Globe Trot: Three Americans killed by Kabul car bomb

AFGHANISTAN:At least 12 people were killed when a car bomber attacked a NATO convoy in Kabul on Saturday. The dead included three Americans who worked for Dynacorp, including one who had been named father of the year.

GLOBAL MARKETS:The Dow Jones average fell 1,000 points in the first five minutes of trading this morning, reflecting a potential global downturn in market values. Last week, the Dow had its worst five days since 2011. A selloff of Chinese shares is underway following China’s decision to devalue its currency—suggesting its economy may be in more dire straits than predicted.

CHINA: Air pollution in China is killing 4,000 people a day.

ISRAEL/GOLAN:Over the weekend, Israel fired rockets on Syrian rebel posts near the Golan Heights in retaliation for rocket launches last week deep into Israeli territory. The situation prompted the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to warn Americans from all travel to northern Israel, including the Galilee area. And Israel has strongly suggested it believes Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was behind the rocket fire, raising the question once again: Is there any red line remaining for the United States in the Middle East?

SYRIA:On Friday, ISIS militants bulldozed Mar Elian Monastery, a fourth century monastery in central Syria near the town of Qaryatain, where ISIS attacked churches and has captured 260 Assyrian Christians—all still held—in recent weeks.

The Catholic priest who lived at the monastery, and who sheltered Muslims and Christians fleeing ISIS, was kidnapped in May and remains missing.

ISIS also reportedly has blown up the ancient temple at Palmyra, a week after it beheaded an archaeologist and scholar in the city.

RUSSIA: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Friday asked President Barack Obama to issue a Pentagon report to Congress on Russian violations of the intermediate-range missile treaty, as it is required by law to do. The U.S. State Department acknowledged a violation of the INF treaty last year when the Russians tested a cruise missile, but the White House has delayed its required followup report to Congress since December.