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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Tariff deal follows Trump’s pattern of claiming victory
Donald Trump on Tuesday brandished a document that he said contained details of a “secret” agreement with Mexico, even though Mexican officials had already revealed large parts of the deal, supposedly designed to stave off the US president’s threatened tariffs on Mexico in return for stronger action on illegal immigration. In fact, most of the details were reportedly agreed before Trump’s tariff warnings. However, the episode follows the president’s familiar pattern of claiming to have solved a crisis of his own making.
Border chaos. The deal could create yet more chaos and confusion at the US border, by expanding a policy that makes Central American asylum seekers wait in Mexico while US immigration courts examine their cases.
Activist on trial. A US jury in Arizona has failed to reach a verdict on whether a border activist who offered water, food and lodging to migrants should face a prison sentence.
House moves to enforce Barr and McGahn subpoenas
The attorney general, William Barr, and the former White House counsel Don McGahn could face court action over their refusal to testify to congressional committees about the Robert Mueller investigation. On Tuesday, the House passed a resolution permitting lawmakers to go to court to enforce their subpoenas against the Trump administration officials, amid continuing efforts by the White House to stymie any Democrat-led oversight of the president.
In contempt. The House judiciary committee voted last month to hold Barr in contempt of Congress for his refusal to release the full, unredacted Mueller report.
Defiant Hope. McGahn and other former Trump officials, including Hope Hicks, have heeded White House demands to defy congressional subpoenas.
Hong Kong protesters swamp city to try to block extradition bill
Tens of thousands of determined protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong again on Wednesday, forcing politicians to abandon a debate on the controversial extradition bill that would allow mainland China to pursue its political opponents in the former British colony. The Guardian is still following the violent clashes between protestors and police, who deployed teargas to disperse the crowds.
Strikes and boycotts. More than 100 businesses in Hong Kong closed on Wednesday, while thousands of parents and teachers called for a schools boycott in protest at the proposed law.
Freedom under threat. Antony Dapiran, the author of a book about protest in Hong Kong, explains why the extradition bill has generated such unprecedented opposition.
How Mobil fought regulation through ‘charitable giving’
The oil giant Mobil sought to make tax-exempt donations to leading universities, civic groups and arts programmes to promote the company’s interests and undermine environmental regulation, according to internal documents from the early 1990s obtained by the Guardian.
A spokesperson for ExxonMobil said: “Our philanthropic arm follows all laws and required disclosures. The ExxonMobil Foundation has a strategic focus supporting education with an emphasis on math and science, promoting women as catalysts for economic development and preventing deaths from malaria.”
Crib sheet
Delta Airlines workers seeking to form a union have reported threats, intimidation and a barrage of anti-union sentiments from management, a Guardian investigation has found.
Brazil has approved hundreds of new pesticide products, dozens of which are banned in Europe for being too hazardous, since the country’s far-right populist president, Jair Bolsonaro, took office in January.
About 60% of the “meat” people eat in 2040 will come not from farmed animals, but from plant-based substitutes or artificial meat grown in vats, a new report predicts.
The writer of HBO’s acclaimed drama Chernobyl has urged tourists to “respect” the victims of the 1986 nuclear disaster, after some Instagram “influencers” staged “glamour” shots at the exclusion zone in Ukraine.
Must-reads
Ken Jeong: ‘I never, ever want to quit standup’
Ken Jeong went from being a doctor, to a standup, to a movie phenomenon, co-starring as the outrageous Mr Chow in the Hangover trilogy. Now he is back on the comedy circuit, he tells Ryan Gilbey: “Standup has become a deeply personal journey for me.”
Why everyone is trying to silence the outside world
Uber is trialling a new feature allowing riders to silence their drivers when they don’t feel like a chat. Increasingly, we have the ability to “mute” people we find irritating or offensive. Richard Godwin asks whether it is really healthy to cut ourselves off from human connection.
How the ‘Black Godfather’ shaped entertainment
Until now, most people outside the entertainment industry had never heard of Clarence Avant. But a new Netflix documentary about the man known as the “Black Godfather” explains how he boosted the careers of everyone from Snoop Dogg to Jim Brown to Barack Obama, as Dream McClinton discovers.
Tokyo braces for the earthquake of the century
As part of the Guardian’s Tokyo week, Daniel Hurst reports from the Japanese capital on preparations for the inevitable: a major earthquake in the world’s most populous city – which could be its deadliest disaster since the horrors of the second world war.
Opinion
As part of the Guardian’s Broken Capitalism series, Michael Strain says the naysayers are wrong, and the capitalist system is working for Americans. Maria Svart agrees that capitalism is indeed working, but argues most of us are the worse off for it. She says:
Runaway climate change, war, mass migration, widespread poverty and ever-increasing authoritarianism are the inevitable results of an economic system that rewards corporate actors for their absolute commitment to profit, regardless of the broader consequences.
Sport
The US women’s soccer team got their World Cup campaign off to a triumphant start on Tuesday night, with a record-breaking 13-0 rout of Thailand that establishes the defending champions once again as the team to beat.
Tiger Woods, as he prepares for the start of the US Open on Thursday, says he has set himself a target of 10 more years as a top-level golfer, suggesting he has 40 majors left in which to overhaul the record of 18 majors held by Jack Nicklaus. Woods won his 15th at Augusta National in April.
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