RUSSIA
Second flight recorder found
Search teams on Wednesday recovered another flight recorder from a military plane that crashed in the Black Sea, killing all 92 people aboard, the Defense Ministry said. The first flight recorder was found the previous day and experts have started analyzing its data, seeking to identify the cause of the crash. The Tu-154 of the Russian Defense Ministry crashed into the sea early Sunday, two minutes after taking off in good weather from the city of Sochi. The Defense Ministry said 15 bodies and 239 body fragments have been recovered.
EGYPT
Family hopes for freedom
Family and friends of an American jailed in Egypt for nearly three years are hoping her time in custody may end soon. Aya Hijazi, 29, grew up in Falls Church, Va., and is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Egypt. As Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was cracking down on civil society in May 2014, she and her husband, Mohammed Hassanein, were arrested, along with six others associated with their foundation set up to help homeless children. Hijazi’s brother, Basel Hijazi, said in a phone interview from Germany that his sister has been more upbeat as her prosecution draws international condemnation and as the lack of evidence has been exposed.
GERMANY
Man detained in attack probe
German prosecutors said Wednesday that they have detained a Tunisian man they think may have been involved in last week’s truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. The 40-year-old, who wasn’t identified, was detained in Berlin during a search of his home and business, federal prosecutors said. The man’s telephone number was saved in the cellphone of Anis Amri, a fellow Tunisian believed to have driven a truck into the market on Dec. 19. Amri, 24, was killed in a shootout with Italian police in a suburb of Milan early Friday.
In a snit about vegan meat
Germany’s agriculture minister has leapt to the defense of meat lovers, calling for a ban on names such as “vegetarian schnitzel” for meat-substitute products, which he said were misleading consumers. Among the “wurst” offenders is “vegan curry sausage,” a meat-free take on a heavily spiced pork dish born of post-World War II necessity and now considered a delicacy in Berlin — though largely unknown outside Germany. “These terms are completely misleading and unsettle consumers,” Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt told Germany’s Bild daily, stressing the need for “clear consumer labeling.”
Compiled from wire reports