It’s been six months since a proposed extradition law led to a swell of pro-democratic protest in Hong Kong. Last week saw some of the most dramatic scenes yet, with hundreds of young Hongkongers holed up in Polytechnic University. By Tuesday morning, about 600 protesters had surrendered to authorities – 200 of whom were children. The months of discord have left the Hong Kong government flailing as Beijing looks on closely, with no solution in sight. Lily Kuo has been on the frontline of the protests in Kowloon, while Verna Yu has been speaking to non-protesting Hongkongers about what the endless weeks of anger have done to the region.
As the scandal around convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has grown, many in Britain have demanded answers from Prince Andrew. The Queen’s second son was a good friend of Epstein and stayed with him in New York in 2010 after the American had served 13 months in prison for soliciting a minor for prostitution. Last week Andrew made the calamitous decision to be grilled by the BBC’s Emily Maitlis for a Saturday night primetime special. His much-derided defence involved claims that he was unable to sweat and that he couldn’t have slept with a 17-year-old girl because he had been at a Surrey pizza restaurant the same day. Jamie Doward looks at how Andrew’s gamble backfired, and in Opinion, Suzanne Moore dissects the Prince’s “astonishingly stupid” Q&A.
In August we reported from the Amazon rainforest where fires were threatening to cause permanent damage to an area known as the Earth’s lungs. This week Jonathan Watts travelled to the heart of the Amazon to a conference where Indigenous defenders of the rainforest met with young climate activists. Could they devise a plan to help save the planet’s most vital region? Also in South America, Dan Collyns and Emma Graham-Harrison report on Jeanine Áñez, the interim president of Bolivia following the ousting of Evo Morales. Áñez has been quick to grasp power, despite being unelected. What will the return of the conservative right mean to a deeply divided nation?
Every year, the Guardian’s team in Australia conduct a poll to find the nation’s favourite bird. After intense competition, 2019’s worthy winner was the black-throated finch. You can read more about the voting in the issue but, before that, Ben Smee and Lisa Cox report on the existential threat that the giant Adani mine planned for central Queensland poses to the finch.
