Three Christian tourists from Azerbaijan visiting their Christian friends in Tehran were arrested by Iranian intelligence police at a residential house, believed to be a house church. They were immediately transferred to an unknown location. They were identified as Bahram Nasibov, 37 years old and married; Yusif Farhadov, 52 and married; and Eldar Gurbanov, 48 and married. 45-year-old Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh, an Iranian Christian convert with an Islamic background, was also arrested. He is being held separately from the rest and there is no word on his whereabouts. The three Azeris’ wives have not been able to contact them since their arrest. One of the men was allowed to make two very short phone calls, during which he said, ‘All three of us are in good health and are held together in one place.’

Former congressman Tom DeLay encountered Jesus over 30 years ago and the transformation he underwent inspired him to write a book, jointly with Baptist pastor Wallace Henley, calling America back to its godly heritage. He spoke in depth about the process of repentance and revival that can lead to transformation in a nation. ‘How does a nation repent? Well, 100% of the nation isn’t going to repent, but when the remnant community, which is the core of the spiritual heart of the nation, awakens to repentance it radiates to others and others pick up the theme across the culture. When that occurs, that's when revival really strikes,’ Henley said. ‘God is at the core of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the Constitution is at the core of our government. We need a God-centred revolution for the Constitution, resulting in a rebirth of our culture.'

The announcement by Jabhat al-Nusra that it was severing ties with al-Qaeda signals the terrorist organisation’s desperation. Russian and Iranian-backed Syrian forces are working together; Jabhat al-Nusra and its allies have instituted brutal Sharia rule, as documented by Amnesty International. It is hoped that US-Russian negotiations will produce an agreement on military coordination that will bring further bad news for what is now called the ‘Front for the Conquest of Syria’, The roll-out by Jabhat al-Nusra of its new brand would have been comical if there was a place for humour when dealing with the al-Qaeda affiliate and its bloody record worldwide. Ahmed Hassan Abu al-Khayr, the deputy to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, announced that he had ordered the split ‘for the good of Islam and the Muslims.’ Amnesty International said the Aleppo Conquest coalition organisations working with Jabhat al-Nusra are practitioners of an ideology and governance barely distinguishable from IS.

The Pentagon has said it is investigating what could be its deadliest strike on civilians in Syria since its anti-IS campaign began two years ago. Syrian opposition groups and monitors said a strike on 19 July is likely to have killed over 100 civilians, including whole families in Syria’s Aleppo province. Speaking from Baghdad, Colonel Christopher Garver said that the anti-IS coalition reviewed reports of US warplanes killing civilians and has completed a preliminary probe. The result was that the information available was credible enough to warrant a formal investigation, which has now been initiated. Meanwhile the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights continues to monitor and report on civilian casualties as airstrikes continue. Researchers and reporters based in the Middle East have catalogued 74 civilians killed last week, but how many more may have died in US and allied airstrikes remains unclear.

For the first time since the games were inaugurated in Greece in 776 BC, a team of refugees will compete in the Olympic Games. Ten refugee athletes from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Congo will be in the newly-formed Refugee Olympic Team, competing in swimming, track and judo. When the team enters the Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, during the opening ceremony on 5 August, they will be representing not their country of origin but the millions of refugees worldwide. Their anthem, instead of a national song, will be the Olympian theme, and their banner will be the Olympic flag. Open Doors USA's director of communications Emily Fuentes says that having a refugee Olympic team is meaningful since it 'brings attention to the unprecedented refugee crisis that we're having in our world right now. For the refugees, having athletes to represent them in the Olympic Games will show that they still have a place in the world.'

She was told she might never run again, after major knee injuries in 2008, but instead sprinter English Gardner qualified for the Olympics this weekend after becoming the fourth-fastest American in history. Gardner won the 100-metre sprint at the US Olympic track and field trials in Oregon on Sunday in record time. According to NBC, her time would have won an Olympic gold medal every year except 1988, when Florence Griffith-Joyner ran 10.62. When Gardner crossed the finish line she was overwhelmed and immediately started praising Jesus. 'Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Oh, God I praise You. I give you so much glory,' she said, slapping the ground while on her knees. The video of her record-setting race has more than one million views and 15,000 likes along with 800 comments. See:

As the implications of the referendum vote continue to sink in, it is vital that we keep praying for this nation at such a significant moment in its history. May Christians across the nation know that in these uncertain times God is our rock, and live and proclaim the good news of the Gospel in villages, towns and cities. We also pray blessing on Europe, that the Gospel will flood the nations, remove the barriers and make the way for His kingdom to come to every nation on the continent. For more useful material, click on the 'more' button and download prayer topics based on the Lord's Prayer.

After the second round of voting by Conservative MPs yesterday, the two remaining candidates are Theresa May, the Home Secretary, and Angela Leadsom, minister for energy and climate change. There will be a postal vote by Conservative party supporters to decide the outcome: the winner will become the next Prime Minister. Meanwhile, it is still uncertain whether Jeremy Corbyn will face a challenge to his leadership of the Labour party, and Nigel Farage has announced that he is stepping down as leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which supported Brexit.

The official inquiry into the Iraq war, which took seven years to produce, has concluded that Tony Blair overstated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, sent ill-prepared troops into battle, and had 'wholly inadequate' plans for the aftermath. The chairman, Sir John Chilcot, said the 2003 invasion was not the 'last resort' action presented to MPs and the public. There was no imminent threat from Saddam - and the intelligence case was 'not justified'. Mr Blair apologised for any mistakes made, but not for the decision to go to war. However, the relative of one of the soldiers who died in the war described him as 'the world's worst terrorist'.

On Monday, the Government's agreement with the British Medical Association (BMA) on a new contract was rejected by junior doctors by 58 to 42 per cent, on a turnout of 68 per cent. The result forced the immediate resignation of Johann Malawana, chairman of the Junior Doctors’ Committee (JDC), who had recommended the deal. He called on the Department of Health to respect the result of the vote, but it is understood that the Government plans to press ahead and impose the new contract. The junior doctors said they were prepared to embark on further strike action, amid growing divisions within the union.