Today's edition of quick hits:
* Iraq: "Iraqi forces on Monday declared a key victory in their battle to retake the western city of Ramadi from ISIS, seizing a central government compound in what the United States called a 'proud moment.'"
* Deadly storms: "Tornadoes, blizzards and heavy rain have assaulted much of the country's middle section in recent days, leaving dozens dead.... At least 43 people have been killed in a five-day span. And the dangerous weather is not over yet."
* Crisis conditions in Afghanistan: "The Taliban claimed responsibility for a car bomb that killed at least one person and wounded 31 others on Monday near Afghanistan's main international airport in the capital Kabul, Afghan officials said."
* Houston: "Authorities have upgraded the investigation of a Christmas Day fire at a southwest Houston mosque to 'incendiary' and cited multiple points of origin in the two-alarm blaze as suspicious."
* A diplomatic resolution: "The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan on Monday reached a deal meant to resolve a decades-long impasse over Korean women forced into Japanese military-run brothels during World War II, an important breakthrough for the Northeast Asian powers."
* Speaking of diplomacy: "It started with a private phone call by the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan on Friday morning to wish him a happy birthday. About four hours later, Mr. Modi landed in the Pakistani city of Lahore for an impromptu visit with Mr. Sharif, giving such little notice that Mr. Sharif's national security adviser could not make the journey from Islamabad in time."
* An important process advances: "A Russian ship left Iran on Monday carrying almost all of Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium, fulfilling a major step in the nuclear deal struck last summer and, for the first time in nearly a decade, apparently leaving Iran with too little fuel to manufacture a nuclear weapon."
* Arkansas: "The childhood home of former President Bill Clinton was partially damaged early Friday in a fire that local Arkansas police are investigating as an arson."
* Gun violence: "In a grim reminder that violence in America never takes a holiday, 27 people were killed and 63 injured in shooting incidents on Christmas Day this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. This tally does not include people who shot themselves in suicide. The number of Americans killed in gun homicides on Christmas Day is comparable to the number of people killed in gun homicides in an entire year in places like Australia or Britain."
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.