Monday’s top story: Trump and advisers reject warnings of economic disaster. Plus, what has Colin Kaepernick gained from his years in the NFL wilderness?

Subscribe now to receive the morning briefing by email.

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

Trump: ‘I don’t see a recession, we’re doing tremendously’

Donald Trump and his advisers have dismissed the threat of a coming recession, despite concerns from the markets and warning signs elsewhere in the world. “I don’t see a recession,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. “We’re doing tremendously well. Our consumers are tremendously rich.” Others may disagree, but the president’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow insisted in a Fox News appearance that there was “no recession on the horizon”, adding: “What’s wrong with a little optimism?”

2020 bid. The president has made the US economy central to his 2020 re-election bid, writes Sabrina Siddiqui – so an economic downturn could fatally undermine his case for a second Trump term.

Greenland purchase. Trump on Sunday confirmed reports that he had considered trying to buy Greenland from Denmark. The acquisition of the world’s biggest island would be “essentially a large real estate deal”, he said.

Prince Andrew ‘appalled’ by Epstein sex abuse claims

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prince Andrew attending church with the Queen near Balmoral last week. Photograph: Peter Jolly/Rex/Shutterstock

The Duke of York has said in a statement that he is “appalled” by the allegations of sex trafficking and abuse against his former friend Jeffrey Epstein. Prince Andrew’s statement was released after new footage emerged showing him inside Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in 2010, two years after the now deceased financier was first convicted of child sex offences. Buckingham Palace has strongly denied claims by a woman who said she was forced to have underage sex with the duke “three times, including one orgy”.

Friends and associates. Since Epstein’s death, lawyers for his alleged victims have turned their attentions to his friends and associates, including the socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and the French model scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

Prominent scientists. Epstein infamously surrounded himself with politicians and celebrities. But he also cultivated Harvard professors, Nobel prize winners and other leading scientists such as Stephen Hawking and Oliver Sacks, as Luke Darby reports.

Iran warns US against seizing disputed tanker in open seas

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A crew member raises the Iranian flag on the renamed tanker Adrian Darya 1. Photograph: Jon Nazca/Reuters

Iran has warned the US against trying to seize its oil tanker Adrian Darya 1 in the Mediterranean after it was released by authorities in Gibraltar, which rejected US requests for its continued detention. The tanker, formerly named Grace 1, had been at the centre of a diplomatic standoff between Tehran and the west since it was seized by UK marines off Gibraltar in early July, ostensibly for carrying oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions. On Monday, shipping data showed it had set sail again for the Greek port of Kalamata.

Front companies. The US claims the tanker, which was seized while sailing under a Panamanian flag, is controlled through a network of front companies by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Written commitment. Iran last week provided a written commitment that the renamed Adrian Darya 1 would not sail to Syria or anywhere else covered by EU sanctions.

Hong Kong: 1.7m defy police on peaceful pro-democracy march

Play Video 1:16 Hong Kong protesters express their demands after months of political crisis – video

Some 1.7 million people – about a quarter of Hong Kong’s entire population – took to the streets of the semi-autonomous territory on Sunday for a peaceful pro-democracy march, in defiance of police warnings. After two months of increasingly violent clashes between police and protesters and threats from Beijing, the authorities granted permission for a rally in the city’s Victoria Park, but turned down plans for a subsequent march – a ban the demonstrators flouted, in spite of torrential rain.

Political demands. Protest leaders say the Hong Kong government must respond to their political demands, which include the withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill and the establishment of an independent body to investigate police violence.

Crib sheet

The Icelandic prime minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, joined other mourners at a “funeral” ceremony on Sunday to mark the passing of Okjokull, the country’s first glacier to be lost to climate change .

The chairman of the Proud Boys has said the far-right “western chauvinist” group will now stage a march once a month in Portland after the city reluctantly hosted its largest far-right demonstration of the Trump era on Saturday.

Adapted pig hearts could be transplanted into human patients within the next three years, potentially transforming the battle against heart disease, according to a new report which quotes the surgeon who pioneered heart transplants in the UK.

A man gathering firewood on the shores of western Alaska has found a message in a bottle written by a Russian Cold War sailor in 1969. Russian media tracked down the original writer, Capt Anatoliy Botsanenko, who confirmed the note was his.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Joseph Alexander started the Facebook page Justice4Bunk after his son was killed in 2018. Photograph: Jason Henry/The Guardian

Facebook pages keeping memories of homicide victims alive

Dinyal New’s two sons were murdered in Oakland within three weeks of one another. Five years later, her Facebook page, Who Murdered My Child?, has 40,000 members. As Abené Clayton reports, social media offers grieving parents a platform to dispel the stereotypes attached to black murder victims.

Does John Delaney really think he can win?

John Delaney has spent $24m of his own cash on an increasingly quixotic presidential run, yet he shows no sign of quitting. Adam Gabbatt attends a Delaney event – with just 11 others – and asks what the former Maryland congressman stands to gain besides an extensive knowledge of Iowa.

Why White Claw is this summer’s liquid obsession

The alcoholic sparkling water White Claw isn’t just a drink, it’s a lifestyle. At least according to fans, who have helped its sales surge 320% on last year, cleaning out stocks of the “hard seltzer” at bars and grocery stores across the US. Kari Paul asks how the brand matches the moment.

New York’s forgotten queer photographer

Alvin Baltrop shed light on a little-seen corner of LGBTQ culture in 70s New York, photographing gay life at the piers that lined Manhattan’s west side. His pictures of the era between the Stonewall riots and the Aids crisis are at last receiving the attention they deserve, writes Nadja Sayej.

Opinion

Molly Conger warned the editor of a Charlottesville paper he was taking a risk when he asked her to write a column on local politics. But when police took legal action over her criticism of their friendly relations with white supremacists, she presumed the paper would back her. Instead, she says, they folded.

Despite the editor’s best efforts on my behalf and the absence of any followthrough on the threat of a defamation suit, the paper’s owners did not want to continue to run my column.

Sport

Last week marked three years since the 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first brought attention to police brutality against people of colour by sitting during the national anthem, a protest that ultimately led to his banishment from the NFL. Patrick Hruby asks what Kaepernick has accomplished in exile – and what he has lost.

Frank Lampard is still awaiting his first win as Chelsea’s manager, while Freddie Ljungberg’s elevation to first-team coaching appears to be paying dividends at Arsenal. Those are two 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.