AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Rescuers search through mud and debris as deaths rise to 151 in landslides in southern India

NEW DELHI (AP) — Hundreds of rescue workers searched through mud and debris Wednesday from multiple landslides that have killed at least 151 people in southern India, police said.

The multiple landslides occurred after torrential rains triggered torrents of mud and water that swept through tea estates and villages.

Another 186 people were injured by the landslides that hit hilly areas in Kerala state’s Wayanad district early Tuesday, flattening houses, uprooting trees and destroying bridge, said police officer Aijaz, who uses one name.

More than a dozen bodies were found overnight, Aijaz said, as over 300 rescuers worked to pull out people stuck under mud and debris, but their efforts were hampered by blocked roads and unstable terrain.

The first landslide occurred at 2 a.m. on Tuesday, followed by another two hours later. Several areas, including Meppadi, Mundakkai and Chooralmala, were isolated, and roads were washed away causing immense damage to homes, said Kerala’s top elected official, Pinarayi Vijayan.

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Police clash with a violent crowd gathered near the site of UK stabbing attack that killed 3 girls

LONDON (AP) — Far-right protesters fueled by anger and false online rumors hurled bottles and stones at police, wounding more than 20 officers Tuesday outside a northwest England mosque near where three girls were fatally stabbed a day earlier.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the “thuggery” and said the crowd had hijacked what had earlier been a peaceful vigil attended by hundreds in the center of Southport to mourn the dead and 10 surviving stabbing victims, seven of whom were in critical condition.

Police said the violent crowd that torched a police van and several cars was believed to be supporters of the English Defence League, a far-right group, and the mayhem was inspired by rumors about the identity of the teenage suspect arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.

“There has been much speculation and hypothesis around the status of a 17-year-old male who is currently in police custody and some individuals are using this to bring violence and disorder to our streets,” Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss said.

Police previously said a suspect’s name circulating on social media was incorrect and the boy was born in Britain, contrary to online claims he was an asylum seeker.

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Israel carries out rare strike on Beirut that it says killed Hezbollah commander

BEIRUT (AP) — Israel on Tuesday carried out a rare strike on Beirut, which it said killed a top Hezbollah commander who was allegedly behind a weekend rocket attack that killed 12 young people in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. The strike in the Lebanese capital killed at least one woman and two children and wounded dozens of people.

Hezbollah did not immediately confirm the commander’s death. The strike came amid escalating hostilities with the Lebanese militant group. An Israeli official said the target was Fouad Shukur, a top Hezbollah military commander whom the U.S. blames for planning and launching the deadly 1983 Marine bombing in the Lebanese capital.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the details of the strike with the media. Shukur is also suspected in other strikes that killed Israeli civilians.

Though Hezbollah issued a rare denial of involvement in the rocket attack Saturday in the town of Majdal Shams, Israel is holding the militant group responsible. “Hezbollah crossed a red line,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted on the platform X shortly after Tuesday’s strike.

The two sides have exchanged near-daily strikes for the past 10 months against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, but they have previously kept the conflict at a low level that was unlikely to escalate into full-on war.

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Project 2025 shakes up leadership after criticism from Democrats and Trump, but says work goes on

NEW YORK (AP) — The director of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 vision for a complete overhaul of the federal government stepped down Tuesday after blowback from Donald Trump’s campaign, which has tried to disavow the program created by many of the former president’s allies and former aides.

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said Paul Dans’ exit comes after the project “completed exactly what it set out to do.” Roberts, who has emerged as a chief spokesman for the effort, plans to lead Project 2025 going forward.

“Our collective efforts to build a personnel apparatus for policymakers of all levels — federal, state, and local — will continue,” Roberts said.

What started as an obscure far-right wish list is now a focal point in the 2024 campaign. Democrats for the past several months have made Project 2025 a key election-year cudgel, pointing to the ultraconservative policy blueprint as a glimpse into how extreme another Trump administration could be.

The nearly 1,000-page handbook lays out sweeping changes in the federal government, including altering personnel rules to ensure government workers are more loyal to the president. Heritage is building a database of potential new hires to staff a second Trump White House.

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Venezuela ramps up attacks on opposition as calls grow for transparency on disputed election

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan government leaders ratcheted up their attacks on their opponents Tuesday, with some suggesting the opposition’s most influential leader and a presidential candidate be arrested, as foreign countries including key ally Brazil and the U.S. decried a lack of transparency over the disputed presidential election.

A day after President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner by a National Electoral Council that is loyal to him and the ruling party, the attacks, which were aired on national television, followed the opposition’s surprise release of detailed voting data that it said shows that Edmundo González won by a landslide.

The electoral council has not released any results from the polling center level, which come from tally sheets that the more than 30,000 electronic voting machines print after polls close. It is not obligated to do so, but in previous elections it has posted the figures online within hours.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spoke by phone and agreed that Venezuela must release the data, saying the election’s outcome “represents a critical moment for democracy in the hemisphere,” according to a White House summary of the call.

Biden and Lula “agreed on the need for immediate release of full, transparent, and detailed voting data at the polling station level by the Venezuelan electoral authorities,” it said.

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

PARIS (AP) — After days of delays and uncertainty over water quality in the Seine River, the women’s and men’s Olympic triathlon races will go forward Wednesday with a swim in the famed Paris waterway.

The decision to go ahead with the Seine swim for the triathlon competitions is a big win for the city, Olympics organizers and the athletes. Officials undertook an ambitious plan, including 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in infrastructure improvements, to clean up the long-polluted Seine and have been steadfast in their insistence that the swimming portion of the triathlon and the marathon swimming events next week could safely be held in the river.

