10 things you need to know today: November 26, 2017

A picture taken on November 25, 2017, shows the Rawda mosque, roughly 40 kilometres west of the North Sinai capital of El-Arish, after a gun and bombing attack.

(Image credit: STR/Getty Images)

Jump to category:

1. Egypt launches airstrikes in retaliation for mosque attack
2. Trump's agency succession fight could go to court
3. Jared Kushner's White House role is shrinking
4. Trump suggests Access Hollywood tape may be fake
5. Trump bashes CNN, promotes conspiracy blog in tweets
6. Pakistan deploys troops against protesters
7. Navy identifies 3 missing sailors
8. Chinese factory explosion kills 2, injures 30
9. London Tube fighters turn themselves in
10. Actor Rance Howard dies at 89

last updated 26 November 2017

1. Egypt launches airstrikes in retaliation for mosque attack

The Egyptian military conducted airstrikes against Islamic State affiliate hideouts in the Egyptian desert Saturday in response to Friday's attack on a Sufi mosque in the Sinai province which killed 305 people, 27 of them children. The attack, committed by extremists who reportedly carried an ISIS flag and looked like organized militants, is the deadliest such incident in Egypt's recent history. ISIS has not publicly claimed responsibility. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had promised to retaliate with "brute force," and the bombing reportedly targeted the attackers' vehicles. Cairo did not give details on the number or location of the air raids.

Come Monday, there will be two people starting the same job as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), one of them chosen by the agency's outgoing head (per the guidelines in the law that created the CFPB) and one picked by President Trump (per more general law on executive appointments). Both sides are apparently prepping for a legal fight — the Justice Department issued a memo justifying the administration's position Saturday evening — and lawyers told Reuters the dispute will likely go to court. Trump defended his position on Twitter Saturday, calling the CFPB a "complete disaster" and pledging to "bring it back to life!"

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President Trump's son-in-law and unpaid senior adviser, Jared Kushner, has an increasingly limited role in the White House, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported Saturday. In the early days of the Trump administration, Kushner had a broad purview with walk-in privileges in the Oval Office. Since Chief of Staff John Kelly took office, however, Kushner's responsibilities have shrunk considerably. He is still tasked with solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Kelly reportedly made clear Kushner is under his authority and will not operate independently of the White House staff structure. Trump told the Times Kushner is "very effective" and "working very hard" to bring peace to the Mideast.

A New York Times story Saturday on President Trump's continued support for Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore reports the president has begun saying the Access Hollywood tape which hears him bragging about sexual assault may be fake. "He suggested to a senator earlier this year that it was not authentic, and repeated that claim to an adviser more recently," the Times reports. This is a reversal of Trump's position immediately following the tape's discovery last year. At that time, Trump acknowledged he was the speaker in the recording and apologized.

President Trump posted a pair of tweets about the media Saturday evening, one attacking CNN and the other promoting a blog called MAGA Pill. In the first post, he complained that "CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news" abroad, "and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly." The second tweet recommended MAGA Pill as a worthwhile source of a list of Trump's accomplishments as president. The blog shares conspiracy-laden content like a flowchart of "The Swamp" including "human sacrifice" and "certain bloodlines" dominating the financial industry.

The Pakistani government on Sunday deployed paramilitary forces under military command to respond to protesters who blocked a major highway and attacked a police checkpoint. At least six protesters were killed in the initial clash and about 200 more people were injured. The demonstrators have been in the streets for weeks rallying against a proposed parliamentary rule change that would no longer require lawmakers to mention the Prophet Mohammed while taking their oath of office. Protesters have accused the Pakistani law minister of blasphemy over the proposal and have demanded his resignation.

The Navy on Saturday identified the three U.S. sailors who went missing Wednesday when their plane crashed into the ocean shortly after takeoff from Japan: Lt. Steven Combs, Aviation Boatswain's Mate Airman Matthew Chialastri, and Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Apprentice Bryan Grosso. "Their service and sacrifice will be lasting in 7th Fleet and we will continue to stand the watch for them, as they did bravely for all of us," said Vice Adm. Phil Sawyer. The search for the missing men was called off Thursday, but an investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.

A major explosion at a factory in Ningbo, China, a city south of Shanghai, killed two people and injured at least 30 more Sunday morning. The blast occurred around 9 a.m. local time, knocking down multiple buildings in a riverfront neighborhood. Police are investigating the source of the explosion, which may have been a gas line leak. Casualties would have been higher, but several of the buildings destroyed were evacuated in preparation for demolition. Industrial accidents of this sort are relatively frequent in China.

The two men whose fight in a London Tube station caused a mass panic and evacuation Friday voluntarily turned themselves in to authorities for questioning Saturday. Their altercation on the subway platform was mistaken for a terrorist attack, and police received 999 calls reporting shots fired. Investigators later determined there were no shots fired. It remains unclear whether the men, aged 21 and 40, will be charged. Several people were injured in the panic, only one seriously.

Actor Rance Howard, the father of director Ron Howard and grandfather of actress Bryce Dallas Howard, died Saturday after a six-decade career in Hollywood. He was 89. Rance "stood especially tall 4 his ability to balance ambition w/great personal integrity," Ron Howard wrote on Twitter. "A depression-era farm boy, his passion for acting changed the course of our family history. We love & miss U Dad." With nearly 300 acting credits on IMDB, Rance Howard appeared in films including Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind as well as shows like Grey's Anatomy and Seinfeld.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.