Wednesday Morning Briefing: Hong Kong leader withdraws controversial extradition bill

Highlights

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced the withdrawal of an extradition bill that triggered months of unrest and threw the Chinese-ruled city into its worst crisis in decades. Hong Kong's main share index surged more than 4% ahead of the government's formal withdrawal of the proposed bill. The protests against it began in March but gained momentum in June and have since evolved into a push for five demands, including the bill’s withdrawal. Here are comments from legislators, protesters and residents.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will try to call a snap election after lawmakers seeking to prevent him taking Britain out of the EU without a divorce deal dealt him a humbling parliamentary defeat. An alliance of opposition lawmakers backed by 21 rebels from Johnson’s Conservative Party defeated the government on Tuesday night. Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Britain’s World War Two leader Winston Churchill, will be expelled from the Conservative Party after voting against Boris Johnson on the Brexit motion.

Visualizing the world’s addiction to plastic bottles. Around the world, almost 1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute. As the environmental impact of that tide of plastic becomes a growing political issue, major packaged goods sellers and retailers are under pressure to cut the flow of the single-use bottles and containers that are clogging the world’s waterways.

Sleepy to sleepless? By day, the unforgiving sun glares off the road beside Ipah’s wooden home with blinding brightness as a passing motorbike stirs a swirl of dust. By night, the beams of an occasional truck carrying coal or palm fruits pierce the darkness. This remote corner of Indonesia is set to be transformed from a forest backwater on the island of Borneo to a global city - a new capital of a country whose 260 million people make it the world’s fourth most populous.

Hurricane Dorian

Debris extended for miles and floods covered much of the Bahamas in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, in what the archipelago’s prime minister called one of the worst disasters to ever strike the island nation. Just months after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a $16 million project to restore sandy beaches in Jacksonville, Florida, Hurricane Dorian is about to pound them again, illustrating the uphill battle that American coastal cities face in protecting their most valuable asset.

U.S.

More than 120 U.S. military construction projects will be adversely affected as the Pentagon prepares to use $3.6 billion to help build or enhance 175 miles of the border wall with Mexico, U.S. officials said. Earlier this year, Trump declared a national emergency in a bid to fund his promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. The emergency declaration allows the Trump administration to use money from the military construction budget and the Pentagon has said it could use $3.6 billion from the budget.

China’s Huawei said the U.S. government had instructed law enforcement to “coerce” and “entice” its employees to turn against the company, as it steps up its pushback against a U.S. campaign that could threaten its survival. Huawei made its assertions in a news release and in an undated document seen by Reuters.

Ten U.S. Democratic presidential contenders will tout their plans to tackle climate change in a marathon series of CNN forums likely to pit moderates like Joe Biden against progressives like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. The climate forum offers Democrats seeking to face Trump in the November 2020 election an opportunity in a crowded presidential field to stand out on an issue increasingly important to voters. Here are the main climate strategies of the candidates.

A North Carolina court struck down the Republican-drawn state legislative map as an illegal partisan gerrymander and gave lawmakers two weeks to enact new district lines for next year’s elections. The decision is a victory for election reform advocates considering legal challenges to partisan gerrymandering in state courts despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year blocking such cases in federal courts.

Business

To cut or not? Dueling Fed views boost pressure on Powell

The Federal Reserve should use its meeting in two weeks to aggressively cut interest rates, one central banker said. Less than an hour later, a second central banker said he saw no need to use up the Fed’s precious firepower when the economy is growing, inflation looks stable and labor markets are in good shape. The dueling views - from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren - show the tight spot Fed Chair Jerome Powell finds himself in as the Fed’s next policy-setting meeting approaches.

4 min read

Exclusive: OxyContin maker prepares 'free-fall' bankruptcy as settlement talks stall

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection before the end of the month if it does not reach a settlement with U.S. communities over widespread opioid litigation, three people familiar with the matter said, after some states balked at the company’s $10 billion to $12 billion offer in August to end their lawsuits as part of a negotiated Chapter 11 case.

6 Min Read

WeWork adds woman to its board ahead of IPO after backlash

WeWork owner The We Company said it will add a woman to its board of directors and unwound a $5.9 million payment to its chief executive for use of the trademarked word “We” ahead of a planned initial public offering.

1 min read

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