Britain is bracing for an explosive week of political battles this week which could prove crucial in Britain’s proposed exit from the European Union. Lawmakers return from summer break Tuesday, when they will try to seize control of Parliament to prevent Britain leaving the EU without a deal. There have been protests across the country against Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue, or suspend parliament – and as Henry Ridgwell reports from London, the battle now appears to be now only about Brexit, but about the very fabric of a society and country once seen as one of world’s most stable democracies.

Tensions are rising between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as the Israeli military said on Sunday that a number of anti-tank missiles were fired from Lebanon, targeting an Israeli military base and vehicles.

“A number of hits have been confirmed,” the Israeli military said in a statement, adding that it “is responding with fire towards the sources of fire and targets in southern Lebanon.”

No casualties were reported from the attack, Israeli officials said.

Retaliation

Hours before the incident, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had vowed to retaliate for the recent “Israeli aggression” in south Beirut.

“This time I wanted to say it would be open-ended where we would retaliate from,” he said during a televised speech Saturday night, which was broadcast on Hezbollah channel al-Manar TV.

The leader of the Iranian-backed group said that the first response against Israel was downing its two drones in Lebanon last week.

Two explosive-laden drones crashed and exploded in the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahiyeh in Beirut last Sunday. The attack was blamed on Israel by the Lebanese government and Hezbollah.

Israel hasn’t officially commented on the alleged incident. But Israeli officials have warned that they would target Iran and its proxies should they continue to threaten Israel’s security.

In the meantime, the Lebanese military said on Sunday that “a drone belonging to the Israeli enemy violated the Lebanese airspace… and threw flammable materials over the area, which led to a fire.”

The Lebanese military added that it was following this incident with U.N. forces in Lebanon.

The Sunday exchange of fire were part of a series of recent events in which Israel has targeted Iranian military targets in Syria and reportedly in Iraq.

The “question is whether Hezbollah will regard this [attack on Israel] as a response to both the Beirut events and the Aqraba incident [in Syria],” said Jonathan Spyer, a research fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies.

He told VOA that as long as there are no Israeli causalities, the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border will eventually calm down.

Last week, the Israeli air force also carried out strikes against a cell belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps near the Syrian capital, Damascus, which Israel says was on its way to launch drone attacks against northern Israel.

Israel believes that Iran, which has a significant military presence in Syria, has been using Hezbollah and its bases in Lebanon and Syria to transport weapons to areas near Israel’s borders with both countries.  

Israel also has accused Iran of helping Hezbollah to stockpile precision-guided missiles that could cause “massive” human casualties in Israel.

Risking Lebanon for Iran?

Experts charge that the Shi’ite militant group has increasingly become a main force for Iran’s hostility towards Israel.  

“Hezbollah seems to be ready to put itself on the frontlines for the Iranians,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former National Security Advisor to the prime minister of Israel and a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA).

He told VOA that, “If the Lebanese let Hezbollah and Iran build their launch pads and facilities in Lebanon, at the end of the day the price will be paid by the Lebanese.”

But Lebanese researcher Michel Shamai believes that Hezbollah doesn’t have the capabilities to enter an all-out war with Israel, because it “isn’t ready to risk the entire state of Lebanon for the sake of its masters in Iran.”

“And it won’t stand by idly in front of its audience that has been mobilized with fulfilling promises,” he said in a recent article in the Lebanese daily newspaper An-Nahar.

Since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the two sides have occasionally exchanged attacks. In the wake of Syria’s war, Israel has also hit Hezbollah targets inside Syria.

Deterrence

Israel continues its military buildup on its northern border with Lebanon. The Israeli military has sent artillery batteries to the area and the Israeli navy also has been put on high alert.

Analyst Amidror said that “this build is primarily to deter Hezbollah from making any mistakes.”

“It is a clear message from Israel that any retaliation from Hezbollah will face a big response from Israel. That’s why Hezbollah’s [Sunday] response was very minor,” he said.

The tensions between the two sides are unlikely to escalate, Amidror added.

Plastic bags, bottles, cigarette butts and other debris lap against the shore of Virage Beach in northwest Dakar, Senegal. Workers from beachside restaurants and surf shops rake the sand to try to capture the waste, but the garbage always returns.

A lack of infrastructure and education surrounding proper waste disposal in the Senegalese capital has resulted in piles of litter inundating the city’s streets and beaches. Babacar Thiaw, owner of Copacabana Surf Village, a surf shop and restaurant on Virage Beach that was opened in 1970 by Thiaw’s father, is taking matters into his own hands by turning his restaurant into a waste-free haven. It’s the first of its kind in the region.

“Growing up here, I see all these problems that the environment is facing with the trash,” Thiaw said. “People are just throwing, throwing, throwing, throwing.”

