Globe Trot: Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. in Africa

KENYA: On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Kennedy Odede, a former street kid in Kenya, reflects on how the civil rights leader changed his life. Odede is the founder of Shining Hope for Communities, a non-profit organization based in Nairobi.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: A new UN report sheds light on the growing role of Islamist militants. In a pattern similar to what we’ve seen in Syria, a rebel movement from Uganda, forced over the border to the DRC, has been trying to uproot Christians in the northeast through attacks, rape, looting, kidnapping, and murder. The toll: 1,116 lives between October 2014 and May 2016, with nearly 1,500 abducted and 4,000 families forcibly displaced.

MALI has eradicated guinea worm disease. The debilitating parasitic disease that afflicted 3.5 million people 30 years ago is now endemic in only three Africa nations: South Sudan, Chad, and Ethiopia.

IRAQ: Special forces liberated the University of Mosul from ISIS control, and are fighting to seize the entire east bank of the Tigris, which would free about half of the city from ISIS control.

The PHILIPPINES has filed a formal protest with China over its military buildup on man-made islands in the South China Sea. But Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay is pushing back against the kind of joint blockade Secretary of State–designate Rex Tillerson outlined during confirmation hearings last week.

ITALY: This sounds like the best field trip ever: exploring stolen and recovered art with the Italian police.

GERMANY: Volkswagen execs better stay out of the United States to avoid emissions extraditions.