A truck has exploded in a huge fireball, killing at least 17 people in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the latest attack in a city repeatedly hit by Boko Haram fighters. Tuesday's bomb rocked Maiduguri's largest roundabout near the crowded Market where elderly women line the road selling peanuts and kola nuts as snacks to morning commuters. The Defence Ministry said in a tweet that an ’improvised explosive device’ went off in ‘a van loaded with charcoal’ and that the area had been cordoned off. One witness said the bomb went off just after the market opened at 8am before most traders or customers had arrived. Unruly crowds tried to attack fire-fighters deployed to the scene, accusing them of arriving too slowly and hindering their efforts to put out the raging blaze, the AFP news agency reported.

Israel has vowed retribution against Hamas, the militant Palestinian group it says kidnapped and murdered three teenagers in the occupied West Bank. The bodies of Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach were found on Monday evening, after they had been missing for more than a fortnight. Israel PM Benyamin Netanyahu said: ‘Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay.’ Hamas denies any involvement. Israel launched more than 30 air strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight. The strikes came in response to 18 rocket attacks on southern Israel from Gaza since Sunday night, the Israeli military said. Israeli troops also flooded into the Palestinian town of Halhul. The bodies were found under a pile of rocks near the town. An Israeli official said it appeared the teenagers were shot soon after their abduction. (See also Prayer Alert 23-2014) Tensions rise further after Israeli police found the body of a Palestinian teenager on Wednesday, apparently a revenge attack.

Jihadist militant group ISIS has said it is establishing a caliphate, or Islamic state, on the territories it controls in Iraq and Syria. It also proclaimed the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph and ‘leader for Muslims everywhere’. Setting up a state governed under strict Islamic law has long been a goal of many jihadists. Meanwhile, Iraq's army continued an offensive to retake the northern city of Tikrit from the ISIS-led rebels. The city was seized by the insurgents on 11 June as they swept across large parts of north-western Iraq. In a separate development, Israel called for the creation of an independent Kurdish state in response to the gain made by the Sunni rebels in Iraq. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) announced the establishment of the caliphate in an audio recording posted on the internet on Sunday.

Despite the Central Africa Republic (CAR)’s increasing level of chaos, a glimmer of hope has been developing in its northern town Bozoum - which is peaceful and prosperous thanks to mediation efforts. This town of about 26,000 inhabitants enjoys a relative calm which ensures the functioning of vital services such as the hospital, schools and market, thanks to mediation efforts of people of good will under the leadership of an Italian priest, Father Aurelio Gazzera, the bishop of St. Michael Parish of Bozoum. Since Seleka rebels took over power in March 2013, numerous armed men claiming to be from the Seleka rebels or opposing anti-Balaka militia have been looting and committing other forms of abuse against the population, in Bangui and elsewhere across the country.

Pakistani authorities prevented more than one thousand ‘persecuted’ Christians from fleeing Pakistan and hundreds of Christian asylum seekers have been detained in Sri Lanka, a well-informed source told BosNewsLife Sunday, June 29. ‘More than 1000 Pakistani Christians were illegally removed from their confirmed flights from Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore airports in recent months.' he added. ‘It was the first step to end this mass exodus’. Christian refugees who managed to arrive in Sri Lanka have reportedly been targeted as well. Local media reported that the Sri Lankan Immigration and Investigation police had started a joint operation against Pakistani Christian asylum seekers. They had reportedly detained hundreds of asylum seekers in recent weeks. The Christians were to be deported because of their alleged involvement in ‘anti-state activities’ in India and Pakistan.

Christian leaders representing over 1 billion people from 170 nations have sent an open letter to heads of the G20, calling for urgent action on corruption and tax evasion, reports Micah Challenge International in a media statement released on 26 June. This historic anti-corruption initiative by the global Church comes at a decisive political moment as finance ministers meet in Australia ahead of the G20 summit in November. The letter was handed in to Australia’s Treasury as part of a lobbying event in Canberra that saw over 200 advocates meet with 100 MPs. Participants also gathered near Parliament shining symbolic giant lights on the darkness of corrupt deals. Australia holds the presidency of the G20 this year and plays a crucial role in setting the priorities for the meeting in Brisbane. The letter represents the hopes of millions around the world looking to Australia to take the lead on financial transparency.

Police in eastern India were investigating Saturday, June 21, why a Tibetan couple was hacked to death after converting to Christianity. The investigation came while a funeral was under way for Dominic Bhutia, 45, and his 35-year-old wife Christina who were hacked to death in Git Dabling village in India's West Bengal state. One of the couple’s two daughters, Rinjee, 12, was seriously wounded, Christians said. Masked assailants also gouged out the eyes of the victims in front of Rinjee, Indian media reported. A younger daughter, aged seven, was spared as Rinjee hid her under a bed, local Christians said. The attack, 28 kilometres (17 miles) outside the town of Kalimpong in Darjeeling Hills, underscored concerns about a lack of security for minority Christians in India. Christians and churches have been attacked in several parts of India, often by Hindu and other radical religious groups opposing the spread of Christianity.

At least 91 people – including 60 schoolgirls and young women, plus 31 schoolboys – were kidnapped last week by Boko Haram extremists, two months after the same group kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in northeastern Nigeria, according to the Los Angeles Times. They were also abducted from villages in that part of the country, an area where such attacks have been happening almost daily, while Nigeria’s army appears to be unable to enforce security in most of the country. Many have criticised Nigeria’s government and military for their slow response to the abductions of more than 200 schoolgirls from their school in Chibok on April 15: several dozen of the girls had been able to escape. About 30 people were reported to have been killed by the extremists in the latest attack. Elderly residents fled their homes, trudging 15 miles to get help.

A Christian high school student was told he would be violating the US constitution if he mentioned his faith in his graduation speech. Officials from Brawley Union School District in California told Brooks Hamby, 18, that “reference to religious content” was inappropriate, and opposed “government case law”. But Hamby said he did not want to compromise his values by removing all references to God or Jesus. Three drafts of his speech were rejected by officials, and he had received no reply about his fourth version by the time he delivered it. Despite the district telling him that the sound would be cut off if he talked about religion, Hamby quoted from the Gospel of Matthew and mentioned God during his graduation speech. A lawyer for Liberty Institute, an American religious liberty organisation, confirmed that Hamby was well within his legal rights to deliver a speech containing references to God.

Preparations are under way for summer Bible camps in several nations formerly belonging to the Soviet Union. At the same time, in Central Asia persecution is on the rise. ‘For example, in Kazakhstan, one of the largest Central Asian countries - we see that new laws that regulate religious affairs [have] been tightened.’ says Sergey Rakhuba of Russian Ministries. In Uzbekistan, ‘authorities are scared of any evangelical activity,’ Rakhuba continues. Believers are doing whatever they can to overcome persecution and share Christ with the needy. ‘We are preparing for the summer and summer camps – sports camps, community camps – in Central Asia that have become one of the most effective ministries today,’ Rakhuba states. Part of the training students receive from Russian Ministries involves the planning and execution of summer Bible camps in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, and the countries of Central Asia.