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11 Exciting Things To Do At The O2

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The O2 is well known as the home of great music and events but what other things can you do there?

We’ve put together a guide of 11 things to do at the o2, especially if you’re with kids..

We were invited to spend the day at the venue and create a list of O2 activities to suit even the most discerning (we mean fussiest) child.

If you’re looking for a guide on O2 things to do, keep reading.

Things to do in The O2 with kids (or without them!):

1. travel by mbna clipper.

Make the journey part of the adventure and travel by the Thames Clipper even if the weather is terrible (and it was a little cloudy when we went) the fact you’re on a boat as opposed to a train or car gets the day off to a great start.

Kids go free with a Family River Roamer ticket leaving you free to explore all London has to offer with this all-day hop-on, hop-off ticket for 2 adults and up to 3 children.

The services run to and from most of London’s major piers including Westminster, London Eye, Bankside, Tower, Greenwich and North Greenwich – a five-minute walk to The O2. Tickets from £32.60 when you book online.

Timetabled services run to North Greenwich Pier (a five-minute walk from The O2) every 20 minutes, seven days a week from major central London piers such as Embankment, Westminster and Tower.

Did you know the boats offer an onboard licenced bar?

2. Up at The O2

Kids have to be aged nice or over, at least 1.2m tall and accompanied by an adult (at a 1:1 ratio) and it’s not overly challenging so the kids shouldn’t find it too hard.

Wear comfy clothes and thick socks and after a safety briefing, they’ll provide you with a climb suit, boots and harness for what we like to call urban mountaineering.

You climb to the top of The O2 via a walkway 52m above ground level and on a clear day, you can see up to 15 miles away.

Up at The O2 also hosts seasonal wellbeing sessions including rooftop yoga and HIIT sessions.

3. Immotion Virtual Reality

Replacing Nissan Innovation Station is a 12-station Immotion VR entertainment zone.

With Thrill Coaster and Undersea Explorer immersive cinema pods, multi-directional motion, 360 HD sound and incredible visual special effects kids can become virtual deep space explorers, deep-sea adventures – pretty much whatever they want to (virtually) be.

There’s also, as well as a new multiplayer VR gaming arena featuring Raw Data – a thrilling first-person sci-fi action game.

4. Cineworld at The O2

The O2 is home to London’s largest cinema with19 screens including a 4DX screen with innovative cinematic technology which uses special effects to create wind, snow, fog, lightning, bubbles, water and scents.

5. Oxygen Freejumping

Oxygen Freejumping has 50 linked trampolines, a giant airbag, a dodgeball court, a high rope Airventure course and ‘Little O Toddler’ sessions for younger jumpers.

Check out our guide to the best trampoline parks for kids in London .

6. Hollywood Bowl

Hollywood Bowl has 12 state-of-the-art bowling lanes (pre-book, this place gets busy), including three VIP lanes.

You can eat in at the Hollywood Diner or have a post-bowling game of pool. You can also hire lanes for kids’ bowling birthday parties.

7. ICON Outlet at The O2

Shop a selection of fashion and lifestyle brands (like Adidas, Nike, Ted Baker, Cath Kidston, Hackett, Scotch and Soda, Levi’s, Clarks, ASICS, Jack Wills and Gap) for up to 70% off high street prices.

Throughout the school holidays, there are a host of free visitor benefits including further discounts, personal styling, hair braiding, kids crafts, mindfulness sessions and chill out zones.

8. Eat In One Of The Many, Many On-Site Restaurants

All this activity makes you hungry and one of our favourite places to eat at The O2 is Cabana Brasil for some good old fashioned Brazilian BBQ.

The food is flavourful, generously portioned and the staff aren’t freaked out by boisterous children.

A colourful kid’s menu with a word search, colouring in and quizzes keeps them occupied while you enjoy a well-deserved drink from the bar for being such an awesome parent and taking them out for the day!

Check the Cabana website for ‘Kids Eat Free’ (and 2 for 1 on cocktails) and other money saving deals.

Price wise you’re looking at around £20 a head including drinks for the adults.

9. Eat Outside

If indoor dining isn’t your thing, try a new take on al fresco eating at London In The Sky .

10. Take the Emirates Airline Cable Car

Admittedly, it’s more of a touristy thing to do (unless you live near Royal Victoria Docks or Greenwich Peninsula) but the 20-minute ride will give you great views of Canary Wharf, St Paul’s Cathedral, The Shard, The O2, the Thames Barrier, Maritime Greenwich and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

11. Boom Battle Bar

Games on offer include crazier golf, shuffleboard, and digital darts.

Adults can play beer pong, and enjoy yummy street food, exquisite cocktails and craft beers.

Hotels Near The O2 Arena

If you’re at The O2 for an event, there are lots of hotels near The O2, our favourite of which is the InterContinental London .

The breakfast was delicious, the views amazing and the staff super kind (and patient with kids).

If you’re looking for Things to do near the O2, check out our guide on 20 things to do in East and South-East London .

The Olympic Park is close by and also worth a visit.

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50 Facts About O2 Arena

Written by Pammie Behm

Modified & Updated: 17 Sep 2024

• Music Venue Facts

Ever wondered what makes The O2 Arena one of the world's busiest and most iconic venues? Located in the heart of the O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London, this multi-purpose indoor arena has been a hub for live music, sports, and entertainment since its transformation from the Millennium Dome in 2007. With a seating capacity of up to 20,000, The O2 Arena has hosted over 3,000 events, including concerts by legends like Prince and Madonna, major sports events, and even the 2012 Summer Olympics. Its commitment to sustainability and accessibility, along with unique experiences like the Up at The O2 skywalk, make it a premier destination for both performers and audiences alike.

Key Takeaways:

• The O2 Arena in London is a top entertainment venue with a rich history, hosting iconic events and offering unique experiences for visitors, making it a must-visit destination.
• With a seating capacity of 20,000, the O2 Arena has set records in ticket sales and sustainability initiatives, making it a global leader in live entertainment and innovation.

The O2 Arena: A Hub of Entertainment

The O2 Arena, located in southeast London , is a world-renowned venue for live music, sports, and entertainment. Since its transformation from the Millennium Dome in 2007, it has become a symbol of innovation and excitement.

• Location and Design : Nestled in the O2 entertainment district, the arena is surrounded by restaurants, bars, and shops, creating a vibrant atmosphere for visitors.
• Opening Date : The O2 Arena opened its doors in 2007, marking a new era for the iconic Millennium Dome.
• Seating Capacity : With a seating capacity of up to 20,000, it can accommodate massive crowds for concerts and events.

Record-Breaking Achievements

The O2 Arena has set numerous records, making it one of the busiest and most popular venues globally.

• Record-Breaking Seating Capacity : In 2007, it hosted over 1.2 million tickets, ranking third most popular worldwide.
• Ticket Sales Records : By 2021, it remained the busiest music arena, selling over 1.4 million tickets annually.
• Recent Ticket Sales : In 2023, it shattered records with over 2.5 million tickets sold, solidifying its top position.
• Industry Awards : It has won multiple awards, including ‘Venue of the Year’ in 2016 and 2017, and ‘Best Visitor Experience’ in 2023.

Historical Significance and Structure

From its origins as the Millennium Dome to its current status, the O2 Arena has a rich history and impressive architecture.

• Historical Significance : Originally built to celebrate the new millennium, it has evolved into a premier entertainment venue.
• Diameter and Height : The arena boasts a diameter of 365 meters and a height of 52 meters, making it one of the largest domed structures worldwide.
• Flexibility and Adaptability : Designed for quick transitions, it can switch between events in under 90 minutes.

