The Biden administration warned on Friday that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia could mount a major assault on Ukraine at any time, having built up formidable land, sea and air forces on three sides of its smaller neighbor.

U.S. intelligence officials had initially thought Mr. Putin was prepared to wait until the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing before possibly ordering an offensive, to avoid antagonizing President Xi Jinping of China, a critical ally. In recent days, they say, the timeline began moving up, an acceleration that Biden administration officials began publicly acknowledging on Friday.

“We continue to see signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border,” Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, told reporters on Friday, adding that an invasion could begin “during the Olympics,” which are scheduled to end on Feb. 20, and warned that all Americans should leave Ukraine in the next 24 to 48 hours.

U.S. officials still do not know whether Mr. Putin has decided to invade, Mr. Sullivan insisted. “We are ready either way,” he said. “Whatever happens next, the West is more united than it has been in years.”

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"U.S. intelligence officials had initially thought Mr. Putin was prepared to wait until the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing to avoid antagonizing President Xi Jinping of China, a critical ally. In recent days, they say, the timeline began moving up" https://t.co/RimygMIB6A

— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) February 11, 2022

With a mandate to make a positive change, religious organisations are among the richest asset owners and investors, and are increasingly looking at impact investments to make market returns. Unique to these investments are faith values, which decide the sectors, regions, and projects that receive the funds. In many cases, those values fit comfortably within the SDG puzzle. However, overall, faith-based investors have yet to develop major impact investing portfolios.

While there are no publicly available figures for the value of the assets owned by religious organisations, they are estimated to own over 7% of the Earth’s land surface. The Islamic finance industry was estimated to be worth $2.4 trillion at the end of 2017, according to the 2018 Global Islamic Finance Report, and in 2020 was almost $3 trillion, a figure that is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5% until 2024.

“What we do see is a big trend where faith-based investors have woken up and now understand that a lot of their assets are stuck in very traditional investment vehicles, as they need those revenues and returns from those investments to maintain churches, pay pensions, etc. So it is important for them to make sufficient returns, but they are also realising that in some cases there is a complete misalignment between their values and those funds they have been investing in,” says Maarten Toussaint, COO of FIIND Impact, an investment consultant and advisor, working with faith-based investors.

Even though faith-based investors have noble intentions, their investments are not bereft of returns. “We target market rate with our returns,” says Aaron Pinnock, senior impact investment analyst at the Church Commissioners for England. The portfolio’s target is returns of CPIH +4%. “So, in the last 30 years, our returns have averaged just over 9%, and that’s the kind of target that we are looking for going forward. We are not looking at impact as taking financial returns off the table, but it has to meet the kind of return requirement that will make other investments possible.”

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Is faith based finance making a dent in impact investing?https://t.co/CaGUYYtSc0@OperationNoah @EpiscoClimate @greenfaithworld pic.twitter.com/SB0PG36rhy

— Green Anglicans (@Greenanglicans) February 11, 2022

In early february Jim McIngvale, a businessman from Houston, crossed Texas’s border with Louisiana to place a $4.53m bet on his phone. In making America’s biggest-ever online bet, Mr McIngvale is pinning his hopes on the victory of the Cincinnati Bengals, the underdogs, in the Super Bowl on February 13th. He is the boldest among tens of millions of Americans who will place bets this weekend. His staggering wager reflects a broader trend: the market for legal betting is surging in America—along with attendant risks.

Since the Supreme Court struck down a law that banned sports gambling outside Nevada in 2018, 33 states as well as Washington, DC have legalised it. Seven more states have legislation in the works. The betting landscape is rapidly changing: 45m more Americans than last year can now legally bet on the 2022 Super Bowl in their home state. Many more, like Mr McIngvale, can travel to a neighbouring state to do so.

In less than four years, $97bn has been wagered in legal bets across America, yielding over $7bn in revenue for gambling operators and $923m in taxes. In October 2021 alone, Americans put down a record $7.5bn, 87% of it online. That was an eight-fold increase on the same month in 2018. Experts anticipate that the sports-betting market will keep growing. By 2028 it is expected to be worth $140bn.

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A new post in 'That Was The Week'
Sports betting in America is explodinghttps://t.co/fVYn1SeWj2

— Keith Teare (@kteare) February 10, 2022

A reduction in the number of dioceses, and reforms to the shape of episcopal ministry, are part of the “significant change” to which “God is calling” the Church of England, a paper produced by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Bishop of London suggests.

In the confidential paper, presented to the College of Bishops in September and seen by the Church Times this week, the three authors write of their conviction that “God is calling us to embrace significant change.” This will entail being prepared to “surrender much that we have held dear, but which we now believe may well now be hindering our mission. . .

“We believe that there will need to be significant changes to how dioceses are structured, the number and nature of them as well as serious consideration being given to the behaviours and ways of working of bishops as we move beyond the events of 2020 and 2021.”

Entitled A consultation document: Bishops and their ministry fit for a new context, the paper draws on a “listening exercise” conducted by a task group commissioned by the Archbishops and the Bishop of London.

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In the confidential paper, presented to the College of Bishops in September and seen by the Church Times this week, the three authors write of their conviction that “God is calling us to embrace significant change” https://t.co/Vl3NKET17B

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 11, 2022

Our section of the universe has been mapped into the “most accurate simulation to date” by scientists using a supercomputer.

The simulations, which were unveiled at Durham university, capture the Big Bang to the present and the entire evolution of the cosmos.

Scientists used advanced statistical techniques so that the simulations were conditioned to reproduce our specific patch of the universe – therefore containing the present-day structures in the vicinity of our own galaxy.

At the centre of the simulation is a pair of galaxies – virtual representations of our own Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy.

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Scientists Unveil 'Most Accurate' Virtual Representation of Universe, Backing Cold Dark Matter Modelhttps://t.co/KpIhWN5EX1

— Kataeb.Org in English (@Kataeb_Eng) February 10, 2022

O God, the blessed assurance of all who trust in thee: We give thanks for thy servant Fanny Crosby, and pray that we, inspired by her words and example, may rejoice to sing ever of thy love, praising our Savior; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

#OTD February 5, 1864
Fanny Crosby writes her first verses for composer William Bradbury, “A Home Beyond the Tide,” the beginning of a long and fruitful hymnwriting relationship. pic.twitter.com/B49HVSfmyh

— Today in Christian History (@LizBrown217) February 5, 2022

O God, who hast sown in our hearts the precious seed of thy truth: Grant us to nourish it by meditation, prayer and obedience, that it may not only take root, but also bring forth fruit unto holiness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

View down the east Kyle in the #KylesofBute at sunrise. @BBCScotWeather @WindyWilson88 @ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/UQ1hha72BL

— Mark Gardner💙 (@mjgardner73) February 11, 2022

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

–Romans 13:1-7

Good morning. Frosty Friday. Lovely colours before sunrise. @angie_weather @ThePhotoHour #StormHour pic.twitter.com/cO1hAdW9Hz

— Sharon Welby (@sharonwelby1) February 11, 2022