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President Donald Trump has criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia probe and told Special Counsel Robert Mueller not to dig into his family’s finances. In an interview with the New York Times, Trump said that if he had known that Sessions was not going to take part in the investigation about Russia’s attempt to meddle in last year’s election he "would have picked somebody else" as Attorney General. Meanwhile, Trump warned Mueller that the former F.B.I. director would be crossing "a red line" if he digs into the finances of the president's family as he proceeds with his investigation into Russia's electoral interference. – NYT

Senator John McCain has been diagnosed with a malignant glioblastoma, a very aggressive type of brain tumor, his office said. Patients diagnosed with this type of cancer have an average survival rate of around 14 months, while about 10 percent live for more than five years. Doctors made the diagnosis after removing a blood clot from above McCain's left eye. The Senator’s office said he’s recovering "amazingly well" from the operation. Former President Barack Obama tweeted: "Cancer doesn't know what it's up against. Give it hell, John." – CNN

A new scientific study indicates that nearly two thirds of all the plastic ever made has been wasted. About 9 billion tons of plastic have been produced since the 1950s, of which 5.5 billion tons have ended up wasted on land and in the water because plastics don’t biodegrade. Around 12 percent of all plastic has been incinerated and only 9 percent has been recycled, the study says. "At the current rate, we are really heading toward a plastic planet," said lead author Roland Geyer at the University of California, Santa Barbara. About a third of the plastic produced is used to make packaging, including water and soda bottles. The study, which is based on data provided by the plastic industry, was published in the journal Science Advances. – AP

The shareholders of British American Tobacco (BAT) and Reynolds have agreed to a $49 billion merger that will create the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company. The agreement calls for BAT to acquire the 57.8 percent interest in Reynolds that it does not yet control. The merger gives BAT a bigger foothold in the U.S. market. The British cigarette-maker will be able to save some $400 million a year through the merger, but its debt burden will increase to $60 billion. BAT controls the Dunhill, Rothmans, Kent, Benson & Hedges and Lucky Strike brands. Reynolds produces Camel, Pall Mall, Newport and Natural American Spirit. – USAT

The U.S. government has decided to terminate a program to train and arm Syrian rebels. Instead, the Trump administration wants to work with Russia – Damascus’ main international ally – to find a negotiated solution to the conflict. Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced a ceasefire in southwest Syria earlier this month. A government official speaking on condition of anonymity said the decision to end the Obama-era program means that "Putin won in Syria." The program’s goal was to put pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Although the covert operation is over, the Pentagon will continue cooperating with Syrian rebels fighting ISIS. – WAPO

Chilean senators have ratified a law legalizing abortion in some cases. Until now, women who underwent the procedure in the South American country faced a jail sentence of up to five years. The new law, which had already been approved by the lower chamber of Congress, legalizes abortions in three cases: if the mother’s life is at risk, if the pregnancy is the result of rape and if the fetus is not viable. Chile’s abortion laws have long been considered among the harshest in the world. "It's a historic morning," President Michelle Bachelet said after the law was passed. – REUTERS

Trump’s one-time campaign manager Paul Manafort owed millions of dollars to Russian interests, financial records in Cyprus indicate. The statements from shell companies connected to Manafort date from December 2015. They show that he owed about $17 million to firms connected with Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs. A spokesman for Manafort said the documents are "stale and do not purport to reflect any current financial arrangements." The debts come from the years in which Manafort worked as a consultant for the Party of Regions in Ukraine. – NYT

A suspected ISIS fighter detained in Mosul, Iraq, may be a teenage German girl who disappeared last year. Video footage taken in Mosul that surfaced over the weekend shows a girl that resembles Linda Wenzel, a 16-year-old girl who vanished from her home in Germany last July. The girl seen in the video was part of a group of 20 female ISIS supporters from Russia, Turkey, Canada, Libya and Syria found by Iraqi forces in an underground tunn...