Friday, Aug 2, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering new U.S. tariffs on China, growing calls in Congress for an impeachment investigation, and a bicycle that can think for itself.

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

Trump announces more China tariffs

President Trump said he would impose a 10 percent tariff on another $300 billion of Chinese goods on Sept. 1, after a meeting of U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators in Shanghai failed.

Mr. Trump, who had agreed in June not to impose new levies, said China had failed to follow through with promises to buy more American agricultural products and to stop the flow of the powerful opiate fentanyl into the U.S.

Impact: The escalation of the long-running trade dispute triggered a sharp sell-off in U.S. stocks.

Protesters clashing with riot police in Yuen Long last week. Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

Hong Kong’s government employees take to the streets

What’s coming: Today members of the civil service are scheduled to gather for a demonstration after work in a downtown park.

While the protest is expected to be placid compared to recent clashes, it could be a significant show of dissent toward the city’s government by some people within its ranks.

In recent days, several civil servants appeared to have anonymously called on the government to address protesters’ concerns, including opening an independent investigation into the mob attack on protesters in Yuen Long last week.

Related: This week, the Chinese military garrison in Hong Kong released a video pledging to defend Chinese sovereignty in the semiautonomous city, with footage of troops rounding up mock protesters in a drill.

Hamza bin Laden believed to be at his wedding, in an image released by the CIA in 2017. CIA, via Associated Press

The life and death of Hamza bin Laden

Even when American officials announced on Wednesday that Osama bin Laden’s son had been killed in a U.S. strike, many details of his life remained shrouded in uncertainty.

Rukmini Callimachi, our foreign correspondent focused on ISIS and Al Qaeda, pieced together what she could find about a young man trying to continue his father’s violent legacy.

Details: He is believed to have been born in 1989 and was one of 23 children of the Al Qaeda leader, according to Western intelligence agencies. He vowed to seek vengeance for his father’s death and was placed on a U.S. terrorist watch list in 2017.

Takeaway: If his death is confirmed, it represents another blow to Al Qaeda — a severely weakened group that has in recent years failed to attract new recruits, who are now instead more interested in ISIS.

Related: An Al Qaeda financier described as a “henchman” of Osama bin Laden’s brother-in-law was arrested in the Philippines in July, officials said, reinforcing concerns that Islamic militants are expanding their base in the country.

A tipping point for impeachment?

The trickle of Democrats in favor of opening a full impeachment inquiry into President Trump is threatening to turn into a flood.

The House’s summer break was expected to lower the temperature around impeachment. Instead, the pressure is rising on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take the full House vote she has tried to avoid all year.

The numbers: The backers of an impeachment investigation now number 116 — more than halfway to the 218 votes they would need. This week alone, a dozen Democrats have announced their support for the measure.

If you have 5 minutes, this is worth it

The bicycle built for none

Pei et al., Nature

It can hear and obey commands. It has eyes and can follow someone jogging several yards ahead, turning each time the person turns. And, if it encounters an obstacle, it can swerve to the side, keeping its balance.

The autonomous bike is not the first of its kind, but the Chinese researchers who built it believe it demonstrates the future of computer hardware. It navigates the world using a neuromorphic chip, modeled after the human brain.

Here’s what else is happening

Malaysia: A senator apologized for proposing a sexual assault law that would protect the perpetrator instead of the victim, arguing that “due to what women wear” men are “seduced and end up breaking the country’s laws and face prosecution.”

Iran: The E.U., wary of the Trump administration’s hard line on Tehran, has been rejecting American requests for help escorting ships around the Strait of Hormuz and patrolling the strategic waterway.

EBay: The company is accusing three Amazon managers of conspiring to poach its sellers, an allegation that may get extra attention as regulators scrutinize anticompetitive behavior.

The Netherlands: A new law banning burqas, niqabs and other face coverings in some public spaces, which has been criticized as Islamophobic, went into effect on Thursday, though prominent officials said they wouldn’t enforce it.

Yakutia Government, via Reuters

Snapshot: Above, smoke from wildfires rising above the Verkhoyansky district in Yakutia, Russia. The government sent military planes and helicopters to help put out the flames that have engulfed large swaths of Siberia and beyond.

Fortnite: Tyler Blevins, the 28-year-old multimillionaire gamer popularly known as Ninja, announced he’d be leaving Amazon’s popular streaming platform Twitch for Microsoft’s equivalent, Mixer.

Times Insider: Our war correspondent Hwaida Saad revisited the Liwan Hotel in the southern Turkish town of Antakya, which served as a hub for journalists and Syrians who fled the war across the border. Now “it is a hotel of ghosts,” she writes.

Which candidate would you swipe right on?: The Times created a Tinder-type game featuring the Democratic 2020 candidates. Find out who’s your type.

What we’re reading: This gripping story from The Atlantic about a scientist who happened upon poachers attacking chimpanzees in Uganda, which our newsletter director Adam Pasick says reads like a Hollywood screenplay: “Langergraber ran up and started kicking the dogs, to no avail. Then he realized that there was a spear sticking out of Kidman’s back.”

Now, a break from the news

Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott for The New York Times. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.

Cook: End the week with quick-seared short ribs with charred scallion salsa from Alison Roman.

Go: The iconic Raffles Singapore, a 132-year-old hotel that was visited by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Charlie Chaplin, has reopened after a two-year renovation.

Watch: “The Blair Witch Project” debuted 20 years ago this week and is streaming now on Hulu. We looked at the lasting legacy of the innovative documentary-style horror movie.

Read: Gretchen McCulloch’s “Because Internet” looks at how the digital world has influenced the English language. It’s new on our hardcover nonfiction and combined print and e-book nonfiction best-seller lists.

Smarter Living: Does your partner snore? Studies have shown that nocturnal disturbances can lead to health problems and marital spats — maybe it’s time to consider a sleep divorce.

We also have a guide on how to jump-start a new running habit.

And now for the Back Story on …

‘Add oil’

As Hong Kong has been convulsed with protests, a cryptic exhortation is omnipresent: “Add oil!”

The phrase 加油 (ga yao) literally means adding fuel to a tank, but is used as a motivational cheer to push through, go faster, stay strong. It’s a fist-pumping, foot-stomping multipurpose chant that can be used in almost any situation — the verbal equivalent of the muscular arm emoji.

A balloon with the encouraging Cantonese phrase displayed during a demonstration in July.

“It’s also a way to encourage people to persevere through other sorts of difficulty,” Jennifer 8. Lee wrote for The Times during the Beijing Olympics in 2008. “It’s a way of expressing sympathy, support and solidarity that ‘Let’s go’ doesn’t quite capture.”

The historical record is spotty, but “add oil” is believed to have first been used at the Macau Grand Prix in the 1960s before seeping into Hong Kong slang. It was also widely used during the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement protests in 2014, and in 2018 “add oil” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

I apologize for all the grim news in today’s briefing. Add oil!

— Alisha

Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Alisha Haridasani Gupta wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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