TOP STORIES

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Monday, January 6

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TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON THREATS President Donald Trump doubled down on his claim that the United States military has the right to target Iranian cultural sites, dismissing concerns from the public and even from his own administration that he would be committing a war crime by doing so. [HuffPost]

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SOLEIMANI REPLACEMENT VOWS REVENGE An Iranian general who replaced the leader killed by a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad vowed to take revenge as Tehran abandoned the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in response to the assassination. [AP]

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IRAN DEAL DEAD Iran said it would no longer abide by any of the limits of its unraveling 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, ending an accord that blocked Tehran from having enough material to build an atomic weapon. [AP]

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3 AMERICANS KILLED IN EXTREMIST ATTACK IN KENYA Al-Shabab extremists overran a key military base used by U.S. counterterror forces in Kenya before dawn Sunday, killing three American Department of Defense personnel and destroying several U.S. aircraft and vehicles before they were repelled, U.S. and Kenyan authorities said. [AP]

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5 DEAD, DOZENS INJURED IN PA TURNPIKE PILEUP Five people were killed and roughly 60 were hospitalized following a crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike early Sunday involving a tour bus, two tractor-trailers and numerous passenger vehicles. An 86-mile stretch of the highway was shut down following the massive collision. [HuffPost]

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JAPANESE WOMAN TURNS 117 YEARS OLD Kane Tanaka has extended her record as the world’s oldest person by celebrating her 117th birthday at a nursing home in Fukuoka in southern Japan.Tanaka marked her birthday with a party on Sunday along with staff and friends at the nursing home. [Reuters]

WHAT'S BREWING

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HOUSE TO VOTE ON RESOLUTION TO CURB TRUMP'S WAR POWERS “As Members of Congress, our first responsibility is to keep the American people safe,” Nancy Pelosi wrote in a letter to House Democrats following an escalation in tensions with Iran. “We are concerned that the Administration took this action without the consultation of Congress and without respect for Congress’s war powers granted to it by the Constitution.” [HuffPost]

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IRAQI PARLIAMENT VOTES TO EXPEL FOREIGN TROOPS The Sunday vote came after Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi advised parliament to expel the troops in response to the Trump-ordered assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq. [HuffPost]

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BORDER AUTHORITIES DENY DETAINING IRANIAN-AMERICANS U.S. Customs and Border Protection is denying reports that the agency has refused entry to some Iranian-Americans and detained others. “Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false,” a spokesperson for CBP told HuffPost. [HuffPost]

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POMPEO SPINS SOLEIMANI ASSASSINATION Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the talk show rounds on Sunday, defending the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and attempting to drum up support for further military action against the country. [HuffPost]

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AUSTRALIA BUSHFIRES HAVE THEIR OWN WEATHER SYSTEMS  The bushfires ravaging Australia are generating so much heat that they are creating their own weather systems, including dry lighting storms and fire tornadoes. On Saturday, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service warned that a fire on the coast was generating its own weather system 178 miles south of Sydney. [Reuters]

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WEINSTEIN'S RECKONING: TRIAL LOOMS 2 YEARS AFTER ME TOO More than two years after a wave of sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein ushered in the Me Too movement, the disgraced movie mogul faces another reckoning: a criminal trial that could him put him behind bars for the rest of his life. [AP]

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