Asia	
	    
    
		Israel: Iran recruiting spies via social media
			  	On 24 July Shin Bet (the Israeli security agency) reported that Iran has been trying to recruit a wide network of agents in Israel via social networking sites. A joint Shin Bet /…			  
			  
			  
		  Saudi Arabia: US troops return after 16 years
			  	In 2003 the Americans left Saudi Arabia, but now hundreds of American troops will deploy to an airbase outside Riyadh as tensions spike between Iran and its allies and the Trump administration and…			  
			  
			  
		  South Korea: jets fire at Russian aircraft
			  	South Korean F-15 fighter jets, sent to intercept a Russian surveillance plane, fired 360 machine-gun rounds to prevent it from entering the airspace over the disputed Dokdo/Takeshima islands, occupied by South Korea but…			  
			  
			  
		  Persian Gulf: Another oil tanker seized
			  	Iran's state TV said on 18 July that the Revolutionary Guard had seized a foreign oil tanker with 12 crew members accused of smuggling one million litres of fuel in the Lark Island…			  
			  
			  
		  Syria: Bombs outside church
			  	IS claimed responsibility for detonating a car bomb in front of a church in the city of Qamishli, which is held by the Kurdish YPG militia, injuring at least eight people. Earlier that…			  
			  
			  
		  Mongolia: corruption and Christianity
			  	In March Parliament made it possible for judges, prosecutors and others to be fired by the National Security Council. Since then the head of the Supreme Court, the director and deputy director of…			  
			  
			  
		  Hong Kong: migrants join protests
			  	Demonstrations in Hong Kong have drawn in the youth, parents, first-time protesters and the church, while migrant workers have quietly and consistently participated since the beginning. Migrants distrust the Chinese justice system. In…			  
			  
			  
		  China: religious minorities suppressed
			  	Eager to suppress religions, authorities in Xingyang city shattered numerous Christian and folk religion places of worship and there is also a systematic plan to eliminate the faith and customs of Hui Muslims…			  
			  
			  
		  Turkey / Cyprus: crisis over oil-drilling ships
			  	Another war between the Greek Cypriots and Turkey is looking likely amid rising tensions over drilling rights in the Eastern Mediterranean that is drawing in regional stakeholders Egypt, Israel and Greece. Turkey’s Foreign…			  
			  
			  
		  Iran: crisis over oil tankers
			  	Five armed Iranian boats tried to seize a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf on 10 July. The British Heritage tanker was in international waters when it was approached by Iranian Revolutionary…			  
			  
			  
		  
 
				     
				     
				     
				     
				     
				     
				     
				     
				     
				    