European Commission President
19 Jun 2014The leadership of the Commission has always been a tightly fought contest. In 2014 Britain vetoed the appointment of Guy Verhofstadt, with the French opposed to Chris Patten and leaders settling on José Manuel Barroso instead. The current controversy, coming less than three years before Britain holds a referendum on EU membership. Should the Conservative Party still be in leadership, which has given the election additional importance. EU leaders are expected to make a decision on the next Commission President during a summit next week on the 26th -27th June. The European parliament will hold a confidence vote on the chosen candidate, possibly as early as 15th July. Pray for the new commission president to ensure a fair deal for Britain. See also:
EU takes aim at radical jihadist websites
19 Jun 2014Nine European countries endorsed plans on 5th June to step up intelligence-sharing and take down radical websites to try to stop European citizens going to fight in Syria and bringing violence back home with them.The initiative by states that deem themselves most affected by jihadist violence was given new urgency after the killing of three people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels last month by a Frenchman recently returned from fighting with Islamist rebels in Syria's civil war. EU officials will hold meetings with ‘the leading Internet operators’ this month to look into the possibilities for immediately shutting down web sites and barring messages that spread hatred or encourage violent militancy or terrorism. Also Britain proposed creating a European task force using media campaigns to counter the radicals' message. Experts will work on details of the new measures before they are decided on by ministers at a meeting in Milan in July.
Italy: Navy rescues 1,000 migrants
12 Jun 2014The Italian coastguard rescued more than 1,000 migrants from three separate boats early last Saturday, in the second such operation in two days. The migrants and asylum-seekers were plucked from three boats 40 miles off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa. The rescue came a day after the Italian navy picked up another 2,500 asylum-seekers from 17 boats, as good weather conditions in the Mediterranean further boost the influx of migrants desperate to reach Europe. Most of the migrants and asylum seekers arriving in Italy come from Eritrea or Syria and are departing from Libya. Refugees also come from impoverished parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Thousands have died in tragedies at sea in recent years because they often cross in rickety fishing boats that are badly overcrowded to maximise profits for traffickers.
Aykan Erdemir, a member of Turkey’s parliament, will travel to Diyarbakir Church in mid-June. To prepare for his visit, he looked up the church’s website but his parliamentary office computer blocked the church website with a message that it contained ‘pornographic’ content. Checking the websites of other Turkish Protestant churches Erdemir and his colleagues found they also were blocked. Diyarbakir Church is not under a national ban (occasionally websites are banned). The block only affected computers in the parliament and was quickly removed after Erdemir complained. Erdemir said the episode is a symptom of deep-rooted governmental antagonism toward Christians (especially Protestants) and of Turkey’s increasing intolerance towards minorities. He believes law enforcement authorities consider Christianity to be one of the country’s greatest threats and that military training has reinforced an attitude of marginalisation. ‘They really don’t see Turkish Christians as citizens of this country,’ he said.
EU leaders have agreed to re-evaluate the bloc's agenda after voters ‘sent a strong message’, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has said. Mr Van Rompuy said leaders of the 28 member states had asked him to launch consultations on future policies. He was speaking after a meeting in Brussels to discuss big election gains by populist and far-right parties. The results of the European Parliament election led to calls for an EU rethink by those leaders who suffered defeats. But despite gains by anti-EU groups, pro-European parties still won most votes overall. Tuesday's summit was the first opportunity for leaders of all member states to discuss the way forward after last week's polls. Mr Van Rompuy said the meeting in Brussels had been a ‘useful first discussion’ and that EU leaders had agreed on putting the economy at the heart of the group's agenda.
Ukraine army 'in control' of Donetsk airport
10 Jun 2014Ukraine says it has recaptured the airport in the eastern city of Donetsk after a day of air strikes and fierce gun battles with pro-Moscow separatists that left at least 48 people, including two civilians, dead. ‘The airport is under our full control. The enemy suffered heavy losses. We have none,’ Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a statement on Tuesday. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) also reported that it had lost contact with a four-member observer team based in the restive city since Monday evening. The battle for the main transport hub in Ukraine's industrial heartland erupted on Monday just hours after president-elect Petro Poroshenko vowed to take a tough stand against the ‘terrorists’. Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately called on Ukraine to end its ‘punitive’ operation in the rebel-held east and for talks between Kiev and the pro-Russian separatists.
The UN’s human rights representative in Ukraine has warned that a dark shadow looms over the prospect of holding next weekend’s presidential election in eastern Ukraine. After visiting Donetsk in the east and Odessa in the south, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic said the situation had deteriorated so much that the region could collapse. ‘I felt fear in Donetsk. And it is widespread. And the fear is not only related to security challenges, it’s also related to common criminality,’ he said. Simonovic added that he had received numerous reports of intense pressure being put on election officials in the region, which could put in doubt the possibility of holding the May 25 elections. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has said there has been an increasing number of separatist attacks on polling stations in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with the objective of disrupting Sunday’s elections.
Russian Ministries, a Christian mission group, said it would distribute hundreds of thousands of 'Gospel of Luke' in the Ukraine to help ease tensions amid fears of a new world war. They have already printed 200,000 copies of the Gospel of Luke in the Ukrainian language and intend to print another 200,000 copies in the Russian language for use in Russian-speaking eastern portions of Ukraine. The announcement came amid reports of 48 casualties in the port city of Odessa and more than 20 people killed in the city of Slavyansk during a full-fledged military operation. The group stressed that it wanted to distribute the Bible books ‘in a special effort toward reconciliation and the restoration of peace in the nation.’