Wednesday’s top story: Pompeo defies Congress but state department witnesses still set to give evidence. Plus, Elizabeth Warren and the African American vote

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

Trump administration draws battle lines with Congress

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, on Tuesday dismissed summons from House Democratic committee chairmen for five current and former state department officials to testify about the Trump-Ukraine scandal amid an escalating impeachment inquiry. Yet despite Pompeo’s claim that Democrats were trying “to intimidate, bully, and treat improperly” the officials, at least three have signalled their willingness to testify. Pompeo has only limited power to stop the congressional committees from gathering evidence for an impeachment inquiry.

Khashoggi murder still roiling the Middle East, one year on

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An activist wears a mask depicting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at a vigil for Khashoggi outside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul last year. Photograph: Emrah Gürel/AP

A year since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi assassins at the country’s consulate in Istanbul, the fallout from the killing continues to vex the entire region, as the Guardian’s Middle East correspondent, Martin Chulov, explains. Before Khashoggi’s death last October, the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was starting to overcome his country’s doubters with a programme of reform. Today, he is isolated and weakened, and his relationship to the Trump administration under scrutiny.

No justice. Despite the outsized political impact of his death, Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, says the Trump administration and the international community have still taken no direct action to bring his killers to justice.

Former Dallas cop guilty of murdering Botham Jean at home

Play Video 0:40 Dallas police shooting verdict a 'victory for black people in America', lawyer says – video

There were chants of “black lives matter” in a Dallas courtroom on Tuesday, as a white former police officer was found guilty of murdering her black neighbour at his home last September after confusing his apartment for her own. Amber Guyger argued that she had a right to use lethal force when she shot dead Botham Jean, believing the innocent 26-year-old was an intruder in her home – only to later realise she had entered his property by mistake.

Held accountable. Guyger is the first Dallas police officer to be convicted of murder since the 1970s. The guilty verdict was hailed by the Jean family’s lawyer as “a victory for black people” and a signal that “police officers are going to be held accountable for their actions.”.

Anti-terror centre helped police track environmental activists

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A protest against the Keystone XL pipeline in Rapid City, South Dakota this summer. Photograph: Adam Fondren/AP

A federally sponsored anti-terrorism centre in Oregon helped a taskforce that was monitoring environmental protest groups in the state, according to documents obtained by the Guardian. The Oregon Titan Fusion Center, part of a national network established to monitor terrorist activities after 9/11, shared information with the South-western Oregon Joint Task Force, which was surveilling opponents of the $10bn Jordan Cove energy project. The ACLU and other observers argue that such activities break Oregon law.

State cooperation. The leaders of 45 international, national and Oregon-based environmental groups have written to the state’s governor, Kate Brown, urging her to withdraw state cooperation from any such surveillance of activists.

Cheat sheet

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Warren at a campaign rally in New Hampshire last week. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Warren rises, but still needs African-American votes

Elizabeth Warren has pulled away from the Democratic pack, leading Joe Biden in key primary states and even some national polls. But she still has work to do if she wants to wrest African-American support from the former vice president, as Lauren Gambino reports.

Growing up in America’s murder capital

In a city where 13 black children were killed with guns this summer alone, being close to home and family is still no guarantee of safety. Lauren Aratani reports from St Louis on what it’s like to grow up – and to raise children – in the country’s murder capital.

Migrant workers killed by heat in Qatar

As construction ramps up ahead of the 2022 World Cup, the Guardian has found that hundreds of migrant labourers are dying of heat stress every year, after being forced to work in searing temperatures. Pete Pattison spoke to the family and co-workers of one such victim, 24-year-old Rupchandra Rumba.

The opioids ‘cartel’ in a small West Virginia town

The epicentre of America’s opioids epidemic might just have been Mingo County, an otherwise quiet, rural region of West Virginia. Chris McGreal learns how the tiny town of Williamson was home to what police call a “cartel” of doctors, pharmacists and drug firms.

Opinion

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, was dragged into the Trump impeachment scandal after visiting Washington last week. But Australians seem to think a strong relationship with the US remains more important than who is in the White House, says pollster Peter Lewis.

While just one-third of Australians believe the Trump presidency has been good for Australia, that does not mean that a good relationship with Morrison reflects poorly on him.

Sport

Mauricio Pochettino has admitted his Tottenham team “gave up a little bit” in the second half of a brutal 2-7 home defeat to Bayern Munich on Tuesday night, with the former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry scoring four to compound the humiliation. Elsewhere in the Champions League, Manchester City beat Dinamo Zagreb while PSG and Juventus topped their respective groups.

Young cyclists in Colombia risk life and limb by racing downhill on customised bikes at speeds of up to 77mph, a sport known as gravity biking. “It’s a way of life for anyone who lives up in the communes,” one teenage competitor tells Joe Parkin Daniels in Medellín.

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