Hundreds of young German Islamists have travelled to Syria to fight with the terrorist group Islamic State. Der Spiegel explored the extremist scene in Germany and the fascination with jihad in order to find answers about what drives people to join the murderous cult. Whenever Ismail Cetinkaya runs into one of those young men who want to leave Hamburg to fight in Syria, he asks: ‘Have you ever slept without heat in the winter? Do you know what it's like to live without electricity and running water? Do you think a Kalashnikov works like the controller for your PlayStation 4?’ He also asks whether the young man is leaving his mother behind. And then he quotes the words of the Prophet Mohammed, and says: ‘Paradise lies at the feet of your mother.’ The implication being that those who leave their weeping mothers behind won't enter paradise.

In the middle of October the petition ‘No Education Policy under Rainbow (Gay) Ideology’ signed by 192,000 supporters was rejected by the petition commission for no good reason and the state parliament (in Stuttgart) confirmed this rejection in the middle of November with its ‘green-red’ majority. However protest action is now gaining further momentum and has entered a new phase. 3000 citizens in Stuttgart took a stand for the protection and strengthening of the family at one of the ‘Demo for everybody’ demonstrations which are now taking place regularly.  Last month significant articles appeared in the media exposing the background to this ‘Pornographisation’ of the school system. The link between today’s sexual education and the thinking of paedophiles was disclosed to a shocked public.  Radical unchristian teaching, to be incorporated into the new Education Policy is now increasingly coming under criticism. Give thanks for growing resistance. (1 Pe.5:8-9

Child soldiers appear to be playing a part on both sides of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. A boy as young as 15 has been shown training pro-Russian separatist recruits in how to handle weapons, while Ukrainian media have told the story of a 17-year-old volunteer sapper. It is a development that particularly worries the UN children's agency, Unicef, which is investigating ‘anecdotal evidence that children have been recruited and may be directly involved in the fighting’. The fighting, which erupted in April, has claimed more than 4,300 lives and left some 10,000 people wounded. ‘Armed groups should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities people under the age of 18 years,’ says the agency's Ukraine representative Giovanna Barberis.

Pope Francis has told European leaders to do more to help thousands of migrants risking their lives to get to the continent. Addressing the European Parliament for the first time, the pontiff referred to an estimated 3,200 migrants who have drowned this year trying to get to Europe. ‘There needs to be a united response to the question of migration. We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery,’ he said. ‘The boats landing daily on the shores of Europe are filled with men and women who need acceptance and assistance,’ he added, calling on European powers to work together to protect immigrants from human traffickers.  The Pope’s address comes just days after 600 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean between Sicily and North Africa.

Hungarians held rallies across the country on Monday in a protest dubbed ‘public outrage day’. In Budapest more than 10,000 marched accusing Prime Minister Viktor Orban of employing corrupt officials, curbing freedom of speech, failing to manage the economy and changing direction by moving away from the EU and towards Russia. It was the fifth major demonstration in a month. One protester said: ‘Corruption has become widespread in Hungary, and it is impossible to have a normal standard of living.’ Meanwhile Euronews’ reporter asked whether it was only the fault of the current government? A protester responded saying: ‘Over the last decades – as we have heard in the speeches – many bad things happened and the country started to go the wrong way.’ Another protester’s concerns were more about unemployment.

After 70 years of demonic influence of communism and because of the continuous threat coming from the East (Russia) they are desperate for freedom. This coming Sunday, the 16 November, they hold the final election for the President of Romania. There are two candidates: Victor Ponta is the current Prime Minister. He is the representative of the left and extremist parties, the most corrupted person they have ever had as a leader of the government. Johannis Klaus is the Mayor of Sibiu City. He represents the Christian Liberal Alliance. Under his leadership Sibiu was brought up from bankruptcy to one of the most prosperous and civilized city of the country. Mr Johannis is an Evangelical Lutheran believer. He has a personal relationship with God and the Bible is the most important book for him. Mr Johannis has a clear message about the future of the nation. ‘Jesus Christ is Lord of our nation!’

Diabetes is an increasingly serious problem in Europe. Today, at least 32 million Europeans are suffering from the disease. In 2030, that number is expected to have risen to more than 38 million. The EU and tits member states have an opportunity to lower this estimate and reverse this trend. If we act now, we can save lives, improve the quality of life of those affected and save money in the long run. According to the In ternational Diabetes Federation, member states are currently facing and addressing the challenge of diabetes in different ways and at different paces. However, they all have one thing in common. The number of people suffering from the disease is growing. Some countries have been focusing on treating those suffering from the illness, while others have been concentrating on prevention.

Kiev will send reinforcements to key Ukrainian cities to prevent potential attacks from Russia-backed separatists, President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday. He also called on Ukraine’s parliament to rescind a law giving special status to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east of the country, much of which is under the control of separatists. Kiev essentially has no control over rebel authorities in the east, who held their own elections over the weekend and have suggested they may attempt to capture other cities in the region, such as the port city of Mariupol. At a meeting of the country’s security council, Poroshenko said the reinforcements would be for the ‘construction of fortifications’ against a ‘possible offensive in the direction of Mariupol, Berdyansk, Kharkiv and Luhansk north’. Speaking earlier he said he would ask the council and parliament to end the ‘special status’ law for rebellious eastern regions, agreed as part of a ceasefire deal in September.

A 14-year-old boy suspected of planning a series of bombings in Vienna was reported on Thursday to have been offered $25,000 (£16,000) by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to carry out the attacks amid claims that two other youths recruited in the same way remain at large. The arrested youth has not been named by authorities, but has been identified by the Austrian media as Mertkan G, the son of Turkish immigrants who has lived in the country for eight years. He was arrested on Tuesday but details are only now emerging about his case. Among the sites in which he has admitted planning to plant explosives is Vienna's Westbahnhof station, used by 40,000 travellers each day. He had confessed to planning to plant a series of bombs in crowded areas around Vienna, said Michaela Obenaus, a spokesman for the prosecutors' office in the boy's home city of St Pölten

A trade union representing police officers in Germany voiced shock on Monday after thousands of anti-Islam football hooligans had fought running battles with police in the western city of Cologne the previous day. The self-styled ‘Hooligans Against Salafists’ rally marked the worst rioting yet by a new alliance where Germany‘s far-right groups have recruited violence-prone football fans to their anti-foreigner cause. Police, who detained 17 of the 4,000-strong crowd for acts of violence, had to employ water cannon, baton charges and tear gas on Sunday afternoon to regain control of the crowd, which at one point overturned a police van outside Cologne‘s main railway station. ‘If this grouping consolidates and grows further, then I would say we face a new type of violence,’ warned Arnold Plickert, head of the North Rhine Westphalia state chapter of the GdP police union.