A British father was banned from taking his son to church after the boy's Muslim mother won a court order at Derby Crown Court preventing the boy from attending. The father, a non-practising Muslim, has close connections to his local Christian community. He is divorced from the boy's mother and was warned he could be denied access to the nine-year-old if he takes him to church or a Christian leisure centre. The father, born in England to Pakistani parents, has lodged an appeal with the High Court to have this order overturned. 'This judge is simply scared of being branded Islamophobic,' he said. 'I want my son to have a balanced life in which he is exposed to different faiths and can make up his own mind about religion.’ The boy sees his father every other weekend. The order also decrees that he must provide only Halal food.

Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) will monitor the case of a British father held in Ethiopia, among other cases, amid concerns that the government has lessened its commitment to ending human rights abuses abroad. The FAC said that there was ‘plainly a perception’ that the government had recently downgraded its commitment to the promotion of human rights, following news last August that the Foreign Office would no longer use the longstanding designation ‘countries of concern’ to denote countries associated with human rights abuses. Later an FCO official said that human rights were ‘not one of our top priorities’. Now the FAC will monitor the situation of several individuals facing abuses abroad, including Andy Tsege, a British father of three who was kidnapped at an airport in 2014 and taken to Ethiopia; he is being held under sentence of death.

The biggest data leak in history, detailing the activities of 200,000+ offshore companies, charts an escalating transfer of wealth by the offshore system from the poorest to the richest nations. Money that funds superyachts, private jets, fine art auctions, and property causes unseen damage to the economy of vibrant cities by making them unaffordable to ordinary people. Cash is also injected into London hedge funds and Wall Street trading rooms, funding high-stake investments and big bonuses. The data reveal a huge breadth of unseen activity that provides advantages only to the wealthy; such as Russian banks’ slush funds for President Putin’s inner circle, assets belonging to twelve country leaders, and companies connected to more than 140 senior politicians and their friends and relatives. All this is claimed to be subject to sanctions for supporting regimes in North Korea, Syria, Russia and Zimbabwe and the proceeds of crimes. See also this week’s article in British Isles section.

Brigadier General Tal Kalman, chief of staff of the Israeli air force, warned that weapons flowing into the region could shift the balance of power away from Israel, hinting at growing Iranian hegemony without naming the country. He said the air force was the ‘dominant and central figure’ in the successful defence of Israel against the threats facing it, but warned it could change. ‘Advanced Western and Eastern weapons have entered the equation and have been received by the countries surrounding us,’ he said, referring to military equipment coming from Europe and the United States, as well as from China, including fighter planes, ballistic missiles, and advanced surface-to-air missiles. An arms race, along with instability, creates a great danger. Despite Russia’s nominal withdrawal from Syria, the more advanced S-400 air defence system, along with other pieces of Russian military equipment, remain in the war-torn country, according to Russian media.

One in four people remain without reasonable access to the gospel. Although there may be a few believers or even a few churches, there are many people groups with no or few resources to evangelise their communities. What can we do to change this? Jesus told His disciples in Luke 10:1-3, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’ Jesus’ solution to the dilemma of the plentiful harvest with few workers was prayer. Prayer changes things! We can pray for the hearts among every least-reached people group to be ready to hear and respond to the Gospel; for the Lord of the Harvest to send labourers among these peoples;and for the Body of Christ to labour together in the unity of the Spirit to bring good news where it has never been heard before.

At least 1,634 people were executed in 25 countries in 2015: this is the highest number of executions recorded since 1989. Most took place in China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the USA - in that order. The true extent of the use of the death penalty in China is unknown as this is a state secret; so the figure of 1,634 excludes the thousands of executions believed to have been carried out in that country. 90% of all recorded executions took place in just three countries: Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The methods of killing used by governments are: beheading, hanging, lethal injection and shooting. In many countries where people were executed, the proceedings did not meet international fair trial standards: in some cases ‘confessions’ were extracted through torture in Bahrain, China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea and Saudi Arabia. Amnesty International could not confirm if executions had taken place in Syria.

Saudi Arabia has claimed to the UN Human Rights Council that it ‘fights torture’ and guarantees fair trials - despite the planned execution of three juveniles who were tortured into ‘confessions’ after being arrested for attending protests. In remarks made to the Council, which met in Geneva for its final session, the country's minister of culture and information Bandar al-Ali claimed his government respects human rights and ‘fights torture in all its physical and moral manifestations’. ‘Saudi Arabia was one of the very first countries which promoted human rights’, he asserted.

A school district in Colorado decided that free literature provided for students by the atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) needed to be censored. The Christian Examiner reported that FFRF decided to provide materials on atheism after it learned that Gideons International provided students in the Delta school district with Bibles. An attorney for the district informed the FFRF that they might only provide literature to students to avoid discrimination. However, some of the materials the group provided were deemed pornographic in nature. FFRF is becoming more active in the USA and is currently highlighting the following on its website: students will be getting satanic books soon; freethinkers; atheist group to question college’s prayer spaces. See also:

‘I am a maths teacher with twenty years’ experience, but no Syrian schools in Istanbul will hire me.’ Ali arrived from Syria with $6,000. Unable to find a teaching job in Turkey, he now works 11-hour days, six days a week, for 1,000 Turkish lira. He pays 800 lira rent, and 200 lira utilities. To get by, his two sons, 12 and 14, work 11-hour days in a sweatshop where they earn 500 Turkish lira each per month. ‘I don’t want to be rich,’ he said, ‘but I’ve lost hope.’ All that is left of Ali’s life savings is 50 Turkish lira. 85% of Syrians in Turkey living outside refugee camps try to join the unofficial workforce due to lack of work permits. Turkish employers take advantage of low-cost refugee labourers who earn half the normal wages. ‘The salary is not enough but it’s better than nothing.’ Ali said.

Pop idol Justin Bieber, who is a Christian, is currently travelling with his ‘Purpose’ tour and has incorporated a noteworthy shirt into the collection of clothes he wears onstage. Bieber can be seen wearing a shirt with the words ‘Bigger Than Satan’ on the back. The shirt comes from designer Jerry Lorenzo, whose brand ‘Fear of God’ aims to express a different side of Christianity. Bieber has recently become open about his Christian faith, after years of making headlines for breaking laws. The pop star said, ‘I just want to honestly live like Jesus. Not be Jesus - I could never - I don’t want that to come across weird. He created a pretty awesome template of how to love people and how to be gracious and kind. If you believe it, he died for our sins.’