Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

The global discussion about racism sparked by George Floyd's murder in America has made its way around the world,

including to the Middle East, where many countries have black minority populations, each of which faces discrimination and worse.

And the solution to 150-year-old mystery, a plague of bugs wiped out most of Europe's vineyards in the 1860s,

but it was never clear how they made their way to the continent.

Until now.

First up, though.

The squeeze on political freedoms in Hong Kong is ramping up and fast.

On Friday, the territories chief executive Carrie Lam announced that September's planned elections would be postponed for a year.

In the past seven months, I've always had to make difficult decisions.

And the announcement I have to make today is the most difficult decision that I have to make in the past seven months.

Mrs. Lam insisted that the delay was only to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

The decision to postpone the 2020 Electrical Election has nothing to do with politics, has nothing to do with the likely outcome of this round of elections.

But, pro-democracy parties had hoped for success in the poll, writing a wave of discontent at Beijing's recent imposition of a sweeping national security law.

The legislation broadly defines and harshly punishes subversion, sedition, or collusion with foreigners.

Nathan Law, one of Hong Kong's most prominent pro-democracy activists, recently spoke with our sister podcast The Economist asks,

What I think the support for Hong Kong's democratic movement is still really strong.

Though there have been protests against the new law, the millions of people who once surged onto the streets have largely stayed home, as police have cracked down harder.

Just try to imagine if you live in a country or in a place that there is no freedom of expression, freedom of demonstration, no even freedom of thoughts, then definitely, like protest does not exist or will be largely cautioned.

Earlier last week, 12 pro-democracy candidates were banned from running whenever the elections happen.

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