Local officials in a city on China’s south-central coast have knocked down a Protestant church and demolished several Catholic statues. The moves fit into a pattern of official unease with the rapid growth of Christianity in China.

As Hamas begins to entertain even a slight moderation in its stance towards Israel, a more consistently rejectionist group stands in the wings ready to capitalize.

The bitter rivalry between “establishment” and “Tea Party” Republicans in many southern states today reflects the bitter divisions within the white South that date back to the political battles between the low country plantation owners and the poor white farmers of old Dixie.

Here are several links for your reading pleasure.

U.S.-Saudi relations have been hovering barely above the sand in recent months, and Riyadh is showing an increasing willingness to pursue its regional goals without Washington’s oversight. The attendance of a Pakistani General to yesterday’s massive Saudi military parade suggests a closer relationship between the two regional powers. Iran will not be pleased.

Today Obama signed a ten-year defense treaty with the Philippines. Amid ongoing Chinese aggression in the region, it’s not just Manila that will be heartened by Washington’s increased Pacific presence.

Fresh violence in the Central African Republic leaves 16 dead as the God Wars continue to wreak havoc throughout Africa.

Obama Administration policy on North Korea appears to be based on faulty ideas about what the Kim regime is willing to suffer to keep its nuclear weapons.

The Supreme Court was right to uphold Michigan’s affirmative action ban, but this doesn’t mean we can ignore the lingering effects of years of entrenched racism.

As the MERS virus stokes fears of a global pandemic, Saudi Arabia sacks the health minister who was in charge of curbing the outbreak. We hope the Kingdom knows what it’s doing.