Globe Trot: Venezuelan opposition leader shot during recall effort

VENEZUELA: A leading conservative opposition leader was shot dead on Friday in the western state of Lara, days after his party collected 1.85 million signatures—more than enough to justify a recall election against the ruling socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

How long must the world flirt with socialists? Fifteen years into the late Hugo Chavez’s socialist revolution, Venezuela faces dire food shortages.

CANADA: Fort McMurray, the city that grew up on the largest oil sands reserve in the world, sits devastated by one of the worst wildfires in Canadian history.

EUROPEAN UNION: The president of the European Commission on Friday appointed a special envoy on religious freedom to support and promote religious freedom outside the EU.

SYRIA: Al-Qaeda’s leader wants to build an Islamic emirate in post-Assad Syria.

IRAQ: Cell phone footage of last week’s operation that killed Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV says a lot about the “non-combat” roles of U.S. forces in Iraq.

Speaking about Christian suffering in Iraq and my new book, I’ll be on the FoxNews show Happening Now today at 1:30 p.m. EDT. From last week are archived webcasts of my talks at the Heritage Foundation and the Family Research Council.