Donald Trump has offered two more key capital posts to conservative Republicans. He’s asked the Alabama senator Jeff Sessions to be Attorney General. Mr Sessions was rejected by Congress as a federal judge in the 1980s because of racially charged comments. Mr Trump has chosen Mike Pompeo, a Kansas Congressman linked to the Tea Party movement, to be Director of the CIA.
The Obama administration has blocked new offshore drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic Ocean as part of a five-year plan. Donald Trump has said he’ll remove restrictions on oil and gas companies. But he would need to go through a long process of up to two years to undo Mr Obama’s move.
The World Health Organization has declared that the Zika emergency is now over. The infection has been linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains. Doctors described it as a pandemic. Some women in affected countries were advised to delay getting pregnant.
It’s been a fourth day of heavy air and artillery attacks on rebel-held neighbourhoods of Aleppo, described as one of the most intense bombardments the city has ever seen. Multiple air raids reportedly included the dropping of unguided barrel bombs from government helicopters.
Iraqi government forces have found another suspected mass grave in territory recently recaptured from Islamic State militants. Journalists were shown an isolated site near the village of Tall Adh-Dhahab, just south of the city of Mosul.
The Supreme Court in India has warned there could be riots because of the government’s withdrawal of all high-value banknotes. The Court refused a government request to stop the public filing cases against the decision, which the presiding judge had said caused public suffering.
And the authorities in Mexico have ordered the computer giant Dell to honour a deal it published online by mistake this month, offering some of its best laptops for about 30 dollars.
