France has taken the hardest line of the member states in recent weeks, including its insistence that an outline of the future relationship should be detailed. Other states suggested it should be allowed to be vague in order to ease the passage to a deal, after the EU rejected key planks of it on customs and the single market. Emmanuel Macron has urged his EU counterparts to stand firm against Theresa May in Brexit negotiations after the PM urged the bloc to give ground in talks. The French president said that EU unity must take precedence over any other considerations. Other leaders took a softer line. Xavier Bettel of Luxembourg said ‘compromise from both sides, not from one side’ was necessary and Irish PM Leo Varadkar told reporters that Mrs May was ‘working hard’ on the issue of Northern Ireland, and that she appeared to be ‘very sincere’.

Up to 9,000 asylum-seekers strive to survive both inside and outside Camp Moria in tents exposed to cold and rain. 23-year-old Maryam Parsa from Afghanistan said that Moria is not what she expected. There were not enough doctors for the children, not enough medicine, or blankets, or food. ‘Our sons all become sick. This is not a good situation for us. If they don’t let us go to Europe, then make this situation good.’ Muhammad Raza, at 18, has won medals in karate and wishes to become a professional after relocating to France, but is disappointed with living conditions in camp Moria. Activists and NGOs call Moria the ‘shame of Europe’ and ask authorities to move children and other vulnerable refugees away from there. The government said that it has moved around 4,000 since June, but more refugees keep landing in Lesbos.

Please pray for a man recently rescued from bonded labour slavery who is living with special needs. The International Justice Mission freed him and 13 others from a ginger farm. He is deaf and living with a developmental disability. He does not know traditional sign language, so Christians are working with specialists to communicate with him and serve him in their aftercare programme. Pray that they can help this man get all the care and comfort he needs, and for him to return safely home as soon as possible. Last week we asked God to encourage, protect and continue to grow His Chinese Church after hearing of crosses being removed from buildings. This week Prayercast reported, ‘Beijing's biggest house church was forced to shut down for refusing governmental surveillance.’ and ‘Many are calling this China's worst persecution since Mao’. Thousands of house churches have been shut down and Christians are detained.

The United States has admitted 40% fewer Christian refugees in the past year. As the US administration implements stricter immigration policies, almost 11,000 Christians looking for a safe place to go were reportedly refused entry. Christians from the Middle East who have lived in the USA for years are also affected. Dozens of Iraqi Christians are in detention centres, facing likely deportation. ‘This suggests that the president has no real interest in religious persecution or the tenets of religious freedom,’ said the director of Refugee Council USA. Last year the Pew Research Centre reported that the net number of Christian arrivals to the USA was shrinking. Figures released in the UK showed that during the first quarter of 2018, a ‘very low number of religious minority Syrians were recommended for resettlement by the UNHCR and resettled by the UK government’.