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Eight out of ten instances of violentattacks on members of the LGBT community in Europe go unreported, according to a report published (15 May). According to the report, compiled by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, and based on the experiences of 93,000 respondents across the European Union, around LGBT) people in Europe have suffered some form of violent attack. However, the huge majority of those attacks go unreported. This is part of a growing trend in Europe, says agency director, Morten Kjaerum. A report to be published in the autumn on anti-Semitism reveals that around 85% of Jewish respondents who faced attacks based on religion said they did not report the incidents. ‘There is an acceptance that violence is an everyday occurrence for these people,’ he said. In addition, there exists a ‘devastating’ lack of confidence in law enforcement agencies.
Pray: that the reactions of people to the LGBT community will not be hatred but God’s love. (1Jn.3:10)
More: http://www.neurope.eu/article/bette r-reporting-hate-crime-must-europe
Tens of thousands of Belgians took to the streets on Sunday to shame political leaders who have failed to form a government more than seven months after an election and left the country at the mercy of financial markets. Organisers of the ‘Shame: no government, great country’ protest said up to 50,000 people had joined the march through the capital Brussels. Police put the figure at 34,000. Since the inconclusive June 2010 parliamentary vote, a caretaker administration has run the country while Dutch and French-speaking party leaders have argued over the degree to which powers and tax-raising rights should be transferred to regions of the linguistically divided country. ‘We are here because we want to show the political leaders that things must change. It's the politicians who are trying to split the country'.
Pray: that the government would listen to the people and work through their differences together. (Ep.4:2-4)
Divided French and Dutch speaking parties gathered in Brussels on Tuesday in a fresh bid to forge a new Belgian government. It is now more than 450 days since Belgium had a fully functioning administration; the country passed that unenviable milestone on Monday. Despite 15 months of deadlock it is hoped the latest round of talks will finally break through the impasse. Reporting from Brussels euronews Gulsum Alan says: ‘Some believe a deal can be reached if the Liberals and Christian Democrats want it badly enough. The alternative could be elections’. Longstanding linguistic and cultural divisions lie at the heart of the political stalemate, however the most acute problem is the future of Brussels. French speaking parties oppose plans to break up the city’s current electoral boundaries, a key demand of their Flemish counterparts. Belgium’s socialist leader Elio Di Rupo is the man currently charged with trying to strike a deal. He has had 10 predecessors since the elections in 2010.
Pray: for the spirit of unity to prevail and differences be healed. (Eph.4:3)
More: http://www.euronews.net/2011/09/06/belgium-seeks-new-government-after-450-milestone/
Police in three countries have arrested 10 radical Islamists over a terrorist plot to attack Belgium, Belgian federal prosecutors say. They were detained in police swoops in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany after a year-long investigation by police in the Belgian city of Antwerp. An 'international jihadist terrorist group' was allegedly plotting to attack an unspecified target in Belgium. The police investigation also looked at funding for a Chechen militant group. The 10 suspects were arrested in simultaneous operations on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for prosecutors said in a press release. Among the 10 arrested are Belgians, Dutch, Moroccans and Chechens, and most of the detainees are resident in Antwerp, the prosecutors' spokeswoman said. In the course of the Belgian investigation, a number of other people were also arrested in Spain, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Pray: for Governments and authorities to be granted wisdom on how to handle terrorists. (Jer.1:19) More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11820008
On Saturday 28 April 2012 between 10 am and 4pm there will be a gathering of Belgium prayer leaders at the International Baptist Church, Lange Eikstraat 78. Leaders from across the country will gather to exchange ideas and materials, forge networks and links, be encouraged by the Lord and strengthen each other in their motivation for prayer and intercession. The organizers are expecting individuals who are involved in a wide range of prayer initiatives, cells and groups, prayer websites, prayer leaders and coordinators. This day will focus on the whole of Belgium and will be in three languages (NL, FR, ENG.)
