Russia – Ukraine War

• US-Europe tensions over Ukraine. Despite Zelensky belatedly saying he was ready to work under Donald Trump's “strong leadership” to achieve a lasting peace, the US has cut off intelligence-sharing with Kyiv in a move that could seriously hamper the Ukrainian military’s ability to target Russian forces, freezing Ukraine’s most powerful missiles. The move has caused intense concern to European leaders, with the EU unveiling plans for an €800 billion “rearm Europe” boost to EU defence spending in a partial attempt to win over Trump, who has accused European leaders of weakness for their reliance on America.
• EU plans for Ukraine slammed as inadequate. Many are highly sceptical of the EU proposals – Marine Le Pen, for example, seeing it as a power-grab. The Spectator says in no way will ‘Europe plus’ save Ukraine. Regarding Starmer's plan to send UK troops to Ukraine, Robert Jenrick asks pointedly; “Britain on a ‘war footing’? We can’t even police our borders.” And on GB News, David Starkey noted, “We can’t even defend Kent let alone Kyiv.” Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have apparently been considering accompanying Zelensky to Washington in the hope of salvaging his relationship with Trump.
• Surprising growth in Ukrainian Churches. Amongst all the devastation of the Russia-Ukraine war, the European Baptist Federation has reported new growth in its churches. It hclaims to have reached 42,000 children over the winter. 86 Baptist churches have been established during the three-year war, with over 10,000 being baptised, and over 900 pastors and deacons being ordained. Ukraine’s parliament established an annual National Day of Prayer on February 24th – which the Baptists see as a sign of God’s blessing. American missionary to Ukraine also reports an uptick in interest in evangelism and discipleship. Nevertheless, Ukrainian church leaders have expressed their fears over the recent political turmoil and removal of US military aid.
  

BBC Gaza documentary

• Controversy over BBC Gaza documentary intensifies. The BBC had already been forced to apologise after it emerged the 13-year-old narrator of its documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone was the son of Hamas official, Dr Ayman Alyazouri, the deputy agriculture minister in Gaza’s Hamas-run government. In its defence, the BBC said it wrote “a number of times” to the film-makers asking if the child narrator was connected to Hamas. BBC News chief Deborah Turness is understood to have watched the documentary weeks before broadcast but failed to question its content. Questions remain as to whether the BBC actually knew that a Hamas chief's son was starring in its documentary. The Spectator claims that even apart from the narrator issue, “the documentary itself was a deeply flawed piece of propaganda, rife with deceptive editing, mistranslations, and emotionally manipulative storytelling designed to present Israel as the aggressor and Gazans as passive victims.” Meanwhiile, the 13-year-old boy has turned on the BBC - and says they “are responsible if anything happens to me”.
• BBC reported to counter-terrorism police. UK Lawyers for Israel has now reported the BBC to counter-terrorism police over its Tim Davieadmission that payments were made to the family of the Hamas official. £790 was paid by the production company Hoyo Films to the 13-year-old narrator’s mother. There are fears some of this money may have ended up in the hands of individuals linked to Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organisation under UK law. BBC chairman Samir Shah has admitted the documentary is a “dagger to the heart” of the Corporation's claim to be “impartial” and “trustworthy”. The BBC's director general, Tim Davie, was grilled by a committee of MPs about the botch-up on Tuesday. Ofcom has also warned it has “ongoing concerns” about the “nature and gravity” of the film. The Daily Mail called it “one of the darkest moments in the BBC’s history.” Meanwhile, it has emerged that for seven months, Channel 4 News also broadcast footage of the 13-year-old narrator, without disclosing he was the son of a Hamas official – while winning at least six awards for its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. Read also.

Gaza Proposals

• Arab states endorse alternative to Trump’s Gaza plan. Arab leaders have agreed a five-year $53 billion plan to build about 200,000 new homes in Gaza as part of an alternative to Donald Trump’s “Middle East Riviera” plan. The proposals differ from Trump’s in that they do not require displacing the civilian population, would involve a temporary committee of technocrats to run Gaza “under the umbrella” of the Palestinian Authority, with no formal role for Hamas. Israel has slammed the proposal, while the White House says Trump stands by his vision for the Strip.
• Trump's last warning to Hamas. Meanwhile, President Trump has warned Hamas to release all hostages or face annihilation. He informed Hamas that he is “sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job” in Gaza, saying “This is your last warning ... you are dead”, after the White House confirmed direct talks with the group as part an of an effort to finally secure the release of hostages and bodies of the deceased.