Thiaw has spent the past year working with local conservation groups to transition his business into a zero-waste restaurant. He hopes other beachside restaurants will follow suit. But it’s a radical idea in a country where the typical person uses multiple plastic cups throughout the day to drink tea a treasured ritual and consumes water in small plastic sachets.

Despite having a relatively small population of 15 million, Senegal is one of the world’s largest contributors to plastic pollution. A 2010 study by the journal Science estimated the country produced more than 254,000 tons of mismanaged plastic waste that year, making it 21st in the world in annual plastic mismanagement. The United States, which has a vastly larger population and economy, ranked 20th.

At the official launch of Thiaw’s newly transitioned restaurant, attendees could read any of the roughly dozen plaques that described the steps Copacabana has taken to reduce waste.

Plastic straws were abandoned in favor of those made from metal and bamboo, and a refillable water jug had replaced the 100 bottles customers used to consume each week.

The restaurant also switched from disposable napkins to reusable fabric, and instead of cleaning with harmful chemicals, they use natural soaps and vinegar. Leftover food is composted.

Copacabana also eliminated its single-use pods to make coffee.

“I feel like it’s our duty to do that. If you don’t do it, no one will do it for us,” Thiaw said. “The government is here, they’re always talking, talking, talking, talking. We’ve never seen something done. No one’s going to save us if we’re not doing it by ourselves.”

Senegal banned plastic bags in 2015, but the law was never put into effect.

Claire Stragier is a project manager for MakeSense, an organization that works with governments and businesses around the world to help them lower their environmental footprint. The group helped Thiaw create an action plan for his transition to zero-waste.

Stragier said the waste problem in Dakar is primarily due to a lack of infrastructure. There are almost no public garbage cans, and the few that exist are never emptied.

Secondly, she said, is a lack of awareness among residents.

“There’s clearly a lack of education among Senegalese people in that they don’t know the impact of throwing plastic on the ground,” she said. “They don’t know that that plastic will stay there for more than 40 or 50 years and that it will have a very negative impact on the environment.”

On the other end of Virage Beach sits the restaurant Chez Paco. Astou Bodian, who helps manage the business, said she appreciates Thiaw’s initiative and hopes her restaurant will make similar changes.

“It inspires me because it can make beachgoers more aware that it’s forbidden to throw their trash everywhere,” she said. “It’s good, I think it’s a good thing.”

While Virage beach struggles with plastic pollution, it’s in much better shape than many other beaches in Dakar. About 5 kilometers west is the fishermen’s neighborhood of Yoff where Thiaw grew up surfing. The beach there is so badly littered with plastic that surfers often paddle through hordes of it in order to reach the waves.

Thiaw refuses to surf there anymore.

“This is a big pity, you know, because people don’t realize it, or they realize it but it’s just something normal for them,” he said. “If we keep doing this, in 10 or 20 years, we’re going to have a trash ocean.”

The FBI says the gunman who killed seven and wounded 22 in Odessa, Texas Saturday acted alone and likely had no ties to any global or domestic terror group.

The shooter hijacked a mail truck and fired at other cars as he sped along a highway before police killed him.

The dead include a teenager. Three officers are among the wounded. A 17 month-girl was also struck, losing several teeth and leaving her with holes in her tongue and lip.

“There are no definitive answers as to motive or reasons at this point,” Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said Sunday. But we are fairly certain that the subject did act alone.”

Gerke refused to reveal the shooter’s name during a news conference Sunday, saying he did not want to give him any notoriety.

But police officials have identified him as 36-year-old Saen Ator.

Saturday’s carnage began when Texas state troopers pulled over gunman for failing to signal for a left turn on a highway. He fired a rifle at the rear window of his car, wounding one officer.

The shooter ran off and stole a mail truck, firing at other cars at random before being cornered and gunned down in a movie theater parking lot. Police say he might have run into the theater leaving behind more bloodshed if he has not been killed outside.

This latest shooting comes weeks after double mass shootings on the same day at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas and a nightlife district in Dayton, Ohio, left 31 dead.

President Trump praised officers for their quick response Saturday, calling it “a very tough and sad situation!”

“I think Congress has got a lot of thinking to do frankly,” Trump said. “They’ve been doing a lot of work. I think you’re going to see some interesting things coming along.”

But he said he does not believe increased background checks for gun buyers which many lawmakers are demanding would have stopped any of the shootings.  

Texas Governor Greg Abbott talked about the numerous shootings he has had to deal with since becoming governor in 2015.

“I have been to too many of these events,” he said Sunday. I’m heartbroken by the crying of the people of the state of Texas. I’m tired of the dying of the people of the state of Texas…the status quo in Texas is unacceptable and action is needed.”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged a grim tally of violent crimes and a weak economy as he delivered the first state of the union address of his six-year term Sunday.

