Monday’s top story: Fleabag and Game of Thrones win big at 2019 TV awards. Plus, why Antonio Brown’s firing is more than just a football story

Subscribe now to receive the morning briefing by email.

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

Brits dominate Emmys as Phoebe Waller-Bridge wins three

Phoebe Waller-Bridge and her acclaimed show Fleabag swept the comedy categories at the 71st Emmy awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, as British nominees dominated a night that concluded with Game of Thrones winning best drama for the fourth and final year running. Ben Whishaw (A Very English Scandal) and Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) claimed acting gongs, while Jesse Armstrong, the British showrunner behind HBO’s Succession, took home the best drama writing award.

Best of the rest. Check out the full list of winners, and a roundup of the best fashion from the Emmys red carpet.

Deserving winners. For once, the Emmys didn’t mess up, argues Stuart Heritage: in a rarity for an awards ceremony, this year’s winners actually deserved it.

UN secretary general hails ‘turning point’ in climate fight

Facebook Twitter Pinterest António Guterres with the environmental activist Greta Thunberg at the UN youth climate summit. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has expressed cautious optimism about the fight against climate change, suggesting the world may be at a “turning point” following recent action by countries and businesses and the rise of the youth climate movement. But the mood at Monday’s UN climate summit may not be so sunny: a report by the World Meteorological Organization has found that pledged levels of emissions cuts must be at least tripled if the world is to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

General assembly. As world leaders converge for the 74th session of the UN general assembly, the Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, explains the annual gathering and what might be achieved there.

Cornered Trump attacks Biden over Ukraine scandal

Play Video 0:58 Trump kicks back against Biden and his son in Ukraine – video

Donald Trump and his allies are trying to fight their way out of Washington’s latest whistleblower scandal by going on the offensive against Joe Biden and his son, over what the president claims – without evidence – is their uninvestigated corruption in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the House intelligence committee chairman, Adam Schiff, has again raised the possibility of impeachment over reports that Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate Biden.

Rudy Giuliani. Trump’s hunt for dirt on the Democratic frontrunner has been led by Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, who has become the president’s most off-kilter advocate, writes Ed Pilkington.

2020 taster. The Trump-Ukraine scandal is just a taste of how dirty the 2020 presidential election will get, says Richard Wolffe.

Could Susan Collins’ Kavanaugh vote flip the Senate in 2020?

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Collins during last year’s Kavanaugh hearings. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

Even if a Democrat wins the White House, much of their agenda would not survive a GOP-held Senate. Which is why the 2020 battle for Susan Collins’ seat has become particularly significant. Collins, who is considered one of the last remaining moderate Republicans in Washington, nonetheless voted to confirm the controversial supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh. Some Democrats believe that fateful decision could help them flip the Senate, as Joan E Greve reports from Maine.

Elizabeth Warren. A new poll has put Elizabeth Warren ahead of Joe Biden in Iowa for the first time, with a two-point lead over the former vice-president in the early primary state.

Ilhan Omar. At an Iowa event on Saturday, the progressive congresswoman Ilhan Omar suggested Biden does not “fit into the kind of progress that we all want to see in this country”.

Cheat sheet

The Trump administration is understood to have urged other UN member states to join a “growing coalition” of countries rallying against abortion , in a letter seen by the Guardian and apparently signed by the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.

Boris Johnson has said the UK now believes Iran was responsible for a recent attack on a major Saudi oil facility, suggesting the British could act “as a bridge between our European friends and the Americans” on the issue.

The far-right Brazilian government led by President Jair Bolsonaro has set up a row with the Catholic church, accusing bishops with a “leftist agenda” of undermining the regime by criticising its handling of the Amazon rainforest.

A coalition of charitable groups in Finland is crowdsourcing suggestions for an emoji to represent “forgiveness”, with suggestions so far including a love heart with a plaster on it, and a vine of leaves cast across a love heart.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Chronicles of New York City, JR’s new work on show at the Brooklyn Museum. Photograph: Artwork by JR. Photograph by Guillaume Ziccarelli./Courtesy of Perrotin and the artist JR-ART.NET

How a single artwork tells 1,128 New York stories

The Chronicles of New York City is a new mural by the Parisian artist JR, measuring almost 21ft by 32ft and now on display at the Brooklyn Museum. It features images of 1,128 New Yorkers – and an app with an audio introduction to every single one of them. Adrian Horton looks and listens.

Why soaring insulin prices are killing Americans

The escalating price of insulin – and other barriers to accessing the drug – are symptomatic of America’s broken healthcare system. And with 1.5 million Americans diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, that lack of access is leading to deaths, as Michael Sainato reports.

Jana Hunter: ‘I spent most of my life hiding from myself’

The singer Jana Hunter, who identifies as transmasculine, has just released a new solo LP, The Competition. It is his most honest album to date, he tells Caitlin Curran. “I wanted to risk more vulnerability. I feel like I got to that place.”

Will Pittsburgh workers transform the tech industry?

Pittsburgh’s former Nabisco factory is now home to a shiny new Google HQ. But this week, the city’s industrial roots will come into play as a group of Google analysts vote on whether to form a union – which would make them the first tech workers to unionise in the US in the Trump era, as Julia Carrie Wong reports.

Opinion

The Trump administration has threatened to pull federal funding for the Consortium for Middle East Studies, operated by two prestigious North Carolina colleges, if it does not change its curriculum. It is part of an Orwellian crackdown on campus criticism of Israel, says Joshua Leifer.

The Department of Education threat against the Duke-UNC consortium is yet another example of the Trump administration’s spectacular hypocrisy and cynicism, not to mention its clash of civilizations-style Islamophobia.

Sport

Antonio Brown was released by the New England Patriots on Friday just 11 days after signing with the team, amid mounting allegations of sexual misconduct. The media ought to stop treating it as a story about the wide receiver’s football prospects, argues Caira Conner, and focus instead on his alleged victim’s future.

Manchester City wiped the floor with Watford on Saturday, but the 8-0 rout was not quite enough to top Manchester United’s 24-year-old Premier League record of 9-0 against Ipswich. That’s one of 10 talking points from the weekend’s action in the Premier League.

Sign up

The US morning briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.