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In the subdued ballroom of the Hotel Ft. Des Moines–Hillary Clinton’s headquarters–the air of certainty that once surrounded her campaign melted away entirely. The New York senator’s supporters were forced to absorb the news that what they feared would be a narrow Obama victory had become a convincing win, leaving her not even in second place–but third. Among the Republicans, Mike Huckabee’s dramatic surge in the polls over the last six weeks–his leap from dark horse to front-runner–was signed and sealed by Iowa voters, who gave him a 34 percent to 25 percent win over big-spending Mitt Romney....

The core of this GripTight GorillaPod for MagSafe kit is the GripTight Mount for MagSafe. The naming is a bit confusing, but essentially Joby is making a tripod mount with a MagSafe compatible magnet. So if you already own a GorillaPod tripod you can buy the new MagSafe mount separately. If not, you can buy the kit, which includes both components together. The MagSafe addition allows anyone with an iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 to move it near the mount for an automatic and secure attachment....

The agencies’ caginess continued into last month. A congressional official privy to a secret briefing in November said that the assessment that Iran shut down its weapons program four years ago was obscure, compared with the way it ultimately appeared in the NIE. At a Nov. 15 White House briefing, analysts laid out the new intelligence in detail for senior officials including national-security adviser Stephen Hadley and a highly skeptical Vice President Dick Cheney....

“Morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary” and have been abolished, Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted as saying by Iran’s ISNA news agency. He was also cited by the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency. “The same authority which has established this police has shut it down,” Montazeri was quoted as saying. Newsweek has been unable to independently verify the claims and has contacted Iran’s Ministry of Justice for comment....

The drawdown wasn’t all that happened over the new federal holiday weekend. Iran held an election, and it was not a democratic one. The presumed victor has previously been sanctioned by the United States for gross human rights abuses. “President-elect” Ebrahim Raisi presided over the executions of thousands of political prisoners. This is the guy the White House’s special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, will join in negotiations over America’s re-entry into the failed Iran nuclear deal....

Five years ago, the Revolutionary Guard Navy intercepted two U.S. Navy riverine boats and briefly detained the 10 sailors onboard for straying into Iranian waters off Farsi Island. Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri recounted the international incident on Monday, maintaining that his forces “are fully prepared” to defend Iran and its borders at sea. “If a country intends to invade or threaten our Islamic homeland, as on January 13, 2016, our answer will be absolutely decisive and tough,” Tangsiri said during a ceremony at the country’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas....

Russia and China—both JCPOA signatories—backed Tehran through Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign, offering Iran export lifelines and diplomatic support. Since Biden has come into office, Moscow and Beijing have demanded his “unconditional” return to the JCPOA. The U.S. and Iran are stuck in a negotiating stalemate. Iran says it will not scale back its nuclear program in line with the JCPOA until all Trump-era sanctions are lifted. But Biden has ruled out easing the measures until Tehran walks back its expanded nuclear activities....

Tensions are high between Iran and Israel over a series of murky maritime incidents, including most recently a deadly blast aboard an Israeli-linked ship and an alleged unsanctioned boarding of another United Arab Emirates-owned tanker in the Gulf of Oman. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz told Ynet News on Thursday that “Israel is ready to attack Iran.” “We are at a point where we need to take military action against Iran,” he added, according to the Israeli outlet....

Last year, former political prisoner Mahmoud Royaei penned an op-ed published by CNN that marked the 33rd anniversary of the day Raisi, who was then a deputy prosecutor of Tehran and a key member of the 1988 death commission, decided Royaei’s fate. Writing about being in the room with Raisi that day, Royaei remembered how the now-president “clearly reveled in having power over life and death, and he wielded it freely in thousands of cases during that summer’s massacre of political prisoners....

Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said on Tuesday that two Iranians, Ali Nafarieh and Mohammad Ali Babapour, have been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on charges of spying for the U.S., The Associated Press reported. He did not identify the person sentenced to death as the verdict has been appealed and a final decision will be made by the appeals court. Another man, Mohammad Aminnassab, was sentenced to 10 years on charges of spying for Britain, Esmaili said....

