Since Dec. 15, the US and partner nations have conducted 61 airstrikes in Iraq and six in Syria against the Islamic State; 45 of the airstrikes in Iraq were in support of Peshmerga and Iraqi forces in the region. President Obama announced the resumption of diplomatic ties with Cuba and Havana’s release of US citizen Alan Gross and a prisoner exchange of a US intelligence “asset” for three Cuban spies. The FBI has indicated that North Korea is likely behind a major cyberattack at Sony Pictures; the company has pulled a film on North Korea that was slated for release. Uruguay’s president has claimed that the six former Guantanamo prisoners recently transferred to his country were not terrorists.
