10 Things to Know for Today
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. WHO TRUMP TAPPED FOR TOP DIPLOMAT
ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson is picked to lead the State Department, dismissing concerns about the businessman's close ties with Russia.
2. UN CITES REPORTS OF 82 CIVILIANS KILLED IN EASTERN ALEPPO
The U.N. human rights office says the reports recount Syria's pro-government forces entering homes and killing civilians, including women and children, "on the spot."
3. UNDER ISLAMIC STATE GROUP, MOSUL'S PEOPLE FACED DARKNESS, DREAD, BRUTALITY
Paychecks stopped, food supplies dwindled, and a life of poverty for those who refused to join the extremist group, AP finds. Lashings, stonings and beheadings were commonplace.
4. WHAT GORBACHEV SAYS ABOUT SOVIET COLLAPSE
The former Russian president tells AP the U.S. and its allies wasted a chance to build a safer world by gloating rather than offering aid when the Soviet Union fell 25 years ago.
5. RECOVERY STILL DISTANT 7 YEARS AFTER HAITI QUAKE
At least 50,000 people remain in some of the settlement camps that emerged after a 7.0 magnitude temblor devastated the impoverished Caribbean nation.
6. COSBY JUDGE TO WEIGH POTENTIAL TESTIMONY OF 13 OTHER WOMEN
Lawyers will battle in court to try to limit the number of other accusers who can testify at the comedian's sexual assault trial.
7. ORCA-FREE THEME PARK COMING TO MIDEAST
The first SeaWorld park outside the United States is coming to Abu Dhabi by 2022 and it will be featured without orcas.
8. HOW A LAWMAKER WANTS TO OVERHAUL SOCIAL SECURITY
Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, is proposing to gradually increase the retirement age and slow the growth of benefits for higher-income workers.
9. TRUMP'S 'SHOOT SOMEONE' TOPS QUOTES OF YEAR
The president-elect's boast on the campaign trail that he could shoot somebody and not lose any voters tops Yale's most notable quotes list.
10. MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL CREATES ANTI-HAZING, ANTI-BULLYING POLICY
That baseball hazing ritual of dressing up rookies as Wonder Woman, Hooters Girls and Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders is now banned, AP learns.