The Columbian

Nation & World

Victor, left, and his girlfriend, Florence, talk along the Seine River at dusk as the spire of the Notre Dame Cathedral rises in the background ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Paris, France.

Paris aims to reset the Olympics with audacious Games and a wow opening

July 25, 2024, 6:57pm Nation & World

Paris has long been a city of dreamers: Just look at the Eiffel Tower, for decades the world's loftiest structure. Audacity also underpins the French capital's plans for its first Olympic Games in a century, which open Friday with an opening ceremony for the ages. Read story

This photo taken from video provided by Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce, shows ponies arriving on shore during Chincoteague's 99th Pony Swim in Chincoteague, Va., Wednesday, July 24, 2024.

Thousands watch Chincoteague wild ponies complete 99th annual swim in Virginia

July 25, 2024, 5:35pm Nation & World

Thousands of people gathered in Virginia to watch the Chincoteague wild ponies make their annual swim across the Assateague Channel, the 99th year of the popular tradition. Read story

New Zealand abuse called ‘national disgrace’

July 25, 2024, 5:30pm Nation & World

New Zealand’s independent inquiry into decades of abuse of children and vulnerable adults released a blistering final report Wednesday finding the country’s state agencies and churches failed to prevent, stop or admit to the mistreatment of those in their care. Read story

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan sits on a panel at the 2024 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, July 25, 2024. Kagan became the first member of the Supreme Court to call publicly for beefing up the court’s new ethics code by adding a way to enforce it.

Justice Kagan says there needs to be a way to enforce the U.S. Supreme Court’s new ethics code

July 25, 2024, 5:20pm Nation & World

Justice Elena Kagan on Thursday became the first member of the U.S. Supreme Court to call publicly for beefing up its new ethics code by adding a way to enforce it. Read story

People sit on a bench under an intense sun at a park in Tokyo on July 8. Japan’s total population marked its 15th straight year of decline, according to government data released Wednesday.

Japan’s population falls for 15th year, losing 500,000

July 25, 2024, 5:06pm Nation & World

Japan’s total population declined for the 15th straight year in 2023, dropping by more than a half-million people as the population ages and births remain low. Read story

U.N. asks nations to better prepare, cool the vulnerable as ‘extreme heat epidemic’ breaks records

July 25, 2024, 5:05pm Nation & World

After three of Earth’s hottest days ever measured, the United Nations called for a flurry of efforts to try to reduce the human toll from soaring and searing temperatures, calling it “an extreme heat epidemic.” Read story

FILE - A woman fills out a pledge card for the U.S. Census in exchange for a reusable boba tea carton at a boba drink competition in Phoenix on Jan. 3, 2020. According to a new study released in June 2024, adding a citizenship question to the census reduces the participation of people who aren’t U.S. citizens.

Noncitizens are less likely to participate in a census with citizenship question, study says

July 25, 2024, 1:56pm Latest News

Adding a citizenship question to the census reduces the participation of people who aren’t U.S. citizens, particularly those from Latin American countries, according to a new research paper that comes as Republicans in Congress are pushing to add such a question to the census form. Read story