As of 28^th September the total global figure for people infected by Covid-19 stood at 232.3 million according to Johns Hopkins University. In addition to this, the recorded number who have died totalled 4,756,701.  Cases are falling steadily from a recent high point at at the end of August.

44.5% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.6.13 billion doses have been administered globally, and 24.98 million are now administered each day.  Only 2.2% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.

Data on a county by country level can be found here.

A number of Christian agencies are collaborating to address issues surrounding mental health.  Info about the global partner ministries Initiative is here

Countries are starting to take tentative steps to reopen society, hoping that vaccine programmes will prevent large waves of deaths and hospitalisations.  International travel is becoming easier and many countries are gradually easing restrictions.  Debates continue about the merits and morality of child vaccinations, particularly given the lack of vaccinations to vulnerable individuals in low-income countries.

Pray: for divine intervention and for God's name to be glorified even as each nation and government tries its best to vaccinate, prevent or control the emergence of new waves of infection and finally arrest this epidemic.

Pray: that individuals, leaders and nations focus on the needs of others rather than themselves, and that co-operation and compassion lie at the heart of the world’s response to the crisis.

We continue to release faith, hope, and love over the peoples of the world. May the Church seize this opportune time to manifest Jesus our Lord and Saviour to those who are seeking answers and purpose.

Taliban leaders claim the group has changed since it last controlled most of Afghanistan in the 1990s and have suggested it could be a more tolerant governing force. But interviews with more than two dozen Taliban fighters, commanders and leaders since the fall of Kabul reveal a movement possibly open to some change but one that is dedicated to the harsh enforcement of rules — such as gender segregation — that date to the movement’s founding.

While most of the group’s political leadership has spent years meeting with foreign officials over a decade of peace talks with the United States, the Taliban rank-and-file has been fighting a war they believed was sanctioned by God, offering them a clear path to paradise in the afterlife. The result is that violence and intimidation remain central to how the Taliban maintains order, at least for now.

One of the founders of the Taliban and the chief enforcer of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan said the hard-line movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi dismissed outrage over the Taliban’s executions in the past, which sometimes took place in front of crowds at a stadium, and he warned the world against interfering with Afghanistan’s new rulers.

“Everyone criticised us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi told The Associated Press, speaking in Kabul. “No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Quran.”

Amnesty International released a briefing titled "Afghanistan's fall into the hands of the Taliban," in which they reported on how the Taliban have already committed several human rights abuses, including the targeted killing of civilians and soldiers, preventing humanitarian supplies from entering the Panjshir Valley, and re-establishing restrictions on women.

"In just over five weeks since assuming control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have clearly demonstrated that they are not serious about protecting or respecting human rights," Amnesty International's Deputy Director for South Asia Dinushika Dissanayake said. "We have already seen a wave of violations, from reprisal attacks and restrictions on women, to crackdowns on protests, the media and civil society."

In the meantime, Afghanistan is collapsing with the withdrawal of funds and economic stability provided by western powers.  The international community pledged more than $1.2 billion in response to a UN appeal for $600 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. But delivering aid to needy Afghans remains an uphill task for many organisations as they scramble to work under the Taliban.

“It looks like the priority for the Taliban is their own coherence, and they are not so bothered yet about what is happening economically, financially, from a humanitarian point of view,” Anders Fange, a veteran aid worker and board member of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan said as aid agencies attempt to continue helping vulnerable Afghans despite the Taliban’s interference.

Time is not on the Taliban’s side. Afghanistan is already suffering from an economic collapse and an unfolding humanitarian crisis in which even the most basic services are being interrupted.

“These days I’m forced to help women deliver their babies by the flashlight on our smart phones because our hospital ran out of money to buy fuel for the generator,” a doctor says regarding the early impact of diminishing aid on her hospital in the rural province of Maidan Wardak. “Carrying out a C-section by flashlight is a nightmare we now have to face regularly.”

Sources / More: Washington Post, AP News, Christianity Daily, Gandhara

Pray:

Father, today we pray for Afghanistan.

In recent days we have witnessed the withdrawal of Western forces and the paramilitary overthrow of the country’s government by the Taliban.

We are deeply concerned about this unfolding situation and the consequences for the women, men and children living there.

Lord, You hear the cries and see the tears of those formed in Your own image.

We know that politics, diplomacy and international laws have an important part to play in creating and maintaining peace and stability. We pray for wisdom for international leaders in this moment.

However, we also see starkly the limits of such endeavours. Human efforts alone cannot compel love of neighbour, let alone enemy; rather this is the transformational territory of Your word and Spirit.

