Politics:
In Iraq, 275 US troops are now protecting the embassy in Baghdad and are equipped for combat, the New York Times lines out the alliance between the - foreign - ISIL and remains of the Baathists in Iraq, Foreign Affairs on how Maliki lost Iraq and the effects of the crisis on the Oil Market (and CSIS on Turkish-Kurdish Energy Cooperation), and The Atlantic with a collection of links worth reading.
Pakistan is fighting back against Taliban active in North Waziristan,
The New York Review of Books on the complicated relationship between Hamas and Fatah in Palestine.
The US House of Representatives just votes to cut the budget for two debated NSA programmes, surveillance data search that affects American citizens and asking hardware and software makers to build in backdoors to facilitate surveillance of their customers.
The Guardian portrays migrants trying to cross from Morocco into Spain.
Pop Culture:
Among the winners of this year's Critics' Choice Awards: Tatiana Maslany, again, for her many roles in Orphan Black, Kate Mulgrew and Uzo Aduba for their amazing work in Orange is the New Black (although it's hard to pick just one person - if both seasons count, at least Laverne Cox and Samira Wiley would have deserved to share the honours).
Twitter recommendations all over the place: 1, 2, 3 (here's an interview on his case for reparations), 4, also for this amazing piece of writing.