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Israel is also heavily backed by the United States, which has supplied more than 29,000 guided bombs, artillery rockets and assorted missiles since 2009. A spiraling conflict between Iran and Israel, one of the United States’ closest allies, could pull U.S. forces positioned throughout the region into the fray. Israel has told the United States that it will not attack Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities in its expected attack. Though highly unlikely, an Israeli strike on Iran’s oil facilities could prompt Iran or its proxies to target refineries in Saudi Arabia or the U.A.E. This April, Iran’s attack involving more than 300 drones and missiles, in retaliation for Israel’s killing of seven Iranian officials in Syria, shattered that supposition.

Persons: Arash Khamooshi, Abbas Araghchi, Biden, emboldening Israel, Chang W, Lee, Yahya Sinwar, Israel Organizations: Iranian Revolutionary Guard, The New York Times, International Institute for Strategic Studies, United, Senior Pentagon, The Defense Department, Area Defense, Defense, New York Times, United Arab, United Nations Locations: Israel, Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Iran, United States, Tehran, U.S, Gulf States, Guam, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Hormuz, Persian, Palestine Square, Gaza . Credit, Syria

Last year, Son — who says he uses ChatGPT every day — is said to have met with Sam Altman, the A.I. That included talks for Son to provide up to $1 billion in funding to Altman and Jony Ive, the designer behind the iPhone, to create an A.I.-powered replacement for the smartphone. Bloomberg reported that SoftBank had hoped to be part of OpenAI’s last fund-raising round, but was instead wait-listed. Son is also trying to organize the auto industry around the use of A.I. The strike poses a significant threat to the U.S. economy, with analysts estimating it could cost up to $7.5 billion a week.

Persons: SoftBank, Son —, Sam Altman, Altman, Jony, Son, Cerebras Organizations: Bloomberg, Nvidia, Gulf Coasts, International Longshoremen’s Association Locations: OpenAI’s, ramping, A.I, British, Wayve, Gulf, U.S

The most sweeping effort yet to regulate artificial intelligence, a California bill that could have informed laws around the world, is going back to the drawing board. 1047 provided necessary guardrails, and they urged California policymakers to reject intense pressure from software giants against the bill. Smaller tech companies also pushed back, worried that A.I. While governments around the world (and A.I. Act, which focuses on the riskiest use of the technology but also includes transparency requirements for the largest models.

Persons: Gavin Newsom, ” Newsom, Geoffrey Hinton, Elon Musk, Nancy Pelosi, Newsom’s, Sam Altman, OpenAI Organizations: Gov, Hollywood, Street, Google Locations: California, Silicon, S.B

Donors weigh in on the D.N.C. “I will bring together labor and workers and small-business owners and entrepreneurs and American companies to create jobs,” she told the Democratic National Convention last night. The nod to corporate America comes as Democrats try to firm up relations with big business. DealBook has been hitting the phones all week to hear what donors thought of the four-day convention. A flood of donors decided to go only after Harris became the presumptive nominee.

Persons: Kamala Harris’s, ”, DealBook, Harris, Brad Karp, Paul, Weiss, Raymond McGuire, Lazard, Blair Effron, John Rogers Jr Organizations: Democratic, Convention, Chicago, Centerview Partners, Ariel Investments Locations: America

Top NewsPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel a “bloodsucking vampire” because of his approach to the war in Gaza. Mr. Erdogan knew Mr. Haniyeh personally. He didn’t name them, but the United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel. United States officials have suggested that the authority — a fierce rival of Hamas — could help govern Gaza after the war, an idea Mr. Netanyahu has rejected. Mr. Flake said that despite Mr. Haniyeh’s death, Turkey and the United States still shared the same goal.

Persons: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Ismail Haniyeh, Mahmoud Abbas, Erdogan, Erdogan’s, Mr, Haniyeh, Hakan Fidan, Jeffry, Fidan, “, ”, Abbas, —, Netanyahu, Haniyeh’s, Flake, Turkey’s Organizations: Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Development Party, West Bank, Israel Locations: Turkey, Gaza, ”, Israel, Ankara, United States, Montenegro, reining, Qatar, Egypt

Google faces a reckoningShares in Alphabet, Google’s parent company, were down in premarket trading on Wednesday on news that the Justice Department is said to be considering breaking up the technology giant for maintaining an illegal search monopoly. That would be a devastating blow for the company, but it could also have huge ramifications for the broader tech sector, with Apple, Amazon and Meta all facing their own antitrust battles with the government. A recap: In a ruling last week, Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed with the government and multiple states that Google’s dominance in search was constraining competition. Google said it would appeal. Mehta has asked both parties to submit suggested remedies by Sept. 4, with a hearing set to take place two days later.

