Good morning, Im Mattha Busby with todays essential stories.

Two more lives have been claimed by Australias bushfire crisis and more people are missing after fires tore through several towns on the east coast as skies turned black, with homes and school buildings destroyed and thousands forced to take shelter on beaches. A father and son died when fire hit the New South Wales town of Cobargo on Tuesday, bringing the nationwide death toll to 11.

Worst bushfire season on record. The NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, warned the true scale of the damage would only become clear once the extraordinary fires were under control.

Over the last three years, much of what the Guardian holds dear has been threatened democracy, civility, truth. As 2020 approaches, the need for a robust, independent press has never been greater. Were asking our US readers to help us raise $1.5m by early January to support our rigorous journalism in the new year. Help us reach our goal! Contribute now.

The rise of e-cigarette use has been celebrated for contributing to reductions in smoking in the UK during an otherwise disappointing decade for healthcare developments. A recent review in the British Medical Journal said vaping had given tobacco cessation a boost at no cost to the public purse. There have been scare stories but the evidence remains consistent and studies published this year showed that e-cigarettes help smokers quit and can benefit cardiovascular health.

Next steps. Proportionate regulation of e-cigarettes and effective tobacco controls must be realised throughout the world or the public health opportunity presented by e-cigarettes to many smokers will be lost, say Prof Linda Bauld and Dr Suzi Gage.

Declassified government papers reveal the MoD had sought to end decades of east-west antagonism and allow Russia to become an associate member of the North Atlantic military alliance 25 years ago. The Downing Street files also provide insights into Boris Yeltsins drinking habits and illustrate concern over his health. He was described as a bad insurance risk and a message of condolence from the prime minister was prepared in case of sudden death.

Realpolitik. If Russian representatives were present at all Nato meetings, what effect would this have on Natos own decision-making? Foreign Office officials wondered. How much do we care about Ukraines or Belarus independence?

Former Renault-Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn has fled court-imposed bail in Japan before his trial for alleged financial misconduct, arriving in Lebanon where he said he would escape injustice at the hands of a rigged Japanese justice system.

The security team at a church in Fortworth, Texas, who killed a shooter who had shot dead two people, could not have responded as swiftly if it were not for further liberalisation of state gun laws in 2017, the NRA has claimed.

Liberal Jewish groups warned against communities being divided and criticised the police after the decision by the New York mayor, Bill de Blasio, to increase patrols in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods to combat a rise in antisemitic hate crimes.

Authorities in Chile have been urged to investigate whether the murder of a young female photographer, Albertina Martnez, after she was seen going to a protest in Santiago was linked to her reporting of violent clashes between demonstrators and police.

The future family: artificial wombs, robot carers and single fathers by choice

Although predictions by the Guardian in 2004 that it would be very hard to talk about a typical family by now have fallen flat, technology and economics could transform our understanding of the family in the coming years.

Conquistador Hernan Corts still looms large on both sides of Atlantic

About 500 years after the Spanish began their conquest of Latin America, Cortss enduring legacy is being invoked in both Mexico and Spain by politicians seeking to use the divisive figure for their own purposes. How will he be remembered in another five centuries?

Furry, cute and drooling herpes: what to do with Floridas monkeys?

Hundreds of wild monkeys infected with herpes await visitors to Floridas beautiful Silver Springs state park. The troublesome non-native macaques also prey on birds nests. The state is in a lose-lose position, and has advised people not to feed them, as Adam Gabbatt reports.

How voter purging tactic could help Republicans win in 2020

Alarm over the way people are aggressively taken off voter rolls is growing after Wisconsin and Georgia dubiously removed hundreds of thousands of people and one of Trumps reelection advisers told of an aggressive suppression programme.

31 December comes through like a party guest who bursts in after everyone has left, demands that the music is turned back up, then throws up, writes Hamilton Nolan, who argues that we dot need another holiday after Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Mostly, New Years Eve is about getting wasted. Because I do not drink, I find this a boring pretext for a national holiday Tomorrow morning, I will wake up refreshed.

Inter Miami, David Beckhams new MLS team, has its first coach. Uruguayan Diego Alonso, twice-winner of the Concacaf Champions League, said he was excited to be part of a winning project before the season curtain-raiser on 1 March.

Megan Rapinhoe, the Guardians footballer of the year, has told of her responsibility to make the world a better place and dismantle white privilege as she recalled incurring the presidents wrath before the USAs World Cup triumph this year.

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US briefing: deadly bushfires, e-cigarettes and Russia in Nato - The Guardian