Thank God for western values | The Spectator
Tom Holland

Declarations of hope that Notre Dame can be resurrected have been much in evidence this Holy Week. Such is the lesson of Easter: that life can come from death. Unlike the Eiffel Tower, that other great emblem of Paris, Notre Dame provides the French with evidence that their modern and secular republic has its foundations deeply rooted in the Middle Ages. Notre Dame has always been more than just an assemblage of stone and stained glass. It is a monument as well to a specifically Christian past.

Last summer, one of the world’s best-known scientists, a man as celebrated for his polemics against religion as for his writings on evolutionary biology, sat in another cathedral, Winchester, listening to the bells peal. ‘So much nicer than the aggressive-sounding “Allahu Akhbar”,’ Richard Dawkins tweeted. ‘Or is that just my cultural upbringing?’ A preference for church bells over the sound of Muslims praising God does not just emerge by magic. Dawkins — agnostic, secularist and humanist that he is — absolutely has the instincts of someone brought up in a Christian civilisation.

Perhaps, then, the debt of the contemporary West to Christianity is more deeply rooted than many — believers and non-believers alike — might presume.

Read more at: https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/04/thank-god-for-western-values/

ISIS offshoot in Afghanistan willing, able to strike US, says intelligence official
Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY
Published 6:00 a.m. ET April 17, 2019 | Updated 8:39 a.m. ET April 17, 2019

WASHINGTON – ISIS-affiliated terrorists in Afghanistan, noted for their brutality in a brutal land, pose the top threat for spectacular attacks in the United States, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official.

The group known as ISIS-K, like al-Qaeda, which plotted the 9/11 terror attacks from Afghanistan, also has designs on striking targets in Western nations, said the U.S. intelligence official, who is not authorized to speak publicly.

ISIS-K has hundreds of fighters and has shown increasing effectiveness in its tactics and recruiting in Afghanistan, said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.), the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee who recently visited Afghanistan.

Read more at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/17/brutal-isis-group-afghanistan-appears-ready-strike-united-states/3485791002/

Libya crisis: PM Fayez al-Serraj condemns ‘silence’ of allies

The UN-backed PM of Libya has condemned the "silence" of his international allies as opposing forces advance on the capital Tripoli.

Fayez al-Serraj is facing down an insurgency led by eastern commander Gen Khalifa Haftar.

More than 205 people have been killed since fighting began on 4 April, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.

As violence continues, Mr Serraj told the BBC his people were starting to feel abandoned by the world.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47980573

US man could face death penalty over Thailand 'sea home'
    18 April 2019

A US man and his partner could face the death penalty after they were accused of building a "sea home" off Thailand.

Chad Elwartowski has gone into hiding with his girlfriend, Supranee Thepdet, after the navy said they had threatened the country's sovereignty.

Their home, which sits atop a 20m (65ft) platform, is located around 12 miles (19km) off the coast of Phuket.

But Mr Elwartowski insists it is 13 miles from the shore and therefore outside of Thailand's jurisdiction.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47974234