Top story: Democrats win House, Republicans tighten Senate grip

Hello, it’s Warren Murray ensuring you are fully informed this morning.

Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives after the US midterm elections, with the Senate remaining in the hands of the Republicans who are on track to increase their majority in the upper house. Our live coverage continues this morning. The changeover in the House is significant because Democrats will have the ability to investigate Donald Trump – including the power to subpoena the administration and go after his tax returns – as well as frustrating his agenda. Nancy Pelosi, set to return to the role of House speaker, said Democrats would use their newly won majority to pursue a bipartisan agenda for a country that has had “enough of division”. She received a congratulatory call from Donald Trump.

Among notable victories, the Republicans’ Ted Cruz is still senator for Texas after seeing off a challenge by the insurgent Beto O’Rourke of the Democrats. Mitt Romney – the former Republican presidential candidate, Massachusetts governor and Trump critic – has been elected senator for his home state of Utah. The midterm campaign has featured a diverse field of history-making candidates, a number of whom are now bound for office. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat, has become the youngest woman elected to the House by winning the 14th congressional district of New York. Two Democrats, Sylvia Garcia, from Houston, and Veronica Escobar, from El Paso, have become the first Hispanic women from Texas to be elected to the House. Here are more of the key results.

Play Video 0:57 'A better world is possible': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez elected to Congress – video

Democrats have picked up a number of state governorships and firsts. In Colorado, Jared Polis will become the first gay man to lead a US state. In Kansas, Laura Kelley defeated Kris Kobach, who served in Donald Trump’s so-called voter fraud commission. In Illinois, Juliana Stratton won a position as lieutenant governor, the first black woman to hold that position.

Wave of stabbings after school – Exit times at secondary schools should be staggered to reduce the risk of children being stabbed on their way home, NHS trauma doctors have warned. Tributes have been paid to a 16-year-old boy who died in front of his parents in the fifth fatal stabbing in London in six days. The Met has put hundreds of extra officers on the streets in response. An analysis of stabbings across England has found a large proportion of incidents involving children happen straight after school, either close to the school or near home. “When I started as a surgical trainee 20 years ago, the youngest person we would see who had been stabbed was 17. But now it can be as young as 12 or 13. That happens not infrequently,” said Prof Karim Brohi, director of the NHS trauma system in London. Consultant trauma surgeon Dr Martin Griffiths presents a simultaneously clinical and harrowing explanation of how stabbing victims are getting younger and their wounds more numerous and serious.

Midweek catch-up: Let’s top you off there …

> Keir Starmer, Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, will warn about the risks of a “blind Brexit” as he attends talks with EU officials in Brussels today. A supposed leaked Downing Street PR schedule to sell an eventual Brexit deal is causing mirth.

> Six men have been released under investigation over the burning of an effigy of Grenfell Tower. Video footage caused distress and anger when it circulated online.

> The bodies of two men and two women have been found in the rubble of a pair of run-down buildings that collapsed in Marseille, France. A search is continuing.

> Zizzi restaurant has reopened in Salisbury, eight months after having to close because Sergei and Yulia Skripal ate there after being poisoned. The US is planning further sanctions against Russia for using chemical weapons.

> The alleged IRA bomber John Downey has been remanded in custody by a Dublin court to face extradition proceedings. Downey, who avoided trial for the 1982 Hyde Park bombing, is accused of another fatal attack in Northern Ireland a decade earlier.

Mystery millions – Police have arrested a woman who spent more than £16m at Harrods over a 10-year period and obtained an £11.5m property in Knightsbridge, central London, while refusing to tell authorities how she came into such wealth. Zamira Hajiyeva made a failed appeal against action by the National Crime Authority and now faces extradition to Azerbaijan. Her husband, Jahangir Hajiyev, was jailed in 2016 for embezzling money from the International Bank of Azerbaijan. Jewellery worth £400,000 was seized from the auction house Christie’s in connection with NCA investigation. Hajiyeva has denied any wrongdoing.

Radical economists sought – Get out your free zones, your four-day working weeks, your digitally enabled garden cities of the future. A prize fund of £150,000 is being put up for radical ideas to revitalise the British economy. Growth figures revealed at the budget show economic growth in the UK has dropped to among the lowest levels in the G7, while inequality has risen. The IPPR economics prize – supported by the prominent Labour donor and Brexit campaigner John Mills – comprises a main award of £100,000, a dedicated under-25s prize worth £25,000 and a runners-up prize pot of £25,000. The Briefing has an idea to beat them all. Don’t do Brexit. (Judges: happy for you to divvy up the prize money between the others.)

