Woman loses court battle in gender abortion case
04 Dec 2015
A woman has lost her legal challenge to bring charges against two doctors accused of agreeing to perform abortions based on the sex of unborn baby girls. Aisling Hubert, a pro-life campaigner from Brighton, accused the Director of Public Prosecutions of making ‘politically motivated’ rather than ‘legally based’ decisions. Sitting in London, Lord Justice Burnett and Mr Justice Irwin refused Ms Hubert permission to seek a judicial review; they will give their full reasons at a later date. The case centred on the actions of two doctors facing the first-ever private prosecution on gender abortion charges after an undercover newspaper investigation filmed them agreeing to arrange terminations because of the gender of the foetus. Ms Hubert now faces a legal bill of over £22,000. Her barrister said, ‘The desire to choose whether people have boys or girls is creating problems and raising important issues which should be addressed by the courts.’
Damascus comments on UK air strikes on Syria
04 Dec 2015
Thursday’s Damascus newspapers criticised the West's engagement in Syria. ‘Britain didn't ask permission from Syria's government,’ declares the state news agency SANA. ‘Cameron told lies,’ it says. Syrian officials insist Britain and its allies must follow Russia's example and co-ordinate their campaign with Syrian government forces. If they don't, they warn, they simply won't succeed. The deadlock over President al-Assad's future role will continue to block the formation of a unified command against a common enemy. It will also stand in the way of Britain's pledge that it will now also focus on finding a negotiated way out of this war. Syrian activists and opposition groups feel bitterly let down that the West did not give them this kind of military support to help remove Assad. Many Syrians, exhausted by war, want to believe Britain's promise that it is stepping up the fight to ‘win the peace’ - as hard as that is.
David Cameron and IS funding
04 Dec 2015
Former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown suggests David Cameron has failed to exert pressure on Saudi Arabia and Qatar to stop 'rich businessmen' from funding jihadists because of the 'closeness' between the Tories and wealthy Arabs. Speaking on the Radio 4 Today programme, he said there was a failure by the government to put pressure on Saudi and Qatar to stop funding the Salafists and the Wahhabists and also to remind them they need to play a larger military part in this campaign against Daesh. The last Saudi plane seen flying as part of the coalition over Syria was three months ago; the last Qatari plane was nearly a year ago.He also said, ‘The Government has refused to have a proper inquiry into the funding of jihadism in Britain; this leads me to worry about the closeness between the Conservative Party and rich Arab Gulf individuals’. See also this week’s Prayer Alert World article no 1.
Brussels: Christians ‘the most persecuted’
04 Dec 2015
In a high-level meeting on religious persecution in Brussels, the President of the European Parliament (EP) said that Europe cannot afford to continue ignoring the fate of Christians, who are clearly the most persecuted group in the world. EP President Martin Schulz said that the persecution of Christians is ‘undervalued’ and does not receive enough attention, which also means that it has not been properly addressed. For Islamists, Christians are the new ‘crusaders’ of Europe. Because of Islamic persecution in the Middle East, more than 70% of Christians have fled from Iraq since 2003, and a further 700,000 Christians have been forced to leave their homes in Syria since the outbreak of civil war.
Russia accuses Erdogan of buying oil from IS
04 Dec 2015
Russia's deputy defence minister, Anatoly Antonov, has accused the family of Turkish President Erdogan of being directly involved in the trade of oil with IS. Mr. Antonov said Turkey was the biggest buyer of ‘stolen’ oil from Syria and Iraq. Mr Erdogan said Russia had no right to ‘slander’ Turkey. The Syrian conflict has given rise to an extensive war economy in which murky deals are struck between a host of partners, even including groups that are fighting each other on the battlefield (see also this week’s Prayer Alert World article no 1). ‘It is not possible to explain Russia's allegations by reason,’ said Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, rejecting Russia's claims at a meeting of businessmen in Ankara. US officials have previously said they have information suggesting Turkish ‘middlemen’ are involved in the illegal IS oil trade.
Finding new life in Croatia
04 Dec 2015
Croatia typically makes headlines these days because of the 460,000 refugees that have passed through it to reach safe havens like Germany. Cold weather and stricter border controls are slowing down the mass movement of peoples, but refugees are still undeterred. Today, though, there is a different movement of people that is saving lives. It began last year when God put it on a woman’s heart to create a life giving ministry in Croatia. With prayer support and training from crisis pregnancy centres in neighbouring countries, she began ‘Choose Life Ministry’. Now desperate women learn about Christ’s forgiveness and redemption, find hope and new life in a crisis moment, and hear about the life-giving message of Jesus Christ as they choose life for their children and hope for their future.
Bharat held a good government job in India and lived a comfortable life. Then ugly white patches spread across his body. All his savings went on unsuccessful treatments. He lost his job and became bitter. The future looked bleak, he lost hope and quarrelled and fought with everyone. Then someone gave him a Trans World Radio programme guide and suggested he listen to The Word Today programme in his language. The man also prayed with him. Through the programme Bharat moved closer to Jesus Christ and pondered daily on what he had heard. His life changed, he had hope, he refrained from alcohol and stopped quarrelling with others. He said, ‘Peace trickled into my life and the lives of my family members. When prayers were said on the radio, our family prayed along. Now my whole family believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and have accepted him as our Saviour.’ God also removed 90% of the patches on his body.
Tashfeen Malik, the woman involved in California’s mass shooting, is the latest in a growing number of extremists using social media to publicise their crimes. Facebook said she used an alias to praise IS online shortly before, or during, the attack. Malik's posting echoes similar bids for attention by violent perpetrators; for example, a disgruntled Virginia TV broadcaster recorded himself shooting two co-workers and then posted the video online, and a Florida man killed his wife and shared a photo of her body on social media. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other social media companies do their best to block or remove posts that glorify violence, but experts say it's an uphill battle. The advent of new services enabling people to stream live video from events makes the task more challenging. Online services use automated software to help detect posts depicting or encouraging violence; however, all the policies in the world won't help unless companies devote staff and resources to enforcing them.