Monday, 2nd February 2015
EGYPT – “Al Jazeera” journalist Peter Greste said it was a great relief to be freed from prison in Egypt, but that he felt “incredible angst” about leaving two imprisoned colleagues behind. An Egyptian court sentenced 183 supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to death on charges of killing police officers. (Reuters)
LIBYA – Troops loyal to a Libyan general tried to block internationally recognized Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani from visiting the Eastern city of Benghazi at the weekend as he looked to show support for his soldiers battling Islamist groups. The incident may signal a possible rift in the military alliance between the al-Thani’s government and Khalifa Haftar just months after launching an offensive against Islamist fighters in Benghazi. (Reuters)
FRANCE – French forces in Northern Mali have killed around a dozen Islamist militants in the region of the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains, the French Ministry of Defense said. (Reuters)
Tuesday, 3rd February 2015
JORDAN – Islamic State militants released a video appearing to show a captured Jordanian pilot being burnt alive in a cage, a killing that shocked the world and prompted Jordan to promise an “earth-shaking” response. (Reuters)
BALKAN WARS –The United Nations’ highest court based in The Hague ruled that Serbia did not commit genocide against Croatia during the Balkan war. Judges rejected charges by the Zagreb government regarding the tragedies of Vukovar and other cities in 1991. (ANSAmed)
TURKEY – The Turkish government has canceled the passport of ally-turned-foe Fethullah Gülen, the latest salvo in a bitter feud between the U.S.-based Muslim cleric and the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (Reuters)
Wednesday, 4th February 2015
NATO – NATO Defense Ministers will strengthen the alliance’s presence in Eastern Europe by setting up a network of small command centers that could rapidly reinforce in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and the three Baltic states, where the alliance has had little presence until now in the event of any threat from Russia. (Reuters)
ISLAMIC STATE – The United Arab Emirates has withdrawn from flying air strikes in the U.S.-led international coalition campaign against Islamic State fighters. (Reuters)
ISRAEL – The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the Islamic State “burns people alive while the Islamic Republic of Iran hangs them in the town square” after the international outcry following a video showing jihadists burning a Jordanian pilot alive. (ANSAmed)
Thursday, 5th February 2015
JORDAN – The Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Judeh, said his country’s strike against Islamic State in Syria was just the start of its response to the militant group’s immolation of its captured pilot last month. (Reuters)
TUNISIA – Tunisian parliament approved a coalition cabinet including secularists, Islamists and smaller parties. The cabinet headed by Prime Minister Habib Essid, which includes members of the secularist Nidaa Tounes and the Islamist Ennahda party, was approved by 166 members of the 217-seat parliament. (Reuters)
GREECE – The Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, reassured Greeks after speculation on a possible lack of bank liquidity by saying that their bank deposits were in no way at risk. (ANSAmed)
Friday, 6th February 2015
EGYPT – Military air strikes killed 27 Islamic militants in Egypt’s Northern Sinai in one of the biggest security operations in the region in months. (Reuters)
UKRAINIAN CRISIS – The leaders of Germany and France abruptly announced a summit with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow in response to overtures from the Kremlin, raising hopes of a breakthrough in the year-old Ukraine conflict. (The Guardian)
