Globe Trot: Migrants deaths in the Mediterranean

MEDITERRANEAN: Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean Sea are at their highest level in recent years—and an investigation into an April shipwreck that killed at least 500 shows how authorities are allowing the illegal smuggling operations to continue. The probe found that “in the seven months since the mass drowning, no official body, national or multinational, has held anyone to account for the deaths or even opened an inquiry into the shipwreck.”

EGYPT: At least 24 Egyptians were killed during Sunday Mass inside Cairo’s St. Peter’s Church in an apparent suicide bombing. The church is next door to St. Mark’s Cathedral, which is the seat of Egypt’s Orthodox Christian church and is headquarters for Coptic leader Pope Tawadros II, who heads the largest Christian church in the Middle East.

A brief statement from the U.S. State Department gets important details wrong. The attack did not take place outside the church and it was not at St. Mark’s.

The attack was the worst on Egypt’s Christian minority in years and highlights the lack of security they receive, despite regular threats, and how little has really changed for Egypt’s Christians since President Abdel Fattah Sisi ousted Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from power in 2012.

SYRIA: Aleppo residents face agonizing life-or-death choices over remaining in the city under either rebel or government control.

ISRAEL: UN delegates are expected to vote this week on funding for a blacklist of firms with ties to Israel, particularly those profiting from the growth of Jewish settlements deemed illegal under UN protocols.

UNITED STATES: The Senate will probe suspected interference by Russia in the presidential election, after top Republicans called for a bipartisan investigation. The CIA reportedly concluded Russian hacking was intended to benefit Donald Trump, while the FBI has questioned those findings.

Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson tweeted over the weekend, “I accepted the charge of Secretary of State,” but President-elect Donald Trump indicated he’s not yet made a decision—as courting and name floating continues. Tillerson apparently draws high marks from former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, but his reputation as a savvy negotiator comes with controversy.

SWEDEN: “If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I’d have about the same odds as standing on the moon,” said Bob Dylan, in the text of his Nobel Prize banquet speech read by the U.S. ambassador to Sweden in a ceremony Saturday.