input: def list_countries_from_api() -> dict:
      """ Loads a list of countries from a basic Flask-based REST API. The API will use 
      data from a JSON file ('data.json') to provide the list. The function is supposed to 
      return the list of countries directly.
      
      >>> list_countries_from_api()
      {'countries': ['Afghanistan', 'Albania', 'Algeria', 'Andorra', 'Angola', ...]}
      """
output:     import requests
      import json
  
      url = "http://localhost:5000/countries"
      response = requests.get(url)
      if response.status_code == 200:
          return response.json()
      else:
          return {}