Displaying items by tag: Europe

Abortions are illegal in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. There is a new wave of youth-driven campaigning on both sides of the abortion argument, which will come to a head over the next few months now that the Irish government has confirmed it will hold a referendum on reform of the country’s strict anti-abortion laws by the end of May.

See some of the USA testimonies from Florida, South Dakota and Tennessee.

We are cheating a bit to say 50 countries because Puerto Rico is part of USA but they seem to regard themselves as another country. These countries included in the 50 are Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, China, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Fiji, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Liberia, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria. North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, Russia, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tonga, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Uganda, USA and Vanuatu.

Check out more testimonies HERE - There are many more still to come!

Suffice to say from small beginnings in 2016 the New Year’s Sunrise Prayer Relay is exploding. There were 23 NATIONS where locations were confirmed in 2017 for the New Year's Day Sunrise Prayer Relay, so we have had a huge multiplication of people, locations, and nations praying in 2018. We believe that when people pray God moves and we are expecting Him to move powerfully in 2018 in EVERY NATION as we continue to pray for awakening, revival, and transformation in the name of Jesus.

This year we had 141 REGISTERED GLOBAL PUBLIC LOCATIONS with hundreds more that are private. This was an increase from around 100 on New Year's Day 2017, we are still going through the global registrations to confirm but at this stage we can say there were over 400 valid registrations worldwide this year, it was very difficult to confirm some of the locations and we are currently looking into more effective ways to register locations globally.

We also know of many locations globally that were not registered, or informed us via email or message that they were praying with us, we did not count these. We believe that the number of unregistered locations is greater than the number of registered locations. We need to simplify to multiply in other nations, and we would love to get prayer networks in nations like USA, UK & South Africa more involved to help with getting the word out and administration in their countries the way National Day of Prayer & Fasting has done for Australia.

The beauty of the New Year’s Day Sunrise Prayer Relay is that it is short (30 MINs),easy to do, easy to promote, requires minimal effort, is organic in nature, rides on an existing established event (New Year’s Day Sunrise) and has a proven track record of encouraging and reproducing more daily, weekly and monthly prayer events.

Warwick Marsh & Pat Steele
Global Coordinators Sunrise Prayer Relay
www.sunriseprayerrelay.org

A leading Irish expert has called Church leaders to appoint a team of exorcists to cope with what he sees as a rising tide of evil in the country. While many believe exorcisms only happen in Hollywood blockbusters, exorcist Fr Pat Collins said he is besieged by desperate people seeking help to deal with what they believe to be demonic possession and evil activity. He is ‘baffled’ that Irish bishops are not taking more action to appoint priests to deal with everything from ghostly encounters, being pulled from their beds, and full-blown possession. ‘What I’m finding is people who in their own minds believe - rightly or wrongly - that they’re afflicted by evil spirits. In many cases it is wrongly, but when they turn to the Church we don’t know what to do, and often they are not helped.' He also said there was growing apostasy within the Church. 'As this has happened, there is increasing evidence of the malicious activity of the evil one.’

Theresa May’s speech at Davos spoke of the UK as a centre of Artificial Intelligence, stating that in the past few years a new AI startup has been created in the UK every week, and technologies like the internet were developed with a philosophy that connecting us together would improve people’s lives. She said that the UK is developing a digital charter, at the heart of which is a set of principles that the same rights people have offline should be protected online; the internet should remain free, open and accessible; people should understand the rules that apply to them when they are online; personal data should be respected and used appropriately; and protections should be in place to help keep people safe online, especially children.

The three institutions of the EU are Parliament (EP), Council (EC), and Commission. The EP president, Antonio Tajani, presides over the debates and activities of parliament, along with fourteen vice-presidents, and represents parliament internationally. Donald Tusk is president of the EC, that is all EU heads of state. He is its representative on the world stage, attends summits, and represents the consensus view of the EU states. He also chairs meetings of heads of state. The president of the Commission, currently Jean-Claude Juncker, allocates portfolios to the commissioners, who are nominated by their home countries. The EU Council, where legislation is discussed, is led by the country holding the six-month rotating presidency, currently Bulgaria.

In 2016 one in three Europeans thought their governments and political leaders were mostly or entirely corrupt. When the survey was published, work began on a project with civil society and individuals in governments across the EU to demonstrate that ‘corruption is not inevitable’. The focus is public procurement, a sector which sees corruption-related losses of almost €5 billion per year in the EU. The Integrity Pact is a signed commitment by contractors and bidders in public contracts to act with integrity and transparency. An independent organisation monitors compliance with the commitment. Local government, civil society and private companies are using it to ensure that 17 big public contracts in 11 EU countries are being run efficiently, accountably and in the public interest, so that taxpayers’ money goes where it is intended.

A 15-year-old girl from a Jewish school had her face slashed in an anti-Semitic attack, just days after two kosher shops were torched. The shops had been painted with swastikas in December. Many believe France is seeing a return of anti-Semitic currents. Anti-Semitic speech is heard more and more, and warning bells are ringing all over Europe. Simply to admit the problem is not enough; it is time to act and identify the sources of anti-Semitism in France. Hostile opinions towards Jews are more prevalent among the extreme right, the radical left, and the Muslim community - itself the object of considerable animosity in France.

Mount Mayon, in the Philippines, is erupting like a fountain. By 18 January, forty thousand villagers had been evacuated. People expect volcanic mudslides and roofs collapsing from accumulated ash and rainwater. Pray for those living in fear. In North America thousands are still engaged in search and clean-up efforts from last year’s wildfires, followed by huge mudslides. Pray for those who have lost everything. In Africa humanitarian aid takes months to reach people. 15 million people need aid in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia; pray for better aid agency networking. Europe has experienced devastating floods. Pray for the 80,000+ who were evacuated and are still receiving relief efforts. In Australia temperatures of 47.3 degrees necessitate a total fire ban. See and also

President Macron said he wanted refugees ‘off the streets’ by 2018, but there are still a thousand of them sleeping rough on Paris streets. Solidarithé provide them with coffee, blankets, and information. A Solidarithé volunteer said that Macron wanted to make the problem invisible, but refugees are just hiding in smaller groups throughout north Paris and Calais. The police order them to move on, and even spray them with tear gas. Refugees’ tents are slashed and sleeping bags and blankets are stolen - anything to stop people sleeping on the streets. It is winter, and health problems are getting worse. Macron has said France is a terre d’accueil (land of welcome), but refugees have no toilets or blankets. If they sleep on the pavement they have to do so standing up. Also 700 migrants are living rough in Calais. See

In general, Europe respects democratic standards and human rights, and has generally continued to do so in recent years despite serious economic turmoil. Nevertheless, many countries are developing problems related to their treatment of immigrants and minorities, and press freedom faces threats in a number of countries. Some governments are working to take control of the flow of information. Recently in Moldova an accredited journalist was prevented from attending a series of public events, despite court rulings affirming the right of access to public information. Such an action, alongside favouring other journalists, raises serious concerns about Moldova president Dodon's commitment to government transparency and freedom of expression as core democratic values.