Wednesday Briefing: Harris and Walz made their debut

Plus, Hamas appoints a new leader

View in browser|nytimes.com August 7, 2024 By Natasha Frost Good morning. We're covering Kamala Harris's choice for vice president, and a new political leader for Hamas. Plus: Music inspired by books. 🇺🇸 U.S. ELECTION 2024 The presidential election is less than 100 days away. This is what we're watching. Vice President Kamala Harris with Tim Walz in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times Harris and Walz made their debut in Philadelphia Kamala Harris appeared for the first time alongside her newly announced running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, a former social studies teacher and football coach with a straight-talking style, introducing him yesterday at a packed rally in Philadelphia. "Tim Walz was the kind of teacher and mentor that every child in America dreams of having and that every kid deserves," Harris said. "The kind of coach — because he's the kind of person — who makes people feel like they belong and then inspires them to dream big. And that's the kind of vice president he will be." Walz responded, beaming, "Thank you for bringing back the joy." Democrats proved quick to embrace their new ticket on Tuesday, and the Harris campaign said it had raised more than $20 million in the hours since Walz's selection became official. Background: Born in Nebraska, Walz served for 24 years in the National Guard, taught social studies and coached a high school football team. He got his start in politics in 2006 by winning a congressional race in a rural, largely conservative district of Minnesota. Here are 19 things to know about Walz. Politics: After his election as governor of Minnesota, Walz has worked to enact an ambitious agenda of liberal policies: free college tuition for low-income students, free meals for schoolchildren, legal recreational marijuana and protections for transgender people. He has also championed climate issues but has faced criticism for his response to the George Floyd protests. Here's what else to know: Harris secured the Democratic Party's nomination for president, winning the support of 99 percent of delegates during a virtual roll call. Harris is locked in a very tight race against Donald Trump in three battleground states: Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us, and we'll find the answers. Stay up to date: Live coverage | Poll tracker | The "Run-Up" podcast | On Politics newsletter Yahya Sinwar, who has served as the leader of Hamas in Gaza since 2017. Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times Hamas appointed a new political leader Hamas announced yesterday that Yahya Sinwar, the presumed mastermind of the deadly Oct. 7 attacks against Israel, had been selected as its new political leader, consolidating his power over the militant group as it continues the war with Israel. Sinwar will replace Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an explosion last week in Tehran. Hamas and Iran blamed Israel for the assassination, although Israel has not publicly taken responsibility. Sinwar has served as the leader of Hamas in Gaza since 2017 and is widely believed to be hiding out in tunnels under the enclave. Born in the Gaza Strip, he spent two decades in Israeli prisons before his release in a prisoner exchange with Israel in 2011. He is viewed by Israeli officials as a sophisticated strategist with a keen understanding of their society. More news from the Middle East: Hezbollah launched a drone attack into northern Israel, which it said was a response to an Israeli strike a day earlier that Israel said had killed a field commander. Israeli forces have killed at least 12 Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, in raids across the occupied West Bank since Monday, Palestinian officials said. Civilians in Lebanon can do little more than watch and wait as an escalation with Israel appears more likely. Weeks after electing a reformist leader, the authorities in Iran executed a man who was arrested during protests in 2022. Muhammad Yunus, the interim leader of Bangladesh. Rehman Asad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images An interim leader for Bangladesh Accommodating demands from protesters, the president of Bangladesh appointed Muhammad Yunus, a pioneer in microfinance and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, to oversee an interim government. Yunus has two immediate tasks. He must first restore order in a country of 170 million people that has been roiled by weeks of student protests and violent clashes with the security forces that have killed more than 100 people. And then he must define the role of the interim government and its mandate until Bangladesh holds elections