15th July 2025

A two-day 30-nation conference, of the Hague Group of nations, including China, Spain and Qatar, aimed at ending Israel’s occupation of Palestine, will begin in in Bogotá, Colombia today. Delegates at the conference will seek to set out steps the participating countries can take to implement a UN general assembly motion mandating member states to take measures in support of Israel ending its unlawful occupation of Palestine. The ICJ said in its advisory opinion that “Israel’s security concerns do not override the principle of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force” and called on it to end its occupation “as rapidly as possible”. Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla,executive secretary of the Hague Group, said: “We meet in Bogotá with a twin imperative: to end Israel’s impunity and sever the cords of complicity. The international court of justice has already made its rulings, deeming Israel’s continued presence in the Palestinian territories as unlawful. There is no absence of legal clarity. States will now deliberate how to enforce their obligations – from ceasing arms exports and preventing harbour for vessels carrying military equipment to ensuring justice for all victims.”

Loving God, we thank you that such a large number of nations are keen to see an end to the violence, destruction and death in Gaza. We pray the Holy Spirit will be with all at the conference in Bogota and will grant them wisdom and insight that they may find a way forward where peace prevails over war. We pray they will find a way that hostages can be released and all in Gaza provided with humanitarian aid and wounds healed. We pray that you will provide urgency, strength and resolve in their conversations and in their actions in the day, s weeks and months following. In the name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.

On July 4, a fire broke out on the second floor of a building in Paris, France. On the sixth floor, two mothers held their children at arms length  at the windows to protect them from the smoke, which was blocking their safe exit from the building.  Fousseynou Samba Cissé had just returned home from his job as a school caretaker when he heard the fire alarm. He saw smoke pouring from the building where the mothers and several children were trapped. Without hesitating, he climbed out onto a sixth-floor ledge and began helping those inside escape the flames. Single-handedly he managed to rescue six people, two adults and four children, including two babies. Cissé, is not a French citizen, but holds a residency permit. “Saving a life, even if it’s just one person, but especially several people at the same time, is something magnificent,” he said. "There were people who were desperate, in disarray, who were looking for help. So, I didn't think about it. It's an instinct," he explained. On Sunday, he was decorated with the medal of courage by the Paris police prefect, Laurent Nuñez.

King of glory, King of peace,

I will love Thee;

And, that love may never cease,

I will move Thee.

Thou hast granted my request,

Thou hast heard me;

Thou didst note my working breast,

Thou hast spared me.

Wherefore with my utmost art

I will sing Thee,

And the cream of all my heart

I will bring Thee.

Though my sins against me cried,

Thou didst clear me;

And alone, when they replied,

Thou didst hear me.

Seven whole days, not one in seven,

I will praise thee;

In my heart, though not in heaven,

I can raise thee.

Small it is, in this poor sort

To enrol thee:

E'en eternity's too short

To extol thee.

George Herbert (1593 – 1633) was a Welsh poet,

orator, and priest of the Church of England.