And from our news desk:
The Islamic State group (IS) has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack which targeted a police training center in western Libya, killing more than 50 people and wounding at least 100 others.
A statement published online in Arabic on January 8 said an IS member had died carrying out the suicide bomb attack in the city of Zliten the previous day, but Libyan authorities have so far not confirmed that detail.
The IS group has been growing in power in Libya, feeding on the chaos that has gripped the country since Qaddafi’s overthrow.
IS militants are present in several towns, launching attacks against oil infrastructure.
Also on January 7, a bomber drove an explosives-packed car into a checkpoint at the entrance to Ras Lanuf, a major oil port in northern Libya, killing at least six people.
A longer write-up of the IS militant who reportedly executed his mother:
An Islamic State (IS) militant executed his mother in public in Syria, activist groups said on January 8.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Ali Saqr shot his mother to death "in front of hundreds of people" near the post office building where she worked in the IS stronghold of Raqqa on January 7, because she had begged him to leave the extremist group.
It said Saqr had reported his mother to IS "authorities," who subsequently arrested the woman and accused her of apostasy.
Saqr's mother, who was in her forties, was living in the nearby town of Tabaqa but worked in Raqqa, the Observatory said.
But another group, Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, said that the reports suggesting Saqr shot his mother because she tried to get him to leave IS were incorrect. It said he killed her because she was an Alawite and therefore considered an apostate.
Abu Ibrahim al-Raqqawi of RBSS told RFE/RL via Skype that there was "more than one reason" why Saqr had killed his mother.
Saqr -- whose age was given by different groups as 20 or 21 -- had a bad reputation in Raqqa before IS took over the city in January 2014, according to Abu Ibrahim.
Saqr was a "bad guy" who was well known for his excessive drinking and fighting, including with knives.
"When IS came, [Saqr] joined them from the first," Abu Ibrahim told RFE/RL.
RBSS identified Saqr's mother as Lena al-Qasem, an Alawite originally from Syria's Latakia province -- a stronghold of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.
A January 2 post on a Facebook page believed to belong to Saqr cursed "the Rafidite [a derogatory term used by some Sunnis to refer to Shi'ites] Shi'ites and the heretic Nusayris [a derogatory term for Alawites."
The IS group has executed hundreds of people it has accused of working with its enemies or breaching of its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam.
Many others were killed on the grounds of homosexuality, practicing magic, and apostasy.
According to the Observatory, IS executed more than 2,000 Syrian civilians in the 18 months since it declared its "caliphate" over the territory it controls in Syria and Iraq.
Back to Libya, where IS claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings yesterday that killed tens of people and injured many more.
Mary Fitzgerald tweets that there is anger on Libyan social media in the aftermath of the bombings, which Libyans feel did not really make much of a dent on the world's media.
U.S. Central Command spokesman Col. Patrick Ryder is sharing comments about the U.S.-led coalition against IS in Iraq and Syria.
Finally, Ryder points out that the fight against IS will not be an easy one.
U.S. Central Command spokesman Col. Patrick Ryder is sharing comments about the U.S.-led coalition against IS in Iraq and Syria.
Ryder says that the coalition has put pressure on IS since the start of its campaign and has forced IS to behave reactively.
U.S. Central Command spokesman Col. Patrick Ryder is sharing comments about the U.S.-led coalition against IS in Iraq and Syria.
Ryder has this to say about the situation in Haditha in Anbar province where IS have been attacking Iraqi forces.
U.S. Central Command spokesman Col. Patrick Ryder is sharing comments about the U.S.-led coalition against IS in Iraq and Syria.
Ryder is starting with updates on Ramadi, which Iraqi forces supported by close air support from the coalition have retaken from IS and are now clearing:
Libya Security Monitor notes that IS's claim of responsibility for the Zliten suicide truck bombing refers to the Abu Mugharia campaign, linking the attack to IS's other attacks on targets in the Libyan oil crescent.
IS carried out a second suicide bombing yesterday at Ras Lanuf in the oil crescent.
Yesterday's suicide truck bomb in Zliten in Libya -- which IS are now claiming responsibility for -- targeted a police base in the western Libyan town and killed at least 60 policemen.
Around 200 more were wounded, local officials have said.
AP notes that IS's Libyan affiliate have been trying to gain a foothold in Zliten as the group tries to spread westwards from its stronghold of Sirte.
IS in Libya are claiming that the suicide bomber who carried out yesterday's suicide truck bombing in Zliten in Libya has the nom de guerre Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir -- his name means that he is a foreign militant, i.e. not a Libyan.