Wednesday’s top story: Ukraine envoy details Trump’s use of aid to push for Biden inquiry. Plus, Nats claim surprise win in World Series opener

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

Taylor’s explosive testimony marks ‘sea change’, say Dems

The acting US ambassador to Kyiv has told Congress that Donald Trump repeatedly pressed Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in return for the release of US military aid. In the most damning testimony of the impeachment inquiry so far, Bill Taylor said soon after taking the post in June, he grew concerned “our relationship with Ukraine was being fundamentally undermined by an irregular informal channel of US policymaking, and by the withholding of vital security assistance for domestic political reasons”.

‘Lynching’ comparison. Trump faced fresh criticism on Tuesday, including from Republican lawmakers, after describing the impeachment inquiry on Twitter as a “lynching”.

Anonymous official. The anonymous Trump official who wrote a controversial New York Times op-ed last year, describing an internal “resistance” movement to thwart the president, has written a book on the subject, set to be published in November.

Turkey and Russia agree deal for buffer zone in northern Syria

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spent more than six hours in talks in Sochi. Photograph: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, have agreed to carve up territory previously controlled by Kurdish forces in northern Syria, creating a Turkish “safe zone” and cementing Moscow’s new role as the region’s leading powerbroker. The deal, which Erdoğan described as “historic,”, was hashed out in more than six hours of talks in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi on Tuesday.

Border control. Turkish troops will remain in the zones they have occupied since their offensive began this month, at the expense of Kurdish-led forces, while Russian troops and the Syrian army will control the remainder of the Turkish-Syrian border.

Booker bill would fight neglected diseases of poverty

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cory Booker speaks in the spin room following last week’s Democratic presidential debate. Photograph: John Minchillo/AP

Cory Booker has introduced a Senate bill aimed at detecting and eradicating diseases that are commonly associated with developing countries, but which have flourished among the poor in the US. The Study, Treat Observe and Prevent Neglected Diseases of Poverty Act – or Stop for short – targets illnesses such as hookworm and dengue fever, which thrive amid communities enduring extreme poverty, substandard housing and sanitation or unsafe drinking water, affecting as many as 12 million Americans.

‘Appalling realities’. The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate previously backed similar legislation on environmental justice and drinking water. “Across the poorest parts of our country people are facing appalling realities that would shock the consciousness of many Americans,” he said.

China reportedly plans to replace Hong Kong chief

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A pro-democracy politician is pulled away by security guards as he protests at a speech by Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, top left, this month. Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

China is reportedly planning to replace Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive, with an interim leader next year. Lam has been the focal point for the territory’s pro-democracy protests, which began in June as she attempted to pass a controversial extradition bill. That bill was at last formally withdrawn on Wednesday, just as the murder suspect whose case prompted its creation was released from prison in Hong Kong.

NBA blackout. China’s state broadcaster CCTV did not broadcast any NBA games on the opening day of the new season, a break from tradition apparently resulting from the dispute over a tweet in support of Hong Kong protesters by the Houston Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey.

Cheat sheet

Civil rights groups and tech experts have warned a new rule proposed by the Trump administration’s housing department would make it “nearly impossible” for Americans to sue for housing discrimination caused by computer algorithms.

Former homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said repeatedly: “I don’t regret enforcing the law” over her part in the family separation policy, during an interview at Fortune magazine’s most powerful women summit on Tuesday.

British MPs have blocked Boris Johnson’s attempt to ram his Brexit agreement through parliament in time for the country to leave the European Union by 31 October, raising the likelihood of a further extension to the departure deadline.

Two members of the far-right Proud Boys group have been sentenced to four years in prison for their roles in a vicious street fight with anti-fascist protesters outside an event at New York’s Metropolitan Republican Club last year.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest São Paulo’s Deafkids aim to make music that is “more transcendental in a less rational way”. Photograph: Jean Ribeiro

São Paulo’s anti-Bolsonaro underground music scene

São Paulo’s underground musical community vehemently opposed the election of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. Now they are expressing their resistance to his regime, not with bossa nova, but through a lesser-known Brazilian tradition of hardcore and post-punk, as Philip Bloomfield discovers.

Pulitzer winner chronicles One Day in America

Gene Weingarten chose the subject of his new book at random, asking strangers to pick a date from a hat – 28 December 1986 – and then delving into the events, large and small, of that single day across the US. “The deeper you drill into anything, the more eerily intertwined things become,” he tells Adrian Horton.

Gullah Geechee nation fears a climate wipeout

The Gullah Geechee nation is a small, distinct cultural community made up of descendants of African slaves and native Americans, who today live on the low-lying coastal fringes of South Carolina and Georgia. That puts them on the frontline of the climate crisis, as Oliver Milman reports.

The lost history of Soviet hippies

The Soviet hippy subculture of the 1960s and 70s was inspired by the west, shaped by communism and closely monitored by the KGB. Now it is the subject of a new documentary by the Estonian writer-director Terje Toomistu. “In the west, nobody was arrested simply for having long hair,” he tells Luke Harding.

Opinion

Hinsdale is listed in the top 1% of the wealthiest towns in Illinois. But its privileged position among Chicago’s suburbs did not protect the community from potentially deadly corporate pollution, says Hinsdale resident Chantal Panozzo.

They might hurt the poor in Flint, Michigan, the migrant workers in Bakersfield, California, or those who don’t have the means to leave Louisiana’s Cancer Alley. But most of us living in Hinsdale and its neighboring well-to-do towns never considered that our villages could be a Flint or Cancer Alley. We were naive.

Sport

The Houston Astros’ all-but-invincible pitcher Gerrit Cole chalked up his first loss since May on Tuesday night, as the Washington Nationals claimed a surprise victory in the opening game of the World Series at Minute Maid Park. A cloud also lingers over the Astros following a distasteful off-field episode, writes Tom Dart.

Ahead of its MLS debut next year, David Beckham’s new team, Inter Miami, has unveiled plans for a $966m stadium complex in the Florida city, which they expect to be completed by 2022.

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