First Thing: Biden urges Cuomo to quit amid allegations of serial sexual harassment

New York governor denies having ‘inappropriately touched’ 11 women as calls for his resignation mount. Plus: How a successful journalist realised she had to get rid of Twitter, for good

Good morning.

President Joe Biden has led calls from both major parties for the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, to step down after an investigation found he had sexually harassed 11 women, created a “climate of fear” in a “toxic” workplace and violated federal and state civil laws.

Despite an explosive 165-page report released by the state attorney general, Letitia James, containing damning evidence, Cuomo, 63, denied the allegations and stressed that he has no intention of resigning.

Announcing the findings at a press conference on Tuesday, James said: “Specifically, the investigation found that Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed current and former New York state employees by engaging in unwelcome and non-consensual touching and making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women.”

Cuomo released a defiant video address on Tuesday, insisting “that I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances”.

Moderate Democrats rejoice: Shontel Brown defeats progressive Nina Turner in Ohio Democratic primary

The traditional Democratic establishment scored a major victory over the party’s progressive wing on Tuesday when Shontel Brown, 46, endorsed by Hillary Clinton, defeated Nina Turner in a primary election in Ohio.

Fifteen months ahead of the midterm elections for Congress, Brown’s victory in the safe Democratic district will be interpreted by moderates as proof that the party should stick to a centrist platform and not shift to the left, my colleague David Smith writes.

Turner, who has conceded defeat, had the backing of senator Bernie Sanders and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

New 60-day eviction ban could protect millions of Americans

The US government has issued a new moratorium on evictions that will last until 3 October, following mounting pressure on Joe Biden to take action to help keep Americans in their homes during the pandemic, as states have been slow to release federal rental aid.

The moratorium, signed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday, would temporarily halt evictions in counties with “substantial and high levels” of virus transmissions and would cover areas where 90% of the US population lives.

In other news…

The governor of Missouri has pardoned, as promised, Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the couple infamous for pointing guns at a group of protesters for racial justice who marched past their home in a luxury St Louis neighborhood last year.

Former president Donald Trump’s favoured Republican candidate for Ohio has won the state’s congressional primary: coal lobbyist Mike Carey was on course for a comfortable victory on Tuesday in the state’s 15th congressional district with more than a third of the vote in a crowded field.

An officer died after being stabbed on Tuesday outside the Pentagon during a brief outbreak of violence at a transit station, on the outskirts of Washington DC, and a suspect was shot by law enforcement and died at the scene, officials said.

Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya has left Japan on a plane to Vienna after she refused to fly home earlier this week. The 24-year-old, who had sought refuge at the Polish embassy in Tokyo, had been expected to take a flight to Warsaw but switched at the last minute.

Stat of the day: Long Covid affects fewer than 1 in 20 school-age children with virus symptoms

In somewhat reassuring news, fewer than one in 20 children with Covid who experience symptoms continue to be symptomatic for more than four weeks, a new study has found. The analysis was based on data of 1,734 children from five to 17 years old, collected between September 2020 and February 2021, coinciding with the reopening of schools in the autumn and the peak of the winter wave of the virus in the UK.

Don’t miss: Beirut, a year after the explosion

A year after the catastrophic port blast destroyed large swathes of the Lebanese capital and killed 218 people, Beirut remains a shell of a city as efforts to find who is to blame for tragedy have made little progress, and anger mounts in a population denied justice, Martin Chulov reports.

Climate check: Residents flee as wildfires encroach on Athens homes

Thousands of residents in the northern outskirts of Athens have been forced to leave their homes as a forest wildfire reached residential areas, as Greece is experiencing its worst heatwave since 1987, according to local authorities. Temperatures have reached 42C in parts of the Greek capital.

Want more environmental stories delivered to your inbox?Sign up to our Green Light newsletter to get the good, bad and essential news on the climate every week

Last Thing: ‘I realised how totally I relied on it for my self-esteem – and quit Twitter’

Although Twitter brought her a long-term boyfriend, better jobs, close friends and 60,000 followers, the Guardian’s deputy music editor Laura Snapes explains why she left the highly addictive platform for good, though simply deleting one’s account is not even possible.

Sign up

First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.

Get in Touch

If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com