Hosting Iconic Events

The O2 Arena has been the stage for countless memorable events, from concerts to sports.

• Events Hosted : Since opening, it has hosted over 3,000 events, including concerts, sports matches, and family shows.
• Notable Performers : Legends like Prince, Madonna, Elton John, and The Rolling Stones have performed here.
• Sports Events : It hosted the ATP Finals in 2009, the first venue outside Asia and the US to do so.
• Olympic Hosting : During the 2012 Summer Olympics, it hosted gymnastics events, showcasing its versatility.

Unique Experiences

Visitors can enjoy unique experiences at the O2 Arena, making it more than just a venue.

• Up at The O2 : Climb to the top of the dome for panoramic views of London.
• Skywalk : The dedicated walkway offers breathtaking vistas of the city’s skyline.
• Comedy Venue : Top comedians like Kevin Hart, Ricky Gervais, and Amy Schumer have performed here.

Sustainability and Innovation

The O2 Arena is committed to sustainability and innovation, setting new standards in the industry.

• Priority Tickets : In 2023, over 390,000 Priority tickets were sold to O2 and Virgin Media customers, a 67% increase from the previous year.
• Sustainability Initiatives : The Green Rider document aims to make live events more environmentally friendly.
• Carbon-Removed Events : In 2024, it will host the world’s first carbon-removed events in collaboration with experts CUR8 and A Greener Future.

Artist Residencies and Major Tours

The O2 Arena has hosted several iconic artist residencies and major tours, drawing fans from around the world.

• Artist Residencies : Madonna’s 40th anniversary concert series, The Celebration Tour, sold out six shows in minutes.
• The Killers Tour : In July 2024, The Killers will perform six sold-out shows as part of their Rebel Diamonds Tour, selling over 105,000 tickets.
• League of Legends Championship : It will host the final of the 2024 League of Legends World Championship on November 2, 2024.
• WWE Events : The arena has hosted WWE events, including WWE Money In The Bank in July 2023.

Memorable Concerts and Performances

The O2 Arena has been the venue for some of the most memorable concerts and performances in music history.

• Madonna’s Celebration Tour : Her six shows sold out in minutes, highlighting the venue’s popularity.
• Prince’s Earth Tour : In August 2007, Prince performed 21 sold-out nights, featuring many of his hits with a changing set list each night.
• Michael Jackson’s Concerts : His This Is It concert series was scheduled to take place here before his untimely death.
• Bon Jovi’s First Performance : Bon Jovi was the first major band to play at the arena in June 2007.

Olympic Legacy and Beyond

The O2 Arena played a crucial role during the 2012 Summer Olympics and continues to be a significant venue.

• Olympic Legacy : Known as the North Greenwich Arena during the Olympics, it hosted various events.
• Up at The O2 Opening : The Up at The O2 experience opened in 2012, offering unique views of London.
• ICON Shopping Outlet : Opened in 2018, it provides visitors with leading fashion and lifestyle shops at up to 70% discount.

Facilities and Accessibility

The O2 Arena offers a range of facilities and ensures accessibility for all visitors.

• Facilities and Accessibility : With numerous restaurants, bars, and cafes, it caters to various cuisines. All lifts and public areas are accessible to wheelchair users .
• Guided Tours : Visitors can take guided tours to learn about the venue’s history and architecture.
• Parking Facilities : Ample parking is available, though pre-booking is recommended during busy events.

Entertainment Options

Beyond concerts and sports, the O2 Arena offers a variety of entertainment options for visitors.

• Oxygen Freejumping Park : Enjoy trampolining at the Oxygen Freejumping park.
• Cineworld Complex : The 12-screen Cineworld complex features 4DX screens for a unique cinematic experience.
• Hollywood Bowl : State-of-the-art bowling facilities with 12 lanes, pool tables, and a diner for post-game relaxation.

Shopping and Interactive Experiences

The O2 Arena provides shopping and interactive experiences, making it a destination for more than just events.

• Retail Therapy : The ICON outlet offers designer wear at up to 70% discount, including brands like Ted Baker, Adidas, Jack Wills, Nike, and Gap.
• Interactive Sky Studio : Visitors can participate in an interactive Sky Studio experience, reading breaking news and becoming part of the news desk.
• Man of the Match Experience : Football fans can enjoy a virtual pundit analysis, creating an immersive experience.

Historical Timeline

The O2 Arena has a rich history, from its inception to its current status as a premier entertainment venue.

• 1994 : Prime Minister John Major establishes the Millennium Commission to plan a commemorative dome-shaped building.
• 1996 : The Greenwich site is chosen.
• 31 December 1999 : The Dome opens to the public.
• January – December 2000 : The Dome showcases an exhibition celebrating the next millennium.
• 2005 : The building is bought by the O2 mobile phone company.
• June 2007 : Bon Jovi is the first major band to play at the arena.
• 2012 : The O2 hosts many events at the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, known as the North Greenwich Arena during this period.
• 2012 : Up At the O2 opens.
• 2018 : The ICON shopping outlet opens.

Accessibility Features

The O2 Arena ensures accessibility for all visitors, providing a welcoming environment for everyone.

• Accessibility Features : All lifts and public areas are accessible to wheelchair users. Visitors with disabilities can request priority entry and a wheelchair escort to help transfer to seats can be arranged in advance.

The O2 Arena: A Hub of Entertainment and Innovation

The O2 Arena stands out as a premier destination for live entertainment. Since its transformation from the Millennium Dome in 2007, it has hosted over 3,000 events, including concerts, sports matches, and family shows. With a seating capacity of up to 20,000, it remains one of the busiest venues worldwide, selling millions of tickets annually. Iconic performers like Prince, Madonna, and The Rolling Stones have graced its stage, while significant sports events like the ATP Finals and the 2012 Summer Olympics have showcased its versatility. The O2 Arena also emphasizes sustainability, launching initiatives like the Green Rider document and hosting carbon-removed events. Visitors can enjoy panoramic views of London through the Up at The O2 experience, shop at the ICON outlet, and explore various entertainment options within the complex. The O2 Arena continues to set new standards in live entertainment, making it a must-visit destination.

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Climbing the O2: London O2 Arena Roof Walk

Tips for an Up at the 02 Walk

One of our missions during our week in London was to view the city from the air as many different ways as possible. And it took us somewhere we didn’t expect; on an O2 roof walk. London is good for an impromptu family adventure; novel opportunities range from flying across The Thames in a cable car to circling above it in a giant Ferris Wheel and a rib ride of The Thames. But one of the most atmospheric experiences for the boys and I was climbing Up at The o2 ; a roof walk like no other…  

Eight tips for an O2 climb

• In peak times book ahead for the O2 roof walk. It’s busy and there are only a limited number of slots in a day.
• Take a camera that will fit into a small space or a smartphone that takes good pictures. You have to carry it in the pocket of your all-in-one on the o2 climb.
• Go at night. It’s more atmospheric.
• Don’t worry about bringing mountaineering kit; they will give you boots if your footwear is unsuitable, warm suits, and gloves.
• Chill out and let the kids go on ahead. You’ll get a break and they will feel like they are conquering Everest.
• Don’t panic about the weather. It was freezing the night we did it, but we hardly noticed; adrenaline has a habit of warming you up.
• Leave a good couple of hours to do the attraction; you’re only as fast as the slowest person in the group.
• Warm up afterwards in one of the many bars and restaurants in the 02. Or make a night of it and combine it with a trip to the cinema.

Climbers ascend Up at The 02 roof walk

London’s bounciest trampoline?