Society and Politics

• Courts likely to become 'anti-white and anti-Christian' with new law. Labour is facing fresh accusations of a 'two-tier justice system' amid astonishing moves to give all ethnic minorities, transgender people and addicts convicted of a crime special treatment in the courts. The move will take effect as early as April 1. The Conservatives said it could open the door to softer sentences for minorities, and risked making the criminal courts 'anti-white and anti-Christian'.
• Southport riots row reignited. And it has reignited a row from last summer, during the riots in the wake of the Southport murders, of various groups being treated differently by the justice system. In regard to last summer's 'riots', the failure of the government to disclose “basic facts” about the Southport attacker led to “dangerous fictions” that could have prejudiced his murder trial, the terror watchdog has disclosed.

Imperial War Museum

• Imperial War Museum controversially closes Lord Ashcroft Gallery. The Imperial War Museum in south-east London has made the sudden announcement that the Lord Ashcroft Gallery will close in less than four months, with its collection of around 230 Victoria Cross and George Cross medals removed from public view. The decision has sparked condemnation from veterans, historians and politicians, including Lord Ashcroft, the billionaire businessman who loaned his personal £70 million collection of medals in 2010, and donated £5 million towards the gallery’s opening. Lord Ashcroft said that the IWM didn’t even have the ‘courtesy to inform’ him of the closure.
• The IWM’s whitewashing of the British Empire. The closure is seen as the latest act in the ‘wokeification’ of the museum – a prolonged effort to ‘decolonise’ its exhibitions – to whitewash all items from the days of the British Empire. Coin expert Pierce Noonan said; “The Lord Ashcroft Gallery is the only place you can see anything from the Victorian era in the Imperial War Museum at all. So we know there will be nothing there. it's really from the First World War onwards. Those are the only things you will see there.” Instead, having recently consulted equality and inclusion experts, the museum has spent £100,000 on ‘embedding diversity’ in its exhibitions – exploring issues such as ‘Sexual Violence in Conflict’, and ‘What happened in Britain’s detention camps?’

Church Issues

• Gather25: Covering the globe with worship. A global Christian movement - Gather25 - has made history, uniting an estimated seven million believers from 225 countries and territories in a 25-hour worldwide event last Saturday. Through AI technology, livestreaming, and a shared commitment to prayer and worship, Christians across every continent participated in the event, which was streamed live from seven locations, including the US, New Zealand, Malaysia, Romania, Rwanda, the UK and Peru. 21,000 churches and homes hosted watch parties, with believers gathering in living rooms, remote villages, and large public spaces. In the Philippines, over 5,000 people joined an outdoor event. More than 117,000 prison inmates in the US participated through God Behind Bars. In Orkney, the local church felt significantly refreshed and strengthened as believers spent the entire day and evening in corporate worship, fellowship and prayer. Read also here.

Persecution of Christians

• Indian Hindu leader calls for rape and murder of Christians. A Hindu leader in Chhattisgarh State, India, has called for a violent pogrom against Christians in the state, saying that Christian men, women and children should be killed, humiliated and raped because of their eating of cows, considered a sacred animal by many Hindus. He then called for 50,000 Hindus to take action in three Christian-majority villages on 1 March. It is unclear if his words were acted on. Chhattisgarh has become an area of concern for Christians. Meanwhile, a violent attack on a Christian congregation in Rajasthan in mid-February left 50 worshippers injured when a mob of about 200 people stormed a church service. And Christians are regularly being arrested in various regions of India on charges of illegal religious conversions (eg, read here and here).

Archaeology

• Scientific discoveries where Bible says Moses parted Red Sea. Scientists exploring the depths of the Red Sea have been focusing their attention on the Gulf of Aqaba, considered mysterious due to its unique geological features, including extreme depths, volcanic activity, and unusual temperature variations at depth. The region is an elongated strip of the Red Sea that separates the Egyptian Sinai from Saudi Arabia and some experts believe it is where Moses parted the waters while leading the Israelites to the Promised Land. That is because the Gulf of Aqaba is deeper and wider than other regions of the Red Sea, which could align with the story of Moses in the Book of Exodus. The Bible also shares how the Israelites traveling through the wilderness before reaching the sea, and some routes near Aqaba are said to fit the description.