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MORNING BRIEF

Today's Global News from Foreign Policy <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/UlMc6uYQJxFs8sWzF4713>


TOP NEWS

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Claims Responsibility for Paris Attacks

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Claims Responsibility for Paris Attacks

<p dir="ltr"><b>Top News:</b> Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula <a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpaAebd0>issued</a> a statement Wednesday claiming responsibility for the attacks on the offices of the magazine <em>Charlie Hebdo</em>. In a video, a representative of the group said that the attack was ordered by Ayman al-Zawahiri and carried out by two “heroes of Islam.”</p>
<p><b id="docs-internal-guid-64a7f087-e8c8-327b-76d5-31b468e256fe"> </b></p>
<p dir="ltr">According to the video, the attack was organized by the American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is reported to have met with Said Kouachi, one of the Charlie Hebdo gunmen, during a 2011 visit to Yemen. Awlaki was killed that year in an American drone strike. On the day of the Paris attack, Said and his brother Cherif Kouachi told witnesses that they had executed the attack on behalf of al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen.</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p dir="ltr">The statement did not take responsibility for the attack on a Paris grocery store that left four people dead. That attack was reportedly carried out by Amedy Coulibaly, whom the al Qaeda statement referred to as a “mujahid brother.” In a video released after his death in a police raid, Coulibaly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and said he had coordinated his actions with the Kouachi brothers.</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p dir="ltr">Meanwhile in Paris, the newest edition of <em>Charlie Hebdo</em> went on sale and <a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpcA58e0>quickly sold out</a> at newsstands across the city. The magazine features the Prophet Muhammad on the cover. He sheds a tear and holds a sign bearing the words “Je Suis Charlie.” Above him, a caption, in French, reads, “All Is Forgiven.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>AirAsia:</b> A Singaporean search vessel <a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpeAb070>found</a> the main fuselage of an AirAsia flight 8501, which disappeared over the Java Sea. The plane’s two flight recorders have now also been found. </p>

Middle East

<p>• Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpgA7c69>met</a> in Geneva to resuscitate talks aimed at ending the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpiAbccb>expressed</a> sympathy for the victims of the Paris terror attacks but said the events were the product of Western support for terrorism.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• The U.S. military <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpkA70f4>said</a> Wednesday that its forces had carried out 18 airstrikes in Syria and Iraq against Islamic state targets in the last 24 hours.</p>
<p> </p>
Asia

<p>• Police in Shanghai <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpmAa905>said</a> they arrested nine Uighurs and 10 Turks accused of attempting to travel to Syria.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Under the terms of a budget proposed Wednesday, Japanese government spending <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpoAc18e>will rise</a> to a record level in the coming year.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• In two gestures of national unity in the formerly war-torn country, Pope Francis <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpqAc3de>traveled</a> into Sri Lanka’s northern jungles for a visit to a shrine and canonized the country’s first saint during a mass in Colombo. </p>
<p> </p>
Europe

<p>• A top EU lawyer <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRprA700b>said</a> that the European Central Bank’s as yet unimplemented plan to buy outright massive amounts of bonds is legal.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Italian President Giorgio Napolitano <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpsA2bbd>announced</a> he will retire.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• An shell <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpuAeb88>struck</a> a bus in eastern Ukraine, killing 12 civilians, amid intensified fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Kiev forces.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
Americas

<p>• Haiti’s parliament <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpwAe335>dissolved</a> after negotiations failed to secure the passage of an election law.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• The mayor of the Mexican city of Iguala, Jose Luis Abarca, <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRpyAa87e>was charged</a> with the kidnapping of 43 disappeared students.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Former Guatemalan leader Efrain Rios Montt <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRp0A06a3>failed</a> to appear for a hearing in his retrial on genocide charges.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
Africa

<p>• U.S. troops in the Central African Republic <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRp2A5ab2>transferred</a> senior LRA commander Dominic Ongwen to the custody of Ugandan forces, who have said he will be sent to the Hague for trial on war crimes charges.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Intense floods in Malawi <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRp4Afea9>killed</a> 48 people and displaced another 23,000.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Nigerian troops <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c7268ph.239w/VLZ6YUmObGGHSRp6Afd70>turned back</a> an attack by Boko Haram forces on the northeastern town of Biu.</p>
<p> </p>
- By Elias Groll

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