Hamas’ top political leader is killed in Iran in strike that risks triggering all-out regional war
BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel “will exact a heavy price from any aggression against us on any front.” It was his first public statement since the killing of Hamas’ top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in an airstrike in Tehran. His comments didn’t mention the killing. Both Hamas and Iran quickly blamed Israel for the shock assassination that risked escalating into an all-out regional war. The strike came hours after Israel targeted a top commander in Iran’s ally Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Hezbollah confirms that a top commander was killed in Israeli strike in Beirut
BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has confirmed that Israel killed a top commander after a rare strike in Beirut on Tuesday. The Iran-backed Hezbollah earlier said Fouad Shukur was in the building during the attack, and they were searching for him in the rubble to determine his fate. Israel said late Tuesday it had killed Shukur, who it said was behind the weekend rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 youths. The United States also blames Shukur for staging and planning a bombing of a Marine Corps barrack in Lebanon in 1983 that killed 241 American service members.
UN report says Palestinians detained by Israeli authorities since Oct. 7 faced torture, mistreatment
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office has issued a report saying Palestinians detained by Israeli authorities since the Oct. 7 attacks have faced waterboarding, sleep deprivation, electric shocks and other forms of torture and mistreatment. The report released Wednesday says that Israel’s prison service held more than 9,400 “security detainees” as of the end of June, and some have been held in secret without access to lawyers or respect for their legal rights. Findings in the report, one of the most extensive of its kind, could be used by International Criminal Court prosecutors who are looking into crimes committed in connection with the Oct. 7 attacks.
The war in Gaza might complicate Haniyeh’s replacement. Here are the possible contenders
BEIRUT (AP) — The militant Palestinian group Hamas has a history of swift and smooth replacement of fallen leaders killed in Israeli airstrikes. Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination in the Iranian capital early Wednesday comes at a time when Hamas is under extreme pressure since the war in Gaza started nearly 10 months ago. Haniyeh headed the group’s political bureau until his death. His deputy was Saleh Arouri, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut in January and would have been the automatic replacement. Several top Hamas officials could replace Haniyeh once the group’s Shura council meets, including Zaher Jabarin, Khaled Mashaal and Khalil al-Hayya.
Venezuela’s Maduro asks Supreme Court to audit the presidential election, but observers cry foul
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Nicolás Maduro has asked Venezuela’s Supreme Court to conduct an audit of the presidential election after opposition leaders disputed his claim of victory. Maduro’s announcement Wednesday drew immediate criticism from foreign observers who said the court is too close to the government to produce an independent review. Maduro also said the ruling party is ready to show all the vote tally sheets from Sunday’s election. The opposition says their candidate, Edmundo González, won, and that they obtained more than two-thirds of the vote tally sheets from polling stations to prove it. The Carter Center says the country’s Supreme Court is too closely affiliated with the government to provide an independent audit of the election.
Donald Trump falsely suggests Kamala Harris misled voters about her race
CHICAGO (AP) — Donald Trump falsely suggested Kamala Harris had misled voters about her race as the former president appeared before the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago Wednesday in an interview that quickly turned hostile. The Republican former president wrongly claimed that Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, had in the past only promoted her Indian heritage. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said while addressing the group’s annual convention.
LĂ©on Marchand pulls off one of the most audacious doubles in swimming history at the Paris Olympics
NANTERRE, France (AP) — Turns out, those comparisons to Michael Phelps weren’t farfetched at all when to comes to Léon Marchand. They certainly weren’t a burden for the 22-year-old Frenchman. Marchand has completed one of the most audacious doubles in swimming history, winning the 200-meter butterfly and the 200 breaststroke about two hours apart at the Paris Games. Two grueling races. Two very different strokes. Two Olympic records. Two gold medals. Take that, Phelps. Thrilling the home fans and claiming the spotlight even on a night when Katie Ledecky romped to another gold medal, Marchand claimed his second and third victories at La Defense Arena and stamped himself as one of the faces of these Games.
Fed Chair Powell says September interest rate cut is ‘on the table’ as inflation cools
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has set the stage for the central bank’s first rate cut in four years. Powell cited greater progress toward lower inflation as well as a cooler job market that no longer threatens to overheat the economy. Still, the Fed kept its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday at a 23-year high of 5.3%, despite calls from some economists and Democratic politicians to implement a cut Wednesday. Instead, Powell said that, if inflation continued to cool, “a rate cut could be on the table” when it meets next Sept. 17-18.
Delta CEO says airline is facing $500 million in costs from global tech outage
Delta CEO Ed Bastian says the airline is facing $500 million in costs for the global technology breakdown this month. Speaking on CNBC, Bastian said Wednesday that the monetary amount represents lost revenue as well as “the tens of millions of dollars per day in compensation and hotels” for the five-day period.
Governor calls on flood-weary Vermonters to ‘stick together’ with more thunderstorms on the horizon
LYNDON, Vt. (AP) — Vermont’s governor says the latest storms to hit the state have undone much of the cleanup and recovery work done since its last major bout of flooding only weeks ago, and he is calling on residents to “stick together” amid fears that more bad weather was on its way. Thunderstorms on Tuesday brought another round of heavy flooding that washed away roads, crushed vehicles, pushed homes off their foundations and required at least two dozen boat rescues in northeastern Vermont. Some areas got more than 8 inches of rain. Jennifer Morrison, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Safety, said at a news conference that more downpours are expected Wednesday, with flash-flooding possible in some already inundated areas.
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