Amnesty International has urged Washington and London to halt arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia, which is leading a military coalition against rebels in Yemen, for the sake of saving civilian lives. In a statement released one year into the Saudi-led intervention and entitled ‘Reckless arms flows decimate civilian lives,’ the rights watchdog said that the US and UK, the largest arms suppliers to Saudi Arabia, have continued to allow transfers of the type of weapons that have been used to commit serious abuses, generating a humanitarian crisis on an unprecedented scale. The group has documented 32 airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition since the beginning of the conflict. These strikes have violated international humanitarian law and killed 361 civilians, including at least 127 children. The World Health Organisation says that since March 2015 fighting in Yemen has killed 6,300 people, half of them civilians; the UN has warned of an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.

A new campaign titled ‘Ban the niqab’ was launched in Egypt earlier this month, calling for a ban on the full face veil in all state institutions, including universities, public hospitals, schools and government departments. The campaign was strongly criticised by some Islamic clerics, who believe that wearing the niqab is a virtuous act by women and banning it is not permissible. Meanwhile, others argued that the campaign was not directed at Islam, saying that the niqab is merely a tradition unrelated to religion that should be removed. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Mohamed Attiya, the campaign’s founder, said that he launched the campaign because of the volatile political climate in Egypt and the attempts made by the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters to cause chaos and panic among Egyptians by carrying out terrorist attacks against state institutions. He believes that the campaign will prevent terrorists from exploiting the niqab to conceal their identities to carry out attacks.

Latin American nations have been under an unremitting assault from international abortion activists, with some allies in top positions of political parties. But last Saturday, Peruvian pro-lifers took to the streets of Lima to defend the right to life of all persons from conception to natural death, with 750,000+ people Marching for Life. The Archbishop of Lima said, ‘This march has brought together the greatest number of citizens ever in Peru's history, all of them united by one mission, to defend the paramount right to life.’ Also on Saturday a new European pro-life initiative attracted 1,200 EU participants for the public launch of the ‘One of Us’ event in Paris. All of the 28 countries of the European Union were represented as well as 31 national organisations, plus ministers and politicians who want to break with Europe’s continual slide towards the culture of death. See

A rescue operation by Indian police and International Justice Mission (IJM) saved 564 women, children and men from forced labour at a massive brick kiln. This is IJM’s largest anti-slavery operation ever. It took place in the same factory where they rescued 500+ slaves in 2011. On that occasion the kiln owner walked free on bail; this time, police arrested him and five others from an organised trafficking network. They will face charges under India’s anti-trafficking laws and Bonded Labour Act. The operation highlights a critical need in the fight against slavery. Workers live in tin-roofed rooms or tattered tents, and receive an allowance that barely buys the lowest-quality rice. Many don’t eat for days at a time. They mould, stack and haul heavy bricks for hours on end, suffering verbal and physical abuse. If criminals remain free, the violence will continue. But if laws are enforced and traffickers go to jail, we can end slavery for good.

13.5 million Syrians (including six million children) will be displaced in 2016, according to the Syria Humanitarian Response Plan. Less than 20% of Syrian refugees seek safety in Europe. 3.6 million Syrians registered by UNHCR are in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. In 2015 Germany officially saw one million people, from all nations, arrive in the country as asylum seekers. In November alone, 200,000+ people were added to the list, smashing all forecasts. 218,394 were registered in Greece by October 2015, with an average of 6,604 refugees arriving each day in Macedonia. 3,485 refugees have drowned or have gone missing in the past year. The oldest refugee passing through Macedonia was a 105-year-old woman from Afghanistan: the youngest was a 20-day-old infant. 51.2% of all refugees are children younger than 18 years of age, and 50.3% are women. $4,319 billion is required to assist the refugees right now.

Ukraine has asked Russia to repatriate several high-profile prisoners, raising hopes for an exchange that could free controversial detainees caught up in the confrontation between the two countries. The two countries are separately considering appeals from thirteen Russians jailed in Ukraine to serve out their sentences in their home country. The ministry said it would take thirty days to consider the Ukrainian request, and that any repatriation would be carried out under the 1983 convention on the transfer of sentenced prisoners. Four Ukrainian men were jailed in Russia last year on what critics say were fabricated charges of terrorism designed to punish them for being pro-Ukrainian activists.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York are inviting all churches to pray for the evangelisation of the nation during the week leading up to Pentecost Sunday. They have written to every serving parish priest, expressing their longing ‘to see a great wave of prayer across our land, throughout the Church of England and many other churches from 8 to15 May. The week will culminate in ‘beacon events’ around the country over Pentecost weekend, with people praying for Holy Spirit renewal and confidence to share their faith. At the heart of the prayers will be ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.’ It’s impossible to overstate the life-transforming power of the Lord’s Prayer. The Archbishops are suggesting ways in which churches can engage with the initiative.  These include holding a day or week of continuous ‘24/7’ prayer as parishes, teams or deaneries, saying special prayers in Sunday worship, prayer walking, and handing out prayer cards to congregation members. See

The European Union was birthed to foster cooperation between countries to avoid another war. It has grown into a ‘single market’ for goods and people to move around as if the EU was a country with its own currency, its own parliament and setting rules on the environment, transport, consumer rights and things like mobile phone charges. Mr Cameron’s package of changes to the UK's EU membership will take effect immediately if we vote to remain in the EU. Changes include child benefit payments to migrant workers for children living overseas to reflect the cost of living in their home countries. Mr Cameron originally wanted a complete ban on migrants sending child benefit abroad but had to compromise. Other changes are to deny free movement rights to nationals of a country outside the EU who marry an EU national, to tackle ‘sham’ marriages, and to have new powers to exclude people believed to be a security risk - even if they have no previous convictions.

The Church of England is to make far-reaching changes to the way it deals with cases of sex abuse, following an independent report detailing how senior C of E figures failed to act upon repeated disclosures of a sadistic assault by a cleric. The first independent review commissioned by the Church into its handling of a sex abuse case highlights the ‘deeply disturbing’ failure of those in senior positions to record or take action on the survivor’s disclosures over a period of almost four decades. The Church acknowledged that the report made ‘embarrassing and uncomfortable’ reading. Last October, the C of E paid £35,000 in compensation and apologised to the victim. Now a government-appointed inquiry into child sex abuse prepares to examine hundreds of thousands of files relating to the abuse of children and vulnerable adults within the Church. Justin Welby has said that abuse by Church figures and within other institutions has been ‘rampant’.

A bill introduced on 15 March by MP Caroline Flint, a member of the Public Accounts Committee, has proposed that companies should have to file new-style financial reports with Companies House so that their global tax records are publicly available to all. ‘After years of tax scandals, the Chancellor has recognised that these company reports should be made public,’ said Toby Quantrill, a principal adviser on economic justice. If he did this, George Osborne would have cross-party support as well as the knowledge that he will be helping the UK and other countries to collect their fair share of tax from giant companies. Allowing politicians, investors, journalists, academics, campaigners, and fellow taxpayers to see multinationals’ country-by-country reports would pressurise companies to pay their fair share of tax in all the countries where they operate. Christian Aid joined more than thirty MPs in supporting this bill.