I can’t help bouncing. Even though I’ve been told not to. It’s hard when you’re on a giant trampoline, suspended high above the financial district of London. I can’t see my kids as they’re way ahead, but if I’m flouting the bouncing rule, then they are surely in danger of pinging themselves into Canary Wharf?

I wasn’t sure what to expect when we booked onto Up at the 02. I had been very uninspired by it’s former incarnation as the Millennium Dome. And I couldn’t quite envisage how you enable children to walk over the top of a building given the modern obsession with health and safety. I imagined some kind of scaffolding, or perhaps a stairwell, protected from the elements and from risk. All in all, a safe, cotton wool experience.

Outside Base Camp at Up at the 02

The 02 – London’s biggest adventure dome?

But it’s not like that. The O2 has managed to pull off something unique here. Planners have taken an iconic building, opened it up to adults, children over the age of 10 (and more than 1.2m tall), and even wheelchair users (by arrangement), and made it feel daring.  Don’t get me wrong; it’s not going to thrill Chris Bonnington. It probably wouldn’t even thrill his grandchildren.

If you are used to standing on Striding Edge or peering over the amber rock of the Grand Canyon, then a quick hike over the 02 isn’t going to get your adrenaline flowing. But if you have a sense of adventure and don’t need crampons to feel like a mountaineer, then you will like this.

Astronauts prepare for take off in the Up at the 02 Base Camp

Yes, it’s a factory line. Yes, you need to get a move on at the top as the next group is on your tail. Yes, it’s a faff filling in all the forms, watching the video, and putting on the warm suits. But yes, I kind of enjoyed the rigmarole. The movie is a little bit funny. The locker room and suits make you feel like you are an astronaut, and the young and enthusiastic staff pump up the experience.

Who do I think I am? Tom Cruise?

Admiring the pretty lights of London

The walkway is beautifully lit, and our guide is helpful and fun. And it certainly benefits from our dusk walk, when London is at its best.

Up at The 02 goes over the roof of the 02 Arena. It’s especially pretty at dusk.

The 02 – London’s steepest walkway?

In case you aren’t picturing it yet, the 02 is a dome. and ‘Up at the 02’ is a walkway over this dome, with a taught wire suspended along the walkway at waist height. You simply attach yourself onto the wire, which keeps you safe from random gusts of wind as you stomp up and over the curved building. It’s steep; I know for sure my mother in law couldn’t handle the gradient. But vertigo sufferers can rest assured that there are no precipices.

Climbers clip on and ascend the The 02 walk

You won’t fall. But if you did…

If you fell off the walkway (impossible because you can’t unhook from the wire once you’ve been hooked on) you’d simply bounce on the taught, tent-like covering of the 02 roof below you. I am comfortable enough to let the kids go way ahead, while I get on with enjoying the view.

The 02 looks at its prettiest at night

The 02, London’s most atmospheric outdoor viewing platform?

We go up as the sun goes to bed. By the time we reach the top, office life is winding down below us, and the city is putting on its party frock and preparing the cocktails. The view is good but not quite as spectacular or panaromic as the one I got from the top of the Shard . But that’s not the whole point here. This is an outdoor activity with a climbing theme. The cow tails and karabiners are as much a part of the experience as the view from ‘the summit’.

Mission accomplished.. on top of the 02

The lights are coming on, the planes are trailing across the darkness.  I feel the elements. I feel the changing light. I feel alive. I feel I could bounce from this giant trampoline straight into the stars. And if I want to, I can opt for the champagne Up at the 02 experience, with bubbles at the top. What’s not to like?

Coming down from Up at The 02

Practical Information for climbing the o2

The Climb the o2 roof walk experience is at the 02 Arena on the North Greenwich Peninsular in East London. You can reach it on the Docklands Light Railway, by the Thames Clipper river bus or on the Emirates Cable Car (3 out of 10 cool ways to get around London ). There are climbs every 20 minutes (it takes 90).  Off peak tickets start at £22 booked in advance online. On the day is more expensive.  There are no discounts for children (min age 10), which is a shame. And 1 adult must be present for every 2 children.   Check the website for opening hours, booking arrangements and practical stuff.

You can walk across the top of the 02 Arena at Up at The 02

Disclosure note: Thanks to staff at Up at The 02 for arranging entry to allow us to bring you this story. The experience and all the views and opinions expressed are, as ever, entirely our own. 

About the author

Kirstie Pelling

Kirstie is the Editor of The Family Adventure Project. A professional writer and poet, she's the creative and journalistic force behind many of the stories and features published here. She's a co-founder and co-director of The Family Adventure Project and also works as the #poetinmotion producing and performing poetry for print, video and live performance.

13 Comments

What an amazing adventure! Wonderful the things you can do in your own backyard. An inspiring post.

That is such a great idea. Shame my husband and son are both scared of heights!

Great photos – I really want to try the cable car. I love the O2 arena. It makes me think of the millenium.

Amazing sight from above but alas I’m afraid of heights!

This looks like fun times. Love your photos. It definitely looks like a cool way to see London. Will have to add it to my list for my next trip.

[…] landmark.’ If you get a taste for seeing London from high in the air, you may also enjoy walking over London’s 02 entertainment complex. You literally put on your boots and climb the domed roof. You can follow that up with a ride over […]

I’d been wondering if this was worth it. Sounds like a great evening out. Thanks for the tip about going at nighttime and about all the kit. Otherwise I’d be the one turning up with the great big backpack full of our hiking shoes.

Can’t wait to try it. And yes, you do look like Tom Cruise. Just taller…

[…] at London’s O2 you can scale the dome solving the mystery of five missing explorers. And at the top you’ll be given a map of […]

[…] from its former existence as a millennium folly into a 21st century entertainment complex. One you can climb up and over. You may need to write this postcard from inside the 02 when you get back down, especially if […]

[…] Emirates Airline Cable Car. While you’re there visit the 02 Arena and you can climb up and scale the dome, climbing over the roof on a special walkway. Book onto a sunset or twilight tour with a few […]

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Harris and Trump Keep Up the Pace, With Events in Washington and Utah: Sept. 14 Campaign News

Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden spoke to the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington on Saturday night, while former President Donald J. Trump is in Salt Lake City for a fund-raiser.

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Chris Cameron

Here’s the latest on the presidential race.

Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in Washington on Saturday, attending a fund-raiser where she told the crowd that, while former President Donald J. Trump might be an “unserious man,” the effects of his words and actions are “extraordinarily serious.” Later on Saturday, she addressed an annual awards ceremony hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, where, in a reversal of standard protocol, she spoke after her boss, President Biden.

Mr. Trump will also fund-raise on Saturday. He is scheduled to attend a donor event in Salt Lake City in the evening.

Ms. Harris had been in Pennsylvania — perhaps the most critical battleground state — for a majority of the week. She campaigned in strongly pro-Trump regions in the state on Friday, capping off a busy stretch that included a prime-time debate on Tuesday with Mr. Trump and a visit to North Carolina , another swing state, on Thursday.

For his part, Mr. Trump visited the battleground state of Nevada, giving a meandering speech in Las Vegas on Friday night that stoked fears over immigration, dwelled on unproven theories about his debate with Ms. Harris and raised familiar unsubstantiated accusations about the prevalence of fraud in U.S. elections.

There are now 52 days until Election Day. Here’s what else to know:

Trump’s news conference in California: At his golf club near Los Angeles, Mr. Trump threatened to withhold federal wildfire aid from California, if elected as president, unless Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed to divert more water to farmers rather than allowing it to flow to the ocean. He also said that if elected to a second term, he would begin his promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants in two cities in Ohio and Colorado that have been the center of his baseless and exaggerated claims about migrants.