Homicides in Mexico are at a record high and the economy is struggling nine months into his administration. Yet López Obrador, who campaigned on promises to end corruption, continues to enjoy sky-high approval ratings of more than 70% after winning the presidency in a landslide July 2018 election victory that also handed his political party a near-majority in Congress.

Stamping out corruption and impunity remains a top priority, López Obrador said in his address to Cabinet members, generals, businessmen and journalists at the National Palace.

Tackling corruption is a tall task. Mexico scored 28 out of 100 points in Transparency International’s 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index, where a lower score indicates higher levels of corruption. That puts Mexico on par with Russia and behind countries such as Bolivia and Honduras in clean business dealings.

“Nothing has damaged Mexico more than the dishonesty of its rulers — and this is the main cause of the economic and social inequality, and of the insecurity and violence, that we suffer,” the president said somberly.

López Obrador has dubbed his tenure the “Fourth Transformation,” saying it represents a change akin to Mexico’s 1810 independence uprising, 1857 Liberal movement and 1910 revolution. He took office in December on promises to help the country regain its moral compass.

Mexican presidents are limited to a single term in office.

The transition has been bumpy, with three top Cabinet members having already resigned. Austerity measures have gutted key institutions, such as the public health system, and contributed to a growing hesitance among Mexicans to invest and spend.

The president touted 145 billion pesos, or roughly $7.25 billion, in savings from spending cuts and other measures that have taken effect since he took office Dec. 1. His administration has confronted fuel theft from the state oil company Pemex, slashed public salaries, eliminated a major social program and decommissioned government offices abroad that promoted investment in Mexico.

As the economy flirts with recession, López Obrador said that well-being should be measured via the happiness of the people rather than by growth in gross domestic product.

He lambasted opulence and the accumulation of wealth, saying he sees a commitment among Mexico’s private sector to create jobs, pay more taxes and accept slightly lower profits.

“Above all we are Mexicans,” he said, calling out by name business leaders such as Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim to thank them for their support.

Slim, who attended the address, is the wealthiest man in Latin America. The Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index estimates the Slim family fortune at $54 billion, or nearly 5% of Mexico’s annual economic output.

This wealth has been amassed from a country in which 44% of the people are poor, as defined by the World Bank using indicators of both income and social deprivation. One in four Mexicans gets by on less than $5.50 a day.

López Obrador equated the status quo of prior governments with “prostitution,” saying it is unethical to defend the interests of a few while many struggle to make ends meet. He repeated an oft-used line: “For the good of all, the poor come first.”

Threatening his feel-good message, though, are escalating rates of brutal crime. The president said curbing violence is the country’s “main challenge.”

Mexico set a new record for homicides in the first half of the year — 17,608 killings, fueled partly by cartel and gang violence in several states. Worse yet, violent crime appears to have permeated much of the country, whereas it was once confined to a few hotspots.

López Obrador has opted against confronting cartels head-on, saying he will instead rely on a newly minted National Guard to safeguard Mexicans. Mexico’s drug war, launched in 2006, has had a hydra effect, with new, often more brutal criminal groups arising and multiplying after a gang’s leaders have killed or arrested by soldiers and police.

“The extermination war against so-called organized crime is over,” López Obrador said. “The country will be pacified.”

Why do Americans celebrate Labor Day?

Labor Day is a national holiday, created to honor U.S. workers and their contribution to the economy. Many Americans use the day to celebrate the end of summer and would be surprised to know the day has its roots in the labor movement of the late 1800s.

How did the holiday begin?

During the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution was at its peak, and many Americans worked 12-hour days, seven days a week in harsh conditions for low pay. Even young children worked in factories. Virtually no employers provided their workers with sick days, paid vacation days or health benefits.

As workers became more organized into labor unions they began protesting poor and unsafe working conditions and lobbying for more benefits from employers. The move to recognize workers with a holiday began in state governments, which, one by one, passed legislation to honor the common worker. The U.S. Congress created the federal holiday on June 28, 1894, designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day.

What is the difference between Labor Day and May Day?

Both Labor Day and International Workers’ Day, or May Day, honor the common worker. May Day, which is celebrated in most industrialized countries in the world, got its start because of events in the United States.

In May 1886, a worker demonstration was held in Chicago’s Haymarket Square to push for an eight-hour workday. A bomb went off at the protest killing seven police officers and four civilians. The episode made headlines internationally and the day became an annual occasion for worker protests around the world.

Why don’t Americans celebrate May Day?

Following the Haymarket affair, a strong anti-union movement arose in the United States. Over the years, May Day became more associated with the political far left, while Labor Day, held in September, was recognized by a growing number of municipalities and states. When the United States began to seriously consider creating a national holiday for workers, U.S. President Grover Cleveland did not want to choose the May date because of its association with the Haymaker bombing, so instead picked the alternative day in September.

What do Americans do on Labor Day?

