Globe Trot 07.04

Happy Independence Day. Not everyone woke up an American today.

Are you proud to be an American? In his column yesterday Barnabas Piper wrote that he is instead humble to be an American: "This American life we lead is an undeserved opportunity, and for most of us, one that we did not choose."

Often unnoticed on this day is the American privilege to speak freely against the government-and to remember the dangers of statism. Reformed Theological Seminary chancellor Michael Milton argues for the founding worldview that "exposed the lie of statism and chose freedom."

Thomas Fleming, former president of the Society of American historians, points out that the Founders "had the highest per capita income in the civilized world of their time. They also paid the lowest taxes-and they were determined to keep it that way." America in 1776 also was a land of diversity, with a budding "information highway."

In the remote Pacific nation of Kiribati, a new search begins today for Amelia Earhart's plane.

In Geneva scientists are celebrating the discovery of a new subatomic particle they say is consistent with the long sought Higgs boson, the so-called "God particle."

In the Islamic world, al-Qaeda shares the same intellectual roots as the Muslim Brotherhood, writes Biola history and Middle East studies professor Judith Mendelsohn Rood. Ironically, Cairo's Al Azhar University, the center of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world, has been the place to repudiate that ideology. And now, "despite the efforts of the opposition to keep Egypt from becoming Salafist, the authoritarian tyranny that was the Mubarak regime has been thoroughly repudiated by the Egyptian masses. As in Gaza, the Muslim Brotherhood's moral standing has proven lethal to Arab nationalism." The question is, will Egypt become Gaza?

Congo's "war on elephants" is an added dimension to its long boiling civil war, with rebels this week taking 30 hostages from staff of a conservation group that set up guard posts against poachers. The rebels are using the hostages to transport poached ivory and other goods. The global price of ivory has soared, and rebels employ poachers to extract it for lucrative sales used to buy weapons.

Police in Kenya have arrested 36 suspects in connection with Sunday's attack on a church in northeastern Kenya. The attack, which killed at least 18 and wounded the African Inland Church's pastor, has been blamed on al Shabaab militants from Somalia.

We're following another important development in Kenya, where U.S. Ambassador Scott Gration resigned last week, claiming "differences with Washington regarding my leadership style and certain priorities." The U.S. ambassador's post in Kenya also oversees diplomatic efforts in Somalia, and that appears to have been one of the rubs for Gration, a son of missionaries to Africa who speaks fluent Swahili.

Sign up to receive Globe Trot via email every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.