It's still very early in the flu season, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that most cases this year are caused by a mutated H3N2 strain, which the flu vaccine can't really protect against.

Flu vaccines are formulated several months before the season begins, and always target three or four strains. Strains "drift," or mutate, all the time, and although the vaccine can't do much to prevent infection with a drifted virus, there is a bit of cross protection.

"Though reduced, this cross protection might reduce the likelihood of severe outcomes such as hospitalization and death," the CDC said in a health advisory to doctors. "In addition, vaccination will offer protection against circulating influenza strains that have not undergone significant antigenic drift from the vaccine viruses, such as influenza A (H1N1) and B viruses."

In the United States, the flu kills anywhere from 4,000 to 50,000 people a year, and the CDC recommends that anyone older than 6 months get the vaccine. Catherine Garcia

When visiting the toy factory run by Tiny Tim's Foundation for Kids, you can leave your wallet at home.

The West Jordan, Utah, toy factory makes small wooden cars, but doesn't charge a penny for them. In 2002, retired barber Alton Thacker and his wife, Cheryl Thacker, decided to open the factory after making several trips to small villages in Mexico to donate eyeglasses and medical equipment. Together, they saw "the important role toys played in helping little minds to grow," Alton Thacker told The Washington Post.

The toy cars are distributed free of charges to charities, churches, shelters, and children's hospitals, with some being delivered to kids as far away as Iraq, Russia, Brazil, and Ghana. More than 30 people regularly volunteer to carve and sand the wooden cars, with inmates at the Central Utah Correctional Facility painting them. Because lumber yards and cabinetmakers donate the wood, it only costs around $2 to build each car, and in 2018, the factory's one millionth wooden toy was made. "We have a small army of volunteers who want to get every one of our cars into the hands of a child," Thacker said. Catherine Garcia

It's a movie that's been bringing audiences to tears since 1942, and now, a Missouri man convicted of illegally killing hundreds of deer has to watch it once a month while sitting in his jail cell.

Earlier this month, a judge in Lawrence County, Missouri, sentenced David Berry Jr. to one year in jail for illegally killing hundreds of deer over the course of several years. While serving his time, he must also watch Bambi — the Disney tear-jerker about a deer whose mother is killed by a hunter — once a month. "If Bambi gets the point across to him, I don't have a problem with it," Lawrence County Prosecutor Don Trotter told BuzzFeed News.

The Missouri Department of Conservation said David Berry Jr., David Berry Sr., and other members of their family killed hundreds of deer, took their heads for taxidermy purposes, and left the bodies behind to rot. Anyone who tried to stop them was threatened, Trotter said. The investigation into one of the state's largest poaching cases took several years, with Berry Jr. and Berry Sr. arrested in August. Defense attorneys asked the judge for a light sentence because Berry Jr. has a new baby, but he was unmoved. "You can watch Bambi and think about your own child when you do that," Trotter said. Catherine Garcia

Special Counsel Robert Mueller became a target of Russian disinformation teams not long after he was appointed in May 2017 to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign, researchers from Clemson University said.

The team found that Russians working for the Internet Research Agency troll farm posted false claims about Mueller on several social media platforms, tweeting about him more than 5,000 times; they claimed his investigation was "fake," that he should be fired, and that he had once worked with "radical Islamic groups."

Two reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee released Monday show that Russians launched disinformation campaigns to help get President Trump elected, with their efforts starting earlier and lasting longer than previously thought. After analyzing more than 10 million posts, researchers found that Instagram was used more than any other platform. The report compiled by New Knowledge, Columbia University, and Canfield Research states that Russians posted 116,000 times on Instagram, more than Twitter and Facebook combined, and generated 187 million comments, likes, and other reactions.

"We hope that these reports provide clarity for the American people and policymakers alike, and make clear the sweeping scope of the operation and the long game being played," New Knowledge research director Renee DiResta told The Washington Post. Catherine Garcia

Clashes broke out in the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah just minutes after a ceasefire took effect at midnight Tuesday.

Hudaydah is a port city 90 miles east of the capital of Sanaa. Houthi rebels took control of Hudaydah in late 2014, and since June, the city has been under assault by the Saudi-led coalition that supports the government, BBC News reports. The ceasefire was agreed to last Thursday in Sweden during talks sponsored by the United Nations, but was delayed when fighting broke out on Friday.

Yemen's civil war has been raging for almost four years. More than 22 million Yemenis need aid, and Hudaydah is a crucial entrance point for food, medicine, and other supplies. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 16 million Yemenis do not have safe water to drink, 25 percent of children are not attending school, and two million people have been displaced from their homes. Catherine Garcia

Roger Stone, one of President Trump's longtime friends and a campaign adviser, settled a defamation suit on Monday filed by an exiled Chinese businessman who said Stone made false and misleading statements about him on Infowars, a website that peddles right-wing conspiracy theories.

Guo Wengui filed the suit in Florida this March, seeking $100 million in damages. Guo is a critic of Beijing, and has accused several politicians and businessmen in China of being corrupt. In his suit, Guo said Stone called him a "turncoat criminal who is convicted of crimes here and in China," and claimed he violated election laws by donating to Hillary Clinton. During an interview last month, Guo said Bruno Wu, a Chinese-American media tycoon, paid Stone to talk about him on InfoWars. Wu, who has been accused of being a Chinese spy by Guo, has since filed a defamation lawsuit against Guo.

As part of the settlement, Stone has to publish a retraction on social media and take out ads in several major newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, apologizing for his remarks about Guo. By doing this, Stone does not have to pay damages. The settlement describes Wu as being "the apparent source of the information" about Guo, which was passed along to Stone by Sam Nunberg, a former member of the Trump campaign.

In a text to The Journal, Stone said he was "irresponsible" and "solely responsible for fulfilling the terms of the settlement." It's been reported that Stone is being looked at as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and this defamation suit is a completely separate issue. Catherine Garcia

Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Monday evening filed FBI notes from January 2017 detailing an interview two agents had with former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Last December, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak after the 2016 presidential election and before President Trump's inauguration. The heavily-redacted notes were filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., one day before Flynn's scheduled sentencing.

The notes say that Flynn was asked several times if he spoke to Kislyak about Russian sanctions or tried to influence Russia's vote on a pending United Nations vote condemning Israeli settlements, and he said no. At one point, Flynn said he "has no particular affinity for Russia," but Kislyak "was his counterpart, and maintaining trusted relationships within foreign governments is important." Read the notes here. Catherine Garcia