Author: chicagoinquirer

By Rory Carroll PARIS – Simone Biles has submitted an original skill on uneven bars ahead of the Paris Olympics that will be the American’s sixth move named after her and first on bars if she can successfully complete it. The new skill is a clear hip circle forward with 1.5 turns to handstand, a variation of an element named for Canadian Wilhelm Weiler, which Biles has performed for much of her career, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said. FIG’s technical committee awarded it a difficulty value of E on a scale from A to J, meaning it is worth…

by Jarrett Renshaw CHICAGO- Former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle endorsed Kamala Harris’ bid for president on Friday in a roughly one-minute long video that captured a private phone call between the couple and the current vice president. “We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” Obama told Harris. “I am proud of you. This is going to be historic,” the former first lady told Harris. Talking into a cell phone and cracking a few smiles,…

by Dominique Vidalon and Elizabeth Pineau PARIS – Vandals targeted France’s high-speed train network with a series of coordinated actions that brought major disruption to some of the country’s busiest rail lines ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday. The state-owned railway operator said arsonists had targeted installations along the lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in west and Strasbourg in the east. It urged all travellers to postpone their journeys. Repairs were underway but traffic would be severely disrupted until at least the end of the weekend. Trains were being sent…

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said on Thursday that she would back the creation of a judicial panel to monitor justices’ compliance with the court’s new ethics code, multiple news outlets reported. Kagan told a judicial conference in Sacramento, California, she would be supportive if Chief Justice John Roberts formed “some sort of committee of highly respected judges with a great deal of experience and a reputation for fairness” to assess potential violations of the code, according to Bloomberg Law. The Supreme Court in November adopted its first code of conduct amid a swirl of ethics scrutiny. Critics…

by Nandita Bose and Trevor Hunnicutt HOUSTON -Vice President Kamala Harris took her presidential campaign blitz to the largest U.S. teachers’ union on Thursday, promising a “fight for the future” as new opinion polls showed her narrowing the gap with Republican rival Donald Trump. Harris’ swift emergence as the successor to President Joe Biden, 81, as the Democratic presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election has shaken up a stagnant presidential race, with multiple polls showing her narrowing former President Trump’s advantage. In an address in Houston to the American Federation of Teachers, Harris, 59, focused on economic policy and…

WASHINGTON -Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is performing better than President Joe Biden in battleground states likely to decide the Nov. 5 election, narrowing the gap with Republican Donald Trump, according to an Emerson College/The Hill poll released on Thursday. The poll showed former President Trump leading in four of the critical states: Arizona 49% to 44%, Georgia 48% to 46%, Michigan 46% to 45%, and Pennsylvania 48% to 46%. Trump and Harris are tied at 47% in Wisconsin, according to the poll. Harris surpassed Biden’s performance in an Emerson poll conducted earlier this month in each of the five…

by Steve Holland and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden. “It is time for this war to end,” Harris said in a televised statement after she held face-to-face talks with Netanyahu. Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee after Biden dropped out of the election race on Sunday, did not mince words about the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza after nine months of war between Israel and Hamas militants.…

by Ope Adetayo ABUJA – Nigeria’s military will intervene to prevent any violence at protests by citizens planned for next month against bad governance and economic hardship, defence spokesperson Major General Edward Buba said on Thursday. Buba said Nigerians had a right to protest peacefully but the demonstrations being planned from Aug. 1 could turn violent as they were inspired by events in Kenya, where young people took to the streets and forced their government to scrap $2.7 billion in tax hikes. More than 50 people have been killed in the Kenyan protests. Nigeria’s military was last deployed to quell…

The rocketing growth of the WNBA is reflected in the league’s new media rights agreements announced Wednesday for the 2026 through 2036 seasons. Disney, which owns ABC and ESPN, and Amazon Prime Video remain partners along with a new agreement with NBCUniversal (NBCU) covering broadcast, cable and streaming distribution. Disney will show games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and stream them on ESPN’s upcoming direct-to-consumer service. NBCU will distribute games on NBC, USA Network and/or its Peacock streaming service. Amazon will stream games on Prime Video. The agreements — negotiated by the NBA concurrent with talks for its new TV rights…

HAITI – The Kenyan-led police mission in Haiti will need to rapidly deliver tangible results, according to a security bulletin on Wednesday, warning that people living in gang-controlled areas remain dependent on criminal leaders. “The MSS (Multinational Security Support) as an external player, will need to rapidly deliver tangible security results to the community, so as not to be seen as part of the problem but part of the solution,” said the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) in a bulletin. Several hundred Kenyan police officers arrived in the Caribbean nation at the end of June and have been…