Alex Ribeiro, the former Brazilian F1 driver, has just written a book translated into English called ‘Power to Win’. It is full of testimonies of God’s work amongst prominent Brazilian athletes, and brings a powerful Gospel message to readers. The book is being given out at the Olympic village at this very moment. This is an amazing opportunity. Because of the massive media attention on sports and sports people, they will be able to spread the Gospel far better than we can. However, the Athletes for Christ team is having problems in getting the book into athletes’ hands. Please pray for obstacles to be removed, for big doors to be opened and for many Olympic athletes to come to Christ. Please continue to pray for protection for the athletes and those involved in running the Games. Please pray for the 'righteous' athletes, those not taking performance enhancing substances, to be the true medal winners.

There has been a rash of child kidnappings in recent months, increasing to alarming numbers (300 in one city in two weeks). The police are ineffective, resulting in vigilante forces being formed. Vigilantes recently stopped an ambulance carrying twelve children. The driver was tortured and accused of kidnapping when his trip was a legitimate one. Criminals are growing even more daring. Some children are forced into prostitution and begging, some are found with major body parts removed, including kidneys, eyes and hearts; obviously feeding a lucrative illegal black market for body transplants. Equally disturbing are those being trained to be suicide bombers. A Lahore Christian believer writes that over 900 children have been kidnapped. Local Christians are fasting and praying for divine intervention in this atrocity perpetrated against young and helpless children. Will you join them in prayer?

Since March, Syrian and Russian forces have been targeting hospitals as a strategy of war. Now Amnesty International has reported that nearly 18,000 civilians have died in Syrian state jails, with an estimated 300 people dying in custody every month. The report, based on interviews with 65 ‘torture survivors’, details systematic use of rape and beatings by prison guards. They described so-called welcome parties - ritual beatings using metal bars and electric cables. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied such allegations. The report estimates that 10 people die in custody every day, that’s more than 300 a month. According to the report, new detainees are subjected to ‘security checks’ that often involve sexual assaults on women by male guards. ‘They treated us like animals. They wanted people to be as inhuman as possible,’ said Samer, a lawyer from Hama who was among those interviewed.

Russian state TV has broadcast footage of men confessing to a plot to carry out terror attacks on the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. The ‘saboteurs’ said they were acting on orders from Kiev. Ukraine denies any involvement and calls it ‘provocation’. Local residents reported hearing shots fired on Saturday night, when the Russian security service (FSB) says it intercepted the first group of men. An FSB statement described a second attempted incursion of Crimea accompanied by ‘massive fire from the neighbouring state and armoured vehicles of the Ukrainian armed forces’. No video or independent confirmation of that incident has yet emerged, so what actually took place remains a mystery. However, it is what happens next that matters most, as tensions between Moscow and Kiev rise to dangerous levels. Some say that the Russian military offensive is building as the US focuses on elections, the EU is distracted by Brexit, and the Olympic Games is a diversion.

A pastor who is leading protests against embattled Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe says he does not want to be another martyr and he is committed to rebuilding the country. Mugabe, 92, is facing increasing demonstrations against his dictatorship but has been crushing protests by ordering police to use violence. Hundreds of people have been injured as officers use batons, tear gas and fists to stop protests. Pastor Evan Mawarire started the movement with his 'This Flag' campaign which calls on Mugabe to resign. In July he was arrested but, after mass protests outside court, he was released. Sources suggest he was told he must leave the country or he would be killed. He is in hiding in South Africa and believed to be trying to enter the US. He said he will not give up his campaign to oust Mugabe and his Zanu PF party. Despite calls for him to be the next president, he insists he has no political ambitions.

Torrential rains eased on Monday in flood-ravaged Louisiana, but forecasters warned that the threat was far from over. Louisiana has been deluged by rainfall since last week, with at least seven people dead and thousands of homes damaged by floods. Gov John Edwards said that officials ‘won't know the death toll for sure for several more days.’ More than 20,000 people have been rescued from floodwaters and more than 12,000 are in shelters. The water is expected to rise in many areas. ‘This is going to be tough to recover from,’ said a meteorologist for The Weather Channel. Pray for the homeless, the vulnerable elderly, and the infirm as they struggle to cope with loss and damage. Pray for the neighbourhoods under waist-high mud. Pray for those living downstream who are in fear as the water upstream has yet to reach them. Pray for those who have fled to higher ground and for the Louisiana Army National Guard and helicopter rescue teams.

Even before she left the shores of Nigeria for Brazil, Mariam Usman knew that winning a medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics would be a tough call. She would not pretend to be a magician or claim perfection where there is none. Usman believes one can only reap where one sows. She was the only weightlifter representing Nigeria in Rio. She competed in the +75 category and amassed 265 kg, finishing 8th in her group. ‘It is painful to come to the Olympics and see people who are your contemporaries perform better than you; not because you lack the ability but because you were not prepared like them,’ she said, She added that training for the Rio Olympics was non-existent in Nigeria, while her counterparts from other countries have been training for three to four years. ‘Other competitors had everything they needed: training grants, competitions and access to the most modern equipment. I had nothing.’

Five years after becoming the world's newest nation, South Sudan is broken. The joy of independence quickly faded back into conflict. Years of fighting and civil war have crippled nearly every sphere of society. Pray for the government, where the president and vice-president are political and military rivals. Pray for security: due to looting, rape, and mass killings, people are confined to houses, reduced to unimaginable fear. Pray for the economy, as South Sudan has the highest inflation in the world - 300%. Pray for the health of this nation that is suffering acute malnutrition. Many South Sudanese have only known war, conflict, and strife. A culture of revenge is prominent among the more than 60 major ethnic groups. The people of South Sudan are desperate for forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation. These are precisely what God offers by the blood of Jesus Christ.

A missionary writes, ‘The military is working to bring down terrorists along the Afghan border. Pray this might be coordinated with Afghanistan so that terrorists cannot cross borders to escape. The Joshua project states Pakistan is one of the most unreached countries in the world. God says that before Jesus returns ‘there will be one from every tribe and tongue’ who accept Him as Lord and Saviour. A stronghold the devil has over Pakistan is caste; we can only work in one group at a time. There is a problem identifying these people groups. For the south of Pakistan, a survey identified 496 unevangelised people groups - very few have been reached. The survey’s lists and results were sent to appropriate organisations and it has just been found that these lists have been mislaid. Pray that all these files and lists will be found and that the Jesus film will be completed for those who have never heard the gospel.’

According to the UN, last year the number of people living in a country other than the one of their birth reached 244 million. God is doing something through diaspora - the individuals and peoples who have been scattered through migration. What Scripture shows from Genesis to Revelation is that God moves people from one place to another so that He might be known. The Bible is full of diaspora people, whom God sent to a different place for the glory of His name among the nations: Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Esther, Paul and Jesus. The pattern of God moving people around for the increase of His kingdom has not changed. According to Acts 17:26-27, the Lord ‘determined allotted periods and the boundaries of every nation’s dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.’