IRAN: Iranians took to the streets declaring “death to this rule” (more here) and calling for the prosecution of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after its leaders admitted to downing Ukrainian Airlines Fligh

CHINA: Government authorities have closed more than 100 Catholic places of worship in Fuzhou, where clergy have resisted joining the government-controlled church. The Vatican in 2018 signed an agreement with the Chinese government pledging to cooperate in the selection of bishops, but the agreement also stipulated authorities would “respect” conscientious objectors.

It’s nearing midnight in Iraq’s Nineveh Plain when Behnam Benoka sets off on pastoral visits to families living in Bartella. 

“It’s important I am available to meet with them in their homes at this hour,” the Syriac Catholic priest said when I reached him by phone. “We wake in the night due to the situation, and people are worried.”

IRAQ: The Iraqi Anglican congregation at St. George’s sits next to Baghdad’s Green Zone, where rockets aimed at the U.S. Embassy landed on Sunday, “But with your prayers, we are fine until now,” a church deacon told me. Attendance is down, he said, because authorities have closed three bridges leading to the area since anti-government demonstrations began in September.

In our business a proverb about good news rarely gets the attention it deserves, but a journalist at the start of a new year will be wise to ponder how good news “refreshes the bones” (Proverbs 15:30).

So in late 2019 I began to list the good things overlooked in the mad dash to cover famine, persecution, and war. It’s a necessary exercise, a balancing act to restore perspective, because once you start looking for good news you find it, even in abundance.

IRAQ: A top Iranian commander said the country was not planning on war, “but we are not afraid of any war,” after supporters of an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq pulled back from attacking the U.S.

CHINA: A report by researcher Adrian Zenz, one of the first to document Beijing’s oppression of mostly Muslim Uighurs, cites the authorities’ extensive plan for reeducation and forced labor at factories where Uighurs “can learn the nation’s common language” and “understand the right and wrong.” At a clothing factory in Shenzhen, a manager claims the “de-extremification” process “causes workers to become born again.” Writes Z