• Boy who fled Boko Haram becomes American chess master. Four years ago, the Adewumi family fled Nigeria to escape Christian persecution at the hands of Boko Haram, the Islamist group that have killed and displaced thousands of Christians in recent years. They managed to find asylum in America, where they lived in a homeless shelter in Manhattan for many months. It was there, in 2019, that nine-year-old Tanitoluwa Adewumi won New York state’s primary chess championship, a remarkable achievement in such a populous state. Since then Tanitoluwa has gone on to win other accolades, including recently, Chess Club of Fairfield Connecticut championship. “Our God has done it again”, doted his father, “It can only be God.”

Society & Politics

• Four new abortion clinics to open in South East England. These are to be located in Brighton, Crawley, Hastings and Bognor Regis. The Brighton clinic will be providing surgical and medical abortions as well as DIY home abortion via remote consultation. It will be run by MSI Reproductive Choices (MSI), which carried out 61,000 abortions in England in 2019-20, and which, under its former name (Marie Stopes International), was damned in a report for purportedly paying staff bonuses for persuading women to have abortions.
• University’s astonishing apology for photo of Prince Philip. A university has issued an astonishing apology for including a photo of the recently-deceased Prince Philip in a staff email bulletin. Some staff at London’s King’s College were apparently offended and angry at the photo, owing to the Duke’s "history of racist and sexist comments". The associate director at King's College libraries apologised unreservedly for the "harm" caused by the photo of the Duke, who had been Life Governor of the institution. A number of MPs have spoken out against the "silly", woke apology, and several alumni of the College have suggested suspending their donations in protest.
• Google’s head of diversity caught spouting anti-Semitic bile. It came to light this week that Kamau Bobb, head of diversity at Google (described by spiked as “one of the wokest jobs in the world”), claimed in 2007 that Jews have “an insatiable appetite for war and killing”. He even made the statement on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night in 1938 when Nazi militia thugs trashed Jewish businesses and beat up Jews. Bobb has been removed from his diversity role, though he remains employed by Google. His shocking comments have been regarded as "a stark reminder of the woke’s blindspot for anti-Semitism".
• ‘I’m not sitting next to the Jewish girl’. This story emerges on the same week that the 13-year-old daughter of the deputy editor of the Jewish Chronicle told her dad that one of her classmates had refused to sit next to “the Jewish girl” at school in Winchester. After reflecting on the matter deeply, her parents decided that rather than raise a complaint, it was best just to let it go. It is one of a number of isolated incidents the family had experienced over the years. “If you’re a Jew, you will encounter anti-Semitism at some point in your life”, the JC Editor said, grimly. Read the deeply moving testimony here.

Church Issues

• Memorial space to author of ‘Amazing Grace’ approved. One surprising positive outcome of the appalling ‘cancel culture’ that has overtaken the West is that the 14th-century church of St Peter and St Paul's in Olney, Buckinghamshire, has been given the go-ahead to set aside a memorial space in honour of John Newton, the former slave-trader who went on to become an abolitionist. Newton became minister of the church, but is best-known as a prolific hymn writer and for writing ‘Amazing Grace’. The memorial area will be used to create a John Newton theme, with artefacts relating to him.

World News

• A house of healing for Iran's fleeing Christians. A new centre for Iranian Christian refugees to Turkey is currently being built in a large Turkish city, with help from Open Doors. It is the brainchild of Kouroush (not his real name), an Iranian refugee who suffered imprisonment and torture in Iran simply because he loves Christ. Last year at least 1,000 Christians were forced to leave the country for faith-related reasons. There will be space in the new centre for spiritual needs: a library full of Christian books in his native tongue of Farsi and a room for discipleship courses. The centre will also accommodate a café for people to receive biblical counselling over a cup of Iranian tea. Kouroush is already counting the days until the centre opens: "I am really looking forward to what God is going to do here", he said.
• Iranian couple told to report to Evin Prison by 15 June. In Iran itself, an Iranian couple arrested for belonging to a house church have been told they must submit themselves to Tehran's notorious Evin Prison by 15 June. Homayoun and Sara have already been detained once before in the notorious Evin Prison for many weeks, where Sara experienced severe psychological torture. What makes the arrest even harder is that Homayoun is suffering from advanced Parkinson’s disease. Readers are encouraged to pray for the welfare and protection of this dear Christian couple.
• YWAM leader Floyd McClung dies aged 75. Christian mission leader Floyd McClung has died after five years of illness. McClung worked for Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for 35 years, with eight years as international executive director. He also co-founded All Nations, an international leadership-training and church-planting network. In his more than 50 years in ministry, McClung lived in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America and wrote 18 books, including international bestseller ‘The Father Heart of God’. Pete Greig called him “undoubtedly one of the greatest men I have ever known”.

Israel & The Middle East

• Netanyahu forced out, as new 8-party government agreed in Israel. Israeli opposition parties have reached an agreement to form a new government that will end Benjamin Netanyahu's 12-year tenure as prime minister. It will operate under a rotation system, the leader of each party taking turns as Prime Minister. The Knesset still has to ratify the coalition agreement, which could still be upended by defections. Netanyahu attacked the new "left-wing" government as "dangerous" and is doing all in his power to abort it. The Prime Minister had come under pressure in recent years over his perceived divisive style and corruption allegations, charges he denies.
• The proposed eight-party coalition seeks to span the entire Israeli spectrum, and includes groups that are right-wing nationalist, right-wing secularist, centrist, far-left progressive, left-wing, and, for the first time in decades, an Israeli Arab party. There are many potential problems with the coalition, not least that other parties representing Israeli Arabs – who make up 20% of the population – have said they will oppose a government led by Mr Bennett of the nationalist party, Yamina, who rejects the concept of a Palestinian state. Indeed, it is said that all that unites the various groups is their desire to remove Netanyahu. A failure to gain a majority in the Knesset could result in the 5th Israeli elections in two years.