Finland: Terminal care lacking
09 Jun 2015
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.
Faroe Islands: Brutal cull of pilot whales
09 Jun 2015
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: Moving towards western values
09 Jun 2015
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’.
Czech Republic: Elections every year until 2027
09 Jun 2015
Prague announced on Monday that Czechs will go to elections every year from 2016 until 2027 - a total of 19 elections are scheduled. This year is the only year when voters and political parties can have a rest before a permanent election campaign. The parties are preparing for the regional election next year along with the election to one-third of the Senate and the upper house of parliament. Elections for the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house, are in 2017. In 2018, Czechs will vote three times - January presidential and autumn local and Senate. The election marathon will test voters´ patience and burden the parties´ coffers.
Cyprus: The ‘great divide’
09 Jun 2015
Cyprus is mentioned numerous times in the Bible and Barnabas, one of the earliest Christian missionaries, was a native Cypriot. A 1974 Turkish invasion and occupation of the north has divided the island to this day, creating as many as 230,000 refugees. The Republic of Cyprus, claiming authority over the whole island, is recognized internationally as the official state, while only Turkey recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The Orthodox Church is a key element of Greek Cypriot culture and identity and Cyprus is one of the more religious countries in the EU. However there is much bitterness and prejudice between the Greek Cypriot Christians of the south and Turkish Cypriots in the north.
The following is an English translation from a Croatian newspaper. A container with 5,200 pounds of clothing started early last week from Caritas Diocese of Dubrovnik to the needy in Tanzania. It is a charitable action that has taken fifty volunteers, along with the staff of Caritas, three months. The action was a response to the members of the prayer group EFFATHA and young people from the parish of St. Peter-Boninovo. The need for such charitable action emerged last summer after a visit by the Reverend David to the Archdiocese of Songea in Tanzania. The goods that they are sending will be distributed free of charge to the needy.
Bulgaria: Unreached people, Islam and terrorism
09 Jun 2015
There are sixteen language groups in Bulgaria - the three main ones are Romani, Turkish, and Bulgarian. Gypsies are one of the major ethnic groups who, under the communist regime, were sent to ghettos to live without electricity or running water. Today, because of their isolation and poor living conditions many Gypsies are not educated and unable to find jobs. Islam in Bulgaria dates to the Ottoman era and is practiced today with folk magic. Muslims are largely unaware of Islamic teachings and Muslim missionaries (who outnumber Christian missionaries) are funded to teach Bulgarian Muslims a ‘’purer Islam’ and to push for greater Islamic influence. 24% of Bulgarians have never heard of Jesus. Meanwhile the English Government’s foreign travel advice warns, ‘There is an underlying threat from terrorism in Bulgaria’. See: Tourist