Disappearing Christian communities

TURKEY: According to extensive new research from professors at Israel’s Ben Gurion University, Turkey’s Christian communities disappeared as a result of “a staggered campaign of genocide” that over three decades murdered 2 million Christians in “bouts of slaughter” a century ago. By combing through extensive government archives, the academics have documented a targeted campaign to eliminate Christians—of which the Armenian Genocide is just one part. Turkey long has maintained that the number of Christians declined—from 20 percent to 2 percent of the population—as a result of war and other general chaos.

IRAQ: Across the Middle East, “The world may soon witness the permanent displacement of an ancient religion, and an ancient people,” as Christians find it impossible to remain in places like Iraq and few step in with meaningful support (your weekend long read).

IRAN: Pentagon officials are scheduled on Thursday to brief the White House on a plan that could send an additional 5,000 U.S. troops to the Middle East amid simmering tensions with Iran and escalating rhetoric.

RUSSIA: U.S. fighter jets intercepted Russian bombers off the coast of Alaska, the fourth or fifth such encounter this year.

CANADA: Alberta has 30 active wildfires, including the High Level Blaze that’s forced 5,000 residents from their homes, but firefighters said none at this point are “wildfires of note.”

ISRAEL: Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced a three-month delay, until October, for a hearing on possible graft charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

FRANCE: A Paris appeals court ordered Wednesday that life support be returned to Vincent Lambert following a battle with a doctor who wanted to euthanize the 42-year-old, who is paralyzed from a motorcycle accident a decade ago. His Catholic parents have fought repeated efforts to put him to death, though he breathes unassisted and is not in a coma.

CHINA: Uncovering the extensive campaign by Communist Party authorities to forcibly assimilate ethnic Uighurs in reeducation camps was the work primarily of a born-again Christian anthropologist working alone in a German suburb.

TANZANIA: Popular coffee species, including Arabica beans, face extinction with poor farming practices and drought in East Africa.

I’M READING The Complete Father Brown Stories by G.K. Chesterton.

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