Greek Cypriots voted for a new president on 4 February, with a record 14 candidates. The winner needed 50% plus one vote to succeed. Voters are concerned about corruption and the economy, particularly the cash-for-passports scandal, pressures of migration on public resources, and the deadlock over the decades-old island division with Turkey. See Nikos Christodoulides emerged as frontrunner and will face Andreas Mavroyiannis in a run-off vote on 12 February. The elections will end, but challenges and problems lie ahead.

Ukrainian soldiers will commence training in new German-made Leopard tanks on 13 February. Although not all Western weaponry will have arrived by then, Ukraine has enough reserves to hold off Russian forces. President Zelensky said troops were fighting fiercely in Bakhmut, Vuhledar and Lyman. Military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov will replace the current defence minister in a shake-up after corruption reports: some defence officials are suspected of embezzling public funds to procure food for the army. The outgoing defence minister said Russia did not have all of its resources ready to launch an offensive, but might do so anyway on 24 February as a symbolic gesture on the anniversary of its full-scale invasion. He said Ukraine had secured new long-range missiles with a ninety-mile range, but they will not be used against Russian territory - only against Russian units in occupied areas of Ukraine.

At the time of writing there are 19,300 dead after earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria. Rescuers are running out of time to find people alive under the rubble. The death toll will far exceed 20,000, and without shelter, water, fuel or electricity many survivors could yet lose their lives in a secondary disaster causing more harm than the initial quake. Survivors could face danger inside fragile structures amid aftershocks or freeze outside in the snow. Numerous regions await help which it is impossible to provide on the scale needed. Syrian rebel-held areas have even less access to medical care and supplies. The first UN aid lorries have arrived. Pray for more medical equipment, warm clothes, blankets, field hospitals, hundreds more volunteers, medical professionals and search and rescue professionals. Ask God to strengthen those working tirelessly to help. Pray for urgent donations to purchase tents, beds, medical equipment and gas heaters. For an update see

Four Catholic priests were charged with treason and given ten-year prison terms in a growing clampdown on critics of President Daniel Ortega. Two Catholic seminarians were also given the same sentence on the same charges. All six belong to Matagalpa diocese, led by Bishop Rolando Alvarez, who is under house arrest awaiting trial. A cameraman for Catholic television was also jailed for ten years. ‘We condemn these perverse actions of the regime, which violate human rights,’ the Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights wrote on Twitter. They called for the men's immediate release. Ortega is targeting critical Catholic Church leaders following nationwide protests in 2018. He accused them of attempting to overthrow him when they served as mediators with protesters in the unrest that claimed 300+ lives. Since then, his government has expelled Catholic nuns and missionaries, closed Catholic radio and television stations, and arrested more than a dozen priests.