EUROPE: The European Court of Human Rights upheld lower court decisions that defaming Islam’s Muhammad “could stir up prejudice” and thus exceeds the limits of free expression. The ruling—stemming from a nearly decade-old case in which an Austrian woman was accused of disparaging Muhammad’s marriage to 9-year-old Aisha—in effect sides with blasphemy laws in Islamic-led countries. Download and read the decision and case details.

NORWAY: The largest military exercise in NATO history gets underway Thursday. Dubbed Trident Juncture, the two-week show of force features all 29 NATO members, plus Finland and Sweden, involving 50,000 troops and 10,000 vehicles. Days ahead of its start, the USS Harry S.

It didn’t take Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal murder to know the House of Saud is full of violent, merciless rulers. Ask the dissidents and non-Muslims. Ask Raif Badawi, Lalia Bint Abdul Muttablib Basim, or untold others.

Badawi is the well-known 34-year-old Saudi blogger whose “Free Saudi Liberals” website earned him a 10-year prison sentence for apostasy and 1,000 lashes—50 times a week for 20 consecutive weeks. The first week’s lashes so crippled Badawi, authorities reportedly postponed the rest. 

IRAQ gets a new government—and it was worth the wait. In Nineveh Plain, the Knights of Columbus signed an agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development to work together on a planned $195 million recovery program targeting Christian and other communities devastated by ISIS. Since 2014, the Catholic charity has donated $20 million to support displaced Christians in Iraq and compiled a report leading to the 2016 U.S. declaration of genocide in the region.

TURKEY: Andrew Brunson, 50, and his wife, Norine, arrived on Saturday in the United States, one day after a three-judge panel freed the American pastor while finding him guilty on terrorism charges. The verdict likely ends Brunson’s decades of church planting and ministry in Izmir.

Press reports indicated top White House officials had reached a deal with Turkish authorities for the release of Andrew Brunson, but inside the courtroom on Friday the outcome was far from clear. 

TURKEY: American Pastor Andrew Brunson gained his freedom Friday, with a Turkish judge sentencing him to three years in prison, but since he has already served time, he walks free, but as a convicted felon. The verdict likely paves the way for his return to the United States, but as many predicted, it will bring to a close more than two decades’ work in Turkey.