Displaying items by tag: Europe

President Vladimir Putin was ‘pleased’ with the outcome of his 25 April meeting in Vladivostok with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, saying he would discuss the results with his Chinese counterparts when he travels to Beijing later. Many believe that after the diplomatic failure with Trump at Hanoi, Kim wants to prove he is still being sought after by world leaders; he does not want to look too dependent on Washington, Beijing, and Seoul. Also 10,000+ North Korean labourers working in Russia’s logging industry have to leave by the end of 2019, as UN sanctions take effect. The workers provided a revenue stream of hundreds of millions of dollars that Kim’s regime would like to keep flowing. As for Russia, the Putin-Kim summit will reaffirm Moscow's place as a major player on the Korean peninsula, and improve Russian international prestige. See also

otre Dame suffered desecration during the 1789 French Revolution and was restored by 1804, when it was the venue for Napoleon’s coronation as emperor of France. A restoration project between 1844 and 1864 added the cathedral's iconic spire, which was destroyed in a fire on 15 April when Notre Dame was undergoing renovation. Fortunately the copper statues that were normally on the now collapsed spire had been removed a week earlier in the renovation process, and both towers were also safe, but two-thirds of the roof was destroyed. Many artefacts were saved before the fire spread to other parts of the cathedral. France will invite architects from around the world to submit designs for a new spire that is adapted to the techniques and the challenges of our era, as thoughts turn to how to reconstruct what has been lost. President Macron vowed it will be rebuilt ‘even more beautifully’. See

Emmanuel Macron is launching a bid to block EU/US trade talks because of Donald Trump’s refusal to sign up to the Paris climate agreement. Trump enraged Brussels when he described the EU as ‘brutal trading partners’ in a tweet offering support to Britain after the Brexit summit, which also stated, ‘Things are about to change’. Brussels wants to keep new trade deals simple, but is unsure of unpredictable Trump. The US ambassador to the EU warned that Washington would fight ‘unfair barriers’ against American companies. An official said that France is opposed to the initiation of any trade negotiations with countries outside the Paris climate agreement. This stance is at odds with Germany’s position, and could lead to more friction between Paris and Berlin.

The US president called Brussels ‘a brutal trading partner’ and criticised the EU's tough treatment of Britain after it gave the UK a further extension at the special Brexit summit. He finished his critique on a philosophical note, ‘Sometimes in life you have to let people breathe before it all comes back to bite you!’ Brexit talks remain locked, and Brussels has put more pressure on the UK to shift its position. Before the deadlock, former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC that allowing a delay weakens the UK’s hand in the talks. Meanwhile many economists believe that as the EU has suffered monetary stagnation and enormous waves of migration, Brussels does not want to lose the UK, its second largest economy and financial centre.

Parts of Romania are hotbeds of the occult and witchcraft, as well as home to large groups of unreached Roma gypsies and Romanians. Witchcraft is a respected (and feared) profession: even the president is known to wear purple on certain days to ward off evil. The witches are known as the vrăjitoare, and their practice is government-regulated. In 2011, a new law required them to pay a 16% income tax, the same as any other self-employed Romanian citizen. The response was twofold. Some supported the tax, arguing that it established witchcraft as a verifiable profession, while others threw poisonous mandrake plants into the Danube River. Meanwhile missionaries are being sent to Romania. Greater Europe Mission (GEM) reported recently that its disciple-makers invited 130 youth from areas rife with witchcraft to a week-long camp, and between 60 and 70 people gave their lives to Christ. See

Priests at a Catholic parish in northern Poland have burnt books, including the Harry Potter series, and other items that their owners said had evil forces. Images from the burning at Gdansk’s Mother of Church parish on Sunday were posted on Facebook by a Catholic foundation that uses unconventional ways of religious work. In the pictures, flames are consuming an African wooden mask, figurines of elephants, and books on personality and magic, as well as those by J K Rowling, all brought in by parishioners. A priest and altar boys watched the book-burning. The foundation said the book-burning was intended to alert parishioners to bad influences which it says come from magic and the occult. Comments under the post condemned the action, recalling that it also happened in Nazi Germany before World War II.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna delivered the message at the mass on George Vella’s swearing-in as Malta’s tenth president. Scicluna made the point that ‘the economic prosperity of a country is on solid foundations when its leaders embrace wisdom and righteousness’. He said the reputation of Malta’s strength and growth depends on whether the values of integrity, justice and solidarity are made a political priority. ‘If the first or only thing we seek is gain or profits, democracy becomes a kerdocracy - a society based on a rush for profit - and from there on it is easy to slide into a kleptocracy, a society where power is concentrated in the hands of the greediest.’ On the same day, the Council of Europe published its report on the effectiveness of Malta’s prevention of corruption, and called for more robust action in the government and police. See https://theshiftnews.com/2019/04/03/council-of-europe-calls-for-robust-action-against-government-corruption-in-malta/

The recent Dutch provincial elections revealed a disturbing degree of provincialism and xenophobia; the leader of the winning party had dedicated his university dissertation to the French extreme nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen! The upcoming State of Europe Forum in Bucharest will bring together Pentecostal, Evangelical, Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox clergy and lay people from across Europe to explore commonalities and differences in perspectives on the future of Europe. If we all accept that the Jesus story is the defining story of Europe, how do we bring his Lordship (see Ephesians 2: 4,5) to bear on our current challenges of populism, terrorism, corruption, cyberwarfare, nationalism, trafficking, migration, weakened democracy, xenophobia, and much more? God’s people of hope need to point in a different direction. We need to recover the story of Jesus as having ‘broken down every wall’ between race, gender and status, as the defining story of Europe.

Maltese armed forces have boarded a merchant vessel that was allegedly hijacked by migrants after they were rescued off the coast of Libya. Five of the migrants have now been arrested, accused of forcing the captain of the oil tanker to cede control ‘through coercive action’ and ordering it to alter course for Italy. There were 108 migrants,77 men, 19 women and 12 children. A patrol vessel stopped the tanker from entering Maltese waters, then a special forces unit boarded it and handed over control of the ship to the captain. Matteo Salvini, Italy’s hardline interior minister, called the asylum seekers ‘pirates’. Italy’s ports are closed to rescued migrants. Human rights groups said they were escaping Libyan detention camps where they are beaten, raped and even sold as slaves, and should be directed towards a safe port.

It was recently said that Europe, in its diversity, has the commission of the Creator to seek unity, otherwise it breaks into an infinite number of dwarfs fighting each other. Wikipedia states that religion in Europe has been a major influence on today's society, art, culture, philosophy and law, and the largest religion in Europe is Christianity. But irreligion and practical secularisation are strong. In the 2011 census 96% of Kosovo residents and 58% of Albania residents were Muslim. Modern revival movements of other religions include Heathenism, Rodnovery, Romuva, Druidism, and Wicca. Smaller Indian religions linked to Buddhism are also found in their largest groups in Britain, France, and Kalmykia, Russia. Pray for the various Christian mission agencies commissioned by God to reach and revive faith in the one Almighty God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. See