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Today’s top stories

Former President Donald Trump took the stage at the National Association of Black Journalists convention yesterday, where he questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’ biracial background. He was asked if he agreed with some Republican claims that she has political power because of “diversity, equity and inclusion.” His response was that Harris, who is Black and Indian American, has changed how she discussed her racial identity. “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,” he said. Harris responded to his remarks in her speech last night at a Sigma Gamma Rho conference, a historically Black sorority, saying, “It was the same old show — the divisiveness and the disrespect.”

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – JULY 31: Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks with Rachel Scott, senior congressional correspondent for ABC News during a question and answer session at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention at the Hilton Hotel on July 31, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Trump also fielded questions from Harris Faulkner, anchor of The Faulkner Focus on FOX News and Kadia Goba, politics reporter at Semafor during the event. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Scott Olson/Getty Images/Getty Images North America

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Scott Olson/Getty Images/Getty Images North America

• 🎧 “Trump has a history of promoting racist birther conspiracy theories targeting Harris, and, even before her, former President Barack Obama,” Franco Ordoñez tells Morning Edition. He also talked about jobs and the economy and he claimed to be the best president for Black people since Abraham Lincoln. He addressed the border by appearing to pit immigrant workers against Black workers. Those comments remained overshadowed by his comments on Harris.

The case against the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks has reached a conclusion after nearly two decades of legal gridlock. The Pentagon announced last night that Sheikh Mohammed and two accomplices will plead guilty to all charges in exchange for an expected life sentence — avoiding the death penalty. Many family members of the nearly 3,000 people who died in the attacks have wanted the defendants put to death. As a trial became increasingly unlikely, plea bargains were widely viewed as the only way to resolve the case.

• 🎧 “The timing is really curious,” NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer says. Settlement talks started a little over two years ago but stalled because the Biden administration wouldn’t agree to some conditions, including not putting the defendants in solitary confinement and providing them with torture rehab. Pfieffer says the Pentagon might have been motivated to move the case forward due to the possibility of Trump being elected; he wouldn’t likely agree to the plea deal. There were originally five men in the 9/11 case, but one was removed because he was found mentally incompetent. The other person remains in settlement talks.

Israel has been accused of two recent assassinations in the Middle East, drawing worry that a cease-fire for the current war in Gaza may not come. Israel said it was responsible for the killing of a Hezbollah commander in Beirut but has not commented on the death of Hamas’s top political leader Ismail Haniyeh in an airstrike in Iran. Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis, “Challenging days are ahead.” Iran’s president called Haniyeh’s killing a “cowardly action” and vowed to defend Iran’s territorial integrity.

• 🎧 “Truly, many of us here in Tel Aviv went to bed last night prepared for a possible night of bombing by Iran,” Hadeel Al-Shalchi tells Up First. In his address, Netanyahu pointed out that he has not bowed to calls for him to end the war in Gaza. It remains unclear if Hamas will halt cease-fire talks and regroup. Neither Hamas nor Israel have said anything about withdrawing from the conversation. Two funerals are being held for Haniyeh: one today in Tehran, where the airstrike happened, and the other in Doha tomorrow where he will be buried. Al-Shalchi says she’ll be watching for what Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will say.

Today’s listen

Members of the K-pop group of Stray Kids attend The 2024 Met Gala in May 2024 in New York City.

Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

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Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

For the first time in chart history, two K-pop artists, Stray Kids and Jimin of BTS, respectively hold the top two spots on the Billboard 200 albums chart. ATE is Stray Kids’ 5th consecutive record to reach number one on the chart, making them the first group in history to accomplish this feat. Jimin’s new album Muse entered at No.2.

Behind the story

This essay was written by Claire Murashima, Morning Edition and Up First production assistant.

I ditched single-use plastics for a week as part of the global Plastic Free July challenge. Well, mostly.

Some of the biggest challenges were time, cost and availability of plastic-free alternatives.

• ♻️ When I ran out of single-use plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles, I went to five stores and spent more than double what I normally would to replace them with plastic-free bars.
• ♻️ Making peach ring candies from scratch — including sourcing the ingredients — took hours but were delicious.
• ♻️ Pharmacy pill bottles aren’t accepted in most curbside recycling programs, so I asked my pharmacist if they could use a container I brought. They said no.

But, I did have a few wins: 

• ♻️ When I threw a party, I made popcorn on the stove instead of buying single-use plastic bags of chips.
• ♻️ Baking bread myself was cheaper than buying it from the store. I still need to work on the texture since it’s gluten-free.
• ♻️ Since I couldn’t use plastic trash bags, I learned a ton about composting in my city: They don’t accept dryer lint or human hair, but they do accept paper towels with designs as well as ultra-processed foods, which take longer to break down.

3 things to know before you go

Ilona Maher celebrates the U.S. women’s rugby sevens win over Australia for the bronze medal in Paris on Tuesday.

Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

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Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

1. Ilona Maher, the U.S. women’s rugby sevens center, has become one of the stars of this year’s Olympic Games with her fun TikTok videos. Her team won Team USA its first-ever medal in the sport.
2. Delta Air Lines’ CEO says the massive CrowdStrike outage that halted its flight operations last month and left thousands of passengers stranded has cost the airline as much as $500 million.
3. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady yesterday. If inflation continues to moderate, they indicated that rate cuts could come down as early as next month.

This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.