Taliban gains are ‘out of control’

AFGHANISTAN: A spate of attacks Monday suggests the Taliban is having remarkable success seizing territory from Afghan and NATO coalition forces. “This is out of control,” a source with work in Afghanistan told me. Besides a car bombing in Kabul that’s left 29 dead, Taliban fighters have struck in a district east of Herat, about 500 miles from the capital, killing as many as 140 after bombing a regional hospital there. “The Taliban are a lot stronger than is being reported in the media,” said the source.

BRITAIN: The parents of Charlie Gard say they have withdrawn their application to get treatment in the United States, saying it’s “too late” to save his life for the terminally ill 11-month-old.

In response to a question from Friday’s Globe Trot, WORLD Magazine national editor Jamie Dean clarifies that the U.K. did not terminate parental rights in the Gard case: “My understanding is that British courts exercise wider latitude than they might here. As I mentioned in the article, the hospital says ‘parental responsibility’ belongs to the parents, but ‘overriding control’ belongs to the courts.”

ISRAEL: High-security cameras may assist in guarding Jerusalem’s Old City, as Israel’s Cabinet meets this evening, a move that could allow security forces to remove metal detectors that have sparked Muslim outrage over access to the al-Aqsa Mosque.

A deadly shooting at the Israeli Embassy in Jordan Monday may escalate a growing diplomatic and security crisis, which began after Arab gunmen killed two Israeli policemen near the al-Aqsa Mosque at the Dome of the Rock (or Temple Mount area) earlier this month.

IRAQ: The Assyrian mayor of the mostly Christian town of al-Qosh, which just barely missed ISIS capture in 2014, has been forced out and replaced by a member of the Kurdish KDP party. The move underscores fears among Iraq’s remaining ancient Christian communities that the major political factions will use the liberation of territory from ISIS to stake claims on formerly Christian enclaves.

VENEZUELA: A veteran photojournalist says three months of daily protests have only made Venezuelans more determined to oust the Maduro government (see photos accompanying The New York Times article): “We are living with a hunger that we have never had before,” said one. “Things are already really ugly here, and we won’t take it anymore.”

CHINA: Two weeks and 10,000 kilometers later, the Silk Way Rally’s top three in the Moscow-to-Xian race—which follows the old Silk Road across Russia, Kazakhstan, and China—finish just 7 minutes apart.

ITALY: Three brothers go in search of the cave their father dug to help them survive the Holocaust in “Shalom Italia,” premiering tonight on PBS (check local listings).

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