--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. Today's Thursday, August 29th.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Israel's wide-scale military operation in the West Bank this week appears to be the largest in over a year. Hundreds of troops went into the occupied territory, targeting what the Israeli military said are militant strongholds.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In many past raids, Israel has gone into these places and left within a number of hours, but we're now speaking more than 24 hours since the start of this raid, and the Israeli forces are still on the ground.
--:-- Adam Razgon: Even as Israel has been at war in Gaza, it's also been conducting near-daily raids in the West Bank for the last year. Hundreds of Palestinians there have been killed, and thousands have been arrested on suspicion of being involved with armed groups.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Israel sees this as an operation focused on rooting out militancy in parts of the West Bank, whereas much of the Palestinian population sees it as a raid that's upending their lives and forcing them to huddle in their homes.
--:-- Adam Razgon: We spoke to many people on the ground, and they spoke about hunkering down in their homes, fears of snipers on roofs nearby. These individuals that we spoke to hadn't been outside for the entirety of the day.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: An Israeli military spokesman said yesterday that the operation in the West Bank is in its, quote, first stages. So far, it's been concentrated in the cities of Janine and Tolkaram.
--:-- Adam Razgon: Israeli officials claim that more than 150 attacks against Israelis have originated from those areas in the past year.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The family of a military veteran buried at Arlington National Cemetery has expressed concern that Donald Trump campaign filmed footage at his grave without permission.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Trump visited the cemetery in Virginia on Monday for a wreath ceremony honoring American troops killed in a bombing in Afghanistan in 2021.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The family of a Marine killed in that incident granted permission to film and take photos, but the family of a veteran buried next to him, Master Sergeant Andrew Marcosano, did not.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Photos and videos of Trump's visit to the graves were published to Trump's TikTok account and online, including a photo of Trump giving a thumbs up to the camera, with Marcasano's grave clearly visible a few feet away.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Marcasano's sister told The Times she supports the family of the Marine who did grant permission, but said the cemetery told her Trump campaign staffers did not adhere to Arlington's rules.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: According to Arlington officials, filming and taking photos at the graves for political purposes violates federal law.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: A cemetery employee tried to stop Trump's team from taking photos and clashed with his staffers, according to three military officials.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Members of Trump's campaign later publicly insulted the employee, calling her a despicable individual.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: She's declined to press charges related to the altercation. Military officials say it's because she's worried about retaliation from Trump's supporters.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It's unclear if the Department of Defense will pursue a legal claim related to the photos.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Tonight, Kamala Harris will give her first major interview since starting her campaign for the presidency.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It'll be a joint appearance with her running mate, Tim Walls.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The question of if and when she'd do an interview has been hanging over her campaign.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: She hasn't really interacted with reporters in unscripted settings since jumping into the race last month.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And her critics, especially Trump, have repeatedly asked why she hasn't opened herself up to questions.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The interview will be taped this afternoon and air on CNN at 9 p.m. Eastern.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: President Biden plan to wipe out student loan debt for millions of Americans hit another roadblock yesterday when the Supreme Court upheld a temporary pause on the SAVE program.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The program is one of the newer piecemeal efforts by the Biden administration to forgive student loans after his initial broad push to cancel $400 billion in debt was struck down by the court last year.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: SAVE would have cut required monthly payments in half for many borrowers, and offered a faster path to erase some of the debt completely.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But a group of Republican-led states have been trying to block the effort, arguing that the plan is too expensive and that it should have been approved by Congress.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: While the fight over the program continues in court, the 8 million borrowers enrolled in SAVE have had their payments paused, and they're not being charged interest for now.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Yesterday in California, lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a new law regulating artificial intelligence.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Since many of the biggest AI companies are based in the state, the legislation could effectively set a national standard for regulating the technology.
--:-- Cecilia Kang: Among other requirements, the bill mandates safety testing of AI tech before it can be released to the public, requires companies to have a way to quickly shut down a system, like an off switch, and lets the state sue companies if their tech causes serious harm like mass property damage or death.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The bill has created warring camps of those who support it and those who oppose it.
--:-- Cecilia Kang: Those who support it include civil society groups and academics such as Jeffrey Hinton, who is known as one of the godfathers of AI.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They say that the technology is so dangerous and potentially has the ability to cause so much harm that regulators need to step up now and create guardrails for the technology.
--:-- Cecilia Kang: Then you have those who oppose it which include companies like OpenAI Meta and Google who say it way too early in the progress of artificial intelligence to try to put straps of regulation on how the technology is created and that creating such regulations can impede innovation and also really deter and hurt the U.S.'s lead on the development of artificial intelligence globally.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Now all of these parties are trying to pressure the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, to either sign it or veto it.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: He has a month to do so, and he has so far not shown his hand.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally. The night sky in Paris, France, approaching midnight there, lit up with the cauldron once again.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Today in France, the 2024 Paralympic Games kick off.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: More than 4,000 athletes are set to compete in front of the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, and other iconic sites that were the backdrop of the Olympic Games earlier this summer.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This year, there will be 22 individual and team sports.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: There's wheelchair tennis, para-swimming, and blind football. Americans would call it blind soccer.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The players rely entirely on their hearing, and fans are asked to stay completely quiet so the athletes can detect the sound of the ball as it moves around the field.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: There are also Paralympic events that don't have an equivalent in the Olympics, like Baccia, a relative of the lawn bowling game Bacce.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: According to the reigning men's champion of the sport, Baccia is, quote, tactical, aggressive, and cutthroat.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The Paralympic Games will run until September 8th.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Today on The Daily, if you feel like you're being asked to leave a tip more than ever before, you're right. The story of how tipping took over.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: You can listen on The Times audio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.
