No US president has ever met a North Korean leader. Madeleine Albright visited North Korea’s Kim Jong Il, but Bill Clinton was unwilling to go unless it was clear what such a meeting could achieve. A meeting with a US president is valuable to the North Koreans, but America has always declined an official visit unless a deal that will deliver a significant return is on the table. President Bush engaged North Korea in the six-party talks (two Koreas, Japan, US, Russia and China), thus avoiding Pyongyang incitements to secure its goal of direct talks. Barack Obama came to power vowing to talk directly to America's enemies, but concluded it was wrong to pander to North Korea's provocations. Trump’s potential visit (or meeting elsewhere) has given North Korea’s dynasty the prestige and propaganda that it craves, and is consistent with Trump's vow to be a disruptive global force, able to unpick one of the world's most intractable conflicts.

A Christian retreat centre west of Tehran was closed on 10 March. It was accused of being funded by the US through the CIA to infiltrate the Islamic world, and particularly Iran, by conducting evangelistic activities. The caretakers of the Sharon Retreat Centre handed it over to an organisation presided over by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The property has been owned by the Council of Assemblies of God Churches since the early 1970s. The Iranian revolutionary court system which closed the centre is designed to try those suspected of trying to overthrow the government, blaspheming Islam, or inciting violence. The closure was not only a takeover of a property by corrupt judiciary and Intelligence officials, but yet another move in an ongoing and systematic campaign by the Iranian state to uproot Protestant Christianity.

Gabriel Ole, an elder in Bangui Baptist church, worked for UNICEF. He was killed in a violent ambush in the Central African Republic (CAR), along with two officials from the ministry of education and three UNICEF workers travelling to Markounda near the north-western border with Chad. Some of the victims were shot dead, others had their throats slit. Their car was torched. CAR’s prime minister, Simplice Matthieu Sarandji, honoured the victims during his visit on 6 March when he said, ‘School is the key to developing a country. Any attack against teachers is a crime against the education of our children’. Pray for an end to senseless acts against aid workers who are only there to improve the lives of vulnerable people. Pray for those mourning the loss of loved ones.

Father Nassar, a Syrian priest, has said the Church’s conduct is ‘shameful’, and it is not doing nearly enough in the fight to end the bloodshed. His comments come on the seventh anniversary, 15 March, of the popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad that sparked the country's vicious civil war. Half a million Syrians have been killed and 6.1 million internally displaced. Of Syria's estimated 10 million children, 8.6 million are in dire need of assistance, and nearly 6 million are displaced or living as refugees. The USA started arming and providing military assistance in 2014 for anti-Assad rebel groups who were waging war against IS. They have also begun working with Syrian Kurds. Meanwhile, Syrian ally Russia has helped Assad's regime, and Iran has provided troops and money. Fr Nassar criticised the numerous international forces which were taking part in the war, and added that the Church needed to do more to try and end the violence.

A message from Christian Concern and Christian Legal Centre: ‘Voices of the Silenced tells the story of fifteen people who have moved away from homosexual behaviour, showing that people don’t have to be defined by same-sex attraction. The film was to premiere at a West End cinema on 8 February. But pressure from opponents caused its cancellation - and publicity that opponents hadn’t intended. We issued a press release so that the media knew our side of the story, and filmed a peaceful protest outside the cinema at the time the film was due to be shown, which then received thousands of views on social media. Soon we received media requests. Our team appeared on the BBC and radio stations, and was quoted in newspapers and news websites globally. Finally the film was premiered at an alternative venue. So in God’s providence, the film was shown and received far more attention than we could have expected.’

An email to this office reads, ‘Praise God for 32 survivors rescued from slavery at a brick kiln this week, and please pray for ongoing obstacles in their case. These families were toiling in a brick kiln until International Justice Mission and a partner NGO arrived to rescue them on Wednesday. The families have been brought to safety, but their former owner is exerting his power in the community to influence local government officials, who are now delaying giving the rescued families crucial documents to mark their freedom and protect them long-term. We need God’s intervention to change the hearts of these officials so they do the right thing, seek justice and protect these children, women and men in their first critical days in freedom.’

The Just Finance Foundation published a report on the impact of its LifeSavers programme in 30 primary schools across England. It said, ‘Primary school pupils should receive compulsory lessons on how to manage money in response to growing levels of financial insecurity and problem debt in the UK. Learning where money comes from, when to spend, and how to save is vital to children’s ability to navigate adult life and should be a mandatory part of personal, social, health, and economic education in primary schools.’ Currently 40% of UK adults have less than £100 in savings. Difficulties managing money are becoming a mainstream issue. LifeSavers equips children to manage money wisely now and in the future, providing training, support and resources which aid teachers to deliver financial education to all year-groups. It helps set up and manage school savings clubs, and encourages parental and wider community engagement. It says today’s children face the most challenging and complex financial landscape of a generation.

Counterterrorism detectives have taken charge of an inquiry into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a Russian double agent, and his daughter Yulia. They collapsed in Salisbury, and remain in a critical condition in intensive care. Many fear it is a Kremlin-sponsored assassination attempt. On 7 March Boris Johnson said that Britain would respond ‘robustly’ if evidence of Russian state responsibility emerged. Meanwhile theories across the internet range from a vote-winning ploy two weeks before the Russian presidential elections to warning other Russian operatives of the risks when working with foreign intelligence agencies. Conspirators and traitors are rife in Russia. Last January, two Russian cybersecurity officials were arrested for aiding the CIA. Modern Russian spies are no longer lured by ideological reasons; it is more a case of western agencies providing financial incentives.

Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern has written an in-depth article defining ‘multiculturalism’ and explaining how it is opposed to missionary activity or attempts to morally reform cultures, and therefore opposed to Christianity. He states, ‘From a Christian perspective we can reject the idea that “all cultures are equal”. Every culture proclaims certain values and ethical norms which are in direct conflict with another culture. It makes no sense to say that they are all equal. Is a culture that values free speech equal to one that does not? Is a culture that values women’s rights equal to one that does not? Is a culture that promotes promiscuity and homosexuality equal to one that does not? What about slavery, racism, polygamy, FGM, etc? All these are cultural practices, and they are clearly not equal.’ His article reminds us that our Christian faith glorifies God as superior to any idol or idea, so Christianity is directly opposed to multiculturalism. See also the Europe article below.

In February the BBC reported that some schools are persuading parents to home-school troubled children so that their exam results do not count against the school. They are worried about poor Ofsted inspections, league table positions, and even losing their jobs because of academy takeovers. On 4 March the Times reported that religious extremists are exploiting lax home education laws to expose children to hate-filled material at scores of unregistered schools. Extremist texts seized from the schools allege that boys and girls can marry once they reach puberty, and one blames rapes on the way women dress. At least 350 unregistered schools have been set up across Britain, according to Ofsted, and over 50,000 children in the UK are currently being home-schooled.