From May 14 to16, in Wiesbaden, Germany, International Prayer Connect will hold a prayer conference for Europe for prayer leaders based on the fact that Europe is the first port of call for millions of immigrants coming from the Arab world. This conference will be the third in a succession of similar prayer gatherings where God’s people have sought His face for Europe. The first was in 2013 in the UK. Many representatives of Arabic churches attended. In 2014 Germany held a similar conference and later that year 35 prayer leaders from 15 European countries organised the 2015 conference that is to be not only for the Arabs living in Europe, but for all Christians to unite and seek God's face in a season when many believe He is calling His church to rise up and stand in prayer for Europe in a time of significant security threats and economic cracks that are beginning to happen across nations. For more info please visit, www.riseup-now.com
Russia’s intervention in Ukraine is a big concern for Poles who fear Moscow might be planning an invasion of their country. This has reportedly resulted in increasing numbers of Poles joining volunteer paramilitary groups that provide basic military training. Up to now, the Polish government has ignored unofficial militias. Now it is reportedly seeking a way to harness the 120 volunteer groups that boast a membership of 10,000. Some 800 members of paramilitary groups gathered in Warsaw on March 20 to attend a meeting hosted by the defence ministry. Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak announced the government’s decision to pay the wages of 2,500 people who would form the backbone of local volunteer units to be mobilised in the event of a war. In an interview with Reuters, the Polish President's chief security adviser, General Stanislaw Koziej, said the new approach had been prompted by the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine, where Russia is accused of fighting alongside pro-Moscow separatists.
Churches have opened their doors in the wake of Tuesday's Germanwings Airbus crash in the French Alps, which killed all 150 people on board. Sixteen of those who died were teenagers on a Spanish exchange programme from Joseph-Koenig school in Germany. Two of their teachers were also on the plane. The local Catholic Church in Haltern, St Sixtus, was reportedly open all night for mourners. Hundreds of people visited the church after the news broke yesterday to light candles and write messages of condolence to the families of those who died. At the school just 1.5km away, residents covered the entrance with flowers and red and white candles. Deputy Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Sylvia Loehrmann, told reporters on Wednesday: ‘We can only share that pain and maybe some comfort can grow from that sharing. All of Germany is mourning with us and the whole world is sending us messages.’ At least three Britons were also killed.
Part of a statement released at the 28th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the 13 March said, ’The Middle East is living in a situation of instability and conflict. The consequences are disastrous for the entire population of the region. The existence of many religious communities is seriously threatened. Christians are now especially affected. These days even their survival is in question. Efforts to build a better future for all are frustrated. We witness a situation where violence, religious and ethnic hatred, fundamentalist radicalism, extremism, intolerance, exclusion, destruction of the social fabric of whole societies and communities are becoming the features of a non-viable political and social model, endangering the very existence of many communities, the Christian community in particular. We are confident that, all civic and religious leaders in the Middle East, will join us in addressing this alarming situation by building together a culture of peaceful coexistence. In our globalised world, pluralism is an enrichment.
At the moment Turkey is supporting forces forming to retake Mosul from IS by assisting America to train and equip Syrian rebel forces in Turkey, strengthening border security and upgrading discussions with the international coalition. Turkey also has influence among the Sunni Arab tribes of Mosul and other Sunnis, which allows it to collect human intelligence. A Turkish security official requesting anonymity said, ‘1.3 million people live in Mosul, at least 300,000 people will escape toward the Turkish border. We have to get ready for this potentially massive wave of immigration. Sadly Turkey is not at all ready for this serious issue.’ Another Turkish intelligence official said that Turkey is the only country with considerable influence with all Mosul tribes and other Sunni Arabs; and Turkey could easily be an intermediary, talking to all the parties and potentially achieving results with minimum bloodshed.
Both Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels have pulled back most of their heavy artillery from the front line in accordance with a February ceasefire deal, Ukraine’s president said late Monday, amid reports of fresh clashes in the east. However Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko told a state broadcaster that some heavy weaponry remains in place at the airport in the rebel-held city of Donetsk. World leaders hope the withdrawal of heavy weapons as agreed at high-level peace talks last month will help bring a definitive end to the conflict, which the UN estimates has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced almost 1.8 million. The pullback is being overseen by hundreds of monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which has in the past cited a lack of cooperation on both sides. Poroshenko said in his interview that exchanges of artillery and rocket fire have largely stopped along the 485-kilometre (300-mile) front.
Hungary's foreign minister says his country has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the ‘brutal actions’ committed against Christians by the Islamic State group. Minister Péter Szijjártó said it was crucial for the Netherlands-based ICC to ‘prosecute the perpetrators’ of the anti-Christian violence ‘with rigour’. Islamic State militants have been beheading Christians, including at least 21 Egyptian Copts last month in Libya, after they refused to abandon their faith in Jesus Christ. Szijjártó's remarks came while concerns remained on Tuesday, 3 March, over more than 200 Christians abducted in Syria last week, the latest in a series of known kidnappings by the group. The minister said he spoke this week of Hungary's concerns about the crackdown on Christians during a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said his nation needs new, tougher rules allowing for the detention and expulsion of illegal migrants, otherwise Hungary would ‘turn into a refugee camp.’
Discrimination against Christians is being ‘ignored’ by governments and courts, MPs from across Europe have warned in the wake of a string of cases involving the rights of British workers to wear crosses or discuss their beliefs. The parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe has issued a formal declaration urging states to recognise the principle of ‘reasonable accommodation’ for the beliefs of traditionalist Christians on issues such as homosexuality for the first time. The first test of the new call will come as early as this week with the opening of an employment tribunal case involving a London nursery worker who claims she was dismissed for telling a lesbian colleague her beliefs on same-sex marriage. She also alleges that she was asked to act against her beliefs by reading stories about same-sex couples to children.