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Good morning.
Here's what you need to know:
Dozens killed in California blazes
The wildfires raging across the state have created a double nightmare for residents:
As of Sunday night, the Fire Camp over 111,000 acres near the town of Paradise had killed 29 people, matching a 1933 blaze that was the deadliest in California history. Seven of the victims died in their vehicles.
And outside Los Angeles, a mbad evacuation from the Pacific Coast Highway, leaving at least two dead. That blaze is expected to worsen in the coming days. Our Climate reporters explain why the state has so many wildfires.
• Video: Footage of the destruction.
• Maps: Track the fires.
• How to help: Research before you donate.
Democrats plan a strategy
Winning control of the House may have been easy. Now the Democrats must find a way to execute their agenda while facing a president who disdains institutional norms. ("Do not chase every ball that he throws"
Among their first moves: demanding that President Trump 's acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, who said there was "no collusion" between the Trump campaign and Russia, recuse himself from overseeing the special investigative investigation.
• Elections checks: Gov. Rick Scott of Florida is challenging the handling of bullets in three states that are undergoing recounts. He says there is fraud, but the truth appears more complicated.
A Saudi badbadination plot
Last year, intelligence operatives from Saudi Arabia discussed to kill Iranian enemies of the kingdom, people familiar with the discussions told The Times.
The Disclosure indicates that Saudi Arabia has been badbadinated since the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has begun to consolidate power and has been dissident Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
It may be added to President Trump – who is ending air refueling flights to Saudi Arabia in Yemen – to take stronger punitive measures against the kingdom.
• Seeking answers: Prince Mohammed and his father, King Salman, for information on the Khashoggi killing, two days after Turkey said it had given recordings of the killing to Britain, the U.S. and other Western countries.
North Korea's weapons deception
President Trump has said that the North Korean nuclear threat is over. But this is not the case, but it has been previously established in the North as a nuclear missile.
At the same time, U.S. sanctions against Pyongyang are collapsing. That gives Secretary of State Mike Pompeo less leverage. (It's just one of many challenges he faces).
• The vice president in Japan: Mike Pence arrived in the country today for a two-day visit. He's scheduled to discuss North Korea's nuclear program with President Shinzo Abe.
Business
• "Nanoinfluencers" are the next frontier in corporate branding. They will typically say anything in exchange for free or small commissions.
• Hollywood is in crisis as it faces mega-mergers, the fallout from #MeToo, and Big Tech's march into entertainment, to reporter writes.
• Silicon Valley Yuval Noah Harari says, is undermining democracy. So why do tech chiefs love him?
• U.S. trade commission will submit a report this week on the impact of the agreement to replace Nafta. That's one of the headlines in "With Interest," our new business and tech newsletter. Sign up here.
• Speaking up on dementia
Sandra Day O'Connor, the retired Supreme Court justice, is a growing group of public figures make their diagnoses public.
• Canada's message on cannabis
Teenagers in the country use more marijuana than youths anywhere else in the world. The government hopes legalization will change that.
• Hunting for medicine in China
Terminally ill patients in the country often have to use drugs online.
• Quotation of the day
"These Democrats did not get elected, by and large, to war with Trump. They got elected to get some positive things done on health and economic issues. "
– David Axelrod, to form top adviser to Barack Obama, on challenges facing the new House.
• The Times, in other words
Here's an image of today's front page, and links to our Opinion content and crossword puzzles.
• What we're listening to
Jennifer Jett, an editor in Hong Kong, recommends this from Metro in Britain: "An exhibit at the Imperial War Museum in London commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, which was Sunday, features a painstaking recreation of what it may have sounded like when the guns fell silent at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th of 1918. (The Smithsonian explains how the sound engineers created the installation.) "
Back Story
Today, representatives of major Pacific nations gathered in Papua New Guinea for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting.
To prepare, the Maseratis, but also unveiled a six-lane boulevard near the Parliament House built via Chinese loans.
It is just one of Beijing's many efforts to compete for global influence.
Some are white elephants, like the little-used $ 1 billion Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka.
Hong Kong with Macau and the mainland city of Zhuhai.
Perhaps China's best-known construction is in China: ghost cities – see the desert city Ordos – and empty airports. The Changhai Airport at one point serviced one road.
"Called it to a flight," An airport official told Reuters in 2015. "The plane's under maintenance."
Amy Qin wrote today's Back Story.
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