by Mindy Belz
Post Date:
June 2, 2017

A week full of terror

Name: WORLD
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Jihadists on the rampage in the Philippines, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iraq

Mourners light candles in Manila on Friday in remembrance of victims of a terror attack at a casino. Associated Press/Photo by Aaron Favila

JIHADISM: The climate isn’t collapsing, by all accounts, but jihadist terror has been on a rampage this week, and it’s worth talking about:

PHILIPPINES: Islamic State militants claim an attack on “a gathering of Christian combatants” in Manila, where a gunman set fire to a casino and today 36 bodies have been recovered. The attack coincides with a siege underway in the Mindanao city of Marawi, where 175 are dead, at least 12 Christians are hostages, and 11 soldiers died in a friendly-fire incident. EGYPT: A gripping account of what happened May 26 when ISIS gunmen attacked a busload of Coptic Christians on their way to St. Samuel Monastery, and Sam Tadros reports on the anger, and enduring faith, of the Copts. At St. Samuel Monastery, one monk reflects: “We would choose Christ, if we were made to choose between Him and death.” AFGHANISTAN: Afghans tired of terror attacks took to the streets today, with violent clashes, to protest a bombing on May 31. It left approximately 100 dead and up to 400 wounded—perhaps the deadliest bombing in the long Afghanistan war and in the heart of a diplomatic compound usually secured by checkpoints. IRAQ: Baghdad’s death toll rose in May, highlighted by twin bombings in the city on Tuesday that killed 38.

CLIMATE: President Donald Trump yesterday withdrew the United States from the unratified, non-treaty Paris climate accord (full statement here). Critics worry the decision will undermine efforts to reduce emissions while states prepare for their own work-around, but most of the arguments favoring the accord are overheated.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a videotaped message, asked American climate scientists to come on over.

TURKEY: Authorities arrested the father of Enes Kanter, the Oklahoma City Thunder center who has been an outspoken critic of the regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Jailed American pastor Andrew Brunson is “extremely discouraged” and needs your prayers.

MEDITERRANEAN: Cargo ships increasingly are changing course to rescue stranded migrants at sea.

SPELLING: Ananya Vinay became the 13th Indian-American in a row to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee in a gripping final round last night. My favorite word from the championship round is tohubohu, taken from the Hebrew in Genesis 1:2, meaning chaos and desolation, the state of things before God made the world.

To have Globe Trot delivered to your email inbox, email Mindy at mbelz@wng.org.

Mindy Belz

Mindy is a former senior editor for WORLD Magazine and wrote the publication’s first cover story in 1986. She has covered wars in Syria, Afghanistan, Africa, and the Balkans, and she recounts some of her experiences in They Say We Are Infidels: On the Run From ISIS With Persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Mindy resides with her husband, Nat, in Asheville, N.C.

@MindyBelz

A week full of terror

Jihadists on the rampage in the Philippines, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iraq

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