Persons: Amit Mehta, Mehta Organizations: Google, Justice, Apple, U.S, District of Columbia

Nearly two weeks have passed and no large-scale response has materialized, leaving Israel and the wider Middle East on edge. But Mr. Haniyeh’s killing was seen as the greater blow to Tehran because it took place on Iranian soil. “Israel has checkmated Iran in this situation because Iran is left with no good options,” said Mr. Vaez. What could an Iranian response look like? U.S. and Israeli diplomats and security officials had some advanced knowledge of its scope and intensity of Iran’s attack in April, which facilitated defensive preparations.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Masoud, Israel, Fuad Shukr, Haniyeh’s, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, analystsexperts, Nasser Kanaan, Sanam Vakil, Pezeshkian, Vakil, Ms, Ali Vaez, Vaez, “ Israel, ”, Benjamin Netanyahu, “, Keir Starmer, Nasser Kanani, Jordan, Mr, Haniyeh, Lloyd J, Austin III, Biden Organizations: Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Chatham House, Crisis, Diplomats, of Islamic Cooperation, United, Hamas Locations: Iran, Tehran, Israel, Masoud Pezeshkian, Beirut, Lebanon, Golan, East, London, Yemen, Western, Iranian, United States, Gaza, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia

Starbucks makes a change at the topThis just in: Laxman Narasimhan is out as the C.E.O. of Starbucks, the company announced on Tuesday, a year and a half since he succeeded Howard Schultz at the coffee chain. Narasimhan will be replaced by Brian Niccol, a fast-food industry veteran who executed a turnaround as C.E.O. Narasimhan has also been rocked by dueling activist investor campaigns and has had to fend off criticism from Schultz. Rachel Ruggeri, the Starbucks chief financial officer, will serve as interim C.E.O.

Persons: Laxman Narasimhan, Howard Schultz, Brian Niccol, Narasimhan, Schultz, It’s, Chipotle, Mellody Hobson, Rachel Ruggeri, Niccol Organizations: Starbucks, Narasimhan Locations: U.S, China

Here’s the latest:S&P 500 futures were up slightly after fears of a slowdown in growth and hiring rocked the benchmark index last week. Investors endured both a stomach-churning rout on Monday and a bounce-back rally on Thursday. Despite that, the S&P 500 ended the week down just 0.04 percent. The big event this week is Wednesday’s inflation data. Investors are anxious after tepid jobs and manufacturing data suggested a slowdown was on the horizon.

Persons: Michelle Bowman, ” Brian Moynihan, Wall Organizations: Investors, Nvidia, Fed, Bank of America, CBS Locations: Europe, Asia

☆ Who Is Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s New Political Leader?
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-06 | by ( Ephrat Livni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

His selection on Tuesday as Hamas’s top diplomatic leader — replacing Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Iran last week — consolidates his power. Here’s what we know about Mr. Sinwar and his past. Mr. Sinwar had been recruited by Hamas’s founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who made him chief of an internal security unit known as Al Majd. While incarcerated, Mr. Sinwar took advantage of an online university program and devoured Israeli news. Mr. Sinwar liked to call himself a “specialist in the Jewish people’s history,” Dr. Bitton said.

