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MORNING BRIEF

Today's Global News from Foreign Policy <http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/UlMc6uYQJxFs8sWzF2f33>


TOP NEWS

Al Jazeera Journalists Imprisoned in Egypt Get Retrial

Al Jazeera Journalists Imprisoned in Egypt Get Retrial

<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Top News:</b> Two brothers of Peter Greste, one of the three Al Jazeera journalists jailed by Egypt since December 2013 for allegedly spreading false news, are calling on President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to <a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYeAcdd5>release him</a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr">In June 2013, Greste and his co-defendants Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohammed, were sentenced to between seven to ten years for allegedly collaborating with the Muslim Brotherhood after the coup that ousted then-President Mohamed Morsi. That trial had been widely criticized by human rights groups and western governments, and the reporters argue they were only reporting on events. On Thursday, they appeared in court to appeal their convictions. Instead, the court said they must remain in custody and ordered a retrial that is expected to begin within a month. <a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYfAc5ea>Greste’s lawyer</a> has applied to the Egyptian government for his deportation.</p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr">On Friday, Greste’s brothers said that Sisi should deport the journalists rather than put them on trial, using a decree he enacted last year that allows him to deport foreigners on trial or in prison. Greste’s brother Andrew said the court’s ruling showed his brother was innocent, and that Sisi should “step in and honor what he has said in the past.” Prosecutors in Egypt have also indicated that there were major problems with the verdict against the journalists, which could bode well for their eventual release.</p>
<p> </p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Italy takes control of abandoned ship:</b> The Italian coast guard took control of a cargo ship carrying some <a style="font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYgA8a27>450 migrants</a> on Friday, after the ship was abandoned by its crew. The nearly half-century-old Sierra Leone-based ship, the Ezadeen, had been afloat without fuel about 40 miles from Italy’s southern coast. The crew left the ship sometime after it left a Turkish port. "When we hailed the ship to ask about its status, a migrant woman responded, saying, 'We are alone and we have no one to help us,'" one coast guard official said. This marks the third such incident in the past two weeks. While the nationality of the migrants is not known, they are likely to be Syrians or Libyans. The coast guard will attempt to bring the ship to shore safely.</p>

Africa

<p>• The High Court of Kenya on Friday <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYhA147d>blocked parts</a> of a controversial, recently enacted security law. The now-suspended measures include one that would have allowed authorities to intercept a broad swath of civilian communications, and another that would have prevented the media from publishing or broadcasting "insulting, threatening, or inciting material."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Al Shabaab militants <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYiA836a>killed seven Somali soldiers</a> at a base near the town of Baidoa on Friday, two days after a U.S. drone strike killed Tahliil Abdishakur, the al Qaeda-backed group’s intelligence chief.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• In 2015, swiftly <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYjA0824>falling oil prices</a> could present major problems for long-ruling leaders of west African nations like Angola and Equatorial Guinea, whose economic, development, and political fortunes depend on energy revenue.</p>
Americas

<p>• Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYkAfbcb>sworn in</a> for a second term on Thursday, as questions about the massive corruption scheme at the state oil company Petrobras continue to plague her administration.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Jury selection for the trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYlA0744>Dzhokhar Tsarnaev </a>is set to begin on Monday amid questions of whether federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Three-term New York governor and progressive stalwart Mario Cuomo <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYmAde95>died at the age of 82</a> on Thursday.</p>
Asia

<p>• Officials investigating the crash of AirAsia flight QZ8501 are now <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYnA3c15>moving their search</a> for the plane and its black box recorder underwater, and expect to find them at the bottom of the Java Sea. Radar data suggests that the plane attempted a steep climb to avoid bad weather that may have exceeded the plane's capabilities, leading to the crash.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Kunsheng became the highest-ranking diplomat to be <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYoA55b7>removed from office</a> on Friday as part of a President Xi Jinping’s wide-ranging corruption probe.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has reportedly <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYpA8c5e>married</a> Choe Song, the son of the powerful ruling Workers’ Party secretary Choe Ryong Hae.</p>
Europe

<p>• Germany’s Cologne Cathedral will <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYqAd544>plunge itself in darkness</a> on Monday in protest of a march by the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West, an anti-Muslim group that has been staging mass rallies across the country.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• The European Central Bank is likely to increase its <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYrAc7da>economic stimulus</a>, after figures released on Friday showed that eurozone manufacturing in December grew more slowly than initially estimated.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Some 2,500 Ukrainian nationalists led by the far-right Svoboda party <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYsA403f>marched in Kiev</a> on Friday in honor of Stepan Bandera, a prominent World War II-era anti-Communist leader regarded by Vladimir Putin as “Hitler’s accomplice.”</p>
Middle East

<p>• The United Nations says that at least 12,282 Iraqi civilians died in 2014, making it the <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYtA6e9a>deadliest year</a> in the country since 2007.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Palestine’s decision to join the International Criminal Court on Wednesday is unlikely to <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKaPPsPocp9-14l9A38c3>bring justice</a>, and will likely result in Israel blocking tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority and the United States cutting off aid to the body.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>• Libya on Friday finally managed to <a style='font-weight:bold;color:#ea1414;' href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/5253172ac16bcfa46f6bd4c724ugo.25is/VKa-ksPo-rO-cPYuA070d>put out the fire</a> at the strategically important Es Sider oil port; the facility had been ablaze for a week.</p>
- By Siddhartha Mahanta

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