Your Monday Briefing – The New York Times

Impeachment pressure builds

President Trump acknowledged on Sunday that he accused Joe Biden of corruption during a phone call in July with the leader of Ukraine, leaving Democrats increasingly inclined to file articles of impeachment against him.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Trump administration would “be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness” if it failed to turn over a related whistle-blower complaint by Thursday. (Read her letter.)

The allegations involve whether Mr. Trump pressured Ukraine’s newly elected leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, to hurt Mr. Biden’s election bid, possibly using U.S. military aid as leverage. The former Soviet republic has been fighting Russian-backed separatists, and the Trump administration temporarily withheld $250 million from Ukraine this summer.

Background: Mr. Trump has accused Mr. Biden of using his position as vice president to help a Ukrainian energy company in 2016 that was paying his son Hunter. There has been no evidence that the former vice president intentionally tried to help his son.

The Daily: Today’s episode is about the controversy.

Seeking a cyber silver bullet

Senior U.S. officials have told The Times that a cyberstrike has become the most appealing response to punish Iran, which the Trump administration has said is responsible for an attack this month on Saudi oil facilities.

President Trump is reluctant to widen the conflict in the Middle East, which he has said the U.S. should leave, but an attempt to shut down Iran’s oil production has been one of the “proportionate responses” under review.

There is, however, a broader debate over whether a cyberattack alone would be enough to alter Tehran’s behavior. It would be the second such strike against Iran in three months.

Another angle: Iran, along with climate change, will be among the topics under discussion as nearly 200 world leaders gather in New York this week for the annual United Nations General Assembly. Here’s what to expect.

A big night for ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Fleabag’

The final season of the HBO fantasy series won 12 Emmy Awards on Sunday, adding to its record total for a television drama.

“Fleabag,” the Amazon comedy that grew out of a one-woman show by its creator, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, also won big, with four awards. Read our recap of the night.

The details: Here’s a full list of the winners, video excerpts from some of the acceptance speeches and pictures of the celebrities’ outfits.

Related: Cable networks and streaming services won most of the awards, as the Emmys has become a “spectacle of broadcast television nervously, and a little desperately, dancing on its own grave,” our critic writes.

If you have 6 minutes, this is worth it

Expanding the right to be forgotten

A cornerstone of European privacy regulations is a law that lets citizens request that a company or website take down material considered old, irrelevant, inaccurate or excessive.

This week, Europe’s top court is scheduled to decide two cases that could extend application of the law and mean that news has an expiration date.

Here’s what else is happening

Travelers stranded: The British company Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest travel firm, said today that all of its flights and vacations had been canceled, leaving an estimated 600,000 travelers scrambling to find a way home.

Metropolitan Diary: In this week’s column, a temporary worker’s hopes rise, a community garden on Sixth Street and more reader tales of New York City.

What we’re reading: This profile in Vanity Fair. “The complexities and nuances of Lupita Nyong’o are rendered in exquisite glory by the curious and nimble Kimberly Drew,” writes Jenna Wortham, a Times Magazine writer and “Still Processing” co-host.

Now, a break from the news

Smarter Living: Our food writer Julia Moskin made the transition to cooking vegetarian at home this year. If you plan to shift, too, she has some tips. Push flavor into everything, adding umami with cooked tomatoes, mushrooms and Parmesan cheese. And build elements like sweetness, heat, acid and smoke. Smoked paprika stirred in at the end of cooking “is vegan sorcery,” she writes.

And what if instead of fixating on getting ahead, we focused on having enough?

And now for the Back Story on …

Stealing the show at the U.N.

You never know what you’ll hear from the annual General Assembly, where world leaders begin delivering their (supposedly 15-minute) speeches on Tuesday. So listen up.

A few past highlights:

Hugo Chávez, then the president of Venezuela, referred to George W. Bush as the devil in 2006.

In 1974, Yasir Arafat called for Palestinians’ right to sovereignty during his first address to the U.N.

“I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter’s gun,” he said. “Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.”

In 1960, Fidel Castro gave the longest General Assembly speech ever — four hours and 29 minutes — during which he said it was “imperative to do away with the enormous inequality that separates the developed from the developing countries.”

And here’s a fact-check: The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev probably didn’t bang his shoe in 1960, but it sure makes a good story.

A correction: Friday’s briefing misstated the surname of the leader of Earth, Wind & Fire. He was Maurice White, not Wright.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Chris

Thank you
Melina Delkic helped compile this briefing. Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford provided the break from the news. Victoria Shannon, on the briefings team, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach us at [email protected].

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Today’s episode is about the phone call between President Trump and the leader of Ukraine.
• “The Daily,” our most popular podcast, has hit a milestone: one billion downloads.
• Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Like the 1-7 balls in pool (five letters). You can find all our puzzles here.