Times |
Cook: Ratatouille combines eggplant, onions, peppers, tomatoes and zucchini into a harmonious stew.
