Globe Trot: Turkish Christians apologize for Armenian genocide

ARMENIA: Today marks the start of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, where up to 1.5 million Armenians (plus 250,000 or more Assyrian Christians) were killed. As delegates around the world gather at a memorial in Yerevan, Turkish Christians also have come “to apologize for what our ancestors did, to ask for your forgiveness.” Follow events surrounding the centennial here.

UKRAINE: What if both sides are fighting the wrong war? With Russia and Ukraine facing off in eastern Ukraine, a provocative new study concludes Russia can’t afford to keep the territory it wants, and Ukraine could be helped by letting it go.

EGYPT: With this week’s sentencing of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in prison, the post-Morsi government is launching an effort to reform the country’s textbooks, excising Islamic passages, and even some key Islamic figures, in a bid to counter radical Islamic ideology.

IRAQ: What a tagline! “It’s a terrible time to come to the Middle East. Think about coming anyway.” I’m careful about promoting specific groups, doing their public relations, but some are doing important, dangerous work. Servant Group International—whose schools in Iraq I’ve visited over many years—is one of them.

VANUATU: While we’re looking at the work aid groups do, some cool photos of happy people in cyclone-struck Vanuatu, courtesy Samaritan’s Purse. But according to this report, over half the country’s 250,000 residents remain without drinking water a month after the cyclone struck.

PAKISTAN: Veteran aid worker Warren Weinstein, held by al-Qaeda in Pakistan since 2011 and killed in a U.S. drone strike in January of this year, according to a White House announcement yesterday, was devoted to serving in Africa and South Asia.

GLOBAL POVERTY: Anti-poverty programs have left more people in slavery than at any time in history, while the biggest obstacle to battling poverty … is violence, said Gary Haugen, founder of International Justice Mission, in a TED talk on global poverty. His valuable insight: “Most poor people live outside the protection of law.”

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