The Headlines - Israel Steps Up West Bank Raids, and Trump’s Arlington Incident

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

Plus, the Paralympics begin in Paris.   Tune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. On Today’s Episode:At Least 10 Killed as Israeli Military Steps Up West Bank Raids, by Aaron Boxerman, Adam Rasgon, Raja Abdulrahim and Thomas FullerTrump Videos at Arlington Stir More Fallout After Gravesite Visit, by Chris Cameron, Maggie Haberman and Eric SchmittCNN’s Dana Bash to Interview Harris and Walz on Thursday, by Michael M. GrynbaumWhere Does Biden’s Student Loan Debt Plan Stand? Here’s What to Know, by Zach MontagueCalifornia Legislature Approves Bill Proposing Sweeping A.I. Restrictions, by Cecilia KangParis Paralympics 2024: A Complete Guide, by Charlotte Harpur

From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Thursday, August 29th. Here's what we're covering. 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. 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 Raskin covers Israel for The Times.

He says 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. 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. 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.

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 Jenin and Tolkarim. Israeli officials claim that more than 150 attacks against Israelis have originated from those areas in the past year. The family of a military veteran buried at Arlington National Cemetery has expressed concern that Donald Trump's campaign filmed footage at his grave without permission. Trump visited the cemetery in Virginia on Monday for a wreath-laying ceremony honoring American troops killed in a bombing in Afghanistan in 2021. 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. 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 Marcosano's grave clearly visible a few feet away.

Marcassano'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. According to Arlington officials, filming and taking photos at the graves for political purposes violates federal law. A cemetery employee tried to stop Trump's team from taking photos and clashed with his staffers, according to three military officials. Members of Trump's campaign later publicly insulted the employee, calling her a despicable individual. She's declined to press charges related to the altercation. Military officials

say it's because she's worried about retaliation from Trump supporters. It's unclear if the Department of Defense will pursue a legal claim related to the photos. Tonight, Kamala Harris will give her first major interview since starting her campaign for the presidency. It'll be a joint appearance with her running mate, Tim Walz. The question of if and when she'd do an interview has been hanging over her campaign. She hasn't really interacted with reporters in unscripted settings since jumping into the race last month. And her critics, especially Trump, have repeatedly asked why she hasn't opened

herself up to questions. The interview will be taped this afternoon and air on CNN at 9 p.m. Eastern. President Biden's 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. 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. SAVE would have cut required monthly payments in half for many borrowers and offered a faster path to erase some of the debt completely. 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. 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. Yesterday in California, lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a new law regulating artificial intelligence. Since many of the biggest AI companies are based in the state, the legislation could effectively set a national standard for regulating the technology. 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. The bill has created warring camps of those who support it and those who oppose it. Cecilia Kang covers AI policy for The Times and has been reporting on the intense disagreements in the state about whether the bill should be signed into law. Those who support it include civil society groups and academics such as Jeffrey Hinton, who is known as one of the godfathers of AI. 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. Then you have those who oppose it, which include companies like OpenAI, Meta, and Google, who say it's 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. Now, all of these parties are trying to pressure the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, to either sign it or veto it. He has a month to do so, and he has so far not shown his hand. And finally. The night sky in Paris, France. Approaching midnight there. Lit up with the cauldron once again.

Today in France, the 2024 Paralympic Games kick off. 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. This year, there will be 22 individual and team sports. There's wheelchair tennis, paraswimming, and blind football. Americans would call it blind soccer. 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. There are also Paralympic events that don't have an equivalent

in the Olympics, like Boccia, a relative of the lawn bowling game Bocce. According to the reigning men's champion of the sport, Baccia is, quote, tactical, aggressive, and cutthroat. The Paralympic Games will run until September 8th. Those are the headlines. 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. You can listen on the Times audio app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Traci Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.