US Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in Chicago early this morning (Malta time), delivering a forceful speech that laid out her vision for the country while warning about the possibility of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House.

Capping off the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention, Harris recited her life story and background before directly taking on Trump and laying out her position on several hot-button issues, including the war in Gaza, immigration, abortion and more.

“I promise to be a president for all Americans. You can always trust me to put country above party and self, to hold sacred America’s fundamental principles, from the rule of law, to free and fair elections, to the peaceful transfer of power,” she said.

Harris attacked Trump, calling him “an unserious man” and urged Americans to consider the “extremely serious” consequences of putting him back in the White House.

“Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution,” she said. “Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States, not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had – himself.”

Harris said she and President Biden are “working around the clock” to get a hostage and cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.

“I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself,” she said. “I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself.”

But she said what has happened in Gaza during the 10-month war is “devastating”. “So many innocent lives lost,” she said. “Desperate, hungry people, fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”

Harris wrapped up her nomination speech, calling on Americans to “write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told”.

“It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done,” she said. “Guided by optimism and faith, to fight for this country we love, to fight for the ideals we cherish and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth — the privilege and pride of being an American.”

“So let’s get out there,” she said. “Let’s fight for it.”

Harris was joined on stage by her family and Walz’s family as 100,000 red, white and blue balloons fell from the ceiling.

Gus Walz broke the internet with his tearful love for his dad

An emotional, unscripted moment between Tim Walz and his 17-year-old son, Gus, has unleased a flood of praise and admiration – but it also has prompted ugly online bullying.

Gus Walz, who has a nonverbal learning disorder as well as anxiety and ADHD, watched excitedly from the front row of Chicago’s United Centre and sobbed openly Wednesday night as his father, the Democratic nominee for vice president, delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

The Minnesota governor was recounting the difficult fertility treatment he and his wife, Gwen, went through to conceive their daughter, Hope.

Walz followed up by expressing his love for his family from the stage, saying, “Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world. And I love you.”

Gus Walz jumped up from his seat, tears streaming down his cheeks, pointed his index finger and said, “I love you, Dad.”

The touching moment between father and son, captured live by television cameras, quickly went viral and has largely been received adoringly on the internet and the airwaves.

Fox News shared a clip of the viral moment on its TikTok page, writing “Gus Walz steals show during dad’s acceptance speech”. The comments were overwhelmingly positive.

“I hope to inspire my kids so much that when they see me speak of the dreams and passion I have for my country they are moved to tears like Gus Walz was,” Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, wrote on X. “@Tim_Walz has dedicated his life to service and has clearly exceeded in being an excellent, supportive, and loving father every step of the way,” he wrote. “We should all be so lucky to know a love like that.”

Critic dismisses Gus Walz as ‘puffy beta male’

But the show of affection triggered a swath of snark and ugly comments from internet trolls, many of them MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters of former President Trump, who faces Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Walz in November.

Conservative columnist and right-wing provocateur Ann Coulter mocked the teenager’s tears. “Talk about weird,” she wrote on X. The message has since been deleted.

Mike Crispi, a Trump supporter and podcaster from New Jersey, mocked Walz’s “stupid crying son” on X and added, “You raised your kid to be a puffy beta male. Congrats.”

Trump’s new punishments for human smuggling, child or sex trafficking

Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump on Thursday said he wanted to propose new punishments for human smuggling, child trafficking and sex trafficking as he vowed to “impose tough new sentences on illegal alien criminals”.

“These include 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for anyone guilty of human smuggling, a guaranteed life sentence for anyone guilty of child trafficking, and a death penalty for anyone guilty of child or woman sex trafficking. We’ll also impose the death penalty on major drug dealers and traffickers,” Trump said as he stood next to the US-Mexico border in Arizona.

Trump added that he would impose “death penalty with a quicker trial” for “anyone killing our police, sheriffs, border patrol, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials”.

Trump continued to stoke fears about undocumented immigrants and attacked Vice President Kamala Harris over the Biden administration’s handling of illegal immigration as he delivered remarks next to a section of the border wall in Montezuma Pass. The former president spoke while standing alongside family members of victims of violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. “As Kamala gives her convention speech tonight, she won’t even mention the victims,” Trump claimed in his remarks.

As five bodies found in Mike Lynch’s sunk yacht, search continues for daughter

Tributes have been pouring in for the “genius” Mike Lynch as the desperate search for his 18-year-old daughter Hannah has been called off until this morning.

The Independent reports the British technology entrepreneur was identified on Thursday as one of the five bodies discovered on the wreckage of his superyacht the previous day.

The Italian coastguard also confirmed that the bodies of Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judith Bloomer, lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo have all now been recovered from the Bayesian in Sicily.

Among the tributes that have been paid to all five, David Tabizel, Lynch’s co-founder at Autonomy, said: “The world has lost a genius.”

Divers and underwater vehicles continued to scour the scene for a fourth day as Lynch’s youngest daughter remains unaccounted for after the 56-metre vessel sank in a severe storm in the early hours of Monday.

