Water levels in Vietnam’s Mekong delta, a region that accounts for 50% of the country's rice and fruit production, 90% of its rice exports and 60% of shrimp and fish exports, are at their lowest levels since 1926. This affects the lives of the Vietnamese farmers and it affects people in Indonesia and the Philippines, the biggest buyers of Vietnamese agricultural goods. They will also go hungry if the Thais and Vietnamese don't produce enough rice. In India more than 150 deaths are blamed on the heat. Maharashtra is experiencing the worst dry spell in four decades, destroying crops, causing livestock deaths and drying up reservoirs. In Malaysia, hundreds of schools have closed and farmers are losing their vegetables. In Thailand, a record low rice yield is predicted. Unfortunately the heat will increase in the coming weeks and the death toll is expected to rise. See: http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1939522/vietnam-being-crippled-its-worst-drought-nearly-century

The Queensland government has ignored community concerns surrounding the controversial Safe Schools programme, refusing to release the names of schools that are teaching children that their gender is fluid. The media is reporting an increased focus on sexualising children from four years old by programmes devised by La Trobe University, which is also behind the Practical Guide to Love, Sex and Relationships which asks students as young as 12 graphic sex and masturbation questions. Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) said that the Federal Government should immediately defund and pull the programme out of schools as Queensland and other states ignore the Federal Government’s directive to clean up the programme and ensure parents are made aware of which schools are participating in it. ACL was refused access to the names of the schools, despite over 11,000 Queenslanders signing an e-petition calling for them to be released.

On Sunday night, in Enugu State, an attack by more than two hundred suspected armed Fulani herdsmen left at least 48 people dead. Scores of people were critically wounded, and sixty houses and two churches completely razed to the ground. 56 people with gunshot wounds were taken to different hospitals. The state police confirmed the attack but cannot give an exact figure of people killed: however, the police and security agencies have been mobilised to curtail the situation so that it does not degenerate into all-out war. The attackers were armed with AK-47 rifles and grenades, bows and arrows, and machetes or swords. Many villagers escaped to neighbouring communities, but people in nearby towns are also worried about possible attacks from the herdsmen. Sources disclosed that the villagers had resisted the use of their farmlands as grazing fields by the herdsmen.

At least fourteen patients and three doctors were killed on Thursday in an airstrike on a hospital in Aleppo, the charity Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says. Among those killed in the al-Quds hospital was one of the city's last paediatricians. Local sources blamed the Syrian government or Russian warplanes, but there has been no official comment. Violence in Syria has intensified recently, despite a truce. The violent upsurge comes amid reports that the Syrian army, backed by Russian air power, is gearing up for a major offensive in Aleppo. The escalation threatens to derail the peace talks. On Wednesday, the UN envoy to Syria urged the US and Russia to intervene ‘at the highest level’ to save the talks. On Tuesday an Iraqi military officer reported that Russia is resuming bombing moderate opposition fighters in Syria. President Obama called President Putin, asking him to help ‘press’ Syria to end its airstrikes that violate the ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia in February.

Earlier this month 13-year-old Anthonius Farag, a young Christian boy, was kidnapped in Upper Egypt. He was released twelve days later after a hefty ransom payment. This is not an isolated case. According to the Coalition of Coptic Egypt (CCE), a Coptic advocacy group, the province of Qena alone saw no less than 72 cases of kidnappings, extortion and related violence against Copts from 2011 to 2014, the most recent figures available. Those targeted for kidnapping ranged from children to the elderly, with rescue efforts often hampered by police inadequacies or unwillingness. ‘For years Copts have been pleading for help against kidnappings, but no one seems to care,’ said a local CCE coordinator. ‘Since the revolution in 2011 kidnappings have become more common in Upper Egypt, where relatively more Christians live. Families pay from EGP 250,000 to seven million to free their loved ones.’

The four main culprits accused of the murder of Christian couple Shahzad Masih and Shama Bibi, who were tortured and thrown into a burning brick kiln last November, have been set free on bail. This decision suggests complicity by the police, and does not help to establish justice. The Christian couple were said to have 'desecrated the Quran’: blasphemy is a very sensitive issue, with allegations often prompting mob violence (as they did this time). . However they were indentured labourers at the kiln, and one of those charged with their death is the owner. Brick kiln labourers have harsh working conditions and are paid approximately £1.30 a day. Child labour is common. 1.7million children from the age of five work in illegal brick factories 14 hours a day.

This weekend is the launch of the US hit movie God’s Not Dead 2, the sequel to the 2014 international box office hit God’s Not Dead. The storyline follows a school history teacher coming under fire for quoting Jesus in her classroom. When the school board votes to suspend her and threatens to revoke her teaching certificate, she hires a young lawyer to defend her in court. The film both entertains and teaches the audience how to respond to those who dispute Jesus' place in history and His relevance in our lives today. Churches will attend this weekend’s première in London, Aberdeen, Manchester, Belfast, Tranent, Ellesmere Port, and Guernsey. The film will go on more general release next weekend if the première is well-received.

The UK is to take in up to 3,000 more refugees - most of them vulnerable children - from the war-torn Syria region. Several hundred are expected to be resettled by April 2017, and the rest by 2020. The Government called the move the ‘largest resettlement programme for children in the world’. It is in addition to Prime Minister David Cameron's earlier pledge to take 20,000 refugees by 2020. The scheme will target unaccompanied children as well as those considered at risk of abuse and exploitation: these will include children threatened with child labour and child marriage. There are more than 4.5 million refugees across the region - half of them children in need of food, education and a home. The UN has warned that a whole generation of Syrian children is at risk.

Yesterday, in southern Greece, the flame for the Olympic Games in Brazil was lit, using the sun's rays, by an actor performing the role of a high priestess. The torch will be taken by various runners on an international relay that will culminate at the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro on 5 August. This ritual was established eighty years ago for the Berlin games, based on a ceremony in ancient Olympia where games were held for more than 1,000 years. Actor Katerina Lehou, who lit the torch, offered a mock prayer to Apollo, the old Greek god of light and music, at the ceremony. The flame burns continuously until the closing ceremony. Records reveal that the pagan Olympic Games and rituals still used today began in 776 BC in Olympia in Greece and are totally rooted in pagan religious symbolism and declarations. Christians are encouraged to pray for the Holy Spirit’s protection and blessings for the Olympic torch route to Rio in the coming months.

The migration crisis and economic problems are threatening both the survival of the European Union and the stability of Eurasia’s entrenched dictatorships, according to an annual report on democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Eurasia. It says the EU’s response to the migration crisis has left the door wide open to those who reject democracy. Renewed nationalism and the erosion of freedom of movement and other fundamental principles are threatening the emergence of democracy. The goal of a Europe ‘whole and free’ has to be updated. The biggest challenge is the spread of xenophobic rhetoric denouncing migrants. Claiming that Europe faces a Muslim invasion has become standard fare for a range of politicians and political parties in Europe, and it undermines a fundamental principle of equality before the law. There is a danger that this kind of hate-filled speech will lead to violence against minorities and refugees.