Afternoon Update: Liberals ditch emissions pledge; News Corp rejects climate ‘denial machine’ claims; and an F1 burger curse

Good afternoon.
Sussan Ley has confirmed the Liberal party has followed the Nationals’ lead by formally abandoning a firm net zero emissions target. Moderate MPs are still allowed to call lower emissions a “welcome outcome”, and Dan Tehan said unspecified “available technology” would help Australia to do its fair share to reduce emissions.
The political reaction was swift, with Sarah Hanson-Young calling the Liberals “a bunch of nutters” and Zali Steggall declaring the Coalition “unelectable”. The SA Liberal senator Andrew McLachlan wrote for the Guardian that “you cannot claim to be of the right of politics and shy away from targets that hold you to account”.
Top news

News Corp Australia chair says outlets not part of climate crisis ‘denial machine’
World still on track for catastrophic 2.6C temperature rise, report finds
Court dismisses Bruce Lehrmann’s bid for restraining order against Daily Mail reporter
Neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell released on bail after alleged attack on First Nations protest camp
Longest US government shutdown in history to end after House passes bill
Israeli president condemns ‘serious’ attack by settlers on West Bank villages

In pictures
Last night at Melbourne’s MCG, in the band’s “ancestral homeland”, Accadacca’s first Australian concert in a decade showed Angus Young is still a frenzied force to be reckoned with. Our own Sian Cain reviewed the show.
What they said …
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“We never meant to create a burger so delicious it could change the course of F1 history.” – Grill’d
The Australian restaurant chain has apologised for putting a “curse” on Oscar Piastri. The McLaren driver has not finished in the top three since a promotion offering free burgers every time he made the podium was relaunched five races ago.
Full Story
Is Trump going to war with Venezuela?
A US airstrike off the Venezuelan coast on 2 September was the first of a series of attacks on what Donald Trump calls “narco-terrorists”. Who is pushing Trump to send the US navy to Venezuela? The Guardian’s global affairs correspondent Andrew Roth and the Guardian’s Latin America correspondent Tom Phillips discuss with Annie Kelly.
Listen to the episode here.

Before bed read
As newly released emails suggest Donald Trump knew about Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct, Washington DC bureau chief David Smith turns his eye on the White House press secretary for the US politics sketch.
Karoline Leavitt’s latest performance was “fabulously audacious”, he writes. “What might have been a wretched, career-threatening crisis for any another political leader became just another passing storm in the room. Leavitt did not break sweat.”
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: MEG. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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