- Donald Trump [1] blamed the media [2] for saying that he sided with Julian Assange instead of the CIA after receiving backlash. On Thursday, Trump tweeted that he only repeated what Assange said about Russia having no involvement with the DNC email hacks [3] and that he is a "big fan" of US "intelligence" [4]. Trump previously called the CIA's report about Russia's involvement "ridiculous."
- Entertainment star Nicki Minaj and her boyfriend, rapper Meek Mill, have broken up [5]. After rumors swirled when the pair did not appear together on New Year's Eve, Minaj took to Twitter on Thursday to explain. "To confirm, yes I am single," she wrote before setting off an internet firestorm over the news.
- Blackberry phones with a keyboard are making a comeback in 2018. The tech company will release an unnamed phone with a full QWERTY keyboard sometime next year [6], according to USA Today, which got a preview of the phone at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. More specifics, including pricing, are expected to be released in February.
- Four arrests have been made after a disturbing Facebook live broadcast [7] showed a group of black teens beating a white teen with special needs in Chicago. In the video, the assailants can be heard shouting anti-Donald Trump and antiwhite comments while attacking the teen, who was bound and gagged, reports NBC. Black Lives Matter activists condemned the attack as "barbaric behavior."
- Three women will make history by becoming the first to serve in a Marine infantry battalion today [8]. While the unit they are joining at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina already has women in leadership positions, these women will serve as a rifleman, a machine gunner, and a mortar Marine, positions that were only approved for women this year.