Your Weekend Briefing

Jerusalem, Wildfires, Roy Moore View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Sunday, December 10, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Weekend Briefing]( By MAYA SALAM AND DEBBIE BONDULIC Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead. Joe Raedle/Getty Images 1. The nation will be watching Alabama on Tuesday as voters there head to the polls in a [special election that has broad implications]( for American government. Roy Moore, a Republican, and Doug Jones, a Democrat, are vying for the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The race has become enmeshed in the cultural reckoning around sexual misconduct since allegations against Mr. Moore began surfacing last month. ____ Win Mcnamee/Getty Images 2. The list of lawmakers felled by charges of sexual harassment or indiscretions continued to grow. [Representative John Conyers Jr.]( above, a Michigan Democrat and the longest-serving current member of the House, said he would leave Congress after allegations that he sexually harassed former employees. [Senator Al Franken]( a Minnesota Democrat, also announced his plans to resign after a sixth woman accused him of misconduct. And [Representative Trent Franks]( an Arizona Republican, abruptly stepped down after being accused of offering $5 million to impregnate an aide. ____ Tom Brenner/The New York Times 3. As he ends his first year in office, President Trump is redefining what it means to be president. With Twitter as his Excalibur, he takes on his doubters, fueled by long spells of cable news and a dozen Diet Cokes. Interviews with 60 of his advisers, associates and friends, as well as lawmakers, paint a portrait of a leader who sees himself as a maligned outsider engaged in an hour-by-hour battle for self-preservation. Here’s an [in-depth look inside Mr. Trump’s first year]( in the White House. ____ Noah Berger/Associated Press 4. In Southern California, fast-moving fires have forced [thousands to evacuate]( their homes. President Trump declared a federal state of emergency in the state. [These maps show the breadth of destruction from above](. The extent of devastation from another major disaster, Hurricane Maria, may have been vastly underestimated. The Puerto Rican government reported a death toll of 64 after the storm, but [our analysis]( suggests the actual number is 1,052. ____ Adrian Dennis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 5. Russia has been [banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics]( in South Korea for trying to rig the 2014 Games with an elaborate doping scheme. But the unprecedented penalty may [not be as stringent as it sounds]( Russian athletes could still compete if they pass rigorous drug screening protocols, though any medals won would not count toward Russia’s total. Above, Russia’s delegation at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014. ____ Uriel Sinai for The New York Times 6. With President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital roiling the West Bank and Gaza, [the city braced for its most serious flare-up]( of violence in months, if not years. Mr. Trump also announced a plan to cut the size of two national monuments in Utah, the largest rollback of federal land protection in the nation’s history. [Here is what’s being cut](. ____ Don Emmert/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 7. The U.S. economy is stronger than it has been in years. [The unemployment rate]( remained at 4.1 percent in November and the nation added to payrolls for the 86th consecutive month. But economists warned that with unemployment this low, the Republican tax plan that is barreling through Congress could escalate the risk of a boom-bust cycle. ____ John Carucci/Associated Press 8. Harvey Weinstein, the entertainment mogul whose methodical abuse of women was exposed in an [October report]( was able to keep allegations of sexual misconduct buried for decades. [A detailed investigation]( reveals how he did it. Six women have filed a lawsuit against him and his former businesses claiming that the cover-up of his behavior [amounts to civil racketeering](. ____ NBC 9. “Saturday Night Live” made [repeated references in this weekend’s episode]( to the many sexual harassment and abuse scandals roiling powerful men. In the show’s opening sketch, a store Santa played by Kenan Thompson, above, struggled to answer questions from children like “What did Al Franken do?” and “Is President Trump on the naughty list?” ____ Floria Sigismondi for The New York Times 10. Horror films had an unusual hold on the collective imagination in 2017, so to punctuate the end of this hair-raising year, the Magazine asked 10 of the year’s best actors to star in a series of short frightening films. Nicole Kidman, above, played “the possessed.” [See them all.]( On Monday, we’ll find out if any of these actors are in the running for a Golden Globe when this year’s nominees are announced. The ceremony will air on NBC on Jan. 7. ____ Rev. Amy Butler 11. Finally, we know the news this year has been relentless, but amid the world’s turmoil is plenty of joy. We’re trying out a new newsletter to capture some of it. Here are [seven]( fantastic things]( happened]( last week, including an unlikely friendship between a 22-year-old and an 81-year-old, above. It isn’t all bad out there. Have a great week. _____ Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a.m. Eastern. 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