A campaign controversy : Mr. Trump drew attention for traveling this week with the far-right activist Laura Loomer , who has made provocative and bigoted remarks, including a recent racist comment about Ms. Harris. After defending Ms. Loomer to the press earlier in the day, Mr. Trump said on social media that she did not work for his campaign, adding, “I disagree with the statements she made,” before seemingly excusing her behavior by saying that she was “tired of watching” Democrats attacking and smearing him.

Biden slams Trump : President Biden denounced Mr. Trump on Friday for continuing to traffic in false rumors about Haitian immigrants’ eating cats and dogs, unfounded tales that have inflamed the presidential campaign. “It’s simply wrong,” Mr. Biden said, his voice rising in indignation. “There’s no place in America. This has to stop, what he’s doing.”

Nicholas Nehamas contributed reporting.

Kellen Browning

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, told Spectrum News in Wisconsin on Saturday that he had previously exchanged messages with Senator JD Vance of Ohio, former President Donald J. Trump’s running mate, but that he had never met him in person. That will change when the two meet for the vice-presidential debate on Oct. 1. Walz told Spectrum that ahead of the matchup he had been reading up, “continuing to try to learn the issues,” but that he had not yet had a debate prep session with someone portraying Vance.

Nicholas Nehamas

The vice president also complimented the hip-hop knowledge of the House Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, who was in the audience. “Nobody knows how to quote Biggie better than Hakeem,” she said, referring to the ’90s rap legend Notorious B.I.G.

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Harris, the first Black woman to be the nominee of the Democratic Party, received a raucous welcome from this gathering of the Congressional Black Caucus. “I truly believe that America is ready to turn the page on the politics of division and hate,” she told the crowd.

Vice President Kamala Harris will speak after Biden, the second time in recent weeks that the president has addressed a crowd before his No. 2, a reversal of the normal protocol.

President Biden is addressing a dinner hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus, whose members have been his longtime allies. “You put your trust in me,” Biden told the roughly 3,500 people in attendance at the Washington Convention Center. “You’ve always had my back, and I never forget it.”

Michael Gold

Trump, in an interview with a Nevada television station, dismissed the idea of doing outreach to Republicans who were considering backing Harris. “I probably wouldn’t tell them anything because maybe it would be a personality problem,” he said to KTNV, the ABC station in Las Vegas. “Maybe they don’t like the way I was tough on China.”

Jazmine Ulloa

Reporting from Washington

Gabriel Luna, America Ferrera and other Latino celebrities join a push to mobilize Latino voters.

The Voto Latino Foundation is gearing up to begin its biggest push yet to encourage Latino voters to head to the polls in November with a star-studded cast of Latino celebrities and influencers.

Th $5 million initiative, titled “ Vota con Ganas ,” or “Vote with Enthusiasm,” is set to start on Wednesday and will feature voter-registration drives and workshops, along with a social media campaign and public service announcement-style videos from actors and online personalties that underscore the importance of casting a ballot this election. The list of stars so far includes America Ferrera, Gina Torres, Gabriel Luna, Jessica Alba, Wilmer Valderrama, DannyLux and Xochitl Gomez, among others.

Voto Latino leaders said the ads and online content would be amplified by the group’s 300 partner organizations and businesses, including the National Football League, Sony Music and Universal Music, and by Voto Latino chapters on 100 college campuses.

María Teresa Kumar, the foundation’s co-founder and president, described the push as “more than just a call to action,” saying in a statement, “It is a movement to harness the power of the Latino community.”

Mr. Valderrama, who produced and directed all of the campaign’s videos, described the campaign as critical to a Latino community that continues to grow and contribute to so many aspects of the United States.

“To ensure our safety, opportunity and future in this country, we have to be involved,” he said in an email. “Without our involvement, there will be a paraphrasing of our existence in this country.”

Latinos are a growing slice of the U.S. electorate: An estimated 36.2 million are eligible to vote this year, up from 32.3 million in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center . But in 2020, a Pew survey found that Latinos were less likely than white or Black voters to be contacted by campaigns or organizations supporting candidates.

Latino voter outreach groups have been trying to counter dampened enthusiasm and disillusionment among young voters struggling with housing, food and education costs. And in Texas , Latino voting activists and political organizers have been raided as part of election fraud inquiries, which some of those who were targeted have said appeared to stem from efforts to curb ballot-box access. Leaders with more than two dozen Black and Latino voter outreach groups recently met with Biden administration officials to discuss the challenges, according to several participants.

The “Vota con Ganas” campaign is part of the group’s nonpartisan educational arm, and celebrities are not endorsing particular candidates, though some may later do so through their own personal channels.

In a launch video, Ms. Gomez, who plays America Chavez in the movie “Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” appears with other young Latinos, citing a statistic from 2020 census data .

“Every 30 seconds,” Ms. Gomez says, “a new Latino is eligible to vote.”

In an interview, Ms. Gomez, who turned 18 this year, said she counted herself as one of those newly eligible voters.

“So many elections are won by just a few thousand votes,” she said of why she decided to participate when Mr. Valderrama invited her. “We need to vote for candidates who care about the issues we care about.”

Tim Walz’s wife, Gwen Walz, led the audience in a “turn the page” hand gesture indicating they’re ready to move ahead to a new generation of leadership. “You know what else that looks like? Buh-bye,” she said at a campaign rally in Superior, Wis. “Buh-bye, Donald Trump!”

Tim Walz also took a dig at Donald Trump when he shouted out female officeholders in Wisconsin and women in his family, and then said, “It’s really great to have all these women help us beat the smallest man in the world.”

Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a fund-raiser Saturday at the Washington Hilton, where she told attendees that while Donald J. Trump was an “unserious man,” the consequences of “what he says and does are extraordinarily serious.”

Several hundred people attended. Tickets started at $500 and went all the way up to $250,0000, according to an invite shared by one attendee. Those who gave $25,000 or more could take a photo with Harris.

Bomb threats continued for a third straight day in Springfield, Ohio, closing medical buildings in the area on Saturday, according to the city manager, Bryan Heck. The city said the affected buildings had been investigated and deemed safe. In the days since Donald J. Trump baselessly claimed in the debate on Tuesday that immigrants were eating Springfield residents’ pets, bomb threats have caused closures of the City Hall and local schools.

Andrew Duehren

Trump’s proposal to end taxes on overtime pay could cost billions.

Former President Donald J. Trump is calling for exempting overtime pay from taxes, the latest in a string of vague tax proposals that have befuddled tax experts, worried fiscal hawks and seemingly charmed voters.

Mr. Trump floated the idea this past week during a campaign rally in Tucson, Ariz., telling the crowd that it would supercharge incentives to work more and put money back in the pockets of many Americans.

“It’s time for the working man and woman to finally catch a break, and that’s what we’re doing because this is a good one,” he said.

The pitch is part of what has become Mr. Trump’s playbook during the presidential race: tossing out potentially huge tax cuts , defined in just a few words, to try and win over middle- and working-class voters. He has also vowed to exempt tips from taxes and end taxes on Social Security benefits, two ideas that have proven popular. At the same time, he has said he would further cut the corporate tax rate.

As with his promise to end taxes on tips, though, Mr. Trump left many key details about the overtime plan unaddressed, making it hard to estimate its costs. Among the open questions is whether overtime pay would be exempt from just the income tax or if the exception would also apply to the payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare.

There is also the issue of how many Americans could benefit from Mr. Trump’s idea. More than 34 million Americans worked over 40 hours a week in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but only a subset of that group are owed time-and-a-half pay for overtime under federal law. The rules are complex, but in general Americans earning a salary of more than $43,888 a year may not be owed overtime, depending on their job. Americans paid by the hour, currently about 55 percent of the work force, are broadly eligible for overtime pay.

