Globe Trot: Turkey detains American Christian couple

TURKEY: In the shadow of a key U.S. military base crucial to the fight against ISIS, Turkish authorities have detained American Christians Andrew and Norine Brunson for a week now—refusing to allow access to them by U.S. consular officials and lawyers, as required by international law. Turkey, remember, is a NATO member.

Under the pretext of state of emergency laws passed after a failed July coup, and recently renewed until January 2017, authorities also closed one church and expelled at least three other foreign workers who are Christians.

HAITI has suffered the highest number of disaster deaths of any country in the past two decades—230,000—according to a new UN report. Haiti’s death toll from Hurricane Matthew has topped 1,000 (according to Reuters, numbers vary), with nearly 1.4 million in need of aid, and 200 reported cases of cholera this week.

THAILAND: Thousands turned out today to mourn King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest-serving monarch, who died Thursday at age 88. Revered by Thais, Bhumibol was on the throne since 1946 and was the only king that most Thais had ever known.

NIGERIA: Yesterday, Boko Haram released 21 girls kidnapped along with more than 270 others from their boarding school in Chibok in 2014.

PAKISTAN: Asia Bibi’s final appeal to Pakistan’s Supreme Court was postponed after one member of the three-judge panel recused himself from the case. On death row and jailed since 2010, the Christian mother is accused of blasphemy and more than 100 Islamic imams have called for her execution.

INDIA: Few women own smartphones for fear it will lead them astray.

SWEDEN: Yes, Bob Dylan deserves the Nobel Prize in Literature, says The Wall Street Journal, which has a comprehensive retrospective on the singer-songwriter’s life and work (sorry, subscription required). Turn on “Autumn Leaves” and “Ain’t Talking” as antidotes to the week’s political nightmares, and enjoy the weekend.