U.S. and world news for July 31

Hamas political leader: Israel did not immediately take credit for today’s assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. He was killed while he was in Tehran, capital of Iran. Haniyeh had been a negotiator in the on-going talks designed to bring about a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. Hamas blames Israel for the assassination.  

Beirut attack: Israeli jets staged an attack in Beirut, Lebanon, today that killed the senior military commander of the terrorist group Hezbollah. Fu’ad Shukr was one of three people killed in the raid. Seventy-four others were reported to have been injured. Israel said the strike on Beirut was in retaliation for Hezbollah attacking Jewish settlements in the Golan Heights.  

Project 2025: The man who was in charge of Project 2025 for the far-right Heritage Foundation has quit the foundation in the wake of efforts by Donald Trump to disavow the Project 2025 plan. It provides a roadmap that Trump could follow to become the country’s first dictator. Paul Dans had coordinated assembling the 900-page playbook for a second Trump administration. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said the Heritage Foundation will continue pushing for implementation of Project 2025, which would among other things vastly increase Trump’s power, cut Social Security, Medicare and health insurance, and replace government civil service employees with political appointees.

Boeing’s loss: Boeing reports that it suffered a $1.4 billion loss in the second quarter of the year on revenues of $16.9 billion. Boeing said second quarter 2024 revenues were down 15% from the comparable period last year. At the same time, Boeing announced that Robert Kelly Ortberg would become its new CEO effective Aug. 8. He replaces Dave Calhoun, who announced his retirement. Ortberg had been CEO at the aerospace company Rockwell Collins.

Recall: Boar’s Head says it is expanding its recall of meat and poultry products due to listeria contamination. Boar’s Head had issued a recall for 200,000 pounds of various products and has now added an additional 7-million pounds to the recall. Two people have died and dozens of others in 13 states have fallen ill. The recall involves all products produced at the company’s Jarratt, Virginia, plant from May 10 through July 29.

Olympics: Gymnast Simone Biles led the U.S. Olympics gymnastics team to a gold medal in the Olympics yesterday. In rowing, the Netherlands men’s team won a gold medal as did Great Britain’s women’s team. France’s Cassandre Beaugrand won the gold medal in the women’s triathlon. Alex Yee of Great Britain won the gold medal in the men’s triathlon.