“The vast majority of hourly workers are automatically overtime eligible, regardless of how much money they make,” said Heidi Shierholz, who was the chief economist at the Department of Labor under the Obama administration.

The relative ease with which hourly employees can earn overtime could create a huge tax incentive for more Americans to reclassify themselves as hourly workers. The cost of the tax cut would depend on whether such legislation limited the ability of corporate executives or high-paid lawyers to modify their own compensation and make a chunk of it tax free.

Arthur Laffer, a father of supply-side economics who at times advises Mr. Trump on tax policy, said in an interview that any final plan would need to include guard rails. Overall, it should encourage Americans to work more, he said. Alabama earlier this year began excluding overtime pay from its state income tax.

“It should not be a serious problem to be able to devise a system that works well,” he said. “This is a good first shot.”

The Tax Foundation, a think tank that generally favors lower taxes, produced a range of estimates for the cost of Mr. Trump’s idea. Assuming the exemption only covers pay currently considered overtime, the think tank said the plan would cost roughly $227 billion over 10 years if applied to the income tax — and an additional $145 billion if Americans also did not owe payroll taxes on overtime earnings.

The cost could be far higher if all pay earned after working 40 hours a week were not taxed. The Tax Foundation analysis estimated that cost at $1.1 trillion over 10 years.

Michael Strain, the director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank, said the potential fiscal cost of the plan was not justified.

“The outlook for the U.S.’s fiscal situation is dire and therefore any additional tax cuts should have a very strong economic argument to support them,” Mr. Strain said, listing benchmarks for boosting economic growth.

“And I don’t see any reason to think that eliminating taxes on overtime, or eliminating taxes on tips, serve any of those goals,” he said.

Much of Mr. Trump’s tax agenda could be budget busting . He is also seeking to extend tax cuts he signed into law in 2017, a move that could cost roughly $4 trillion over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Ending taxes on Social Security benefits could cost roughly $1.6 trillion over a decade, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and plans to cut the corporate tax rate and end taxes on tips would cost hundreds of billions more.

Mr. Trump’s main proposal to bring money into federal coffers is a dramatic expansion of tariffs on imports into the United States. The tariffs could raise substantial revenue, but probably not enough to plug the fiscal hole created by his proposed tax cuts, according to budget analysts.

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign attacked Mr. Trump’s idea on overtime pay as cynical, pointing to a move by the Trump administration in 2019 to roll back an expansion of overtime eligibility .

“He is desperate and scrambling and saying whatever it takes to try to trick people into voting for him,” Joseph Costello, a Harris spokesman, said.

While the Harris campaign attacked Mr. Trump, it did not criticize the merits of the proposed tax cut. Both candidates are trying to convince working-class Americans that they will cut their taxes. Mr. Trump’s previous proposal to not tax tips, also widely criticized by economists, was eventually endorsed by Ms. Harris .

Simon J. Levien

Donald Trump Jr. piled on with racist comments about Haitians.

Amid fallout from Donald J. Trump’s debunked claim about immigrants from Haiti stealing and eating people’s pets in a small Ohio city, the former president’s oldest son weighed in with his own aspersions on Haitians.

Donald Trump Jr. suggested on Thursday that Haitian immigrants were less intelligent than people from other countries, and claimed that there was demographic evidence to back this up. He provided none.

“You look at Haiti, you look at the demographic makeup, you look at the average I.Q. — if you import the third world into your country, you’re going to become the third world,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with Charlie Kirk on Real America’s Voice, a conservative broadcasting network. “That’s just basic. It’s not racist. It’s just fact.”

Claims inherently linking race, nationality and intelligence have long played a role in scientific racism, which uses pseudoscience to try to justify false claims of racial inferiority or superiority. And intelligence quotient testing, a commonly used measure of intelligence, has long been criticized as unreliable.

Mr. Trump has emerged as a key campaign surrogate for his father. A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Both Trumps have recently advanced the debunked claim that Haitian migrants were stealing and eating their neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio. On their social media accounts, they have each posted memes of cats and dogs, nodding at the false claims and implicitly reminding people of the Trump campaign’s hard-line immigration stance.

At the presidential debate on Tuesday, the former president repeated these claims to the tens of millions watching, giving them their widest platform yet. His assertion drew an incredulous look from his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs — the people that came in,” he said, referring to Haitian migrants. “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

In the aftermath of the debate, there were a number of bomb threats in Springfield , closing its City Hall, schools and a motor vehicles office.

Mr. Trump’s fixation on Springfield drew a heated rebuke on Friday from President Biden, who noted that Haitian immigrants were “under attack in our country right now” and who appeared to denounce Mr. Trump without naming him.

“It’s simply wrong,” Mr. Biden said. “There’s no place in America. This has to stop, what he’s doing. It has to stop.”

The National Haitian American Elected Officials Network, a nonpartisan group for Haitian American politicians, rejected Mr. Trump’s comments about Haitians and intelligence.

“That is so sad,” said Mary Estimé-Irvin, the group’s chairwoman. “The campaign is desperate.”

In a statement, the group added that many Haitian Americans will “vote overwhelmingly as one bloc to send a loud message to this racist-political nonsense.”

The Haitian population of Springfield has grown significantly in recent years . During the last census, in 2020, a little more than 58,000 people lived in the city; since the pandemic, between 12,000 and 20,000 Haitian immigrants have arrived, according to estimates by city officials. Most Haitians in Springfield and elsewhere in the United States are in the country legally, many having received temporary protected status from the Biden administration under a program started by President George W. Bush for citizens of countries in turmoil.

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, will campaign in the South early next week. On Tuesday, he will give remarks at an event in Macon, Ga., and later hold a rally in Asheville, N.C., according to the campaign.

Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for North Carolina governor , said in an interview on Friday with WSOC-TV that he would sign a six-week abortion ban if elected. He has made inflammatory remarks about women who get abortions but said he supported exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. At a campaign event a few weeks ago, Robinson said that he wanted abortion restrictions “down to zero” weeks . His Democratic opponent, Josh Stein, has seized on Robinson’s anti-abortion stance.

Simon J. Levien and Michael Gold

Simon J. Levien reported from Las Vegas.

Trump sticks to his favorite jabs at rally in Las Vegas.

Former President Donald J. Trump capped off the week of his first, and possibly only, presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris with an unfocused speech at a rally in Las Vegas on Friday night, where he baselessly accused her of cheating, repeated a number of falsehoods on a wide range of topics and continued to try to stoke fear about immigration.

Over the course of an hour and 20 minutes, Mr. Trump ranted about the moderators of Tuesday’s debate, made unfounded accusations that Democrats “cheat like hell” in elections and insisted that President Biden, whom he spent years attacking as a weak president, “would have been better than” Ms. Harris.

And even as Mr. Trump continued to insist that he had been victorious in the debate — though some of his allies have acknowledged he had a rough outing — he accused Ms. Harris of wearing an earpiece in their matchup, a baseless claim that has proliferated on right-wing social media. And he said that Ms. Harris had obtained the questions in advance, an assertion for which there has been no proof.

Mr. Trump insulted his Democratic opponents, calling Ms. Harris “Kambabla,” a mispronunciation of her given name, and he called her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, “the vice president,” as he did in a speech on Thursday.

And in a bid to characterize Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz as overly liberal, he repeated false claims that he has frequently made since Ms. Harris became the Democratic nominee. Mr. Trump said Ms. Harris supported states’ taking minors from their parents to perform gender-affirming surgeries on them. No state allows such surgeries to be performed without parental consent.

