As high-profile companies like Chevron and SpaceX leave California, the state’s deep-blue bent is in the spotlight, along with Californian presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Is the Golden State’s economy in decline? The answer is nuanced. 

• Israel advances in West Bank: Its forces press ahead with what appears to be the deadliest military operation in the occupied territory since the start of the war in Gaza. 
• Hong Kong press crackdown: A court there finds two editors of the now-defunct Stand News media outlet guilty of conspiring to publish seditious articles in a case that has drawn international scrutiny. 
• Klamath River salmon: Workers breach final dams on a key section of the river, clearing the way for salmon to swim through a major watershed near the California-Oregon border for the first time in over a century. 
• Harris-Walz interview: Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, to sit down at 9 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 29 with CNN for their first major television interview of their presidential campaign.

Read these news briefs.

After a summer of brutal heat waves, hurricanes, and wildfires, it’s easy to assume that extreme weather is linked to climate change. That’s often true, but scientists are still learning more. Their findings impact decision-making in a variety of fields. 

At the Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris’ pledge to strengthen U.S. global leadership was directed at a domestic audience. And that made it all the more appealing to America’s allies overseas.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” has become entangled in culture war sparring. Yet some say the text has universal qualities that transcend politics. 

Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” is relatable to anyone who has experienced jealousy, loss, and redemption. Free public performances this summer made the play accessible to audiences who might otherwise never see it. 

For over a century, Haiti has seen four large-scale foreign interventions that tried to quell violence in the fragile Caribbean nation. On Tuesday, the latest attempt saw its first measure of success. Two months after their arrival, foreign troops working with Haitian forces took back a gang-infested part of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The operation did not garner much attention perhaps because of 109 years of past failures by outside countries to restore order. “We must be patient,” a newly appointed prime minister, Garry Conille, told his very impatient 11.8 million people – nearly half of whom survive on aid – after the operation.

His tone of caution reflects a long learning curve on the limits of armed force to reshape torn societies like Haiti’s. Yes, the United Nations has mandated up to 2,500 foreign troops to work in the country, with most of those due in coming weeks. And yes, the United States began transferring armored vehicles to Haiti in the past week. In places where gangs are not in control, such as critical roads, the national police now feel confident to stay put.

With the new foreign military support, the capacity of the police to “track, respond to, and prevent gang movements will be greatly reinforced” within six to nine months, reported the U.S. aid group Mercy Corps. And, it added, foreign help will lower civilian casualties. In the past three years, an estimated 12,000 people have been killed because of political turmoil and a rise in the power of gangs.

Yet as Xavier Michon, a U.N. representative to Haiti, noted, inclusion is vital to Haiti’s future and ability to hold an election. “This is not just about casting a ballot but about building a more cohesive society where everyone feels part of a greater good,” he wrote in Americas Quarterly.

The biggest move toward such cohesion began in May and June when Caribbean countries along with the U.S. brought together all major social and political groups to create a transitional body with Mr. Conille as prime minister. He has since announced an anti-corruption strategy and made other reforms while working with civil society.

With such trust-building as well as the deployment of foreign forces, “the gangs operating in the capital have mostly retreated to their strongholds, where they have built barricades and trenches,” wrote Renata Segura and Diego Da Rin of the International Crisis Group in Foreign Affairs. “Improvised markets have taken over busy streets, and buses have established new routes (the violence having forced them out of their old ones).”

That sort of grassroots response – or Haitians feeling they have the freedom, safety, and agency to fix their society – may provide the lesson needed after a century of trying to rely mainly on armed force as a solution.