Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 25 November.

Top stories

A cache of classified Chinese government papers has revealed the largest post-second world war mass incarceration of an ethno-religious minority, with more than a million of the nation’s Muslim minorities believed to be interned in a vast chain of prison camps. Obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with the Guardian, the documents provide apparent confirmation that the Chinese state runs secret, involuntary camps for ideological “education transformation”, involving “a strict system of total physical and mental control”. Former camp inmates have detailed torture, rape and abuse claims, as well as reports of forced labour in Xinjiang province. Chinese authorities deny the existence of detention centres, claiming the camps are part of a focused crackdown on extremism and terrorism.

As bushfires ravaged vast areas of Queensland a year ago, almost nobody noticed that world heritage-listed tropical rainforest was going up in flames. The conventional wisdom is that such vegetation is too wet for bushfires, but a new climate adaptation plan suggests that climate change has irreversibly changed this paradigm. “When you have a 900,000-hectare world heritage area you assume there’s an inbuilt resilience,” says the chair of the Wet Tropics Management Authority, Leslie Shirreffs. “But that’s without anticipating some of the extremes that are now happening.”

Hong Kong residents are turning out in unprecedented numbers for local elections that many are regarding as a proxy referendum on the political turmoil presently engulfing the city. More than 1.5 million people had already cast votes by early Sunday afternoon despite hour-long queues and the local councils being considered largely irrelevant bodies historically controlled by pro-Beijing groups. “If you are willing to march or protest in the streets, which requires blood and sweat and tears, it’s much easier to walk downstairs and vote,” said one man who requested anonymity. Nearly 400,000 new voters, many of them young, were added to the rolls during a last-minute surge in registrations.

Australia

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Australian attorney general Christian Porter speaks during question time. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

The federal government will enter the final sitting fortnight of 2019 with two big-ticket items on its agenda – the repeal of medevac and increased scrutiny of unions. Either Pauline Hanson or Jacquie Lambie could prove crucial in supporting the passage of the two bills.

ALP federal president Wayne Swan has branded comparisons between the Queensland Palaszczuk government and that of Bjelke-Petersen’s “ridiculous and damaging”, following criticism of the premier’s measures against climate protesters.

Westpac has released its response plan to Austrac’s finding of systemic noncompliance with its legal requirements, with chairman Lindsay Maxsted reiterating the bank’s “deep sorrow” for the failings identified by the financial regulator.

The world

Facebook Twitter Pinterest John Bolton, seen here during his time in office as national security adviser. Photograph: Sergei Gapon/AFP via Getty Images

The chairman of the Trump impeachment inquiry has criticised former national security adviser John Bolton, claiming his failure to appear was because he “wanted to wait [to release his] book instead of telling the American people what he knew”.

At least 23 people are believed dead following a plane crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s the latest in a series of crashes involving Antonov planes in the conflict-wracked nation.

One of Egypt’s last remaining independent media outlets, Mada Masr, has been raided by security forces. Egypt is ranked 163/180 in the world for press freedom following extensive clampdowns since Abdel Fatah al-Sisi came to power in 2013.

It has only taken 150 years, but the Vienna State Opera is set to stage an opera written by a woman – Olga Neuwirth’s operatic version of Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando: A Biography.

Recommended reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prime minister Scott Morrison comforts 85-year-old bushfire evacuee, Owen Whalan. Photograph: Darren Pateman/EPA

A major UN report has forecast that by 2030 Australia will be the sixth-largest producer of fossil fuels. And yet in a week in which it was announced that Sydney’s dam had received 10% of its usual water inflows, prime minister Scott Morrison was out furiously peddling a great big climate lie, writes Booker-prize winning novelist, Richard Flanagan. “Many political commentators tend to view Morrison as some political genius, the winner of the unwinnable election. But history may judge him differently: a Brezhnevian figure; the last of the dinosaurs, presiding over an era of stagnation at the head of a dying political class”.

There are few things as exposing as publishing a novel. “First there is the conspicuous absence of reviews, publicity spots and invitations to literary festivals. Then there is the all-too-swift removal of your title from the glamorous New Release section,” writes Ilka Tampke. But it’s not the desire for recognition that drives writers: “Most of us are motivated by the power of an idea, an image, a character, a world, a moral conundrum.” So if a book fails to reach a wide audience it’s not the wound to the ego that stings, it’s the ending of a potentially fascinating conversation.

Listen

Angus Taylor and the series of incredible coincidences – it’s like a Harry Potter novel, but about Australian politics. Earlier this year, the federal energy minister narrowly avoided an official inquiry into his dealings with a company currently under investigation for illegal land clearing. On this episode of Full Story, Laura Murphy-Oates is joined by environment reporter Lisa Cox to discuss these links, and whether Taylor’s explanations stack up.

Full Story Angus Taylor and a series of incredible coincidences – Full Story podcast Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen https://audio.guim.co.uk/2019/11/23-20634-FS_Grasslands.mp3 00:00:00 00:27:51

Sport

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sheffield United’s Oliver McBurnie celebrates his added-time equaliser against Manchester United. Photograph: Robbie Stephenson/JMP/REX/Shutterstock

An injury-time goal to Oliver McBurnie has denied Manchester United a dramatic comeback win away to Sheffield United, after Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side came from 2-0 down courtesy of teenagers Brandon Williams and Mason Greenwood.

They’re the twin bête noires of world football – the VAR and IFAB’s new handball rule. But in a corner of the world with little ability to change the global rules, is complaining about bad decisions actually just a smokescreen?

Media roundup

Asio is investigating stunning claims that a Chinese espionage ring attempted to win a seat in Australian federal parliament, reports the Sydney Morning Herald, a task made difficult by the death of the alleged Melbourne-based spy earlier this year. The abduction and murder of two Hunter Valley teenagers 40 years ago, believed to have been linked to Ivan Milat, have now been connected with a businessman on the Gold Coast, writes the Daily Telegraph. And floral tributes are flowing in for two Queensland toddlers who died in a hot car south of Brisbane over the weekend, the ABC has published.

Coming up

Federal parliament returns in Canberra for the final session of 2019.

Australia takes on Pakistan in the first Test of the two-match series.

And if you’ve read this far …

Living in an abandoned, decrepit mansion in the Indian forest, mystery has always surrounded India’s most reclusive royal, Her Royal Highness Queen of Oudh. Except now, after four years of work, a journalist has revealed a stunning twist: she’s a complete imposter.

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