Morning Briefing: July 31, 2024
Anadolu’s recap of top stories from around the globe
By Rabia Ali
ISTANBUL (AA) - Here is a rundown of all the news that you need to start your Wednesday, including the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli army separately said to have assassinated the top Hezbollah commander in a Beirut attack, and Iran calling on the UN Security Council to take action against Israel's Lebanon attack.
TOP STORIES
- Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Israeli airstrike in Tehran
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas announced early Wednesday that its political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting his residence in the Iranian capital Tehran.
"Hamas mourns to our great Palestinian people…the Mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, who was killed in a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president," it said in a statement on Telegram.
Iranian state television also reported Haniyeh’s death, noting that an investigation into the assassination is ongoing.
- Israeli army says it assassinated top Hezbollah commander in Beirut attack
The Israeli military said late Tuesday that it assassinated Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah's top military commander, in a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs.
There has been no comment from Hezbollah on the attack so far.
“In a targeted, intelligence-based elimination, Israeli Air Force fighter jets eliminated Hezbollah’s most senior military commander and the head of its Strategic Unit, Fuad Shukr ‘Sayyid Muhsan’, in the area of Beirut,” the army said in a statement.
The army noted that Shukr served as “Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's right-hand man and was Nasrallah's adviser for planning and directing wartime operations.”
- Iran calls on UN Security Council to take action against Israel's attack on Beirut
Iran sent a letter to the president of the UN Security Council on Tuesday condemning Israel's strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut and called for "immediate action" in response to “this criminal act.”
Iran's mission to the UN said in the letter seen by Anadolu that the attack further demonstrates that Israel has "no regard for the norms and principles of international law."
"The Islamic Republic of Iran condemns in the strongest possible terms these cowardly terrorist attacks which resulted in the loss of life and injury of several civilians…” the letter said.
NEWS IN BRIEF
- Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said that the Gaza Strip has become the “world’s largest extermination camp,” adding that Israel has committed an atrocity that will “outshine Hitler.”
- The US will defend Israel in the event of an attack by Hezbollah, defense chief Lloyd Austin said Tuesday.
- Violent clashes broke out in Southport, a seaside town in North West England, as police confronted demonstrators protesting in the wake of a knife attack at a dance class the previous day that killed three girls.
- The US said Tuesday that Israel has a right to defend itself after an Israeli strike on Beirut that it said targeted a senior commander responsible for a weekend attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights.
- Algeria withdrew its ambassador from France on Tuesday and downgraded its diplomatic representation to the level of chargé d’affaires in protest of the French recognition of a Moroccan proposal for autonomy in the disputed Western Sahara region.
- Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in as Iran’s new president on Tuesday in the presence of top-ranking political officials and foreign dignitaries during a ceremony held in the parliament.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said he will call Pope Francis at the earliest to discuss “immorality committed against the Christian world” at the Paris Olympic opening ceremony last week.
- A Palestinian detainee sexually abused by Israeli soldiers at the Sde Teiman Prison in the Negev desert was transferred to an Israeli hospital in critical condition, the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said on Tuesday.
- Palestinian medics recovered the bodies of at least 42 people in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip following Israeli army withdrawal from the area, local authorities said on Tuesday.
- Delegations from Türkiye and Armenia on Tuesday “reemphasized” to continue the normalization process between their countries “without any preconditions.
SPORTS
- Simone Biles-led Team USA secure Olympic gold in women's artistic gymnastics
A Simone Biles-led Team USA secured Olympic gold in women's artistic gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Games on Tuesday.
The US women’s team scored 171.296 points to be the winners at Paris's Bercy Arena.
Biles, who won four gold medals at the Rio 2016 Games, clinched another Olympic gold medal in the French capital after contributing to her team’s victory in the finals.
- Israel eliminated from Paris Olympics in men's football after losing against Japan
The Israeli men's national football team went out of the Paris 2024 Olympics at the group stage after a 1-0 loss to Japan on Tuesday.
Mao Hosoya scored the injury-time winner for already-qualified Japan at Nantes' La Beaujoire Stadium as the team won all their matches in Group D to face Spain in the knockouts on Friday in Lyon.
Israel failed in the group stage after having a point in three matches.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
- Euro area recovering gradually, disinflation to continue: IMF
The euro area is recovering gradually, with a modest acceleration of growth projected for this year and gathering further speed next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Tuesday.
"Increasing real wages together with some drawdown of household savings are contributing to consumption, while the projected easing of financing conditions is supporting a recovery in investment," the IMF said in a statement as its executive board concludes consultations with the euro area.
- Meta agrees to settle for $1.4B in biometric data lawsuit
US-based global tech firm Meta agreed to settle for $1.4 billion in an unauthorized capture of personal biometric data lawsuit, the attorney general of the state of Texas announced Tuesday.
The company, which is the parent of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, will stop its practice of capturing and using the personal biometric data of millions of Texans without the authorization required by law, Ken Paxton said in a statement.
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