Sats results show year 6 standards in reading, writing and maths have slipped in England since the pandemic. 59% of pupils met the expected level. The government says the Sats results were as expected due to the pandemic and there is ‘more work to do’ to help pupils catch up. By 2030 it wants 90% of children leaving primary school to have the expected standards in reading, writing and maths. Unions said further investment in schools and teaching staff was needed to achieve that target. The government said it values the work teachers up and down the country are putting into education recovery. £5bn has been allocated to help pupils catch up and children struggling in English and maths will ‘receive the right evidence-based targeted support to get them back on track’. The education unions and former advisor Sir Kevan Collins said the recovery fund falls short of what was required - around £15bn.

Snake Island is a critical outpost for controlling shipping lanes for the export of Ukrainian grain and accessing the key port of Odessa. After Moscow retreated from the Black Sea outpost in a ‘gesture of goodwill in order to organise humanitarian grain corridors’ they launched a barrage of strikes on the island. Russian Su-30 fighter jets used phosphorus bombs, according to the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s army, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi. Phosphorus can kill, maim and poison victims, burning through bone upon contact with flesh. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of using the weapons multiple times during Putin’s invasion, including in attacks last month on the western city of Lutsk and Popasna in the east. Pray for victims with phosphorus burns to be swiftly transported to medical burns units for skin grafts and specialised medical support. Pray for the registration of phosphorus as a chemical weapon under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

‘Sand batteries’ could be a key breakthrough in storing solar and wind energy all year round. Solar energy stored in sand batteries could help get Finns through the long cold winter, which is set to be even tougher after Russia stopped its gas and electricity supplies. The new technology has been devised by young Finnish engineers Tommi Eronen and Markku Ylönen, founders of Polar Night Energy. This innovation could be used worldwide. Whilst a number of other research groups are testing the limits of sand as green energy storage, the pair are the first ones to successfully rig it to a commercial power station.

Ghana has previously refused to seek help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support its crippled economy. However, they will now be making a U-turn and asking the IMF to rescue them from poverty inflicted by the pandemic and inflation. Sierra Leone has launched a redenominated currency to strengthen its value. However, critics and the opposi¬tion say the redenomination of the leone is confusing and adds no value. Uganda opposition figure Besigye was released on bail after being detained in the capital Kampala for two weeks for leading protests against sky-rocketing consumer prices. See The pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war could leave a lasting financial impression for a decade. 30 million Africans experienced extreme poverty in 2021 and 22 million jobs were lost in the same year due to the pandemic. The trend is expected to continue until 2023. The economic disruptions from the Ukraine war could push a further 1.8 million Africans into extreme poverty this year.

In March floods killed 20 people and 60,000 were evacuated. On 2nd July, tens of thousands of people were again fleeing flash floods in a life-threatening emergency. By 4th July, 70 flood evacuation orders were in place across New South Wales, affecting 32,000 people, with further alerts expected as a trough of 100km/h winds and heavy rainfall moved north. Some areas had more rainfall in three days than Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart have in a year. A charity worker reported, ‘Everybody is in shock’. Boats took food and water to those stranded in upper rooms of homes. By July 7th, the week-long deluge affecting 60,000 residents in greater western Sydney continued to threaten communities farther north. Pray for the emotionally exhausted rescue workers to have the stamina and wisdom to know where they are most needed. Pray for the evacuees and those fearfully expecting evacuation orders.

On 22 June, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake killed at least 1,000 people and destroyed critical infrastructure - homes, health facilities, schools, water networks - leaving thousands vulnerable to further harm. On 3 July Mohammad, who lost 18 family members, believed one body was still trapped beneath bricks and mud where his home was. Mohammad’s home is now a very basic tent sheltering his sister with a broken leg, she still hasn't had a visit from a doctor and is in a lot of pain. Very little aid is trickling through to his village, the communication is poor, there are no health facilities in surrounding areas and above all else the routes there are incredibly tough. Aid agencies haven't found a safe landing zone for helicopters and so all survivors can do is watch as vital support flies past. Bodies remain in the rubble, impossible to reach without proper help and the smell is heartbreaking because it is from dead bodies.

Only 3% of Christian missionaries focus on ‘unreached’ people groups’. Of 7.7 billion people around the world, over 3 billion are either unreached or least reached. There are 7,000 unreached people groups representing nearly 42% of the population of the world who have never heard of Jesus Christ. There are many factors why these groups are unreached, including physical, political and cultural barriers. See Some unreached people have portions of scripture translated into their language. Some people groups do not even have their language written down. Other unreached groups have no translation of the Bible available in their mother tongue. Pray for more Christian linguists to hear God’s call to study the culture and language of unreached people so that they can then train people to translate the Bible into their languages. Pray for Christian broadcasting and technological innovation to reach the unreachable in closed countries and isolated remote communities.

Sri Lanka will soon have 60% inflation. The Prime Minister said the nation is bankrupt and he does not expect a bailout from the International Monetary Fund. He believes he can turn the economy around, but 2023 will be tough with improvements in 2024. People queue for days to get fuel. Sadly a man who had lived in his car for five days queuing for gas died in his car and no one realised it. Things became this bad due to political mismanagement and corruption. As food, fuel, and medicine prices increase, people are escaping by boat to India or Australia. In India, people are kept in refugee camps. Rulers have mismanaged Sri Lanka for 10 to 15 years and borrowed money from China, but up to 30% of it never reached its purpose. People have lost faith in the government and their traditional religions. Meanwhile, Christians meet to pray for economic and spiritual revivals.

The southern African nation's 15 million people are faced with shortages, inflation and other economic woes, conjuring memories of economic chaos under Robert Mugabe's near four-decade rule of hyper-inflation. Zimbabwe will start selling gold coins from July 25th in a bid to tackle runaway inflation which has hamstrung the local currency. Gold "Mosi-oa-tunya" coins - named after Victoria Falls - will contain 31 grams of gold and can be converted into cash and traded both locally and internationally. Gold coins are used by investors globally to hedge against inflation and wars.

Over 220,000 people live in cramped subdivided flats in Hong Kong. These units are found across rooftop houses, space capsules, cubicles, and loft spaces, and are sometimes not even bigger than a single bed space. Tens of thousands of families live in the city's darkest places. There are 110,000 subdivided flats in dilapidated buildings. Most are rented by singles or couples, but occupants also include single parents and their children, and three-generation households. Housing shortage drives people into tiny spaces with as many as 40 occupants. The most notorious are ‘cage homes’, also known as ‘coffin homes’, where partitioned boxlike units are stacked from floor to ceiling, separated by thin wooden boards or wire mesh. Beijing wants the local government to rid the city of these tiny units by 2049. John Lee Ka-chiu, who has been sworn in as the city’s leader, has pledged to resolve Hong Kong’s housing woes.