August 1 2024
Olympics; massive prisoner swap; Harris nomination; controversial Trump comments; Fed interest rate cut in Sept?; Middle Eastern crisis
Paris 2024 Medal Count
1 BREAKING Reports of massive prisoner exchange with Russia, including jailed WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich
2 Harris expected to be unopposed at Democratic National Convention, receive nomination Aug 5
3 Trump makes controversial comments about Harris’ heritage
4 Federal Reserve may cut interest rates in September
5 Middle East on the brink: Iran vows retaliation, Israel claims top Hamas leaders death
8/1/1981 MTV launches
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Paris 2024 Medal Count
1 BREAKING Reports of massive prisoner exchange with Russia, including jailed WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich
Signs of a major prisoner exchange between Russia and Belarus on one side and the United States, Germany and Slovenia on the other, multiplied on Thursday but there was no official confirmation of what may be the biggest swap since the Cold War. Fox News reported that jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was set to return to the United States as part of a prisoner exchange, possibly later on Thursday. Reuters could not confirm that and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked about reports of a looming major prisoner exchange, said: "I'm still not making any comments on this." Paul Whelan, a former U.S. marine, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian-British dissident, both jailed in Russia, have suddenly disappeared from view, their lawyers said a day earlier, after at least seven Russian dissidents were unexpectedly moved from their prisons in recent days.
Article Source: Reuters
2 Harris expected to be unopposed at Democratic National Convention, receive nomination Aug 5
The Democratic National Committee confirmed that Kamala Harris will be the only candidate appearing on the roll call of delegates that will select the Democratic Party’s candidate for president. Three other candidates registered but did not get enough signatures to qualify. The virtual ballot will run from August 1st to 5th, prior to the opening of the party’s convention on August 19th.
Article Source: Economist
3 Trump makes controversial comments about Harris’ heritage
Former United States President Donald Trump has questioned whether his Democratic rival Kamala Harris is “Indian or Black”, as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee made a contentious appearance at a Black journalists’ convention. Speaking on Wednesday at the annual gathering of the National Association of Black Journalists, Trump said he had “indirectly” known the US vice president for a long time. “She was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage. 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. “So, I don’t know, is she Indian or Black?” Trump continued. “I respect either one but she obviously doesn’t.”
Article Source: Al Jazeera
4 Federal Reserve may cut interest rates in September
Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged at their July meeting, but the head of the central bank made it clear that recent progress in lowering inflation could enable policymakers to cut interest rates as soon as their next meeting in September. “If we do get the data that we hope, then a reduction in our policy rate could be on the table at the September meeting,” Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said during a news conference on Wednesday. Mr. Powell also suggested that the Fed could make a string of reductions before the end of the year, depending on inflation and job market data.
NYT
By opening the door wider to an interest-rate cut in September, the Federal Reserve is on a crash course with the presidential election. For a central bank that judiciously aspires to stay above the fray of partisan politics, confronting a potential policy shift around election time amounts to a lose-lose. Delivering a rate cut ahead of the election could rile up Republicans and former President Donald Trump, but withholding a needed reduction could undermine the economy and upset Democrats. The awkward optics give extra incentive for central bank officials in the coming weeks to set expectations for and explain the reasoning behind any sequence of rate reductions they could initiate at the Fed’s next meeting, in mid-September.
WSJ
Article Source: NYT, WSJ
5 Middle East on the brink: Iran vows retaliation, Israel claims top Hamas leaders death
For months, diplomats and analysts in foreign capitals have worried that prolonged political upheaval in the United States could invite aggression abroad, whether in Russia’s waging of war in Ukraine, North Korea’s rogue nuclear ambitions or China’s expansionist designs in the South China Sea. Now, less than 100 days before Americans elect a new president, that broader geopolitical crisis has erupted in the familiar theater of the Middle East. The targeted killings of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders in Beirut and Tehran have deepened fears of a regionwide conflict — one that the United States, caught up in its own political drama at home, may have little capacity to avert or even contain.
NYT
Iran has accused Israel of assassinating Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in a strike in Tehran and vowed to avenge his death as the attack dramatically raised the risk of a further escalation of regional hostilities. Haniyeh was killed in a strike on his residence in Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Hamas and Iranian officials said. The attack came hours after Israel said it had killed senior Hizbollah commander Fuad Shukr in an air strike on Beirut, the Lebanese capital, heightening fears that the region was sliding towards a full-blown war.
FT
Israel has determined that it killed top Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif in a July airstrike, the country’s military said Thursday, eliminating a planner of the Oct. 7 attacks and a militant it had tried to kill for decades.
Deif is the most senior military leader of the U.S.-designated terrorist group whom Israel says it has killed in more than nine months of fighting in the Gaza Strip and the third high-ranking enemy of the country to be declared dead in 48 hours.
WSJ
Israel has sent Diplomatic Back-Channel Messages to both Iran and Lebanon, stating that they are willing to go to Full-Scale War if Iran, Hezbollah, and other Iranian-Backed Groups conduct a Retaliatory Response which causes Significant Damage and Casualties in Israel.
@sentdefender
Article Source: NYT, FT, WSJ, X
8/1/1981 MTV launches
Sources
1. https://www.reuters.com/world/lawyer-ex-us-marine-whelan-jailed-russia-says-she-cannot-confirm-his-whereabouts-2024-07-31/
2. email
3. https://aje.io/17v99v
4. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/31/business/economy/fed-meeting-interest-rates.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare; https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-banking/fed-interest-rate-cut-inflation-politics-a6e527de?st=z97lb1rf70bz82p&reflink=article_copyURL_share
5. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/01/world/middleeast/middle-east-israel-iran-hezbollah.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare; https://on.ft.com/3WtYh8f; https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-declares-it-killed-hamas-military-chief-in-july-airstrike-58535a27?st=qtecrfniolafgy0&reflink=article_copyURL_share; https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1818769873176346933?s=46&t=nVb-5uC_WM3Cp0R0dGiqHQ
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