The Scottish Episcopal Church has elected Rt Rev’d Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness, as Primus. Bishop Mark, 56, the youngest of the bishops, was consecrated in his current diocese in 2007. He said: ‘I am humbled by the confidence shown in me by my colleagues, and I will seek to serve the Church with love and strength. It has been 82 years since a Bishop of Moray became Primus, and I pray that I may be worthy of this trust. I will continue to serve in my beloved Highlands while I also step out into new and exciting journeys of faith in both Scotland and the wider international church.’ He takes up this role as a Primate within the Anglican Communion at a time when the General Synod of his Church has voted to permit same-sex marriage. That decision is expected to be on the agenda of the forthcoming Primates’ meeting in Canterbury, which he will attend. He is married to Jane, a teacher, and they have a son and two daughters.

Amanda Spielman, who in January became head of schools’ regulator Ofsted, has vowed to continue promoting ‘British values’. Citing the recent terror attacks as evidence that a greater crackdown on different forms of extremism is needed, she said that the promotion of British values will be determined by individual inspectors, adding, ‘There isn’t a prescribed translation of it, so schools will have to work it out’. John Denning of the Christian Institute, which has consistently questioned the vague and subjective nature of ‘British values’, said Spielman’s assertions would be particularly concerning for head teachers of faith schools. He said: ‘This might encourage Ofsted inspectors to pressurise or even fail schools, based on their own subjective opinions of what British values are. Schools will remain vulnerable to inspectors’ personal biases.’ Since the Government introduced the requirement to ‘actively promote’ British values in schools in 2014, Ofsted inspectors have caused widespread problems for religious liberty in England, with aggressive questioning of teachers and pupils over their beliefs on same-sex marriage and transsexualism.

The European Union formally extended its economic sanctions on Russia on Wednesday, a widely-expected step that keeps restrictions on business with Russian energy, defence and financial sectors until 31 January 2018. The sanctions were imposed in July 2014 following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula and Moscow's direct support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies direct involvement in the conflict, despite NATO's assertions that its troops are supporting the rebels. EU leaders agreed to the extension at their summit in Brussels last week, after France and Germany cited no progress in efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 10,000 people since April 2014. Under the sanctions that were imposed in tandem with the United States, European companies are banned from doing business with or investing in Russia's defence and energy industries, while financial ties are severely limited. European companies cannot borrow or lend money to Russia's five main state-owned banks for more than 30 days, limiting Moscow's avenues for raising funds. Any lifting of sanctions on Russia is tied to the implementation of the Minsk peace deal for Ukraine which was negotiated by the leaders of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia in 2015.

The Pope's chief financial adviser has decided to take a leave of absence after being charged with historical sex crimes. Cardinal George Pell, the third most senior Catholic at the Vatican, has fiercely denied the multiple allegations against him. At a news conference on 29 June, he said the two-year investigation had been fuelled by ‘relentless character assassination’. He has now been called back to Australia, to appear before Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 18 July. ‘I am innocent of these charges. They are false. The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me’, he told reporters. ‘The court proceedings offer me the opportunity to clear my name and then return to my work in Rome.’ In another story, former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey has been asked to step down from an honorary role in the Diocese of Oxford, after being criticised in an independent review of the church’s handling of sex abuse. The review into disgraced former bishop Peter Ball, who was jailed in 2015, revealed that Lord Carey had failed to pass key information on Ball to the police in 1992. See