The Labor Day holiday signifies the end of the summer and many Americans use the three-day weekend to try to get in one last summer vacation with trips to parks and beaches, or to spend time at backyard cookouts with family and friends. The weekend also is a big shoppers’ weekend with sales on home items, mattresses, clothes and school supplies.

Do all Americans get the holiday off?

Federal workers in the United States get the day off work, as do most corporate jobs. Many workers, however, especially those in retail, transportation and the restaurant industry still have to go to work, with some working longer hours than on a normal business day.

Labor movement today

The labor movement, which began in the 1800s, led to significant changes in the conditions in which Americans work, as well as worker benefits that are commonplace today, including the eight-hour work day, five-day work weeks, health care insurance and paid vacation days.

In recent years, U.S. labor unions have seen their membership decline as the globalization of the world economy has led to a shift in the types of jobs common in the United States. Now, many union members work for local, state and federal governments in white-collar jobs, rather than in the blue-collar jobs that were common 100 years ago.

More and more African countries are taxing digital platforms and mobile money transfers to fund economic development.

Nigeria is the latest country to join the trend, with a new 5%  tax on items bought online. It wants banks to deduct the tax from online transactions for the government. 

Segun Abiona is the founder of Nicole and Giovanni, a Nigerian company that sells men’s accessories. He says more taxes will reduce the gains he has made. 

“It’s a form of double taxation on us because if you tax every transaction that comes online we still end up paying taxes, which is 5% VAT (value-added tax), 5%  of every sale we make in terms of VAT,” Abiona said. “It is going to discourage internet purchases knowing we are fully grown in terms of online space. We are still trying to encourage more people to shop online and at the same time eradicate the fear of people being get scammed online.”

According to some business analysts, at least 100 million people on the continent use mobile financial services. 

Abiona fears for the future of his business if the government implements the 5% tax for online sales.

“A lot of businesses will have to close down small-scale businesses, they are practically online, almost everybody is online,” Abiona said. “So if at any point in time you have most them having to pay double taxes on top of transactions they are doing, it doesn’t make any good sense.”

Technology companies in Africa already face infrastructure challenges and the Internet in some places is slow and expensive.

A year ago, the Ugandan government imposed heavy taxes on social media use, forcing millions to abandon some platforms such as Twitter and WhatsApp. Ugandan authorities say they introduced the tax to curb idle talk, but some government critics viewed it as an effort to stop dissent.

In neighboring Kenya, the government has been increasing taxes on mobile money transfers. And this month the Kenya Revenue Authority said it will start taxing many applications developed and downloaded in the country.

The head of Kenya’s Institute of Economic Affairs, Kwame Owino, says people will find ways to avoid paying taxes for using digital platforms.  

“So people may decide if you are going to tax too much [the] transfer of money from one person to another, then people may go back using the informal methods,” Owino said. “So part of it is that transactions will go back down to [lower] levels, it may also affect savings in the formal sector area in the sense that if you have to transfer money and all that, they may decide to do mattress banking as they always did. People feel the government is using [taxes] for social control and surveillance, that’s the biggest risk.”

With more countries taxing the use of technology, many economists and digital users fear business growth could take a big hit.

Israel said it was returning fire Sunday after anti-tank missiles were launched at its territory from Lebanon, raising fears of a serious escalation with Hezbollah after a week of rising tensions.

“A number of anti-tank missiles were fired from Lebanon towards an (Israeli military) base and military vehicles,” an Israeli army statement said.

“A number of hits have been confirmed. (Israel’s military) is responding with fire towards the sources of fire and targets in southern Lebanon.”

Greek-born French director Costa-Gavras has been recognized for his “particularly original contribution to innovation in contemporary cinema” at the Venice Film Festival, where the Oscar winner also presented his new movie about the Greek debt crisis.

The 86-year-old filmmaker, known for “Z” and “Missing”, was presented with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker award late on Saturday.

While in Venice, he also presented “Adults in the Room”, which is adapted from the book by former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and follows Greece’s bailout negotiations in 2015.

“There’s a lot of muddled politics in Europe, it has to clear itself up one day, not in the way it’s been clearing itself up over the past few years,” Costa-Gravas told a news conference, citing concerns over rising populism.

“I hope that all of that will change.”
 

Where’s the pope? He’s stuck in a Vatican elevator.

Thousands of people who were gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the traditional Sunday on-the-dot-of-noon appearance by Pope Francis were watching for the window of the Apostolic Palace to be thrown open so they could listen to the pope’s remarks and receive his blessing. But after seven minutes, people were looking at each other quizzically: no pope?

Then Francis popped out and answered their question: “First of all I must excuse myself for being late. I was blocked in an elevator for 25 minutes.”

Apparently referring to electrical power, Francis explained that there was a “drop in tension,” causing the elevator to get stuck.

“Thank God the firefighters intervened,” Francis said, referring to tiny Vatican City State’s own fire department.