So would You move Your hand to change the hearts and minds of the oppressors even now? Withhold evil and cultivate good, banish darkness and bring forth light.

We declare Your nearness over those who have been abused and displaced, violated and oppressed. Would You open their ears and eyes to Your presence?

We pray for Your church there. Would You comfort and strengthen, protect and bless our sisters and brothers? As persecution draws close, would You draw closer still?

Teach us how to respond as we place our hope in You and Your good and just plans for Your creation.

Lord, have mercy and hear our prayer.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Source: Evangelical Alliance.

Pray: (Prayers collated by John Robb)

1. That the international community and USA will continue to give attention to the plight of those still trapped inside the country. The best solution for getting large numbers out now would be if a humanitarian corridor can be opened by the United Nations to get those out who want to leave. However, the USA and international community have very little leverage after the debacle of the ill-prepared pull-out last month. May they find a way and be determined to make it happen!
2. Some very extreme Taliban from the Haqqani network, who have long been a major source of terrorism are now in charge of the police and internal justice system. They are reinstating public executions and amputation of limbs for minor crimes and religious infractions. They recently executed four men publicly in one of the cities as adults and children watched in horror. Pray for them to moderate their tyrannical oppression and bloodlust in the fear of God and to maintain a better relationship with other nations.
3. Pray that the flights can continue to take larger numbers out and for the removal of obstacles and a particular official who has caused big problems for those seeking to get out this way.
4. Finally, among the tens of thousands who have been evacuated, there is a scattering of Jesus followers who could serve as His witnesses and disciple makers among them. Let’s pray for a great harvest both within Afghanistan during this continuing crisis and in this growing diaspora coming to so many countries where these refugees are being resettled.

It has been nearly three months since the UN warned that 400,000 people across Tigray had "crossed the threshold into famine".  The situation has only deteriorated since then, as a de-facto blockade prevents most aid from getting in. 

Now, after months of heavy fighting and massacres that have claimed thousands of lives, doctors worry Tigray is entering a new phase of fatalities driven by the kind of widespread starvation that turned Ethiopia into a byword for famine in the 1980s. 

The cause of the crisis lies in a civil war between the national government and the regional ruling party of Tigray. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel peace laureate, sent troops into Tigray in November to topple the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a move he said came in response to TPLF attacks on army camps.  The fighting disrupted the harvest in a region that was already struggling to supply enough food, and some combatants made things worse by blocking and looting food aid. In a stunning about-turn in late June, the TPLF recaptured most of Tigray, including Mekele, and government forces largely withdrew. 

A mother and a newborn weighing just 1.7 pounds died from hunger at a health center last week. The government is accused of refusing to allow food and medical supplies and fuel from getting into this region, all of which is happening in a place that's in a civil war with the central government.

"It's a silent killing. People are just dying," said Dr Hayelom Kebede, research director of Ayder Referral Hospital in Tigray's capital Mekele, the region's biggest. "With starvation, the bad thing is you will see people in the throes of death, but they will not die immediately," he told AFP.

"It takes time, after their body is weakened and weakened and weakened. It's more horrific than bullet deaths." 

The International Organization for Migration, which says more than 2 million people are displaced in Tigray, noted that “hosting capacity appears to have reached its limit” by the local population who support the majority of them.

The first aid convoy in over two weeks arrived in the Tigray regional capital, Mekele, on Monday, but the World Food Program has said such a convoy of some 100 trucks is needed to arrive every day to meet the urgent needs of more than 5 million people.

Telecommunications electricity and banking services have again been cut off to Tigray since the Tigray forces retook much of the region in June. While witnesses have told the AP that access inside the region is safer and easier, they say dwindling supplies of food, fuel and cash make it increasingly impossible to help the hungry.

“Unless the fighting dies down, we can only see the situation deteriorating extensively in the next weeks or months,” WFP spokesman Gordon Weiss told the AP. “We knew that there were around 400,000 people on the edge of famine-like conditions (in Tigray) in June. We have not really managed to assess the situation since then, it has been too difficult to do so, but we can expect that that population has grown and that their conditions have deteriorated.”

The U.N., the United States and others urge the warring sides to stop the fighting and find a way to negotiate for peace, but Ethiopia’s government this year declared the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which once dominated the national government, a terrorist group.

Sources/More: AFP, Independent

Pray: For the fighting to be replaced by peace, allowing aid and support to flow to the most needy.
Pray: For those providing aid to Ethiopia. That they may be protected and supported in their endeavours (Acts 20:35)
Pray: For those who are suffering or displaced, that they might know God’s grace, peace and presence sustaining and strengthening them.

There was a time not long ago when uprisings and wars in the Arab world topped the agenda at the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York.

