Globe Trot: Iraq’s grisly liberation

IRAQ: See my report in the latest issue of WORLD Magazine from the Mosul area on the grisly liberation of long-held areas from ISIS—explosives labs, buried IEDs, tunnels, and block upon block of destruction remain, but a few brave U.S.-led humanitarian relief organizations also are pressing into the front lines.

MALAYSIA: Kidnapped Christian pastor Raymond Koh may have been murdered, says his son. Despite an elaborate abduction, using five cars and two motorcycles, there’s been no information or a ransom demand. Associates of Koh have told WORLD they resist attributing the incident to rising threats from Islamist groups, because no one has claimed responsibility for Koh’s abduction.

INDONESIA: Incumbent Jakarta Gov. Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama is making nice with the Islamist-nationalist National Awakening Party ahead of the April 19 runoff elections, and he may win the party’s endorsement. A blasphemy trial over use of Quranic verses on the campaign trail is ongoing against Ahok, a Christian.

PHILIPPINES: Christians are leaving areas of the southern Philippines as violent Islam spreads.

EGYPT: There is general agreement the White House is right on pushing back against Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis wanting to appoint Anne Patterson as his undersecretary for policy. Patterson, as ambassador to Egypt under President Obama, worked closely with the Muslim Brotherhood and one-time President Mohammed Morsi.

IRELAND: Investigators confirmed the long-suspected presence of a mass grave containing hundreds of infants and children at a former Catholic orphanage.

NEXT WEEK: I will be in Washington, D.C., on Friday, March 10, at noon to give the Faith & Law lecture in Room SD-342 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill. Join if you can. On Saturday, March 11, I’ll be speaking at Ambassador Presbyterian Church in Apex, N.C. (near Raleigh).