Your Weekend Briefing

Florida, Saturday Night Live, New York City Marathon View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Sunday, November 4, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Weekend Briefing]( By ALAN YUHAS AND LANCE BOOTH Good morning! Don’t forget to change your clocks for daylight saving time. Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead. Audra Melton for The New York Times 1. After all the debates, rallies and ads, it’s the final two days of the 2018 midterm elections, with Congress and crucial statehouses on the line. The election season has been [shaped by conflicts]( over race and gender, factors reflected in a field of candidates among [the most diverse]( ever. Democrats need to win 24 seats to retake control of the House, and two to retake the Senate. Here’s what [our polling shows](. They have pulled out all the stops — with [a guest appearance from Oprah Winfrey]( — in several governors’ races, including in Florida and Georgia, where two progressives could become the first black governors of their states. Fighting to stem a “blue wave,” Republicans have tried to hold on to suburban seats in Pennsylvania and Florida, where the president’s [nationalism may be a breaking point]( for wealthy voters. Race and racism have come to the fore in some elections. The Republican candidate for governor in Florida has [struggled with questions]( about past associations, and a party official, [rebuking an Iowa representative]( called on Republicans to stand up to white supremacy. Have you been keeping up with the headlines? Test your knowledge with [our news quiz](. And [here’s the front page of our Sunday paper]( [the Sunday Review]( from Opinion and our [crossword puzzles](. ____ Scott McIntyre for The New York Times 2. At the center of Republicans’ identity crisis: Donald J. Trump. The president has soft-pedaled the humming economy — 250,000 jobs added in October — instead railing against an “invasion” of migrants seeking asylum. He has [ordered active-duty troops]( to the southern border and threatened to end birthright citizenship — an idea [at odds with the Constitution](. From the other side of the country’s political divide, former President Barack Obama, above, has [re-emerged as Democrats’ most prominent leader](. He has excoriated his successor for “lying” and “fear-mongering,” and recently turned a heckler into [an occasion for reflection]( “Why is it,” he said, “that the folks who won the last election are so mad all the time?” But the coalition that elected him twice is [now unsure about his methods](. ____ Hilary Swift for The New York Times 3. Pittsburgh mourned the 11 people killed by a gunman at a synagogue eight days ago, and thousands marched in protest of [rising anti-Semitism](. On the first Shabbat since the shooting, Jews around the country walked into temples to [grieve]( and the leaders of two attacked congregations, Christian and Jewish, found themselves [bound by loss](. [President Trump’s visit to Pittsburgh]( proved divisive, in part because his rhetoric against migrants bolsters themes of white nationalists. Law enforcement officials are [at a loss over how to contain the threat]( white nationalists represent. ____ Gleb Garanich/Reuters 4. Internationally, two seismic changes an ocean and a hemisphere apart. In Brazil, the populist Jair Bolsonaro was [elected president]( after tapping into resentment against corruption and crime. He has called for [draconian policies]( that would make it easier for the police to kill criminals. And in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel, above, announced that she would step down as leader of her party in December. Her announcement [shook an already shaky E.U.]( and signaled a new instability in Germany, where our video team [documented a rising far right](. Ms. Merkel’s legacy is already being contested: in [the struggle]( to replace her, and for the experts making sense of how she [tipped the scales among Europe’s competing interests](. Our Interpreter column finds in Mr. Bolsonaro’s ascendance and Ms. Merkel’s exit a lesson on the [weaknesses of liberal democracy](. ____ Tyler Hicks/The New York Times 5. Saudi Arabia’s two biggest arms suppliers, the U.S. and Britain, are increasing the [pressure for a cease-fire in Yemen](. Its war has ground to [a horrific stalemate]( killing thousands of civilians, including Amal Hussain, a 7-year-old girl whose [portrait in The Times drew new attention]( to the conflict. The war’s architect, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has [lost some standing]( over the killing of a dissident Saudi journalist in Turkey, but remains poised to lead the kingdom for decades. ____ John Taggart for The New York Times 6. Thousands of Google employees [walked out of work]( in protest, above, over the tech giant’s million-dollar exit packages for male executives accused of sexual misconduct. Google’s leaders apologized, and the company said it had [fired 48 people for sexual harassment]( over the last two years. The protests were a sign of how Silicon Valley workers have taken up activism, questioning executives on how tech can be exploited for militaries, propaganda and surveillance. Which is not to say that tech executives have stopped pursuing ambitious, even fantastical, goals. One millionaire, for instance, [hopes to build a blockchain-based community]( in the Nevada desert. ____ [Pete Davidson briefly addressed his breakup with the pop star Ariana Grande on “Saturday Night Live” this week.]NBC 7. On “Saturday Night Live,” [the final days of the 2018 midterm elections were overshadowed]( by fallout from [the breakup]( of Pete Davidson, above, and his ex-fiancée, Ariana Grande. On “Weekend Update,” Davidson addressed the breakup: “Sometimes things just don’t work out, and that’s O.K.” He also encouraged people to vote: “So the midterm elections are obviously a huge deal, and after I had to move back in with my mom, I started paying attention to them.” ____ Karsten Moran for The New York Times 8. Today is the New York City Marathon. More than 50,000 runners are expected (good luck, all!), including [the race’s longtime director]( and [45 from the rehab center Odyssey House](. “It replaces the adrenaline that I was looking for when I was using drugs,” one said. American women are [expected to do well]( and older runners may add to the evidence that [age and speed can coexist](. ____ Jeff Gross/Getty Images North America 9. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers [in a 4-1 series](. Naturally, Boston fans used their new bragging rights [to jeer a completely different team]( the New York Yankees. Farther south, Philadelphians rallied around their own unusual choice: a “[ghastly empty-eyed Muppet with a Delco beard]( — the new mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers and an icon of left-wing activists. ____ Gabriella Angotti-Jones/The New York Times 10. Finally, don’t miss our [Best Weekend Reads](. This week, we include a look at the violent life and death of Whitey Bulger, the South Boston mobster; an investigation into how New York’s shelter system houses 11,234 children (above); and a profile of Gayle King, the woman long known as Oprah’s best friend and now as a star in her own right. And in case you need it, here’s [the Week in Good News]( featuring the most majestic duck in Central Park. For more suggestions on what to read, watch and listen to, may we suggest the latest small-screen recommendations from [Watching]( and our [music critics’ latest playlist](. Have a great week. Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a.m. Eastern. You can [sign up here]( to get our Morning Briefings by email in the Australian, Asian, European or American morning, or [here]( to receive an Evening Briefing on U.S. weeknights. Browse our full range of Times newsletters [here](. What did you like? What do you want to see here? 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