However, the search was called off at around 8pm on Thursday with divers begining again at 6.30am this morning. The Italian Coastguard’s working theory is still that the missing woman is inside the boat.

The boat’s chef Recaldo Thomas was confirmed dead on Monday, while a further 15 people survived the disaster.

The luxury yacht’s captain, James Cutfield, was reportedly questioned by authorities for two hours as they began speaking to all crew members on Thursday.

Survivors have been recuperating at a hotel complex in Porticello, where authorities are gathering witness statements.

“I’m on my own,”  Netanyahu tells politicians

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly been telling “political elements” in recent days that Israel’s negotiating team is weak and constantly seeking to compromise in the talks on a hostage-ceasefire deal, while he is “on my own” trying to protect Israel’s security needs.

Netanyahu has been widely reported to be at deep odds with the key negotiators – Mossad Chief David Barnea, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar and IDF point man Nitzan Alon – and to have repeatedly upbraided them face-to-face for their ostensible weakness. But last night’s Channel 12 report says he was now sharing these criticisms with political interlocutors.

The report notes that it is surprising that Netanyahu would be criticising his security chiefs in comments with politicians, when he is depending on the security establishment to achieve “total victory” in Gaza and to handle a potential regional escalation if there is no deal.

“I’m on my own, facing the entire security establishment and the negotiating chiefs,” the TV report quotes Netanyahu saying. “They are showing weakness and just looking for ways to capitulate, while I’m insisting on the interests of the State of Israel and am not prepared to concede to demands that would harm security.”

The report says the Philadelphi Corridor was a “central issue” in the latest phone call between Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris, and that Netanyahu said in the call he would show flexibility.

To that end, Netanyahu sent Israel’s negotiators to Egypt yesterday with updated maps showing a reduced IDF deployment along the Philadelphi Corridor, the report said.

The question now is whether Netanyahu’s latest position will be enough for Egypt to press Hamas into accepting a deal, the report says. If there is the possibility of some kind of breakthrough, it says, there could be a follow-up summit on Sunday.

In a separate report, Channel 12 quotes Egyptian sources saying Hamas is prepared to consider an arrangement whereby international forces are deployed both at the Philadelphi Corridor and at the Netzarim Corridor that the IDF has carved out across Gaza, separating the south of the Strip from the north. Netanyahu is demanding an Israeli presence there as well, to ensure arms and Hamas gunmen do not return to the north. (Netanyahu earlier last evening denied this was something he was considering.)

It also says Hamas is prepared to let Israel veto up to 50 of the hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners it wants released, while Israel wants the right to veto 65 of the most dangerous potential releases. And it says Hamas is prepared to allow Israel to send more prisoners into exile than previously; Israel wants the right to exile 150.

Additionally, the report says, Israel’s maps showing troop deployments and the timing of IDF withdrawals are not entirely clear to Hamas.

Channel 12 also says that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is trying to arrange a reconciliation with his Fatah faction’s former Gaza chief and bitter rival Mohammad Dahlan, who is living in exile in Abu Dhabi.

US tells Security Council Gaza ceasefire ‘in sight’

A Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal “now is in sight”, the United States envoy to the United Nations has told the UN Security Council as a new round of talks begins in the Egyptian capital.

Speaking before the council on Thursday, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called on Hamas to accept a “bridging proposal” put forward by the US that appears to differ from a previous proposal adopted by the UNSC and agreed to by the Palestinian group.

The proposal ostensibly aims to bridge unresolved disputes between Israel and Hamas to end the violence in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed at least 40,265 Palestinians, wounded more than 93,000 others and created a humanitarian crisis since beginning their offensive in October.

“Israel has accepted the bridging proposal. Now Hamas must do the same,” she said. “As members of this council, we must speak with one voice, and we must use our leverage to press Hamas to accept the bridging proposal.”

The remarks by Thomas-Greenfield continued a trend of US officials claiming that Israel has agreed to a deal that Hamas has yet to accept despite indications that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on Israel retaining strips of territory inside Gaza is the primary obstacle to a deal.

Kyiv hits a base in the Russian Kursk region with US bombs

Ukrainian forces have hit a military base in the Russian Kursk region using US-made precision glide bombs, claimed the commander of the Kyiv Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk. The structure was apparently hit yesterday afternoon with Gbu-39 bombs.

“A drone command post, a radio-electronic warfare unit, equipment, weapons and up to 40 Russian service members were hit,” Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram, posting a video showing the attack.

Venezuela’s Supreme Court ratifies Maduro’s victory

Venezuela’s Supreme Court, controlled by the Chavista government, on Thursday officially validated the result of the July 28 elections and the victory of Nicolas Maduro.

The court ratified its jurisdiction over the elections in the ruling and stated that the decision was based on the results of the assessment of the electoral material delivered by the National Electoral Council and that “the assessment determined a full coincidence with the minutes of the counting. The opposition’s claims of fraud were therefore rejected.”

Photo: Reuters