In East Jerusalem/Gaza City tensions are heading towards a large-scale eruption this Ramadan and residents fear another war. ‘We are moving gradually towards an escalation - the conditions are ripe for an explosion,’ said a Jerusalem-based political analyst. ‘The escalation may come from different places, including but not necessarily from Jerusalem,’ Fears are growing of a possible large-scale Israeli invasion of Jenin’s refugee camp, where the armed wings of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Fatah are active. On April 10, a PIJ threatened, ‘continued aggression on the Jenin camp will lead events to an open and full confrontation soon.’ Hamas said, ‘Things are likely to erupt based on developments on the ground. Hamas will not stand idly by if Israelis continue storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The resistance in Jenin is part of us; we will not allow harm to our people.’ On April 14 Hamas called for a ‘general mobilisation’ to defend against Israeli incursions into the West Bank and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Tigray remains cut off from the rest of the world in Ethiopia’s civil war where the northern region experiences famine, and hospitals with no supplies. Countless Tigray civilians have fled south to Addis Ababa, many are Christians. Pastor T is a Tigray church leader who often cares for refugees from neighboring Eritrea. Now, Pastor T and his church members have themselves become refugees.
Nevertheless, these Christians continue to feed hungry refugees and have planted over 10 churches in the region. But as Tigray Protestants their welcome in Addis Ababa hasn’t been warm. Ethnic tensions are soaring due to the northeast conflict and Tigray Protestants are viewed with deep suspicion and even hatred by those of Muslim and Orthodox background.

At the beginning of the year, you prayed for continued freedom to share biblical beliefs with others in Finland when Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen was accused of ‘hate speech’ for publicly voicing her deeply-held beliefs on marriage and human sexuality and Bishop Juhana faced charges for publishing a Christian pamphlet she wrote. The Päivi was facing up to six years in prison for tweeting a Bible verse describing homosexuality as shameful and shared her thoughts on marriage and sexual ethics during a radio debate and in a pamphlet. On 30 March a Finnish district court cleared them both of all hate speech charges over their beliefs on sexuality, arguing that ‘it is not for the district court to interpret biblical concepts’.

Cheeky Pandas and Thy Kingdom Come are partnering together to bring a variety of free resources to get children excited about Jesus, the Bible and prayer, and ultimately, help each child build a beautiful life-long relationship with Him - with some panda fun along the way. There is a fun-filled, bible-based TV series for use in family services, assemblies, and at home, featuring songs, animated stories, prayer and interviews with special guests. Alongside this, there are activity packs, service plans, a prayer book, a children’s app, and Prayer Bears - each with an illustrated prayer book in their bag. The Church of England is sending out 500,000 free Cheeky Panda books on faithfulness called ‘Queen CJ and the Bouncy Castle’ to primary school children, to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

UK’s Foreign Secretary said, ‘The age of engagement with Russia is over. We need a new approach to security in Europe based on resilience, defence and deterrence. There is no time for false comfort. Russia is not retreating but regrouping and repositioning to push harder in the east and south of Ukraine.’ She called for a return to Cold War-era diplomacy, declaring that an agreement in which NATO and Moscow ‘do not consider each other as adversaries’ is dead. Liz Truss made the remarks at a dinner with counterparts in Brussels, hours after NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said the war in Ukraine could be ‘a long haul’ with Vladimir Putin still intent on taking control of the whole of Ukraine. It is anticipated that Ms Truss will put pressure on her NATO counterparts to continue supplying Ukraine’s forces with weapons, alongside fortifying sanctions on Moscow.

Tory MP David Warburton was suspended from the parliamentary party pending an investigation into three allegations of sexual harassment. A few days earlier it was revealed that Labour staffers, Laura Murray and Georgie Robertson, were asked to sign confidentiality agreements when they complained of sexual harassment about a senior official. They refused to sign the legal agreements and chose to resign without payouts. Documents show the women had reported the party official for ‘inappropriate’ and ‘possessive’ behaviour. The claims about Mr Warburton are being examined by Parliament's Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS). Also, the Sunday Times reported allegations of Mr Warburton taking cocaine, and failing to declare a £100,000 loan in 2017, since repaid, from a Russian businessman. 

'I will never betray you', Peter declared at the Last Supper. And indeed he stayed close to Jesus all through his arrest and trial, albeit in the shadows. Yet, before the cock crowed he had denied Jesus three times. Knowing this secret he had to watch and wait three agonising days with the other disciples, sharing their anxiety and sorrow. No wonder he ran to the garden on the third day when Mary brought the news that the tomb was empty; the beginning of hope restored. Back on the shores of Galilee where he had first met Jesus, he is embraced, forgiven and recommissioned. Pray for any feeling disqualified or who have lost their way with Jesus, or are facing the sifting Satan demands of us all. May they know His love and be aware of His presence. 

Figures show that very little has changed when it comes to addressing the gender pay gap in Great Britain. Women in the UK were paid just 90p for every £1 earned by a man, according to the latest figures released through the government’s gender pay gap reporting mechanism. Among those high-profile companies reporting particularly large gender gaps was EasyJet. According to data filed by the company’s larger arm, Easyjet Airline Company, women’s median wage stood at just 36p for every £1 that men earned last year. Other companies reporting that median male earnings were at least double that of female employees include HSBC Bank along with several academy trusts. A spokesperson for EasyJet said its ‘gender pay submission does not represent a complete picture because the data in April 2021 included pilots, while the majority of our predominantly female UK cabin crew community remained on furlough’.

Boris Johnson has said he does not think ‘biological males should be competing in women’s sports and the ‘sensible’ view was that transgender athletes - such as Lia Thomas, a swimmer who won America’s top trophy in university sports - should not be allowed to compete alongside cisgendered women and that children should not be allowed to decide their own gender without parental assistance. His most comprehensive comments yet on transgender issues came days after the Government decided not to ban trans conversion therapy, as the Conservative Party promised at the last election. Conversion therapy attempts to change or suppress someone’s sexuality or gender identity. Mr Johnson also said he thought it was important to have women-only spaces in hospitals, prisons and changing rooms but admitted there were ‘complexities and sensitivities’ around transgender issues that ‘still need to be worked out’. It is already outlawed in several other countries.

Senior managers have written to executives at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust saying lives have been put at risk and patients left to die without dignity because of long waits. The letter, reported by Health Service Journal, says, ‘For the past few months we have on a regular basis had more than 50 patients waiting for a bed and that wait being in excess of 60 hours. This means that at most times there is limited or no space to accommodate newly acutely ill patients, causing ambulance handover delays of over four hours and delay in treatment.’ They reported an increase in clinical incidents, pressure sores, detrimental outcomes, and occasions where patients ‘die without the dignity of privacy’. ‘We have witnessed senior experienced staff crying with frustration and anger,’ in increasingly precarious situations.