New events
North Africa
Algeria: Officials show signs of desperation as protests push on – Link
… China complete’s Africa’s largest mosque in Algeria – Link
Egypt: Anti-Christian violence surges, prompting exodus – Link
Libya: Battles intensify, airstrikes on Tripoli – Link
West Africa
Burkina Faso: new martyrs: 6 killed in church attack – Link
… Analysis: Terror attacks in Burkina Faso on the rise – Link
Analysis: Conflict in Nigeria is more complicated than just “Christians vs Muslims” – Link
East Africa/Horn
Djibouti: How Djibouti became the linchpin of China’s Belt & Road – Link
… at the gateway to Suez Canal: 10% of world’s oil, 20% of all commercial goods travel
Sudan: What future for the country’s Islamists? – Link
… “It is evidence, observers say, that the long influence of Sudan’s political Islamists is being challenged as never before”
S Sudan: Warring parties to hold talks to salvage peace deal – Link
Kenya: Chinese Christians find religious freedom – Link
Central Asia
Uzbekistan: Seeks lifting of cotton boycott – Link
… but forced labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton fields hasn’t ended – Link
West Asia/Gulf
Iraq: Explosive hazards a threat in Mosul for years to come – Link
Lebanon: What is coming for Christians and other minorities – Link
Saudi Arabia: Trump pressed to punish Saudi for religious intolerance – Link
Syria: Christians in northeast seek to revive Easter spirit after IS ouster – Link
Turkey: Food prices in Turkey have risen 30% – Link
South Asia
Afghanistan: no longer counting how many districts are controlled by who – Link
Iran: escalates targeting of non-Muslim minorities – Link
… People have lost everything in devastating floods – Link
… Public mistrust with state grows over flood management – Link
India: ~65 million women missing from politics due to skewed sex ratio – Link
… represents 20% of the electorate
Nepal: 5 Christians incl 1 American arrested over anti-conversion law – Link
… other reports say they were later released
… “Nepal’s Christians need new laws as cults wreak havoc” – Link
… “Application of religious policies in Nepal remains fluid” – Link
Pakistan: plans to bring 30k madrasas under government control – Link
“Fear and loathing in Balochistan” – Link
… terror attacks, violence plague the province, and Hazaras bear the brunt
Sri Lanka: Turns out the death toll was more like 250 – Link
… “Sri Lanka’s Christians and Muslims weren’t enemies” – Link
Bombings are a new pattern of transnational terror – Link
… “among the deadliest terror attacks since 9/11”
… “Churches and Christians are much-favored topics of IS”
On the alert for additional attacks – Link
East Asia
China: Welcome to Shanghai, the capital of the future – Link
A small collection of photos of Easter services in China – Link
Tiananmen Square protests and China’s fight for control of the Internet – Link
Jackson Wu: 7 reasons why Scinization of religion is not rhetoric this time – Link
China’s fertility woes – Link
China’s army of migrant workers is becoming older, less mobile – Link
… will impact Gospel spread through migrant workers
Japan: A new emperor and a new era for Japan – Link
… Royals and the demographic crisis: precious few heirs left – Link
Mongolia: What is it like to be a missionary in Mongolia: a Catholic perspective – Link
Bonebreaking, horseback archery, scrummaging: How rugby came to Mongolia – Link
… for those interested in sports ministry
Southeast Asia
Indonesia: Might we move the capital? – Link
… and, election workers die of overwork-related illnesses – Link
Laos: Police allegedly arrest a citizen for practicing Christianity – Link
Myanmar: Pop-up clinics lend a hand in Nagaland – Link
How Myanmar’s Kachin Baptists keep the faith far from the homeland – Link
Also
In Western European countries w/church taxes, support for tradition remains strong – Link
Data
People who know Muslims personally are more likely to have less “Islamophobia” – Link
Reading
Steven Sinofsky: “New things in new ways”: a 2×2 framework for evaluating innovation in your product (or program, or…) – Link
Book Review: The surprising science of meetings – Link
What hawker food stalls can teach us about niching – Link
How to write a followup email after you meet someone – Link
Teach children risk benefit management – Link
… how to assess the real dangers and risks and make decisions
ISIS reasserts its global reach during Ramadan – Link
Chernobyl is springing back to life – Link
Future, Tech
China to Chat Admins: you can be arrested for what happens in your group chat – Link
HRW reverse-engineers China police app, reveals profiling, monitoring strategies – Link
… “Many—perhaps all—of the mass surveillance practices described in this report appear to be contrary to Chinese law. They violate the internationally guaranteed rights to privacy, to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and to freedom of association and movement. Their impact on other rights, such as freedom of expression and religion, is profound.”
COBOL: The long life of a standard – Link
… 95% of ATM transactions pass through COBOL programs; 80% of in-person transactions rely on them. This is a case study in why it’s sometimes better to start completely fresh: it’s hard to get away from these standards once established.
Facebook unveils redesign as it tries to move past privacy scandals – Link
… will be interesting to see how this impacts mission agencies and mobilizers, etc.
The EU wants to build one of the world’s largest biometric databases – Link
… what could possibly go wrong?
Internet shutdowns:
Chad: living without the Internet for over a year – Link
Benin shuts down Internet in advance of no-opposition elections – Link
Russia: Putin signs bill to create tightly controlled Russian internet – Link
Infographic: Internet shutdowns in recent history – Link
Amazon AI watches workers, identifies those who should be fired – Link
AI: Forget about artificial intelligence, extended intelligence is the future – Link
Inside the team at Facebook that dealt with the Christchurch shooting – Link
The government may appoint a privacy regulator for Facebook – Link
New privacy controls at Google: will soon let you automatically scrub information about you – Link
Quotable
“What we see in eternity we see first in history.” ~Yvonne Huneycutt
“If you don’t find areas where God disagrees with you every once in a while, you’re worshiping a god you’ve made in your own image rather than God, who made you in His image.” ~Caleb Crider (I’ve heard lots of variations of this key principle)
“If you absolutely can’t tolerate critics, then don’t do anything new or interesting.” ~Jeff Bezos
“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” ~Leonardo da Vinci
“We cannot attain the presence of God. We’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness.” ~Richard Rohr