The organizers said early Wednesday the latest tests of the water showed compliance with quality standards.

Elevated levels of bacteria in the river pushed the men’s race originally planned for Tuesday to Wednesday, when the women’s competition had been scheduled. Test events meant to allow the athletes to familiarize themselves with the course had already been canceled for the same reason on Sunday and Monday.

The water quality in the Seine directly affected by rainfall that can lead to wastewater runoff flowing into the river. Heavy rains fell during Friday’s Olympic opening ceremony, and rain continued for most of the day Saturday.

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At boisterous Georgia rally, Harris dares Trump to ‘say it to my face’ and show up for their debate

ATLANTA (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris told a cheering, boisterous, packed Atlanta arena on Tuesday that the next 98 days would be a fight, but they’d win come November, as she taunted Donald Trump for wavering on whether he’d show up for their upcoming debate.

“The momentum in this race is shifting,” the likely nominee said. “And there are signs Donald Trump is feeling it.”

Little more than a week ago, Georgia appeared to be slipping out of the Democrats’ reach: President Joe Biden’s campaign pledged to concentrate more on holding the Midwestern “blue wall” states and indicated they might be willing to forsake “Sun Belt” battlegrounds. But now that Biden has bowed out of the race and Harris is the likely nominee, Democrats are expressing new hopes of an expanded electoral map.

In the state that delivered Biden his narrowest victory margin in 2020, Harris pulled off what has been a signature Trump event: A big, loud rally full of supporters cheering her name, as she mocked her rival and his running mate JD Vance as “just plain weird,” and derided their policies as backward, outdated and dangerous.

Trump earlier said he’d debate Harris, but is now questioning the value of a meetup and saying he “probably” will debate her, but he “can also make a case for not doing it.”

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A speaking invitation to Donald Trump splits the most prominent American group for Black journalists

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s invitation to address the National Association of Black Journalists has sparked an intense debate within the organization and a flurry of arguments online.

Journalism organizations for people of color traditionally invite presidential candidates to address their summer gatherings during election years. But Trump’s acceptance of NABJ’s invitation has led at least one high-profile group member to step down as a convention co-chair and others to argue their convention may become a platform for Trump to make false claims or be seen as winning NABJ’s endorsement.

Trump will be interviewed at 12 p.m. CDT Wednesday in Chicago by three reporters: Kadia Goba of Semafor, Rachel Scott of ABC News and Harris Faulkner of Fox News. Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee and first Black woman to hold her office, is not currently scheduled to address the convention. A person familiar with her schedule, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Harris campaign was unable to find a time to appear at NABJ in person and claimed the organization turned down an offer for her to appear virtually.

The debate over NABJ’s invite reflects how many journalists are still grappling with how to approach Trump nearly a decade after his first presidential run. Some group members argued journalists should allow newsmakers to be heard, while others pointed to Trump’s demeaning of prominent Black journalists while president and his frequent attacks on the free press, including labeling reporters “the enemy of the people.”

Trump and NABJ also have a tense history over his treatment of Black women journalists. In 2018, NABJ condemned Trump for repeatedly using words such as “stupid,” “loser” and “nasty” to describe Black women journalists including several Black journalists such as Yamiche Alcindor of NBC News; Abby Phillip of CNN; and April Ryan of The Grio.

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Acting Secret Service director says he’s ‘ashamed’ after the Trump assassination attempt

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Secret Service’s acting director told lawmakers Tuesday that he considered it indefensible that the roof used by the gunman in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was unsecured and said it was regrettable that local law enforcement had not alerted his agency before the shooting that an armed subject had been spotted on a nearby roof.

Ronald Rowe Jr. also testified that he recently visited the shooting site and laid down on the roof of the building where shots were fired in order to evaluate the gunman’s line of sight during the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“What I saw made me ashamed. As a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year Secret Service veteran, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured,” he said.

The testimony was the most detailed catalog to date by the Secret Service of law enforcement failings and miscommunications, with Rowe accepting blame for his own agency’s mistakes while also pointedly criticizing local law enforcement for communication breakdowns that resulted in his agency not receiving information that a gunman, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had been seen on the roof of a building less than 150 yards (135 meters) from the rally stage where Trump was speaking.

“Neither the Secret Service counter sniper teams nor members of the former president’s security detail had any knowledge that there was a man on the roof of the building with a firearm,” Rowe said. “It is my understanding those personnel were not aware the assailant had a firearm until they heard gunshots.”

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Tesla in Seattle-area crash that killed motorcyclist was using self-driving system, authorities say

DETROIT (AP) — Authorities in Washington have determined that a Tesla that hit and killed a motorcyclist near Seattle in April was operating on the company’s “Full Self Driving” system at the time of the crash.

Investigators from the Washington State Patrol made the discovery after downloading information from the event-data recorder on the 2022 Tesla Model S, agency spokesman Capt. Deion Glover said Tuesday.

“The investigation is still ongoing in this case,” Glover said in an email to The Associated Press. The Snohomish County Prosecutor will determine if any charges are filed in the case, he said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said last week that “Full Self Driving” should be able to run without human supervision by the end of this year. He has been promising a fleet of robotaxis for several years. During the company’s earnings conference call, he acknowledged that his predictions on the issue “have been overly optimistic in the past.”

A message was left Tuesday seeking comment from Tesla.

The Associated Press