Chinese professor rebukes Xi

CHINA: Beijing professor Xu Zhangrun last week delivered in essay form a fiery denunciation of President Xi Jinping, urging lawmakers to reverse a vote this year abolishing term limits for the presidency and describing “a degree of panic throughout society.” The professor wrote in concluding the rebuke (in Chinese, with a translation underway), “I have said what I must and am in the hands of fate.”

Google will launch a censored search engine in China, feeding the repression.

NICARAGUA: Neighbor Costa Rica is overwhelmed with 23,000 Nicaraguans fleeing three months of unrest. The White House stepped up demands this week for President Daniel Ortega to hold elections and took steps to confiscate U.S.-donated hardware.

RUSSIA: Three Russian journalists were killed in the Central African Republic while investigating the activities of a private security company with possible Kremlin connections.

SYRIA’s Druze population was the target of one of the deadliest ISIS raids of the war last week, which killed more than 220 people. In the raid, ISIS seized at least 36 women and children as hostages.

BRITAIN: Not one Christian is among the refugees resettled in Britain among 1,100 Syrians it has resettled in the first three months of 2018. In comparison, the United States in the first eight months of the 2018 fiscal year resettled six Syrian Christians and 10 Muslims for a total of 16 Syrian refugees.

WHEELS: Of course you’ve always wondered what top world leaders ride. Mercedes tops all choices, while up-armored Cadillacs are the choice of the United States and Canada alone.

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