The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has welcomed the agreement by the Government and the British Medical Association (BMA) to return to talks over the new junior doctors' contracts. The Academy had appealed for both sides to end the dispute, with strikes having already caused thousands of cancelled operations. The doctors have been striking over plans to impose new working conditions, and talks over the controversial new contracts broke down in February. The Government has said it is willing to pause the introduction of the contracts in England for five days from Monday to allow for talks. But it said the doctors' union must focus discussions on outstanding contractual issues such as unsocial hours and Saturday pay. The BMA has agreed to postpone any new threats of strikes - also for five days.

Last year Prayer Alert highlighted an application to draw attention to homelessness in London through a bronze sculpture. Huddled figures on park benches are a common sight in Westminster, but the plan to draw attention to homelessness with an evocative statue in the heart of the political establishment was met with a curt rebuff from the London borough. The sculpture depicts a figure shrouded in a blanket and stretched out on a bench. The only clues to the person’s identity are his feet, poking out and bearing visible wounds of crucifixion. Casts of the sculpture are displayed at the Vatican, in Dublin, Madrid, Washington and Toronto. Pope Francis blessed the artwork in 2013, saying it was a ‘beautiful and excellent representation of Jesus’. More than 850 people have backed a petition aimed at persuading the council to overturn its decision, while the Methodist Church is likely to appeal. Westminster has the highest population of homeless people in the UK.

Israel bombed five targets in Gaza after Hamas fired more than five mortar rounds into Israel in 24 hours - an escalation attributed to Israel’s intensified efforts to detect and destroy Hamas’ underground tunnels toward and across its border. Israel’s warplanes struck five targets near the town of Rafah on Wednesday evening. No injuries have been reported yet. An Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman, Lt Col Peter Lerner, said that Israel ‘will continue to operate in order to protect the civilians of Israel from all Hamas’ terrorist threats above and beneath ground. Our efforts to destroy Hamas terror tunnel networks, a grave violation of Israel’s sovereignty, will not be deterred.’ Shortly before launching the strikes, Israeli officials warned Hamas to cease firing mortars at its troops on the Gaza border or face a strong military retaliation.

The Canadian province of Alberta was under a full state of emergency on Wednesday as a catastrophic wildfire continued to devour neighbourhoods in Fort McMurray, where 80,000 residents were safely evacuated. By Wednesday afternoon, the fire had scorched 18,500 acres; by mid-evening, it was expected to be more than 24,700 acres - authorities earlier had cited higher numbers in both cases. To date 88,000 people have been evacuated from a ‘nasty, dirty fire’, which the fire chief warned would be looking for even more areas of the city to destroy. The situation is unstable with dangerously high temperatures, relatively low humidity, and strong winds. A record high of 90 degrees Celsius was recorded on Tuesday. Pray for the allocation of emergency funding for the Red Cross to support evacuees directly. Pray also for the thousands of evacuees escaping - given only half an hour’s notice to collect valuables and leave.