Home secretary Sajid Javid is under increasing pressure to deal with the rising number of migrants crossing the Channel. As some MPs call on him to deploy the Royal Navy, he insists that there is ‘no easy answer’ to what he called a ‘major incident’ unfolding off the south coast. Over 220 people have attempted the crossing in small boats since November 2018. Many of them are university-educated Iranians or Syrians. People-smugglers tell migrants they must enter the UK before ‘borders shut properly’ after Brexit. One refugee group said that most of those trying to cross are Kurds: see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29702440 Kent Refugee Action Network said the Kurds could have genuine asylum claims, adding, ‘The Government needs to find a way to process their claims in France instead and then transfer them.’ Pray for UK and French authorities to share intelligence and work on a humane solution.

The bishop of Dover, Rt Rev Trevor Wilmott, has urged greater compassion in the migration debate as new figures revealed an influx of lone child refugees among the boatloads of people crossing the Channel. In an appeal to the home secretary, he said, ‘It is crucial that we remember we are dealing with human beings here. We have been celebrating the season of hope and goodwill as we remember Christ’s birth: let’s not forget so soon that every person is precious.’ The rising number of boat crossings has prompted an increase in unaccompanied child refugees to levels not recorded since the Calais migrant camp was dismantled. One specialist facility caring for unaccompanied minors in Kent is caring for over twice the usual number.

Christians In Government have issued an open invitation to all Christians to become involved in a national call to prayer, culminating in a week of prayer (24-30 March). At this key time in the UK’s history, thousands are expected to engage with this call to unite, pray, and bless our nation. There is power when brothers and sisters come together in unity, regardless of political views or denominations. The initiative will focus especially on a national day of prayer on 28 March, the day before the UK is due to leave the EU. This is a vision to mobilise and gather people across the UK to pray for our nation. Christians everywhere are invited to pray with friends and community, and to spread the message about joining or hosting events on that day.

The Foreign Office (FO) has been recouping the cost of repatriating young women who were forced into marriages overseas, prompting charities to criticise it for making women ‘pay for their protection’. Many of the 82 victims of forced marriage repatriated in 2016-17 had to pay for living costs incurred between making distress calls and returning home, as well as their airfare; others received loans which they had to repay. They had to give up their passports until they had repaid the debt, with a surcharge added after six months. But many could not find work because potential employers wanted to see their passport, which the FO held. Four young British women imprisoned and tortured at a ‘correctional’ religious school in Somalia ahead of expected forced marriages had to pay £740 to return home; they said the burden of having to repay the loans contributed to their becoming destitute.

Recent statistics reveal that one in ten children feel unable to cope with the school day. Almost two thirds of 10- to 11-year-olds worry all the time, and 70% of children and adolescents experiencing mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age. TLG is a Christian charity helping churches to bring hope and a future to struggling children. School exclusion, poverty, holiday hunger, bullying, bereavement, family breakdown, or being in the care system can have a huge impact on a child's education. Some children struggle with a lack of confidence, have no positive role models, or just need an adult to talk to. TLG early intervention programmes give churches practical solutions to support families, children and schools in their community. TLG believes change is possible, so in all their work there lies an unchanging resolve to transform lives for good.

The shadow treasury minister Clive Lewis, in a newspaper interview, has said MPs must show leadership, and persuade consumers to make dramatic lifestyle changes, if devastating climate change and mass extinctions are to be averted. Cutting back on red meat and taking fewer flights are two of the ‘real, stark choices’ needed in the years ahead. Lewis said, ‘If you want your children and grandchildren to avoid food shortages, to avoid power shortages, to avoid biological degradation, biodiversity loss - if you actually want a planet that’s habitable - then we need to make some choices together, now, and some of them are about quite dramatic changes to how we live.’

Emmanuel Macron delivered a defiant New Year's address on TV, vowing to push forward with economic reforms despite the protests by the ‘yellow vests’ over the past two months. He acknowledged their anger over injustices, but he also strongly condemned their leaders, ‘who claim to speak for the people, but in fact speak for a hateful mob - attacking elected representatives, security forces, journalists, Jews, foreigners and homosexuals - these are quite simply the negation of France.’ He promised that his economic reforms would continue despite the prolonged clashes between protesters and security forces that have turned French cities into battlegrounds, and rejected demands for referendums on major policy decisions and the possibility of ousting elected representatives, including the president himself. The ‘yellow vests’ vowed to continue their protests.

Mount Etna volcano is restless, with small earthquakes and steam emissions continuing for six days. Aerial footage by emergency services has revealed the scale of the damage from the two earthquakes (4.3 and 4.8 magnitude) which injured 28 people and left 600 homeless across a broad area near Catania, one of the most densely populated metropolitan districts in Sicily. More lava was being spewed out on 1 January: see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E42VCLuJC4I Strong gas and dense ash emissions have been rising, prompting frightened villagers to flee their homes. Italy's civil protection officials said that the quakes were part of a swarm of 1,000 tremors, most of them barely perceptible, that are linked to Etna's ongoing recent eruption.

On 26 December the Knesset disbanded and called elections for 9 April. The same day, Mahmoud Abbas disbanded the Palestinian legislature, with a view to 2019 elections. Many say it is hard to see how new parliamentary elections can take place in the West Bank and Gaza at the same time. ‘When Abbas dissolves the Palestinian parliament and the Knesset dissolves itself in the same week, Hamas smells trouble’. There is concern that Israel will block Qatari financial aid and seek an excuse to suspend the cease-fire deal. The Zionist Union, a joint list of the Israeli Labour party and the Hatnuah party, has broken up ahead of the Knesset elections. At the same time the Labour party, which has dominated Israeli politics for the past thirty years, is declining in popularity: see https://worldisraelnews.com/zionist-union-party-dissolves-ahead-of-elections/ An Israeli defence source told Al-Monitor that Israel assumes Hamas is gearing up for another round of widespread violence. The relative calm could end at any moment.

Ebola relief efforts by Doctors Without Borders are being hindered by violence and rumours. The outbreak began when a family, fearful of treatment centres, fled authorities to visit traditional healers. Healers keep few records of their patients, making it difficult to trace and break the chains of transmission. Before national elections on 30 December, opposition politicians exploited the crisis by spreading rumours that Ebola has been concocted by the government to kill people’, claiming that ‘thermo-guns aimed at people’s foreheads to take temperatures are weapons to steal votes’. In Beni and Butembo, where Ebola is worsening, and in Yumbi, where hundreds have been killed in ethnic Mai-Mai violence, people were not allowed to travel to polling stations to vote (see http://www.africanews.com/2018/12/26/drc-polls-ceni-says-no-election-in-beni-butembo-and-yumbi-cities-until-march/). Civilians don’t know who to trust, and fend off all outsiders. When police tried taking an infected baby to doctors, his grandmother threatened them with a machete. On 1 January volunteers from Samaritan’s Purse arrived in the region to help those who are fighting for their lives. Hundreds are already dead. See https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/samaritans-purse-sends-team-to-congo-to-help-fight-ebola-outbreak