The director of the US office of government ethics has criticised Donald Trump's plan to hand control of his business empire to his sons before his inauguration next week. Walter Shaub said that the plan does not match the standards of US presidents over the last forty years, and would not remove conflicts of interest. ‘Every president in modern times has taken the strong medicine of divestiture’, he said, referring to a process whereby Mr Trump would sell off his corporate assets and put the profits into a blind trust run by an independent trustee. The Trump Organisation is an umbrella company for his hundreds of investments in real estate, brands and other businesses. Another problem for the president-elect is the huge and very public rift between himself and the US intelligence community, over its recently-published conclusion that the Kremlin sought to support Trump’s election. Neither side is likely to back off and both may come out damaged. See:

Four men have been arrested in connection with the suicide attack at the St Peter and St Paul church in Cairo last month, which killed 28 people and injured over 40. Eleven people are still in the hospital. Egypt's Interior Ministry says one of the four men arrested has links to the Muslim Brotherhood, though the group has denied any involvement. Hours after the attack, the terror group IS said one of its soldiers, named Abu Abdallah-al-Masri, was responsible for carrying out the attack, the worst on Egypt's Coptic Christian community since 2011. Despite this claim by IS, Egypt appears eager to pin the blame on the outlawed Brotherhood. Damage to the church was repaired just before 7 January, the day Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas. The renovations were undertaken by Egypt's army under orders of president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who has promised to rebuild all churches that have been destroyed or damaged since 2013.

Many Christian children in Pakistan face discrimination, abuse, hostility and even violence at government schools. A class of schoolgirls in Pakistan were taking an exam in Home Economics. The examiner was tasting the food they had cooked. But when she got to the Christian girls she refused to touch what they had cooked, saying it would make her unclean. She tipped the food in the bin, and the girls failed the exam. Four Christian girls at a Punjabi high school were forced to bring their own drinking glasses and water bottles to school after Muslim students complained they were unclean. There are also many who cannot go to school at all because their parents cannot afford the fees. Instead, children are forced to work as menial labourers, often in high-risk jobs.

The Church is the largest social force in China not controlled by the Communist Party. As a result, there are increasing efforts to restrict the way Christians operate. A considerable number of Christians are still imprisoned. Violence is at a very high level and is increasing: also, churches have been closed, and landlords pressurised to stop renting premises to Christians. The story for Christians in China varies hugely depending on the region. There has been a significant change for the better for Han Chinese, but Christians from minority ethnic groups face a great amount of persecution. ‘There was a woman in my church who was kidnapped by her family when they found out she converted. They took her back to her home village, broke her legs so she could not escape, and then tried to force her to be a Muslim again.’ These are the words of a Christian leader from the Hui people group. Originally from a Muslim family, as most Hui are, she came to Christ 14 years ago. In spite of the enormous risk, many Hui are becoming Christians. ‘It is amazing how the gospel message touches the hearts of the Hui; many are giving up everything to follow Christ.’