Elections

Harris campaign officials and Democratic leaders have stepped up outreach to Arab and Jewish voters before the event, but large protests are still expected.Even as feel-good displays of joy and confidence are set to dominate the Democratic National Convention this week in Chicago, one painful issue is bitterly dividing the Democratic establishment from its left flank: Israel’s war in Gaza.The specter of convention-upending protests that hovered over a gathering hosted for President Biden has receded somewhat with the rise of a new candidate in Kamala Harris, who is seen as more sympathetic to Palestinian rights activists. But tens of thousands of protesters are still expected to convene just outside the event’s security perimeter, and the potential for high-profile disruptions remains real.Emphasizing the unity theme, convention planners have tried to mollify both Muslim and Jewish Americans.Speaking slots have been allotted to the families of American hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. One of the most prominent Muslims in national politics, Keith Ellison, the progressive attorney general of Minnesota, will be given time onstage. Doug Emhoff, the husband of Ms. Harris, is expected to speak proudly of his Judaism. And the Democratic platform highlights America’s commitment to Israeli security.At the same time, Ms. Harris’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez-Rodriguez, held a series of meetings last week to hear the concerns of Arab Americans and some delegates representing Democratic primary voters who cast “uncommitted” ballots in the Democratic primary to protest Mr. Biden’s Israel policy.Despite such efforts, the convention will be shadowed by large protests against the Biden-Harris administration’s approach to a war that Gaza health authorities say has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that left 1,200 people dead in Israel.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

On This Week’s Episode:When the best — and perhaps only — way to say something is to write it down.Kelly MalkaNew York Times Audio is home to the “This American Life” archive. Download the app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter. More

The Democrats are arriving in Chicago, the country’s third-largest city, for their first in-person convention in eight years. The gathering comes at a pivotal time for the party, which switched its presidential nominee only weeks ago, and for the city, which is regaining its swagger after a pandemic slump.How much do you know about Chicago? Take our quiz to find out. More

Ernesto was creating dangerous surf conditions that were expected to continue for several days, forecasters warned.Hurricane Ernesto may be far from land but the storm still threatens beachgoers on the East Coast of the United States with dangerous swells and rip currents, the National Hurricane Center warned on Sunday.“Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions are likely” for several days on the East Coast and parts of Canada, the Hurricane Center said, as Ernesto strengthened back to a hurricane after being downgraded to a tropical storm on Saturday.The storm is expected to pass near Newfoundland, Canada, late on Monday or early on Tuesday but will not approach the United States, the Hurricane Center said.New York City closed its beaches in Queens and Brooklyn to swimming on Saturday and Sunday because of the dangerous rip currents caused by Ernesto.The town of Kitty Hawk, N.C., closed beaches to swimming over the weekend and threatened to fine those who ignored the warning. Several beaches in North and South Carolina had red flags raised on Sunday to warn beachgoers that strong rip currents were present.A satellite image of Ernesto on Sunday afternoon before it regained hurricane strength.NOAAA 41-year-old man drowned off Surf City, N.C., on Saturday afternoon. Kellie Cannon, a spokeswoman for Surf City’s Emergency Management Office, said the beaches in the area were experiencing dangerous rip currents because of Hurricane Ernesto.Two other men, ages 65 and 73, drowned hours apart on Friday after being caught in rip currents off the shore of Hilton Head Island, S.C., the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said. Their deaths were not tied directly to Ernesto because the area can experience rip currents throughout the year, the authorities said.Rip currents are fast and powerful channels of water near the beach that can carry swimmers out to sea.Tens of thousands of people in the United States are rescued from rip currents every year and about 100 die from being caught in them, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.As of mid-August, 30 people had died in rip currents this year, according to preliminary National Weather Service data.If you are visiting a public beach and are unsure of how safe it is to swim, look for one of the colored flags raised by local authorities.Red flags present on the beach generally mean the authorities recommend staying out of the water. If there is a double red flag, that’s a sign that the water is closed to the public because conditions are too dangerous.If you do get caught in a rip current, do not swim against it to get back to shore, experts say. Swim parallel to the shore until you break out of the rip current, and then head back to shore with the waves at an angle.Or you can try waving your arms to get the attention of a lifeguard or someone on shore. If you see someone caught in a rip current, don’t attempt to rescue the person yourself. Instead, find a lifeguard or throw a flotation device. More