He then asked for a round of applause for his rescuers, and went ahead with his regular remarks and blessings, concluding with an announcement that he has chosen 13 churchmen to become the Church’s newest cardinals.

The Vatican didn’t say if the pope was alone in the elevator or accompanied by any of his aides.

Indonesian police have arrested dozens of people in the easternmost region of Papua following protests last week in which buildings were set ablaze, a police spokesman said Sunday.

The area has been racked by civil unrest for two weeks over perceived racial and ethnic discrimination. Some protesters are also demanding an independence vote, although authorities have ruled out such a possibility.

In the provincial capital of Jayapura, 28 people have been arrested and named as suspects, and more face investigation, Papuan police spokesman Ahmad Kamal said by telephone.

“Twenty-eight people are suspects in cases of damaging and burning properties, violence, provocation, and looting,” Kamal said, adding that all had been arrested after a protest in Jayapura Thursday.

The rioters set cars and buildings ablaze, including a local parliament office and a building housing the offices of the state-controlled telco firm, during the protest.

Kamal said the situation in Papua was now calmer.

In Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta, two students suspected of crimes against state security have been arrested, police said in a statement Saturday.

The evidence against them included their mobile telephones, and a shirt and a shawl emblazoned with the Morning Star flag pattern, a banned symbol of Papuan nationhood.

Jakarta Legal Aid lawyer Michael Himan said the two were arrested from a Papuan dormitory in Depok, in a southern part of the capital, late Friday. They were charged with treasonous intent against the unity of the nation, Himan told Reuters Sunday.

In a statement, Jakarta Legal Aid said the police also arrested several other Papuan students and an activist in Jakarta Saturday.

Himan said the reason for the arrest of the rest was still unclear. Spokesmen for national police and Jakarta police were not immediately available to comment.
 

A team of researchers and humanitarian professionals have developed a unique approach to combat domestic violence in the refugee camps of Dollo Ado in Ethiopia.

The approach involves the co-creation of a podcast series called Unite for a Better Life, together with Somali refugees living in the camp to target the underlying factors that contribute to intimate partner violence in this setting.

Theodros WoldeGiorgis, research manager and intervention specialist in humanitarian crisis, told VOA displacement and the breakdown of social structures is driving intimate partner violence in the refugee camps.

“People are always on the move, they are suffering from displacement, they are traumatized and their troubles have been aggravated by poverty,” he said.

WoldeGiorgis explained that “when displaced people have [a] shortage of basic needs, they will get into conflict and particularly the women and children are mostly affected.”

Over the past month, eight young Somali refugees have been trained and mentored to produce these podcasts in the local language. Together with researchers on the team, they have been developing content they believe will be effective in changing the way domestic violence is viewed in their community.

Podcaster Ikra Dagan said one episode was about empowering change.  

“So if I talk about a bystander, you don’t just stand by and look as someone is being victimized or subjected to violence. You must take action and help our sisters, mothers and even our friends,” Dagan said after rehearsing her script.

The podcasts tackle a broad range of themes, including understanding gender and gender norms, providing insights into healthy and unhealthy relationships, discussing sexuality and pleasure, and addressing Khat, a stimulant drug derived from a plant that is widely chewed for cultural and social reasons and is linked to intimate partner violence.

How to handle conflict

The Unite for a Better life podcasts give people practical advice on how to build healthy relationships based on, for example, effective listening skills, or handling conflict in a healthy way.

“We gave them some take home messages like violence is never acceptable, there is always an alternative to violence. We also informed them that violence hurts everyone,” said podcaster Mahad Noor.

Belete Seyoum, the humanitarian assistance and program head at the Administration for Refugee/ Returnee Affairs in Bokolmanyo Camp, hopes that the podcasts will help reduce intimate partner violence in the refugee camps.

“It is one of the major Information education communication mechanism to minimize and mitigate any violence happening in the camp,” Seyoum said.

The podcast project is the brainchild of a team of researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University, and Women and Health Alliance (WAHA) Ethiopia. It builds on research being conducted in the camps since 2014.

Vandana Sharma, the principal investigator of the research study, says there is a growing interest in using technology-based solutions to address intimate partner violence, especially in humanitarian settings.

“Typically, programs addressing intimate partner violence involve in-person participatory sessions.  We believe that an approach such as the podcast series, could have a much farther reach, as people could download the podcasts and share them peer-to-peer and in a humanitarian context. This means we could reach many people very quickly,” she said.

Negussie Deyessa of Addis Ababa University acknowledges that podcasts are a unique and promising intervention that can help relay important messages, change attitudes and behavior and enable community members to unite for a better life.

Already though, the creation of the podcasts has been a transformational experience for the podcasters.

