FRANCE — Pure European joy: Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, celebrates on the podium after the seventeenth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 177.8 kilometers (110.5 miles) with start in Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux and finish in Superdevoluy, France, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. Nicknamed Pogi, the 25-year cyclist currently rides for UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates. He won the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Tour de France, winning three different jerseys during each Tour, an accomplishment not seen in nearly four decades.
Readers following the Tour will see that Stage 18, on Thursday, July 18, will take the cyclists from GAP to Barcelonnette, past the Haute-Alpes.
LONDON — Anachronistic regalia preserved by tradition: King Charles III looks up as he waits to read the King’s Speech as Queen Camilla sits beside him during the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords, London, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. King Charles III’s speech will set out the agenda of the UK’s first Labour government for 14 years. This is one speech, however, that the King and his staff have no hand in authoring. Rather, the elected government writes the speech, and the King reads it aloud during a joint session of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. It is also the only routine occasion in which both houses of Parliament and the Crown convene in the same space.
Parliament’s leaders are Minister Keir Starmer of the Labour Party, the Lord High Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith), and the Speaker of the Commons (Sir Lindsay Hoyle). The tradition-rich ceremony symbolizes the king’s role in this constitutional monarchy.
MILWAUKEE — Politics, but make it fashion: Sara Brady poses for a photo during the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. They seem upbeat about GOP nominee Donald Trump’s choice of running mate: 39-year-old Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio. One Long Island Congressman, Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of Nassau County, said on Wednesday, July 17, that the selection of U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance as Donald Trump’s running mate is part of their party’s embrace of youth.
D’Esposito, a retired police detective, is three years older than Vance.
ARLINGTON — ‘I would hug you if there weren’t this invisible wall between us’: National League’s Shohei Ohtani, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, left, celebrates his three-run home with Jurickson Profar, of the San Diego Padres, in the third inning during the MLB All-Star baseball game, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. The American League gave an exciting finish to the game with a tiebreaking, two-run homer from Boston’s breakout center fielder Jarren Duran, winning 5-3 over the National Leaguers. This feat won Duran the Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award.
The All-Star game also had a hero who did not bat or pitch one ball. Country singer Cody Johnson delivered the National Anthem in a much more dignified manner — albeit in country style — than fans heard the previous day when entertainer Ingrid Andress’ horrific rendition went viral globally. She later admitted to being drunk. One fan said of Cody Johnson’s performance, “My ears have healed.”
PANAMA — Setting sail for a saint: Fishermen hold a procession on the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Taboga Island, Panama, on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. Catholics consider her the patron saint of fishermen. A parish in Williamsburg named for Our Lady of Mount Carmel is currently hosting its annual festival, with both the religious and more worldly angles — the latter being lots of Italian street food ranging from zeppole and cannoli to calzones.
This year’s Mount Carmel festival, which began July 10, runs until Sunday, July 21. The Giglio lift, which is a huge tower that a group of specially-trained men lift, is named for the lily, flowers presented to the 5th-century bishop San Paolino when he returned from captivity, on a boat, with two Turkish escorts who helped free him after the sultan was impressed by his act of sacrifice. Italian immigrants from Nola to the United States brought the festival to Brooklyn in 1887.
SCOTLAND — He was supposed to hit the ball, not the grass: Gary Woodland of the United States plays from the rough on the 16th during a practice round ahead of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. This Open (meaning amateurs of a specific standard as well as professionals can play) runs from July 18-21.
Founded in 1860, the Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world and one of the most prestigious. Originally held at Prestwick, the tournament outgrew that space and was moved to Troon starting in 1923.
TORONTO — Nature’s revenge — not even a hurricane, just regular storms: Cars are partially submerged in floodwaters in the Don Valley following heavy rain in Toronto, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. The storm system stretched eastward from the Plains, with Chicago, Toronto, and the town of Rome in upstate New York hit particularly hard. Downtown Toronto, a key Canadian financial hub, lost electricity, and the passenger tunnel at the island holding Billy Bishop Airport was flooded.
Tornadoes also hit parts of the Chicago metro area and Rome, New York, where a mural of a Revolutionary War hero was destroyed and two church buildings were severely damaged.
PARIS — For real or for show? Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swims in the Seine River on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Paris. After months of anticipation, Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine River, fulfilling a promise she made in January, nine days before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. The Seine, which had been polluted and filthy, underwent a $1 billion investment and was declared safe for swimming just in time for the Olympics opener. Mayor Hidalgo’s swim was meant to prove it is now ready for the aquatic events.
The marathon and the triathlon swimming events will be held in the Seine, which originates near Dijon in France’s wine country. The river flows in a northwesterly direction, passing through Paris and other major French cities.
LAS VEGAS — The fund’s title seems less hyperbolic considering his opponent: President Joe Biden speaks to community leaders at the Vote to Live Action Fund’s 2024 Prosperity Summit co-hosted by CBC Chair Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., in North Las Vegas, Nev., Tuesday, July 16, 2024. On Wednesday, several more prominent Democrats — including Congressman Adam Schiff of California — and donors pressured Biden to step down from his re-election campaign.
At the same time, the Democratic Party is preparing for a virtual vote to formally name Biden its nominee in the first week of August.
MILWAUKEE — After the fall: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani plays with a video camera before the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. Giuliani, who earlier this month was disbarred from practicing law in New York, seemed to have a difficult day; he was seen tripping and falling onto chairs in the convention hall.
Giuliani, who at one point served as GOP nominee Donald Trump’s personal attorney during the latter’s term as President, was not expected to give a speech during the convention.
