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: News cycle ‘turns my stomach’, says Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama has written of the dismay she felt upon learning that Donald Trump would succeed her husband as president. In her memoir, Becoming, Obama describes the moment the 2016 election results began to turn in Trump’s favour. “I felt something leaden take hold in my stomach just then, my anxiety hardening into dread,” she recalls. “I will always wonder about what led so many women, in particular, to reject an exceptionally qualified female candidate and instead choose a misogynist as their president.”
Early days. In an exclusive extract from Becoming, Obama recalls her struggle with her new identity in the early days of her marriage: “I wanted to have a work life and a home life, but with some promise that one would never fully squelch the other.”
Talking points. David Smith picks out five key takeaways from Obama’s memoir, including her miscarriage and IVF treatment, her doubts about Barack Obama’s presidential ambitions, and her meetings with the Queen.
Camp fire becomes California’s deadliest with 42 people killed
The Camp fire in northern California has killed at least 42 people, making it the deadliest and most destructive conflagration in the state’s history. The fire has cast an eerie glow over the Bay Area, raising fears about unhealthy air quality. Two people have also died in the Woolsey fire near Los Angeles, with more than 150,000 people displaced around the state and 228 still unaccounted for, according to the authorities.
Climate change. The Guardian’s environment reporter, Oliver Milman, examines the cause and effect of the California fires, and asks whether climate change is to blame.
Democrat Kyrsten Sinema wins Arizona Senate seat
After a lengthy vote count in one of the country’s most closely watched midterm Senate races, the Democrat Kyrsten Sinema has beaten the Republican congresswoman Martha McSally to become Arizona’s first female senator. The result is a watershed for a state that has not elected a Democrat to an open senate seat since 1976. Sinema, who will be the first openly bisexual member of Congress, has cast herself as an independent in the tradition of the late Arizona senator John McCain.
Democratic priorities. Democrats have announced their first priorities for January, when they reclaim control of the House: political reforms include campaign finance regulation and automatic voter registration.
Stan Lee dies at 95: fans remember Marvel’s main man
Fans, friends and film stars have paid tribute to the comics writer and pop culture titan Stan Lee, who died on Monday aged 95. The co-creator of such classic superheroes as Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Daredevil and the X-Men, Lee continued to contribute to the Marvel universe throughout his later life, making cameo appearances in almost every Marvel movie to date.
Marvellous memories. Do you have any special memories of Stan Lee or his superhero creations? Share them with us here.
Crib sheet
Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza have locked themselves into an escalating firefight, launching scores of bombings and reprisal attacks in violence sparked by a botched Israeli special forces raid on Sunday evening.
Satellite images have revealed North Korea is maintaining at least a dozen missile launch sites, suggesting Trump’s diplomatic efforts with Kim Jong-un have led to little in the way of genuine disarmament.
Harvard and MIT are reconsidering their ties to Saudi Arabia following the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi; both are among dozens of US universities to which the Saudi regime has donated more than $350m since 2011.
Pabst Blue Ribbon, the lager beloved by hipsters, is locked in a legal dispute with its rival beer manufacturer MillerCoors, which could leave Pabst without a place to brew.
Must-reads
What’s behind the plastic backlash?
Plastic is a ubiquitous feature of modern life. But around 2016, the world was suddenly gripped by plastic panic: protests, petitions and government policies, all aimed at a reduction in plastic packaging. What’s behind the backlash, asks Stephen Buranyi, and will it make any difference?
Can memory athletes teach us to remember things in the digital age?
In a world where Google stands in for our memories, many are worried that humans will simply lose the ability to retain information. Daniel Lavelle meets the memory athletes who could show us how to get it back.
Sleaze, hustlers and strippers: Jane Dickson’s lost Times Square
The artist and photographer Jane Dickson lived in downtown New York in the 1970s, where she recorded the grimy, neon-lit subcultures of Times Square. Sean O’Hagan spoke to her about her new book, which chronicles what she calls “an electric time”.
Venezuelan migrants living in the Caribbean shadows
At least 3 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015 to escape its collapse into political repression, violent crime and economic chaos. Sixteen thousand of them are living undocumented on the small Caribbean island of Curaçao, Bram Ebus reports.
Opinion
Millions of Uighur Muslims have in effect been imprisoned in their own homeland in China. Their oppression by the Communist party cannot continue to go unchallenged, says Timothy Grose.
The world remains largely unaware of this crisis or is unwilling to speak out about it for fear of possible political or economic consequences. But we must present a united voice of condemnation.
Sport
Jonathan Klinsmann, the son of the German soccer star Jürgen Klinsmann, has been called up to the USA squad for two forthcoming friendlies. The 21-year-old goalkeeper’s mother is American and he grew up in California.
Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana have drawn the first three games of their best-of-12 world championship chess match, the first time the world’s top two players have contested a world title since Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov faced each other for the last time in 1990.
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