Persons: Yahya Sinwar, —, Ismail Haniyeh, Sinwar, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, Al Majd, Shin Bet, Yuval Bitton, ”, Bitton Organizations: Hamas’s Locations: Israel, Gaza, Iran

Top NewsA rocket attack targeting U.S. personnel housed at a base in Iraq’s western desert injured several American troops late on Monday, according to U.S. defense officials. Initial reports were that at least five people were injured in Monday’s attack and that the wounded included both U.S. troops and contractors. Those Iraqi militants have typically attacked U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria and targeted Israel using longer-range rockets. The chief goal of Iran-backed groups in Iraq is to force the U.S. troops to leave the country entirely. There are about 2,500 American troops in Iraq, as well as 900 in Syria, where the Islamic State has once again become active.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Fuad Shukr, Israel, Haniyeh’s, Biden, Kamala D, Harris, Asad, — Organizations: Asad, Asad Air Base, U.S, Hamas, Mr, Iraqi, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, Revolutionary Guard, Al Asad, Al Asad Air Base, Pentagon, Islamic Locations: Ain, Asad Air, Iran, Gaza, U.S, Syria, Israel, Tehran, Beirut, Yemen, Iraq, Damascus, Al Asad Air, Islamic State, Jurf al, Baghdad

The federal court ruling that Google had abused its monopoly in online search threatens to disrupt one of the most valuable businesses in modern history, and Big Tech more broadly. Expect Google to fight back, which could drag this out for some time. What happened: Judge Amit Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sided with the Justice Department and several states that had accused Google of illegally cementing its search dominance. In large part that was by paying billions each year to companies including Apple and Samsung to make Google the default search engine on their devices. Those agreements hurt competition, Mehta found, allowing Google to trample competitors.

Persons: Amit Mehta, Mehta Organizations: Google, Big Tech, U.S, District, Columbia, Justice Department, Apple, Samsung

Stocks, cryptocurrencies, the dollar, oil — they’re all down sharply again on Monday on concerns that the U.S. economy is slowing faster than expected. It comes after a rough week for global markets. That has reignited criticisms that the Fed is moving too slowly to cut rates as economic conditions look shakier. Mega-cap tech stocks, which have driven much of the market’s gains this past year, were especially bruised: Nvidia was down 11 percent premarket, while Apple was off 7.5 percent. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to a one-year low.

Persons: Berkshire Hathaway, Bitcoin, Brent, Goldman Sachs, Goldman Organizations: Nvidia, Apple, Berkshire, Nikkei, Bank of Japan, . Investors Locations: U.S, Japan

☆ U.N. Fires Nine Aid Workers Accused of Taking Part in Oct. 7 Attack, but Clears 10 Others
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-05 | by ( Ben Hubbard | Ephrat Livni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

U.N. investigators cleared 10 employees of a Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza accused of taking part in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, but nine others were fired because of possible involvement, the United Nations said. The investigators found evidence that the employees “may have been involved” in the attack, which set off the war in the Gaza Strip, the U.N. said. The allegations led dozens of donor nations to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for the agency, threatening to hobble its aid operations in Gaza. With 13,000 staff members in the embattled territory, UNRWA has been key to efforts to provide shelter, food and other basic services to Gazans during nine months of war that has displaced most of the territory’s 2.2 million people. Tens of thousands have been killed, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

Organizations: United Nations, UNRWA Locations: Palestinian, Gaza, Israel

But although Mr. Nasrallah promised that Hezbollah would respond, he equivocated on the scope and nature of that retaliation. “We have entered a new phase,” he said, speaking in a televised address during the funeral for Mr. Shukr. “You do not realize the red lines you have crossed,” warned Mr. Nasrallah, addressing Israel directly. “The only things lying between us and you are the days, the nights and the battlefield,” said Mr. Nasrallah, again addressing Israel. Credit... Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York TimesAfter Mr. Nasrallah finished his speech, Mr. Shukr’s coffin was carried onto the street outside and met a sea of mourners.

Persons: Hassan Nasrallah, Fuad Shukr, Nasrallah, ”, Shukr, Mr, Diego Ibarra Sanchez, Fatima Nizan al, “, ” Aaron Boxerman, Hwaida Saad Organizations: The New York Locations: Lebanese, Beirut, Lebanon, Israel, Lebanon’s, Iran, Credit, Beirut’s, Jerusalem

Slowdown fearsGlobal markets are a blur of red on Friday as investors fret that the U.S. economy is heading for a slowdown. Lackluster tech earnings are weighing on sentiment (more on that below), but the bigger worry is a softening jobs market and a spending pullback by consumers that threatens to crimp corporate profit. That shines a spotlight on Friday’s jobs report, scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, and bolsters calls on the Fed to lower interest rates at its next meeting, in September. There’s even talk that the central bank could consider a jumbo half-percentage-point rate cut to pull off its hope for a soft landing in which inflation is cooled without tipping the economy into recession.

