Globe Trot: Nigeria claims Chibok schoolgirls will be released Monday

FREEDOM FOR CHIBOK GIRLS?: The Nigerian government claims it has reached a ceasefire agreement with the terrorist group Boko Haram and says the militants have agreed to release the kidnapped schoolgirls from Chibok on Monday.

We hope this report is true but will believe it when we see results, especially after the Nigerian government faced heavy criticism in April for publishing untrue claims that most of the girls had been released shortly after their kidnapping.

Still, according to a Telegraph report in September, the International Red Cross has been involved in negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram to arrange the girls’ release in exchange for prisoners from the Islamist group.

Boko Haram—a group that has wreaked havoc on Christians in northern Nigeria for years—hasn’t confirmed a ceasefire with the Nigerian government or the reports that it will release the missing girls.

But for the sake of the captive girls—and their agonized families—we hope the news of their impending release is true. As the Twitter campaign #BringBackOurGirls noted this morning: “We are monitoring the news with huge expectations.”

QATAR: Matthew and Grace Huang—an American couple imprisoned in Qatar—face a critical hearing on Monday that could determine whether they will spend the next three years in prison for their daughter’s sudden death.

The couple from California moved to Qatar in 2012 for a work assignment, along with their three adopted children from Africa. Their 8-year-old daughter Gloria died unexpectedly in 2013, and Qatari officials blamed the parents for her death. Prosecutors presented no compelling evidence for their claims, but police offered a galling explanation for their suspicions: They claimed adoptive couples normally don’t want children outside their own ethnic group, and said the Huangs must have ill motives for adopting children Qatari officials deemed undesirable.

A court sentenced the couple to three years in prison in March, but didn’t specify what crime they were found guilty of committing. At a hearing on Monday, the Christian couple will ask a judge to lift their travel ban so they can return to the United States.

REMEMBERING MALAYSIA: Seven months after Malaysia Airlines flight 370 vanished with 239 people on board, round-the-clock media coverage has faded, but families’ grief has deepened. The Boston Globe offers snapshots of some the missing passengers’ loved ones coping with their sudden and mysterious losses.

CUBA: A rising tide of Cuban immigrants are showing up off the Florida coast, after making a run for America in hobbled boats. Some 25,000 Cubans without visas have arrived by land or sea in America this year alone. It’s the steepest rise in Cuban immigrants since 1994, when scores of Cubans set sail for Florida in makeshift rafts. One community leader in Miami told The New York Times he expects more immigrants to flee the regime: “I believe there is a silent mass exodus.”

But most Cubans are staying, including some advocating for greater freedoms. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports Cuban pastor Mario Felix Lleonar has learned he could face criminal charges if he continues to meet with other pastors harassed by the Cuban government. The Baptist pastor said he has no plans to stop: “I intend to continue on with my activities in the defense of religious freedom in Cuba.”