Widely recycled – “Single-use” has been selected as the Collins dictionary word of the year. Fairly sure the Briefing has used it more than once.

Today in Focus podcast: Universal credit – too big to fail?

This week the government revealed its plan to fix some of the problems associated with the rollout of its flagship welfare policy. But how did universal credit end up in such a mess? The Guardian’s social policy editor, Patrick Butler, runs through the troubled history of the biggest reform to benefits since the creation of the welfare state.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A July 2017 protest in London against benefit caps and sanctions. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Lunchtime read: Superstar ballerina’s mission for change

When Misty Copeland discovered ballet she was 13, living with her mother and siblings in a motel in California. “It was the first thing I’d ever experienced in my life that was mine – only mine, not my five other siblings’.” Twenty-three years later, she became the first black female principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre – as well as spokesperson, poster girl, adviser to Barack Obama and bona fide star.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Misty Copeland. Photograph: Danielle Levitt/The Observer

Now Copeland is dancing in Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, a cinema revamp of the Christmas favourite starring Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman. Copeland plays a ballerina in the land of toys come to life. The film, she says, gives more depth to a story “that can seem very light and cheesy”, and has a feminist slant. If Disney, synonymous with the pretty princess myth, can drag itself into the 21st century on matters of gender and race, can’t ballet follow suit? “It’s scary for us to make change,” says Copeland. “It’s like, ‘Don’t fix what isn’t broken.’ But in my opinion, it is broken. The times are changing and we have to catch up. I think the more we bring in newer people with fresh ideas behind the scenes – artistic directors, choreographers – those things will change.”

Sport

Mauricio Pochettino still believes his Tottenham side can qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League after they scraped a vital victory over PSV Eindhoven at Wembley. Jürgen Klopp accused Liverpool of making life too easy for Red Star Belgrade and warned a repeat in their final two group games would jeopardise their Champions League aspirations.

England will seek to profit from Brad Shields’ inside knowledge of the All Blacks when the two sides meet at Twickenham on Saturday. Wales, who play Australia at the weekend, are being encouraged by their coach, Shaun Edwards, to tackle lower to ensure they are not caught by the clampdown on tackles above shoulder height and sent off. Manchester City are facing fresh allegations that they circumvented Uefa’s financial fair play rules – with claims the club saved millions by secretly setting up a shell company to pay players for their image rights. And Ben Foakes, who rescued England on his first day as a Test cricketer, said he was “planning a winter off” before he got the call to replace Jonny Bairstow in the side. Foakes resumes his innings on 87 when day two of the first Test gets under way in Galle – join the build-up at our live blog.

Business

Shares in Europe and Wall Street are expected to rise today despite some volatile swings on the financial markets as investors watched the midterm election results come in. Asian stocks were broadly up and most observers think the results cement the economic policies that Donald Trump has followed since his election, especially on trade with China where he can take more action without recourse to Congress.

The FTSE100 is seen rising 0.5% at the opening while the pound is at £1.313 and €1.145.

The papers

The Guardian’s lead story is “Change school closing times to curb stabbings, say doctors”. The Sun also splashes on knife crime, saying a 16-year-old has become the 250th person to die after being stabbed in the country this year: “We’re on a knife edge”. News of Brexit developments leads on the front of the i: “Emergency Cabinet meeting: ministers on standby” and the Telegraph, which says May has been accused of secretly lining up a Brexit deal behind the backs of her cabinet: “Leaked plan to sell Brexit deal to Britain”.

The Times splashes with a story about firms tasked with testing cladding banned from criticising PM: “Criticism of May banned in Grenfell safety deal”. The FT has more news about Brexit financier Arron Banks: “Banks’ group accused over illegal use of customer data in Brexit vote”. The Mirror reports on what it calls a “universal credit crisis” as a nine-year-old girl begged for work to support her family, under the headline “Mummy died, Daddy lost his job … can I get work sweeping floors”. The Express demands: “Give war widows pensions they deserve”, saying that 300 women have been denied their pensions because they remarried.

Sign up

The Guardian Morning Briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes bright and early every weekday. If you are not already receiving it by email, you can sign up here.

For more news: www.theguardian.com