Monday’s top story: FBI and DoJ launch investigations into billionaire sex offender’s apparent suicide. Plus, why Putin wants revenge on the west

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.

Victims outraged at losing chance to confront Epstein in court

Authorities in three separate jurisdictions, including the FBI and DoJ, have opened investigations into the apparent suicide of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in a New York jail cell, after the 66-year-old was taken off suicide watch following a previous attempt to take his own life. The well-connected billionaire sex offender, who faced trial over sex trafficking allegations going back to the early 2000s, was found dead on Saturday morning, leaving his victims outraged over the lost opportunity to confront him in court – and leading Donald Trump and others to foment conspiracy theories.

Cause of death. New York City’s chief medical examiner said on Sunday night that an autopsy had been conducted, but more information was needed to determine Epstein’s cause of death.

Case closed? Does Epstein’s death mean the end of a scandal that also threatened to engulf his rich and powerful friends? His victims certainly hope not, as Henry McDonald explains.

Guatemala elects leader opposed to Trump immigration deal

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alejandro Giammattei, leader of the Vamos (Let’s Go) party, declared victory in Sunday’s runoff election. Photograph: Orlando Estrada/AFP/Getty Images

Guatemala has elected a new president who called the current government’s immigration deal with the Trump administration “bad news”. Alejandro Giammattei, leader of the conservative Vamos (Let’s Go) party, looked to have secured almost 59% of the vote in Sunday’s runoff against his centre-left rival. Yet by the time he takes office next January, the country will already be implementing the immigration accord agreed with the US by the outgoing president, Jimmy Morales.

Asylum seekers. Threatened with sanctions by Trump, Morales agreed to make Guatemala a so-called “safe third country” for asylum seekers, despite its own problems with poverty and violence. The plan is opposed by the vast majority of Guatemalans.

Hong Kong airport closed amid massive protests

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Protesters occupy Hong Kong international airport on Monday. Photograph: Jérôme Favre/EPA

Hong Kong’s airport authority has cancelled departure flights after thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators flooded into one of the world’s busiest air travel hubs holding signs reading “Hong Kong is not safe” and “Shame on police”.

The abrupt shutdown came as street protests across the Chinese territory entered their 10th week with no sign of either side backing down, and the Chinese government signalled its rising anger at the protesters, denouncing some of the violent demonstrations as “terrorism”.

Water cannon. In an apparent warning to protesters of the authorities’ toughening approach, Hong Kong police invited legislators and journalists on Monday to witness a display of water cannon. Police have never used the devices since two were bought after pro-democracy protests in 2014, but during Monday’s demonstration one was blasted at dummy targets in a training facility.

Russia honours ‘heroes’ killed in mysterious nuclear accident

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The city of Severodvinsk in northern Russia, where radiation levels reportedly spiked after the explosion at sea. Photograph: Sergei Bobylev/TASS

Russia has honoured five nuclear scientists it described as “national heroes” with posthumous awards, after they were killed in a mysterious explosion at sea last week. The blast in the White Sea caused a reported spike in radiation in the northern Russian city of Severodvinsk, leading US-based nuclear experts to speculate that it came during tests of a nuclear-powered cruise missile which was hailed by Vladimir Putin last year.

Nuclear elite. Valentin Kostyukov, an official from Russia’s state nuclear agency, Rosatom, said the five men “were the elite of the Russian federal nuclear centre” and died while “performing the task of national importance”.

Crib sheet

Five children, aged between eight months and seven years, have been killed in a fire at a daycare centre in Erie, Pennsylvania , where they were staying while their parents worked overnight.

Nigel Farage has described Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as “terrifying” and their social justice and environmental campaigns “irrelevant”, in a speech to a rightwing political conference in Australia.

New Zealand’s government has bought more than 10,000 firearms since mid-July, as part of a gun buyback scheme introduced in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings in March.

The wildly successful Korean K-pop boy band BTS are taking an extended hiatus from music, to allow the seven members to “enjoy their normal lives as normal twentysomething young men”, the group’s management agency has announced.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fiennes as Commander Fred Waterford in The Handmaid’s Tale. Photograph: Elly Dassas/Hulu

Joseph Fiennes: ‘We got lucky with the zeitgeist’

Joseph Fiennes is reluctant to discuss the parallels between the Trump administration and the fictional leadership of Gilead from The Handmaid’s Tale, in which he stars as Commander Fred Waterford. “But somehow you can’t not equate some things,” he tells Zoe Williams.

Could the Democrats take Texas?

The Lone Star state has been a Republican powerhouse for decades. But with a host of congressional retirements and a demographic shift towards Hispanic voters, Texas is becoming an electoral battleground once more, as Tom Dart reports from Houston.

The coalminers rooting for a Green New Deal

Many coalminers in Appalachia believed Trump’s 2016 promise to bring back their jobs, but as their industry continues to decline, some are now pinning their hopes on alternative solutions, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, as they explain to Michael Sainato.

The magic of the year’s most mind-bending documentary

The Amazing Johnathan is dying – or is he? Compelling and confounding, The Amazing Johnathan Documentary is more a documentary about figuring out what a documentary should be than a profile of the past-his-prime magician from which it takes its name, writes Adrian Horton.

Opinion

It is strange to recall that Putin started out as an avowedly pro-western leader. Over his 20-year reign, he has responded to foreign criticism of his internal policies by restoring his country as a rival to the west, says Angus Roxburgh.

He regards what he does as a mirror image of what the west does to Russia and around the world.

Sport

Simone Biles has become the first woman in almost 70 years to win six US gymnastics titles, sticking a so-called “triple-double” in the floor exercise during the weekend’s competition. The 22-year-old is gearing up to defend her Olympic title at the 2020 Games.

As he waits out a transfer ban, Chelsea’s coach, Frank Lampard, must rely on the club’s youth team prospects to rise to the challenge of the Premier League. In their first test on Sunday, they were trounced 4-0 by Manchester United. That’s one of 10 talking points from the first weekend of the new season.

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