Globe Trot: Christians beheaded, hung on crosses in Syria

SYRIA: A U.S.-based relief group is reporting 11 Christian workers from Syria were beheaded and hung on crosses last month near Aleppo after Islamic State (ISIS) took over their village. A 12-year-old son of one of the workers also was killed. Christian Aid said the workers, converts from Islam involved in planting house churches, were encouraged to leave the country by fellow aid workers but chose to stay. According to the ministry team leader:

“They kept on praying loudly and sharing Jesus until their last breath,” he said. “They did this in front of the villagers as a testimony for others.”

AFGHANISTAN: Afghan forces appear to have succeeded in retaking the city of Kunduz after a horrific U.S. airstrike on a hospital killed and maimed patients and caretakers. A nurse on hand described the horror as “unspeakable.” We’re looking into further reports of the Taliban entering a women’s shelter in the area, brutalizing and taking women as fighting in the region spreads.

VIOLENCE: Here’s a fact-check on the claims mass shootings in America have become routine and outpace the rest of the world.

INDIA: With economic growth in India comes a lethal luxury habit: cocaine addiction.

ANTARCTICA: As world leaders head next month to an already-overhyped summit on an overhyped topic (climate change), so much ice is piling up in eastern Antarctica it easily counterbalances thinning glaciers elsewhere.