May vetoed asylum for Bibi in Britain

PAKISTAN: U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May personally blocked granting asylum to Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian mother acquitted of blasphemy charges against Islam but targeted by Islamists. Bibi’s family requested asylum in Britain, and May reportedly overruled British Home Secretary Sajid Javid (who is of Pakistani descent) because she was concerned Bibi’s arrival could inflame tensions with British Muslims.

IRAN: The United States charged two Iran-based hackers with extorting $6 million from U.S. schools and hospitals in a scheme that also landed the Iranians on the U.S. Treasury’s sanctions list—the first time digital currency addresses could be publicly attributed to individuals for U.S. punishment.

AFGHANISTAN: An American evangelical Christian family has spent $58,000 in support of an Afghan interpreter for the U.S. military who’s being denied asylum in the United States. Because of his work, Muhammad Kamran and his family have been forced into hiding in Pakistan, while special immigrant visas allotted to military interpreters have dropped by more than half for Afghan and 98 percent for Iraqi interpreters in the past year.

SAUDI ARABIA: Americans might sleep better at night if U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took more seriously the state-sanctioned murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Instead, in an op-ed published Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal, Pompeo called concerns about the kingdom’s human rights record “caterwauling” and championed indiscriminate bombing of Yemen instigated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In the 12th paragraph he said the United States doesn’t condone the Khashoggi killing.

NICARAGUA: The United States imposed sanctions against two Nicaraguan officials, including Vice President Rosario Murillo, the wife of President Daniel Ortega.

SYRIA: International monitors have discovered the largest mass grave yet in Raqqa, the former ISIS-declared capital the group held for three years, containing an estimated 1,500 bodies.

BRITAIN: Norwegian Magnus Carlsen defeated American Fabiano Caruana to retain the World Chess Championship title in a sudden-death tiebreaker of four rapid games in London. The 27-year-old reigning champ prevailed over the 26-year-old rising star with “phenomenal” rapid chess, according to former champ Garry Kasparov. “We all play worse as we play faster and faster, but his ratio may be the smallest ever, perhaps only a 15% drop off,” Kasparov tweeted.

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