Wednesday’s top story: Netanyahu declares ‘tremendous victory’ despite neck-and-neck race with rival Benny Gantz. Plus, why poo is no longer taboo

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

Netanyahu expected to form rightwing governing coalition

Benjamin Netanyahu appears set to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, despite his Likud party securing the same number of seats at Tuesday’s election as the Blue and White party, led by his centrist rival Benny Gantz. With 97% of votes counted, both parties had secured 35 seats in the Knesset, but Likud looked more likely to be able to form a majority governing coalition by allying with nationalist, far-right and religious parties.

Leftwing losses. Both Netanyahu and Gantz declared victory during the course of an election night in which the only definitive losers were the leftwing, with the once-dominant Labor party apparently losing seats.

‘Witch-hunt’. Netanyahu boasts of his closeness to the US president, Donald Trump, and sought a fifth term despite the looming prospect of corruption indictments, which he has dismissed as a “witch-hunt”.

Trump officials stoke fears of further immigration crackdown

Facebook Twitter Pinterest White House adviser Stephen Miller is said to be behind the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies. Photograph: Shawn Thew/EPA

White House officials have briefed reporters on details of a further crackdown on immigration at the southern border, even as the president denied on Tuesday that he had any such plans. The president claimed he was “not looking” to reinstate his widely condemned policy of family separation, but a senior administration official said a similar policy was likely to be put in place, while asylum seekers would be targeted to satisfy the president’s anger over a recent increase in migrant arrivals.

Obama lie. Trump on Tuesday repeated his false claim that the Obama administration had introduced the child separation policy, insisting: “President Obama separated children. I was the one that changed it.”

EU plans for long Brexit delay despite May’s pleas

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The European council president, Donald Tusk, recommended that EU leaders deny May’s request for another short extension. Photograph: Francisco Seco/AP

The EU is expected to deny Theresa May’s request for another brief Brexit postponement at a meeting of European leaders on Wednesday, and instead extend the UK’s membership of the bloc until 2020. The British prime minister flew to Berlin and France on Tuesday to plead for a short delay until 30 June, but Donald Tusk, the European council president, warned in a letter to EU27 leaders that “such an extension would increase the risk of a rolling series of short extensions and emergency summits”.

Commons consensus. If her talks with the Labour opposition fail to reach a consensus on a Brexit plan, May is considering bringing forward a bill on her withdrawal agreement, which would allow MPs to suggest amendments that might allow it to pass through parliament.

Doctor who evangelised for opioids to testify against Purdue

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Protesters at Purdue Pharma headquarters in Connecticut. Photograph: Jessica Hill/AP

Dr Russell Portenoy may have done more than any other medical specialist to promote prescription opioids, helping pharmaceutical companies overcome addiction fears among the medical profession. Now Portenoy is set to testify against Purdue Pharma, the firm that paid him to help drive sales of its controversial OxyContin painkiller, in a major lawsuit brought against the firm by multiple communities affected by the opioids crisis.

Bad medicine. The British pharmaceutical firm Indivior has been indicted in the US over its marketing of Suboxone Film, an opioid-based drug, as a treatment for opioid and heroin addiction. The firm is alleged to have told healthcare providers that it was safer than similar drugs when it was not.

Crib sheet

Today’s children must leave a carbon footprint almost 90% smaller than someone born in 1950 to prevent catastrophic climate change, according to a new analysis by the thinktank Carbon Brief.

The media are three times more likely to apply the label of “terrorist” to violent Islamist extremists than to far-right attackers , a global study of more than 200,000 news articles and broadcast transcripts has found.

Civil rights advocates have expressed concern after three Louisiana Baptist churches with black congregations were destroyed by “suspicious” fires in a little over a week.

Doctors in Taiwan have removed four live “sweat bees” from beneath a 29-year-old woman’s eyelid, where the insects were found to have been feeding on her tears.

Must-reads

Visitors at the poop-themed Unko museum near Tokyo. Photograph: Kyodo News/Kyodo News via Getty Images

A faecal matter: how poo became popular culture

Two museums dedicated to poo have just opened in the UK and Japan. Poo-themed recipes go viral, poo-themed board games are bestsellers. Sir Patrick Stewart even played a poo in the Emoji Movie. Peter Robinson asks what’s behind the “explosion in poo”.

The sinking fortunes of Mississippi’s catfish capital

The small city of Belzoni still lays claim to the title of “catfish capital of the world”. But after a rise in imports from Asia, Mississippi’s fishing industry has fallen on hard times – and dragged the Delta’s economy down with it, as Matt Krupnick reports.

Mexico debates Zapata’s revolutionary legacy

As Mexico prepares to mark the centenary of Emiliano Zapata’s death, the revolutionary leader’s legacy is in dispute. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has pledged to revive Mexico’s rural economy in his honour, but Zapata’s grandson tells David Agren the government is “betraying” his ideals.

Shades of Black

Today in the Guardian’s series on colorism, Vanessa De Luca describes her worry over whether her husband’s family would accept a black girl from beyond the classic beauty standard. Activist Clarissa Brooks says cops target darker-skinned protesters. And photographer Shaniqwa Jarvis captures the variety of skin tone between mothers and daughters.

Opinion

The Arctic ice is turning to slush. Glaciers are vanishing from the world’s tallest mountain ranges. We’re already deep into the climate change era. So don’t be surprised by campaigning schoolchildren or calls for a Green New Deal, says Bill McKibben – be grateful.

The respectable have punted; so now it’s up to the scruffy, the young, the marginal, the angry to do the necessary work. Their discipline and good humor and profound nonviolence are remarkable, from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Greta Thunberg. They are what’s left of our fighting chance.

Sport

Magic Johnson has unexpectedly quit as president of the LA Lakers, saying he wanted to “go back to having fun” after two years in charge of the troubled franchise.

Spurs enjoyed a 1-0 win over Manchester City in the first round of their Champions League quarter-final, but may have to rely on goalscorer Son Heung-min up front for the rest of the season, after Harry Kane suffered an ankle injury. Liverpool cruised to a 2-0 victory over Porto, but coach Jürgen Klopp said his team will still faced a struggle to overcome the Portuguese champions at home.

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