Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, announced Tuesday that Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza and mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, has been selected as its new leader.
Sinwar’s selection, a secretive figure who leads Hamas’ hardliners and maintains close ties to Iran, marks a defiant move. Sinwar tops Israel’s kill list as it aims to dismantle Hamas and its leadership following the October attack in which militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and captured about 250 hostages.
—
A Pakistani national with alleged ties to Iran has been arrested and charged with plotting a murder-for-hire scheme targeting U.S. government officials and politicians, according to charging documents unsealed Tuesday.
The individual, 46-year-old Asif Merchant, is accused of planning to assassinate current and former government officials across the political spectrum, including former President and GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation.
—
Renewed concerns about the U.S. economy could significantly impact Americans beyond this week’s stock market free fall.
Experts state that the recent decline in financial markets, driven by growing evidence of economic slowdown, increases the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will aggressively ease monetary policy starting next month to prevent a severe downturn. Wall Street analysts now predict a series of interest rate cuts beginning in September and continuing into 2025.
—
The Treasury and State Department announced sanctions on the Paraguayan tobacco company Tabacalera del Este S.A. for providing financial support to former Paraguayan President Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara, who had been previously blacklisted by the United States.
Cartes previously owned, directly or indirectly, a 50% interest in the tobacco company, known as Tabesa. U.S. officials reported that the company has made payments and plans to continue paying him “millions of dollars,” despite sanctions against him.
—
Nine people, including six children, died after a vehicle overturned in a Florida canal, authorities reported.
The incident occurred Monday evening in Palm Beach County. At approximately 7:30 p.m., authorities received calls about a car in a canal near Belle Glade. First responders found a vehicle upside down with only the wheels visible, according to Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Capt. Tom Reyes.
—
A man held responsible for his 5-year-old grandson’s death has pleaded no contest to violating Michigan’s new gun storage law, one of the first significant convictions since the law was implemented earlier this year.
Prosecutors charged former Waupun Correctional Institute Warden Randall Hepp with felony misconduct in office in June, related to the deaths of an inmate from a stroke in October and another inmate from malnutrition and dehydration in February. Hepp pleaded not guilty during an arraignment in Dodge County Circuit Court.
—
The former warden of a maximum-security Wisconsin prison, where multiple inmates have died over the past year, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a misconduct charge.
Five inmates have died at Waupun Correctional Institution since June 2023. The latest, Christopher McDonald, was found dead at the facility Monday morning, according to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators believe McDonald killed himself. Online court records show a judge sentenced him to two 999-year sentences in 1993 for being a party to homicide.
—
Elon Musk’s social media platform X has sued a group of advertisers, claiming that a “massive advertiser boycott” deprived the company of billions of dollars in revenue and violated antitrust laws.
The company, formerly known as Twitter, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in a federal court in Texas against the World Federation of Advertisers and member companies Unilever, Mars, CVS Health, and Orsted. It accused the advertising group’s brand safety initiative of helping to coordinate a pause in advertising after Musk acquired Twitter.
