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How are you this morning folks?

International Politics

Overall

– Russia said it hoped to organize a conference by late January between the regime in Syria and the opposition

Middle East

– Jordan announced it would get back a Jordanian pilot who was captured by Islamic State militants after his plane was shot down

– Iraq and Turkey announced it would work together to fight against ISIS as they believe the group threatens the region’s stability

– Meanwhile, 44 ISIS members were killed as a result of fighting with Kurdish forces in Syria

– ISIL forces in Iraq decided to abandon their barracks and broke into smaller groups after the announcement by the Iraqi government to take over Mosul

– A new report found corruption to be a significant issue hampering reconstruction in Gaza

– Near the West Bank, an Israeli father and his daughter were hurt, although not severely, when a firebomb hit their car

Africa

– Two U.N. officials were kicked out of Sudan for reasons unknown although the government there is not too friendly with the U.N.

Latin America, Caribbean and Canada

– Nicaraguan authorities broke up a demonstration against the construction of a new canal in the country

Surveillance Planet

– Both the PlayStation Network (owned by Sony mind you) and Xbox Live, online services for gamers, were down after denial of services attacks by hackers

– Russia said it sympathized with North Korea over “The Interview” scandal as well as not believing U.S. claims of North Korea’s involvement in the hack

– An Israeli cyber security expert said, after the hacking of Sony, cyber warfare is real and nations should prepare for it