Robert Tsao, a retired billionaire, is pledging one billion Taiwan dollars (£28m) to create a civilian army to help his countrymen and women fight China. The aim is to train up three million civilian ‘warriors’ - a seventh of the population - in three years. Office workers, students, shopkeepers, parents could all learn to pick up a gun; he wants 300,000 sharpshooters. He acknowledges the task is ambitious, but vows it could be done. Born in China but raised in Taiwan, he created the United Microelectronics Corp semiconductor company, making his fortune in an industry Taiwan is now globally known for. As a businessman, he had many dealings in China. An ardent student of history, he has been a high-profile voice in policy debates for decades. He is now among an increasing number of Taiwanese who feel they need to prepare for a possible invasion. See previous article, on military drills.

‘Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.’ (Isaiah 1:17) In Colombia, churches are playing a key role in welcoming and supporting the millions of refugees who have fled political and economic turmoil in Venezuela. Churches are able to reach out to remote communities where local authorities and humanitarian organisations are not working and build trusting relationships with refugees. With support from Tearfund, churches are providing quality services and activities, including trauma healing groups for women who have experienced violence. ‘It is the first support that I found here in Colombia for migrants like us’, says Julie, a Venezuelan refugee who attends a trauma healing group. ‘When I arrived at the church, I found peace that I previously did not have. When I got to the church, I saw that it was like my family.’

A huge consignment of life-saving personal protective equipment (PPE), shipped to Tanzania through medical.gives, is being deployed to protect health workers from a deadly new Ebola threat. The consignment was welcomed by health minister Ummy Mwalimu and presented by Mags Gaynor, a representative of the Irish government, which donated the equipment. The handover came days after Tanzania was put on alert and health surveillance was stepped up when neighbouring Uganda confirmed 35 infections and seven deaths from a strain of Ebola for which there is no vaccine or drug treatment. Medical masks, gloves, scrubs and other items are being issued to health staff working in areas of Tanzania deemed at the highest risk of an Ebola outbreak. PPE is also being issued to staff helping to combat Covid-19. Fifty million PPE pieces, worth £25 million, have been donated to Christian hospitals in east and southern Africa by the Irish government.

The day after the Prime Minister said she was committed to the 45p income tax cut which Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng had announced ten days earlier, he reversed the decision, saying the plans had become a ‘distraction from our overriding mission to tackle the challenges facing the country’. A few hours later former culture secretary Nadine Dorries accused the Prime Minister of ‘throwing her Chancellor under a bus’, and called for a general election. Having backed Liz Truss for Tory leadership, she now said the PM ‘must take to the country’ if she wants a new mandate, adding that there was ‘widespread dismay’ that much of the work she had done while in office was now on hold. Meanwhile, Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt called for benefits to be increased in line with inflation - a move promised under Boris Johnson's government. Liz Truss has said her priority is ‘growth, growth, growth’ and she will challenge anyone trying to stop it.