Covert influence campaigns have become a favored tool of leaders in countries like China and Russia, where manipulation of social media complements strong-arm tactics on the streets.

But in the Middle East in particular, the campaigns are being used to bolster authoritarian rule and douse the kind of popular protests that gave rise to the Arab Spring in 2011. We looked at a shadowy company that racked up millions of followers with its posts talking up a warlord or promoting the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

Here’s what else is happening

Iran: The country broke with more limits in the 2015 nuclear deal, increasing pressure on European nations to soften the blow of U.S. sanctions.

Hurricane Dorian: In the days since the storm tore through the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas, killing at least 44 people, residents say the archipelago’s government has largely been absent. They are also growing frustrated at the number of dead bodies throughout the area.

M.I.T.: The director of the university’s Media Lab, Joichi Ito, resigned after the disclosure of his efforts to conceal financial connections to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who killed himself in a Manhattan jail last month while facing federal sex-trafficking charges. And in Opinion, our columnist writes that Mr. Ito’s style of ethics is all too common in tech.