Pray: for the delegates to be encouraged and empowered as they get to know one another and intercede together for their land. (Mat. 18:19)
A gunman opened fire on passers-by and threw grenades in a central square of the Belgian city of Liege, fatally wounding at least four people and injuring scores more before apparently killing himself. Separately, on Wednesday police found a woman's body in a warehouse used by the gunman, who has been named as Nordine Amrani. Late on Tuesday a Liege hospital announced that a 17-month-old girl had become the fourth victim of the shooting spree, after two teenage boys and a 75-year-old woman were earlier confirmed killed. Officials said at least 120 others were also wounded in the attack. Daniele Reynders, the public prosecutor for Liege, told reporters ‘Amrani committed suicide with a bullet to the head. He left no message to explain his act’. Police had recently raided his Liege home seeking cannabis plants, but had found arms instead. In 2008, he was sentenced to almost five years in prison for illegal possession of arms and growing cannabis.
Pray: for all those caught up in this atrocity that God will bring them physical, spiritual healing and peace. (Col.1:2)
More: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2011/12/20111213125725322987.html
The Brussels Court of Appeal has ruled that parents may sue physicians who fail to diagnose ‘serious disabilities’ of pre-born children, assuming that had the parents known they would have had the disabled child killed through an abortion, reports LifeSiteNews.com. The September 21st ruling said, ‘certainly, the misdiagnosis did not cause the child’s disability, which existed before the error and which could not be remedied.’ But, the court said, ‘the injury [that] must be compensated is not the disability itself, but the fact of being born with such disabilities.’ The court commented that abortion is in the best interest of the child whose parents would have it killed, noting that since abortion was legalized, ‘the legislature must have intended to help avoid giving birth to children with serious abnormalities, having regard not only to the interests of the mother but also to that of the unborn child itself.’
Pray: that this ruling will be reversed and life would be honoured. (Is.42:5)
Belgium’s federal parliament is close to introducing a ‘right to die’ for sick children, according to reports in a Belgian newspaper. Der Morgen has said that a consensus is forming around proposed legislation which would allow children, whose situation is deemed dire enough, to opt for euthanasia. Euthanasia is already legal in Belgium. A law legalising the practice was introduced in 2002 but restricted it to people aged 18 or over. If the law passes, Belgium would become the first country to legalise euthanasia for children. The bill was introduced in December by the Socialist Party. It would lay out guidelines for doctors to assess on a case by case basis whether a child is mature enough to make the decision to end their life and whether the child’s illness is serious enough to warrant euthanasia. Leader of the Socialist party, Thierry Giet, said: ‘The idea is to update the law to take better account of dramatic situations.’ (See also Prayer Alert 01-2013)
Pray: that these proposed changes will not be accepted. (Ps.119:126)
More: http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/end-of-life/belgium-considers-euthanasia-for-children
Belgium is considering allowing children and Alzheimer’s sufferers to ask to be euthanized. The proposed changes to the country’s decade-old law were submitted to Parliament on Tuesday by the Socialist Party. The draft legislation calls for ‘the law to be extended to minors if they are capable of discernment or affected by an incurable illness or suffering that we cannot alleviate’. Belgium was the second country in the world after the Netherlands to legalise euthanasia, but it applies to people over the age of 18. The European Institute of Bioethics has already criticised the current law in Belgium, in a report reviewing ten years of euthanasia in the country. Dr Peter Saunders, director of campaign group Care not Killing, warned in response to the report: ‘The lessons are clear. Once you relax the law on euthanasia or assisted suicide steady extension will follow as night follows day.’
Pray: that the Care not Killing response be listened to and these proposed changes would not be accepted. (Ps.119:126)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/belgium-considering-extending-euthanasia-law-to-children/
The body that keeps tabs on the terrorist threat in Belgium, the OCAD, has just heightened the country's terror alert level from 2 to 3 across Brussels. The OCAD that analyses the security situation believes that there is now a greater terrorist threat following Friday night's stabbing of two police officers on the Brussels metro. The OCAD says that the terrorist threat in Brussels is now serious. Until yesterday alert level 3 only affected the Brussels borough of Saint-Jans-Molenbeek where the arrest of a woman wearing a full veil sparked rioting. Level 3 has now been extended to the entire Brussels Region.
Pray: that the situations which led to the terror alert rising would be calmed. (Ac.4:29)
More: http://europenews.dk/en/node/55495