News daily: Biden's race record and Glastonbury heatwave
- Published
If you want to get this briefing by email, sign-up here
Biden challenged on race at Democratic debate
Former US Vice President Joe Biden has faced strong criticism over his record on race relations during a televised debate featuring 10 Democratic Party hopefuls who are seeking to take on Donald Trump at the next presidential election. Mr Biden was criticised by California Senator Kamala Harris for his past work with Democrats who opposed racial diversity in schools. Mr Biden responded by saying his position has been "mischaracterised" and he did not praise racists. Mr Biden, who served as vice president for eight years under former President Barack Obama, is the current frontrunner in the race for the Democratic nomination ahead of next year's election.
The debate, in Florida, was expected to be a showdown between Mr Biden and veteran Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. But it was Ms Harris' criticism of the former vice president that provided one of the highlights.
Find out about the key issues for the 20 men and women vying to take on Donald Trump, how to win the US presidency, and why Mr Biden is the favourite to challenge for the White House.
May wants Salisbury suspects to face justice
Outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May has said the two Russians suspected of carrying out the Novichok nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury last year should be brought to justice. She was speaking before flying out to the G20 summit in Japan, where she is expected to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mrs May told the BBC that the UK would seek to prosecute the men suspected of attempting to kill former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March 2018 if they set foot outside Russia. Mrs May also called on Russia to stop its "destabilising activities". But in an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Putin said that while the Salisbury incident was not "the way to do it", "traitors must be punished".
Sun set to shine on Worthy Farm
After a fallow year in 2018, the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset gets under way in earnest later, with 175,000 music lovers set to attend. Temperatures are expected to reach 28C at Worthy Farm on Friday, and the organisers will be handing out free sunscreen and water. Rapper Stormzy headlines the event on Friday, with the Killers, Billie Eilish and Kylie Minogue all set to play during the weekend. On Thursday night, festival-goers watched England beat Norway to book a place in the semi-finals of the Women's World Cup. The BBC is at the festival, with a pop-up radio station as well as performances being streamed online.
AI needs more health data if it's to help cure the world
By Matthew Wall, Technology of Business editor
At the recent AI for Good summit in Geneva, we were told how AI could speed up the development of new drugs, lead to personalised medicine informed by our genomes, and help diagnose diseases in countries suffering from underdeveloped health services and a chronic shortage of doctors.
But there are two main obstacles preventing access to this utopian destination.
One is that the AI being applied to the world's health problems isn't quite good enough yet. The other related issue is the lack of good quality digital data - less than 20% of the world's medical data is available in a form that AI machine-learning algorithms can ingest and learn from, the WHO estimates.
What the papers say
Conservative Party leadership contender Boris Johnson is featured across several papers on Friday. The Times reports that he is planning to hold an emergency budget if he becomes prime minister. He tells the paper he wants the UK economy "going gangbusters" by 31 October - the date the UK is due to leave the EU. The Guardian though reports that according to one senior European politician, Mr Johnson's promises on Brexit risk the UK leaving without a deal. And the i leads on a warning by Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson that a hardline Brexit would risk breaking up the Union. Elsewhere, the Sun says stem cells could be used to tackle baldness. All this and more in our paper review.
Daily digest
Football England women reach World Cup semi
Phones Nokia warns UK over using Huawei kit
Evacuations Genoa set to demolish bridge
Quiz Seven questions about the week's news
If you see one thing today
If you listen to one thing today
If you read one thing today
Lookahead
10:00 Draw will be made for the 2019 Wimbledon tennis championships.
19:00 Jo Swinson and Sir Ed Davey, who are standing to replace Vince Cable as Liberal Democrat leader, take part in a hustings in Cambridge.
On this day
2004 The US hands power back to the Iraqi people at a low-key ceremony in Baghdad following the 2003 war.