Mike Pilavachi and safeguarding
The Diocese of St Albans has reported, ‘We have been informed of the resignation of Canon Mike Pilavachi from his employment at Soul Survivor Watford, and want to stress that a safeguarding investigation will continue in line with House of Bishops guidance. We will continue to listen to and offer support to those who come forward.’ The joint investigation is being run by the diocese and the National Safeguarding Team, independently of Soul Survivor. The Church Times reported Matt Redman speaking of ‘harmful behaviour by church leadership’ and in Premier Christian News Matt said he spent years healing from his time at Soul Survivor. The Telegraph reported the Church’s abuse investigation as ‘toothless’, with no power to punish preachers. There are a number of current abuse scandals leaving a trail of destruction across the church.
Putin ‘clearly under pressure’, says UK spy chief
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.
Sweden: religious intolerance
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
Israel: war with Hezbollah?
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: danger of declaring war
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.
USA: cruel migrant treatment by troopers
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.