Globe Trot: New year, new cheer around the globe

HAPPY NEW YEAR: Australians helped to begin ringing in the New Year with fireworks over Sydney Harbor, the Swiss commenced 2017 with icy dips in Alpine rivers, the Egyptians turned out the lights in Cairo except those illuminating the Pyramids, the Russians of course do vodka, and Spaniards in Segovia began Feliz Año Nuevo with Spanish ham, salmon tartar, and lamb.

TURKEY: Overnight, Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for a New Year’s Eve shooting attack on an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39—the fifth attack claimed by ISIS in Turkey but the first to target civilians. Authorities continue to search for the gunman.

In the past, Turkey has appeared to shelter ISIS (think Pakistan and al Qaeda), keeping an open border to Syria that allowed ISIS to recruit foreign fighters. But that began to change last November when Turkey launched Operation Euphrates Shield and began reclaiming territory from ISIS.

IRAQ: ISIS today killed 24 people in a car bombing in Baghdad and cut a key road linking the capital to Mosul, where Iraqi forces are battling the terror group.

RUSSIA: Russian diplomats expelled by President Barack Obama over alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election arrived in Moscow early this morning.

GERMANY: In post-Communist eastern Germany, Evangelical Church members find themselves missionaries in Martin Luther’s backyard.