In Lebanon, exploding pagers and booby-trapped walkie-talkies – believed to be set off by Israel – have rattled Hezbollah and captured the world’s attention. What do they portend?

• Baltimore bridge collapse lawsuit: The U.S. Justice Department is suing the owner and manager of the cargo ship that caused the Baltimore bridge collapse in March.
• California AI law: Gov. Gavin Newsom signs legislation to protect Hollywood actors and performers against unauthorized use of artificial intelligence.
• Instagram teen accounts: The social media platform will offer separate accounts for those under age 18 as it tries to make the platform safer for children amid a growing backlash against how social media affects young people’s lives.

Read these news briefs.

The state of the economy influences elections. Will voters look backward to inflation under President Joe Biden or forward to hopes of finding tamer prices and avoiding a recession?

Like many places, Prince George’s County, Maryland, struggled during the pandemic. As a majority-Black community, it has also faced historic discrimination. Yet it has emerged as an economic bright spot. 

Former President Alberto Fujimori had been out of office for more than two decades when he died. But his legacy – from economic “Fuji-shocks” to human rights abuses – still divides Peru today.

How can we create a kinder world? Start on your front porch, as our writer does. Meet your neighbors, and learn their stories. Community breeds compassion.

The celestial start of autumn on Sept. 22 may remind Americans to prepare for the major end-of-year holidays tied to giving: Halloween (giving treats to costumed children), Thanksgiving (giving gratitude over shared meals), and Christmas (giving gifts to reflect unselfed love). Surprisingly, these annual expressions of affection are not counted in formal tallies of generosity. Holiday giving is, well, a given. And too vast to total up.

Yet that accounting flaw might change with a broad-based report released Sept. 17 from leaders in the philanthropy sector. The report from the 17-member Generosity Commission mainly focuses on the reasons fewer people are donating time or money to traditional nonprofits. (Think the “bowling alone” phenomenon, red-blue discord, and the Great Recession.) Yet it does acknowledge that generosity has “found other venues and taken other forms.”

For starters, “The introduction of online fundraising and payment platforms expanded the practice and introduced generous individuals to an ever-wider swath of giving opportunities.” And younger people prefer giving directly to individuals rather than to institutions.

Yet that is not the only shift. The report suggests that “newly expanding forms of spirituality” are revealing “other expressions of generosity.”

Nearly 3 out of 4 Americans self-identify as “generous.” And measures of spirituality are growing, the report states. A 2023 survey by Pew Research Center, for example, found that 70% of U.S. adults “think of themselves as spiritual people or say spirituality is very important in their lives.” Other recent research ties spiritual thinking directly to charitable giving.

The report recommends that spiritual leaders along with other public figures speak “openly and proudly about how they seek to ‘give back.’” Perhaps most Americans are already ahead of them.