On 23 July a fault in the structure of a dam in Laos was discovered and alerts went out to evacuate villages downstream as repairs were started, but the dam’s walls broke. Residents took to rooftops and treetops to escape the floodwaters, in a region so remote that it is difficult to get supplies and emergency assistance to them. By 26 July at least 26 people had drowned, 3,000 people still needed rescuing, and 6,000+ were displaced. Pray for the local authorities and army rescue teams trying to save the stranded from water that reached a height of 11.5 metres. Entire homes are underwater. Laos is a notoriously secretive Communist state, and information about the extent of the devastation is only trickling out. Pray for the displaced people coming to terms with the realisation that homes and possessions are washed away or destroyed in a man-made disaster.

Japan's weather agency has declared the heatwave sweeping the country a natural disaster, with 80+ deaths recorded since 19 July and the temperature reaching 41.1C. By 26 July over 22,000 were hospitalised with heatstroke, and the heatwave shows no sign of abating. People were urged to stay in air-conditioned spaces, drink water, and rest to prevent heat exhaustion. The fire department dispatched ambulances 3,125 times within Tokyo in just one day. Meanwhile, temperatures in Korea climbed to 40. Much of Europe is baking under a high-pressure ridge of tropical heat, climbing as far as the Arctic and blocking cooling rainfalls. Temperatures above 32 extended to northern Scandinavia, setting records in Sweden, Finland and Norway for stations above the Arctic Circle. There are unprecedented wildfires in Sweden. Algeria reached 51.3, the highest temperature ever recorded on the African continent. A brutal heatwave also struck Canada, with seventy heat-related deaths, and in the USA Dallas experienced highs of 43.

Tensions between groups of taxi drivers vying for the same routes can spill into deadly violence in South Africa. Minibus taxis are the most popular form of transport and violence is common between rival groups vying for dominance on profitable routes. On 21 July gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying members of a taxi drivers’ association, killing 11 people and critically wounding four others. They had attended a colleague’s funeral, and were returning to Johannesburg when the ambush occurred. In May South African media reported the deaths of ten people, in violence related to rivalries among minibus taxi drivers in Cape Town. In April four taxi drivers were shot dead in the war between two rival Johannesburg taxi associations. Those killings were sparked by the murder of one driver the previous week. Pray for common sense to prevail and end the tit-for-tat murders.

The 2018 Global Slavery Index revealed that North Korea has the most human slaves in the world. Research showed it keeps over 2.6 million people in modern day slavery - that is, one in every ten citizens is forced to work under slavery conditions. A UN Commission of Inquiry has observed that violations of human rights in North Korea are not mere excesses of the state, they are an essential component of the political system. Eritrea, described as ‘a repressive regime that abuses its conscription system to hold its citizens in forced labour for decades’, has the second highest prevalence of modern slavery. The others in the top ten are Burundi, the Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Mauritania, South Sudan, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Iran. Most of these nations have conflict, displacement, and a lack of physical security. However, the conditions in North Korea, Eritrea, and Burundi stand out because slavery is state-imposed.