The repatriation of six bodies of Israeli hostages from Gaza on Saturday could be a pivotal moment for Israelis. The hostages had survived for nearly 11 months since being abducted by Hamas on October 7th. Forensic evidence indicated they had been murdered shortly before Israeli forces arrived.

This has fuelled protests against the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, who has refused to accept one of Hamas’s main conditions for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal : a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the border corridor between Gaza and Egypt. Such a deal may have saved the hostages’ lives. The news unleashed the largest wave of demonstrations in Israel since the war began, with more than 100,000 protestors blocking main roads in Tel Aviv and other cities. Trade unions held a one-day general strike on Monday. For now, Mr Netanyahu is not budging. He told a cabinet meeting that he is sticking by the “strategic decision” to hold the border corridor.

On Tuesday Panama will deport 70 Indian nationals on a flight funded by America’s government. Since taking power in July, José Raúl Mulino, the president, has promised to crack down on illegal migration through the Darién Gap, the jungle on the southern border with Colombia. In the past two weeks five deportation flights have departed to Colombia and Ecuador. Many deportees have criminal records, according to migration officials. Mr Mulino says Chinese nationals will be next.

Last year over 520,000 migrants crossed the gap into Panama: 25,565 came from China and 3,736 from India. Mr Mulino’s tough stance appears to be having some effect. In the first eight months of the year numbers fell by 27% compared with 2023, declining more sharply since he took office. But there is no plan in place to deport Venezuelan migrants, who make up almost two-thirds of entrants. Migration from that country could surge again after President Nicolás Maduro’s recent theft of an election and subsequent crackdown.

With Labor Day over, the sprint to the American presidential election in November begins. Kamala Harris’s campaign will look to put its best foot forward with a massive advertising blitz, starting on Tuesday. It intends to spend $170m on television spots in battleground states and a further $200m on streaming platforms like YouTube and Spotify. According to the campaign, it will be the biggest such spend by “any political organisation ever”.

Ms Harris certainly has the cash. She has raised over $500m since becoming the Democratic Party’s candidate in August. But in terms of spending she is still playing catch-up with Donald Trump. His campaign and its allies have forked out more than Democrats in four of seven swing states. Still, not all of that money has been well spent. The campaign has reportedly been buying advertisements around Mr Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago to keep the boss happy, despite the fact that Florida is not in play this election.

Hundreds of Border Force officers at Heathrow airport, Europe’s busiest, will end their four-day strike on Tuesday. But disruption is due to continue. Following the industrial action—which protested against the introduction of “inflexible” new work rotas—650 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union will refuse to work overtime or perform extra tasks until September 22nd. Britain’s Home Office said it will try to “minimise disruption where possible”.

The dispute is the latest in a series of setbacks for the air-travel industry, which has struggled to handle a post-pandemic surge in demand. Heathrow has just two runways, compared with four at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle and at Frankfurt, and six at Amsterdam’s Schiphol. Yet bosses forecast a record 82.4m passengers this year, up from 80.9m in 2019. Simple fixes such as a new baggage system and improvements to security lanes will help boost capacity, but calls for another strip of tarmac will probably grow.

The Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair kicked off on Tuesday. Manufacturers will show new products in the hope that buzz and higher sales will follow. In recent years that has run like clockwork. But now something might jam.

The pandemic saw a huge boom in luxury watches, as buyers felt flush from low interest rates and a thriving stockmarket. Watch prices rose by 27% between 2020 and 2022, according to BCG, a consultancy. But the market has since plummeted. Swiss watch exports dropped to 12.3bn Swiss francs ($14.5bn) in the first six months of 2024, 3.2% lower than in the same period last year.

That is largely down to an economic slowdown in China, a big luxury market. Demand in China and Hong Kong fell by 21.6% and 19.9% respectively in July. The Watch and Clock Fair may struggle to make buyers tick.