News You May Have Missed

• The French government is preparing for military action against the Islamic State in Libya in the first half of 2016, unnamed French defense officials said. • The next round of talks to end the conflict in Syria will take place at the U.N. European headquarters in Geneva early next year. • At least one person was killed and another injured by an explosion at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport. • A U.S. drone strike targeted senior al Shabaab commanders at a training camp in Somalia's Shabelle region. • Yemeni President Abd Rabboh Mansour Hadi extended the cease-fire between Yemen's Houthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition for another seven days. • Turkish leaders were wrong to order the shooting down of the Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border in November, the co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party of Turkey, Selahattin Demirtas, following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. • The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 34 Russian and Ukrainian individuals and entities as part of Washington’s effort to pressure Russia to accept a diplomatic resolution in eastern Ukraine. • Ethnic Medhesis in Nepal vowed to continue protests at the country's border crossings with India. • Thailand’s military junta reiterated that it will hand back power to the people by July 2017. • The Venezuelan government has initiated legal action to invalidate the election of 22 opposition lawmakers to the National Assembly. • Mali's government declared a 10-day state of emergency in response to a number of threats from unnamed terrorist groups.