As talks between Greece and its creditors drag on and pressure mounts on both sides to find a deal, relations between Athens and its European partners are getting worse. Tensions over reforms-for-aid negotiations came to a head on Sunday when European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker accused the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of distorting what the creditors had proposed to make some headway in securing a deal for the country. Tsipras said he was ‘unpleasantly surprised’ by the offer made by Juncker, who - as head of one of the three institutions overseeing Greece's bailout programme, along with the International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank - had helped to craft the proposals. It was reported by Reuters that Juncker refused a request from Tsipras to meet him on Saturday, feeling that there was little left to discuss. Expectations are rising that Greece could default on its debt and leave the eurozone altogether.
Britain's failure to tackle Spanish aggression over Gibraltar has sparked the shock resignation of the governor of the Rock. Lieutenant General Sir James Dutton took the unprecedented step of quitting the overseas territory after less than two years amid frustration he had been ‘sold a duff’. The resignation has sparked fears that his replacement will be a civil servant, responsible to Whitehall, and less likely to stand up to Spanish sabre-rattling. This would end 300 years of rule by a military governor directly accountable to the Queen. The Foreign Office is searching for his replacement to take up the role in September.
The US and German leaders say sanctions on Russia must stay until it implements a deal to end fighting in Ukraine. President Barack Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel held talks as the G7 summit of economic powers began in southern Germany on Monday. Moscow is the target of European Union and US sanctions over its role in support of Ukrainian rebels. Russia has been excluded from what was previously known as the G8, since the annexation of Crimea last year. The West accuses Russia of sending military forces into eastern Ukraine to help the rebels. Moscow denies this, saying any Russian soldiers there are volunteers.
Fourteen members of a banned Islamic group stood trial in Paris on Monday on terror charges after police found a ‘hit list’ of Jewish stores marked ‘targets’ in files belonging to its leader. Several of the stores belonged to the Hyper Cacher chain, like the one in which four people were killed in a hostage drama two days after the Islamist killings at Charlie Hebdo. The fourteen are charged with criminal conspiracy related to a terrorist enterprise. Some also face charges of illegal possession of weapons. All face prison terms of ten years if found guilty. One of the group's reported sympathisers, Omar Diaby, is a top recruitment sergeant of French Islamists for al-Nusra Front, the Syrian jihadist group.
Finnish palliative care is well behind other European countries, with doctors and nurses receiving inadequate training for treating terminally ill patients. Finnish patients who are living out the final months, weeks or even days of their lives do not receive adequate care or attention, according to experts in the still embryonic field. Many terminally ill people suffer from fears and pains that healthcare workers aren't able to help them face. Although interest in developing palliative care is slowly rising the biggest obstacle seems to be the healthcare professional's ability to come face to face with the patient and their families and painkillers are also often administered too carefully. The reason for the distress has to do with the low level of training doctors and nurses receive for situations involving dying patients and many doctors may dismiss the final needs of the terminally ill.
On Saturday a large pod of pilot whales was slaughtered in the first grindadráp (grind) of the year, on the island of Vágar in the northwest of the Faroe Islands archipelago. The slaughter occurred just two weeks before Sea Shepherd crews are due to arrive in the islands for the commencement of the organisation’s 2015 Faroe Islands Pilot Whale Defence Campaign, Operation Sleppid Grindini. It is estimated 150 individual pilot whales were in the slaughtered pod, making this one of the bloodiest grinds in at least two years. The ordeal commenced at approximately 0400 local time when the Faroese Fisheries Patrol vessel, Brimil, located the pod and over the next four to five hours twenty-five hunting boats herded them on to the beach where the grind eventually took place. For more than four long, grueling hours, these animals fought for their lives. They were harassed, tortured, and then killed in the presence of their family members.
Estonia has shale-oil reserves, which it uses for producing energy, making it the leading energy producer for much of Latvia and northwest Russia. There is a need for wise officials to stand firm on Biblical foundations during Estonia’s transition to a more Western economy. With a history of severe persecution of all faiths between 1940-1988, 54% of Estonians are now non-religious. Secularism and pluralism maintain a tight hold. Many are drawn to pagan religions, as well as marginal sects such as Mormonism. A religiously open door in Estonia has made this nation susceptible to many false teachings, while also opening up vast opportunities for the Gospel to penetrate a spiritually devastated land. For many of the 45% of Christian Estonians, their faith holds little meaning in their daily life and their understanding of the Gospel is limited. Re-evangelisation is desperately needed.
The Government is spending millions sending young convicts on cruises in the hope it will help them stay clean. How should social services respond to a young hooligan who holds up a convenience store with a carving knife? Denmark has the answer - send him on a Caribbean cruise for a year. Local Danish councils have spent £4m sending youth criminals and drug abusers on sailing voyages in the Caribbean. Mayor, John Schmidt Andersen said it looks strange but this isn’t a cruise, there are demands made. One of the offenders said he had found it easy to get marijuana during his year on one of the ships. ‘The Caribbean is the world’s marijuana capital. It is growing everywhere, even the police smoke it. Down there it’s just a matter of finding someone on the streets with a joint and then buying some’.