‘Completely unacceptable’

HONG KONG: Authorities fired on protesters at close range and canceled all remaining flights Monday—at one of the busiest airports in the world—after protesters swarmed Hong Kong International Airport’s main terminal for a fourth day. Officials continued to build a case against demonstrators, calling them “terrorists.” U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned China any crackdown on Hong Kong would be “completely unacceptable.”

Hong Kong is home to approximately 850,000 Christians and 1,500 churches—and with greater liberties has long “played a vital role in oxygenating the growth of Christianity on the mainland”: a must-read on what’s at stake in China’s crackdown.

RUSSIA: A mysterious offshore explosion at a nuclear test site near Nenoska continues to raise alarm about radioactive fallout and appears to have left seven scientists dead. In the closed city of Sarov, a day of mourning for those killed is underway

Russia-linked Twitter accounts stoked racial tensions in America, Clemson University researchers have found.

CHINA: German researcher Adrian Zenz nearly single-handedly exposed China’s vast detainment of ethnic Uighurs, and my colleague June Cheng talked with him about the hard work and higher purpose of his undertaking.

China’s suspension of U.S. farm purchases is a “body blow” to U.S. farmers and ranchers, as the U.S.-China trade war plus Hong Kong troubles threaten economic stability.

IRAQ: The body of Jimmy Aldaoud, who died last week after the United States deported him to Iraq, will be returned to Michigan and laid to rest in Detroit. In my reporting on Aldaoud, 41, I learned he was put on a plane by U.S. authorities without documentation for Najaf, not Baghdad as is customary. Najaf is a holy city for Shia Islam and center of past insurgencies, not a welcome city for an Americanized Chaldean Christian. Second, U.S. authorities had the option of not deporting Aldaoud to Iraq at all: Attorneys working on Aldaoud’s behalf in Washington had secured a safer third-country option, but the Department of Homeland Security refused to take it.

There are good reasons to pause the Iraqi deportations, writes University of Michigan law professor Margo Schlanger.

SYRIA: American journalist Austin Tice was kidnapped seven years ago this week, and The Washington Post is running full-page advertisements to call attention to Tice’s case. My June piece here on other Americans whose kidnappings remain officially unresolved.

YEMEN: Separatists backed by some Gulf countries have seized the port of Aden, and the Saudi-led coalition has thrown its weight behind Yemen’s exiled president, challenging the separatists, in what could be a turning point in bogged down fighting.

UGANDA has launched the largest trial of the new Ebola vaccine, and let’s hope and pray it can stifle the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

UNITED STATES: The Council on Foreign Relations asked the 25 Democratic candidates for president to respond to questions on 12 foreign policy issues. Only half the candidates have responded so far, and their answers are here.

Sign up to receive Globe Trot via email.