A Texas man who was the first rioter to go on trial for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was resentenced on Friday to nearly seven years in prison after he delivered an angry, profane rant to the judge who agreed to modestly reduce his original sentence. Guy Reffitt benefitted from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that led to the dismissal of his conviction on an obstruction charge. His new sentence — six years and eight months — is seven months lower than his original sentence. Reffitt repeatedly shook his head and appeared to be agitated as he listened to U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich and a prosecutor describe his role in a mob’s attack on the Capitol. He told the judge that he was “in my feelings” and upset about the “lies and the craziness” that he perceived.

Hamas has directed other Gaza-based terrorist organizations to prepare detailed information on the captives they are holding as part of a potential deal with Israel, according to sources cited Sunday by AFP. Members of groups including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Popular Resistance Committees were reportedly asked to confirm the status and conditions of their hostages—specifically, whether they remain alive. The request is seen as an indication of possible negotiations aimed at exchanging hostages for a ceasefire. A Hamas insider told AFP that contacts have intensified with Qatari, Egyptian, and Turkish mediators.

The U.S. government on Friday ordered testing of the nation’s milk supply for bird flu to better monitor the spread of the virus in dairy cows. Raw or unpasteurized milk from dairy farms and processors nationwide must be tested on request starting Dec. 16, the Agriculture Department said. Testing will begin in six states — California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania. Officials said the move is aimed at “containing and ultimately eliminating the virus,” known as Type A H5N1, which was detected for the first time in March in U.S. dairy cows. Since then, more than 700 herds have been confirmed to be infected in 15 states.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the militant leader whose stunning insurgency toppled Syria’s President Bashar Assad, has spent years working to remake his public image, renouncing longtime ties to al-Qaida and depicting himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance. In recent days, the insurgency even dropped his nom de guerre and began referring to him by his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa. The extent of that transformation from jihadi extremist to would-be state builder is now put to the test. Insurgents control capital Damascus, Assad has fled into hiding, and for the first time after 50 years of his family’s iron hand, it is an open question how Syria will be governed.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday called the fire deliberately set by mask-wearing perpetrators at a Melbourne shul on Friday an “act of terror” “The atrocities that occurred at the synagogue in Melbourne clearly were designed to create fear in the community and therefore from my personal perspective certainly fulfill that definition of terrorism,” Albanese told the press in Perth. “There has been a worrying rise in antisemitism,” he added. Albanese has come under fire from local and international politicians for failing to call out the increasing antisemitism in the country and even contributing to it via the Labor government’s anti-Israel policies.

President Joe Biden said Sunday that the sudden collapse of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad is a “fundamental act of justice” after decades of repression, but it was “a moment of risk and uncertainty” for the Mideast. Biden spoke at the White House hours after after rebel groups completed a takeover of the country after more than a dozen years of violent civil war and decades of leadership by Assad and his family. Biden said the United States was unsure of Assad’s whereabouts, but was monitoring reports he was seeking refuge in Moscow. The outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump were working to make sense of new threats and opportunities across the Middle East. Biden credited action by the U.S.

President Joe Biden faces a stark choice as he contemplates broad preemptive pardons to protect aides and allies from potential retribution by Donald Trump: Does he hew to the institutional norms he’s spent decades defending or flex the powers of the presidency in untested ways? The deliberations so far are largely at the level of White House lawyers. But the president has discussed the topic with senior aides, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject. No decisions have been made, the people said, and it is possible Biden opts to do nothing at all.

TikTok’s future in the U.S. appeared uncertain on Friday after a federal appeals court rejected a legal challenge to a law that requires the social media platform to cut ties with its China-based parent company or be banned by mid-January. A panel of three judges on The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously that the law withstood constitutional scrutiny, rebuffing arguments from the two companies that the statute violated their rights and the rights of TikTok users in the U.S. The government has said it wants ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to divest its stakes.

So much for rumors of a plane crash, an airstrike or other theory. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow, where they have been granted asylum by Russian authorities, according to Russian news agencies citing a Kremlin source. The Interfax news agency quotes the unnamed source as saying: “President Assad of Syria has arrived in Moscow. Russia has granted them (him and his family) asylum on humanitarian grounds.”  

China sent 14 warships, seven military aircraft and four balloons near Taiwan between Saturday and Sunday, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, as Beijing ramps up pressure on the island it claims as its own. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the island in response to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s recent visit to Pacific allies, including U.S. stops in Hawaii and Guam. China claims Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy of 23 million people, as its own territory, and bristles at other countries’ formal exchanges with Taiwan. The United States, like most countries, doesn’t recognize Taiwan as a country but is its main unofficial backer and sells it arms.