Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, says that EU and UK negotiators are likely to rip each other apart, with the two sides expected to fight particularly hard over fishing rights and financial services. He says it will be tough for Britain to achieve its aim of a free trade deal by the end of the year, given the differences between the two sides. As 27 EU states draw up their mandate for future relationships, France is expected to call for a tough stance. Pray for fair legislative control over UK agriculture and fisheries. See

A new video has emerged on social media of a car being driven on the wrong side of the road outside RAF Croughton, near where 19-year-old Harry Dunn died when a car driving on the wrong side of the road hit him. The suspected driver left the UK under diplomatic immunity. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo rejected the UK's request for the driver’s extradition. A joint statement released by the police and the base said that additional provisions are to be introduced, and both parties are doing all that they can to prevent any future harm on the roads in and around the site. Meanwhile Harry Dunn’s family said that the video is evidence that a further tragedy is inevitable. They believe that the police and the US air force are ‘failing to acknowledge that there is a problem’.

Mali was under French colonial rule until early 1959, when it assumed independence. However, France has 5,500 troops there working to keep the peace. Now France’s defence minister has said they will boost its military presence in the area to counter increasing violence carried out by armed groups. 600 additional troops will be deployed by March. On 14 February at least 40 people were killed in Ogossagou, the Fulani village that was targeted in a massacre of 160 people last year by Dogon militiamen. Huts and crops were set alight, livestock burned or taken away, and 28 people are missing. Clashes between the Dogon and Fulani ethnic groups are frequent, compounding a dire security situation in Mali's semi-arid and desert regions, where attacks by armed groups are common. See also

Pray for the Greek government trying to find new solutions to unhealthy sanitary conditions for thousands of migrants living in camps. In January it was urged to order an immediate evacuation of 100+ sick children from Moria refugee camp on Lesbos. Médecins Sans Frontières accused Athens of ‘deliberately depriving’ at least 140 minors of adequate medical care for what they described as chronic, complex and life-threatening diseases, and said it was urgent they were moved from notorious Moria to the mainland or to other EU member states. The new conservative government announced that the current overcrowded camps will close this year’, planning to replace them with smaller facilities which should be operational by mid-2020. However, administrative officials and residents of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros, and Kos are gathering in front of the interior ministry to protest against these plans.

Please watch this short and agonising video from China, a woman's desperate cry for help in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic. It confirms reports of the government suppressing news and ignoring doctors' warnings. From last week’s international prayer call, including a Christian leader from Wuhan, we heard that Chinese Christians are taking communion daily as protection from death, as ancient Jews did in the first Passover, and standing against the spread of coronavirus in prayer. Let's continue to pray with our Chinese brethren for the end of what could become a pandemic and for people everywhere to be protected. We know that the Lord in His redemptive love and wisdom can utilise bad things to bring forth good outcomes. May He use the current health and related economic crisis to bring real reform to the communist government of China so that the people finally obtain the human rights and freedoms they have longed for, so poignantly expressed in this brave woman's cry.

The Scout movement is investigating an accusation that its Lebanon branch is training youths to become Islamic terrorists. The Imam Al-Mahdi Scouts has 45,000 boys and girls wearing traditional scouting uniforms and scarves. Investigators found that young recruits to the Al-Mahdi Scouts are groomed from the ages of four to become supporters and fighters for Hezbollah. Scouts have provided 'honour guards' at funerals of known Hezbollah terrorists, and have been pictured posing with armed fighters, wearing military uniforms and headbands with anti-Israel slogans such as 'Jerusalem - we are coming!' Hezbollah 'in its entirety' is on Britain’s list of proscribed terrorist organisations - previously the list only included its military wing. Al-Mahdi Scouts previously denied reports that older Scouts receive military training with weapons, but now they admit that many adolescent members become Hezbollah fighters. 200+ former members of the Scouts have died fighting against Israel and in the civil war in Syria.

Twenty-four people, including the pastor, were killed and eighteen injured by gunmen at a Protestant church in the village of Pansi. Individuals were also kidnapped during the Sunday attack by armed terrorists. The regional governor, Colonel Salfo Kabore, said they attacked the peaceful local Christian population, after having identified them and separated them from ‘non-residents’. Some villagers fled to the town of Sebba near the Niger border. There have been several attacks against churches by militant Islamist groups in recent years. Pray for those people of Burkina Faso who are at serious risk of being killed for not converting to extreme factions of Islam.

In South Korea, in 2016, generations from across the nations converged to fast and pray and believe God for the birthing of new, youth-led prayer and mission movements. After the UPRISING in Korea, young people have owned the vision and taken the zeal for united prayer to their respective regions and nations. The ‘waves’ have rolled out; there is now UPRISING in the Philippines, South Africa, Mongolia, Bolivia, Malaysia, Europe, Canada, Chile, Mexico, and California. On 14-18 July, in Sydney, Australia there is a calling for another United Prayer. The theme will be: ‘From the Womb to the World.’ and an estimated 1,500, young and old, will attend a four-day destiny-engaging event at the Rosehill racecourse, with even more expected to be present in the Solemn Assembly in Sydney. The organisers hope that many more will join them in catalysing waves of youth-led global prayer and mission movements at the UPRISING.