One in eight young people seeking asylum in the UK are from the impoverished Balkan state of Albania. There is little to do in Skenderbeu, a remote town in the mountains where jobs are few and poverty rife. Edison sees only one way out: ‘I want to go to England for a better life. I’ll do any work. My brother and my friends have already gone. I’m jealous. This is my dream.’ His brother left the town four years ago, one of hundreds of boys from this region - some as young as thirteen - whose families pay thousands of pounds to people-smugglers to take them to Britain. Every family seems to have at least one relative in London, many of whom end up working illegally on building sites or in car washes. The little town survives on money sent from Britain. Officials estimate youth unemployment in Albania could be as high at 80%.

The main parties have published their policies. But how many voters will read the manifestos? Prophecy Today has highlighted things that reveal the spirit behind their promises. Two of the social issues cropping up across all three are extending sex education to all children and promoting LGBT+ lifestyles. The Conservatives ‘will introduce comprehensive relationships and sex education in all primary and secondary schools’. Labour will ‘make age-appropriate sex and relationship education a compulsory part of the curriculum, and ensure all teachers receive ongoing training on how to address relationships and sex education that is LGBT inclusive.’ The Liberal Democrats will ‘include teaching about sexual consent, LGBT+ relationships, and issues surrounding explicit images and content’. For further insights into how the parties will tackle hate crime, strengthen equalities laws, and promote humanist values, click the ‘More’ button.

The latest Office for National Statistics report shows increases in high-harm / small-volume violent crime. On the day it was released, a Londoner received critical stab wounds to his head while trying to stop a robbery. Londoners fear that they are in the midst of a crime wave. ‘The demographic of hospital patients is changing from a night-time activity involving drugs and a dark alley to attacks in broad daylight. It’s no longer unusual to go to stabbings of schoolchildren outside their schools in daylight hours,’ said an Air Ambulance medical director. Scotland Yard has set up a specialist task force to combat the problem, with community leaders claiming that some children as young as six are carrying knives. So far this year, thirty people have been stabbed to death in London, a rise of almost a third. 300 knives were seized in seven days by officers across the capital. See

Brussels, which he called a ‘hellhole,’ the European Union, which he called ‘a vehicle for Germany,’ and NATO, which he called ‘obsolete,’ welcomed President Trump on Wednesday. Security was tight after the Manchester terrorist attack on Monday, with police brought in from all over Belgium and some neighbouring countries. The two-day visit was studded with deliberately brief meetings and only modest substance. This was a chance for President Trump to meet and greet about thirty European leaders, and for them to try to get him to understand more fully the importance of the EU and NATO in keeping the peace. They hope for praise and support from Mr Trump, who has aligned himself more with the critics of the EU.

Italy's coastguard reports that at least 34 migrants (some of them children) have drowned off the Libyan coast. The overcrowded boat was carrying about 500 migrants when it listed, sending about 200 people into the water, and triggering a frantic search for survivors. Good weather has prompted an increase in the number of migrants leaving Libya for Italy. The waters are busy with Italian and Libyan coastguard boats, humanitarian vessels, and even scavenger boats hoping to recover abandoned equipment. An NGO reported a Libyan coastguard vessel firing gunshots as it conducted a rescue. The boat was already carrying migrants, presumably picked up from other vessels, who panicked and threw themselves overboard, only to be shot at. ‘We cannot say whether and how many dead there were,’ the 25-year-old captain, named Jonas, was quoted as saying. ‘We had to be careful not to get a bullet ourselves. We are speechless against this crude violence.’

A missionary writes, ‘Thank you for praying for our recent International Board meeting (see ). Board members and country directors are freshly united in our vision to see unreached people groups reached with the Good News. We ask for further prayers for an increasingly dangerous situation. The Taliban now control 50% of Afghanistan, and the former Hisbi-i-Islami leader Gulbadin Hekmatyar is ‘working with’ the Afghan government. He is nicknamed the Butcher of Kabul, for killing thousands of Afghans. At a rally in Kabul he asked his Taliban ‘brothers’ to join the peace process while outside the stadium Afghans demonstrated against him. This sad decision by parts of the government has caused further division in the government and the people.’ The inclusion of Hekmatyar in the volatile political powderkeg of Afghan politics is a gamble. He has never been a team player, and has never worked for anyone else. The influence of the Taliban, their allies and IS needs to be completely broken.

Egypt’s tourism minister recently met Vatican tourism officials in Rome, to discuss the idea of expanding the country’s religious tourism map by adding the route that Jesus, Mary and Joseph are believed to have used when fleeing Palestine. Egypt aims to boost an industry that has been hit hard since the 2011 revolution, and hopes that highlighting its religious heritage will attract many visitors. In 2005, there was a plan to feature the holy family's connection and journey, but it never got off the ground. A committee was established last year to revive it, but little has been accomplished so far. Tourism has long been a major source of income for the country. Historically Egypt was a sign of hope, refuge and help. When the region suffered famine, Jacob and his sons went to Egypt. When Jesus was persecuted, he was taken there. Pray for Jesus, not tourism, to bring hope to Egypt today.

Praise God for the release of a new advocacy song by a Kenyan artist calling for an end to police abuse of power. The International Justice Mission (IJM) has been working with partners in the human rights community in Kenya to raise awareness of police abuse and create public demand for change. IJM hosted an event for the launch of the song, which was covered widely by local media and highlighted the need for radical transformation in the police service. Please pray that this support will continue to grow, and that we will see a response from Kenya’s leaders to bring this abuse to an end. Last year a television channel broadcast shocking images of police descending on protesters with water cannons, batons and tear gas, beating and bloodying people. Kenya's police chief called for internal investigations, but not much has changed. See

This week, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed hope for the possibility of a diplomatic resolution with the Palestinians, and with the Arab world in general, under Donald Trump’s tutelage. Speaking at a festive dinner at his residence in Jerusalem, Mr Netanyahu told Mr Trump that he looked forward to working closely with him to advance peace in the region - ‘because you have noted so succinctly that common dangers are turning former enemies into partners’. Mr Netanyahu was referring to the reported change in the stance of Sunni Arab states in the region, who are shifting away from animosity towards Israel towards a possible working relationship.

The Russian media is repeatedly criticised for the use of misleading images, false narratives, misrepresentation, suppression and fabricated news stories when it comes to Ukraine. A regular claim has been that the Ukrainian army is committing ‘genocide’ against Russian-speakers who state that they strongly desire Russia to ‘protect’ them against Kiev. The media battle between the two countries has not gone away: neither has spasmodic cross-border fighting, regardless of ‘ceasefires’. On 15 May, a decree banned access to the country's most popular social networking sites and other Russian-based web businesses. This was described as a ‘national security measure’, part of economic sanctions against Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has sent weapons, equipment, and troops to support and fuel the separatist side in the war in eastern Ukraine.