Subject: Morning Brief: Algeria’s ailing president promises to step aside
From: "Foreign Policy" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2019 07:38:55 -0500 (CDT)

Algeria’s Ailing President Promises to Step Aside

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MORNING BRIEF

Today's Global News from Foreign Policy

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03/12/2019

03/12/2019

TOP NEWS

Algeria’s Ailing President Promises to Step Aside

Top News: After waves of protests calling for 82-year-old Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down, he has announced that he will not run for a fifth term. He is reported to have said “Given my state of health and age, my last duty towards the Algerian people was always contributing to the foundation of a new Republic.” People took to the streets to celebrate, some of them waving Algerian flags. But the president also announced that the country’s elections—initially scheduled for April 18—will be postponed, adding to uncertainty about his actual departure date.

Venezuela: The United States is set to withdraw all diplomatic personnel from its embassy in Caracas this week. In a tweet on Tuesday,  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “This decision reflects the deteriorating situation in Venezuela as well as the conclusion that the presence of U.S. diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on U.S. policy.”

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AFRICA

•  Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed thanked “world leaders and the international community for their messages of condolence and support” as the country continues to grapple with the loss of all passengers aboard Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, which crashed soon after taking off from Addis Ababa on Sunday.

•  Sudan’s parliament has voted to shorten the country’s state of emergency, which was set to last a year, to six months.

•  In Kenya, a fire destroyed a major market in Nairobi overnight. Traders at Toi Market told reporters they were dissatisfied with the response from the fire department.

AMERICAS

•  In Venezuela, schools and businesses have been urged to close as people across the country brace for another day without electricity. The blackouts began on March 7, and are deepening  Venezuela’s political and humanitarian crisis.

•  In the United States, the New York Attorney General’s office subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank for information relating to U.S. President Donald Trump’s financial dealings.

•  Costa Rica wants to stop using fossil fuels by 2050 under a national decarbonization plan.

ASIA

•  Hakeem al-Araibi, a soccer player who was detained for 76 days in Thailand at the request of Bahrain’s government despite his refugee status in Australia, became an Australian citizen on Tuesday.

•  In Jakarta, passengers tested the city’s new trains on Tuesday, in preparation for the opening of a subway system that is aiming to improve transportation options in a city famous for its endless traffic jams.

•  National aviation authorities in Singapore and Australia moved to ground Boeing 737 MAX  aircraft on Tuesday following the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

EUROPE

•  Britain's Parliament will vote on a slightly updated Brexit deal on Tuesday. British Prime Minister Theresa May returned from negotiations with the European Union in Strasbourg on Monday night calling for unity. May said at a press conference, “Now is the time to come together to back this improved Brexit deal and deliver on the instruction of the British people.”

•  France’s minister for European Affairs said that when it comes to Tuesday’s Brexit vote in Britain’s Parliament, “The choice is now with the United Kingdom: a smooth exit or a brutal separation.”

•  U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard A. Grenell allegedly threatened Germany’s economics minister, warning him that if the country allowed Huawei to be a part of its 5G efforts, Washington would consider reducing the intelligence it shares with Berlin.

MIDDLE EAST

•  A court in Iran has sentenced Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer, to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes.

•  In a separate case, Iranian media reported that Michael White, a U.S. Navy veteran, was also sentenced to time behind bars.

•  The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that as many as 20,000 Iraqis, including some who fled from the Islamic State, could return from Syria soon.

- By Jefcoate O'Donnell

(Farouk Batiche/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

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