Some say ‘to be a Kazakh is to be a Muslim’. Most Kazakhs follow a version of Islam influenced by shamans and indigenous practices. Other Muslim countries send Muslim missionaries to Kazakhstan, successfully converting even ethnic Russians to Islam. After the Soviet Union broke up, the number of mosques grew from 46 to 2,300 in 2020. The government keeps Islam moderate and is the only Central Asian state where Islam has no special status. Pray for freedom from historic spiritual bondages. Kazakhstan's cultural and religious diversity provides many opportunities for evangelising. A number of Kazakh Uzbeks and Uyghurs are turning to Christ and taking the gospel back to their own people. Christianity is still largely an urban phenomenon, but churches and missions (Baptists, Korean groups, Western agencies) are recruiting for village ministry. Pray that the Gospel might be shared in the listeners' language, in the many towns and villages of this sprawling land.

Six Jewish parents and two Jewish schools are suing the California Department of Education over their refusal to allow families whose children have special needs to use federal and state funds designated for such students to attend private religious schools. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the plaintiffs, said that California’s campaign against Jewish children with disabilities and the schools they want to attend is shameful and unconstitutional; adding, ‘We argued in court that the government cannot exclude religious people and schools from a public benefit simply because they are religious.’ Plaintiffs Chaya and Yoni Loffman said, ‘We want to educate our son in a safe, supportive learning environment that meets his unique needs and upholds our shared religious beliefs.’ The court is expected to issue a ruling in the case of Loffman v. California Department of Education in the coming months.

The International Criminal Court has opened another war crimes probe after three months of war between feuding generals. 87 bodies were buried in a mass grave by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group prompting a UN warning of possible new massacres in Darfur. The ICC has been investigating crimes in Sudan's Darfur region since 2005. The UN Security Council charged former leader Omar al-Bashir with genocide and crimes against humanity - murder, rape and torture. Allegations of similar atrocities have mounted during recent fighting. UN officials are calling for the warring sides to face accountability. About 3,000 people have been killed and three million displaced since violence erupted between Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglos. The UN warns history could repeat itself - the people of Darfur have lived with uncertainty, pain and the scars of conflict for almost two decades.

The Iranian authorities are doubling down on policing and severely oppressing Iranian women and girls for defying the return of the morality law which insists women and girls wear headscarves in public with police patrols enforcing obedience. Social media is showing women being violently assaulted by officials and the people helping them to escape are being targeted by the police firing tear gas See At the same time, a clampdown on religious minorities also needs a prayerful response. Over 50 believers were arrested on unknown charges immediately following the reinstatement of the morality police. ‘The reason for this sudden surge in nationwide arrests of Christians is unclear at this stage,’ Article18’s advocacy director Mansour Borji says. ‘What is obvious is that Iran has begun a fresh crackdown on civil liberties, and the traditionally vulnerable groups, like Christians, are on the front line of those targeted.’