Court hears how Clinton helped buy Russian dossier

RUSSIA: The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid for research, including a dossier made public in January, containing claims about connections between President Donald Trump, his campaign, and Russia. The “revelation” in court Tuesday, as reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post, actually has been reported by The Wall Street Journal for months.

IRAQ: Nearly 1,000 Christian families have been forced to flee (again) the Nineveh town of Telskuf on Wednesday morning as Iraqi Army forces confront Kurdish peshmerga and civilians are caught in the crossfire. The Kurds retook Telskuf from Islamic State (ISIS) in late 2014 and have held it since alongside Christian militias.

SOUTH SUDAN: U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley warned South Sudanese President Salva Kiir the United States is “at a crossroads” to continue aid to the embattled nation. After touring a refugee camp in Ethiopia where 35,000 South Sudanese have arrived since September, Haley told reporters, “I was mad when I left the camp.”

CHINA revealed its new senior leadership committee, naming President Xi Jinping to a new five-year term but breaking with tradition by not including a clear successor to him. The omission cements Xi’s grip on China after last week’s national party congress wrote his name and teachings into the constitution.

TURKEY: Members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom are calling for the release of Andrew Brunson—after mostly silence from the State Department—after meeting with the imprisoned American pastor last month.

BRITAIN: Speaking in Washington on Tuesday night, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks decried the “culture of grievances” and “politics of anger” in the U.S. In a speech accepting the American Enterprise Institute’s annual Irving Kristol award, Sacks also highlighted “social covenants” of the U.S. founding documents. While awaiting full text, here’s another challenging speech by Sacks on “cultural climate change.”

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