10 things you need to know today: August 14, 2019

1. Trump administration delays new tariffs on some Chinese imports

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Tuesday that the Trump administration will delay or cancel a new 10 percent tariff on some goods imported from China. The Trump administration announced in May that the new levy on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports would take effect on Sept. 1. The plan now is to wait until Dec. 15 to tax about $100 billion worth of goods such as cellphones, laptops, and footwear, giving retailers time to stock up for the holidays. Some unspecified consumer goods will be removed from the tariff list altogether "based on health, safety, national security, and other factors," the U.S. Trade Representative said. The news sent U.S. stocks rising sharply.

The Washington Post

2. Hong Kong's airport resumes flights after protest violence

Flights resumed Wednesday at Hong Kong's airport after two days of disruptions caused by pro-democracy protests. Police clashed with demonstrators at the airport late Tuesday. Two police officers were wounded, and five people were arrested. Police released a statement early Wednesday condemning "radical and violent acts" by demonstrators, saying some had "detained, harassed, and assaulted a visitor and a journalist, inflicting physical and mental harm on them." About three dozen protesters remained in the airport's arrivals area Wednesday, but airport operations returned to normal. Tuesday's demonstration and violence forced more than 100 flight cancelations. Protesters issued an emailed statement apologizing, saying they did not intend to "inconvenience" travelers.

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The Associated Press The Wall Street Journal

3. DOJ reassigns warden, suspends guards after Epstein death

The Justice Department said Tuesday that the warden at the federal detention center where Jeffrey Epstein died had been reassigned. Two staffers who were responsible for monitoring Epstein's unit at the time of his apparent suicide have been placed on leave. They were suspected of sleeping, and falsifying records to cover it up. Attorney General William Barr called the jail's handling of Epstein a "failure" and cited "irregularities" at the facility. Epstein was being held in a special housing unit of the Metropolitan Correctional Center. He had recently been taken off suicide watch, but staff was supposed to check in on him every 30 minutes, which they did not do in the hours before he was found hanging from a bedsheet in his cell. Such staff reassignments reportedly are often used to preserve the integrity of an investigation.

The Washington Post The New York Times

4. CBS, Viacom reunite in $12 billion merger

CBS Corp. and Viacom on Tuesday agreed to merge in a deal worth nearly $12 billion, bringing the corporate siblings back together after more than a decade apart. Viacom's Paramount film studios and MTV and Nickelodeon cable networks will join forces with CBS and book publisher Simon & Schuster. Viacom chief executive Robert Bakish will lead the combined company, which will be called ViacomCBS. The two companies previously were part of a single entity, but split in 2006. They decided to link up again after years of on-again, off-again talks thanks, in large part, to the erosion of television audiences. The deal is the latest in a wave of massive mergers between media companies, including AT&T and Time Warner and Disney and 21st Century Fox.

Los Angeles Times The New York Times

5. Man accused of threatening massacre had rifles, 10,000 rounds of ammunition

An 18-year-old Ohio man arrested last week for threatening a massacre days after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, had a dozen rifles and 10,000 rounds of ammunition in his home, the FBI said in newly released court documents. Justin Olsen, 18, was charged Monday with threatening to assault a federal law enforcement officer. He allegedly posted threats on a meme website, as well as plans to shoot up Planned Parenthood locations. The criminal complaint said Olsen discussed the 1993 Waco siege on a mobile app called iFunny in June, blaming the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for deaths in the incident and saying at the end of the discussion, "In conclusion, shoot every federal agent on sight."

The Daily Beast CNN

6. Russia reportedly evacuates town near nuclear explosion site

Russian authorities on Tuesday announced an evacuation order for the closest village to the scene of a nuclear accident that killed seven people last week in northern Russia. The disaster remained shrouded in mystery. A small nuclear reactor apparently malfunctioned during a test of a new type of missile on an offshore platform near a naval weapons test site. The accident released radiation. The Tass state news agency, citing the Russian nuclear company Rosatomk, reported Saturday that the explosion had blasted the scientists who died into the sea. Aleksandr K. Nikitin, a researcher with the Norwegian environmental group Bellona, said it appeared the Russian military would have to recover the damaged reactor from the bottom of the sea, although "there are mostly questions without clear answers."

The New York Times

7. States, cities sue over Trump 'clean energy' plan

Twenty-two states and seven municipalities filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block the Trump administration's "clean energy" plan rolling back a landmark Obama-era initiative capping carbon dioxide emissions from many factories. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said the Trump administration rule would let existing coal-fired power plants continue operating indefinitely without using technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Trump's fossil fuel policy "fails everyone who stands for cleaner air." An Environmental Protection Agency spokesman declined to comment on the pending litigation, but said the EPA did everything it could to produce "a solid rule that we believe will be upheld in the courts."

Bloomberg The New York Times

8. FAA bans some MacBook Pro laptops from flights

The Federal Aviation Administration has banned certain models of 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops on flights, citing "recalled batteries" in some models flagged by Apple in June, Reuters reported late Tuesday. Apple issued a voluntary recall of selected MacBook Pros sold between September 2015 and February 2017, saying their batteries were susceptible to overheating, posing fire risks. The FAA has "alerted airlines about the recall," an agency spokesman told Reuters. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued a warning earlier this month about the same MacBook pro models. The European agency told airlines to follow 2017 rules against using devices with recalled lithium-ion batteries during flights. This week, four airlines with cargo operations managed by Total Cargo Expertise said the laptops could not be brought onto their planes as cargo.

Reuters Bloomberg

9. Pakistan tries out plastic-bag ban in Islamabad

Pakistan on Wednesday is imposing a ban on plastic bags in the capital city of Islamabad. Officials estimate that the city's residents have been using 55 billion plastic bags a year. They tear easily so they often can't be re-used, and wind up clogging sewers and streams, piling up in parks, or being eaten by livestock. Now, anyone caught using, selling, or manufacturing the bags will face a fine. "This is something we have to do. You cannot burn, bury, reuse, or recycle these bags," said Malik Amin Aslam, a senior official at the Ministry of Climate Change. "The health of 200 million people is at stake."

The Washington Post

10. L.A. Opera investigates sexual harassment allegations against Plácido Domingo

The Los Angeles Opera announced on Tuesday that it would "engage outside counsel" to look into the allegations of sexual harassment by opera star Plácido Domingo. Nine women have come forward to accuse Domingo, who has been the L.A. Opera's general director since 2003. In an article published Tuesday by The Associated Press, several women said Domingo pressured them into sexual relationships, and that when they rebuffed his advances, he sometimes punished them professionally. Some of the accusations date back to the late 1980s. Domingo, 78, told AP the allegations are "deeply troubling and, as presented, inaccurate." He said he "believed that all of my interactions and relationships were always welcomed and consensual."

The Associated Press