Press TV’s Milad Javanmardi pointed out how Adams says the name of Iran. “First of all, you say you support the Iranian people, but you’re pronouncing our country’s name wrong,” Javanmardi said. “Our country is named ur·aan, not eye·ran. Please, once and for all, let’s get this clear.” Javanmardi then questioned whether or not Adams, a 23-year-old Black man who was raised by a white family, was comfortable representing “a country that has so much discrimination against black people in his own borders....

The accident happened on Sunday close to the port of Jask in the Gulf of Oman, some 790 miles southeast of the capital Tehran, Iranian state television channel IRNA explained. The Iranian navy released a statement Monday noting that the incident left at least 19 sailors dead and another 15 wounded. The accident occurred when a support ship—the Konarak, a Hendijan-class fast-attack vessel—was putting out targets in the water for other ships to fire at....

NEWSWEEK: What was your role in the standoff between the British and the Iranians? We sided with the British. We helped them in many, many ways. We were mediating all along [and] even tried to lobby the Arab foreign ministers at the Arab summit in Riyadh. But we couldn’t get that far. We didn’t get much support. [The Iranians] made the right decision by releasing [the captured troops]. In fact, [Iran] realized that public opinion was turning against them....

Aleksander Ali Bazarewicz, a Polish imam, recited prayers Tuesday over the infant’s tiny white casket. According to the Associated Press, the mother miscarried and is hospitalized in serious condition, and the father was at the refugee center and did not attend the funeral. Bazarewicz also led prayers nine days ago for the first victim of the migration to be buried in the same cemetery, a 19-year-old Syrian refugee. “We thought this would only happen once but now this sector gets bigger and bigger,” he told the AP....

Depp, 58, has filed a $50 million lawsuit against Heard, 36, alleging that she defamed him in an op-ed published by The Washington Post in 2018, in which said she was a victim of domestic abuse. While Heard didn’t name Depp in the article, his lawyers have argued that it was obvious she was referring to the actor. Heard has counter-sued for $100 million for nuisance, with her attorneys arguing that the op-ed was a matter of public interest....

Richard Sheridan, 50, an Irish national from Cambridge, U.K., was extradited to the U.S. in August to face charges for his role in the trafficking, the Justice Department said. After Sheridan entered a guilty plea on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jose EE. Martinez sentenced him to 14 months in prison and two years of supervised release. He was arraigned in federal court in Miami on August 29 on a May 15, 2014, indictment that charged Sheridan—as well as Michael Hegarty, another Irish national—with conspiracy to traffic in a libation cup made from the horn of a protected rhinoceros....

EIPs were authorized in March as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Most eligible individuals received either a check or a direct deposit of up to $1,200 amid the pandemic. Some Americans who don’t regularly file taxes, such as the elderly, homeless individuals or people who do not earn enough income to file, did not get the direct payments. On Tuesday, the IRS announced they would be sending letters reminding non-filers to apply for their EIPs....

The NRA is the nation’s largest gun-rights organization, boasting millions of grassroots members, and has come under siege in recent months amid a governance and financial scandal. The letter, from Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), comes nearly one week after Wyden and other minority committee members released a hefty report documenting allegations of improper dealings at the highest levels of the NRA related to the group’s 2015 Moscow trip....

Aguero had been out of action since suffering chest pains during Barca’s 1-1 draw against Alaves in La Liga on October 30. It is expected that he will announce his retirement. The 33-year-old was taken to hospital for tests and subsequently diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia. Aguero signed with Barcelona this past summer after the expiration of his Manchester City contract, but made just four appearances before his condition surfaced, scoring one goal (video below)....

The 49ers may also have to do it without their latest starting quarterback. Brock Purdy’s status for Thursday night’s game has come into question during the week. The rookie, who made his first start in a win over the Buccaneers on Sunday, is dealing with oblique and rib injuries that have kept him limited in practice during the week. Purdy doesn’t appear to be in too bad a shape, but his status will need to be watched closely, especially since the 49ers would be on to their fourth-string quarterback if Purdy can’t go....