France called in the US ambassador to protest against allegations in Le Monde newspaper about large-scale spying on French citizens by the US National Security Agency. France and Mexico have demanded prompt explanations from Washington following allegations leaked by former US security contractor Edward Snowden of 70.3 million taped phone calls in France over a 30-day period between 10 December 2012 and 8 January this year. It was reported that NSA automatically picked up communications from certain phone numbers in France and recorded text messages under a programme code-named ‘US-985D’.

Pray: for constructive, honest and open international relationships that will prevent and apprehend computer-generated terrorist activities. (Pr.16:7-8 & Is.29:5)

More: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/10/france-summons-us-ambassador-over-spying-2013102183224174263.html

The chief suspect in Saturday’s stabbing of a French soldier was a recent convert to Islam who was acting in accordance with his religious beliefs, French prosecution officials revealed Wednesday. The 21-year-old suspect, who was arrested early Wednesday in a Parisian suburb, had confessed to stabbing the French soldier, said Paris prosecutor Francois Molins. According to Molins, video surveillance footage showed the suspect ‘saying a Muslim prayer’ shortly before attacking a French soldier patrolling a business neighbourhood west of Paris on Saturday. The pre-attack prayer combined with the fact that the stabbing occurred three days after the May 22 murder of a British soldier in London has led prosecutors to believe the suspect ‘was acting on the basis of religious beliefs,’ said Molins. ‘It seems clear the intent was to kill.’

Pray: against any further escalation of terrorist attacks by those acting in accordance with their religious belief. (Ps.109:28)

More: http://www.france24.com/en/20130529-france-stabbing-suspect-convert-islam-religiously-motivated-prosecutor

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made headlines in France by returning to a theme once common with him, but that he seemed to have abandoned: the importance of France’s Christian heritage, reports LifeSiteNews.com. Speaking before a crowd of dignitaries in the ancient town of Puy-en-Velay, a key location in the history of French religious devotion, Sarkozy vigorously defended the importance of the Christian contribution to the cultural foundations of France. ‘Christianity has left to us a magnificent heritage. I am the president of a secular republic, but I can say this because it is the truth. I am not proselytizing,’ he told the group. He added, ‘Chartres, Amiens, Reims, Strasbourg, Paris, none of these towns would be today what they are in the eyes of the French and the eyes of the rest of the world without these cathedrals on which the faithful and tourists always converge.’

Pray: that President Sarkozy’s comments on the importance of Christian heritage would be widely accepted. (Ps.119:111)

More: http://www.christiantelegraph.com/issue12442.html

French legislators rejected a bill to legalize ‘homosexual marriage’ today in a decisive vote by the National Assembly, the nation’s lower legislative house, reports LifeSiteNews.com. Assembly representatives voted against the bill, proposed by socialists, by a majority of 293 to 222. The vote follows a ruling in January by the nation’s highest court, the Constitutional Council, stating that homosexual ‘marriage’ is not a constitutional right. Although a recent and much-cited poll found that a majority of French voters, 58 percent, favour the creation of homosexual ‘marriage,’ Michel Difenbacher of the majority Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party said he thought it not necessary ‘to go with the wind nor to cede to fashion’ with regard to the issue. ‘We are against homophobia but we do not want to alter the image and function of marriage within society', Difenbacher said.

Pray: that this decision will be accepted by the people.

More: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/french-national-assembly-rejects-homosexual-marriage-in-historic-vote

French police are holding nine suspected Islamists as part of an anti-terrorism investigation. Three were arrested last Tuesday in southern France. The other six detained last Monday in the Paris area have been described by the Interior Minister Manuel Valls as ‘particularly dangerous’. They are being questioned by anti-terrorist investigators at Levallois, north of the capital. By law they can be held for up to four days. Monday’s raids by anti-terrorist police took place in three towns around Paris. Four of the six suspects are French, one is from Benin and the other from the Comoros Islands. They are all said to be aged in their twenties and thirties. They are thought to have been involved in armed robberies including a hold-up at a bank near the capital in April. Since the murders by one individual of seven people in Toulouse last year, several terrorist cells have been dismantled, according to the interior minister. France raised its domestic terror alert level after its military intervention in Mali.

Pray: that the authorities will continue to be successful in thwarting the terrorist activities. (Pro.2:7)

More: http://www.euronews.com/2013/06/25/french-police-swoop-on-islamist-terror-suspects/

Evangelical Christian believers account for only .8% of the population. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (1.5% and .9%) have more Evangelicals per capita. Church attendance is one of the lowest in Europe (6-8%). 80% of French people have never owned or even seen a Bible. There are approximately 50,000 full-time practitioners of occult arts (tarot, fortune telling, psychic healing, etc) who easily outnumber the 35,000 full-time Christian workers in France. Muslims make up approx 10% of France’s population - the highest percentage in any European country. (Source: Operation World) Secularization has become a movement in France whose sole objective is to confine faith and its expression to the private sphere. But light that shines where it is the darkest shines the brightest.

Pray: for the Kingdom of God to mature and produce fruit in France in 2013. (Ps.85:6)

More: http://www.prayforfrance.org/whyfrance

Jean Leonetti, Mayor of Antibes, says ‘NO’ to Muslim demands for sharia compliance in schools. He firmly rejected Muslim parents’ demand for the abolition of all pork products in Antibes school cafeterias, adding that Muslims must adapt to France, its customs, its traditions, and way of life, not the other way around. Muslims must understand that it is for them to change their lifestyle, not the French who so generously allowed them into their country. The French are not racist or xenophobic, they accepted many immigrants before Muslims (while the reverse is not true as Muslims do not readily accept non-Muslim foreigners on their soil.)

Pray: that Muslims would learn to live in France adopting the nations ways..

More: http://europenews.dk/en/node/72566

A French mayor is facing up to five years in prison and a fine of up to £63,000 for declining to carry out a same-sex marriage. Jean-Michel Colo, a mayor in South West France, rejected a wedding application from two men and says he stands by his decision. But under French law, discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation can be punishable by up to half a decade in prison and up to a 75,000 Euro fine. He could also be removed from office, or face suspension over the move – which is being supported by his deputies. Mayor Colo said while it is up to individuals what they do in the privacy of their own homes, ‘if you ask me as the mayor to support it, then I am very uncomfortable with it’. Speaking to a French newspaper, the French Interior Minister said elected officials ‘who do not respect the laws of the republic will risk significant sanctions’. (See Prayer Alert 17-2013)

Pray: for Jean-Michel that he will be given the strength to stand by his decision and receive support for his beliefs. (Lev.20.13a)

More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/france-mayor-faces-jail-for-gay-wedding-refusal/

Three suspected Islamist militants arrested in southern France appeared to be planning an attack in the days ahead, the Paris prosecutor said on Monday, the anniversary of an a-Qaeda-inspired shooting that rocked France. Police found weapons and explosives at the home of one of the suspects in the town of Marignane, near Marseille, and intercepted communications between the men suggested they were close to going into action, prosecutor Francois Molins said. The three men, who were taken in for questioning last week with a fourth man who was later released, were to be placed under formal investigation later on Monday. ‘The investigation showed we were faced with a veritable laboratory for making improvised explosive devices and, even if we had no evidence of a precise plan, the messages exchanged by the participants suggested the timetable could be accelerated,’ Molins told reporters.

Pray: that all those with radical militant ideas will be confounded. (Job.6:23)

More: http://news.yahoo.com/arrested-islamists-suspected-planning-attack-france-133743655.html