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Train issues are not a problem for the basketball teams making the trip from Lille and Villeneuve-D’Ascq near the Belgium border to the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Games. Buses work just fine. As the host nation, the French women’s basketball team already was in Paris by early Friday afternoon, having boarded a bus for a trip that can be as short as 138 miles (222 km). The Belgian Cats also jumped on a bus for the trip, with Emma Meesseman serving as a flag-bearer for Belgium. “It’s just amazing also to represent women’s basketball the way we’ve done in the past few years,” Meessem ..read more

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What to Know The Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics is slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET. The Games’ ceremonial kickoff will feature a boat parade down a 3.7-mile stretch of the Seine River, passing by some of Paris’ iconic landmarks and Olympic venues. U.S. flag bearers Coco Gauff and LeBron James will lead a group of nearly 600 American athletes in the Parade of Nations. It’s time for the Games to officially begin. While the action in Paris has been underway for a few days, the 2024 Olympics will get its ceremonial kickoff with the Opening Ceremony on Friday. Ahead of the big event ..read more

While athletes and sports fans around the globe are flocking to the Paris Olympics, some world-class tennis talent is coming right to D.C. The Mubadala Citi Open, the world’s only combined Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 500-level tennis tournament, is returning to the District, promising a thrilling week of tennis, local food and drinks, fan experiences and more. Here’s everything you need to know about the event. When is the Mubadala Citi DC Open? Qualifying Weekend: July 27- July 28 Main Draw: July 29- August 4 Location: Rock Creek Park Tennis ..read more

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president Friday, just days after she launched her campaign after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race. “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 says in a video that shows Harris getting a call from the Obamas. Michelle Obama says in the approximately one-minute video: “I can’t have this phone call without saying to my girl Kamala: I am proud of you. This is going to be historic.” Obama, the fir ..read more

France’s high-speed rail network was hit Friday with widespread and “criminal” acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralyzing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe only hours before the grand Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. French officials described the attacks as “criminal actions” and said they were investigating whether they were linked to the Olympic Games. The disruptions as the world’s eye was turning to Paris were expected to affect a quarter of a million people on Friday and endure through the weekend, and possibly longer, officials said. French Prime Mini ..read more

A judge ruled a Northern Virginia man is competent to stand trial after he was arrested last year on suspicion that he was about to embark on a mass shooting at a megachurch. U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston set an Oct. 21 trial date for Rui Jiang of Falls Church after holding a competency hearing Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria. Alston had placed the case on hold earlier this year and ordered the competency hearing. The findings of his competency evaluation are under seal, but Alston ruled after Wednesday’s hearing that Jiang could stand trial. Prosecutors say Jiang intended to shoo ..read more

A Prince William County supervisor called out the criminal justice system because one of the suspects in a shooting at a mall earlier this month was already awaiting trial for another violent crime but wasn’t being held in jail. Two groups got into a fight at Manassas Mall July 9 and several shots were fired, injuring at least one person. “The general public is at risk,” Supervisor Yesli Vega (R) said. “We’re putting people’s lives in danger, and it shouldn’t be that way.”  One of the suspects — 18-year-old Daevon Russell, who is facing multiple felonies — was arrested and charged last Au ..read more

Council member Ingrid Watson was previously a Bowie City Council member who ran and won a seat in Prince George’s County’s Councilmanic District 4 in 2022.  While she lived in Bowie and inside District 4 for years, some of her constituents grew concerned that something had changed, so one of them hired a private investigator to find out. District 4 encompasses Bowie and parts of Upper Marlboro. The home the private detective recorded Watson coming and going from is also in Upper Marlboro, but it’s a mile outside of District 4 in District 6.  The detective, who News4 is not identifyin ..read more