- Trump says he will defer to the Secretary of Defense on torture. General Mattis has stated several times that he does not believe torture works. [Link]
- A federal judge prevents people from being deported under Trump’s executive order on immigration. The ruling will allow people already approved to come to the US will be able to stay. The ruling does not prevent other parts of the executive order from taking effect. [Link]
- Trump’s executive order does not include ‘green card’ holders, but will they have to undergo additional screening before reentering the US. It was initially reported that ‘green card’ holders from the seven banned countries would not be allowed to reenter the US. [Link]
- In response to Trump’s executive order on immigration, Iran is banning all US citizens from Iran. [Link]
- A group in California is working to collect signatures to get an initiative on the 2018 ballot to secede from the US. The group will need to collect about 600,000 signatures in the next six months. [Link]
- California threatens to send less money to Washington DC in response to sanctuary cities losing federal funding. [Link]
- Iraqi forces report finding mustard gas in an ISIS lab in Mosul. Several surface-to-surface rockets were also found in the lab. [Link]
- Several Syrian rebels groups have joined together and become an al-Qaeda group. Some of these group received weapons and funding from the US. [Link]
- The US conducted a raid on an al-Qaeda camp in Yemen. Reports say that 41 al-Qaeda fighters are dead along with 16 civilians. [Link]
