Democratic Convention: After an opening night that saw appearances by Vice President Harris, Hillary Clinton, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, President Biden and others, tonight’s Democratic Convention session features speeches by former President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff. Biden took aim at Donald Trump in his speech last night, saying, “You cannot say you love your country only when you win.”
Hostages: Israel said today that during an overnight military operation in Gaza it recovered the bodies of six people who had been taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7. Israeli officials said the bodies were recovered from tunnels under Gaza. The Israeli government says it believes there still are 109 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas, but 39 of them are believed to be dead.
Boeing airplane: Boeing has stopped testing of its 777X airliner that is due to enter service sometime next year. Boeing says that during a test flight a problem was discovered with a structural component. The 777X originally had been planned to be ready to enter service in 2020, but ran into a series of delays. Boeing has been running test flights using four of the 777X models.
Iranian attacks: The FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in a joint statement say they have concluded that Iran is responsible for cyber attacks on the campaigns of both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The agencies said that the cyber attacks resulted in the theft and disclosure of documents and were designed to interfere with the upcoming U.S. election. A statement sent to CNN by Iran’s Mission to the United Nations denies the allegations and challenges the U.S to produce evidence.
Santos pleads guilty: As expected, former Congressman George Santos has pleaded guilty to identity theft and wire fraud charges and as part of his plea deal faces serving two years in federal prison. He also is expected to pay restitution of $373,000. His formal sentencing is scheduled to take place in February. In a federal courtroom in Central Islip, Santos said that he regrets what he did and takes full responsibility for his actions.
Paramount: Edgar Bronfman Jr., who is heir to the family’s Seagram’s liquor fortune, has submitted a $4.3 billion bid to acquire National Amusements, which owns Paramount Pictures, CBS, and other entities. There already is a deal for Skydance Media and RedBird Capital Partners to buy Paramount, but the deal provides a window for the company to listen to better offers. Skydance is headed by David Ellison, whose father Larry Ellison is co-founder of Oracle.
