Flynn faces sentencing as associate is charged ... Xi warns rival nations not to ‘dictate to’ China ... Civil rights groups call for Zuckerberg to stand down

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

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

Top story: Trump threatens Friday shutdown over $5bn demand

The prospect of a partial government shutdown is moving closer to reality as Donald Trump digs in on his demand for $5bn to fund his long-promised wall on the US-Mexico border. Democrats have offered to keep funding border security at the current level of $1.3bn and, despite his threat, the president lacks sufficient Republican votes in Congress to support his more costly plan. A shutdown beginning at midnight on Friday would itself cost billions.

Migrant children. More than 49,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended at the US border in 2018, most braving the risks of migration to escape a dangerous homeland. Sarah Kinosian and Amanda Holpuch report from Tijuana.

Flynn faces sentencing as associate is charged

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Michael Flynn’s former business partner, Bijan Rafiekian, has been indicted on charges including failing to register as a foreign agent. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn faces sentencing in federal court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI over his contacts with Russian officials following the 2016 election. Meanwhile, Flynn’s former business partner Bijan Rafiekian has been charged with illegally lobbying over the pair’s attempts to have the cleric Fethullah Gülen extradited from the US to Turkey.

Russian propaganda. Russian online propagandists targeted African Americans in an effort to suppress votes for Hillary Clinton – to Trump’s benefit – during the 2016 presidential election, new research has found.

Xi warns rival nations not to ‘dictate to’ China

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Xi Jinping delivers a speech to mark the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up in Beijing. Photograph: Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has issued a stern warning to other countries not to “dictate to” China, in a set-piece speech designed to bolster confidence in the country’s economy amid trade conflict with the US and widespread criticism of his government’s human rights abuses. Observers hoped Xi might use the address, which marked the 40th anniversary of China’s transition to a market economy, to announce economic reforms. But Xi insisted the Communist party’s strategy had been “absolutely correct”.

Defensive posture. Japan has announced plans to beef up its air and sea defences after expressing “strong concern” about Chinese military expansion in the Pacific.

Civil rights groups call for Zuckerberg to stand down

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a joint hearing of the commerce and judiciary committees. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP

More than two dozen civil rights groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center and MoveOn.org, have called on Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg to step down from their senior roles at Facebook after what they called the company’s years of involvement in “generating bigotry and hatred towards vulnerable communities”. The 29 groups sent a joint letter to Zuckerberg, the firm’s founder and CEO, on Monday night, demanding “significant changes” to the company’s leadership and policies.

Silicon Nation. Google has announced plans for a new $1bn headquarters in New York City, following similar recent expansions beyond Silicon Valley by Apple and Amazon.

Crib sheet

Brazil’s most prominent indigenous leader has urged the EU to impose trade sanctions on her country, to prevent an ecological disaster and a “social extermination” by her country’s far-right president-elect, Jair Bolsonaro , who takes office in January.

A international human rights body has called for an immediate ban on the use of high-powered electric shocks to punish severely disabled children at a school in Massachusetts.

The former model and actor Christina Engelhardt has claimed she began a secret sexual relationship with Woody Allen in the mid-1970s, when she was below the legal age of consent of 17 in New York state.

A judge in Missouri has ordered a poacher to watch the Disney classic Bambi at least once a month in jail, as part of his punishment for illegally killing hundreds of deer.

Listen to Today in Focus: the end of the Sicilian mafia?

The man thought to be the head of the Cosa Nostra has been arrested, less than a year after the death in prison of Salvatore Riina, the so-called “boss of the bosses”. On today’s podcast, author Clare Longrigg says the Sicilian mafia has been left in disarray.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Awards favourites: Rachel Weisz, Olivia Colman and Emma Stone. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

‘Awards chat makes me sick’: the stars of The Favourite

Olivia Colman plays Queen Anne, with Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz as courtiers vying for her affection in awards contender The Favourite. All three stars spoke to Catherine Shoard about rivalry, royalty and the Oscar race.

What military service taught me about America

Lyle Jeremy Rubin commanded more than 80 US Marines in Afghanistan. His experience of military service was a “torrent of ghastly revelations”, he writes, which gave him a keen awareness of American’s violent tendencies.

An insider calls out the ‘charade’ of elite do-gooding

When Anand Giridharadas was invited to speak to “change-makers” at Aspen in 2015, he told them their philanthropic efforts were less about changing the world than about maintaining their place among its elite. As he publishes a book based on that stinging insider critique, Giridharadas speaks to the Guardian’s Lucia Graves.

Fallen metropolis: the collapse of Caracas

It was once the jewel of Latin America: a thriving, glamorous city fuelled by oil money and feted for its food, its art and its nightlife. But after years of hyperinflation, food shortages and rising crime, Venezuela’s capital is becoming a ghost town. Tom Phillips reports.

Opinion

The Christmas card is in sharp decline. Helen Cullen urges parents to encourage their children to take up the tradition, to remind them of the true spirit of the season.

I have kept all the Christmas cards my mother has ever sent me. They are as consistent as her love, and those little gestures across a lifetime can become the glue that holds relationships together when families are apart.

Sports

Jose Mourinho has been sacked as manager of Manchester United after the club’s 3-1 defeat to Premier League leaders Liverpool, which leaves United 19 points adrift of the top spot.

For decades, the most precious resource in the NFL has been the stud quarterback: a player who promises to win Super Bowls almost single-handedly. But with the passing game getting easier, says Devin Gordon, young QBs are in danger of being overrated.

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