5 things you need to know this weekend
Cyclists push off in 103rd Tour de France
The 103rd Tour de France is slated to get underway Saturday. The 2,200-mile race will begin at around 11:20 a.m. local time (6:20 a.m. ET) when 198 riders roll out from Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy. The tour will last for 22 days and conclude July 24 in Paris. Top contenders this year include British cyclist Chris Froome, who already has two yellow jerseys; Colombian rider and specialist climber Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas, a two-time runner-up; and Alberto Contador from Spain, who, at 33, could be facing his last chance at a third title.
Braves, Marlins play first-ever game on military base
Sunday will be a historic day for Major League Baseball, when the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins play on the U.S. military base at Fort Bragg, N.C. It will be the first game in the league’s history to be played on an active military base. The stadium, funded and constructed by MLB and the players association, will seat 12,500 of the base’s troops and their family members. The game was originally scheduled to be played at Atlanta’s Turner Field, and the Braves will remain the home team.
Blue Angels take to the skies in modified formation
The Blue Angels, the Navy's elite flight demonstration squadron, will resume their 2016 demonstration schedule in Traverse City, Mich., starting Saturday. They temporarily stood down, canceling three weekend shows after a crash June 2 in Smyrna, Tenn., that killed Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss. The Blue Angels will fly a modified five-jet demonstration in Traverse City, along with Fat Albert, the Blue Angels' C-130.
Cruise ship won't start in Istanbul as planned
The 450-passenger Seabourn Odyssey won’t start in Istanbul on Saturday as originally scheduled. It's one of several cruise ships to cancel visits there after Tuesday’s terrorist attack at Ataturk Airport. Other cruise lines canceling ship visits to Istanbul after the attack included Celebrity, Windstar, Cunard and Princess. Turkey’s already-suffering tourism industry is likely to sink even further because of the attack, the latest in a string of bombings there over the past year.
Australians will vote in federal election
Australians head to the polls Saturday for the federal election, and they could elect their fifth prime minister in three years. Voters will choose between Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s center-right coalition, the Liberal Party, and opposition leader Bill Shorten’s center-left coalition, the Labor Party. Turnbull urged Australians to vote for continuity and stability by re-electing his coalition, and Shorten said the government remains deeply divided and Labor is the stable option. Polling indicates the Labor Party will gain seats in the election but not the 21 it would need to form a majority in the 150-seat House of Representatives.
And the essentials:
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