And Mr. Trump once again insisted that Democrat-led states allow babies to be executed after birth. Infanticide is illegal everywhere in the country.

Mr. Trump lost Nevada, a critical battleground state, in 2016 and 2020, and he has announced policies that would benefit the state. Nevada has the highest concentration of tipped workers, and Mr. Trump has proposed ending federal income taxes on tipped wages. He has also said that, if elected, he would open up new tracts of federal land to development, with few regulations and “ultralow taxes,” in part to build more housing. A majority of Nevada is federal land.

At an event on Thursday in Arizona, Mr. Trump pledged to eliminate taxes on overtime pay , part of an effort to win the support of working- and middle-class voters.

“What, is she going to say now ‘no tax on overtime,’ too?” Lee Ward, a Las Vegas rallygoer from New York City, said, mocking the fact that Ms. Harris announced support for cutting taxes on tips after Mr. Trump had.

Many recent polls have shown Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris in a tight race in Nevada, with Democrats gaining ground since Mr. Biden exited the race and Ms. Harris became her party’s nominee. A survey conducted last month by The New York Times and Siena College found Mr. Trump up 48 percent to 47 percent over Ms. Harris. In May, he led Mr. Biden, 50 percent to 41 percent.

At one point in his rally in Las Vegas, Mr. Trump falsely claimed that Ms. Harris wanted to bring back the military draft — a position she has not taken — and to go to war with Russia, part of an effort to style himself as a foreign policy expert who could end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza with a phone call.

Yet Mr. Trump also vowed aggressive action within the country’s borders as he insisted that the United States was “under invasion” by migrants whom he likened to “an army, except in many ways, it’s more difficult because they don’t wear a uniform.” He promised to deploy federal law enforcement officials to “liberate” Aurora, Colo., a city about which he has made exaggerated claims regarding migrant crime.

“We will deploy ICE, D.H.S. and other federal officials to go in and liberate Aurora,” Mr. Trump said, adding that he would create a law enforcement task force to dismantle transnational gangs operating in the United States. “We are going to liberate parts of our country.”

Soumya Karlamangla

Reporting from San Francisco

Trump threatens to cut wildfire aid if California doesn’t deliver more water.

Donald J. Trump on Friday threatened to withhold federal wildfire aid from California, if elected as president, unless Gov. Gavin Newsom agrees to divert more water to farmers rather than allowing it to flow to the ocean.

Mr. Trump, during a news conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., claimed that the state’s devastating wildfires could be prevented by shifts in how California manages its limited water supply.

“If he doesn’t sign those papers, we won’t give him money to put out all his fires,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Mr. Newsom authorizing water diversions to farmers. “And if we don’t give him all the money to put out the fires, he’s got problems.”

In his remarks, Mr. Trump, the former Republican president, repeatedly called the Democratic governor “Newscum.”

Soon after, Governor Newsom posted a clip of Trump’s comments on X and said that every American voter should pay attention.

Mr. Trump “just admitted he will block emergency disaster funds to settle political vendettas,” Governor Newsom said. “Today it’s California’s wildfires. Tomorrow it could be hurricane funding for North Carolina or flooding assistance for homeowners in Pennsylvania. Donald Trump doesn’t care about America — he only cares about himself.”

Most of California’s water is contained in Northern California, thanks to runoff from the Sierra Nevada and heavier precipitation each winter. The state ships much of that water to the Central Valley and Southern California through massive canals. But California also has been required by court decisions to send water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which eventually heads to San Francisco Bay, to preserve wildlife — most notably a small fish known as the Delta smelt but also salmon and other species.

In 2019, Mr. Trump as president battled with California leaders over how much water should go to farmers rather than through the Delta. Five years later, he seems intent on reviving that fight and using federal aid as leverage should he become president.

California has had a tough fire year, with nearly a million acres torched across the state so far. Three major fires are burning in Southern California that have destroyed dozens of houses and displaced tens of thousands of people from their homes.

Many of the state’s worst fires this year have been in rural and mountainous parts of California that are heavily Republican. Kern, Tehama and Tulare counties have all suffered massive blazes this year, and in the 2020 election all went for Mr. Trump.

Fire experts say that the state’s fire seasons are generally becoming worse because of a century of fire suppression that allowed thick and unchecked growth of vegetation. Those forests and shrubs are especially ready to burn as climate change makes the weather warmer and hotter.

But Mr. Trump erroneously blamed California’s fires on forests becoming desiccated because the state’s water supply has been allowed to flow into the Pacific Ocean. He said that diverting the water to farmers would dampen the land while helping the agricultural industry. Most of California’s fires occur on forest land, on hillsides and in canyons that are not used for farming.

“You’d stop many of these horrible fires that are costing billions and billions of dollars,” Mr. Trump said on Friday. “One thing I’m going to do for California — vote for me, California — I’m going to give you safety. I’m going to give you a great border. I’m going to give you more water than almost anybody has, and the farmers up north are going to be able to use 100 percent of their land, not 1 percent of their land.”

Biden briefly put on a Trump hat, and the conservative internet flipped its lid.

Biden’s moment wearing a trump hat, during a visit to the shanksville volunteer fire department in pennsylvania, the president joked with the crowd as he placed the hat over his own..

“There you go, man. I I need that hat.” “You want my autograph?” “Hell, no.” “Put it on.” “Come on.” “I ain’t going that far.” “There you go. Hey, I’m proud of you now.”

No, it wasn’t A.I. But it was no endorsement, either.

A smiling President Biden really did wear a Trump hat — for about five seconds — while visiting firefighters for an event commemorating the Sept. 11 attacks.

The unlikely moment, which played out on Wednesday at the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department in a Republican-leaning area of rural western Pennsylvania, soon turned into another example of America’s split-screen political culture.

It started as Mr. Biden exchanged friendly banter with a man wearing a red “Trump 2024” hat, offering him a blue cap with the presidential seal to put on instead. The man asked if the president would autograph the blue hat.

“Sure, I’ll autograph it,” Mr. Biden said. The man replied, “You remember your name?”

“I don’t remember my name,” the president joked. “I’m slow.”

The man teased, “You’re an old fart,” and Mr. Biden immediately agreed: “Yeah, I know, man, I’m an old guy.”

Then, after signing the blue hat, Mr. Biden told him, “I need that hat.”

The man took off his red Trump cap and handed it over, and Mr. Biden, at the urging of the crowd, put it on his head, over a baseball hat he was already wearing. The crowd — including the smiling and clapping Trump supporter — let out a cheer as the president grinned, displayed the hat to the firehouse and then took it off and shook the man’s hand.

Mr. Biden couldn’t resist one political jab, though: “Just remember, no eating dogs and cats,” he said to the crowd, referring to former President Donald J. Trump’s debunked debate claim that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have been eating residents’ pets.

To those in the firehouse, and many who watched videos of the full exchange online, the moment was one of unity and levity by Mr. Biden, who has long prided himself on his ability to reach across the aisle.

But the still images of the Democratic president wearing the hat of his chief Republican antagonist quickly took on a life of their own in online conservative circles. Political attacks and conspiracy theories abounded, with some Republicans casting Mr. Biden’s move as a statement of real support, or painting him as a doddering fool who did not know what he was doing.

Perhaps trolling or perhaps not, Mr. Trump’s campaign joined in, saying on social media that Vice President Kamala Harris had done “so bad” in Tuesday night’s debate that “Joe Biden just put on a Trump hat.”

