An evangelist reports, ‘1,536 adults and 1,808 children attended activities during our Botswana & Namibia outreach, where we explained the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people living in remote areas and small villages. A hundred Bibles and a few thousand tracts were distributed, as well as different topics from Jericho Walls International Prayer Network on prayer and Bibles studies. We worked with nearby churches in these remote areas. Using guides and translators is always key to the age old problem of follow-up programmes to isolated groups.’ Pray for the reached communities and the participating churches to experience God’s blessings and be greatly encouraged as they grow in God’s Kingdom.
Lebanon: Hamas/Hezbollah - who’s inspiring whom?
07 Aug 2014Hamas had been digging tunnels in Gaza for decades. The Lebanese Shiite organization has used tunnels and underground bunkers since the IDF withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000. Now there’s concern that Hezbollah has expanded its network of tunnels inside south Lebanon, to enable offensive infiltration into Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu said the Hamas cross-border tunnel network had the ‘catastrophic’ potential of gunmen emerging into southern Israel near army positions, kibbutzim and settlements. Israeli communities on the Lebanese border have in the past reported hearing muffled sounds underground, which they believe indicate Hezbollah tunne-digging. Now, such reports are gaining new resonance and the Israeli security establishment is taking their concerns seriously. An article published on Hezbollah’s website cited that ‘security elements’ spoke of booby-trapped tunnels prepared over the past two years inside southern Lebanon, allowing fighters to move easily from place to place during battle. Last month, Hamas official Osama Hamdan said that the exchange of knowledge between Hamas and Hezbollah on Israel is ongoing.
Middle East: Ceasefire and negotiations
07 Aug 2014At the time of preparing this article the latest Gaza ceasefire enters its second day. There is tentative relief to millions on both sides and Palestinian and Israeli teams prepare for tough talks in Cairo. Riyad al-Maliki, Palestinian foreign minister, said he expected the ceasefire to expand beyond 72 hours. The small teams of delegates bring conflicting demands. Palestinians want open border crossings. (Not only Israel has closed borders. The Egyptian regime is hostile to Hamas and suspicious of political Islam. Only 140 injured Gazans have gone to Egyptian hospitals since 8 July. See: Meanwhile Israel wants Gaza fully demilitarised. The US is also due to participate in the Cairo talks. ‘We are determining at what level and in what capacity and when,’ said the US State Department spokesperson in Washington. Riyad al-Maliki complained to The Hague of war crimes committed by Israel. Israel said it did its utmost to avoid civilian casualties, accusing Hamas of putting people in harm's way by launching rockets from densely populated districts.
Lagos has eight suspected cases of Ebola with one case confirmed, all came into contact with Nigeria's first victim who died. On Tuesday the World Bank pledged $200 million towards containing the virus. A doctor in Lagos is the second case in the sprawling city. The doctor attended to a man working for Liberia's finance ministry who contracted the virus from his sister before travelling to Lagos for a meeting of West African officials. Seventy people who came into contact with the deceased are being monitored. Three show signs of the disease. World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, himself an expert on infectious diseases, was deeply saddened at the breakdown of already weak health systems in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The funding will provide medical supplies, pay healthcare staff and manage priorities to try to contain the epidemic and prevent future outbreaks. Reports from Liberia say corpses are being dumped or abandoned and bodies of victims rot in the streets or in their homes. See also
Libya: Violence
31 Jul 2014A member of the new Libyan parliament, Mustafa Abushagor, due to take office in August, was kidnapped on Tuesday by unknown assailants. Libya has failed to control ex-rebel militias who refuse to disband and who are threatening the unity of the country. Recent hostilities increase worries that Libya could become a failed state and return to war. Recently two brigades of former rebels have pounded each other's positions with Grad rockets, artillery fire and cannons. On Tuesday they agreed to a brief cease-fire to allow emergency services to fight millions of litres of blazing fuel in storage tanks. The US, Britain, Turkey and the Philippines have pulled out diplomatic staff, while France and Spain have evacuated more nationals and some diplomats. Canada is temporarily pulling out diplomats. ‘Libya's political leadership haven’t resolved differences that were there at the end of the revolution. See:
US officials say Russia tested a new ground-launched cruise missile, breaking the 1987 intermediate range nuclear forces treaty. A Washington official said the United States is prepared to engage in ‘senior-level bilateral dialogue immediately’ with Russia to ensure Moscow's return to compliancy. The accusation comes as tensions between Russia and the West continue to grow over the crisis in Ukraine and the EU and USA announce new sanctions against Russia that aim to strangle Russia's oil industry and government-owned banks. It is now clear that the west has fundamentally changed its strategy in dealing with Russia. See also
India: Modern slavery
31 Jul 2014India has an estimated 13,300,000 enslaved individuals. A government hotline called ‘Child Line’, operates in a number of different languages. It is also used to report tip offs of human trafficking. There are also radio programmes focusing on raising awareness about human trafficking, and what aspects of the law can be used by people in the community against it. There are a few other radio channels raising awareness about human trafficking to ensure people understand what human trafficking is, and take notice of indicators that might suggest there is a case of trafficking occurring in their community. Over recent years the government has implemented various action plans to halt the growth of modern slavery, but India still remains 4th in global index rating of modern slavery. See also for the laws policies and programmes to effectively and successfully address attitudes and social systems in India that create vulnerability and enable slavery.
Bolivia: Child labour law shames us all
31 Jul 2014Bolivia has become the first country to legalise child labour, reducing the minimum age of employment from 14 years to 10. The new law contravenes the International Labour Organisation's minimum working age protocol and is an abandonment of a child's right to a childhood. There are some protections included in the law: children between 10 and 12 must be supervised by a parent while they work, under-12s are not permitted to undertake third-party employment and children must still attend school. But with 850,000 child labourers in Bolivia and only 78 inspectors it will be difficult to uphold these protections. How will children, exhausted after a day's work, be able to engage in learning? Missing education erodes their chances for better paid employment in the future. Rather than breaking the cycle of poverty and illiteracy the new law appears to entrench it. Since 2005 the number of child slaves remains at around 5.5 million.