Afternoon Brief ASIA • Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged leader of the 2008 jihadi attack on Mumbai, has won an appeal against his detention in Pakistan after claiming that the government infringed on his rights. • NATO formally ended its combat mission in Afghanistan after 13 years, but U.S. officials have promised to remain partners to the government in Kabul. • A North Korean official insulted U.S. President Barack Obama, comparing him to “a monkey” in his response to the hacking of Sony studios as retaliation for a film about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. AFRICA • Cameroon conducted airstrikes on positions belonging to the Nigerian jihadi group Boko Haram after some 1,000 fighters suspected of belonging to group attacked a town in northern Cameroon. • A wanted leader of the Shabab militant group in Somalia has surrendered himself to government forces, according to Somali intelligence sources. • George Weah, a former soccer player, won a landslide victory in Liberia’s Senate election. EUROPE • Russia’s economy appears to be entering a recession as growth declined for the first time since 2009. The country’s currency has collapsed due to falling oil prices and Western-imposed sanctions. • An Italian ferry caught fire on its way from Greece to Italy, killing five people and leaving more than 400 stranded at sea for hours before they could be evacuated. • Spain’s government has abandoned its support for Princess Cristina, the royal family member under investigation for tax fraud. AMERICAS • A priest who was reported missing last week in the Mexican state of Guerrero has been found shot dead, according to local police. • Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, appointed Kátia Abreu, a defender of farmers and agribusiness and critic of environmental conservation, to head the country’s agriculture ministry. • Protests against a shipping canal project in Nicaragua turned violent when police fired tear gas and rubber-coated bullets at protesters concerned their homes could be destroyed. MIDDLE EAST • U.S.-led coalition forces launched 13 airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria. Many of the strikes were around the Kurdish town of Kobani on the Syria-Turkey border. • Libya has appealed to the international firefighters to help stop a massive fire at the country’s largest oil port. The fire was started by rocket fire from a militia attack. • Bahrain arrested a leading member of the country’s main opposition political movement on charges of “inciting hatred.”
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 21:18:40 +0000
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