EU foreign ministers meet on Monday in Brussels to discuss the threat of terrorism, with Europe still on high alert in the wake of last week’s counter-terror activities. The meeting will also address the situation in Ukraine. There will be a special EU leaders summit on Feb 12 to discuss cross-border cooperation against terrorism.

Authorities in Belgium said that the mastermind of a disrupted plot to attack police is still at large. Meanwhile, the Belgian government asked Greece to extradite one person arrested in Athens at the weekend.

A march by the German anti-Islam Pegida organization set for Monday in Dresden was cancelled after what police called a “concrete threat” against one of its leaders. Police also suspended other public open-air gatherings in the city for 24 hours, meaning a planned anti-Pegida demonstration will also not take place.

   (image: BBC)

Last week, a rally by Pegida – Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident – in Dresden drew 25,000 people, while thousands of people marched in cities across Germany in counter-demonstrations.

Amy Davidson at the New Yorker looks at the growth of Pegida in “Germany’s strange new right wing meets Charlie Hebdo”, while Timothy Garton-Ash in The Guardian calls Pegida “a vampire we must slay.”

* WORLD * The status of Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi remains unclear after reports of fighting near the presidential palace in the capital Sanaa. The BBC said the army had exchanged gunfire with Houthi rebels early on Monday. On Saturday, President Hadi’s chief of staff was abducted by Houthi forces in the centre of Sanaa. The kidnapping led to a threat to disrupt oil supplies.

Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped 80 people and killed three in northern villages of Cameroon.

* POLITICS * As the White House prepares for Tuesday’s State of the Union address, Republicans were quick to criticize the President’s proposed tax plan targeting big financial institutions and wealthier individuals.

Shots were fired near Vice President Joe Biden’s house in Delaware on Saturday night, but there appeared no clear indication his home was the target.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr Day. The Hill looks at the six members of the current congress who originally voted against making the day a national holiday.

* BUSINESS * Ahead of the opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, a report by Oxfam says that the world’s richest 1% is on course to see its share of global wealth increase to more than everyone else combined next year. Meanwhile, writing in the Washington Post this weekend, Lawrence Summers says “nothing is more important to the success of industrial democracies than sustained increases in wages and living standards for working families.”

* MEDIA * Fox News apologized for and corrected its segment last week “regarding the Muslim population in Europe”.

* SPORTS * Free agent pitcher Max Scherzer has reportedly agreed a seven-year contract with the Washington Nationals. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports writes that the deal will “make a great rotation even better.”

Defending NFL champions the Seattle Seahawks are headed to this year’s Super Bowl after a dramatic comeback against the Green Bay Packers, Jermaine Kearse catching a winning touchdown in overtime; while in Foxboro, the New England Patriots overwhelmed the Indianapolis Colts to take the AFC title. The Patriots’ Tom Brady will become the first quarterback to appear in six Super Bowls when Super Bowl XLIX is held in Arizona on February 1.

Meanwhile, the NFL renewed its broadcast deal with CBS, initially to show Thursday Night Football for next season, with an option to continue in 2016.