“Whenever I hear about podcasts, I seem to be an expert. Now I can go with my mic, I can record the voice, I can edit, I can produce very fantastic audios, now I am a great podcaster,” said Mahad.

With intimate partner violence in humanitarian settings increasingly coming under the spotlight, podcasts are providing a unique intervention, which can help relay important messages, change attitudes and behaviors and enable community members to unite for a better life.  

Fifty-seven percent of full-time American college students had a drink in the last month, and about 38% of those students were binge drinking, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. What influences such heavy drinking on campuses? Sahar Majid has more in this report narrated by JimBertel.
 

Read more at https://projects.voanews.com/election-2020/english/candidates/background.html

U.S. President Donald Trump’s next round of tariffs on Chinese imports is scheduled to take effect Sunday, escalating the trade war between the world’s two largest economies with a big hit to consumer goods.

Trump has targeted about $300 billion in annual goods imports from China for 15% tariffs in two parts, on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15. If fully imposed, virtually all Chinese imports, worth about $550 billion, would be subject to punitive U.S. tariffs imposed since July 2018. Here is a look at U.S. tariffs and expected Chinese retaliation scheduled over the next several months.

Sept. 1 tariffs

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency will begin collecting tariffs for Chinese goods at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) Sunday. Guidance issued Friday indicated there will not be a grace period for cargoes that left China before that time, unlike that granted for goods in transit when the United States imposed a tariff increase in May.

The Sept. 1 list covers about $125 billion worth of mostly consumer products, based on a Reuters analysis of 2018 U.S. Census Bureau data. The target list includes flat panel television sets, flash memory devices, power tools, cotton sweaters, bed linens, multifunction printers and many types of footwear.

The largest category of targeted products covers smart watches, smart speakers, Bluetooth headphones and other internet-connected devices that were spared from an earlier round of tariffs, with Chinese imports estimated at $17.9 billion annually by the Consumer Technology Association.

Oct. 1 tariff increase

The Trump administration is accepting public comments through Sept. 20 on a proposed Oct. 1 tariff rate increase to 30% from the 25% duty in place on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports.

These products include $50 billion worth of largely nonconsumer goods, including machinery, electronic components including semiconductors and printed circuit boards, and chemicals. But a later $200 billion list of goods included many consumer goods and building products, including furniture, vacuum cleaners, lighting fixtures, plumbing fixtures, handbags, luggage and vinyl flooring.

Dec. 15 tariffs

The second part of the 15% tariffs on Chinese goods not previously hit by U.S. duties is scheduled to go into effect Dec. 15. This list represents the heart of the consumer technology sector, including $43 billion worth of cell phones imported from China in 2018, $37 billion worth of laptop and tablet computers and $12 billion worth of toys.

Trump delayed tariffs on these products, saying he wanted to avoid hurting Christmas season sales for Apple Inc. and other companies and retailers.

The list covers about $156 billion worth of total 2018 imports from China, based on U.S. Census Bureau data, and includes a wide range of consumer goods, including plastic tableware, socks, light-emitting diode lamps, Christmas decorations and clothing.

Chinese retaliation

After Trump in early August announced that he was moving ahead with tariffs on virtually all remaining Chinese imports, Beijing announced that it would impose additional 5% or 10% tariffs on a total of 5,078 product categories from the United States, representing worth about $75 billion annually.

The Chinese move, which also goes into effect in two steps on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, targets U.S. crude oil for the first time with a 5% tariff. U.S. soybeans, already subject to a 25% Chinese tariff, will be hit with an extra 5% tariff on Sept. 1, while beef and pork from the United States will get an extra 10% tariff.

Beijing also will reinstitute a 25% tariff on U.S.-made vehicles and a 5% tariff on auto parts that it had suspended in December at a time when U.S.-China trade negotiations were gaining momentum.

China already has tariffs in place on about $110 billion worth of U.S. products, ranging from 5% to 25%, including soybeans, beef, pork seafood, vegetables, liquefied natural gas, whiskey and ethanol. Based on 2018 imports, there is only about $10 billion worth of U.S. imports untouched, with the largest category consisting of large commercial aircraft built by Boeing Co.

US tariff exclusions

The Trump administration has excluded some Chinese-made household furniture including cribs and other baby safety products and bibles and other religious texts from the Sept. 1 and Dec. 15 rounds of tariffs.

Some of the products, including internet modems and routers, were removed because they had already been hit with 25% tariffs previously, while others were taken out for safety or religious reasons. Chinese-made rosaries and religious medals, however, will still be hit with 15% tariffs on Sept. 1.

Authorities in the Bahamas made a last-minute plea to residents and tourists Saturday to seek shelter as time ran out before powerful Hurricane Dorian hits, warning those who refused to move that their lives were at risk.

“Hurricane Dorian is a devastating, dangerous storm approaching our islands,” Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said in a nationally televised news conference.

