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Speaking from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Biden didn’t mince words in criticizing Vladimir Putin for strategic failures in Ukraine after his forces failed to take the capital of Kyiv. Russian troops are now refocusing their efforts on seizing territory in Eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region as the conflict enters its eighth week. “We don’t know how long this war will last. But as we approach the two-month mark, here’s what we do know: Putin has failed to achieve his grand ambitions on the battlefield,” Biden said....

Putin was clearly not prepared for the fight that the Ukrainians have put up to his invading forces. It’s the only explanation for the logistical failures and enormous reported losses (even discounting for the obvious exaggerations): The Russian Army expected to meet a Ukrainian opposition similar to what it saw in Donbas in 2015 or even in Crimea in 2014. But the Ukrainians have spent the past eight years learning the lessons of those earlier defeats....

Maisy, Finnegan, Naomi and Natalie Biden squeezed onto a couch to talk about their grandfather and when asked about a fun fact about the election contender, they described his penchant for ice cream, especially vanilla, with chocolate sprinkles. “He likes ice cream in hidden ways,” Naomi Biden said, with Natalie chiming in to say that he would eat it in the freezer “so that like my grandma doesn’t see… he hides it....

That late summer address to the nation would be the start of Biden’s political free fall. In the months that would follow, the outlook for Biden’s legislative agenda would go from bad to worse when Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV.) appeared to put the death nail in the president’s domestic agenda in an interview with Fox News; Democrats lost a winnable Virginia governor’s race; Russia invaded Ukraine, creating an energy crisis and causing gas prices to skyrocket; historic inflation set in; and the nation witnessed a series of deadly mass shootings....

But sooner or later, Biden will have to look beyond America’s shores and deal with the tricky world as it is—and that means eventually dealing with North Korea, a pernicious problem that has bedeviled U.S. administrations as far back as the Korean War. Biden didn’t say much about the North Korea issue during the presidential campaign. When the topic did come up for discussion, the former vice president largely stuck to the script: hammer President Donald Trump for his summitry with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un; point out that Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal has actually grown in number during Trump’s tenure; and briefly explain how he would tackle the file....

But this whole debate is a distraction from the conversation we should be having. Instead of arguing over the definition of a recession, we should be talking about something much more pressing: the ongoing energy crisis. It’s actually worse than a distraction; in trying to fix inflation, the Biden administration is making the energy crisis worse. Consider the Biden administration’s decision to release huge quantities of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to bring down gas prices....

Biden made his comments during CNN’s Thursday evening presidential town hall in Baltimore, Maryland. At the event, moderator Anderson Cooper asked whether Biden would be willing to deploy the National Guard to drive trucks and help distribute goods currently held in ports on the nation’s coasts. “You’re actually talking about having National Guardsmen and women driving trucks?” Cooper asked Biden, noting a national shortage of truckers. “The answer is yes,” Biden responded....

Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, an initiative created last year to manage vaccine distribution to states, quickly fell behind its stated timeline to deliver immunization doses following the first candidates’ authorizations in December. “We’re inheriting a huge mess here,” Klain told State of the Union host Jake Tapper on Sunday. “But we have a plan to fix it. The President-elect laid out that plan on Friday.” President-elect Joe Biden spoke extensively about his administration’s intent to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine distribution during a Friday press conference....

While neither Biden nor Trump has made any official announcement about a presidential campaign, Trump has all but confirmed that he will seek another term in the Oval Office. “Well, in my own mind, I’ve already made that decision, so nothing factors in anymore. In my own mind, I’ve already made that decision,” Trump told New York magazine on July 14. He added that “my big decision will be whether I go before or after,” apparently referring to the upcoming 2022 midterm elections....

The plan Biden will unveil Wednesday afternoon has five major focuses: giving local law enforcement federal resources to curb summer violent crime; investing in community violence programs; stemming the flow of illegal firearms; expanding summer programming, employment opportunities and other support services for teens and young adults; and helping formerly incarcerated people re-enter communities, multiple senior administration officials told Newsweek in a preview of Biden’s plan ahead of the president’s formal announcement....

