Globe Trot: Israel’s Shimon Peres laid to rest

ISRAEL: Israelis and dignitaries—including Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and two U.S. presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama—attended today’s funeral for Shimon Peres, one of the generation of founding leaders of modern Israel and twice its prime minister. Peres was unique among leaders in the Middle East, writes long-term observer Thomas Friedman: “He was determined to let the future bury the past and not let the past bury the future.”

CONGO: Mining cobalt exacts a steep human toll, and is an essential ingredient to your smartphone.

SUDAN: Government forces launched chemical weapons attacks on a remote area of Darfur, killing as many as 250 people.

NIGERIA: A Senate committee is seeking all State Department communication related to delays in designating Boko Haram a terrorist organization.

JORDAN: Hundreds turned out to mourn Nahed Hattar, a Christian-born but avowed atheist writer who was gunned down before he could face trial for insulting Islam. Hattar’s crimes also included support for the Assad regime in Syria, which many view as once protecting Christians. King Abdullah visited with Hattar’s family following the killing, seeking to ease a tense situation for a nation caught between conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

SYRIA: My report on imbalance in Syrian refugee numbers—with 56 Christians out of more than 11,000 mostly Muslims coming to the United States this year—indicates the problem is our reliance on UN referrals.

NO GLOBE TROT next Monday and Wednesday. Globe Trot returns Friday, Oct. 7.