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: can Democrats win back the Trump-Obama voter?
With the US off to the polls, prominent Democrats are predicting a “blue wave” that will carry them to a strong majority in the House. But to secure that victory, writes Henry Olsen, they will have to woo back the Obama-Trump voter. In the final hours of the midterms campaign, the national race has indeed come down to a tussle between Donald Trump’s pantomime-over-policy approach and the Democrats’ defence of Barack Obama’s legacy.
If you still trust the polls after 2016, the Democrats are favoured to win back the House but Republicans are likely to increase their majority in the Senate. Ben Jacobs and Sam Morris examine the key congressional races and the closest gubernatorial contests, while Adam Gabbatt explains how best to follow the results.
Conservative choice. Republican women chose Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Will they swing his way again, asks Sabrina Siddiqui.
Youth turnout. Survivors of the Parkland shooting have led a drive to increase youth participation with their “vote for our lives” campaign for stricter gun laws, writes Lois Beckett.
Bet on Beto? The Democrats’ superstar Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke has kept the pressure on Ted Cruz in the closing hours of their surprisingly close race, as Ed Pilkington reports from Texas.
Making history. A Muslim congresswoman? A transgender governor? An openly bisexual US senator? This could be a year of midterm firsts, explains Gabrielle Canon.
Trump administration unveils full extent of Iran sanctions
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has outlined in full the new US sanctions on Iran, targeting 50 banks and their subsidiaries, the national airline and 200 members of its shipping industry and vessels. Despite the Trump administration’s previous threats, however, the sanctions will not cut off the country’s oil industry completely, with eight of Iran’s biggest energy customers granted waivers to keep trading with the Islamic Republic, including large economies such as China, India, and Italy.
Brace for impact. Despite Pompeo’s insistence that the sanctions would not hurt ordinary Iranians, people in Tehran are preparing for the worst, reports Saeed Kamali Dehghan.
Facebook admits failings on spread of hate speech in Myanmar
A report commissioned by Facebook to examine its influence in Myanmar has concluded that the social network became a platform for “those seeking to spread hate and cause harm”. The company has admitted it did too little to prevent the incitement of violence and hate speech in Myanmar, where there are now 20 million Facebook users.
Hate speech. The Guardian reported in April that hate speech had exploded on Facebook during the Rohingya crisis in 2017. A UN fact-finding mission singled out the social network for facilitating the spread of anti-Muslim sentiment in Myanmar.
Crib sheet
Black-box data from the Lion Air plane that crashed in Indonesia last week has revealed the aircraft was hit by airspeed problems on its previous four flights.
Four death row inmates in Tennessee have requested to be executed by firing squad, a method currently allowed in just three states: Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah.
Rescuers in Marseille are still searching for up to eight people thought to be missing after a building collapse on Monday. The body of one man has already been recovered.
A New Zealand fisherman who thought a drowning toddler was a doll has been praised for plucking the 18-month-old boy from the water and saving his life.
Listen to Today in Focus: Britain’s role in Yemen
Three years into the civil war in Yemen, famine looms and millions are deprived of much-needed medical attention. The Guardian’s Middle East correspondent, Bethan McKernan, tells Anushka Asthana how British weapons play a role in the conflict.
Must-reads
The joy and power of being noisy and female
A big-voiced girl when she was growing up, Viv Groskop soon learned that “loud woman” was not a compliment. Now, she writes, modern feminism must ask what being loud means – and when to do it: ”Don’t make noise for the sake of it, but don’t shut up either.”
Inside the booming business of background music
Background music is remarkably powerful: it can affect how much time we think has passed while we queue, how friendly we feel to sales staff, even the taste of food in a restaurant. Jake Hulyer meets the people composing the soundtrack to our everyday lives.
Diane Lane: ‘One person’s bitch is another person’s hero’
As she prepares to feature in the final series of House of Cards, Diane Lane is happy to have reached an age when film-makers want her to play more than just a stereotype. “It’s a relief to be the protagonist instead of the girlfriend,” she tells Benjamin Lee.
Ramallah construction boom threatens the city’s heritage
These days, the sounds of construction often drown out the call to prayer on the streets of Ramallah. Tessa Fox asks whether rampant redevelopment is destroying the rich architectural heritage of the Palestinian city.
Opinion
The Beatles’ White Album was the soundtrack for 1968, a year of political darkness and disquiet across the west. Fifty years later, it’s a good fit for the troubled spirit of 2018, says John Harris.
Its songs may have been quintessentially of their time, but what’s striking about being immersed in them again is how pointedly they speak to ours.
Sport
The US Olympic Committee is taking steps to decertify USA Gymnastics as the governing body for the sport after a series of sexual assault scandals and reports of institutional dysfunction.
A month after Khabib Nurmagomedov beat Conor McGregor to retain his UFC title, his unofficial global victory tour has turned into a propaganda tool for authoritarian leaders including Vladimir Putin and the Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov. Karim Zidan reports.
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