- Trump nominates Montana Rep Ryan Zinke to head the Department of the Interior. Zinke is a strong supporter of coal. [Link]
- Facebook is partnering with Snopes and ABC to identify, mark, and demote fake news stories. [Link]
- Twitter blocks government spy centers from having special access to Twitter data. [Link]
- The entire police department of Bunker Hill Indiana has quit. They walked off the job after budget cuts and members of the town council asking them to run background checks on other members of the town council. [Link]
- The police officer who killed Sylville Smith has been charged with reckless homicide. [Link]
- President Obama vows to retaliate against Russia for “meddling in the US election.” [Link]
- In Libya, the city Sirte has been liberated from ISIS. The US intervened in Libya with Operation Odyssey Lightning were the US dropped nearly 500 bombs on the city. Despite the initial operation objective being completed the US government says the mission is ongoing and plans to continue to provide support to troops fighting ISIS. [Link]
- There is a provision in the NDAA 2017 that will allow the US to send shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to Syrian rebels. Past weapons that have been sent to Syria rebels have ended up in the hands of al-Qaeda-linked groups. [Link]
- Reports from Syria that at least 3,000 civilians were able to leave rebel-held Aleppo. [Link] The Syrian government stopped the evacuation of civilians from rebel-held Aleppo Friday because they report rebels have broken the deal. As part of the deal, rebels would allow civilians to leave other cities to evacuate but are not allowing this to happen. An estimated 50,000 civilians are still in rebel-held areas of Aleppo. [Link]
- Almost all wheat imports into Yemen are being stopped because of the crisis at the central bank. [Link]
