6:39 p.m. EDT AP News Summary | National News

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.

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.

Guantanamo inmate accused of being main plotter of 9/11 attacks to plead guilty

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man accused of being the main plotter in al-Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has agreed to plead guilty, the Defense Department said Wednesday. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two accomplices in the attack are expected to enter the pleas at the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as soon as next week. The U.S. agreement with the men to enter into a plea agreement comes more than 16 years after their prosecution began for al-Qaeda’s attack, and more than 20 years after militants flew commandeered commercial airliners into buildings, killing nearly 3,000 people.

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 have obtained more than two-thirds of the vote tally sheets from polling stations that prove this. The Carter Center says the country’s Supreme Court is too closely affiliated with the government to provide an independent audit of the election.

Fed Chair Powell says September interest rate cut could be ‘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.

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.

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.

What’s next for Katie Ledecky? Another race and a relay as she goes for more records

NANTERRE, France (AP) — Katie Ledecky has tied one of swimming’s most impressive records. Chances are, she’ll have it all to herself by the time she finishes the Paris Olympics. The 27-year-old Ledecky bumped her career total to 12 medals with a dominating victory in the 1,500-meter freestyle. She equaled three fellow Americans for the most ever by a female swimmer. Here’s what’s next for Ledecky: She is expected to compete in the final of the 4×200 freestyle relay on Thursday. The U.S. took silver in that event at the Tokyo Games. She also has the 800 freestyle, where she’ll be going for her fourth straight gold medal.

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