With most of those conflicts in a stalemate, the world’s focus has shifted to more daunting global challenges such as the still raging coronavirus pandemic and climate change, as well as new crises in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

But the situation in the Middle East has deteriorated significantly in more countries and in more ways in the last two years. Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen are teetering on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe, with skyrocketing poverty and an economic implosion that threatens to throw the region into even deeper turmoil.

“The region’s been crowded out by other global crises, but there’s also a sense of Western hopelessness after so many years of crisis,” said Julien Barnes-Dacey, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

After more than a decade of bloodshed and turmoil sparked by Arab Spring uprisings and an Islamic State group onslaught, most of the region’s Arab countries have settled into a military stalemate or frozen conflict, accompanied by worsening economies, rising poverty rates and heavier repression.

In Yemen, an ongoing six-year-war has spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, leaving the country on the brink of famine. The head of the U.N. food agency warned Wednesday that 16 million people there “are marching towards starvation.” Libya, torn apart for years by rival militias backed by foreign governments, is struggling to find unity. From its shores, more and more desperate people risk their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, once countries that made up the cultural heart of the Middle East, are all witnessing a significant economic unravelling, spurred among other things by corruption and political leaders focused on preserving their own interests rather than meeting their people’s basic needs.

The most shocking fall in the past two years has been Lebanon, a tiny, multi-religious nation on the eastern Mediterranean with the highest per capita proportion of refugees in the world. The country has been in freefall since a financial crisis began in late 2019, plunging about three quarters of the population into poverty in the past months and triggering a brain drain not seen since the 1975-90 civil war days. That has been accelerated by the massive explosion at the port of Beirut in August 2020 that killed more than 200 people and destroyed parts of the city.

While many U.N. General Assembly gatherings in the past 10 years were characterized by a flurry of diplomatic activity to find a political solution for crises in Mideast countries, none of them are expected to feature prominently, if at all, in this year’s meetings in New York.

“Western actors feel out of ideas and energy in terms of focusing high-level attention on putting the region on a better track, particularly given wider global challenges,” Barnes-Dacey said.

A combination of war weariness, donor fatigue and a long list of other world problems has forced Syria, Yemen and other Mideast conflicts into a back seat, with world leaders seemingly resigned to live with wrecked and divided nations for the foreseeable future.

Source / More: AP News

Pray: That the world will not lose sight of those in the greatest need in the Middle East.
Pray: For the nation of Lebanon, for economic recovery and provision those in poverty (Luke 14: 12-14)
Pray: For peace in Yemen and the end to famine.

North Korea have test-fired what appears to be a short-range ballistic missile, marking the third round of such tests in September in direct violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions as the arms race in the Korean peninsula continues to escalate.

Earlier in September, North Korea conducted two ballistic missile tests including one that was launched from a train that is part of its “railway-borne missile regiment.”

In retaliation, South Korea successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile, making it only the seventh country in the world to possess this advanced capability. The string of missile tests across the Korean peninsula this month are being seen as part of an escalating arms race between Seoul and Pyongyang as nuclear disarmament talks between North Korea and the United States remain stalled.

Washington and the Kim Jong-Un regime have not engaged in any formal talks since a summit between the North Korean leader and former U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019.

Experts say the missiles launched over the weekend resemble in appearance U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles, and are likely designed to overwhelm the missile defences of North Korea's neighbours.

The North said the missiles it described as “new type long-range cruise missiles” were a “strategic weapon of great significance” that met leader Kim Jong Un’s call to strengthen the country’s military might — implying that they were being developed with an intent to carry nuclear weapons.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said Monday that the missiles travelled for 126 minutes along “oval and pattern-8 flight orbits” above land and water, demonstrating an ability to hit targets 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away.

While data from the tests are so far limited, it’s clear the new missiles represent “another significant milestone for North Korea’s nuclear program,” said Melissa Hanham, an affiliate at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.

At the same time, there are fears that the spread of Covid-19 in the country will encourage further belligerent moves from  Kim Jong Un.  Although no one knows the true extent of Covid in North Korea - officially there have been no infections - recent videos of soldiers goose-stepping through Pyongyang in hazmat suits seems an ominous indicator.

Fuse that together with weakening growth both inside North Korea and out—and Covid-19 risks—and you have all the ingredients of an eventful several months as Kim vies for attention and financial aid. Without imported goods, or the ability to bring in hard currency through exporting goods, markets have suffered shortages and volatility, says Justin Hastings, professor at University of Sydney.

It follows, he adds, that any further “spread of Covid-19 in North Korea will prove disastrous. Its healthcare system is unable to cope. Medicine and medical equipment are difficult to import due to sanctions, the border closure, the departure of humanitarian agencies and the lack of foreign currency.”

