Today's Headlines and Commentary

Congressional Democrats requested that the FBI open criminal and counterintelligence investigations into news reports that Li Yang, founder of a massage parlor allegedly linked to prostitution and sex trafficking, had sold personal access to President Donald Trump to Chinese business executives, the Washington Post details.

U.S. intelligence reports claim that Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directed a sweeping campaign targeting Saudi dissidents with kidnapping, torture and surveillance, and that the campaign included the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the New York Times reports.

The Philippines officially withdrew from the International Criminal Court after announcing its intention to exit the body in 2018 following the Court’s opening of a preliminary examination of President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, according to the Post.

A Russian parliament member announced that Russia will field nuclear-capable strategic bombers in Crimea, annexed from Ukraine in 2014, in response to U.S. missile defense deployments in Romania, Reuters reports.

Facebook will launch an intensified fact-checking program intended to counter misinformation in anticipation of the European Parliament elections in May, Reuters details.

ICYMI: Over the Weekend on Lawfare

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast featuring Bill Browder and Jago Russell on the use of Interpol by authoritarian governments.

Jacob Olidort examined whether the Islamic State’s territorial rollback has brought its defeat for the weekly Foreign Policy Essay.