A selection of the week's happenings, for your information and prayers.
Society & Politics
- Northern Ireland Assembly recalled: After outcry from MLAs, the Assembly has been recalled - the first step (but not the last) to Stormont being reconvened. The Assembly will meet on Monday 21 October - the deadline for Stormont's reconvening if the imposition of legalised homosexual practice and abortion from Wesminster is to be stopped. Read more here, here and here.
- Judge rules for forced abortion: A woman in her 20s who has the mental age of a toddler, and is 12 weeks pregnant, may be forced to have an abortion against her will. Read more here. In a similar case earlier this year, a court battle was won to protect a disabled woman from being forced to have an abortion. She has recently given birth and both mother and child are doing well. Read more here.
- Dame Louise Ellman quits Labour over anti-Semitism: The veteran Jewish MP has been a member of the Labour Party for 55 years, but is resigning because she cannot bring herself to support a possible Corbyn-led Government. Read more here. Also this week, hate crime statistics for 2018/19 reveal that anti-Semitic hate crimes in England and Wales have doubled on the previous year. Read more here.
- Mother sues gender identity clinic over ‘experimental’ treatments: The mother of a 15-year-old gender-confused girl is suing the NHS’s flagship Tavistock clinic, claiming its approach to treating children is misleading and lacking in adequate safeguards. Read more here.
Church Issues
- Dean of Westminster Abbey calls for Muslim schools: The outgoing Dean called for a ‘substantial’ number of new Muslim state schools, in a service attended by the Queen. Read more here.
World Scene
- 23-year-old Belgian woman to be euthanised for mental health: The woman is physically healthy but applied to die after experiencing various mental health problems. 510 Belgians have been helped to kill themselves for mental health reasons since assisted suicide was legalised in 2002. Read more here.
- Tens of thousands march for the family in France: The march in Paris specifically defended the importance of fatherhood, protesting a potential change in French law to allow single mothers and lesbian couples to undergo IVF. Read more here.
- Churches forcibly closed in Algeria: A number of churches have been force-closed by Algerian police this week, bringing the total to 15 since legislation was passed in 2017 to aid a crackdown on non-Muslim places of worship. Read more here.
- Evangelical Christian wins Nobel Peace Prize: The Ethiopian Prime Minister, who won the award for his regional work for peace and democracy, is a convert from Islam. Christianity has been spreading rapidly in Ethiopia in the last few decades and is transforming the country. Read more here and here.
Israel & Middle East
- Turkey agrees to a temporary ceasefire: After President Erdogan met with the US Vice-President and the Secretary of State, a five-day ceasefire in northern Syria was announced which may develop into a permanent one. Read more here. The USA is in the process of imposing sanctions on Turkey following its invasion of northern Syria, which so far has displaced some 130,000 people. Russia has also criticised Turkey’s offensive and summoned Erdogan for urgent talks.
- Russia signals growing influence in the Middle East: This week Russia has signed deals worth $2 billion with Saudi Arabia and participated in talks between the Syrian Kurds and the Assad regime to agree a joint response to Turkey’s attack. Read more here and here. Russia has said that it will not allow Turkey to attack Syrian Government forces and is reportedly patrolling the front line between the two forces to keep them separate. Read more here.
Events
- 'Pilgrim's Progress' hits the big screen. From 25 October (various locations): John Bunyan's epic is coming to a number of UK cinemas as an animated movie. Find out more about how you can spread the word and get more cinemas to screen the film on the official website.
Recommended Sources
At Prophecy Today UK we are aware that the world is moving very quickly and it is difficult to keep up with all the latest developments – especially when the material circulated by our mainstream media is increasingly far from reality and definitely not devoted to a biblical perspective!Though we are not a news service, we want to help keep you informed by passing on updates and reports as we are led. This will be a selective, not an exhaustive, round-up, which we hope will be helpful for your prayers. Click here to browse our News archive.We recommend the following news services for regular updates from a Christian perspective: For regular news briefings about Israel, the Jewish News Syndicate is also recommended.