Trish Regan, a conservative television host who left Fox Business in March 2020 after calling concerns about the coronavirus an anti-Trump “scam,” declared in a post that the video offered evidence that Mr. Biden “doesn’t like” Ms. Harris, repeating a claim Mr. Trump had made on Tuesday at the debate. (Mr. Biden, whose full-throated endorsement of his vice president cleared her path to the Democratic nomination, told her he loved her at an event after she took over his teetering campaign in July.)

And Tim Young, a conservative commentator, wrote that Mr. Biden seemed “totally lost” during the encounter at the firehouse in Shanksville, near where Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, after its passengers fought back against hijackers.

A day after the fire station visit, Mr. Biden’s White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said his message had been one of bipartisanship — not, of course, one of support for Mr. Trump.

She told reporters that at the event, Mr. Biden had been recalling that the “country did come together” after the Sept. 11 attacks and had been trying to show that the United States should revive the spirit of that era.

“It didn’t matter what political party you were a part of,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said.

Brad Shober, the president of the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department, said in an interview on Friday that he was not so sure Mr. Biden had been trying to make a point about unity when he donned the cap.

But Mr. Shober, a Republican, scoffed at efforts to portray the president as having offered support to Mr. Trump, saying such characterizations were predictable but ridiculous. The exchange between Mr. Biden and the Trump supporter was “all in good fun,” Mr. Shober said.

“Anybody that’s trying to say different isn’t real smart, because they know darn well he isn’t going to endorse Trump,” he said, adding, “The dude put a hat on to make fun with the guy.”

Still, in a campaign awash with A.I. imagery and misleadingly edited or presented photos and videos, a sliver of voters might be confused by the pictures and not understand that it was a playful moment, said Nina Jankowicz, a researcher who briefly led an agency at the Department of Homeland Security created to fight disinformation.

Without watching the video in full or reading more about the exchange, she said, “there’s a possibility that some people will take it at face value.”

Mattathias Schwartz

A Pennsylvania court threw out a ruling requiring misdated ballots to be counted.

Pennsylvania’s highest court on Friday threw out a lower-court ruling that would have required election officials in the state’s two most-populous counties to count otherwise valid mail-in ballots that had the incorrect date or no date at all on the outer envelope.

In a brief, two-page order , the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to rule on the merits of the case, which was brought by a coalition of voters’ rights groups. Instead, it found that the lower court, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, lacked jurisdiction in its order last month because the lawsuit named only Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties, and not all of the state’s 67 counties, as defendants.

Friday’s ruling means that state election officials will not be counting misdated or undated ballots in the general election unless the courts decide to intervene again between now and Nov. 5. The plaintiffs could file a new lawsuit that tries to address the jurisdiction issue, but whether they will do so is unclear.

Three of the court’s seven justices dissented, writing that the State Supreme Court should have exercised its special jurisdiction as Pennsylvania’s highest court to decide the case because “a prompt and definitive ruling” on the date question “is of paramount public importance.”

In a statement, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of State called the ruling “disappointing,” saying that it “leaves unanswered the important question of whether the dating requirement violates the Pennsylvania Constitution, as the Commonwealth Court found.”

The ruling could have a substantial impact on the presidential race in the battleground state. With about seven weeks to go until the election, most polls show Pennsylvania to be a tossup between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump. President Biden won the state by just over 81,000 votes in 2020.

State election officials disqualified nearly 16,000 mail-in ballots for irregularities in April’s primary election. Almost half were disqualified because of issues like missing signatures and wrong dates on outer envelopes. In July, Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania’s secretary of state, directed counties to print ballot-return envelopes with the full year so that voters would have to fill in only the month and day.

The state Republican Party, which had appealed the case to the State Supreme Court and argued that enforcement of the date requirement was legal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The fight over the date rule stems from Act 77, a 2019 state law that allows all Pennsylvanians to cast their votes by mail. The law requires voters to “date and sign” the back of the outer envelope that holds the “secrecy envelope” containing their ballot. While the statute doesn’t specify what to do about ballots with missing or incorrect dates, courts have ruled in the past that misdated ballots should not be counted.

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania had ruled last month that using an undated or incorrectly dated envelope as the basis for throwing out otherwise timely and eligible ballots would violate a State Constitution clause guaranteeing “free and equal elections” and pose a “substantial threat of disenfranchisement.” Friday’s ruling vacated that decision.

“Thousands of voters are at risk of having their ballots rejected in November for making a meaningless mistake,” said Mimi McKenzie of the Public Interest Law Center, one of the firms representing the plaintiffs.

Reporting from Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles, in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

Trump, who spent the Sept. 11 anniversary with Laura Loomer, said he had not seen her previous claim that the attacks were an ‘inside job.’

Former President Donald J. Trump, whose recent travel with the far-right activist Laura Loomer has alarmed some of his Republican allies in Congress, defended her on Friday as a “free spirit.”

Mr. Trump said that he did not know she had spread conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11 attacks when he commemorated their anniversary with her earlier in the week. And he defended Ms. Loomer, who has a history of making racist, anti-Muslim, homophobic and transphobic comments, as an outspoken supporter.

“Laura has been a supporter of mine, just like a lot of people are supporters,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference at his golf club near Los Angeles. He added that Ms. Loomer praised his campaign before saying, “I don’t control Laura. Laura has to say what she wants. She’s a free spirit.”

Reporter: “What do you say to your Republican colleagues or your allies who are concerned about your close relationship with Laura Loomer?” “Well, I don’t know what they would say. Laura’s been a supporter of mine, just like a lot of people are supporters, and she’s been a supporter of mine. She speaks very positively of the campaign. I’m not sure why you asked that question, but Laura is a supporter. I don’t control Laura. Laura has to say what she wants. She’s a free spirit. Well, I don’t know. I mean, look, I can’t tell Laura what to do. Laura is a supporter. I have a lot of supporters, but so I don’t know what exactly you’re referring to.”

Hours later, Mr. Trump distanced himself from Ms. Loomer in a post on his social media site, Truth Social, where he noted that she did not work for his campaign and then pivoted to criticizing his political opponents.

“She’s a private citizen and longtime supporter,” Mr. Trump wrote. “I disagree with the statements she made but, like the many millions of people who support me, she is tired of watching the Radical Left Marxists and Fascists violently attack and smear me.”

Mr. Trump drew criticism from Democrats and concern from some close Republican allies after he traveled with Ms. Loomer to Tuesday’s debate in Philadelphia, and she then accompanied him on Wednesday to Sept. 11 memorial events in New York City and Shanksville, Pa. Ms. Loomer had previously called Sept. 11 “an inside job.”

Before Mr. Trump’s debate against Ms. Harris, Ms. Loomer posted a racist joke on social media, saying that if Ms. Harris, who is Black and Indian American, won in November, the White House would “smell like curry.”

Mr. Trump’s travel with Ms. Loomer drew criticism this week from several of Mr. Trump’s Republican allies. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told a reporter for HuffPost on Thursday that she was “really toxic.” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia told reporters that she did not think that Loomer “had the experience or the right mentality” to advise the campaign.

And in a post on social media on Friday , Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina wrote: “Laura Loomer is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans. A DNC plant couldn’t do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump’s chances of winning re-election. Enough.”

Asked about Ms. Loomer flying on his plane this week, Mr. Trump said only, “A lot of people do. It’s a very big plane.”

Ms. Loomer declined to comment about the controversy on Thursday , saying in a text message that she was “not interested in speaking to the media so they can further their conspiracies about me.” But on social media, she took on her critics.

She addressed it again in a post on social media on Friday . “The media continues to make this more than it is,” she wrote. “I’m simply a ride or die supporter of President Trump.”

