Discrimination against Christians is being ‘ignored’ by governments and courts, MPs from across Europe have warned in the wake of a string of cases involving the rights of British workers to wear crosses or discuss their beliefs. The parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe has issued a formal declaration urging states to recognise the principle of ‘reasonable accommodation’ for the beliefs of traditionalist Christians on issues such as homosexuality for the first time. The first test of the new call will come as early as this week with the opening of an employment tribunal case involving a London nursery worker who claims she was dismissed for telling a lesbian colleague her beliefs on same-sex marriage. She also alleges that she was asked to act against her beliefs by reading stories about same-sex couples to children.

Almost one in five Dutch doctors would consider helping someone die even if they had no physical problems but were ‘tired of living’, according to one of the most comprehensive academic studies of such attitudes. The research, in which almost 1,500 GPs, geriatric care doctors and clinical specialists answered a detailed, anonymous survey, also found that 2% of them said they had taken part in such euthanasia or assisted suicide without medical grounds for a patient who was suffering, even though this is prohibited under Dutch law. The paper, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, also found that 40% of the doctors said it was conceivable they would help someone in the early stages of dementia to die, while 3% had done so. Just over a third said they might also be willing to assist people with a psychiatric disease who wished to end their life.

Measles vaccinations must be immediately stepped up across Europe and central Asia after a series of outbreaks, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. Officials say they have been ‘taken aback’ by more than 22,000 cases in 2014 and the first months of this year. The WHO demands that countries control the outbreaks with ‘no exception’. It say the surges threaten the goal of eliminating measles in the region by the end of 2015. Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO regional director for Europe, said: ‘When we consider that over the past two decades we have seen a reduction of 96% in the number of measles cases in the European region, and that we are just a step away from eliminating the disease, we are taken aback by these numbers. We must collectively respond, without further delay, to close immunisation gaps’

The Ukrainian president says his forces are making an ‘organised’ withdrawal from the embattled town of Debaltseve. Petro Poroshenko said 80% of Ukraine's troops left on Wednesday morning, with more to follow. Fighting has raged over the transport hub, with pro-Russian rebels seizing control of most areas, despite a ceasefire deal. Russia's foreign minister said Ukrainian forces had been encircled and were forced to battle their way out. ‘I'm reckoning that common sense will prevail,’ said Sergei Lavrov as he urged the rebels to provide troops who surrendered with food and clothes. Earlier, US Vice-President Joe Biden accused Russia of violating the accord, agreed in Minsk last week. Mr Lavrov told reporters that the rebel attack in Debaltseve did not violate the ceasefire agreement, because the town was part of the rebel-held area at the time the peace deal was signed. Eyewitnesses saw dozens of tanks and columns of weary Ukrainian troops retreating from Debaltseve on Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of people have gathered in towns and cities across Denmark to commemorate the victims of weekend gun attacks in the capital. People holding candles and torches observed a minute's silence at the start of the main event in Copenhagen. Two people were killed and five police were injured in attacks on a free speech debate and a synagogue. The gunman was later shot dead by police. He did not appear to be part of a wider terror cell, Denmark's PM said. Earlier on Monday, two men were charged with providing and disposing of the weapon used in the attacks and helping the gunman to hide. The gunman was named by local media as Omar El-Hussein. Mourners left floral tributes outside the cultural centre that was targeted. The national flag flew at half-mast on official buildings across the capital on Monday.

An estimated 300 people are feared dead after attempting to reach Italy from Libya in three inflatable rafts, the UN refugee agency said after speaking to survivors rescued by Italy's coastguard in the past few days. An Italian tug boat rescued nine people who had been on two different boats on Monday and brought them to the Italian island of Lampedusa on Wednesday morning. They are the only known survivors from their two boats, leaving more than 200 unaccounted for, according to a tweet by Carlotta Sami, the UNHCR spokesperson for Southern Europe. Three boats, each carrying about 100 people, are missing, according to interviews with survivors from two of the boats, Barbara Molinario, another UNCHR official, told the Reuters news agency

At the time of this week’s Prayer Alert publication Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will be discussing the war in his country at an EU summit. Lithuania believes they should supply weapons to Ukraine during the civil war. Many are undecided.  A ‘worst-case scenario’ facing Europe was outlined by a former US ambassador to Ukraine. He said, ‘I think that those who argue against helping Ukraine defend itself against a much bigger and stronger aggressor do not understand the strategic stakes.’ Lord Ashdown is urging the West to use ‘military diplomacy’ while avoiding direct conflict. Many are saying that countries must stand up to Russia over Ukraine, or Europe could descend into a major war for the first time since 1945. The Estonian President compared Western inaction against Russia with the appeasement of Adolf Hilter in 1938. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond accused Mr Putin of ‘acting like some mid-20th century tyrant.’ See also: 

Following multiple stories of religious discrimination, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a report into injustice against Christians. Moldovan Christian MP Valeriu Ghiletchi, of  the Equality and Non-Discrimination Committee, submitted the report, entitled 'Tackling intolerance and discrimination in Europe with a special focus on Christianity'. The report uses case studies from across Europe, including the UK, to highlight the need to improve ‘the principle of reasonable accommodation’ and ensure that Christians in particular are not penalised for their beliefs. ‘Freedom of religion is a fundamental right and one of the foundations of a democratic and pluralist society,’ the report states. ‘Intolerance and discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief affect minority religious groups in Europe as well as people belonging to majority religious groups. However, acts of hostility, violence and vandalism targeting Christians and their places of worship are insufficiently taken into consideration and condemned.

There were smiles all round in Paris, France on Sunday (1 February) as Greece’s new Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis discussed a fresh debt deal with his French counterpart. Varoufakis is on a diplomatic offensive to persuade sceptical eurozone members to agree - by the end of May - on a plan that does not include Greece accepting further bailout money. Hosting the meeting, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin, said France was prepared to help Greece straighten out its finances and added: ‘We cannot rebuild a country without a fair tax system. We must fight against tax fraud and tax optimisation. We are waging a battle both in Europe and at an international level within the G20. But it is obviously something absolutely necessary for Greece, as well.’

Russia's end goal remains the same: to seize more territory and move the line of Russian-controlled territory deeper and deeper into Ukraine. The US and Russia remain as far apart as ever over who is to blame for the current escalation in fighting in eastern Ukraine. The weekend’s deadly rocket attacks on the government-held port city of Mariupol on Saturday have been described by the UN at an extraordinary meeting of the Security Council as a ceasefire violation and a war crime. US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, didn’t mince her words when she described the restarting of the rebel offensive in eastern Ukraine as being ‘Moscow-made’: She said: unfortunately we are back here today because Russia and the separatists have once again flouted these commitments. The targets are fresh ones, but Russia’s end goal remains the same: to seize more territory and move the line of Russian-controlled territory deeper and deeper into Ukraine.’