Persons: There’s Organizations: Fed Locations: U.S

The strike on Beirut was the first time during this war that Israel has targeted such an influential Hezbollah leader in Lebanon’s capital. Hours later, the killing in Iran of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was considered the most brazen breach of Iran’s defenses in years. Image A protests in Tehran on Wednesday after Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, was assassinated in Iran. Despite his title as Hamas’s political leader, Mr. Haniyeh is replaceable, said Joost Hiltermann, the Middle East and North Africa program director for the International Crisis Group. In January, Israeli strikes killed a senior Hamas leader in Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut, leading to fears that Hezbollah would mount a particularly fierce response on Hamas’s behalf.

Persons: Amira, Hassan Fadlallah, Fuad Shukr, Ismail Haniyeh, Diego Ibarra Sanchez, Iran —, Michael Stephens, Haniyeh’s, Stephens, Mr, Andreas Krieg, Arash Khamooshi, ” Mr, Krieg, ”, it’s, Haniyeh, Joost Hiltermann, “, Israel, Israel Katz, Katz, Itamar Rabinovich, Israel’s, Rabinovich, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Vivian Yee Organizations: Israel’s, The New York Times Iranian, Foreign Policy Research Institute, King’s College ,, The New York Times, International Crisis, United Nations, Hezbollah Locations: Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Gaza, Israel, Iran, simultaneity, Yemen, Iraq, Credit, United States, Philadelphia, King’s College , London, Tehran, East, North Africa, Hezbollah’s, Syria, Bourj el Barajneh, U.S, Washington

Meta’s earnings calm A.I. Shares in Meta are up more than 5 percent in premarket trading, even after the parent of Facebook and Instagram said it had increased spending on A.I. The numbers: Meta’s second-quarter profit was up 73 percent year-on-year, to $13.5 billion, while revenue jumped 22 percent, to $39.1 billion. The figure in focus was capital expenditures, with Meta spending $8.5 billion in the second quarter. (That also includes the company’s long-running, unprofitable investments in the so-called metaverse and other endeavors.)

Persons: Instagram Organizations: Meta, Facebook

As Hamas’s political leader, he was central to the group’s high-stakes negotiations and diplomacy, including the stalled cease-fire deal negotiations with Israel. Here is what we know:Leader of Hamas in GazaMr. Haniyeh was named the leader of Hamas in Gaza in 2006. Mr. Haniyeh led Hamas from Qatar and Turkey in recent years. He was arrested by the Israeli military and served several sentences in Israeli jails in the 1980s and 1990s. The two were targets of an attempted Israeli assassination attempt in 2003; the next year, Mr. Yassin was killed by the Israeli military.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Yemen —, Iran’s, Sheik Yassin, Yassin, Mr, Haniyeh’s, “, ” Mr, he’d Organizations: United Nations, UNRWA, Islamic, of Gaza, Mr, International Locations: Qatar, Iran, Gaza, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Yemen, Israel, Palestinian, Turkey, Egypt, United States, Gaza City, Ashkelon, Shifa

Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas leader who led the Palestinian militant group’s political office from Doha, Qatar, was killed while visiting Iran on Wednesday. Mr. Haniyeh, originally from the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, had long played a central role in Hamas, helping lead the group through multiple wars with Israel and through elections. More recently, he managed high-stakes negotiations and diplomacy for Hamas, including the long-stalled indirect cease-fire talks with Israel to end the war in Gaza. He survived one assassination attempt in 2003, when Israel targeted him and his mentor, the spiritual leader and founder of Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin. The Israeli military assassinated Mr. Yassin the following year.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Israel, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, Mr, Yassin Locations: Doha, Qatar, Iran, Gaza, Israel

Big Tech’s big spendingThe technology sector is facing another rough patch, after Microsoft reported mixed quarterly earnings and its shares tumbled. The company’s results are fueling more concern among investors about whether hefty spending on artificial intelligence will pay off, and how long that might take. But analysts say that Microsoft is on better footing than its rivals, and that investor enthusiasm for all things A.I. Microsoft missed earnings expectations for its cloud business by a hair. Shares in the tech giant were down 3 percent in premarket trading on the results, echoing a similar market reaction to Alphabet last week, when Google’s parent company disclosed the scale of its ever-growing A.I.

