Benghazi trial opens:

A trial of the suspected mastermind of the 2012 Benghazi, Libya, attacks will unfold this week in a federal courtroom in Washington, three years after he was captured by US special forces in Libya and brought to the US on a 13-day trip aboard a Navy ship.

Opening statements will take place Monday in the case against Ahmed Abu Khattala, whom prosecutors describe as the ringleader of the attacks at a diplomatic compound that killed four Americans and became a political flashpoint given its timing weeks before president Barack Obama’s re-election. It’s one of the most significant terrorism prosecutions in recent years in a US civilian court at a time when the Trump administration has said terror suspects are better sent to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. An 18-count indictment against Abu Khattala arises from a burst of violence that began the night of Sept. 11, 2012, at a State Department compound, a rampage prosecutors say was aimed at killing American personnel and plundering maps, documents and other property from the post. (AP)

Abu Khattala

FB to turn over ads:

Social media giant Facebook is expected to provide Congress on Monday with more than 3,000 ads that ran around the time of the 2016 presidential election and are linked to a Russian ad agency.

Company officials will meet with the House and Senate intelligence committees and the Senate Judiciary Committee to hand over the ads, a Facebook official said. The official requested anonymity because the meetings are private.

Facebook said last month that that it had found thousands of ads linked to Facebook accounts that likely operated out of Russia and pushed divisive social and political issues during the US presidential election. The company said it found 450 accounts and about $100,000 was spent on the ads.

Twitter has said it found postings linked to those same accounts, and the House and Senate intelligence panels have asked both companies, along