China demands release of arrested Huawei executive ... George W Bush delivers emotional eulogy as Washington mourns his father ... Are we already reading the Mueller report?

Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.

Top story: sweeping bill strips new governor’s powers

Republican state lawmakers in Wisconsin have been accused of subverting democracy after passing a bill designed to weaken the incoming Democratic governor, Tony Evers, who dislodged Scott Walker at last month’s midterms. The bill was passed on Wednesday in a lame duck session, despite widespread outrage, and sent to Walker’s desk, where he has indicated he will sign it before leaving office in January. The outgoing governor was later booed at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in the state capitol.

Blue wave. The bill also limits the powers of the state’s incoming attorney general, the Democrat Josh Kaul. Democrats won all six of Wisconsin’s statewide positions at the midterms.

China demands release of arrested Huawei executive

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A profile of Huawei’s finance chief, Meng Wanzhou, displayed on a Huawei computer at a store in Beijing. Photograph: Ng Han Guan/AP

The arrest of a top Chinese executive in Canada, reportedly in connection with alleged violations of US sanctions on Iran, has sent panic through the markets and threatened a major diplomatic incident amid ongoing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. China has demanded the immediate release of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, who is the daughter of the founder of the Chinese telecoms giant. Meng was detained in Vancouver on Saturday and faces extradition to the US.

Trade truce. China has said it will “immediately” implement measures agreed under its trade war “truce” with the US, after a meeting between Donald Trump and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping.

Dropped connections. The UK telecoms group BT has said it will remove Huawei equipment from its network after the head of MI6 raised concerns about the Chinese firm’s involvement.

43 delivers emotional eulogy as Washington mourns 41

Play Video 3:24 The key moments from George HW Bush's funeral – video

George W Bush was at his most eloquent on Wednesday as he delivered a poignant, funny and – finally – tearful eulogy to his father and fellow former US president, George HW Bush, at the National Cathedral in Washington DC. The state of relations between the other living presidents were clear during the funeral: Trump exchanged a cursory handshake with Barack Obama as he took his seat in the front pew, while ignoring the Clintons altogether.

Era of civility? Unlike Trump, George HW Bush demonstrated that it was possible to be friends with your adversaries. But, asks Zachary Woods, did that excuse his political shortcomings?

Are we already reading the Mueller report?

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mueller has already started to reveal his findings piece by piece. Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc

With new details of Robert Mueller’s dealings with Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen emerging in recent days, the story of Russia and the Trump campaign is already being revealed in dribs and drabs. Tom McCarthy asks whether the special prosecutor’s criminal indictments, sentencing memoranda and other official filings are in fact the first chapters of the Mueller report, being published as a serial instead of a single doorstop volume.

Charge sheet Here’s our updated list of those Russians and Trump associates already charged or identified as persons of interest by Mueller’s inquiry.

Crib sheet

Listen to Today in Focus: why are millions fleeing Venezuela?

The political crisis in Venezuela has become a humanitarian one, with millions fleeing a country in economic freefall. Two decades after Hugo Chávez was elected – and five years since his death – Tom Phillips reports on a legacy in ruins.

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Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Afro-surrealism … from left, Atlanta, Until the Quiet Comes, Sorry to Bother You, Apeshit, Random Acts of Flyness, Hub Tones. Composite: REX

The new age of Afro-surrealism

From Atlanta to Apeshit, from the unhinged satire of Sorry to Bother You to the “unclassifiable” sketches of Random Acts of Flyness, black artists are expressing the absurdity of life in a racist society by embracing the disturbing and bizarre, writes Lanre Bakare.

My lifetime of back trouble

The author Maggie O’Farrell has suffered for years from chronic back pain, caused by a childhood illness and a belatedly diagnosed spinal injury. When you live with pain, she writes, “you need to be careful that your baseline for what’s acceptable doesn’t sink too low”.

How do we get to an antiracist America?

In our new series, Antiracism and America, the Guardian intends to shed light on the structures at the root of racial inequity, through the ideas of those focused on dismantling them. Today, a former prison inmate seeks progressive solutions for a broken justice system, a social services scholar exposes the racism in Chicago’s public schools policy, and Ibram X Kendi outlines what a truly antiracist America might look like.

Looking back on Schindler’s List at 25

Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust drama had a profound effect on critics and audiences. As Schindler’s List is granted a 25th anniversary rerelease, Pamela Hutchinson argues that the story it tells is more vital now than ever.

Opinion

Despite growing evidence that it causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, glyphosate remains one of the most widely used herbicides in the US. Worse than that, writes Erin Brockovich, it’s in our food.

Almonds, carrots, quinoa, soy products, vegetable oil, corn and corn oil, canola seeds used in canola oil, beets and beet sugar, sweet potatoes – these are just some of the foodstuffs which typically contain high levels of glyphosate.

Sport

Thai immigration authorities say Bahrain planned the arrest of the dissident footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi before he arrived in Thailand for a holiday. His troubling case is a test for Fifa’s new human rights policy, writes Minky Worden.

Washington’s apparent refusal to sign Colin Kaepernick, the most qualified quarterback free agent in football, shows he will never play in the NFL again, says Oliver Connolly.

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