Packing maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (240 kph), the Category 4 storm was forecast to hit the Bahamas Sunday with more than two feet of rainfall in places, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Dorian was later likely threaten Georgia and the Carolinas, possibly sparing Florida a direct hit, as communities in those states raised alert levels.

In its direct, immediate path the monster storm was headed for the Bahamian northwestern islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco.

Minnis said that 73,000 people and 21,000 homes were at risk of storm surges of up to 15 feet (4.6 meters).

“Dorian will now create prolonged periods of large swells, surges along the north coast of Grand Bahama and the north and east coast of Abaco,” said Jeffery Simmons, the deputy director of Bahamas’ department of meteorology.

“We are asking residents in those areas to leave the coastline, we expect a storm surge of up to 15 feet, in addition to that we have a spring tide that can increase the surge by 2 to 3 feet,” Simmons added.

Once the storm unleashes its fury on the archipelago nation, people will have to ride out Dorian before first responders can venture outside to rescue anyone.

Rescue workers “will not be able to move with 145 or 150 mile per hour winds … so those individuals that want to move I advise that they move now,” Minnis said.

Grand Bahama and Abaco are hubs for the Bahamas’ thriving tourism industry. The nation owes nearly 30% of its direct gross domestic product and half of its jobs to the industry, Joy Jibrilu, director general of the Ministry of Tourism, said.

The country is still reeling from Hurricane Matthew, which ripped into the Bahamas in 2016, as some hotels have taken years to make repairs.

In 2017, the Bahamas tourism industry sagged when hurricanes Irma and Maria cut a deadly path across the Caribbean, though they largely spared the archipelago. The World Travel and Tourism Council said the two storms caused an estimated drop of 826,100 visitors across the region.

“I want you to remember: homes, houses, structures can be replaced. Lives cannot be replaced,” Minnis warned. 

President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, until now mainly an abstraction for American consumers, is about to hit home. 
 
Beginning Sunday, the U.S. government will begin collecting 15% tariffs on $112 billion in Chinese imports — items ranging from smartwatches and TVs to shoes, diapers, sporting goods, and meat and dairy products. For the first time since Trump launched his trade war, American households face price increases because many U.S. companies say they’ll be forced to pass on to customers the higher prices they’ll pay on Chinese imports. 
 
For more than a year, the world’s two largest economies have been locked in a high-stakes duel marked by Trump’s escalating import taxes on Chinese goods and Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs. 
 
The two sides have held periodic talks that seem to have made little progress despite glimmers of potential breakthroughs. All the while, they’ve imposed tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of each other’s products in a rift over what analysts say is Beijing’s predatory tactics in its drive to become the supreme high-tech superpower. 
 
American consumers have so far been spared the worst of it: The Trump administration had left most everyday household items off its tariff list (valued at $250 billion in Chinese products so far) and instead targeted industrial goods. 
 

That’s about to change. When Trump’s new tariffs kick in at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, 69% of the consumer goods Americans buy from China will face his import taxes, up from 29% now.  
 
More in December

That isn’t all. Higher tariffs are set to kick in for another batch of Chinese products — $160 billion worth — on Dec. 15. By then, roughly 99% of made-in-China consumer goods imported to the United States will be taxed, according to calculations by Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. 
 
Overall, Trump’s trade war will have raised the average tariff on Chinese imports from 3.1% in 2017, before the hostilities began, to 24.3%. 
 
“The bottom line is that, for the first time, Trump’s trade war is likely to directly raise prices for a lot of household budget items like clothing, shoes, toys and consumer electronics,” Bown wrote in an report. 
 
For months, Trump — who famously declared that trade wars are “easy to win” — falsely claimed that China itself paid the tariffs and that they left Americans unscathed. In fact, U.S. importers pay the tariffs. They must make a high-risk decision: whether to absorb the higher costs themselves and accept lower profits or pass on their higher costs to their customers and risk losing business. 
 
This has become an ever more difficult decision. After years of ultra-low inflation, consumers have grown more resistant to price hikes, especially when they can easily compare prices online for household products and choose the lowest-price options. For that reason, many retailers may choose not to impose the cost of Trump’s higher tariffs on their customers. 
 

And the higher costs U.S. importers face could be offset somewhat by the declining value of China’s currency, which has the effect of making its products somewhat less expensive in the United States. 
 
Still, certain goods will cost Americans more. Trump tacitly acknowledged this a few weeks ago by announcing a delay in his higher tariffs on $160 billion in imports until Dec. 15 — to keep them from squeezing holiday shoppers.  

$1,000 per household
 
Even before the December tariffs, though, 52% of shoes and 87% of textiles and clothing imported from China were to be hit by Trump’s tariffs, according to Peterson’s Bown. And not even counting the increase — from 10% to 15% — that Trump announced for his new tariffs a week ago, J.P. Morgan had estimated that his import taxes would cost the average household roughly $1,000 a year. 
 
