Plus: Tech bros bankrolling Trump, and Berlin's dizzying sights ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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| Hello. While the 33rd Olympic Games formally open in Paris on Friday, some of the sporting action starts today. Andrew Harding takes us through the tightly guarded streets of the French capital. In New York, Mark Savage sits down with Janet Jackson as the performer prepares to take her most successful tour to date to Europe. Plus, Natalie Sherman examines why some tech CEOs are more comfortable supporting Donald Trump now than they were four years ago. Finally, if you enjoy swings and vertigo, Berlin has the right attraction for you. | |
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TOP OF THE AGENDA | 75,000 troops and a maze of metal fences | | Some 1,750 police officers from countries including the UK, South Korea and Germany are joining the French operation. Credit: AFP | As Olympic fever rises, QR codes are in use on the streets of Paris to gain access to areas within the secured perimeter around the River Seine. Up to 75,000 police, soldiers and hired guards are on patrol in Paris at any one time in the largest peacetime deployment of security forces in French history, writes Paris correspondent Andrew Harding. A Russian man was this week arrested on suspicion of plotting acts of "destabilisation" during the event, as France said it had screened more than a million people as part of the extensive security measures. Roads and metro stations have been closed. Some 44,000 barriers have been erected. It's not just pedestrian and motor traffic around Paris that have been affected. French politics has stalled too, with President Emmanuel Macron refusing to name a new government until after the end of the Games, in August.
Olympic controversies: British six-time dressage medallist Charlotte Dujardin has pulled out of the Games over a video showing her "making an error of judgement". Meanwhile, some teams have criticised the Netherlands' decision to include a convicted rapist in their beach volleyball squad.
Celebrity watch: Singer Celine Dion has been spotted in the French capital amid rumours she'll perform at the Games' opening ceremony, while rapper Snoop Dogg is due to carry the Olympic torch in the penultimate leg of the flame's journey.
Green action: From cardboard beds to tables made from shuttlecocks, Paris has implemented a number of initiatives to make the event less polluting than its predecessors. | |
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| Ms Jackson on being together again | | Janet Jackson said she had never trained as a dancer due to bad experiences with teachers. Credit: Solaiman Fazel | Janet Jackson's Together Again tour is her most successful to date. It explores the performer's entire career, from the sweaty R&B grooves of Nasty and Rhythm Nation to seductive slow jams like That's The Way Love Goes and Any Time, Any Place. |
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| | Mark Savage, music correspondent |
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| | On stage, she's a commanding presence. In person, she's shy and softly-spoken. "I don't like talking," she confides. "And I don't like interviews. I don't think I'm very good at them." Today, Janet is candid, relaxed and funny - not only breaking into song, but busting out dance moves and, most surprisingly of all, joking about her ill-fated love life. "How many times have I been married now?" she laughs. "Three, I think." |
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BEYOND THE HEADLINES | Tech bros turn to Trump |
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| | | Support from tech leaders has helped Trump close the fundraising gap with Democrats. Credit: Getty Images | Silicon Valley is usually seen as fertile ground for Democratic fundraising. But in the 2024 US presidential election cycle, influential venture capitalists and tech leaders, from Elon Musk to Marc Andreessen, have rallied publicly around Republican candidate Donald Trump. |
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SOMETHING DIFFERENT | Friends with benefits | Friendships can help us live longer - and healthier. | |
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And finally... | Visitors in Berlin can now harness themselves to a swing towering a dizzying 120 metres (394ft) above the German capital. You might want to avoid this video if you have a fear of heights. | |
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Medal Moments | Your daily newsletter guide to the Paris Olympics, from global highlights to heroic stories, throughout the Games. | |
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