NATO turns 70

NATO: On the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, foreign ministers gathered in Washington, D.C., announced increased support for Ukraine to counter the threat from Russia. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg became the first leader of an international organization to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, acknowledging fractures but insisting the alliance remains “a strategy to deal with uncertainty.”

The mutual defense bloc is not obsolete, writes former NATO commander U.S. Adm. James Stavridis. Yet with growing threats from China and elsewhere, the U.S. commitment to NATO will inevitably diminish, writes Henry Olsen.

SLOVAKIA: President-elect Zuzana Caputova has been dubbed the Erin Brokovich of Slovakia. The country’s first female head of state, elected March 30, had never run for office but rose to prominence following her 14-year campaign to close a toxic dump and her protests of the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée, who had uncovered government corruption.

PAKISTAN: British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt claimed officials are making progress in assuring safe transit for acquitted Christian mother Asia Bibi from Pakistan, but some members of Parliament say Britain should go further and grant Bibi immediate asylum.

VENEZUELA: With Red Cross aid approved but not yet in place, the Trump administration said it is readying a plan for economic assistance for Venezuelans and neighboring countries absorbing refugees.

SYRIA: Direct U.S. humanitarian assistance to Christians displaced in Syria isn’t on the horizon, but Hungary has pledged $3.9 million to work with Melkite churches in returning families to their homes.

SWEDEN: Can you explain the difference between the Pentecostal and Lutheran Church? That’s one of the questions authorities are asking Afghan converts to test whether their claims for asylum are legitimate—part of a crackdown on migrants that’s sending Christians back to countries where they face persecution.

BRITAIN: The latest obstacle to a Brexit deal may be a leaky roof as rain in the chambers of Westminster forced Parliament to close early. Conservative analyst Tim Montgomerie joined WORLD Radio on Thursday to discuss the final hurdles to a deal for leaving the European Union.

JAPAN: It’s sakura season, with synchronous cherry blossoms spreading across Japan, thanks in part to a 19th-century British ornithologist who saved many varieties from extinction.

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