“The story that holiday goods [were] given a reprieve is fake news,” said Stephen Lamar of the American Apparel and Footwear Association. Overall, the 15% September and December tariffs will force Americans to pay an extra $4 billion a year for shoes and boots, according to a footwear trade group.  
 
Retailers, engaged for a battle for survival with Amazon and other e-commerce rivals, are bracing for the worst. Macy’s raised an alarm when it reported earnings in August: In May, Trump had raised separate tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods from 10% to 25%. In response, Macy’s tried to raise prices of some items on the hit list — luggage, housewares, furniture. But according to CEO Jeff Gennette, customers just said no. 
 
Some retailers are trying to force their suppliers to eat the higher costs so they won’t have to raise prices for shoppers. Target confirmed to The Associated Press that it warned suppliers that it wouldn’t accept cost increases arising from the China tariffs. Some small retailers are even more vulnerable. 
 

“Any cost increase puts us in a tough place,” said Jennifer Lee, whose family owns the Footprint shoe store in San Francisco. “It makes it tough for business owners because we will have to take a hit on our margins, but it will also be difficult for us to pass it on to our shoppers.” 
 
Albert Chow, who owns Great Wall Hardware in San Francisco, said he’s already raised prices on some Chinese-made products because an earlier round of tariffs led his suppliers to raise prices 10% to 20%. 
 

“I will try to keep the prices down for as long as I can,” Chow said. “But at some point, when the tariffs are just too much, we have to eventually raise the prices, and then it goes down to the end user — the customer.” 

Otherwise upbeat

What’s frustrating for retailers is that consumers might otherwise be in an exuberant mood this holiday season: For most Americans, their jobs are safe and their wages are rising. Unemployment is near a half-century low. 
 
Yet the economy itself looks increasingly fragile. Growth is slowing as the global economy weakens. And Trump’s mercurial approach to trade policy — imposing, delaying, reimposing import taxes via tweet — makes it nearly impossible for companies to decide on suppliers, factory sites and new markets. So they delay investments, further straining the economy. 
 
“We worry about the average family in this country paying $500, $600, even $1,000 more annually because of the impact of tariffs,” said Myron Brilliant, head of international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “We worry about what it means for business confidence, business certainty and investment.” 

Italian bodybuilder, boxer and actor Franco Columbu, one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s closest friends, has died at age 78. 
 
Columbu died in a hospital in his native Sardinia on Friday afternoon after becoming ill while he was swimming in the sea. 
 
His longtime friend Schwarzenegger tweeted:

I love you Franco. I will always remember the joy you brought to my life, the advices you gave me, and the twinkle in your eye that never disappeared. You were my best friend. https://t.co/X3GhZKlgAd

— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) August 30, 2019

 After starting his career as a boxer, Columbu progressed into Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting and later bodybuilding, winning the prestigious title of Mr. Olympia in 1976 and 1981. 
 
Besides his athletic career, Columbu also acted in popular TV series and movies. He appeared in Schwarzenegger’s films The Terminator, The Running Man and Conan the Barbarian.  
  
Columbu was Schwarzenegger’s best man at his marriage to Maria Shriver in 1986. 

Spain’s former monarch Juan Carlos I said Saturday that he was feeling “phenomenal” with “new plumbing” after a successful triple bypass heart surgery. 
 
“It feels like a truck ran me over, but now it’s about getting rid of the truck and looking ahead,” the 81-year-old king emeritus said as he was driven out of a hospital in the outskirts of Madrid.  
  
“New pipes, new plumbing, [it feels] phenomenal,” he added. 
 
Quiron Salud Hospitals Managing Director Lucia Alonso said the former king was discharged one week after the operation because he was “clinically stable.” 
 
The operation was Juan Carlos’ 17th surgical procedure and had been scheduled two months ago. 
 
The king emeritus abdicated in 2014 in favor of his son, Felipe, ending a nearly 39-year reign. He retired from public duties last May. 

A Sudanese judge formally indicted former president Omar al-Bashir on charges of possessing illicit foreign currency and corruption on Saturday.

Questioned in court for the first time, Bashir said that he had received $25 million from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as funds from other sources, but that he had not received or used the money for his own benefit.

A lawyer for Bashir said that his client denied the charges against him and that witnesses for the defense would be presented at the next hearing.

The judge denied a request for bail and said a decision on the duration of Bashir’s detention would be taken at a hearing on Sept. 7.

Sudan’s military ousted and arrested Bashir in April after months of protests across the country. His prosecution is seen as a test of how far military and civilian authorities now sharing power will go to counter the legacy of his 30-year rule.

Bashir was also charged in May with incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters. He has been indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of masterminding genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region.

A police detective told the court earlier this month that Bashir had acknowledged receiving millions from Saudi Arabia.