This year, Passover begins on 22 April evening and ends on 30 April evening. The festival is an opportunity for the Jewish nation to rejoice with family and commemorate their liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt. It marks the gift of freedom in the land of Israel and pays tribute to its Biblical heritage. However, for almost two million modern-day Israelis in poverty and hunger, there is no real cause for celebration or joy. Shocking statistics recently released in the Israel National Insurance Institute’s annual poverty report stated that 1.7 million Israelis, including 800,000 children, live below the poverty line. Pray for relief centres across the country supplying foodstuffs; for the elderly living alone being matched with host families for Passover; and for suitable care for children when schools are closed for nearly three weeks, placing additional strain on already struggling families.

The Attawapiskat First Nation of 2,000 people living in Ontario declared a state of emergency on Saturday after eleven of its members tried taking their own lives this month and twenty-eight tried to do so in March, according to papers provided by a local politician. The declaration was signed by Chief Bruce Shisheesh of the remote northern community. The MP for the area said, ‘This is a systemic crisis. There's not been a serious response from any level of government until now.’ Canada's 1.4 million aboriginals, making up 4% of the population, have higher levels of poverty and a lower life expectancy than other Canadians, and are more often victims of violent crime, addiction and incarceration. The First Nation government is sending a crisis response unit with two mental health counsellors to the community following Saturday’s declaration. Pray for God to direct their responses and give them favour and for God’s will be done.

Who would have believed that the group that is beheading, burning alive and drowning in cages the supposed enemies of Allah would be afraid of girls? It is an oxymoron. On the one hand, IS fighters buy and sell teenaged sex slaves - 3,000 Iraqi women and girls have been forced to service IS fighters at sex slave brothels. On the other hand, these 'brave' fighters all have a recurring nightmare that they will be killed by a girl. For them, that is a shame that Allah cannot excuse. Therefore, the Kurdish army has 7,000 female fighters, all trained and dressed in uniforms of battle, taking combat to IS. They are brave and determined and will never forget the powerful role they played in saving their people. IS beware, Kurdish girls are coming after you! See also

Textbooks in Pakistan’schools have become more antagonistic to Christians. A new report says, ‘The trend towards a more biased curriculum against religious minorities is accelerating. These grossly generalised and stereotypical portrayals of religious minority communities signal that they are untrustworthy, religiously inferior, ideo slogically scheming, and intolerant.’ The report, released on 12 April in Washington, is sponsored by the Commission on International Religious Freedom, an advisory body to the US Congress and state department. By law, the commission’s assessments of religious freedom in other countries are required to figure in American diplomatic relations around the globe. The report says that school textbooks represent the political perspectives and national ideologies of whole educational and government systems. As such, they are one of the most important indicators of official and popular perspectives of the cultural and political communities they depict, both in words and images.