Subject: Morning Brief: Trial of Catalan Separatists Begins
From: "Foreign Policy" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2019 08:13:25 -0600 (CST)

Morning Brief: Trial of Catalan Separatists Begins

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MORNING BRIEF

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02/12/2019

02/12/2019

TOP NEWS

Morning Brief: Trial of Catalan Separatists Begins

Top News: A dozen leaders of the Catalan independence movement went on trial in Spain today.

The group face charges of including sedition and rebellion for organizing a 2017 independence referendum. The trial at the Spanish Supreme Court, which is expected to last months, is being closely watched as test of the country’s judicial system.

The 2017 referendum plunged Spain into crisis after the Catalan regional government pressed ahead with the vote despite it being declared illegal by the Spanish courts and the national government. Madrid reacted by dissolving the Catalonian government and imposing direct rule on the region for several months.

United States: Lawmakers have reached a tentative deal to fund border security which could avert another federal government shutdown. The proposal, which still need to pass the House and Senate, does not include the $5.7 billion funding for a wall requested by President Trump, but would provide $1.37 billion for further fencing along the southern border. That is roughly the same amount allocated by Congress last year.

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AFRICA

•  The widow of a Nigerian activist gave testimony in The Hague as part of an ongoing lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell. The energy company has been accused of being complicit in the hanging of Nigerian environmental activists in 1995. Shell has denied the charges.

•  The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the country’s ministry of information have denied rumors that a new currency is to be introduced.

•  Four people have been killed and a hospital burnt to the ground in Kumba, Cameroon, where Anglophone separatists have been fighting troops.

AMERICAS

•  Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro described U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration as a “gang of extremists,” in an interview with the BBC.

•  The government of Haiti has remained silent in the face of violent protests in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which have already left several people dead.

•  A BBC cameraman was “violently pushed,” at a Donald Trump rally in El Paso, Texas on Monday night.

ASIA

•  North Korea may have continued to produce bomb fuel despite denuclearization talks with the United States, according to a new report by Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation. The suspension of nuclear and missile tests since 2017 however means that North Korea’s arsenal poses less of a threat than it did one year ago, the report authors conclude.

•  Police in Myanmar fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and a water cannon at members of the Karenni ethnic minority who were protesting a statue of General Aung San—the father of current State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, who helped lead the country to independence in the 1940s.

•  The United States’ top trade and treasury officials arrived in Beijing today ahead of talks which seek to avoid an increase in tariffs placed on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

EUROPE

•  Maryna Zolatava, the editor of Belarus’s most widely-read news site went on trial today in a case widely thought to be politically motivated.

•  Russian lawmakers are considering a bill that would see the country briefly disconnected from the global internet as part of a test of its cyber defenses.

•  British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to tell lawmakers to “hold their nerve” in an address today, as she seeks more time to amend her Brexit deal ahead of the March 29 withdrawal deadline.

MIDDLE EAST

•  Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan arrived in Baghdad today, his first visit to Iraq, for talks on the U.S. troop presence in the country.

•  Hundreds of civilians have fled Baghouz in eastern Syria as U.S.-backed forces battle to retake the last pocket of Islamic State-held territory in the country.

•  Refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi has returned to Australia after being detained in Thailand due to an extradition request by authorities in Bahrain.

- By Amy Mackinnon

(DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

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