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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Coalition talks loom in Israel with election too close to call
The second Israeli election in less than six months has ended in an apparent dead heat between the two main parties, with local news outlets reporting that Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and the opposition Blue and White party had each secured 32 seats in the Knesset. Netanyahu and the Blue and White leader, Benny Gantz, have both vowed to form a governing coalition with the support of smaller parties, but the inconclusive results are likely to lead to weeks of political wrangling – and perhaps even a third vote.
Corruption cases. The result could decide not just Netanyahu’s political future, but his freedom. Pre-trial hearings for three corruption cases against him are looming, and without a ruling majority to retain his position as prime minister, he will lose his immunity from prosecution.
Greta Thunberg chides Congress for lack of climate action
Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, has told US senators they are not trying “hard enough” to tackle the climate emergency. Thunberg, who is set to address Congress on Wednesday, has inspired climate strikes by students around the world, including in China. Lawmakers praised her and other young activists at a meeting of the Senate climate crisis taskforce on Tuesday, but Thunberg responded: “Don’t invite us here to just tell us how inspiring we are without actually doing anything about it.”
Climate strike. The next global climate strike is set for this Friday 20 September, ahead of next week’s UN climate summit. Bill McKibben outlines some of the countless reasons why you should join it.
Oil and gas. Fossil fuel executives from firms including BP, Shell and Chevron are hosting an invitation-only forum with government representatives on the sidelines of the UN summit, which critics have condemned as an attempt to influence climate negotiations.
US government sues Edward Snowden over memoir
The US government has filed a civil lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden over the publication of his memoir, which it says is a “violation of the non-disclosure agreements he signed with both CIA and NSA”. Now 36, Snowden has spent the past six years in exile in Russia, after he leaked top-secret documents on global surveillance programmes run by US and British spy agencies to media outlets, including the Guardian, in 2013.
Book earnings. Snowden’s memoir, Permanent Record, was published worldwide this week. Although the lawsuit does not seek to block its publication, it does aim to recover all proceeds earned.
Sean Hannity’s “dear friend” facing ethics questions in Florida
When Sheriff Carmine Marceno of Lee County, Florida, was first sworn in a year ago, Sean Hannity declared him a “dear friend”. The state’s then-governor, Rick Scott, said no one in Florida could “do a better job”. But as Marceno prepares to run for re-election, the rising Republican star is facing accusations that he did not properly qualify as a Florida police officer, and that he behaved improperly to a woman he dated after she reported a crime to his office, as Jon Swaine reports from Fort Myers.
Unusual payments. The Guardian identified unusual payments of $24,000 apparently made to a close friend of Marceno from a political committee with connections to his campaign, and misreported to Florida authorities. Marceno has denied any wrongdoing.
Cheat sheet
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has confirmed to Congress that the president asked him to intervene in the Mueller investigation during a House judiciary committee hearing at which Lewandowski accused Democrats of “petty and personal politics”.
A report by US lawmakers, which claims the World Health Organization has been corrupted by drug companies, is making it more difficult to deliver morphine to the millions dying in acute pain in poor countries without ready access to opioids, experts have warned.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, will use his address to the UN general assembly next week to accuse his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi of complicity in the torture and mass detention of protesters in Kashmir, amid continued tensions in the disputed region.
Merriam-Webster, America’s oldest dictionary publisher, has officially recognised the use of “they” as a singular, nonbinary pronoun, while adding another 533 words to its online dictionary.
Must-reads
How local weathercasters are shifting opinions on climate
Local weathercasters are often among the most trusted voices in their communities, and in recent years many have begun to address climate change and its effects in their TV reports. A study suggests it is having an impact on public opinion. Pam Radtke Russell spoke to the unsung heroes of the climate crisis.
The Kentucky miners blocking the coal trains
For more than six weeks, workers from Harlan County, Kentucky, have been continuing the region’s legacy of labor struggles by blocking the coal trains from leaving the mine that laid them off. “There is no middle ground here,” they tell Michael Sainato. “There is minimum wage, college or coal.”
The life of Preston Sturges, told by his son
Preston Sturges is best known for the dazzling, witty and astute films he made in the early 1940s. But a new biography, co-written by Sturges’s son Tom and based in large part on papers left behind by his wife, concentrates on the writer-director’s latter years. It is revelatory, says Pamela Hutchinson.
How many high school students smoke e-cigarettes?
Since 2011, the percentage of high schoolers who smoke cigarettes has more than halved, falling to 8%. Meanwhile, in one year, the percentage of high school students vaping has jumped from 12% to 21%. Mona Chalabi illustrates the data.
Opinion
The digitization of our world is not just a danger to privacy; the increasing energy consumption of computers is a danger to the planet. To decarbonize, says Ben Tarnoff, we must decomputerize.
This proposal will no doubt be met with charges of Luddism. Good: Luddism is a label to embrace. The Luddites were heroic figures and acute technological thinkers.
Sport
Liverpool and Chelsea both made disappointing starts to their Champions League campaigns on Tuesday. But while Frank Lampard admitted his young side’s home defeat to Valencia was a “harsh lesson”, Jürgen Klopp blamed Liverpool’s 2-0 loss at Napoli on a controversial VAR decision.
The 37-year-old American ultra long-distance swimmer Sarah Thomas has become the first person to swim the English Channel four times, non-stop. Thomas completed the almost 134-mile swim in 54 hours, just a year after completing treatment for breast cancer.
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