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: Storm ‘like atomic bomb’ savages Florida and Georgia
Hurricane Michael carved a destructive path through Florida and into Georgia on Thursday, leaving at least six people dead and bringing fresh flooding to areas of North and South Carolina that are still recovering from Hurricane Florence in September. Florida was worst hit, with several waterfront communities destroyed by a 14ft storm surge and sustained winds of up to 155mph, before Michael was downgraded to a tropical storm.
- Moving inland. Jamiles Lartey spoke to residents in Marianna, Florida, who had hoped being inland would protect them from the worst effects of the storm. No such luck.
- Red tide. Biologists fear the storm surge carried a hidden danger: the toxin that causes Florida’s infamous “red tide” algae blooms, which can trigger respiratory problems and flu-like symptoms.
Trump refuses to halt Saudi arms sales over Khashoggi case
Donald Trump has said US investigators are looking into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul – but that whatever their findings, they will not prevent the US pursuing lucrative arms deals with the Saudis. It has been alleged that Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Riyadh regime, was murdered inside the consulate, drawing scrutiny on the close relationship between the Trump administration and the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
- Bad business. Sir Richard Branson has suspended business talks with the Saudis over the affair, while the Economist and New York Times pulled out of a Saudi investor conference known as Davos in the desert.
Beto O’Rourke leaves no stone unturned in Texas senate race
Beto O’Rourke, the charismatic Democrat making a spirited, long-shot attempt at unseating the Texas senator, Ted Cruz, in the November midterms, is known for his attention to detail. So perhaps it should not be entirely surprising that, after he read a story in the Guardian about Sebastian Esquivel, a Latino man who felt the Texas race “doesn’t really matter”, O’Rourke cold-called Esquivel to help him register to vote.
- Dirty tricks. Two young Republicans in Arizona posed as communists and tried to make a donation to a Democratic congressman in an apparent attempt to smear him before the midterms.
Bitter election brings wave of political violence to Brazil
The two remaining contenders in Brazil’s contentious presidential election have called for calm after a series of stabbings, beatings and at least one murder related to politics. Journalists and members of the LGBT community have reportedly been targeted by supporters of the far-right frontrunner, Jair Bolsonaro, who was stabbed on the campaign trail in September.
- Bannon ties. Bolsonaro, known as the “tropical Trump”, has denied claims of links between his campaign and former White House strategist Steve Bannon, who was pictured with Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo in August.
Crib sheet
- Kanye West visited the Oval Office on Thursday, where he likened his Make America Great Again hat to a Superman cape and claimed Trump was on a “hero’s journey” – much to the president’s apparent delight. Here are the bizarre highlights.
- Oil could soon hit $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014, a price rise driven by pending Iranian sanctions and the political crisis in Venezuela.
- The writer Stephen Elliot, who was named on a list of Shitty Media Men published last year at the height of the #MeToo moment, has filed a $1.5m defamation suit against the list’s creator.
- The English town Windsor is hosting its second royal wedding of the year, as Princess Eugenie prepares to tie the knot with the tequila brand ambassador Jack Brooksbank on Friday.
Must-reads
What Freudian theory can teach us about Trumpism
On the day after Trump’s presidential election triumph in 2016, the psychotherapist Gary Greenberg and his patients could speak of nothing else. Two years later, he examines how Freudian theory might explain the success of the “Trumpian con”.
Camila Cabello interview: from Harmony to Havana
Camila Cabello, the singer behind the inescapable single Havana, won four American Music Awards this week. She tells Rebecca Nicholson how she emerged from the girl group Fifth Harmony to become a star in her own right.
The online community dedicated to watching people die
There are 425,000 subscribers to the sub-Reddit Watch People Die, which is devoted to sharing videos and GIFs of horrific, violent and tragic deaths. Kieran Dahl asks why so many people seem to enjoy such grim content.
Can climate activists create a ‘green wave’ at the midterms?
The environment rarely figures high on a list of voters’ concerns. The Environmental Voter Project campaign group intends to change that by driving millions who care about climate change to the ballot box in November. Oliver Milman reports.
Opinion
The journalist Jose Antonio Vargas outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in an essay for the New York Times in 2011. The media coverage and public knowledge of immigration remains pitiful, he says.
The news media is running out of time in chronicling a demographic makeover unlike anything this country has ever seen. The estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants don’t live on an island unto ourselves … You cannot separate the documented from the undocumented population.
Sport
Three years after their worst finish at a major tournament, the US women’s national soccer team are marching towards the 2019 Women’s World Cup. Caitlin Murray finds out how coach Jill Ellis reinvented the squad.
Aaron Rodgers may be the most talented NFL quarterback of all time, says Oliver Connolly. So why have the Green Bay Packers frittered away his prime?
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