The conference is moving its annual media day event from Frisco, Texas, to the spectacle of AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The move makes sense, considering that is where the conference also hosts its championship game as well. MORE: Major storylines for all Power 5 media days That change is appropriate, considering the influx of new coaches the Big 12 will see in 2019. Les Miles at Kansas is the headliner, but Neal Brown at West Virginia, Chris Klieman at Kansas State and Matt Wells at Texas Tech bring plenty of interesting storylines as well....

“Explosion of building: 4500 Gessner. Patrol units blocking off streets in the area. HFD responding,” Houston Police tweeted today, noting a command post was being set up. Officials urged residents to avoid the “hot zone between Gessner, Genard, Sefani & Clay Road.” The source of the suspected blast, which sprayed debris across half a mile, remains unclear. But KTRK reported it appeared to be traced back to a building of a company called Watson Grinding and Manufacturing....

That’s wonderful, and we wish you the best. But for those taking on the process of planning a fall wedding, there’s an important question to answer. 2016 SEASON: SN early Top 20 | 10 biggest Week 1 matchups “Who are we playing that weekend?” Sporting News is here to help with its second annual college football wedding planner. We expanded this year’s edition. Today, we’ll look at the Big Ten....

Early on, it appears to be a two-team race between either No. 8 Purdue (25-6, 14-6 in Big Ten Play) or No. 10 Wisconsin (24-6, 15-5 Big Ten). But the conference features three more teams ranked in the AP Top 25 in No. 20 Illinois, No. 23 Ohio State and No. 24 Iowa. Other teams to consider are Michigan State and Rutgers — not to mention Michigan, which is dangerously close to missing the tournament altogether a year after making it to the Elite Eight of the 2021 NCAA Tournament....

Barr, who resigned in December 2020 after declaring the Justice Department found no evidence of fraud in the election, escalated his criticisms of the former president in recent weeks ahead of the release of his new book, One Damn Thing After Another, where he accused Trump of “caring only about” himself by the end of his presidency. During the interview, host Savannah Guthrie asked him about why he decided to come out and share his criticisms of Trump....

Callahan agreed to a lucrative deal to coach for the Washington Redskins, according to ESPN. Callahan’s contract with Dallas was up and the team decided to not bring him back. Callahan had lost play-calling duties, which coach Jason Garrett gave to Scott Linehan, who will reportedly assume Callahan’s role as coordinator. MORE: Who is Jim Tomsula? | Bears reportedly hire Fox | Todd Bowles, Jets It will be the second time Callahan has been on a Gruden staff....

Having already amassed nearly 270,000 acres of farmland across the country, Gates, who is one of the richest men in the world, is the largest private owner of farmland in America. On June 30, Gates won the approval of the North Dakota Attorney General to buy the farmland for $13.5 million from potato growers Campbell Farms in the northeast of the state. The state’s Republican Attorney General Drew Wrigley said that the takeover complies with a Depression-era law meant to protect family farms because the land was being leased back to farmers....

Large scale use of the process—known as solar geoengineering—is a “terrifying” concept that is only likely to be used in the future if significant regions of the planet become too warm to be habitable, Harvard University Professor Frank Keutsch told The Times. Despite the concern, Keutsch is leading a project to study such technology, which could start later this year. In theory, solar geoengineering is based on the idea that experts can reduce the impact of global warming by reflecting sunlight back into space using chemicals....

According to the CPJ, a number of unidentified individuals broke into investigative reporter Lydia Cacho Ribeiro’s home in Puerto Morelos, located in the southern Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on July 21. The suspects are alleged to have killed the journalist’s two pet dogs and stolen much of her reporting equipment and data, including a laptop computer, audio recorder, three cameras, memory cards and ten hard drives. The hard drives contained information on sexual abuse cases that the journalist, who in 2005 penned a book exposing a child sex trafficking ring alleged to have involved a number of politicians, had been investigating....

Oden worked out for the Hornets on Wednesday and will visit the Mavericks this week, RealGM reports. MORE: Towns won’t work out for Lakers | Heat to offer tragic more than $80 million Oden, who spent three years out of the league because of nagging injuries (seven knee surgeries), was picked up by Heat for the 2013-14 season but scored just 67 points and grabbed 54 rebounds in 23 games....