Globe Trot: Pakistan retaliates

PAKISTAN: Pakistani airstrikes have killed dozens of militants along the restive Pakistan-Afghanistan border following a series of suicide bombings last week that killed more than 100 people.

IRAQ: Iraqi forces yesterday launched a long-awaited offensive against West Mosul, where ISIS forces have dug in after bombing all bridges across the Tigris. U.S. airstrikes have been softening ISIS mortar and other installations (see the photo above looking from East Mosul while I was there), but ISIS continues to launch attacks, including offensives using armed drones.

SOUTH SUDAN: I meet Sudanese refugees in nearly every country I travel to, and WORLD Magazine’s latest cover story examines the tragic history leading to ongoing war in a new country carved out to bring peace: “What they missed is that people’s souls have to be fat in the same way.”

FRANCE: Marine Le Pen is gaining in the polls.

VENEZUELA: Government supporters have been barging into Catholic services, threatening violence, following the churches’ criticism of President Nicolás Maduro’s government.

RUSSIA: With in-depth reporting, this article creates a disturbing picture surrounding the strange implosion of Gen. Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser.

That said, a lot of questions remain over why actually Flynn lost his job.

The Kremlin keeps playacting the upper hand in U.S.-Russia relations—is it any surprise there’d be a psychological dossier on Trump?

TURKEY: At last count an open letter signed by members of Congress in support of detained American pastor Andrew Brunson had gained 78 signatures—leaving 357 members of Congress who have not signed.

The situation may be difficult for Christians in Turkey, but Protestant churches are growing.

CHINA is suspending all coal imports from North Korea—a crippling move—in an effort to comply with UN sanctions after Pyongyang’s latest ballistic missile test.

UNITED STATES: I’m thumbing through my well-loved copy of The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism by Michael Novak, who died at age 83 on Friday. Robert Royal does a good job capturing his legacy and last days: