A column of Russian trucks rolled to the border with Ukraine on Feb. 5 as U.S. senators in Washington prepared to vote on whether to remove from office President Donald Trump. The Russian convoy carried ammunition, weapons, and military equipment—all to reinforce Russian-backed rebels and Russian units that in 2014 took control of eastern Ukraine.

UNITED STATES: President Donald Trump addressed the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Thursday morning during a momentous week that saw him acquitted on impeachment charges and take part in a public stand-off with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at his Sta

CHINA: As of Sunday officials reported 5,142 people infected with the coronavirus in Wuhan, the locked-down city where the outbreak began. But researchers said the rate of outbreak suggests the virus is spreading much faster than Chinese officials are reporting, and cases in Wuhan may top 75,000.

BRITAIN: “We love Europe, we just hate the European Union,” lawmaker Nigel Farage told the European Parliament in a rousing final speech in Brussels (see video clip below). The Parliament ratified the withdrawal agreement on Wednesday for Britain’s formal Friday departure from the EU—fulfilling a 2016 British referendum.

Someday the postgraduate students will study the protest movements underway in the Middle East the way students a generation ago dissected Africa’s independence movements or South America’s guerrilla warlords. 

The streets in Lebanon and Iraq each marked 100 continuous days of protest in January. Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri, resigned in mid-October, and on day 97 the government named a new head of state and cabinet. Iraq Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi resigned in November, but he has stayed on as a caretaker head of state.

They said it was the best Christmas in 30 years. On Dec. 25 thousands of Sudanese filled the streets of Khartoum, welcoming not only the birth of Christ but also news that they could celebrate it openly. 

President Omar al-Bashir outlawed public Christmas celebrations in 2011. Throughout a 30-year dictatorship, his Islamist-led government cracked down on Christian worship, confiscated church property, and jailed, tortured, and killed Christian believers. A civil war waged under Bashir’s command against the predominantly Christian south killed more than 2 million people.

POLAND: Seventy-five years ago, Allied forces liberated Auschwitz, where Nazis killed more than 1 million people, nearly all Jews. On Monday philanthropist Ronald Lauder led 200 survivors in a commemoration at the site.

BBC Radio has a new documentary on the story of a German family who hid Jews.