President-elect Donald Trump has vehemently denied supporting the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a war that proved to be built on baseless claims that dictator Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and had ties to al Qaeda. Yet, now that he’s at the helm, Trump is considering several of the war’s major advocates for top national security posts in his administration, according to Republican officials.

Quote of the day:

“What we’re seeing going on - and we should be worried about it - is a new president who on so many foreign policy issues has been all over the map,” said Pillar, now at Georgetown University. “Thus, the senior appointments game that we go through every four years has more consequences than it usually does.”

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama said Trump is in for a quick wake-up call when he takes office and will have to adjust his temperament to perform well.

More things Trump:

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Thousands of students carry protests against Trump into second week

A leaked memo seen by the BBC and The Times says Britain has no overall plan for Brexit and the strategy for leaving the European Union might not be decided for six months due to divisions in Prime Minister Theresa May's government.

Around the world

Digit of the day:

$2 million

Russian investigators said they had detained Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev in a bribery case linked to a $5 billion acquisition by state oil giant Rosneft. Ulyukayev is charged with extorting a $2 million bribe from the deal. State television was quick to present his detention as part of authorities' fight against corruption. It may also be evidence of infighting at the higher reaches of Putin’s government.

Iraqi forces have dislodged Islamic State from one third of the eastern side of Mosul, an Iraqi interior ministry spokesman said on Tuesday, four weeks into the U.S-backed campaign to take back the city.

In a thinly veiled message to Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned against protectionist responses to globalization. Also in Germany, government forces launched raids on mosques and apartments, and the government banned a group it accused of trying to recruit fighters for Islamic State.

An air strike hit a hospital in the rebel-held Syrian village of Awaijel, west of Aleppo, killing at least one person a day after attacks on two other hospitals in the region, a war monitor said.

Around the country

RIP Gwen

Gwen Ifill speaks after winning a Peabody for her show "Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal" during the 68th annual George Foster Peabody Award ceremony in New York, May 18, 2009. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

Demonstrators across U.S. cities will gather outside offices of the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as banks and energy companies on Tuesday in the largest protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline since the U.S. government halted the project in September.

Around Wall Street

Google and Facebook are taking measures to try to prevent the spread of false news stories through targeting advertising. The shifts comes as Google, Facebook and Twitter face a backlash over the role they played in the U.S. presidential election for allowing the spread of false and often malicious information that might have swayed voters toward Donald Trump.

As the Trans-Pacific Partnership falters, Malaysia looks to China.

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