More from our inbox:A Rattled Donald TrumpCancer Screenings Save Lives and Are Worth the CostFrom Rust to Rescue HeroAn Olympic Transit Reality Check Abbie Parr/Associated PressTo the Editor:Re “Democrats Have Needed Someone Like Walz for Decades,” by Sarah Smarsh (Opinion guest essay, Aug. 9):Thank you for publishing Ms. Smarsh’s article, which so eloquently and succinctly illustrates how politicians, pundits and journalists have marginalized rural America by lumping us into a single category: red state.I am from a long line of early Indiana settlers: hard-working people who began as farmers and maintained honest lives while supporting democratic ideals and the Democratic Party. Reading this piece is a breath of fresh air, and I appreciate that Ms. Smarsh shares our appreciation for the honesty and direct communication of a fine person like Tim Walz. Thank you, Minnesota.Diana WannLebanon, Ind.To the Editor:Having grown up in a small town in Minnesota, I agree with Sarah Smarsh that Gov. Tim Walz brings back some essential elements into our politics.I am only a few generations removed from Norwegian immigrants who came to America and helped settle an area near the South Dakota border in the last decades of the 19th century.The effort to tame and harvest the prairie created a very pragmatic “let’s get it done and move on to other things” philosophy. Many of the older farmers I remember would describe today’s political rhetoric as “bells and whistles, but no engine.”Mr. Walz is not only a refreshing relief from much of the mindless political rhetoric we have to listen to today. He may very well also be putting the engine back on our national economy.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

A speaking slot at a national party’s nominating convention is among the most coveted prizes in American politics, offering veteran officeholders and up-and-comers alike the chance to speak to — and be seen by — an entire nation.At the Democratic National Convention this week in Chicago, five of those rare slots will go to a group that most likely would be unfamiliar to previous convention planners: social media influencers.Convention officials said each night would include at least one influencer. The speakers are Deja Foxx, Nabela Noor, Carlos Eduardo Espina, Olivia Julianna and John Russell, a group of millennial and Gen Z influencers who, collectively, have well over 24 million social media followers.They will speak on the same podium as President Biden; the Democratic nominees, Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota; and party luminaries, including two former presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, among others.“This feels very affirming,” said Ms. Foxx, 24, a reproductive rights activist from Arizona who worked on Ms. Harris’s first presidential campaign. She’ll speak about abortion rights on Monday night in a program that will also feature Mr. Biden. “I don’t take it lightly that I’m speaking on the same night as the president of the United States,” she said.Amber Rose spoke on the first day of the Republican National Convention.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

What does Kenneth Cortes look for in a good crossword? Location, location, location.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — Anyone who has tried to lease an apartment in New York City has probably learned to translate brokers’ euphemisms for crummy real estate. An “open concept” one-bedroom? That’s a studio. A place that’s “close to transportation” can just mean that it’s within earshot of subway tracks. You’ll love this “quiet” pad — all of your windows face brick walls!Kenneth Cortes, who constructed today’s puzzle, takes certain liberties in describing the grid’s real estate — but the use of language is clever rather than crooked. Today’s ThemeEach of this grid’s four sides has its own witty theme pair, with the inner entry giving us a hint to the outer entry’s location and meaning. At 17A, for example, a [Prime cut of beef … or 5-Across, literally?] is a TOP SIRLOIN. 5A is at the TOP of the grid, so we head up there for the clue [Texas Roadhouse specialty]. It solves to STEAK, which can be a cut of SIRLOIN.Let’s move east for one more example. At 11D, [One of four for a square … or 32-Down, literally?] is a RIGHT ANGLE. On the RIGHT side of the grid, at 32D, we need a word that suggests an ANGLE or a [Biased point of view]: SLANT.Keep moving clockwise to find the entries at the bottom and the left of the grid.Tricky Clues28A. [Eloquence] is known as the gift of GAB, which feels like a mismatch. Shouldn’t a word denoting eloquence be fancier? The gift of gabardine, maybe.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned that the negotiations were “very complex,” as the secretary of state flew to Israel to try to clinch a deal. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was heading to Israel on Sunday to try to clinch a deal that could end the war in Gaza, even as the Middle East remained on edge amid the looming threat of wider regional conflict.The visit, part of an intensive diplomatic campaign led by the Biden administration, comes days after Israel’s negotiating team held talks in Qatar with senior American officials, as well as Qatari and Egyptian representatives who are mediating between Israel and Hamas.Those talks ended without a major breakthrough, but the White House said on Friday that the United States had put forward a “bridging proposal,” with Egyptian and Qatari support, aimed at closing the remaining gaps between the sides. It said that teams would continue to hash out details and that senior negotiators hoped to reconvene in Cairo before the end of this week to finalize an agreement.While the Biden administration had suggested that the process was “now in the end game,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel cautioned on Sunday that the negotiations were “very complex” and called his approach to the talks one of give and take — “not give and give.” “There are things we can be flexible about, and there are things we cannot be flexible about,” he said in remarks recorded at the beginning of his weekly cabinet meeting.“We know very well how to distinguish between the two,” Mr. Netanyahu added, saying that he was insisting on certain principles that he considered vital for Israel’s security.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More