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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Firm behind OxyContin ‘to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits’
Purdue Pharma and members of the multimillionaire Sackler family have reportedly offered to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits from US states and cities for up to $12bn, over the company’s role in the opioids crisis. The Connecticut-based company, owned by the Sacklers, produces the prescription painkiller OxyContin, which has become emblematic of the opioid epidemic that has claimed the lives of more than 400,000 people in the US over the last 20 years.
Oklahoma ruling. Reports of Purdue’s offer came a day after an Oklahoma court ordered another major pharmaceuticals company, Johnson & Johnson, to pay $572m over its “false and dangerous” marketing of painkillers.
‘Battle worth waging’. The family of 22-year-old Austin Box, who died from a lethal mix of prescription painkillers in 2011, told Lauren Aratani it was “comforting” to know his story was key to the Oklahoma case.
Climate activists plan major Washington DC protest
Climate activists are planning a major protest in Washington DC next month, aiming to block traffic at major intersections and “disrupt business as usual” to bring attention to the worsening environmental crisis during the UN climate action summit in New York. The protest on 23 September is being organised by a coalition of local groups including Extinction Rebellion DC, and will be one of more than 100 such protests taking place across the US.
Greta Thunberg. The teenage climate activist, who is due to speak at the UN summit, has arrived in New York after enduring rough seas on her “zero carbon” crossing of the Atlantic by yacht.
Accusers slam ‘depraved’ Epstein at New York court hearing
About 20 women appeared at a hearing in Manhattan in Tuesday to decry Jeffrey Epstein as a coward and a “depraved human being”, more than two weeks after the disgraced financier killed himself, depriving them of the chance to face him in court over claims he sexually abused them as teenagers. Epstein died in custody on 10 August, bringing an end to the criminal case against him. The judge overseeing the case scheduled Tuesday’s special hearing to give the women an opportunity to speak.
Prince Andrew. One of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Giuffre, has claimed she was coerced into having sex with Prince Andrew as a teenager, and told reporters on Tuesday that the British royal “knows what he’s done”.
Malaysian ex-PM on trial in ‘world’s biggest kleptocracy scandal’
The former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak appeared in court in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday for the first day of his trial over the 1MDB affair, which was described as the “biggest kleptocracy scandal in the world” after its exposure in 2015. Najib, who was toppled last year after almost a decade in power, is accused of involvement in embezzling more than $4.5bn from the 1MDB government fund, which was subsequently spent on Manhattan real estate, Picasso paintings and other extreme extravagances.
Low point. Najib’s relationship with the Malaysian businessman Jho Low, an informal consultant to 1MDB known for his lavish spending, is considered key to the case. Both men deny all the charges. Low’s location is currently unknown.
Crib sheet
Deutsche Bank has acknowledged in court that it is in possession of at least some of Donald Trump’s tax returns. The president has filed a lawsuit to try to block House Democrats’ subpoena of the German investment bank, with which he has a longstanding business relationship.
The Japanese government believes North Korea is developing a nuclear warhead capable of penetrating the missile defence shield protecting Japan, the country’s defence minister has said.
Anthony Levandowski, a pioneering self-driving car engineer who left Google to work for Uber, has been charged with theft of trade secrets amid a years-long intellectual property dispute between the two companies.
The comedian Dave Chappelle has come under fire for his new Netflix comedy special, in which he claims he does not believe Michael Jackson sexually abused young boys and makes jokes at the expense of Jackson’s accusers.
Must-reads
Marley Dias: the teenager transforming children’s reading
Marley Dias was just 10 when she started distributing children’s books with black girl protagonists to her peers at home and abroad. Now, at 14, she has written her own book about teenage activism. “We live in an unfair world and we have to fight,” she tells Coco Khan.
Lessons from the summer box office
Marvel, Pixar and live-action remakes of Aladdin and The Lion King maintained Disney’s box office dominance this summer, while Keanu Reeves kept his end up with John Wick 3. Benjamin Lee explains what the film industry has learned from 2019’s blockbuster season.
Is Russia pushing ‘unsuitable’ nuclear power in Africa?
As part of Moscow’s efforts to extend its influence abroad, Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear energy company, has approached dozens of African countries to sell them billions of dollars’ worth of nuclear technology. But critics say the reactors in question are unsuitable – and unlikely to benefit the continent’s poorest people. Jason Burke reports.
Opinion
Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer for a second time, it emerged this week. The 86-year-old justice is a hero to women, says Moira Donegan, but will the advances she made on their behalf be undone after she’s gone?
Ginsburg’s perseverance in the face of her own pain and enemies’ eager anticipation of her death is what has made her a beacon, ripe for idolization and symbolism by American women. After all, women’s rights and citizenship is in as precarious and endangered position as Ginsburg’s health.
Sport
Teenage tennis prodigy Coco Gauff won her first grand slam match on home soil on Tuesday, storming back from a set down to beat Anastasia Potapova in the US Open. Defending champion Naomi Osaka also overcame a stuttering start to defeat Russia’s Anna Blinkova in three sets.
One of England’s oldest football clubs, Bury FC, has been kicked out of the English Football League, after the last-minute disintegration of a deal designed to rescue the 134-year-old club from financial collapse.
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