Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 18 September.

Top stories

Top US officials have signalled the US could stay in the Paris climate agreement after all, with Rex Tillerson and national security adviser HR McMaster both indicating the US was open to negotiations on staying in the accord. The softening of America’s resolve to leave the accord is building amid signs that the issue will be discussed at the United Nations general assembly in New York this week. Donald Trump announced in June the US would withdraw from the deal, leaving it with only Syria and Nicaragua for company outside the global agreement.

The willingness of Tillerson and McMaster to talk about remaining in the accord was in striking contrast to the hostile tone previously taken by Trump. “The president said he is open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others on what we all agree is still a challenging issue,” Tillerson told CBS’s Face the Nation. “We want to be productive. We want to be helpful.”

Alarming reports that people with psychosocial disabilities are being denied access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme have been called “a disaster across the country” by peak mental health bodies. In some cases people with decades-long histories of schizophrenia, major depressive disorders, bipolar and severe anxiety have been denied access to NDIS packages. Support workers say they are in despair because access to NDIS funding requires the client to show they can never recover, going against the philosophy of all modern mental health treatment.

Sydney is home to the world’s largest residential water recycling plant, but its operators say regulators are threatening to kill off the industry to ensure the profits of the incumbent water providers. “Overnight they have shut down the water recycling industry,” says Terry Leckie, founder of Flow Systems, the company behind the recycling plant at Central Park, close to Sydney’s CBD, which services 2,000 units with 97% recycled water. Normally apartments put more than 90% of their water into the sewer. New regulations could increase water recyclers’ costs as much as tenfold, potentially choking off the industry before it really gets started.

Detectives are questioning two men arrested in connection with Friday’s London Underground attack, as the British government downgrades the UK terrorism threat assessment from critical to severe. Police searched two addresses in Surrey on Sunday, one the home of a couple who fostered children and who were decorated by the Queen for their public service. The foster home had recently hosted refugees from conflict zones, according to neighbours. Investigators do not believe the attacker was present when the device exploded on a District line train heading for central London, injuring 30 people.

Torrential monsoon rains have brought swamp-like conditions to temporary refugee camps in Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya are fleeing violence in Myanmar. Amid dire food and water shortages, Bangladesh authorities launched an operation late on Saturday to move tens of thousands of people out of roadside camps and hillside shanties into a giant new camp. On Sunday Myanmar’s government hinted that it might not take back Rohingya who fled across the border, accusing them of having links to the militants. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, who has been heavily criticised for not condemning the violence, is to give a nationally televised speech on the Rohingya situation, which the UN has called a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.

Sport

India defeated Australia by 26 runs in the first one-day international in Chennai, recovering brilliantly from the loss of five early wickets to post a challenging score of 281. After a long rain delay, Australia never really got going in their pursuit of a reduced target of 164 from 21 overs. Hardik Pandya was the star for the home side, hitting a career-best 83 and taking two wickets.

Daniel Ricciardo finished second behind Lewis Hamilton in the Singapore Grand Prix, after a crash on the first corner took out Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen, and left Sebastian Vettel’s car crippled. Vettel’s first-lap exit unexpectedly allowed Hamilton to extend his drivers’ championship lead to 28 points.

Thinking time

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Yallourn coal-fired power station. Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Coal kills people. This isn’t even slightly scientifically controversial, writes Tim Hollo. “From the mines to the trains to the climate disruption; from black lung to asthma, heat stress to hunger, fires to floods: coal is killing people in Australia and around the world right now. Yet we are once again having what passes for political debate about extending the life of coal-fired power stations.”

Queensland’s sprawling outback federal electorate of Maranoa is thought to be Australia’s only seat opposed outright to marriage equality. In its largest town of Warwick, opinions are deeply divided on how to vote in the postal survey. As the campaign enters its second week, Joshua Robertson finds signs the yes case has the upper hand are balanced by uncertainty about whether a silent majority – less politically engaged and less well reflected in opinion polls – will produce a different result.

In 2014 the Office for National Statistics found Britain was the loneliness capital of Europe. When journalist Hayley Campbell quit her job, exited her comotose relationship and moved into a flat alone, she discovered the rhythms and quirks of living almost entirely alone. With no schedule and a season of loss to process, Campbell acquainted herself with daytime cinema trips, sleepless nights and the stillness of the solitary life.

What’s he done now?

Donald Trump has retweeted a doctored video of him knocking Hillary Clinton over with a golf ball, as tensions flare over the publication of Clinton’s memoir of the election. The gif, which uses old film of Clinton falling as she enters a plane and compliments “Trump’s amazing golf swing #CrookedHillary”, prompted widespread condemnation. Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said: “It is distressing … to have a president that, frankly, will tweet and retweet things as juvenile as that. It doesn’t help, I think, in terms of his stature. It doesn’t help in terms of the stature of our whole country.” Trump also tweeted an apparent reference to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as “Rocket Man”.

Media roundup

The Age splash says mental health groups are in urgent talks over how to handle a spike in demand for their services, which they are attributing to to the same-sex marriage postal survey.

The NT News has a graphic front page, revealing dire conditions in the Indigenous community of Minyerri. “No running water. Beds made of milk crates. Properties with no roofs. Disease and infection running rampant. To many Minyerri children and infant babies, this is home. This is not Third World Africa. This is our backyard.”

The ABC profiles Australian actor Kiruna Stamell, who has dwarfism, in a preview of tonight’s Australian Story. “It is very rare that somebody’s able to find a unique way to offend me,” says Stamell, who stands just over one metre tall. “No matter how witty they think their little insult is going to be, I’ve heard it before.”

Coming up

The Emmys take place in Los Angeles, hosted by Stephen Colbert, with Nicole Kidman a chance to win for Big Little Lies. Here’s a full preview of who may win (and who should) in each category. Follow the red carpet and award ceremony in our live blog from mid-morning AEST.

A decision is expected today in the court challenge to the proposed takeover of Channel Ten by CBS.

Supporting the Guardian

We’d like to acknowledge our generous supporters who enable us to keep reporting on the critical stories. If you value what we do and would like to help, please make a contribution or become a supporter today. Thank you.

Sign up

If you would like to receive the Guardian Australia morning mail to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here.