With the Nigerian government confirming the death of Abu Bakr Shekau, the notorious leader of Boko Haram, in late August 2021, the future of the terrorist group looks bleak with its strength reportedly “significantly weakened” in the recent months.1 Its breakaway faction, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) which has …

Back in early May of 2020 Israel’s Interior minister urged ‘soul-searching’ in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community citing the very high coronavirus infection rate [60-70% of the sick in the entire country were ultra-Orthodox whereas only 10-12 percent of the general population is ultra-Orthodox]. Now in early September 2021only some 20 …

On July 10, 2020, Turkey’s high administrative court annulled a 1934 cabinet decision that had turned Istanbul’s famous Hagia Sophia mosque into a museum, dealing a further blow to the secularist legacy of modern Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Shortly afterward, a presidential decree transferred the site’s ownership from …