Good morning, I’m Tim Walker, signing off for 2018 with today’s essential stories. The briefing will be back with all of next year’s most important and interesting news and features from 7 January. In the meantime, have a very happy holiday season.
Top story: has the last proverbial adult left the White House?
The US defense secretary, James Mattis, has said he will step down a day after Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of US forces from Syria, and amid reports he has also ordered the return of almost half of the country’s troops in Afghanistan. Trump described Mattis’s exit as retirement, but the general’s resignation letter suggested his decision came as a result of irreconcilable policy differences. Observers fear Mattis was the last of Trump’s top officials with the heft to restrain his more dangerous tendencies.
‘A second 9/11’. The Republican senator Lindsey Graham has said that if Trump goes ahead with plans to withdraw more than 5,000 of the 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan, he will be “paving the way toward a second 9/11”.
Wrong man, right move? Trump’s Syria decision has angered many Republicans, pundits and foreign allies, but Trevor Timm says it’s right to end an indefinite, under-reported and counter-productive US occupation.
Shutdown back on as Trump reiterates border demands
Having backed down on Wednesday from his demand that Congress fund his passion project, the US-Mexico border wall, Trump said on Thursday that would not sign the Senate’s stopgap funding bill after all, sending the government lurching back towards a shutdown. The house scrambled to pass a remade spending bill that includes $5.7bn for border security, but it is unclear whether the Senate can review and pass the legislation and get it to the president’s desk before the deadline of midnight on Friday.
Media manipulation. Trump’s change of heart came after stinging criticism from conservative commentators including Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, both supporters of the wall.
Shutdown breakdown. What exactly would the partial government shutdown entail? Erin Durkin explains.
Flights resume at London Gatwick after drone disruption
A small number of flights started taking off from London Gatwick, the UK’s second-largest airport, on Friday morning, after 36 hours of unprecedented disruption caused by one or more drones being flown close to the runway. About 110,000 passengers had their flights grounded on Thursday, and at least 100 of Friday’s 753 scheduled flights are also expected to be cancelled. Police have yet to identify the drone or its operator, but the UK’s transport secretary said the perpetrator would face a substantial jail sentence if caught.
Environmental protest? The airport closure was welcomed by local campaigners against aircraft noise, and police said it was possible the drone attack had been an environmental protest.
Can criminal justice reform rehabilitate Kushner?
The president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has become accustomed to negative headlines about his conflicts of interest, his close relationship with the controversial Saudi government and his naive approach to forging peace in the Middle East. But he has earned praise on all sides for his work on the First Step Act, a meaningful overhaul of criminal justice and a personal issue for the son of a convicted felon. Is it enough to salvage his reputation? David Smith reports.
Bipartisan effort. Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband, enlisted the help of the ACLU, the Koch brothers’ network, former Obama adviser Van Jones and Kim Kardashian West in garnering support for the criminal justice bill.
Crib sheet
Fearful of deportation in today’s political climate, undocumented parents are increasingly scared to enroll their US citizen children in benefit programmes that provide essential food, vaccinations and other services, immigration experts have said.
Officials in New York City say they have seen a marked increase in the number of complaints about rats from residents in recent years, as milder winters brought on by climate change help the rodents to feed and mate for longer each year.
Randy Bryce, aka Iron Stache, the progressive former ironworker who almost won Paul Ryan’s former House seat for Democrats at the midterms, is launching a national campaign to attract more working-class candidates to run for office.
Two Chinese nationals, known by online aliases such as Godkiller and Axtreep, have been charged by US prosecutors with “campaigns of global intrusion” over state-sponsored cyber-attacks on US companies and government agencies.
Must-reads
Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma: the Guardian’s film of the year
As the Guardian’s film team votes Alfonso Cuarón’s autobiographical masterpiece, Roma, the best film of 2018, the Mexican director tells Simon Hattenstone it took him almost a year to find and cast its remarkable star, the non-professional newcomer Yalitza Aparicio.
A new year’s resolution: eat less meat
Many scientists have concluded that the best way for people to combat climate change is by eating less meat, given the vast impact of the livestock industry on the natural environment. Our writers explain how to go meat-free without alienating friends and family, and offer a selection of satisfying vegetarian and vegan recipes.
How the UAE is profiting from civil war in Yemen
Saudi Arabia may be taking the blame for the bloodiness of Yemen’s civil war, but the most aggressive member of the coalition against the Houthi rebels is the United Arab Emirates. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad reports on how a small, ambitious nation is using the world’s worst humanitarian crisis to project its power on the region.
The hi-vis vest becomes a symbol of protest beyond France
Since the gilets jaunes protests began in France in October, the hi-vis yellow vest has become a symbol of protest from Canada to Iraq. Jon Henley explains how the cheap garments have given their wearers’ grievances higher visibility around the world.
Opinion
Robert Morrison has spent more than three decades working at a Siemens-owned turbine plant in Burlington, Iowa, which will close its doors forever on Friday at the cost of 125 jobs. When he visited the town in 2015, Trump vowed to bring jobs back. That, writes Morrison, was “another damned lie”.
Trump promised to save our jobs and fight for workers. But he’s done nothing to stop the layoffs. In fact, he’s made the problem worse.
Sport
For his first game in charge of Manchester United, caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær will return to Cardiff City, the club that sacked him in 2014. That’s one of 10 things to watch out for in this weekend’s Premier League action.
Until recently, the Cleveland Browns were an NFL punchline. Now, thanks in large part to their quarterback, Baker Mayfield, the Browns are back in the game, writes Oliver Connolly.
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