breaking overnight. new escalation in the middle east. hamas says the top political leader was killed at his residence in iran. the militant group blaming israel, just hours after tel aviv announced it killed a hezbollah leader in beirut. in the race for the white house, kamala harris will officially run for the

democratic nomination unopposed after a key deadline. she's bringing it directly to donald trump. another microsoft outage impacts services worldwide. the tech giant saying the preliminary investigation points to a cyber attack. and they are now the self-proclaimed golden girls. the women of team usa gymnastics back on top after taking home the gold in the team finals. simone biles now the most-decorated gymnast ever. plus an inside look at how artificial intelligence is having an impact on the paris games. it's wednesday, july 31st. "early today" starts right now. good morning. gra glad you're up early with me. i'm frances rivera. did you get to watch it? it was another day of team usa leading the way in the city of light. the u.s. expanded its lead on

the medal count on the fourth full day of the summer olympics with the total at 26. olympic organizers announcing that the triathlon will go on as planned in the rivers of the seine. a last-minute test deemed the water safe for swimming. stephanie gosk has more on tuesday's career-defining performances across the mat and fields. >> reporter: the redemption tour just made its first stop. team usa winning gold and putting a point on it. with very few mistakes, routine after routine and sticking the landing. >> wow! >> reporter: simone biles led the team, slipping, twisting and soaring like only she can. >> the greatest gymnast in history. >> reporter: and the crowd, a whole lot of them, ready to welcome her back and cheer her on. >> simone biles is just about to start her floor exercise right

now, to get a sense of how many team usa and specifically, simone biles fans there are in this crowd, just give it a check, and there it is. back at home, they were cheering, too, at jordan chiles and simone's gym, even performing jordan's floor routine along with her. by the final rotation it was clear the medal was theirs. the struggles back in tokyo in the rear view mirror. you guys dug deep to get that silver in tokyo, how does this medal compare? >> oh, my goodness, this is so different. we had so much fun this time, clearly. >> we had an audience. >> we did. it was so different. so it's nice to look up and see your family in the stands. >> reporter: did you hear how much louder they were cheering for you? >> yeah, did we. we were nervous we weren't going to be able to hear our floor music and all that, but we really just embraced the moment and had fun with it. >> reporter: fresh offer the

podium, they are all excited and probably a bit relieved. >> we all knew what the job was. we all had it in the back of our minds. >> reporter: with this in mind, simone biles becomes the most decorated female gymnast in history. the gymnasts aren't the only ones adding to the medal haul. in the pool, the u.s. won more, making the total 15. on the rugby field, they played, and the women put on a show. >> there it is! there it is! >> reporter: rallying from behind twice to win bronze, the first medal for the u.s. in rugby in 100 years. >> it feels like gold to them. >> reporter: stephanie gosk, nbc news, paris. breaking overnight, hamas says its chief political leader has been assassinated in tehran. the iranian revolutionary guard corps confirms that ismael

haha hania was killed. he had lived outside gaza for years and was a close ally of iran. nobody has claimed responsibility for the killing yet, but hamas claims israel was behind it. and in lebanon, israel says they killed a top hezbollah commander responsible for a missile strike saturday that killed 12 children in the golan heights. hezbollah neither confirmed nor denied the report. the strike in south beirut killed at least three people and injured dozens. turning now to the race for the white house. it will be a busy day on the campaign trail for donald trump. the former president will travel to chicago this afternoon to speak to the national association of black journalists, participating in a q&a session. then he will return to pennsylvania for the first time since surviving the assassination attempt there. tonight's event in harrisburg will be indoors. during a hearing on ca yesterday, the acting secret service director says he visited the scene of the butler shooting. >> i went to the roof of the agr

building where the assailant fired shots, and i laid in a prone position to evaluate his line of sight. what i saw made me ashamed. >> in an exclusive interview with nbc news, attorney general merrick garland said he agreed with that testimony, saying this was a major security failure. it appears democrats will avoid any conflicts when it comes to nominating their candidate. vice president kamala harris has no opponents, and a key deadline has passed without any challengers coming forward. peter alexander has more from the kcampaign trail. >> reporter: vice president harris arriving in georgia, a state the democrats feared was becoming out of reach, but now with a new likely nominee hope to win again. asked whether she'd picked a running mate, harris at a rally challenging mr. trump to agree to a debate. >> i do hope you'll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage.

