Globe Trot: Rome honors Christian martyrs with blood-red fountain

ITALY: Tonight in Rome the waters of the Trevi Fountain, the city’s largest, will turn red to honor Christian martyrs. Organized by Aid to the Church in Need, the event will be headlined by Antoine Audo, WORLD’s 2013 Daniel of the Year and the Chaldean Catholic Bishop of Aleppo, a city undergoing massive destruction and ongoing bombardment in the Syrian civil war.

The event coincides with a UN conference underway now, highlighting religious persecution—80 percent of which is directed against Christians. Speakers have included Father Douglas Bazi, the Iraqi Catholic priest who was kidnapped and tortured by ISIS but escaped to care now for more than 500 ISIS survivors. The parents of kidnapped and killed American Kayla Mueller also will speak about their ordeal.

Religious liberty is the necessary fight—and the one many Christians don’t want to have.

ISRAEL is concernedabout the increasing presence of ISIS forces at its northern border, within 20 miles of the town of Safed.

BRAZIL: Brain damage in Zika babies is far worse than researchers initially surmised.

UNITED STATES: Overall violent crime in the United States is down, but the suicide rate has risen an exponential 24 percent in five years (1999-2014). The increase cuts across every racial and gender category, except black men. Most U.S. gun deaths (60 percent) are suicides. Even so, the United States remains in the lower half of rankings for suicide in industrialized nations.

ECUADOR: Dayko, a 4-year-old Labrador who saved lives following this month’s earthquake, has died from his labors, of heatstroke. Authorities this week raised the death toll to 658 people, with 58 still missing.

NEXT WEEK: I’ll be in Washington, D.C., to speak about ISIS, Middle East Christians, and my new book at the Family Research Council on Tuesday and the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday (both events will be livecast as well). Heritage and Reformed Theological Seminary also host a Wednesday evening book event. Join us if you can.