When Mr. Trump was asked directly about Ms. Loomer’s curry comment, he waved off the question and said, “that’s OK.” It was not clear whether he was referring to the comment or dismissing the question. Seconds later, he added, “I just don’t know. Laura’s a supporter, I don’t know.” But he went on to praise Ms. Loomer as “a strong person,” saying “she’s got strong opinions, and I don’t know what she said.”

When a reporter asked Mr. Trump whether he disavowed the racist remarks that Ms. Loomer had made about his opponent or her conspiracy theories about Sept. 11, Mr. Trump said: “Well, I have to see what the remarks are,” adding that he did not know what the reporter was talking about.

“I do know that she may have said something based on what you’re telling me, but I don’t know what she said,” he said. “But I’ll go take a look and I’ll put out a statement later on.”

A few hours later, he issued the statement on Truth Social. It was not immediately clear from Mr. Trump’s statement which of Ms. Loomer’s comments he disagreed with. In the past, Mr. Trump has sometimes reposted some of Ms. Loomer’s posts.

Taylor Robinson

Early voting is beginning in these states. Here’s what to know.

Election Day is still about two months away, but many voters have options to cast their ballots before Nov. 5. Some have already started receiving mail-in ballots.

Early voting became widespread in the 2020 election, when over 100 million voters cast their ballots by mail or in person before Election Day. With the coronavirus pandemic in full swing that fall, early voting let people avoid crowding into polling stations — and many states have kept those voting options in place.

Here’s a rundown of key dates, deadlines and ways to vote early.

What is early voting, and how does it work?

Early voting lets people cast their ballots in advance of Election Day. Most states offer in-person and mail voting, though options vary by state.

With mail-in voting, people can request a ballot be sent to them or, in some cases, automatically receive one. Eight states, including California and Nevada, send mail-in ballots to all registered voters, and so does the District of Columbia.

Historically, voters who were unable to make it to the polls on Election Day had to request an absentee ballot. But mail-in and absentee ballots now function effectively the same in many states, and the terminology used varies. But in 14 states — including Texas, South Carolina and Indiana — voters must still provide a valid excuse to cast an absentee ballot.

There’s also in-person early voting. In some states, this can take the form of in-person absentee voting — voters can visit their polling places, fill out a mail-in ballot and submit it, all in the same visit. In others, the process mirrors Election Day procedures, with votes cast on polling machines.

Which states offer early voting?

All states offer mail voting in some form, and all but three states offer in-person early voting; the District of Columbia as well as Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands offer in-person early voting, too. The three that do not offer it are Alabama, Mississippi and New Hampshire, but they provide options for absentee voters in certain cases.

Here’s a timeline for September:

Sept. 11 — Alabama became the first state to begin early voting, sending absentee ballots to eligible voters who provided a justification to receive one. North Carolina would have been the first to send out mail ballots, but was delayed by legal wrangling over the removal of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name after he dropped out of the race.

Sept. 19 — Wisconsin starts mailing ballots to voters who requested them.

Sept. 20 — Minnesota and South Dakota start mail and in-person early voting; Virginia begins in-person early voting.

Sept. 21 — The federal deadline for all absentee ballots to be mailed to military and overseas voters. Eleven states will send out their mail-in ballots by this day, and North Carolina is expected to as well.

Sept. 23 — Mississippi will send absentee ballots to voters who applied for them.

Sept. 26 — Mail-in voting begins in Michigan (voters have to request mail ballots).

Sept. 30 — Nebraska will send mail ballots to eligible voters who requested them.

The rest of the swing states start in-person early voting in October:

Oct. 7 — Georgia begins sending mail ballots to eligible voters.

Oct. 9 — Arizona starts both in-person and mail-in voting. To receive a ballot by mail, voters must request to be placed on the state’s Active Early Voter List.

Oct. 15 — In-person early voting begins in Georgia.

Oct. 16 — Nevada sends mail-in ballots to all registered voters.

Oct. 17 — North Carolina starts in-person early voting.

Oct. 19 — Nevada starts in-person early voting.

Oct. 21 — The in-person early voting period begins in Texas.

Oct. 22 — Wisconsin starts in-person early voting. Counties in Pennsylvania must begin sending mail ballots to voters who applied for them, if they have not already done so.

Oct. 26 — Michigan opens in-person early voting, the last battleground state to do so.

Where can I find more information about early voting?

States take different approaches to early voting. To read about the options available to you, go to your state or local election office’s website; you can search for that here .

When do I need to register? Where can I check my voter registration?

Most states allow registration until October, and some offer same-day registration at polling places. Check the status of your voter registration on vote.org . To find out when you need to register by, go to vote.gov and select your state or territory.

How can I update my voter registration?

There’s a portal on vote.gov that will show you how to do that. Enter your state or territory to get started.

Where can I check my state’s voting deadline?

Most states require mail-in ballots to be postmarked or dropped off in person on or before Election Day. Check your state’s policy on vote.org by selecting your state or territory. You can also find this information on the website of your state’s election or secretary of state’s office.

An earlier version of this article misstated Pennsylvania’s mail voting timeline. Counties must begin mailing ballots by Oct. 22 and because of legal challenges, it is unclear when in-person early voting will begin; counties are not required to begin both efforts on Sept. 16.

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• Getting to The O2 •

Please note major roadworks in the surrounding area are significantly affecting traffic flow around The O2. Expect long delays at peak times, particularly post event. The O2 is well connected with multiple alternative transport options, but if you decide to drive, please allow additional time for your journey.

Coming to an arena or indigo at The O2 event?  

Then it’s Car Park 1. Remember to pre-book your parking just in case we’re full on the day. You can pre-book your event parking  here

Pre-booked parking closes 24 hours before an event. Please ensure you select the correct date before processing your order, for events with multiple dates.

Not coming to an event?  

For everything else including Outlet Shopping and Cineworld use car parks 2, 3 or 4 where hourly tariffs apply.

Blue badge parking spaces are available in all of The O2’s car parks. Just make sure the blue badge holder is in the car with you during your visit.

For any enquires or assistance please call 020 8463 6718.

Coming to a show at The O2 arena? Leave your keys with us and we’ll park your car at the VIP entrance. Your car will be back and ready to go as soon as the show finishes. Pre-booked valet parking is £54. Or £65 if parking on the day.

Pre-booked event parking

You can pre-book event parking until midnight the day before the event. The Early bird tariff is available until 3 weeks before the arena event. Event car parking is located in Car Park 1. For valet parking just follow the signs to Meridian Gate.

Pay on the day event parking 

If there’s still space available you can pay for your event parking on the day at the following rates.

Not coming to an event? 

If you’re coming to The O2 for outlet shopping, Cineworld, Up at The O2 or for anything else and are not attending an arena or Indigo at The O2 event you can park in car parks 2, 3 or 4. These are our non-event car parks and the tariffs in the table below will apply. Please be aware that Car Park 2 is open 24/7. 

Outlet Shopping customers spending £35 or more get four hours free parking in Car Parks 2, 3 and 4 when paying the hourly, non-event parking tariffs. Valid receipts from retail stores only within the shopping district for the correct date and totalling £35 or more must be presented at the Welcome Desk or at the Parking Office Reception Desk (in the car park office in Car Park 1) prior to customer leaving The O2 Car Parks. For full terms and conditions click here .  

Cineworld customers get four hours free parking in car parks 2 and 3. Your four hours start once you’re in the car park. When the film’s finished, take your unpaid ticket and cinema stub to the parking office (in Car Park 1). We can’t validate station car park tickets so make sure you’re in car parks 2 or 3. We can only validate parking for films that have finished at the time you depart.