July 26, 2024 - PBS News Hour full episode

Just hours before the Olympic opening ceremony, saboteurs launched a coordinated arson attack on French train lines. It stranded nearly a million travelers and sparked even more concerns about potential threats to the games which are being protected by unprecedented security. Nick Schifrin discussed more with Javed Ali.

The world’s most powerful drug kingpin was in a U.S. court Friday on weapons, money laundering and drug trafficking charges. Ismael Zambada Garcia, also known as "El Mayo," founded the Sinaloa cartel with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. He was arrested at an airstrip in the U.S. with one of El Chapo’s sons. Amna Nawaz discussed what the arrests will mean for the fentanyl crisis with Keegan Hamilton.

Raging wildfires are burning across parts of the western U.S. and Canada, pushing thousands of people to flee their homes and forcing Canada to call up the military to help. In addition to the physical devastation the flames are causing, researchers are getting a clearer picture of just how dangerous all that toxic smoke is to human health. William Brangham reports.

The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld a law restricting medical care for transgender youth. That comes after New Hampshire's governor signed a law banning gender transition-related surgeries for minors. Laura Barrón-López looks at the wider political battle over transgender rights as the 2024 election nears.

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join Geoff Bennett to discuss the whirlwind week in politics that has completely changed the race for the White House with Kamala Harris the new candidate at the top of the Democratic ticket and Donald Trump back on the campaign trail after an assassination attempt.