Associated Press PARIS (AP) — A record number of athletes openly identifying as LGBTQ+ are competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Activist groups see it as a massive leap for inclusion during a competition that organizers have pushed to center around inclusion and diversity. There are 193 athletes publicly saying they are gay, lesbian, bisexual,
Continue ReadingAP Business Writer McDonald’s posted weak sales in the second quarter as increasingly value-conscious consumers paid fewer visits to restaurants. The Chicago burger giant said Monday that its same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, fell 1% worldwide in the April-June period. It was the company’s first same-store sales decline since
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Candidates for federal and state legislative posts will compete for their parties’ nominations in primaries in Tennessee. In the 5th Congressional District on Thursday, first-term congressman and House Freedom Caucus member Andy Ogles faces a tough Republican primary challenge from metro Nashville-area Councilwoman Courtney Johnston. For U.S. Senate, Republican incumbent
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s spy agency says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has regained weight and has obesity-related health problems including high blood pressure and diabetes. The National Intelligence Service told lawmakers that North Korean officials are looking for new medicines abroad to treat Kim’s health problems. The 40-year-old
Continue Reading
By Maya Davis, CNN (CNN) — California’s wildfires have been increasing in size and frequency, producing vast amounts of smoke that contribute to what state boards call a “growing public health problem.” New research links the long-term exposure of this wildfire smoke to brain health, suggesting that it greatly increases risk of dementia compared with other sources
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Protests over skyrocketing power bills have shut down a major road into Pakistan’s capital as some 3,000 supporters of a major Islamist party continue a sit-in despite pouring monsoon rains. The protesters are demanding that the government withdraw taxes on electricity to offset price hikes. They have occupied a road
Continue ReadingBy Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN (CNN) — Kamala Harris’ plan as a running mate was to brush past JD Vance as nothing but a rubber stamp for Donald Trump. But now that she’s the presumptive Democratic nominee, her campaign is seizing on the Ohio senator as a major liability, looking to her own vice presidential selection
Continue Reading
CNN By Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN (CNN) — Kamala Harris’ plan as a running mate was to brush past JD Vance as nothing but a rubber stamp for Donald Trump. But now that she’s the presumptive Democratic nominee, her campaign is seizing on the Ohio senator as a major liability, looking to her own vice presidential
Continue ReadingBy Leah Dolan, CNN (CNN) — Close your eyes and imagine a stand-up comedian. Perhaps they’re standing in a basement in front of an exposed brick wall. Or sitting on a wooden stool in the middle of a black curtained stage. What are they wearing? A shirt tucked into belted pants? A Rat-Pack-style suit and
Continue ReadingBy Kristen Rogers, CNN (CNN) — 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
Continue ReadingBy Matias Grez and Chris Liakos, CNN (CNN) — Organizers of the Paris Olympics have apologized for what some critics described as a parody of “The Last Supper” during the lavish opening ceremony on Friday. The scene featured drag artists and dancers and was widely criticized by the Catholic church and Christian groups. The French
Continue ReadingVILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — One person has died and some 200,000 households have been left without electricity in Lithuania and neighboring Latvia as strong storm winds and heavy rain pounded the two Baltic nations overnight. A 50-year-old woman was killed in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, by a falling tree on Monday, authorities said. Fire and
Continue ReadingBy Samantha Delouya, CNN (CNN) — The first time Alexis Hammond rented out her Baltimore home on Peerspace, a marketplace for renting homes and other spaces by the hour, a film crew and a celebrity arrived to shoot a Wawa commercial. “There was a Baltimore Ravens football player here, so that was very exciting,” Hammond
Continue ReadingBy Thomas Schlachter and Ben Church, CNN (CNN) — Many athletes have to deal with an increased weight of expectation when coming into an Olympic Games – none perhaps more so than the members of the USA women’s basketball team. And while there’s no such concept of a sure thing or a guaranteed gold medal
Continue ReadingAssociated Press PARIS (AP) — The French government was investigating after multiple telecommunications lines were hit by acts of vandalism Monday, affecting fiber lines and fixed and mobile phone lines as cities around France host events for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Organizers for the Paris Games say their operations were not affected. France’s second largest
Continue ReadingAssociated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces have overrun two front-line villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a Ukrainian army sergeant said Monday, after relentless assaults that are part of a Kremlin summer push to overwhelm battlefield defenses there. Separately, attacks in Russia’s Kursk region by the Security Service of Ukraine, also known as
Continue Reading
Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — President Joe Biden decried “extremism” that he says has undermined public confidence in the the U.S. Supreme Court, as he called on Congress to quickly establish term limits and an enforceable ethics code for the court’s nine justices. He also called on lawmakers to ratify a constitutional amendment limiting
Continue ReadingBy Lilit Marcus, CNN (CNN) — “I see money on holidays like Monopoly money,” says Lisa Fraser. The currently unemployed 30-year-old has been to Taipei, Budapest and New York in the past year, with no plans of giving up vacations while she looks for a job. “I don’t have a budget. I’ll have a rough
Continue ReadingAssociated Press PARIS (AP) — Concerns about the water quality in the Seine River led officials to call off the swimming portion of an Olympic triathlon training session for a second straight day Monday. Organizers overseeing the event at the Paris Games are optimistic that triathletes will be able to swim in the city’s famed
Continue ReadingBy Laura Paddison, Jen Christensen, Mary Gilbert, Henry Zeris, Yukari Schrickel, Lou Robinson and Way Mullery (CNN) — Philip Kreycik should have survived his run. In the summer of 2021, the 37-year-old ultra-marathon runner used an app to plot a roughly 8-mile loop through Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park in California, a huge stretch of parkland
Continue Reading