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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.

Guaidó vows to keep fighting ‘miserable and murderous’ regime

Juan Guaidó, the opposition figurehead recognised by more than 50 countries as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, has been stripped of his parliamentary immunity by supporters of the embattled president, Nicolás Maduro. The removal of the legal protections he enjoyed as a member of Venezuela’s parliament leaves Guaidó open to arrest, as Maduro escalates his crackdown on the opposition.

Terrorist claim . Guaidó’s chief of staff was arrested last month, accused of leading a terrorist cell and plotting a series of political assassinations.

Slums less loyal. Maduro’s mentor Hugo Chávez enjoyed enduring support from residents of the Caracas slums, but they are no longer so favourable to his government, as Tom Phillips and Patricia Torres report.

Flake says he has received threats from Trump supporters

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jeff Flake says the GOP should not renominate Trump in 2020. Photograph: Lauren Lancaster/The Guardian

Jeff Flake, the former Republican senator from Arizona, has revealed he and his family received a number of threats from Donald Trump supporters before he left office earlier this year. In an interview with the Guardian, Flake admitted he was the recipient of a threatening voicemail after taking part in the hearings for Trump’s supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh – a voicemail for which a man in Chicago last week pleaded guilty to a federal retaliation charge.

Other cases. Flake said police were investigating “several threats”, including one involving an unidentified man carrying a rifle scope, who recently turned up at three separate Arizona locations looking for the former senator.

‘Still comfortable’. Flake, a frequent critic of Trump and Trumpism, insists he is “still comfortable” with his vote to confirm Kavanaugh, despite credible allegations of sexual misconduct.

Air pollution ‘cuts children’s life expectancy by 20 months’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pakistani children walk to school during a spike in smog levels. Photograph: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images

Children born today can expect to have their life expectancy shortened by an average of 20 months as a result of breathing the world’s toxic air, a global study has concluded. Air pollution contributed to about one in every 10 deaths worldwide in 2017, killing more people than malaria or road accidents, according to the State of Global Air 2019 study, which also warned that children in south Asia would be the worst affected by future air pollution.

Global inequality. Children in the developed world will only lose an average five months of life to the effects of air pollution, but in south Asia, children can expect to have their lives cut short by 30 months, and in sub-Saharan Africa by 24 months.

May turns to Corbyn in bid to salvage Brexit

Play Video 3:10 Theresa May calls for short extension to article 50 – video

Having failed to reach a consensus on Brexit that could satisfy enough members of her own Conservative party, the UK prime minister, Theresa May, has invited the Labour opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to help hash out a new compromise. Corbyn said he would be “very happy” to take part in the talks, which, if successful, seem likely to lead to a softer Brexit than the one represented by May’s withdrawal agreement with the EU. But Tory Brexiters were unsurprisingly outraged by the development.

Euro-scepticism. The EU remains sceptical of May’s chances of success and some in Europe have warned against another brief Brexit extension, while the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said a no-deal Brexit remains a stark possibility.

Crib sheet

Los Angeles police have arrested a 29-year-old man suspected of shooting dead the Grammy-nominated rapper and activist Nipsey Hussle on Sunday following a personal disagreement.

More cases of measles have been reported in the US in the first three months of 2019 than in the whole of 2018, making this the second-worst year for the disease since the US declared itself measles-free almost two decades ago.

Lori Lightfoot will become the first black female mayor of Chicago , as well as its first openly LGBT mayor, after winning her runoff election in a landslide on Tuesday.

A 32-year-old woman has been charged after lying to secret service agents to briefly gain access to Mar-a-Lago carrying a thumb drive containing computer malware, while President Trump was at his Florida club over the weekend.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People walk into the US across the Paso del Norte International Bridge in Ciudad Juárez. Photograph: Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images

Border towns united by fear of a Trump closure

About $82bn in trade passes across the US-Mexico border between El Paso and Juarez each year – not to mention more than 7 million people. As Ed Pilkington discovers, those on both sides of the frontier are horrified by Trump’s threat to close the link between the two historically conjoined cities.

The campaigners resisting big tech’s colonisation

It’s no secret that the spread of companies such as Google and Facebook has forced lower-income residents out of Silicon Valley. But the same pattern is repeating itself in cities all over the world. John Harris talks to neighbourhood activists resisting tech firm colonisation from Toronto to Berlin.

The new face of Dutch rightwing populism

For a decade, the far right in the Netherlands was synonymous with Geert Wilders, but Wilders’ Party for Freedom was beaten at last month’s elections by a new populist party, Forum for Democracy, led by the suave, sinister, so-called intellectual Thierry Baudet, as Joost de Vries writes.

Can the natural world save us from the climate disaster?

Scientists and activists have written to the Guardian suggesting a simple solution to the climate crisis: the restoration of forests and other ecosystems on a vast scale. Damian Carrington reports on their campaign, while George Monbiot explains why it can – and must – work.

Opinion

Antonio Matimbe, an aid worker, is based in Beira, Mozambique’s second city, where he has witnessed the devastating impact of Cyclone Idai. While his country suffers increasingly destructive storms, he says its people remain largely unaware of the underlying causes.

There seems something very unfair about people losing almost everything with barely an inkling as to what might be the cause. Meanwhile, the wealthy world and its leaders know why the climate is changing for the worse. Its citizens are informed, protected and largely unaffected.

Sport

The Arizona Cardinals are having an overhaul after a disastrous 2018 season, which means they intend to shop their second-year quarterback, Josh Rosen. Plenty of other NFL teams could benefit from his talents, says Oliver Connolly, so why have none of them ponied up yet?

The New Zealand Super Rugby club the Crusaders have confirmed they will consider changing their name, following the recent terrorist attack on two mosques in the team’s hometown of Christchurch.

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