Organizations: Microsoft

☆ Two Al Jazeera Journalists Were Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-31 | by ( Ephrat Livni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Al Jazeera, the influential Arab news network, said that two of its journalists were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on their car in Gaza City. The Qatar-based network said the reporter Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman, Rami al-Rifee, were killed in Shati camp in northern Gaza after reporting from or near the house of the deceased Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday. Mohammed Moawad, Al Jazeera’s managing editor, praised Mr. al-Ghoul’s courage in a post on social media. “Ismail was renowned for his professionalism and dedication, bringing the world’s attention to the suffering and atrocities committed in Gaza,” he said. The Committee to Protect Journalists has said the war in Gaza has led to the deadliest period for correspondents since it began gathering data in 1992, with at least 111 journalists and media workers among the more than 39,000 people killed in Gaza.

Persons: Al Jazeera, Ismail al, Rami al, Ismail Haniyeh, Ismail, Rami, ”, Mohammed Moawad, Al Jazeera’s, Mr, “ Ismail Organizations: ” Al Jazeera Media Network, Protect Journalists Locations: Al, Gaza City, Qatar, Gaza, Tehran

Further unrest was expected on Tuesday, when a military court is expected to decide whether to extend the soldiers’ detentions. Since the start of the war, the Israeli military has captured at least 4,000 Gazans, mostly from inside Gaza, and brought them to Sde Teiman, a military base in southern Israel, for detention and interrogation. Former detainees and some Israeli soldiers have said that guards routinely abuse Gazans held at Sde Teiman; at least 35 detainees have died either at the site or shortly after leaving it. Video Israeli protesters broke into the Sde Teiman military base in support of the detained reservists. Neither the professor nor the Israeli military would confirm that claim.

Persons: Sde, Israel, Sde Teiman, Yoel Donchin, Donchin, Nati Rom, Honenu, Benjamin Netanyahu’s, —, ” Naftali Bennett, ” Mr, Bennett, Hanoch Milwidsky, ”, Gabby Sobelman Organizations: Video Locations: Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Israeli, Sde, Beit, Rehovot

Palestinians returned to the eastern side of Khan Younis in Gaza on Tuesday after Israeli forces pulled out of the area. The Israeli military has designated just one area of the Gaza Strip as a “humanitarian zone” for displaced people — and that area keeps shrinking. In the latest downsizing, the military on Saturday ordered the evacuation of two more parts of central Gaza that had been part of the humanitarian zone. Since last week, Israel has evacuated more than a fifth of the area that it had previously declared a humanitarian zone. There is no more place for any tents at the beach or in Mawasi,” he added, referring to the humanitarian zone.

Persons: Khan Younis, Philippe Lazzarini, Mr, Lazzarini, Mohammed Harbi, Harbi, Duaa, ”, Fura, “, Osama, Sammak, Abu Bakr Bashir, Ameera Harouda Organizations: Saturday, United Nations, New York Times, Hamas, “, Sunday Locations: Gaza, Israel, Deir al, ISRAEL, Rafah EGYPT Rafah, Kerem Shalom, Rafah EGYPT, Shalom, Rafah, Khan, Nuseirat, Bureij, Deir, Mawasi, London, Doha, Qatar, Istanbul

☆ What We Know About Ismail Haniyeh.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-30 | by ( Ephrat Livni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ismail Haniyeh was one of the most senior leaders of Hamas for the past two decades, in recent years running the militant group’s political operations from exile in Qatar. On Tuesday, Mr. Haniyeh was in Iran with other senior members of Iran’s “axis of resistance” — which includes Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen — to attend the inauguration of Iran’s newly elected president. As Hamas’s political leader, he was central to the group’s high-stakes negotiations and diplomacy, including the stalled cease-fire deal negotiations with Israel. Here is what we know:Leader of Hamas in GazaMr. Haniyeh was named the leader of Hamas in Gaza in 2006. Mr. Haniyeh led Hamas from Qatar and Turkey in recent years.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Yemen —, Iran’s Locations: Qatar, Iran, Gaza, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Yemen, Israel, Palestinian, Turkey, Egypt, United States

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