The Pacific nation of Micronesia, with 100,000 people in 607 islands, is currently caught in a political tug of war. Its location makes it a key vantage point for foreign policy. Beijing hopes to gain influence in an area of strategic importance. Yet more important than its earthly political state is the eternal state of Micronesian souls. They largely identify as Christian but cultural influences appear in their religious practice, including animism, magic, narcotics, materialism, and ancestor worship. Nominalism is high among the protestant churches and there is much cronyism among the leadership. One estimate states that 99% of the pastors in Micronesia were appointed with no theological training. The Micronesian church has many challenges, including consumerism influences from America, high delinquency and suicide among the youth, Mormon missionary activity, and the low availability of Bible translations.

Sudanese passports are locked inside European embassies. Spain's foreign ministry urged people to obtain travel documents from the Sudanese authorities. Mohamed was waiting for his visa for a Spanish holiday when war erupted. He phoned the Spanish embassy to retrieve his passport. The receptionist asked, ‘Are you Sudanese or Spanish?' He said he was Sudanese, she immediately hung up. Mr Badawi works for a French company. His passport was at the French embassy and they refused to return it. There are many more trapped. 15.8 million people already needed humanitarian assistance before the conflict. Now the situation is dire. Water, food, fuel, and medical supplies are scarce. The UN and partners are working to reboot the humanitarian response. Also the toll on children and young people’s mental health is profound. Additionally, the cost of transportation out of the worst-hit areas has risen exponentially, leaving the most vulnerable unable to move to safer areas.

Baby Tayabullah is motionless. His mother moves the oxygen pipe and puts a finger under his nose to check his breathing. She realises he is fading and cries. The hospital's ventilators are broken and small oxygen masks are not available, so mothers hold oxygen tubes near their babies' noses, trying to do what staff or medical equipment should be doing. About 167 Afghan children die daily from preventable diseases that could be cured with the right medication. If you go inside paediatric wards you will wonder if that estimate is too low. Rooms full of sick children, two or more in each bed, ravaged by pneumonia. Just two nurses looking after sixty children, in a room full of babies in a serious condition. A nurse said, ‘We don't have equipment or enough staff, which child should we check first? We can do nothing but watch babies die.’ When the Taliban seized power, foreign funding stopped and hospitals failed.

An additional 1,500 active-duty troops will join the 2,500 National Guards on the US-Mexico border in anticipation of an influx of migrants when the Covid-era restrictions expire on 11 May. Their assistance will free up resources so that US Customs and Border Protection can operate freely while soldiers fill gaps in ground-based detection, monitoring, data entry, and warehouse support. They will not be doing any law enforcement. Many believe further militarisation of the border is unacceptable in the middle of a humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere. Deploying military personnel signals that migrants are a threat. Nothing could be further from the truth. More encounters at the Mexico border are expected as smugglers take advantage of the changes. They are already hard at work spreading disinformation that the border will be open, placing strains on the entire system. There were 7,000 daily encounters on the US southern border recently. Numbers are expected to rise in the coming weeks.