Since the ‘Freedom Marches’  organized by the two opposition parties led by Imran Khan and Dr Tahiul Qadri on 14 and 15 August (See Prayer Alert 30-2014) the protestors have continued to block Constitution Avenue of Islamabad. Constitution Avenue houses the Parliament, Prime Minister´s Secretariat, Embassies and Supream Court buildings has been occupied for around nine days by PAT and PTI protestors, led by Imran Khan and Dr. Tahiul Qadri, respectively. Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday issued directives to the government and counsels representing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) to vacate the roads leading to the Parliament House and Supream Court by Thursday 28 August. The protestors demand the revamping of the electoral process, the PM´s resignation and the installation of an interim national government and mid-term elections.

Various leaders of the rocket-battered regions in Israel's South have expressed scepticism and frustration in the Gaza cease-fire that took effect Tuesday. ‘Tomorrow I'm going to bury two of my friends - just as I am going to bury my trust in the Israeli government,’ said Haim Yellin the head of the Eshkol Regional Council. Meanwhile an Arabic-language Facebook video captured hundreds of Hamas followers rallying on the Temple Mount calling, ‘spill the blood of infidels and hit Tel Aviv’ while displaying the ISIS flag.The crowd proclaimed allegiance to Hamas and Seraya al-Aksa, the military wing of Fatah and Hamas. Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority, is chair of the Fatah party. The deputy director of the movement for freedom of worship on the Temple Mount said that a relentless second front has geared up. See: 

*Japan: After a month’s rain fell in 24 hours, more than 32 died in 10 landslides of mud and rocks buried homes in Hiroshima city outskirts. * Iran: Two Earthquakes. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck Abdanan on Monday. Water, electricity and telephone lines were cut and houses, buildings and cars were destroyed. Aftershocks could be felt in three provinces. On Wednesday in Dezful, near the Iraq border, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake occurred. There are expected to be further aftershocks. Fire is the most common hazard after an earthquake. Along with traffic confusion after traffic light outages. *USA: Phoenix, Arizona has suffered torrential storms causing severe flooding across the desert region. A resident living there for 20 years said it has never flooded this badly. *India: 160+ died in floods and landslides following days of torrential rain in Nepal and northern India. *Iceland: 300 earthquakes were detected since Tuesday midnight near a volcano showing ‘escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption’. Authorities have evacuated the area. See also: 

Witnesses who fled the sandy fishing village of Doron Baga near the shores of Lake Chad said militants clothed in military and police uniforms loaded 97 men and boys on to trucks and drove them away, leaving no men or boys in the place - only young children, girls and women. They said six older men were also killed in Sunday's raid while another five people were wounded. Terrorists also burned several houses. Boko Haram has dramatically increased attacks on civilians recently and the once-grassroots movement has lost popular support as it becomes more bloodthirsty. Young men are not now willingly volunteering as soldiers. So Boko Haram’s solution is kidnapping boys and forcing them to fight and abducting girls as sex slaves. This is a chilling echo of Ugandan rebel Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, which operated in the same way in Uganda, South Sudan and central Africa for decades

Dozens of journalists - many freelancers without news organisation backing - disappeared in 2012/13 in Syria. On Tuesday ISIS posted a video claiming to show kidnapped American journalist James Foley’s death. He was kidnapped in Syria nearly two years ago. The authenticity of the video, which was also posted on YouTube, could not be verified. YouTube later took down the 4 minute, 40-second video titled, ‘A Message to America,’ showing the journalist kneeling in a desert landscape, clad in an orange jumpsuit  - a reference to the uniforms worn by prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. Standing to his left is a masked ISIS fighter speaking in English with what sounds like an East London accent. Pulling out a knife, he says that Mr. Foley’s execution is in retaliation for the recent American airstrikes ordered by President Obama against the extremist group in Iraq.

On Monday Prime Minister David Cameron said, ‘This is not simply a humanitarian mission. We are determined to do what we can to help Iraq combat this new and very extreme form of terrorism.’  He spoke amid a series of dramatic developments on the ground that will fuel concerns about mission creep. British military planes are flying deeper into Iraq to capture surveillance footage of jihadist fighters which is being used to help Kurdish and Iraqi forces on the ground. Regular soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment were in the Kurdish region last week – despite Downing Street’s assurances that there would be no ‘boots on the ground’. At least 1,000 Royal Marines are being deployed to Jordan in a long-planned joint military exercise with the US. The Defence Secretary said the mission has escalated beyond a humanitarian one. Read more: 

On 9 August a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager. Police and witnesses' accounts varied. The confusion fuelled protests by locals which invited outside agitators bring in gunplay and further violence. Community religious leaders failed in their attempts to dissuade the angry from violent protests. The national president of Black Lawyers for Justice blamed unspecified outside provocateurs for further trouble. Then demonstrators were urged to make their voices heard during the daylight where they can be seen and not be the cover for violent agitators who hide in the crowd and then create chaos. But that idea failed.  Because of inconsistencies in reported facts, and the ethnic balance in the background to this incident there will now be a civil rights investigation. Meanwhile, schools in the area are cancelled this week and businesses are being looted or burned. Proprietors stand guard over their businesses with guns and the National Guard have been called in.

Twenty-five tonnes of scrap metal are at the heart of a major religious recycling project - the plan is to transform them into the first Catholic church built in Communist Cuba since the 1959 revolution. The beams were once part of the stage built for Pope Benedict XVI's historic visit to the city in 2012. The building team need one final permit of five to get started. The days when believers would baptise their children in secret or attend mass surreptitiously in distant neighbourhoods have passed, and even Communist Party members now practise their religion openly. However, since Fidel Castro took power five decades ago the Catholic Church has only renovated existing properties or rebuilt where old ones collapsed. New churches were never sanctioned. Nowadays, local Catholics meet to pray in private houses and are struggling with gradually increasing numbers. Across Cuba, the Catholic Church says around 60% of the population are baptised, though only a small fraction regularly practise their faith.

A Believer in Pakistan writes, ‘He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.  He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. Daniel 2:21-22.  Al Qaeda is lashing out hard in Pakistan. Many are being killed, particularly minority groups like Christians. We never hear about it in the news because the Pakistani government does not want it broadcast (they´re supposed to have everything ‘under control.)' The army is still trying to take out the Taliban in the northwest part of  the country. Please pray for two huge separate marches on Thursday. Two major political parties want to overthrow the government. One is led by Imran Khan, the second is led by Tahir ul Qadri. These are not peaceful marches. Lives could be lost and property damaged, but people are getting fed up with the present government.’ For more information about these marches planned for Pakistan's Independence Day click the more button.