because, as the saying goes, if you got something to say, say it to my face! >> reporter: meanwhile, trump running mate jd vance is set to visit the border thursday to attack the biden-harris administration as weak on illegal immigration. >> after bringing them all here, they proposed amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, she might as well invited them personally to break our laws and come into our country. >> reporter: it's also the focus of this new trump ad. >> under harris, over 10 million illegally here. >> reporter: former president trump defending vance's controversial comments from 2021, critical of democratic leaders who are, quote, childless cat ladies, referencing vance's rise from poverty. >> he grew up in a very interesting family situation, and he feels family is good. and i don't think there's

anything wrong with saying that. >> reporter: while the director of project 2025 calling for an overhaul of the federal government has stepped down. the group faced escalating democratic attacks and comes after trump sharply criticized it. the trump campaign saying reports of project 2025's demise would be greatly welcomed. meanwhile, in the crucial atlanta suburbs, democrat kim louder milk was anxious when president biden dropped out of the race. >> i was worried that it was too close to the election and it would be hard to get a campaign together. >> reporter: and now what do you think? >> now i'm super excited about kamala. >> reporter: but republican ben wilson blames biden and harris for high prices. >> everything from gas prices to, you know, just eggs. the cost of living. everything, the economy. >> reporter: and we'll learn vice president harris' running

mate choice soon. two sources familiar with matter says they will tour battleground states together next week. the park fire is now the fifth largest in california history after growing to nearly 400,000 acres. it is just 18% contained at the moment. the fire began a week ago when a burning car was pushed into dry brush in butte county. an arson suspect will be arraigned, and 2674 trucstructu have been destroyed. more than 5,000 firefighters are currently assigned to the park fire. northern vermont is facing a flash flooding emergency, wiping out roads and pushing houses off their foundations and trapping people inside. authorities conducted about two dozen swift water rescues, while some residents had to rescue each other. some of the same areas were hit

by flooding from remnants of hurricane beryl three weeks ago. let's turn to angie lassman who is tracking the western wildfires. are they going to get any relief that could help them out? >> the good news is we do see most of the red flag warnings down across the west. there's still a chunk of wyoming dealing with that. either way, we've still got poor air quality, and fires continue to burn. we have air quality advisories and smoke advisories. you can see how that had impact the folks across the midwest. this is something we've been seeing for days and days. when it comes to the heat that we're dealing with, that's mainly centered across parts of the middle of the country. 56 million people under heat alerts at this time, and for good reason. temperatures in the triple digits in a lot of spots and feeling warmer than that. 110 on tap for wichita. 109 for nashville, even as far as cleveland and chicago you'll feel the 90s.

we've got rain and scattered storms that we're going to watch across parts of the northeast, ohio valley and plains. the plainsa severe risk across m lubbock and san angelo. plenty of sunshine. 94 degrees for the high in birmingham today. and that's a look at your forecast, frances, back to you. >> thank you, angie. coming up, a major recall yr for fo for tesla owners. it's more magic than ever. with the scrubbing power of magic eraser and the cleaning power of dawn. watch it make soap scum here... disappear... and watch how sprays can leave grime like that with up to 10 times the cleaning power, foamy melts it on contact. magic.

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and artificial intelligence is also helping fans at the summer games. keir simmons takes us inside one of team usa's facilities to show us how it works. >> reporter: we're inside team usa's training center, walking in the shadows of the country's most elite athletes. we've never been here before, but navigation won't be a hurdle. good to meet you. can you show me around? >> yeah, sure thing. >> reporter: thanks to the help of artificial intelligence. >> where do you want to go? do you want to see the track? >> reporter: yes, i want to see the running track. >> track access. >> got it. >> raise this phone positionally to find your position in the building. >> reporter: it can help guide coaches and staff through several olympic sites like never before. >> continue 15 feet. go through door and turn left. >> reporter: wow. look at this, this is great. and she just takes you there. >> yep. simple as that. >> all right, track access. >> reporter: it uses light

detection and lasers to measure distances in a 3d space. after that, the system creates a 2d floor plan. using voice navigation it turns into a guide for anyone, especially those who are visually impaired. >> we're developing technology that allows essentially turn by turn directions indoors. it's important to be confident that you know where you are at any given point. and then you know where you're able to go, and you know when you get there. >> reporter: intel is bringing a.i. technology to this year's olympics, and the paralympic games. daryl adams is intel's director of accessibility, and he's also legally blind himself. he says this app isn't just a matter of ease. >> i look at technology like this, as another aspect of the ability to help athletes focus onthe job they came here to do. >> reporter: the public app is being used in 21 u.s. states and five countries and can be downloaded on any android or ios device. intel says a.i. technology is

