Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s headlines. If you’d like to receive this briefing by email, sign up here.
Top story: Trump blames media ‘hostility’ after bombing attempts
Donald Trump turned to a familiar scapegoat as it emerged that a series of pipe bombs had been sent to senior Democrats and other prominent critics of his administration this week. The media, he told a campaign rally in Wisconsin, has “a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility”. Calling for peace and harmony, the president urged those “in the political arena” to “stop treating political opponents as morally defective.” It was unclear whether he included his own rhetoric in that assessment.
‘Terrorizing acts’. Trump promised a “major federal investigation”, yet the White House declined to label the attempted bombings as “terrorism”.
Antisemitism. George Soros was the first target of the mail bombs, just as the US right’s demonisation of the liberal billionaire reached new depths.
Mohammed bin Salman calls Khashoggi murder a ‘heinous crime’
The Saudi crown prince has insisted “justice will prevail” after the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in which several members of the prince’s security staff have been implicated. Speaking in Riyadh at the investor conference known as “Davos in the Desert”, Bin Salman described Khashoggi’s death as a “heinous crime”, breaking a three-week silence on a murder many observers believe he ordered.
‘Blood on his hands’. Turkish officials have suggested they will release further information incriminating the Saudi state in the murder, if King Salman does not move to punish the crown prince.
White House wants to remove ‘gender’ from UN documents
US diplomats have sought to excise the word “gender” from United Nations policy documents during recent meetings of the third committee, which deals with “social, humanitarian and cultural” rights. In most cases the US mission called for “gender” to be replaced with “woman”, erasing what the Trump administration claims is politically correct language that reflects an “ideology” of treating gender as a choice.
Transgender rights. Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said this was in line with the Trump administration’s “broad strategy of erasing transgender people’s existence across the federal government”.
All-male dining club ties Kavanaugh to Trump’s solicitor general
The new supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh and the US solicitor general, Noel Francisco, were members of the same all-male dining club, according to emails obtained by the Guardian. Kavanaugh and Francisco attended the monthly Eureka Club dinners together from 2001 to 2003, and counted each other as close professional friends. Now solicitor general, Francisco will argue cases before the supreme court on behalf of the Trump administration.
Eureka Club. Named after Ronald Reagan’s alma mater, the club’s members also included a lawyer who now advises Rupert Murdoch and the author of the George W Bush-era “torture memos”.
Crib sheet
Shares listed on Asia-Pacific stock markets have plunged, wiping billions from company values and stoking fears for the global economy. The falls follow the worst day for Wall Street’s tech stocks since 2011.
A wave of rebel and militia attacks on health officials tackling an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has led to a surge in reported cases of the virus.
Irish voters are poised to scrap a clause in the country’s constitution that makes blasphemy a criminal act, in a referendum that would further weaken the influence of the Catholic church in Ireland.
A recording of a mother’s voice is far more effective at waking a sleeping child in an emergency than a traditional smoke alarm, US researchers have found.
Atlanta week: black entrepreneurs take on Silicon Valley
Continuing our series of in-depth reports from Atlanta this week, Julia Carrie Wong meets the tech entrepreneurs helping turn the Georgian city into the black Silicon Valley: “If there was a Wakanda, this is it.”
Must-reads
The untold story of River Phoenix – 25 years after his death
The actor is still remembered for the precocious talent he displayed before his life was cut short, 25 years ago. Hadley Freeman hears Phoenix’s story from those who knew him, including – for the first time – his girlfriend, Samantha Mathis.
Tommy Robinson and the far-right’s new playbook
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, the English far-right leader who goes by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson, uses extremist tactics increasingly common to nationalists worldwide: loudly invade the mainstream, while claiming to have been silenced. Daniel Trilling reports.
Is the true crime genre running out of material, or evolving?
Making a Murderer and Serial are back, while satirical true crime series are proving almost as popular the real thing. Is the genre enjoying its last gasp, asks Stuart Jeffries, or is it still in a golden age?
Opinion
The news that pipe bombs were sent to several of Trump’s Democratic opponents had an air of inevitability, says Jill Abramson. After all, the president has personally endorsed political violence.
Rather than stoking the hate, the president needs to recognize the terrible recklessness of his own rhetoric.
Sport
The Red Sox have taken a 2-0 lead in the World Series as they head to Game 3 in Los Angeles, where the Dodgers are in desperate need of a home win.
Tennis: Novak Djokovic could cap a remarkable resurrection next week, writes Kevin Mitchell. If the Serb wins the last tournament of the season, he’ll end the year at No 1 for the first time since 2015.
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