Good morning. Americans are heading to the polls today in US midterm elections widely seen as a referendum on Donald Trump’s second presidency and a chance for opponents to rein in his power.

The party holding the White House typically loses congressional seats at midterm elections and Democrats are hoping the president’s nose-diving popularity can be exploited.Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice in California has charged six more people with alleged voter fraud crimes, an escalation of the administration’s campaign against election integrity. However, in a blow to Trump, the supreme court has ruled against attempts to force California election officials to segregate and not count ballots from people the justice department claims are non-citizens.

Where have our reporters been covering the crucial midterm races? We have a dispatch from Shrai Popat in New Hampshire, where Republicans were hoping to flip a Senate seat but now worry Trump may be dragging them down, and David Smith has been in Austin, where James Talarico is making an extraordinary bid to break the Texas Democrats’ losing streak.

Lauren Gambino has been in Los Angeles, casting her eye over Xavier Becerra’s California shoo-in to be governer, while Joseph Gedeon offers this analysis from Detroit of how Israel is at the heart of Haley Stevens’s extraordinary reversal to back Abdul El-Sayed’s Republican opponent in Michigan. Where can you find the Guardian’s election coverage?

This explainer has everything you need to know about how winners are called, how states count ballots and Trump’s election denialism. We also have an hour-by-hour rundown of when polls close around the US, and this valuable guide to the candidates and races that will decide the elections.

We will be live blogging the election and results round-the-clock. You can join my colleagues on the live blog here.

US strikes Iran’s Qeshm Island as Vance voices optimism about a dealAn aerial view of the Iranian shores and the island of Qeshm. Photograph: Nicolas Economou/ReutersThe ⁠US has launched limited strikes on ​Iran’s Qeshm Island, hours after the vice-president, JD Vance, said he was optimistic that diplomatic efforts to end the war were moving in the right direction.

The strikes targeted surface-to-air missiles being used against US assets, according to Reuters and the Associated Press. The US has targeted Qeshm Island on multiple occasions.

Positioned in the mouth of the strait of Hormuz, the island has been used to launch attacks on shipping in the waterway.European troops in Ukraine would be allowed to fire back at RussiansPolice officers and rescuers carry a person found under debris of an underground shelter in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine. Photograph: ReutersEuropean troops, including Nato members, would be allowed to fire back if attacked by Russians when potentially stationed as peacekeepers in Ukraine after a ceasefire, western officials have said.

The news comes as Russia bombed an aid distribution centre and neighbouring shelter in southern Ukraine, killing at least 26 ​people.US-led talks between Russia and Ukraine were due to resume next week, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said yesterday. The talks – to be held in Abu Dhabi – come as Kyiv and its European allies worry that Trump has increasingly sided with Moscow.‘We cannot move forward’: Savannah Guthrie shares new post seeking information in mother’s disappearanceA banner with a growing collection of well-wishes and a photo of Nancy Guthrie.

Photograph: Rebecca Noble/ReutersSavannah Guthrie has issued a new plea for help on the whereabouts of her 84-year-old mother, who authorities believe was abducted in February. Guthrie said: “We ache for her, we cry out for answers, we cannot move forward.

We need someone to help us; tell us what you know. Our mom was a light in this world.

We want to celebrate her and give her the dignity she deserves.”In other news …Douglas DePodesta. Photograph: Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times/AP An ex-FBI chief in Chicago is suing the Department of Justice, claiming he was put under pressure to investigate Trump’s foes.

Douglas DePodesta says he was made a “scapegoat”. Lindsay Clancy returned to court on Monday in an attempt to dismiss the charges against her that she murdered her three young children.

Lawyers for the Massachusetts mother argued a new trial would violate double jeopardy rules. A child in rural northern New York has died after contracting measles, the state’s first death from the disease in 30 years.

In Pennsylvania, the governor, Josh Shapiro, is mounting a measles outreach program among the Amish community, which is “under-vaccinated”. A Washington state resident has died after being hospitalized with “severe illness” after contracting bird flu, local health officials have said.

A 30-year-old man accused of starting the deadly Palisades fire is being retried for arson this week, four months after his first trial ended with a hung jury. An ambulance driver in Ohio abandoned a patient they were taking to hospital after getting lost and decided to call an Uber and go home.

Stat of the day: Apple posts stronger-than-expected $30.71bn revenueApple logo is seen above a retail store. Photograph: May James/ZUMA Press Wire/ShutterstockIn its first earnings report for its new chief executive, John Ternus, Apple Inc posted stronger-than-expected revenue, bucking a downward trend for tech companies this quarter.

Apple made $30.71bn in the July-September period, up 12% for last year’s figure.Culture Pick: Yaga – this erotic witchy thriller is a total head-messerHudson Williams in Yaga. Photograph: Bell Media/SkyThe Heated Rivalry actor Hudson Williams plays two people in this genre-bending mystery streaming on AMC+, while Carrie-Anne Moss is fantastic as a horny author who might have supernatural powers.

And ones to avoid? Lucy Mangan watches the latest batch of HBO’s The Gilded Age and asks what did we do to deserve such a terrible stinker, while Luke Buckmaster tears into what is described as the first end-to-end AI-created series on a major streaming service, raising the question … why?Don’t miss this: Besieged West Bank school fortifies its defences against settler violencePalestinian students line up on the first day of the new academic year at their school near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPAWilliam Christou and Sufian Abu Taha report from the secondary school in al-Mughayyir where Israeli settlers killed five teenage students last academic year – one of them at the school gates. Teachers have developed emergency plans for settler attacks and incorporated lessons on avoiding confrontations into their curriculum, trying to preserve a sense of normality for the children.… or this: ‘I perfected deception’ – my secret life as a relapsed alcoholicMeghan O’Gieblyn in Wisconsin.

Photograph: Narayan Mahon/The GuardianMeghan O’Gieblyn is frank and honest in this confessional read about her descent back into alcoholism a second time round, when even her husband did not realise she had ditched sobriety and was drinking again.Climate check: Colorado town braces for historic flood as heavy rains batter south-westWorkers walk along a collapsed section of Colorado 151. Photograph: Cheney Orr/Colorado Sun/ZUMA Press Wire/ShutterstockHeavy rainfall produced flash flooding and mandatory evacuations in a swath of the south-west at the weekend, including in a Colorado tourist town bracing for its main river to rise to historic levels. “We are getting two or three months of rain in a span of a couple of days,” said Aaron Hardin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.Last Thing: Wantaway peacock found in couple’s Brisbane bathroomA peacock in a bathroom of Geoff Ballantyne in Alexandra Hills.

Photograph: Geoff BallantyneA peacock that seemingly fell hopelessly in love with himself in a bathroom mirror after breaking into a Brisbane house remains on the run after being evicted. Elliot Ross, a local tattoo artist, has subsequently confirmed the lovestruck bird is his missing peacock, Hex.

Silly boy.Sign upSign up for the US morning briefingFirst Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.Get in touchIf you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com