Globe Trot: U.S. slaps terror designation on Afghan ISIS affiliate

AFGHANISTAN: The U.S. State Department has designated the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan a terrorist organization, calling it ISIL-Khorasan. The heightened diplomatic interest comes as former commander over NATO forces there, David Petraeus, and leading analyst Michael O’Hanlon argue the limp commitment of U.S. forces in Afghanistan means they must “operate with one hand tied behind their backs.”

SIERRA LEONE: A woman has died of Ebola, potentially exposing 27 people to the deadly virus, just as the World Health Organization declared West Africa officially free of the disease that killed more than 11,000 people in the last two years.

NORWAY: Just learning about this case, where a family with a Romanian immigrant father has lost custody of their five children. The government forcibly took the children, including an infant 3 months old, apparently over Christian “religious indoctrination.” Here’s more.

GLOBAL PERSECUTION: Open Doors released this week its annual World Watch List, citing more than 7,100 Christians killed for their faith last year—an increase of more than 3,000 from previous reported data. Of note: North Korea continues to top the list of state persecutors of Christians, Libya appears in the top tier for the first time, and the attacks on Christians in Syria provoked a drop in the Christian population of Aleppo, the country’s largest city, from 400,000 to 60,000. (This list, by the way, makes for a great guide to praying for the persecuted church.)

NEPAL is also experiencing a harsh winter, with many victims of the country’s April earthquake still living in tents and other makeshift shelters (and today enduring the 425th significant aftershock).

LIBYA: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi opens in theaters today, and WORLD reviewer Megan Basham says it “skillfully unravels the murky details of what happened in Libya the night of Sept. 11, 2012, bringing the audience face-to-face with the unrelenting (and, clearly, pre-planned) strikes against the U.S. Consulate and CIA annex.”

BRITAIN: The discovery in an Oxford attic of 50 sonnets attributed to Joy Davidman, wife of C. S. Lewis, is “so remarkable that the canon of 20th century women’s poetry may need revision.” And I’m very proud and unabashed to highlight the work of my friend, Lewis scholar Don W. King, who brings the sonnets to light in his new book, A Naked Tree.

NOTE: Globe Trot will be intermittent, or absent, over the next week, as I am tending closely my mother, who is suffering (but ultimately winning) through the final stages of cancer. Thanks for your understanding.