The head of Britain’s MI6 foreign spy service, Richard Moore, has said that Putin is clearly under pressure in the wake of the Wagner mutiny attempt in June. In his second speech since becoming MI6 chief in 2020, Richard Moore also appealed to Russians appalled by the war in Ukraine to ‘join hands’ with his intelligence service and bring the bloodshed to an end. He said there appeared little prospect of Moscow regaining momentum in Ukraine, adding that he was optimistic about Kyiv’s counter offensive. This follows Russia evacuating thousands of people in the Crimean peninsula after a military training base fire in the Kirovske district. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s port city of Odessa sustained massive Russian airstrikes the day after Putin pulled out of a deal allowing safe grain exports from the region. The Odessa military administration said the attack was very powerful.

Swedish police approved of burning a Bible outside Stockholm’s Israeli embassy. The decision follows similar Quran burnings which sparked outrage in the Islamic world. The demonstration was scheduled for Shabbat, when Israel's embassy is closed. A recent Swedish poll found most citizens support banning public burning of religious texts. Israel’s chief rabbi asked King Gustaf to utilise his influence so that the Bible burning does not take place, sending the message that Sweden stands against religious intolerance.  Meanwhile on 20 July another Quran was desecrated in Sweden; the Iraqi government informed the Swedish government through diplomatic channels that any recurrence of burning of the Holy Quran on Swedish soil would necessitate severing diplomatic relations. See also world article 6, and

The Hezbollah terror group has recently raised the frequency of provocations on Israel's northern border. On 12 July angry rioters went to the security fence on Israel's northern border with Lebanon to light fires and hurl rocks. Israel’s soldiers (IDF) were forced to fire warning shots to disperse them. Also, recent missile fire near Ghajar only barely missed a military vehicle. A different result would have utterly changed the situation in northern Israel. Hezbollah has illegally erected several tents within the Mount Dov area and has coerced Lebanon’s government into asserting additional claims on Israel, demanding they remove a fence securing the village of Ghajar. ‘No one knows when it will happen, but war is just a matter of time. We are on high alert. There are provocations on the border fence’, said the IDF commander.

South Africa’s president says that arresting Vladimir Putin if he attends Johannesburg’s economic summit would be a declaration of war by his country. The August summit brings together Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - developing economies known as BRICS. Putin wants to attend the gathering, but officials are trying to persuade him to stay away to avoid legal and diplomatic fallout because of an international arrest warrant for his alleged war crimes while invading Ukraine. As a signatory to the Rome statute which established the arrest warrant, South Africa would be obligated to arrest Putin if he visits the African nation. President Ramaphosa recently joined a peace mission to Kyiv and Moscow to negotiate ending the war. He does not want to start another war. In an action before the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa’s opposition party has tried to compel the government to pledge to arrest Putin.

Concerns about the inhumane treatment of migrants along the border with Mexico were made in an email from an unnamed Texas trooper to the state department of public safety. In the email the trooper said they were given orders by Border Security agents to push the Mexicans back into the Rio Grande River and ordered not to give them water despite the extreme heat. Officials in the Lone Star State have been criticised for deploying barrels wrapped in razor wire on the river, which the trooper described as traps, because the wire has increased the risk of drowning by forcing migrants into deeper parts of the river. The email detailed several incidents on the border in Eagle Pass last month, including a pregnant woman being trapped in wire and having a miscarriage and a four-year-old girl fainting from heat exhaustion after soldiers pushed the group she was in back towards Mexico.

The southern United States is in its third week of an extreme, stubborn heat wave that refuses to budge. 100 million Americans remain under heat alerts from South Florida to northern Nevada as record breaking temperatures hit 128°F (53° C) in Death Valley. Above-normal temperatures and sauna-like humidity have made things intolerable, with triple-digit temperatures continuing for days.  Sardinia has approached 117° (47° C), and Rome 108° (42° C) - which would eclipse the all-time record by 3°. Iran’s international airport posted a suffocating heat of 152° (67° C). Pray for the people who have problems regulating their body temperature, such as the elderly, pregnant, babies, children, and those with chronic or mental health conditions. Pray for those without air-conditioning to recognise symptoms of heat stroke or heat exhaustion and go to a place which is air-conditioned. The heat is also worsening wildfires. Pray for the safety of firefighters, and the protection of homes and businesses.

On 3 May deadly riots broke out  between the Muslim Meitei tribe and the Christian Kuki-Zo tribes in Manipur. Since then over 130 Kuki-Zo have been killed and over 50,000 displaced. Now that the internet ban has been lifted, a 26-second video has emerged after two months showing dozens of men parading and assaulting two naked Christian women. Elsewhere, a Christian woman’s husband was killed by a mob who then surrounded and sexually assaulted her daughter. Her son was killed trying to stop them. ‘How can the police say they aren’t aware of what happened when they were present while we were assaulted? The bodies of my husband and son were taken by them to the government morgue in Imphal’, she told Al-Jazeera. These are just two of the ongoing violent attacks on Christian women and brutal killings of Christian families, with homes being burned down and communities being terrorised.

On 20 July Iraq expelled the Swedish ambassador only hours after protesters angered by the burning of the Quran in Sweden stormed the Swedish embassy in central Baghdad, scaling the walls of the compound and setting it on fire. Iraq’s prime minister also recalled his country’s chargé d’affaires in Sweden and suspended the working permit of Swedish telecom company Ericsson on Iraqi soil. The burning of the embassy was called by supporters of the influential Iraqi Shia religious and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr, to protest against the second planned burning of a Quran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm that day. However, although protesters in Sweden kicked and partially damaged the Quran, they did not burn it as promised. In Baghdad, all the Swedish embassy staff are safe. Sweden’s foreign ministry condemned the attack and highlighted the need for Iraqi authorities to protect diplomatic missions. See also Europe article 2, ‘Sweden: religious intolerance’.

The Jesus Revolution film is coming to Netflix on 31 July, allowing thousands more the opportunity to hear the gospel. It was released in February, earning $52 million in theatres, remaining in the top ten for several weeks. In April it became number one best seller on Amazon Prime, Blu-ray and DVD charts. It tells the true story behind the Jesus Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, including how Pastor Smith welcomed hippies looking for truth at Calvary Chapel, starting one of the greatest spiritual awakenings in American history. Since February there has been a revival which mirrors the 1970s. Thousands are being touched by God, and this divine movement is changing their lives. ‘We’ve had people accepting Christ in the theatres’, said Pastor Greg Laurie, on whose life the film is based. People were praying out loud asking Jesus to come into their life. ‘We had pastors and Bibles on hand. I've never heard of anything quite like doing evangelism in movie theatres on this scale.’

The 2023 Next Level Prayer Conference, at Wembley Arena, opened its doors to over 10,000 worshippers. Recently Justin Welby has said there was an alarming drop in church congregations. Pastor Bolaji, leader of the Harvesters, who initiated the conference, said, ‘The popularity of the conference, which saw thousands of people coming together, proves there is still a vibrant community looking for a place to come together in spirit and worship. The essence of Harvesters is to provide unity and a beacon of hope and direction in turbulent times. While church attendance may be declining, we see this as an opportunity not a deterrent. It signifies a need for a different approach that resonates with today's world. Our expansion is driven by our belief that the gospel's transformative message, presented in a way that addresses contemporary challenges and speaks to people's lived experiences, is more relevant than ever.’