helping them expand indoor navigation to more buildings and venues. so a.i. is going to make this possible in many, many places. all at once. >> absolutely. >> reporter: quickly. >> yes. >> reporter: that's a gold medal, my friend. artificial intelligence is also heading underground for these olympic games. paris metro employees being given special tablets that will translate between french and 16 different languages. more than 3,000 agents will have it in their tool kit, as millions of tourists flock to the capital city for the games. and even if you're not traveling to paris, a.i. could still be part of your olympic viewing. nbc will be cloning the voice of legendary sports broadcaster al michaels, using a.i. to narrate daily streaming recaps. >> welcome to your daily olympic recap. >> you can either resist it or embrace it, and i've chosen the latter. >> reporter: in a variety of

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when you feel the signs, you know, some jealous actors might say that being a s surfing correspondent at the olympics isn't a real job. but they're wrong. welcome to my office. >> it may look like paradise, but it has been rough waters in tahiti for one olympic correspondent who is covering olympic surfing. colin jost dealing with a foot injury. he injured his foot on a coral reef while trying to catch a few waves of his own. the comedian shared an update on instagram, joking that he spent his time in the olympic tent more than any other athletes.

and here's injuries right there. the big toe, little toe. but it adds to the story, you know. hazard pay, is what he's getting here. >> every time i see him on tv, i can't decide if this is an snl skit or he's actually an olympic correspondent, but's been so entertaining. >> he makes you smile. >> that's what he's there for. now to culture shock catching some olympic attendees by surprise. americans who have travelled to paris for the games have expressed disappointment at the lack of alcoholic beverages sold at events. the olympics chose not to apply for an exemption. it's still at vip spots. and many are resorting to downing drinks before they enter the venues. i've seen many people on social yooed media doing exactly that. >> what a place to do it. you're in paris, can you get all the pino noir you want.

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>> reporter: there in blue, jenny lozano, slugging her way to paris. >> it's lozano who does it best. lozano who screams in delight. >> reporter: when you qualified, what was that moment like? >> that was surreal. >> lozano! >> something i had dreamt up for so long, for years, since i was a kid, and everything i had to go through just to be here. >> reporter: a dream that began lear, in the border town of laredo, texas. at just 9 years old, she walked into this small neighborhood gym looking for help after being bullied. >> i loved it. i just fell in love with the fact that i could punch something or somebody. and i could defend myself. >> reporter: she was often the lone female boxer. when people told you, you you know, girls weren't supposed to fight, what did you tell them? >> that i could. i kept saying like, oh, you said i can't? oh, i'm going to show you that i can. look at where i am.

>> reporter: at just 12 years old, she won her first national competition. living up to the nickname her grandmother gave her. it means troublemaker. are you a troublemaker in the ring? >> definitely. i try to be as much of a troublemaker as i can. >> reporter: in a town along the border, where boxing facilities and resources are often scarce, her coaches say jenny's potential was limitless. you're the first olympian from lar laredo, laredo, how does that make you feel? >> i made it. >> reporter: they're always in the stands, jenny's biggest supporter, her mother. >> she's my worrier. she's a very good daughter and friend and everything to me. >> reporter: and though she never cries in the ring, we were there for this moment. [speaking in a global language] when jenny thanked her mother

for being in her corner and realized what it means to be an olympian. >> i think about who i represent, and that pushes me to keep going. and i think about little me, too. i think about how i wish i would have had somebody like me, somebody i could look up to in the right way. >> reporter: tom llamas, nbc news, laredo, texas. >> that is a good kind of troublemaker. thanks for waking up with "early today." i'm frances rivera. have a great wednesday. see you back here early thursday morning. flex alert! flex alert! a power outage is looming. that's just alert, he's always getting worked up about something. flex alerts notify us of preventable power outages. that way we always know when to help stop one. ok flex, just drop some knowledge on me again. oh, ok i will - i'll turn our thermostat to 78... i'll unplug the blender. the hair dryer. - my blankie? - yep! - let's talk about it! - nope. ooo, we can save the laundry til' the morning! oh, yes please! oh! little things like this help save our power and help save us from outages. with flex alerts, the power is ours.

building overnight. here is a live look at the scene ahead. the firefight underway and the damage already done. also a historic move for the city by the bay san francisco becomes the first city in the nation to ban landlords from using artificial intelligence to set rent prices. the rean