Globe Trot: Iraq begins to rebuild Ramadi after retaking it from ISIS

IRAQ: Iraqi forces retook Ramadi from ISIS last week and now face the monumental task of rebuilding both the city and its devastated population.

SAUDI ARABIA: Iran accused Saudi Arabia of sparking Sunni-Shiite tensions as Tehran nears a 48-hour deadline to pull its diplomats from Riyadh. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday, after Iranians protested on Saturday the Saudi government executing a well-known Shiite dissident cleric. Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was among 47 “terrorists” beheaded or shot by firing squad, many of those killed allegedly had links to al-Qaeda.

IRAN: The White House has said little about Iran’s announcement last week ordering a speed-up in the production of ­defense missiles. The United States is considering new sanctions over Iran’s ballistic-missile testing, even while it prepares to lift old sanctions under the U.S.-brokered nuclear deal.

CHINA: Under cover of the most far-reaching anti-corruption campaign in Communist Party history, President Xi Jinping is carrying out the harshest crackdown on free speech in decades.

SYRIA: Three bombings claimed by ISIS in the Syrian city of Qamishli near the Iraqi border targeted Christians, killing 16 (or 18, according to a statement from the European Syriac Union). The explosions hit Syriac-owned restaurants in a predominantly Christian neighborhood.

KENYA: Here’s the rest of the story on what happened when al-Shabaab militants tried to take over a bus carrying 100 Christian and Muslim passengers last month:

“Weary of Islamic extremist attacks on Christians that have caused workers and teachers to flee the area, Muslims on board told the assailants that the militants would have to kill them all or leave them in peace. The Muslim passengers loaned their Islamic face coverings to Christian women and hid other Christians behind bags.”

BELGIUM: Here’s what happened when Christians at a small church in Flanders decided to invite Muslim refugees living in nearby camps to their service, according to the report I received this morning:

“Christmas evening was astonishing. I never saw people so spellbound by the message of the gospel, together with 11 such young children. Almost all of the time of the more than two hours of film, you could hear a ‘needle fall to ground.’ After 10 minutes into the film, the two muslim men enthusiastically approached me and said that what they saw was also written in the Koran! My wife also had some good contact with the four women and the children were given presents by the other children of the church. They were very deeply moved (and the other church members and us too) and they invited us to come and visit them, which my wife and I would like to do—the Lord willing—at the end of the week.

“[At] conferences of our mission in Switzerland and north Germany, … it was astonishing to hear that independently from each other, most of us in the different countries of Europe in the different churches had experiences with immigrants in bringing them the Lord Jesus. Although very few of us had ever talked to each other about this in the last few months, the Lord seemed to have moved many hearts of our church members all over Europe in His own way and is opening doors for the gospel in Europe as never before.”