US News

• The US is on pace to run over a trillion-dollar deficit in FY2020. [Link]
• Trump commutes the sentence of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich served about eight years of his 14-year sentence. [Link]
• The Democratic Party changed its debate rules to allow Mike Bloomberg to participate in the debate. [Link]
• The US sanctions a subsidiary of Russian oil company Rosneft for doing business with Venezuela. Companies will have 90 days to wind down their business with Rosneft Trading. [Link]
• The US is naming five Chinese news outlets as ‘foreign missions.’ The label requires the news outlets to register their staff and property with the US government. [Link]

Afghanistan

• Afghanistan’s election commission declares incumbent Ashraf Ghani the winner of September’s presidential election. [Link]
• The main challenge to Ghani, Abdullah Abdullah, claims that the results were invalid, and he was the real winner of the election. [Link]

Middle East

• Israel is planning a new 9,000 home settlement in East Jerusalem. The settlement’s location would ensure East Jerusalem could not be the capital of a Palestinian state. [Link]
• John Kerry, Chris Murphy, and two other Democratic Senators met with Iran’s foreign minister in a secret meeting. [Link]
• Turkey informs Russia it is prepared for an invasion of the Idlib Province to fight the Syrian Army. [Link]
• Saudi forces opened fire on Yemeni tribal fighters near the border with Oman. [Link]

Libya

• Tribesmen in eastern Libya are blocking oil exports. The UN is working with the tribesmen on ending their blockade. [Link]
• The Libyan National Army attacked the port at Tripoli. At least a warehouse was hit and a ship carrying Turkish weapons. [Link]
• The Government of National Accord pulled out of UN hosted ceasefire talks because of the attack by the LNA. [Link]
• LNA leader Hiftar is accused of torturing at least two people to death. The families of the torture victims are attempting to sue Hifter in American courts. Hiftar was a CIA-asset during the Reagan admin. After a failed coup attempt, he fled to the US. [Link]