to choose a new leader. Her final hours: Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina insisted that she could hold on as an angry crowd closed in on her residence. Her family urged her to go. MORE TOP NEWS Ian Forsyth/Getty Images Britain: In Sunderland, an English city recently hit by rioting, frustrations run deep after years of economic deprivation and joblessness. U.S.: The F.B.I. arrested a Pakistani man who it said had tried to hire a hit man to assassinate U.S. leaders, possibly including Donald Trump. Stocks: Wall Street recouped some of the losses from the previous day. Stocks in Japan, hit hardest by recent selling, jumped 10 percent. China: Hu Xijin, an influential nationalist on social media, has suddenly gone quiet. Some think one of his posts praising Beijing may have backfired. Venezuela: President Nicolás Maduro and the rest of his government were confident of winning the election. Then their supporters rebelled. Ukraine: Toretsk, a city in the Donetsk region, is now on the front line of the war with Russia. Extreme weather: Georgia and the Carolinas declared states of emergency and warned residents to prepare for catastrophic flooding from Tropical Storm Debby. Health: Men still have more orgasms than women during sex, a new study found. Olympic Games Noah Throop and Emily Rhyne/The New York Times Breaking: The 50-year-old dance form will debut as an Olympic sport in Paris. Surfing: The American prodigy Caroline Marks narrowly won the women's gold. Social media: How some athletes strike TikTok gold, while others avoid the distraction. Boxing: Imane Khelif of Algeria, whose eligibility was questioned after her first-round victory, will fight for a gold medal on Friday. Women's soccer: The U.S. beat Germany in their semifinal and will play Spain or Brazil on Saturday. Pole vault: Armand Duplantis, the Swedish athlete better known as Mondo, set a world record and won his second straight Olympic gold medal. SPORTS NEWS Men's soccer: Atlético Madrid was close to a deal to acquire Julián Álvarez from Manchester City. Women's soccer: What Emma Hayes's approach to TV commentary tells us about the U.S. women's coach. N.H.L.: Ranking every team's fan confidence. MORNING READ Mary Turner for The New York Times Based in Britain, the Bookshop Band performs music inspired by books. "They read a book, get a general impression of it and come up with a series of lyrics which don't necessarily reflect back onto the book," said Pete Townshend, the guitarist and singer for the Who, who produced the Bookshop Band's 14th album and plays on every track. Our reporter made a pilgrimage to hear the band play. Lives lived: Joss Naylor, a sheep farmer and the "Iron Man" of fell running, or off-trail mountain racing, has died at 88. CONVERSATION STARTERS Break the bank: An artist broke into a bank (with permission). Then he rented it for $1 a month and turned it into a sort of art-centric community center. Style: What's with men wearing baseball hats everywhere? Our fashion critic explains. A brighter outlook: A U.S. survey found promising signs that sadness among teens, especially girls, seems to have improved since the depths of the pandemic. ARTS AND IDEAS Jun Michael Park for The New York Times To save his city, a mayor looks to Central Asia Like many South Korean cities, Jecheon is being eroded by rapid aging and rock-bottom birthrates. To solve that demographics problem, other cities have tried offers like money to newlyweds or free housing for parents of school-age children. Kim Chang-gyu, the mayor of Jecheon and a retired diplomat, looked farther afield: a pocket of about a half-million Koreans who emigrated to Siberia 100 years ago and were deported by Stalin in 1937 to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Kim said he hoped the Koreans from Central Asia would be more readily accepted in a country that feels strongly about blood ties. We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. RECOMMENDATIONS Christopher Testani for The New York Times Cook: Our version of chicken adobo has a mouthwatering sauce with an irresistible tang. Travel: Southern Sardinia is wild, beautiful and often overlooked. Read: "The Missing Thread" delves into ancient history through the lives of women. Dress: This fall, sport smart separates in shades of ivory, cream and snow. Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today's Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here. That's it for today's briefing. And a correction: Yesterday's briefing misstated which nation the pole-vaulter Mondo Duplantis competes for. He competes for Sweden, not Italy. See you tomorrow. — Natasha Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. 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