Top Stories

Hong Kong police fired tear gas in the heart of the Central financial district and at two university campuses to break up pro-democracy protests as violence was bringing the Chinese-ruled city to what they said was the “brink of total breakdown”. The clashes came a day after police shot a protester at close range and a man was doused with petrol and set on fire.

U.S. President Donald Trump could take some control of the impeachment inquiry into his dealings with Ukraine if he follows through on a promise to release a transcript of an April call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. He said on Twitter on Monday evening that he would be releasing it “sometime this week,” adding: “I am sure you will find it tantalizing!”

The U.S. Supreme Court is set on Tuesday to hear arguments over the legality of President Donald Trump’s effort to rescind a program that protects from deportation hundreds of thousands of immigrants - dubbed “Dreamers” - who entered the United States illegally as children, part of his tough immigration policies.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was admitted to an Atlanta hospital on Monday for a procedure to relieve brain pressure from bleeding caused by recent falls. Carter, 95, the country’s oldest living president, was admitted to Emory University Hospital three weeks after suffering a minor pelvic fracture in a fall at his home in Plains, Georgia.

World

Fires raged across a swath of Australia’s east coast on Tuesday, destroying some homes and shrouding Sydney in smoke from a blaze authorities fear they will be unable to control until next week. Officials were responding to 11 emergency warnings in New South Wales by evening as around half the 70 fires across the state burned uncontrolled in conditions termed “catastrophic”.

Israel killed a top commander from the Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in a rare targeted strike in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and militants responded by firing rockets at Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv. In the most serious escalation in months, an Israeli missile attack also targeted the home of an Islamic Jihad official in Damascus, killing two people including one of his sons.

Bolivia’s former president, Evo Morales was flying to Mexico on Tuesday after fleeing his South American homeland, seeking refuge under a leftist government that has supported the veteran socialist in the wake of a disputed election. Bolivia’s first indigenous president came under Mexico’s protection after he departed Bolivia late on Monday.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized as “shameful” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision not to publish a parliamentary report on Russian meddling in UK politics until after an election next month. The report has been cleared by the security services but it has not yet been given approval for publication by the government, so will not appear before the Dec. 12 vote.