U.S. and world news for Dec. 16

Workers: CNN reports that a study it has done of government data reveals that despite Donald Trump saying during the campaign that American businesses should hire only American citizens, his companies have been hiring foreign workers. Trump’s businesses have brought in more than 200 workers from overseas in 2024 alone according to government data. Trump’s major supporter Elon Musk this year brought in more than 2,000 foreign workers for his businesses.

Drones: The 88th Air Base Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio closed its airspace late Friday night and into Saturday morning because of unexplained drone activity in the area. The Air Force base is about five miles outside of Dayton, Ohio.  The runways at New York Stewart International Airport at Newburgh were closed for a time late Friday night due to drones. The federal government was sending a special radar system used to detect and track drones to the New York area in view of the numerous unexplained drone sightings in recent weeks.

Oil spill: The Russian news service TASS reports that two Russian tankers carrying thousands of tons of oil were badly damaged during a storm in the Black Sea over the weekend. One of the ships broke in two. TASS did not provide an estimate of how many gallons of oil have been spilled but did say that the ships carried 9,000 tons of oil, which would be more than 5 million gallons. TASS said that one crewmember was killed in the mishap.

al-Assad: A message posted on the internet that purports to be from deposed Syrian Dictator al-Assad says that he did not intend to flee Syria but was moved out of the country by Russia. The message says that al-Assad was hiding at a Russian military base in Syria when the base came under attack by drones. The message says that al-Assad wanted to stay in Syria and continue his fight against rebels but Russia decided to move him to Moscow, where he was given asylum.

Cyclone: Rescue workers were trying to reach the French territory Mayotte, a chain of islands in the Indian Ocean following a cyclone that destroyed large areas. Officials expressed concern that thousands of people may have been killed. The cyclone was described as the worst storm to affect the area in more than a century. BBC News said it was the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. An estimated 100,000 people lived in slums that were completely flattened.

Loyalists: Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he has named former Congressman Devin Nunes to be chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. Nunes was a strong Trump ally when he was in Congress and resigned from Congress in 2022 to become CEO of Trump’s company Truth Social. Trump said that Nunes will continue to serve as CEO of the company even though he also would be serving in the government role. Trump also named another loyalist, Richard Grenell, to a new job that has yet to be created, envoy for special missions.