Displaying items by tag: Germany

Thursday, 03 June 2021 20:59

Germany: fake Covid vaccine certificates

The Cologne police force has set up a special team to combat a growing black market in forged vaccine certificates. Fraudsters are communicating via an encrypted messenger service which makes investigations difficult, and the police are still trying to determine the scale of the problem nationally. Some people are duped into paying about £86 then get nothing. Covid ‘passports’ to ease travel are being rolled out now across the EU. 44% of Germans have had at least one jab and over 18% of the population are fully vaccinated against Covid. The fraud takes place on the Telegram messenger service and involves both real traffic in fake certificates and fake offers which lure people into paying but provide nothing. Often cryptocurrency is used, like in the online black markets in drugs and weapons. Telegram has become a hub for anti-vaxxers, suspicious of vaccines and denying official data about the pandemic. Proving that you are Covid-free allows access to restaurants, leisure facilities, foreign travel, and more.

Published in Europe

The governments of the UK, Germany and France have expressed ‘grave concern’ over Iran’s move to boost uranium enrichment to 60% in response to what Tehran says was an attack by Israel against its key nuclear facility at Natanz. The three European countries say the announcement is ‘particularly regrettable’ at a time when talks in Vienna have resumed, including the United States, to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. They also said this was showing Iran to be on the path to a nuclear weapon, adding, ‘Iran has no credible civilian need for enrichment at this level’.

Published in Europe

In January the AstraZeneca vaccine was approved in Europe for all adults. But several countries, including France and Germany, restricted its use in over-65s due to a lack of data about its effectiveness. France’s Emmanuel Macron claimed the vaccine was ‘quasi-ineffective’ in older age groups, and the German newspaper Handelsblatt had a similar report; but these statements are unfounded. In the over-80s, a single shot of either the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine appears to be over 80% effective at preventing hospitalisation. Although the regulators have both now reversed their advice, the majority of their AstraZeneca doses are yet to be used. It seems that the regulators’ prevarications, and loose talk from politicians and bureaucrats, have undermined confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine. 

Published in Europe
Thursday, 04 March 2021 20:26

Germany: prayer letter

A March prayer letter for Germany addresses intercessors everywhere to view our identity. Does it come from what we achieve (outwardly) or from our relationship with God (inwardly)? May our identity lie in being sons and daughters of God, hidden with Christ. The significance that He attributes to us could not be greater: chosen by him, created for good works, partakers of his divine nature, raised with him from the dead, seated in the heavenly realms. We are also challenged to consider how we prepare ourselves for the future, especially as we continue to live under the restrictions of the pandemic. Pray and care for those in special need; pray for the kingdom of God to be established within Germany and also in your country.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 25 February 2021 21:18

Germany / Belgium: cocaine 'worth billions' seized

Customs authorities in Germany and Belgium have seized a record amount of cocaine - over 23 tonnes - destined for the Netherlands. German officials said the cocaine had a street value of billions of euros. In 2019 the chairman of the Netherlands police union said, ‘We definitely have the characteristics of a narco-state. We're not Mexico. We don't have 14,400 murders. But if you look at the infrastructure, the big money earned by organised crime, the parallel economy, yes, we have a narco-state’. A 28-year-old man suspected of involvement in the cocaine trafficking was arrested on 24 February in the Netherlands. In 2020, 102 tonnes of cocaine heading for Europe was intercepted. Pray for the capture of powerful drug-trafficking gangs from Brazil and Paraguay who are running many of the smuggling operations to ports in Europe.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 21 January 2021 20:58

Germany: pragmatic Armin Laschet to succeed Merkel

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a centre-right party, has elected Armin Laschet, the pragmatic governor of Germany's most populous state, as its new leader - sending a signal of continuity before the 26 September election. The vote is not the final word on who will be the centre-right candidate for Chancellor, but Laschet will either run himself or will have a big say in who does. He is viewed as more in line with Merkel's pragmatic centrism, and spoke of the value of continuity and moderation. ‘We must speak clearly but not polarise. We must be able to integrate, hold society together.’ The decision ends an 11-month leadership limbo in the CDU. Angela Merkel, who has been Chancellor since 2005, is not seeking a fifth term.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 14 January 2021 20:50

Germany: 300 bodies waiting for cremation

Caskets are stacked three high in the crematorium, piled up in empty offices, and stored in hallways. Many are sealed with plastic, others labelled ‘infection risk,’ ‘urgent’, or ‘Covid’. A surge of coronavirus deaths has boosted crematorium businesses but nobody is celebrating. There are 300 bodies waiting to be cremated, and dozens more arrive every day. Schaldach, the crematorium owner, said comments on social media are saying reports of bodies piling up at his crematorium are fake news. Franziska Schlieter. who runs a food store,feels easing the lockdown over Christmas was a mistake. She said, ‘In the Bible, God sent people plagues when they didn’t behave. Sometimes I have to think of that.’ Officials hope that stricter rules, and people obeying them, will bring infection rates and the death toll down. See