As the world is learning the hard way over the last decade, its troubles have a way of influencing—and drawing out—Kim’s worst impulses. These include provocative threats and increased missile tests.

“The key insight from North Korea’s crisis over the past 18 months is that it is not actually economically isolated from the rest of the world,” Hastings notes. “Despite North Korea’s reputation as a hermit kingdom, the country is heavily reliant on imported goods to supply its markets. Clearly, the regime knows this.”

And so will the rest of the globe, increasingly, as Covid-19 does its worst.

Sources / More: Forbes, Independent

Pray: That economic and social insecurities will not drive the North Korean leadership to more extreme and provocative policies.

Pray: For the people of North Korea who suffer due to the misplaced priorities of their government (Isaiah 1:23)

Pray: For ‘One Korea’.

A friend of IPC’s recently sent this report;

Here in Myanmar, the situation is getting worse and worse each day. Just the other day, 9 houses of my relatives were burned to the ground in upper Myanmar. 

My brother and his family members including other families are hiding in the forest since two weeks ago for fear of the armed forces.

Unfortunately, they don't have a proper place to cook or water to drink and without proper shelter to sleep in the night.

When the armed forces occupied their village, houses are burnt and they are unable to return. They have nowhere to return as all roads are now blocked by soldiers. They have nowhere to run to.

There are the sounds of bomb blastings, fighting, killing, and cruel arrests taking place in different villages, towns, and cities across Myanmar.

Brutal repression and massive atrocities committed by the military, known as the Tatmadaw, have underscored its reputation as the nation’s most loathed institution at a time when it has seized absolute power and appointed a new, non-elected government.

Meanwhile, a Baptist pastor was shot dead in Chin state in Myanmar/Burma on 18 September amid continued attacks by the Myanmar military on civilians in the state.  Pastor Cung Biak Hum, 31, was shot by soldiers as he tried to help extinguish a blaze caused by artillery fire, which destroyed 19 homes in the Thantlang township. The Chin Human Rights Organization reported that soldiers proceeded to remove the pastor’s finger and steal his wedding ring.

In response to the killing, Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar tweeted: “The murder of a Baptist minister and bombing of homes in Thantlang, Chin State are the latest examples of the living hell being delivered daily by junta forces against the people of Myanmar. The world needs to pay closer attention. More importantly, the world needs to act.”

At the same time, the country is being ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic and a faltering economy the World Bank this month predicted will contract by at least 18% in 2021. The percentage of the population living in poverty is expected to rise to 48.2% by 2022, nearly double the 24.8% recorded in 2017.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Thursday warned of a "human rights catastrophe" in Myanmar, and called on international leaders to do more to prevent the conflict from becoming worse.  Her warning came in a new report issued by the UN Human Rights Office, detailing widespread violations made by the military, the Tatmadaw, against the people in Myanmar.

The report said Myanmar was facing a "human rights catastrophe that shows no sign of abating.  The national consequences are terrible and tragic —the regional consequences could also be profound," Bachelet said in a statement. "The international community must redouble its efforts to restore democracy and prevent wider conflict before it is too late."

Sources / More: DW.com, CSW, Asia Times

Pray:

The Association of South East Asia Nations [ASEAN] consists of 10 nations in which Myanmar is a member. Although it has a 'non-inference policy' of each nation, yet as an association there is direct dialogue with Myanmar military leaders. Pray that they would be able to listen and address the issues with the military leaders, accept NUG leaders, and not treating them as 'terrorists'.  A willingness to compromise to peace for the sake of the innocent people.

The normalcy of the common Myanmar people - peace, hope, and possible future will return as soon as possible.

Civil war would subside, curfew is lifted, imprisoned be released and people can rebuild their homes again. There will be peace and order.

Many Christian mission leaders, pastors had become casualties of Covid-19 with the urgent need to appoint new, committed and passionate young leaders

The covid situation will be controlled and improved with countries donating the vaccines and slowing down the rate of inflections especially among the vulnerable of older ones, the teenagers and young ones. More people can trust the vaccines and be vaccinated.

From a different source…

Pray:

That the National Unity Government and “people’s defense forces” will prevail in their resistance to the brutal military regime that overturned the will of the people and kicked out the civilian government in February.

For strong international pressure and the cutting off support to the regime from China and Russia that are significant weapons suppliers to Myanmar’s armed forces.

May His peace and restoration come to this long-suffering country!

Intensifying volcanic explosions have forced the airport on the Spanish island of La Palma to be closed.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano started erupting last Sunday with thousands evacuated and more than 350 homes destroyed.  A thick plume of smoke now extends four kilometres (2.4 miles) into the air.

