America is or should be about inclusion. Immigrants like muslims don't and can't fit the white European mold that prevailed in this country 50 years ago.

Muslim immigrants like himself encounter prejudice here [in U.S.] but also find political and religious freedom.

Holocaust Museum said ISIS has carried out genocide against the Yazidis, but its investigation did not cover Christian persecution. Now there's concern the U.S. State Department might do the same, limiting any genocide pronouncement to Yazidis without mentioning Christians.

Fidel Castro outlasted U.S. presidents determined to overthrow him, survived the collapse of the communist bloc that sustained him and outlived many of those who wanted to replace him. For those reasons, he will go down in history as among the world's most skillful politicians, even if his achievements largely die with him.

Being out of the mainstream is entirely consistent with the way Donald Trump is approaching his presidency.

And the pressure to clarify what exactly is happening to Christians and other minorities in the Middle East is certain to intensify in the New Year.

The collapse of the Soviet bloc ended the massive subsidies that had kept the Cuban economy afloat. The once-vaunted education and health care systems fell into disrepair. Fidel Castro's stubbornness, meanwhile, made political and economic change difficult in Cuba.