A woman and child were killed and 40 civilians were injured in a brazen bomb and gun attack on the Afghan parliament in Kabul. A suicide car bomber and six gunmen were also killed in the attack. MPs were evacuated to safety amid chaotic scenes. The speaker of the parliament, Abdul Rauf Ibrahim, managed to continue talking during the blast in a moment of calm under fire, captured live on TV. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack that was timed to coincide with the appearance in parliament of Afghanistan’s new defence minister. The attack raises new questions over Afghanistan’s ability to maintain security without Nato’s help. Over the weekend Taliban forces took control of Chardara district in Kunduz. The continued insurgency also suggests divisions within the Taliban as it occurred soon after some senior Taliban figures entered talks in Qatar.

State news agency KCNA said main rice-growing provinces have been badly affected and more than 30% of rice paddies were ‘parching up’. Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans are believed to have died during a widespread famine in the 1990s. This drought is unlikely to be as deadly because of recent agricultural reforms, correspondents say. The United Nations World Food Programme says North Korea regularly faces significant food shortages and currently about a third of children in the country are malnourished. North Korea's closed economy means it is likely to suffer more in the drought. It is unusual for North Korea to talk openly of its shortages, so the very appearance of the report in state media is significant. It indicates the situation is serious, and it may well indicate that North Korea wants outside help. The drought report coincides with the release of two South Korean prisoners from North Korean custody, which may underline the desire of the North to elicit sympathy and more tangible aid.

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority told leaders of his political party on Tuesday that the government he formed a year ago after signing a reconciliation pact with the rival Hamas movement would resign within 24 hours, according to a senior Palestinian official and local news reports. The so-called consensus government, headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, has never been seen as effective, and it has been unable to assert itself in the Gaza Strip or meaningfully lead a reconstruction effort there after last summer’s devastating war between Hamas and Israel. It was unclear whether Mr Hamdallah, a former university president who was first tipped two years ago to lead a previous government, would be replaced or reappointed with a reshuffled cabinet. The move is an acknowledgment that the April 2014 pact between the West Bank-based Palestine Liberation Organisation and Hamas, the Islamist faction that dominates Gaza, has - like several before it - failed to bridge years of bitter schism.

Christians in Sudan request our prayers for Michael Yat (49) and Peter Yen Reith (36), two South Sudanese pastors on trial in Khartoum who had their latest hearing on 15 June. According to their lawyer, prosecutors failed to produce any new evidence, as officials from Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) repeated statements they had made earlier in the trial. The lawyer was also able to present his defence to the court. The next hearing was scheduled for Thursday 18 June. They were detained in Khartoum by the NISS on 14 December and 11 January respectively, charged with a range of criminal offences including crimes against the state which are punishable by death, a life sentence or lesser detention and confiscation of property.

On 9 June 2014, IS militants invaded Mosul in Iraq. All residents who didn't conform to their brand of Islam had to convert, pay a high tax or be killed. 120,000 Christians and other minorities fled and for the first time in 1,600 years there were no church services held in the city. Many families were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs, as IS militants stripped them of their belongings as they fled. Mariam, a gynaecologist who is a Christian, had to flee Mosul as the city fell. Her house was confiscated by IS and marked with the letter 'N' for Nasrani - a word used by IS to refer to Christians. Her precious library was emptied onto the street. Secret footage obtained by the BBC showed what life had become for those who stayed. Open Doors has been working through local churches and partners to provide relief to these refugees. In the past twelve months they have helped some 80,000 with immediate needs of water, food, medicine, hygiene kits and mattresses. They also work with the children, many of whom are deeply traumatised by their experiences.

Thousands of foreign fighters have travelled to Iraq and Syria in the year since Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) lightning sweep through the two territories. According to the most recent publicity available Tunisia has contributed the largest contingent, with some estimates putting the figure as high as 3,000.The foreign loyalists can expect to join fighting battalions, or even take up positions in the extremist group's extensive bureaucracy, which implements Islamic law and harvests taxes across its territory. Saudi Arabia - a country battling IS terrorism against Shia residents in its eastern province - is thought to be the second most prolific source of foreign fighters, with up to 2,500 people believed to have joined the fray in Iraq and Syria. IS will be more violent than ever in order to survive. Nearly a fifth of fighters are residents or nationals of western European countries, and an estimated 1,200 people have travelled from France alone.

Scripture books promoting ‘dangerous’ messages about sex and male power are being used in NSW public schools according to a parent-run lobby group, Fairness in Religions in Schools (FIRIS). FIRIS targeted the publication ‘Teen Sex By the Book’ and its companion manuals, produced by Australia's biggest evangelical Christian school curriculum publisher. FIRIS claims the book describes homosexuality as ‘misplaced sexual desire’ and warns that girls wearing short skirts and low-cut tops might tempt their Christian brothers to lust. The battle to remove Christianity from public school curricula is not a new one. A spokesman for the Anglican Church said Christian Special Religious Education (SRE), an optional course, teaches what the Scriptures say about the forgiveness of sins, hope for life after death and wisdom for living now. SRE teachers teach children to honour their parents and love their neighbour. One Sydney Christian leader asked, ‘What is wrong with Christians teaching the children of parents who select Christian SRE that we believe monogamy is God's good purpose, and that sex is best reserved for marriage?’

A UN report accuses the Eritrean government of extrajudicial executions, torture, national service and forced labour that create a climate of repression driving many to flee. It catalogues a litany of human rights violations by the ‘totalitarian’ regime of President Isaias Afwerki on a scope and scale seldom witnessed elsewhere. The government uses imprisonment, forced disappearance, surveillance and censorship to create a culture of permanent fear and crush all dissent. The year-long study, which was carried out without the cooperation of the Eritrean government, is based on first-hand testimony gathered through 550 confidential interviews with witnesses in third countries and 160 written submissions. After Syrians, Eritreans were the most common nationality to arrive on European shores, comprising 22% of all people entering Italy by boat last year. Faced with a seemingly hopeless situation they feel powerless to change, hundreds of thousands of Eritreans are fleeing their country.

Horrific violence has followed the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari in May, as Boko Haram militants attacked the city of Maiduguri, capital of Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno state and birthplace of the Islamist insurgency group Boko Haram. Gunfire and explosions reverberate through the city and scores have been left dead. ‘We don’t know what happens next,’ a church leader told Barnabas. ‘Pray for the believers in the city of Maiduguri. Pray for God’s special intervention.’ On 29 May, militants launched 50+ rockets into the town, killing scores of people. On Saturday, a suicide bomber killed several people as he detonated himself in a mosque. On Sunday, a bomb went off near the Gomboru market, killing scores more. On Tuesday 2 June, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Gomboru market, killing at 20+ people. In his inaugural speech President Buhari announced that the command centre for security forces would be moved from Abuja to Maiduguri.

Australian Christian Lobby Managing Director Lyle Shelton has joined with 38 leaders of Christian and other religious groups in signing a letter to the Prime Minister urging him and the parliament to uphold the true meaning of marriage. Mr Shelton said that such a demonstration of support from Australia's faith communities for man-woman marriage and the rights of children it protects was a welcome development in what has been largely a one-sided debate. ‘It is so important our nation does not sleep-walk into a legislative change to the definition of marriage without considering the consequences,’ Mr Shelton said. The letter was signed by Catholic and Anglican archbishops and 36 heads of many other denominations.