Globe Trot: Yemen begins week-long ceasefire as famine looms

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YEMEN: A seven-day ceasefire is in its first day in Yemen, where warring Houthi rebels have been battling pro-government forces. The fighting has put Yemenis on the brink of famine.

Islamic State is gaining strength in Yemen and, according to this story, “challenging” al-Qaeda. But there are a lot of reasons not to make too much of this alleged “rivalry.” At the end of the day, ISIS and al-Qaeda want the same thing. Here’s more on Ibrahim Qosi, the former Guantanamo detainee who turned up in an al-Qaeda video this week, now based in Yemen. A jihadist for 35 years, Qosi, also known as Ibrahim Abu Salih, shows the group’s deep bench. In the video:

“Abu Salih portrayed al-Qaeda’s jihad as a war against Christian and Jews, saying the ‘scholars’ of the past, including the medieval theologian Ibn Taymiyyah, would ‘not accept silence on the occupation of Palestine, the Arabian Peninsula, the Qiblah of Muslims [a reference to Mecca and the direction Muslims should pray in], or that Al Andalus remains under the authority of Christians.’ These same jihadist thinkers ‘could not tarry while Muslim lands are being governed without the sharia [Islamic law] of God.’”

AFGHANISTAN: A new Pentagon report shows security in Afghanistan deteriorating, after 14 years and $700 billion in U.S. involvement, with the Taliban takeover of Kunduz and ISIS trying to set up a base near Jalalabad.

UNITED STATES: The Department of Homeland Security’s prohibition on screening social media while vetting would-be immigrants like Tashfeen Malik isn’t required by law or the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s the culture, stupid. But Facebook postings ought to be treated like other communications, and the high court has upheld the government’s right to use them in denying entry.

NORTH KOREA sentenced Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim to life in prison “for subversive plots and activities,” according to its state news agency. Lim, 60, has been detained since January after making more than 100 trips to the communist country.

NIGERIA: Families of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls face a second Christmas without the girls’ return. Eighteen parents of the 200 abducted have died since the girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram, many apparently from the trauma in an area with scant medical care.

COP21: You may have noticed that climate change didn’t get even a minute’s attention during last night’s GOP presidential debate—the focus was on national security—but climate change skeptics and supporters are equally unhappy with the pact that came out of Paris. Limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, or about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit is a number “picked out of a hat,” says James Hansen, a former NASA scientist and now a professor at Columbia University.

SUPERBUG: Scientists have discovered a new strain of e.coli they say is not only impervious to all forms of antibiotics, it actually can infect other bacteria. The bug was discovered a few weeks ago in China, and already has turned up (in animals) in Malaysia and Denmark.

Mindy Belz

Mindy, a former senior editor for WORLD Magazine, wrote the publication’s first cover story in 1986. She has covered wars in Syria, Afghanistan, Africa, and the Balkans and is author of They Say We Are Infidels: On the Run From ISIS With Persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Mindy resides in Asheville, N.C.

@MindyBelz