10 things you need to know today: September 5, 2016

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1. Clinton and Trump appeal for swing votes in Ohio
2. Turkey and Syrian rebels oust ISIS from last turf on border
3. North Korea fires three ballistic missiles toward Japan
4. Hermine turns to sea but hammers East Coast with waves
5. Obama and Putin agree to more talks on Syria
6. European stocks surge as expectations of U.S. rate hike fade
7. Oil prices rise on agreement between Russia and Saudi Arabia
8. Merkel's party suffers humbling loss in state elections
9. Twin bombings kill 5 outside Afghan defense ministry
10. Nadal loses to Pouille in U.S. Open

last updated 5 September 2016

1. Clinton and Trump appeal for swing votes in Ohio

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are spending Labor Day making appeals to swing voters in the battleground state of Ohio. The holiday marks what is traditionally seen as the candidates' final sprint to the presidential election in November. Clinton has been leading nationally and in swing states, but Trump has gained some ground in recent polls. This week the Democratic and Republican nominees will participate in their first joint event of the general election campaign — Wednesday's Commander-in-Chief Forum sponsored by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Early voting begins in some states on Sept. 23, and the first presidential debate follows on Sept. 26.

Turkey's military and its Syrian rebel allies said Sunday that they had driven Islamic State fighters out of the last territory they held along the Syrian-Turkish border. "All the terrorist organizations are pushed back, they are gone," said Turkey's prime minister, Binali Yildirim. The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Islamist extremist organization's latest battlefield losses meant it had "lost its link with the outside world."

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North Korea fired three ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan early Monday. The U.S. said it "strongly condemns" the launches, which came two weeks after North Korea test-fired a missile from a submarine into Japan's air defense identification zone. The latest test came at an awkward time for North Korean ally China, which is hosting the G20 summit in Hangzhou. Still, Chinese President Xi Jinping told South Korea that China opposes plans, announced in July, to deploy the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea. Seoul defends the move as "inevitable self-defense" against Pyongyang's threats.

Hermine, now a post-tropical cyclone, turned away from the East Coast and slowed down on Sunday, pounding Mid-Atlantic and Northeast beaches with big waves. Authorities in New York and New Jersey were expected to close some beaches on Monday, although the storm's brunt was shifting away from New York toward New England. Hermine's top sustained winds were 65 miles per hour overnight, but it was expected to return to hurricane strength again later in the day, with top winds of at least 75 mph, before being downgraded to tropical storm strength as it heads slowly northeast. The storm has killed two people since making landfall in Florida on Friday.

President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin fell short of an agreement on a Syria ceasefire on Monday but told negotiators to keep working on a deal. Obama, wrapping up the last G20 summit of his presidency, said he and Putin had held "candid, blunt and businesslike" talks on the sidelines of the summit in Hangzhou, China, but that "gaps in trust" stood in the way of a pact. Secretary of State John Kerry will continue working toward an agreement. Kerry met earlier Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Global stocks made their biggest one-day gains in a month on Monday after Friday's weaker-than-expected jobs report in the U.S. raised expectations that the Federal Reserve would delay hiking interest rates a while longer, possibly until next year. European shares hit a four-month high. European stocks also were buoyed by the biggest jump ever for the IHS Markit Purchasing Managers Index, a key gauge of the U.K. services industry. The index surged to 52.9 from a seven-year low of 47.4 in July, the latest sign that the British economy is recovering from the shock of the country's June vote to exit the European Union.

Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Monday to jointly try to stabilize oil prices, sending crude oil futures soaring by 3 percent. The world's two biggest oil producers said they would set up a working group to monitor the market and develop ways to calm it after months of oversupply and falling prices. Oil prices had risen by 5 percent in anticipation of the announcement but gave back some of the gains when Saudi Arabia and Russia failed to agree on an output cap. They did agree to hold October meetings in Algeria and November meetings in Vienna to discuss the cooperation agreement.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union lost to the Social Democrats and the rightwing Alternative für Deutschland parties in regional elections, according to projections released Sunday night. The center-left Social Democrats had 30 percent of the vote, with the anti-immigration AfD just shy of 21 percent, and the Christian Democrats with 19 percent. The loss was interpreted as a backlash against Merkel's decision to let more than a million refugees settle in German since 2015; it came in her home state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, making it particularly sobering.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for twin bombings that killed at least five people near Afghanistan's defense ministry in Kabul on Monday. At least 15 other people were wounded, and authorities said the death toll could rise. Deputy Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish said the first blast occurred as ministry employees were leaving their offices. Then a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the scene after security forces had gathered there.

France's Lucas Pouille upset No. 4 seed Rafael Nadal of Spain on Sunday to advance to the men's quarterfinals at the U.S. Open. The four-hour, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) victory was Pouille's third straight five-set win. Also on Sunday, Angelique Kerber beat fellow grand slam champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 7-5 to get into the women's quarterfinals. Kerber now can oust Serena Williams from the world No. 1 position. Williams is trying for her seventh U.S. Open title, and must reach the finals for a shot at retaining the top spot.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.