The Evening: Trump questions Harris’s Black identity
Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Wednesday.
🇺🇸 2024 The presidential election is 97 days away. Here's what we're watching.
Trump questioned Harris's racial identityDonald Trump questioned Kamala Harris's identity as a Black woman today in front of an audience of Black journalists. "She was Indian all the way, and then, all of a sudden, she made a turn, and she went, she became a Black person," he said of Harris, whose mother is Indian American and whose father is Black. The Harris campaign condemned Trump's remarks and the White House called his comments "repulsive." From start to finish, Trump's appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists convention was contentious. He denounced a woman on the panel as "rude" and "nasty," sparred with reporters over the merits of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and told the group that he was "the best president for the Black population" since Abraham Lincoln. The event — one of the most unusual appearances of the presidential campaign so far — was an opportunity for Trump to stake his claim to Black voters that he has insisted he can win over, even as he runs against the first Black woman ever nominated by a major party. But it was not clear he succeeded. Here's what else to know:
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The assassination of a Hamas leader threatens wider warIsmail Haniyeh, who led Hamas's political operations from Qatar, was assassinated in Tehran after he attended the inauguration of Iran's newly elected president. Both Iran and Hamas accused Israel of carrying out the attack, though it is not yet clear how Haniyeh was killed, and Israel has not commented on his death. Hours before the assassination, Israel killed a senior member of Hezbollah in an airstrike in a Beirut suburb. The two strikes quickly shifted the calculus in the Middle East, and the focus is now on whether a response from Iran and its proxies could lead to a wider war. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Haniyeh's assassination would prompt a "harsh punishment." "The assassination of a Hamas leader on Iranian soil is the most brazen breach of Iran's defenses in years, while the strike on a Hezbollah commander in Beirut is Israel's biggest escalation in Lebanon since the start of the war," Patrick Kingsley, our Jerusalem bureau chief, said. "Anything could happen, but the sides avoided escalation during a similarly tense moment in April, and we could see the same here." Read his analysis here. Gaza: Haniyeh was a key figure in Hamas's cease-fire negotiations with Israel, and his assassination will likely delay the already-troubled talks.
The Fed opened the door for a September rate cutJerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, said today that recent progress in lowering inflation could enable policymakers to reduce borrowing costs as soon as September. Powell's comment came shortly after the Fed announced that it would hold interest rates steady at 5.3 percent — a two-decade high and where they have remained for a year.
Partial Venezuelan election results suggest Maduro lostVenezuela's electoral body announced this week that the country's authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, had comfortably won another six years in office. But partial election results, provided to The Times by researchers associated with the country's opposition, offered evidence that called the official result into question. The election results were collected from a random sample of paper receipts produced by about 3 percent of the country's voting machines. The figures, which The Times could not independently verify, suggest that the opposition candidate, Edmundo González, beat Maduro by more than 30 percentage points. More top news
'The Matrix' is more relevant than everTwenty-five years ago, when viewers first met Neo, the hero of "The Matrix," the world around him seemed like a fantastical thought experiment. But the movie's warnings about A.I., fake news and extremism have sharpened over time. Now, judged solely on cultural relevance, our film critic Alissa Wilkinson writes, "The Matrix" might be one of the most consequential releases of its time. See how one introductory scene manages to draw together thematic threads that have since become pervasive in our culture.
No, you can't beat an Olympic table tennis playerDuring the opening ceremony of the Paris Games, the N.B.A. star Anthony Edwards insisted to members of the U.S. table tennis team that he could compete with them in their sport — or at least score a point. The table tennis players laughed along. They hear similar challenges from recreational players all the time. In reality, it most likely wouldn't be much of a competition. "People can be a little … overconfident," one Swedish player said. For more: Triathletes swam this morning through the murky waters of the Seine.
Dinner table topics
Cook: Steak with asparagus is simple and splendid. Just remember to cut against the grain. Watch: Here are three great documentaries to stream. Read: "Someone Like Us" follows a journalist with an elusive history and a persistent wanderlust. Listen: Our music critic made an Olympics playlist. Relax: These smartphone features can help you wind down at night. Exercise: Boost your mood by optimizing your workout. Compete: Test your skills as a New York Times games moderator. Play: Here are today's Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all of our games here.
New York's Italian food is getting weirdAt a new Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, the red sauce is green, the lasagna noodles are fried into chips and the Milanese cutlet is made of swordfish. At another, olives are served suspended in Negroni-flavored Jell-O cubes. These iconoclastic takes on Italian classics are shaping the menus at a new wave of restaurants in New York City that are trying to set themselves apart by offering dishes that might make a nonna gasp. Have an unconventional evening. Thanks for reading. I'll be back on Monday. — Matthew Bryan Denton was our photo editor. We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com.
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