A year after Russia stepped into the Syrian quagmire on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad, Moscow has challenged the US and NATO in virtually every arena possible. The Russians: - probably bombed a UN humanitarian aid convoy bringing relief, derailing joint US / Russian peace talks; - continue to strike civilian targets with chemical weapons; - sent nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad, Russia’s European enclave; - suspended an agreement with the US to dispose of weapons-grade plutonium because of what they viewed as ‘unfriendly’ acts by the US; - sent missile defence batteries to Syria, and threatened to shoot down US planes flying in Syria without warning; - participated in military drills with China in the South China Sea (where China has illegally annexed and militarised artificial islands); - probably hacked the Democratic National Committee and other US government agencies and leaked information to the public to de-legitimise the USA's upcoming election and destabilise the country at large.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura appealed to Jabhat al-Nusra, Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate, to leave Aleppo saying, ‘1,000 of you are deciding the destiny of the 275,000 civilians.’ Jabhat al-Nusra’s role in Aleppo is omitted from most mainstream press accounts. John Kerry said, ‘Russia and the Syrian regime owe the world an explanation as to why they keep hitting hospitals, medical facilities, children and women’. He called for war crimes investigations. The understandable impulse to assist Syrians suffering as a result of war is heartfelt and laudable – but for policymakers, there is also the need to weigh the consequences of military action, reflecting on what was learned from interventions in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. Even the establishment of humanitarian or safe zones would entail a ‘major combat mission.’ See also article 4 in the British Isles section.

This month children in Syria are to meet in mass prayer, to end the ‘spiral of death’ that is killing hundreds of people in rebel-held districts of Aleppo. Christian and Muslim boys and girls in Aleppo will join together to pray for an end to the deadly bombing raids, Archbishop Boutros Marayati, head of the Armenian Catholic church in Aleppo, told Agenzia Fides, ‘Many cannot leave Aleppo. New blood will be shed if the powers behind the two warring parties do not decide to really put an end to this dirty war.’ The schoolchildren will sign and fingerprint an appeal begging world rulers to put an end to the massacres. ‘But above all, they will pray. They will pray for all of their peers. And we trust in the fact that children's prayer is more powerful than ours’, said Archbishop Marayati. See also article 1 (on the 4-14 window) in the World section.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump recently told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if he is elected President, the USA will recognise Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel. While Israel calls Jerusalem its capital, few other countries accept that, including the United States. Most nations maintain embassies in Tel Aviv. Palestinians want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 war, as capital of the state they aim to establish alongside Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the closed-door meeting, a spokesman said that Trump agreed with Netanyahu that peace in the Middle East could only be achieved when ‘the Palestinians renounce hatred and violence and accept Israel as a Jewish state.’ The Iran nuclear deal, which both parties have criticised, was also discussed.

The daily struggles and snags we get caught up in are a normal part of everyday life; they are part of the imperfect world we live in. People let us down or misunderstand us. The things we use don't always work as we want them to and they don't last for ever. Yet these everyday problems aren't huge barriers that completely block our way in life; they are more like obstacles we can jump over or find a way around. Sometimes, you have a day when everything seems to go wrong, when even the little things seem far worse than they really are. Does God know about these 'little' things? Does He care? The Bible says that God can make something good come out of every situation for those who love Him.

What is God’s plan in uncertainty? He wants his people to stand together and pray. As we pray and praise, situations change. This is a crucial time for the UK: a time of tension, pressure and spiritual opportunity. God wants to bless our nations and through us the world but we need to get ready. There is an opportunity this month to stand with our brothers and sisters in Christ to worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and intercede for our schools, towns and cities to be flooded with God’s purposes and plans: plans beyond our imagination, purposes that He intends for our lives, communities and nation. Come to the International Convention Centre in Birmingham on 15 October, from 2:00pm to 6:30pm, to pray for God’s deep blessings of unity, mercy, and reconciliation. You will be standing with key organisations and thousands of Christians asking for an extraordinary move of the gospel to set people free and change lives.

The shockwaves caused by the Brexit referendum have led to some soul-searching - for religious and non-religious people alike. Clarifying what we stand for, as a society, involves thinking about some core values - nationhood, democracy, dignity, rule of law, welfare, capitalism, science, human rights, ethics - and we need to start by understanding where they come from. As Nick Spencer shows in his new book, The Evolution of the West: How Christianity Has Shaped our Values, the deepest values of contemporary, liberal secular society have their roots in Christianity. For the last decade New Atheists have argued that the values that many of us hold dear developed despite religion. These arose once we threw off Christianity’s malign influence, they claim: the story of Western thought is one of slow but steady secular emancipation. But our values were not simply born in the Enlightenment; Christianity has had a key role in the development in all of them.

Former British soldiers have responded fiercely to ex-military MPs who attacked their satirical anti-war art project. The ex-services group accused them of being ‘self-appointed veterans’ champions’ who ‘trade off the backs of ordinary soldiers’. Veterans for Peace UK endorsed the ‘Army: Be the Meat’ artwork, originally commissioned by military veterans in 2015, to highlight issues relating to poor treatment of veterans. However, two former military officers, now MPs, criticised the art in the Sun newspaper. It appears neither they nor the paper realised that the project was actually endorsed by hundreds of veterans. Dan Jarvis told the paper the display was ‘extremely disrespectful to our armed forces and utterly unacceptable that those who have been injured in military service should be pilloried in this way.’

Should Christians practise yoga? For some it's a non-question: yoga is just a nice way of keeping fit and flexible, with no spiritual implications at all. They're perfectly happy to see their church hall hired out to a yoga group. For others, yoga is a practice imported straight from Hinduism. At best it's compromising Christian witness and at worst it's a gateway to demonic powers. So how do Christians navigate the conversation? And how does the controversy over yoga fit into the wider issue about how Christians respond to the alternative spiritualities that seem to be on the rise as institutional religion is declining? Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson, authors of Taboo or To Do? said that broadly speaking, ‘there are ways of talking to people who practise them in a way that builds bridges.’

Justin Welby writes: ‘The habits of antisemitism have been burrowing into European and British culture for as long as we can remember. In England’s late mediaeval period, Jewish communities faced constant persecution: Shylock, the villain of the Merchant of Venice, was a cliché of his time. By the time Cromwell reopened England to Jewish settlement in the 1650s, antisemitism had mutated within common parlance and culture. It is a shameful truth that through its theological teachings the Church, which should have offered an antidote, compounded the spread of this virus. The fact that antisemitism has infected the body of the Church is something of which we Christians must repent. We live with the consequences of our history of denial and complicity. The challenge for us is to face the uncomfortable truths of our history, and for faith groups to take a lead in being transparent and honest in exposing the hidden recesses of prejudice.’