AP-Newswatch

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.

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 questions Kamala Harris’ race as he appears at gathering of Black journalists

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.

Katie Ledecky adds another swimming gold; Léon Marchand wins in start to audacious double

NANTERRE, France (AP) — On a night when Léon Marchand was attempting an audacious double, Katie Ledecky proved again she’s a sure bet in swimming’s longest event. Ledecky romped to the seventh Olympic gold medal of her brilliant career and 12th medal overall with a runaway victory in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the Paris Games. The 27-year-old Ledecky tied fellow tied fellow Americans Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson for the most medals ever by a female swimmer. Trailing most of his first race, Marchand surged past Kristóf Milák to capture his second gold medal with a victory in the 200 butterfly. Marchand was set to race again in the 200 breaststroke.

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.

Olympic triathletes swim in Seine River after days of concerns about water quality

PARIS (AP) — The Olympic triathlons were held Wednesday after days of delays and uncertainty over water quality concerns in the Seine River. Organizers said the latest tests of the famed Paris waterway showed compliance with quality standards. Elevated levels of bacteria delayed the men’s race from Tuesday. The decision to go ahead with the Seine swim for the triathlon competitions is a big win for the city and Olympics organizers. They undertook a more than billion-dollar plan to clean up the long-polluted Seine and have been steadfast in their insistence that swimming events could safely be held in the river.

About 8 in 10 Democrats are satisfied with Harris in stark shift after Biden drops out: AP-NORC poll

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris appears to have energized Democrats in the early days of her candidacy, with the surge in warm feelings extending across multiple groups, including some key Democratic constituencies that had been tepid about President Joe Biden. That’s according to a new poll. About 8 in 10 Democrats say they would be very or somewhat satisfied if Harris became the Democratic nominee for president. The survey from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research was conducted after Biden withdrew from the race. The rapidly changing views among Democrats in such a short time span underscore how swiftly the party has coalesced behind Harris as its standard-bearer.

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.