In North America 70 wildfires are consuming 630,000 acres across Alaska, California, Colorado and other western states. Meteorologists warn of more blazes due to strong winds, dry conditions and low humidity. A huge fire in Canada’s British Columbia has been burning since 21 June at Comstock Lake. Another 12-hectare forest fire is being fought in Kawarthas near Toronto, Ontario.  In England a major incident was declared as moor fires converged in Lancashire. The Northern Ireland fire service has had to deal with 600 gorse fires this week and in Ireland Slieve Bloom mountains are alight with an uncontrolled fast-growing blaze. Nine out of ten wildfires are carelessly (or deliberately) started by people. A wildfire destroys ALL vegetation, causes erosion which degrades stream water quality and wildlife are burned, dehydrated and malnourished. The larger animals like deer can escape but squirrels, foxes and snakes are not always able to. Birds can fly away, but nests and eggs are destroyed. See also

Saudi Arabia is issuing driving licences to women after abolishing its ban on female drivers. 2,000 women want to complete a driving course now offered at all-female university campuses. However women are still restricted in everyday life. They can’t make major decisions without male permission. They must have a male official guardian, father, brother etc., and need their guardian’s consent to travel, obtain a passport or sign contracts. Their dress code is governed by a strict interpretation of Islamic law. The religious police harass them for exposing too much flesh or wearing too much make-up. Women must limit time spent with men to whom they are not related and most public places have segregation. They cannot use public swimming pools available to men neither can they compete freely in sports. Saudi Arabia proposed hosting an Olympic Games without women. They cannot try on clothes when shopping or read an uncensored fashion magazine.

The UK's proposals for fishing in UK waters after Brexit was unveiled on 4 July. Michael Grove hopes that our fishing industry will get a larger share of domestic catch after Brexit, once the UK ‘decides access’  to its own waters. Currently 60% of fish caught in UK waters   goes to Europe. The environment secretary said the UK would be in the ‘driving seat’ in quota negotiations once the UK leaves the EU's Common Fisheries Policy but would not commit to a specific figure. UK fishing groups are pressing to keep more than 80% of domestic catch. There were protests earlier this year when it was revealed that the UK would continue to be bound by the Common Fisheries Policy during the post-Brexit transition that ends in 2020. Now the White Paper sets out a UK vision for an ‘independent coastal state’ from 2021 onwards.

A rescue ship carrying 60 migrants picked up from rubber boats in the Mediterranean Sea arrived in a Spanish port on 4 July, after being refused entry by Italy and Malta. Tens of thousands of migrants have reached European shores so far this year. Southern European countries are refusing entry to arrivals unless their burden is shared. Refugee policies now dominate European political agendas. Pray for God to inspire Europe’s leaders to agree on border protection that complements existing European agreements (Schengen/Dublin III). Pray for fresh methods to speed up current slow asylum procedures. Some nations are ‘going it alone’ - asserting their own interests, without any compassion for the plight of the displaced. Ask God to soften hearts and give politicians compassion towards those fleeing their home countries.

The NHS is preparing to stockpile medicines and equipment to ensure hospitals can function after a no-deal Brexit. Simon Stevens, the health service CE, said there was 'immediate planning' around the Department for Health and in hospitals about 'securing medical supply' under different scenarios to ensure there was enough medicine. It is 'top of the list' of contingency planning that would be implemented once the state of the deal 'crystallised' in the autumn. Whitehall realises that with no replacement for EU medical agencies, hospitals could run out of drugs and other supplies within weeks. Mr Stevens told the BBC's Andrew Marr that hospitals would be ‘ready for whatever situation emerges’. Pray for patients, the NHS and the UK’s life science industry to have workable regulatory arrangements in place and be fit for purpose for a smooth transition. Pray also for cross-border communications in medical research and development.

On 3 and 4 July, the BBC aired ten news topics promoting LGBTQ+ on their website. Twice last month BBC Radio Four Sunday programme interviewed a woman who had been an evangelical and then changed her beliefs to become a homosexual. LGBTQ+ people now make up a weighty percentage of BBC staff and their influence is seen more and more in programmes and reporting. Quiz shows, soaps, documentaries and entertainment programmes usually have a LGBTQ+ representative. A Christian lady who struggled with her sexuality told her story of how she was counselled by a liberal theologian who helped her to ‘read the Bible in a different way’ so she could become LGBTQ+. She said she had since talked with Archbishop Justin Welby who encouraged her to apply for ordination, saying she would be just the kind of clergy he wants to see in the Church of England. So the state broadcasting service and the state Church promote LGBTQ+ agendas. see

In September 2017 the eccentric Catholic Tory MP Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg addressed a crowd of 100 activists in Westminster who had signed up to the ‘Moggmentum’ movement which grew over the summer. A survey at the time found that he was Tory members’ favourite to be the next leader, despite the fact that he has never held a frontbench post. Ten months later he insisted again that he is not ambitious and not aware of a £750,000 war chest raised by supporters for an eventual leadership bid. He joked, ‘There isn't a leadership contest. I’m very unlikely to be the next Pope and just as unlikely to be the next Prime Minister. The papacy would be fantastic. I would be infallible, which is better than is given to most politicians.’ He named Sajid Javid and Michael Gove as ‘first-class candidates’ to succeed Theresa May when there is a vacancy.

Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill at a house in Amesbury and remain in a critical condition after being exposed to Novichok, the same nerve agent that poisoned ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal. There was nothing in their background suggesting the pair were targeted. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said they could not confirm whether the nerve agent came from the same batch but the possibility was ‘clearly a line of inquiry’. Chemical weapons expert Richard Guthrie says the Novichok used on the Skripals may have been disposed of haphazardly. Security minister Ben Wallace says he cannot guarantee people are 100% safe from further contamination. The areas around Amesbury and Salisbury where the couple went on the day they fell ill have been cordoned-off and police warned the public against picking up anything if they didn’t know what it was. Pray for the victims’ recovery and for successful detailed examination of potentially dangerous areas.

The Passport Office and Action Fraud are raising awareness of the need to report missing passports to prevent documents from being used to commit identity crime and facilitate illegal travel across borders. Almost 50 million people hold a UK passport and 400,000 are lost or stolen annually. Yet despite the risks people wait on average 73 days before making a report. Passports have all the information that fraudsters need to steal an identity and set up accounts in that name. Immigration Minister, Caroline Nokes, said, ‘When you lose your bank card, the first thing you do is contact your bank and have it cancelled, yet people don’t treat lost or stolen passports with the same urgency’. By reporting missing passports, law enforcement agencies and immigration control officers can keep ahead of criminals attempting to get a UK passport illegally. This also ensures action can be taken against anyone identified as having obtained a passport by fraudulent means.

Drug deaths have reached their worst level in Scotland since records began, (934 in 2017). Statistics show Scotland's drug death-rate is roughly two and half times the UK rate and ‘massively worse’ than anywhere in Europe. The official ‘Drug-related deaths’ paper shows methadone, the heroin substitute, was present in nearly half of all deaths. Methadone is prescribed by the NHS to keep people off drugs! Annie Wells, the Scottish public health spokesperson, said, ‘ We need a radical and urgent drugs strategy, not one that waves the white flag in the face of drug-dealers and those who profit from this despicable industry, but one that gets tough on the issue. We need to help vulnerable people beat the habit once and for all, not park them on methadone just to watch them die from that very substance years later.’ Pray for God to inspire ministers to implement a successful, revitalised substance use strategy.