Mali attack: Special forces storm hotel to free hostages  —  Malian special forces have entered the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali's capital, Bamako, to end a siege by gunmen.  The hotel says 137 people remain inside.  —  The gunmen stormed the US-owned hotel, which is popular with foreign businesses …

Donald Trump's Plan for a Muslim Database Draws Comparison to Nazi Germany  —  NEWTON, Iowa — Donald Trump “would certainly implement” a database system tracking Muslims in the United States, the Republican front-runner told NBC News on Thursday night.  —  “I would certainly implement that.

Ted Cruz Creates a ‘National Prayer Team’  —  Pray for Ted Cruz.  —  That appears to be among the chief tasks to be undertaken by the Cruz campaign's “national prayer team,” a group announced on Thursday and scheduled to begin its work next month.  —  Mr. Cruz, who has aggressively courted …

CNN reporter suspended after tweet on refugees  —  CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott has been suspended for two weeks, a source at CNN confirmed to POLITICO.  —  Earlier on Thursday Labott had tweeted about the House voting on a bill that would make it harder for Syrian refugees to enter the United States.

The Farce Awakens  —  Erick Erickson, the editor in chief of the website RedState.com, is a serious power in right-wing circles.  Speechifying at RedState's annual gathering is a rite of passage for aspiring Republican politicians, and Mr. Erickson made headlines this year when he disinvited Donald Trump from the festivities.

Clinton Opens 25-Point Lead on Sanders in Bloomberg Politics National Poll  —  She also earns higher scores on commander-in-chief traits, including the ability to combat terrorism.  —  margarettalev  —  Hillary Clinton has solidified her lead nationally in the Democratic presidential nominating contest …

Utah School Apologizes for Terrorism Poster Assignment  —  A Utah school apologized Thursday for a classroom assignment in which students were asked to create a propaganda poster for a group such as Islamic State to understand the goals and methods of terror groups.

Obama administration takes immigration battle to Supreme Court  —  The Obama administration took the battle over immigration to the Supreme Court on Friday, formally asking the justices to review a federal court decision that left in place a nationwide injunction against President Barack …

Welcome to the Freak Show, Gawker.  You'll Fit Right In.  —  The media news of the week was the sudden reorientation of the news and gossip site Gawker.com to a site about politics.  Part of a larger story about layoffs and contraction of other outposts in the Gawker Media empire (io9 …

‘The Hunting Ground’ crew caught editing Wikipedia to make facts conform to film  —  Share Tweet Reddit Digg Mail Print SMS More  —  A crew member from “The Hunting Ground,” a one-sided film about campus sexual assault, has been editing Wikipedia articles to make facts conform with the inaccurate representations in the film.

Ex-CIA director: Snowden should be ‘hanged’ for Paris  —  A former CIA director says leaker Edward Snowden should be convicted of treason and given the death penalty in the wake of the terrorist attack on Paris.  —  “It's still a capital crime, and I would give him the death sentence …

GOP group plans most aggressive anti-Trump campaign yet  —  John Kasich has attacked Donald Trump relentlessly in debates and now his super PAC is planning to invest $2.5 million in the most aggressive takedown of the poll leader yet — on behalf of an increasingly anxious GOP establishment.

EXCLUSIVE: Extraordinary selfie of Europe's first female suicide bomber shows the jihadi who never read the Koran, liked to drink and smoke and had a reputation for having lots of boyfriends  — She detonated her suicide vest packed with explosives after witness claims he saw her going to KFC

Improving the Experience When Relationships End  —  Community Support FYI is a new series of blog posts about how we work to keep the Facebook community safe, supported and connected.  —  Facebook is a place for sharing life's important moments, which for many people include their romantic relationships.

Op-Ed Black Lives Matter and Michael Bloomberg: the oddest couple?  —  Neighbors and community members gathered at the scene where a man was shot and wounded by a Minneapolis Police officer early Sunday, Nov. 15.  —  When media outlets from the National Journal to Rolling Stone cover …

Brad Dayspring joins POLITICO  —  Big news on the homefront: Brad Dayspring is joining POLITICO as its first vice president of communications.  See the memo below from COO Kim Kingsley:  —  “Team,  —  I'm excited to announce that Brad Dayspring will be joining us in December as POLITICO's first vice president of communications.