Diplomats Sound the Alarm as They Are Pushed Out in Droves  —  WASHINGTON — Of all the State Department employees who might have been vulnerable in the staff reductions that Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has initiated as he reshapes the department, the one person who seemed least likely …

Mueller Probe Looks at Mike Flynn's Work on Documentary Targeting Exiled Turkish Cleric  —  Special counsel focuses on links to Turkey as legal team's move signals possible cooperation with investigators  —  WASHINGTON—Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating former White House …

Trump taps Mulvaney to head CFPB, sparking confusion over agency's leadership  —  President Donald Trump on Friday named White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, setting up a legal clash over who is in charge of the controversial agency.

Time says Trump is ‘incorrect’ after president says he rejected Person of the Year overture  —  President Donald Trump tweeted on Friday that Time called to tell him that he was “probably” going to be named the magazine's person of the year, but that he turned the offer down, an account Time later disputed.

Key developments:  —  Coordinated attack: Gunmen fired on people fleeing after explosions took place at the mosque.  The attackers also opened fire on ambulances, witnesses said.  —  The target: The mosque, located in northern Sinai, is known as the birthplace of an important Sufi cleric.

Thanksgiving night fight shuts down Alabama's largest mall 40 minutes early  —  Thanksgiving night fight shuts down Riverchase Galleria mall early  —  Shoppers getting an early start on Black Friday deals had their Thanksgiving trek to the Riverchase Galleria cut short when fights broke out in the mall.

Mueller might be the one who's ‘draining the swamp’  —  President Trump famously promised that, if elected president, he would “drain the swamp” — upending the culture in Washington that favors the well-connected.  —  It is special counsel Robert S. Mueller III whose work seems …

Twitter Has Suspended Another 45 Suspected Propaganda Accounts After They Were Flagged By BuzzFeed News  —  The social media giant is facing serious questions over its efforts to deal with fake propaganda accounts after BuzzFeed News uncovered a network directly connected to the Russia-linked accounts Twitter submitted to Congress.

Jeff Bezos's Net Worth Just Broke $100 Billion  —  Amazon founder's net worth has risen $33 billion this year  —  Bill Gates was last person to attain 12-figure fortune in 1999  —  Jeff Bezos is the world's newest $100 billion mogul.  —  The Amazon.com Inc. founder's fortune is up $2.4 billion …

Rep. Kathleen Rice: Ethics committee's accountability ‘not real’  —  Dem lawmaker calls on Conyers to resign  —  Washington (CNN)Rep. Kathleen Rice said that the congressional ethics committees being proposed as a way to investigate serial sexual assault offenders on Capitol Hill are “not real” and “not accountable.”

New dynamic score shows the Senate tax bill raises debt by more than advertised  —  The math just doesn't work.  —  Kent Smetters was in the trenches in the Newt Gingrich-era Congressional Budget Office and he's a veteran of George W. Bush's Treasury Department.

States prepare to shut down children's health programs if Congress doesn't act  —  Officials in nearly a dozen states are preparing to notify families that a crucial health insurance program for low-income children is running out of money for the first time since its creation two decades ago …

Sheriff Arpaio pursued case to hurt Sen. Flake, lawsuit says  —  PHOENIX (AP) — A federal lawsuit set to go to trial next month marks the latest legal action brought against former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio over allegations that he pursued a trumped-up criminal case to get publicity and embarrass an adversary.

What to Read Now  —  Holiday shopping.  As you read this, people are jostling each other in stores across the land.  I have a different suggestion for holiday shopping: Buy a subscription — for yourself or as a gift — to a publication that does great work and that needs more help than, say, The New York Times.

North Korea digs DMZ trench after recent defection  —  North Korea appears to be fortifying its border in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) with the South, days after a soldier defected by running across.  —  A US diplomat to South Korea has tweeted a picture showing workers digging a trench.