Pentagon to draw down border troops after ‘political stunt’ ... Ivanka Trump used personal email for government business ... Rain forces California fire refugees to flee makeshift camp

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

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Top story: Arms sales give US leverage over Riyadh, says report

Donald Trump vastly exaggerated the importance of US arms sales to Saudi Arabia amid the furore over the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The president has estimated defence sales to the Saudi regime at $110bn and said they would generate up to 600,000 jobs. In fact, according to a report by the Center for International Policy, the value of US arms sales to Saudi Arabia since Trump took office is $14.5bn, accounting for just 20,000 US jobs per year and giving Washington far more leverage over Riyadh than vice versa.

Special relationship. The report raises questions over Trump’s continued support for the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, despite the CIA’s conclusion that he personally ordered Khashoggi’s murder.

Government report. Trump has said a government report on Khashoggi’s killing, including possible options for the US response, will be published on Tuesday.

Donald Trump to draw down border troops after ‘political stunt’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Soldiers from the 19th Engineer Battalion install barbed-wire fences on the banks of the Rio Grande. Photograph: Thomas Watkins/AFP/Getty Images

Trump also vastly exaggerated the situation at the US-Mexico border – or so it appears, after reports that the president is poised to withdraw the troops he sent to guard it as part of a midterms campaign centred on immigration scaremongering. The Pentagon had deployed about 5,900 troops to prevent an “invasion” by a migrant caravan from Central America, which is now the subject of protests in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.

Asylum clampdown. A federal judge has barred the Trump administration from refusing asylum to immigrants who cross the southern border illegally.

Ivanka Trump used personal email for government business

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ivanka Trump discharging her government duties at the US Capitol in Washington DC. Photograph: Pablo Martínez Monsiváis/AP

The president’s daughter and close adviser, Ivanka Trump, used a personal email account to conduct government business, a spokesman confirmed, following a Washington Post report on Monday. The revelation instantly prompted widespread accusations of hypocrisy, given that her father spent much of his 2016 presidential campaign arguing for his opponent, Hillary Clinton, to be “locked up” for a similar offence.

Acosta business. The White House has said it will reinstate the CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s “hard” press pass and will not revoke it when a 14-day court order expires, as previously threatened.

Rain forces California fire refugees to flee makeshift camp

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Camp fire evacuees at a temporary encampment in a Walmart parking lot in Chico, California. Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

Some of the 52,000 people displaced by the deadly California wildfires have been advised to flee their makeshift camp near the town of Paradise, after rain threatened to cause flooding and mudslides in the area this week. Dani Anguiano reports from Chico, where evacuees from the Camp fire are living in tents in a Walmart parking lot.

Death toll. The death toll from the Camp fire in northern California rose to 79 on Monday, but the number of people unaccounted for was revised down to 699 – 600 fewer than previously feared.

Crib sheet

A gunman killed three people including a police officer at a Chicago hospital on Monday. The suspected assailant also died in the shooting .

New York City’s subway and bus services have entered a “death spiral”, observers say, becoming so unreliable that many people have stopped using them, thus leaving the MTA without the fares needed to improve the service.

Donald Trump is expected to pardon two Thanksgiving turkeys – Peas and Carrots – at a White House ceremony on Tuesday.

The price of bitcoin has plunged by almost 30% in the past week, as other cryptocurrencies also continue to decline.

Listen to Today in Focus: Pakistan’s blasphemy laws

Asia Bibi ended up on death row after falling foul of Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws. Despite her acquittal, she is still in fear for her life. Memphis Barker and Harriet Sherwood trace her story from the village fields near Lahore to its profound impact across Pakistan.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Grand theft auto: the ride-share gig, gamified. Illustration: Alamy/Guardian Design Team

High score, low pay: the gamification of the gig economy

After Sarah Mason signed up as a Lyft driver to fill a gap between traditional jobs, she grew obsessed with boosting her driver scores. In the gig economy, where workers are almost entirely guided and graded by their screens, she learned everything can be gamified.

HBO’s ‘intimacy coordinator’: how to film a sex scene

When the actor Emily Meade asked for an on-set advocate to oversee her sex scenes in The Deuce, HBO hired Alicia Rodis, an “intimacy coordinator”. “Doing these scenes is uncomfortable,” Rodis tells Alexandra Villareal. “We want to make sure everyone’s safe.”

How tourists are loving our national parks to death

Some of America’s most precious public lands are being overrun by Instagrammers. The Guardian reports in collaboration with the Denver Post, the Missoulian, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle on how seven sites have been affected.

Afghan wrestling coach fights on after losing an arm to Isis

Ghulam Abbas has taught wrestling at his Kabul gym for more than 30 years. When he lost his arm in an Isis attack, he never doubted he would return. “Before, I was very good at showing students the throws, but now I have to tell them to practise with other boys,” he tells Memphis Barker.

Opinion

The immense economic power of Silicon Valley is stifling innovation and contaminating politics, argues Robert Reich, the former US labor secretary. We must treat the tech giants of the 21st Century like the robber barons of the 20th, and break them up.

America responded to the Gilded Age’s abuses of corporate power with antitrust laws that allowed the government to break up the largest concentrations.

Sport

With four years to go before it hosts its improbable, controversial World Cup, Qatar’s preparations for the world’s most-watched sporting event are surprisingly on track. But after several days in Doha, David Conn remains skeptical about Fifa’s decision to award the tournament to this small, sweltering, deeply segregated nation.

In a victory for animal rights campaigners, Florida has voted to phase out greyhound racing, leaving just five states where the sport remains legal. Dave Caldwell charts its slow, steady decline.

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