Clouds of thick ash have made flights out of the airport impossible, authorities said on Saturday.

The closure has prevented some leaving the island's airport, which mostly handles many tourist flights and connections to other islands in the Canaries.

Long queues formed at the terminal as flights were cancelled, and some travellers tried to get ferries off the island.

The volcano is entering a fresh explosive phase, spewing lava from a newly opened vent, officials say.

Airport operators say ash accumulation has made the airport "inoperative", but that a clean-up operation is underway. Workers are sweeping volcanic ash from the runway.

On Friday, firefighters said they were withdrawing from the area "due to the intensification of explosive phenomena".  No fatalities have been reported.  Some 1,000 people in Tajuya, Tacande de Abajo and Tacande de Arriba were told to evacuate on Friday due to the intensifying volcanic activity.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Friday that the cabinet would next week declare the island a "catastrophe zone".  The Canary Islands government has already announced a first round of financial aid for people who have lost their homes.  The volcano lies in the south of La Palma island, which is home to around 80,000 people.

It last erupted 50 years ago, in 1971. Scientists are unsure how long this eruption will last.

Sources/More: BBC

Pray: For people to rest in God’s mercy and protection until the eruptions and devastation pass. Psalm 57:1-2
Pray: For the safe evacuation of those affected and for protection for those who are staying to deal with the fires and destruction.
Pray: For sufficient resources to be released to rebuild the homes and infrastructure that is being destroyed.

From the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA)

Let us pray and work that we will be found as the ones who have cared for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the prisoner (Matthew 25).

2021. It is six years on from the launch of the European Evangelical Alliance’s Refugee Campaign.

2021. This year, European Union member states are supposed to have agreed a new migration and asylum pact to             enable better, fairer, more efficient collaboration to handle the migrants, asylum seekers and refugees who come to the EU.  The migration pact is a long way from being concluded.

2021. Already, more than a 1000 people have drowned in their attempt to cross the Mediterranean with the hope of building a new life in Europe.

2021. The political, social and economic catastrophe in Afghanistan is likely to lead to hundreds of thousands of Afghans fleeing the nation.

In 2015, Europe was confronted with a massive influx of migrants and refugees. This was first and foremost a humanitarian crisis but also a political crisis. Thousands lost their lives in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, while politicians were having endless meetings over responsibility and the right response. Several years later, the numbers of people arriving irregularly in Europe have gone down significantly but the political debate on responsibilities and right action is far from over. This raises questions about what drives us and our decisions: fear, avoidance, love, compassion, justice and/or perspective for a good future of all?

All human beings are created in the image of God and, therefore, are of inherent value and worth regardless the place they were born and the religion or belief they adhere to. Therefore, all migrants and refugees should be treated with compassion, dignity and grace, regardless whether they will be allowed to stay or eventually will be returned to their country of origin.

EEA is deeply worried about what some of Europe’s response to refugees says about the societies that we have become and where we, as well as the refugees themselves, could end up. It is often said that we must uphold European values and not allow foreigners to change us. But what has happened to our European values of hospitality, solidarity and compassion? Every human life is sacred. We cannot allow this belief to be downgraded in importance. We cannot allow the suffering of people to become the accepted norm and for the refugee situation only to be featured in the news when yet another big tragedy happens or our nations perceive a new threat.

The EEA has decided to issue a new Call to Action on migration.

• Urging governments to remember humanitarian values (most based on the bible),
• Calling Christians to pray and to speak up,
• Thanking its members for all their efforts to care for migrants and refugees and to persevere.

More: Link to the full Call to Action can be found here.

‘UNITED, SIMPLE, POWERFUL’  |  1st Friday – GO PRAY

Join us 1st October at 6am (Pacific) as we unite in a simple but powerful prayer time on this first Friday of the month.

We want to pray in unity with many believers, prayer networks and church denominations worldwide, for revival and for the harvest according to Luke 10:2-3.

Each month, we are inviting people with insight on the topics we are praying for - to guide us.

The format will be informal. We meet with simplicity and humbleness of heart as we wait on the Lord and pray in unity.

JOIN US ONLINE: FRIDAY OCTOBER 1ST at 6AM PACIFIC TIME

When we will focus on:

• PRAYERS FOR THE HARVEST
• PRAYERS FOR Myanmar & Afghanistan
• Prayers for the Africa Last Quarter Evangelism (LQE)

With prayer guidelines from Candy Marballi from the Childrens Prayer Covenant who is directing the Africa LQE.

More Info and Link to Join us at https://www.gopray.world/