Published in Europe
Thursday, 03 December 2020 20:29

Germany: car drives into pedestrians, killing five

Five people have been killed and thirteen seriously injured after a car zig zagged towards pedestrians in the city of Trier. Among those killed was a nine-month-old baby. A 51-year-old man with no fixed address is in custody being questioned about the crash. He had been living in recent days in the Land Rover that was used in the attack. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesperson said the scene was ‘shocking’. Police said the driver appeared to have hit pedestrians indiscriminately as he drove through the city centre at speed. They urged members of the public to avoid spreading misinformation about the incident.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 26 November 2020 20:19

Berlin: car crashes into Merkel’s gate

A car with an anti-globalisation slogan on its side crashed into the gate of the office of German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on 25 November. The driver is in custody, and Berlin police wrote on Twitter they are investigating if he hit the gate intentionally. Photographs from the scene of the incident showed a vehicle with the words ‘Stop globalisation politics’ written in white on the Volkswagen sedan’s right side and ‘You damn killers of children and old people’ scrawled on the other. The police have said they do not suspect an extremist attack. The chancellor was due to host a video call with federal state leaders on the day of the crash, during which a lockdown extension and additional restrictions to deal with the coronavirus pandemic over the holidays were expected to be discussed.

Published in Europe

This year is the 30th anniversary of the re-unification of Germany.  Our friends at European Evangelical Alliance have invited us to share in some prayers and thanksgiving for Germany at this time. 

Our recent national holiday was a time to celebrate and to thank God. After the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9th, 1989, and the rapid political changes within one year, the accession of former East Germany (GDR) to be within the scope of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany was sealed on October 3rd, 1990.

Since then, as a reunited German nation, we have trodden a historic path, from two very different political entities and a divided nation after the Second World War into a common identity as one nation. This path has not been without pain and has required sacrifice and grace on both sides - so that it can best serve all our people and indeed other nations.

On this anniversary we want to celebrate and be thankful for our united Germany, and above all for reunited families, for the new marriages, families, friendships and relationships that have occurred since the fall of the Berlin Wall, for the new generation of children born, and for the freedom and prosperity throughout Germany.

As we thanked God for our Basic Law at the prayer conference in Bonn last year, let us now thank God for the abundant blessing that we have received.

At this time, when much is being put to the test and shaken, God again wants to show us as a nation his ways of salvation that go beyond our prayers and understanding (Psalm 50:23).

  • Praise and thanks for 30 years of unity. (Psalm 98)
  • We lay down before the Lord everything that we have achieved. Our land belongs to Him. (Psalm 24)
  • After the political turn-around 30 years ago, we ask the Father now for Germany to turn around to Him, so that He can set us free to fulfil our calling as a nation. (John 8:36) (-KH-)

The calling of Berlin

The history of Berlin, now our capital and the seat of government in our country, goes back to the 13th century.

German history was made in Berlin in so many ways. Many cultural and political debates as well as ideological disputes have their origin here in Berlin and this is still true today. The city has had to live through many times of upheaval.

The division of Germany, with the construction of the Wall, was not experienced so directly anywhere else than in Berlin as a tangible and painful reality.

With the reunification of Germany, God has opened a new chapter and Berlin has become the “city of unity” and a symbol of God's grace-outpouring and miracle-working.

The message that comes to us from Berlin is that what God has done here, He can do anywhere else in the world. Not only political but also spiritual leadership should be evident in this city, along with a servant spirit and wise understanding.

Berlin needs our love as well as God's help and guidance. The destiny and future of Berlin is important to us all. Let us pray for God's redemptive plans and together bless and set this city free in its calling.

Prayer:

  • For the special protection of God in all the current winds of change and upheaval. (Psalm 27: 1)
  • That God's salvation plans and purposes for Germany become visible in and for Berlin. (Isaiah 60:18)
  • We speak out over Berlin: You are a city of unity, of wise leadership … – a miracle of God. (-AS-)

More at: www.waechterruf.de/international/

Let's also be in prayer for breakthrough for nations going through divisive political, cultural, economic and other turmoil at this time, including North and South Korea, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Belarus.

Read the inspirational recounting of The Miracle of Leipzip by Jeff Fountain, which we highly recommend. (Photo used above is from that article – with thanks)

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