First Paralympic opening night Community Festival at Stoke Mandeville
Stoke Mandeville Stadium, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement, is to host the world's first Paralympic opening night community festival. According to a news release, the event will feature adults and children of different abilities having fun together. The free event, from 6pm to 10 pm on Aug. 29 marks the opening of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Between three to five thousand people will experience huge inflatable games, opportunities to try Paralympic sports, a multi-sensory zone, art and craft activities, puppets and giant bubbles. The news release said the opening ceremony will be shown on a big screen, accompanied by a free barbeque. The organizers are the Aylesbury Churches Network, comprising 14 churches of different denominations. The group is also underwriting the costs and providing at least 200 volunteers on the night. The Aylesbury churches are working with More Than Gold, the agency helping churches use the Games to serve its communities and visitors.
Pray: that the festival will bring a wonderful spirit of unity with those of different abilities sharing together. (Php.2:1-2)
Ellie Simmonds aims to inspire at London Games
Four years ago Ellie Simmonds burst into public consciousness amidst an eruption of tears which followed her historic 100m freestyle victory in Beijing. Great Britain's youngest-ever Paralympic champion at 13 went on to claim another gold in the 400m six days later and the teenager returned to the UK as the new superstar of her sport. Simmonds though is not someone who craves the limelight and she admits that her journey from China to London has not been an easy one. ‘I loved every moment of Beijing and when it finished I was on such a low,’ Simmonds told BBC Sport. It has also taken the swimmer time to adjust to her near celebrity status and frequently being stopped in the street by members of the public requesting photographs. ‘Sometimes you think 'can you just leave me alone' and I can become a bit agitated, but you just have to roll with it.’
Pray: for all athletes that they would be an inspiration to other participants and to those who will watch. (2Cor.3:13)
More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/disability-sport/19361665
Tough employment outlook faces young people
Young people finishing school, college or university this summer are facing the toughest outlook since 1994, according to a Trades Union Congress (TUC) analysis. The TUC report, published last week, looks at both employment and education trends over the last 20 years, shows that the proportion of young people in full-time education has nearly doubled from 24 per cent in 1992 to 41 per cent in 2012. Despite this surge in education, the proportion of young people who are neither working nor studying full-time today remains close to record levels at 20.4 per cent, the highest level since October 1994. The TUC is concerned that with 488,000 16-24 year olds currently out of work for at least six months - a figure that is rising even as overall unemployment falls - the country risks losing a generation of young people to unemployment and under-achievement before their careers have even begun.
Pray: for young people as they face the challenges of work and the toughest economic climate for nearly 20 years. (Eph.2:10)
Nederland: Al-Qaeda planning attack in The Hague
Al-Qaeda has reportedly recruited two Somali men in Pakistan to carry out a suicide attack in The Hague. According to the Pakistani weekly Friday Times, al-Qaeda has recruited two Somali students in the Pakistani city of Karachi. The terrorist organisation trained them in the use of weapons and explosives and reportedly ordered them to carry out an attack in The Hague, similar to the shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai in 2008. The Friday Times reports that the two Somalis would travel to Europe ‘as Christians’ with stolen Spanish passports. A Dutch intelligence source told the daily De Telegraaf that the threat is ‘serious'. A spokesperson for the Dutch embassy in Pakistan told the Friday Times that they take all these threats very seriously. ‘We are working closely with our Pakistani counterparts to eliminate such threats.’
Pray: that God would confuse the enemy and bind those who are threatening violence. (Ps.7:9)
More: http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/%E2%80%9Cal-qaeda-planning-attack-hague%E2%80%9D
Nederland: Al-Qaeda planning attack in The Hague
Al-Qaeda has reportedly recruited two Somali men in Pakistan to carry out a suicide attack in The Hague. According to the Pakistani weekly Friday Times, al-Qaeda has recruited two Somali students in the Pakistani city of Karachi. The terrorist organisation trained them in the use of weapons and explosives and reportedly ordered them to carry out an attack in The Hague, similar to the shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai in 2008. The Friday Times reports that the two Somalis would travel to Europe ‘as Christians’ with stolen Spanish passports. A Dutch intelligence source told the daily De Telegraaf that the threat is ‘serious'. A spokesperson for the Dutch embassy in Pakistan told the Friday Times that they take all these threats very seriously. ‘We are working closely with our Pakistani counterparts to eliminate such threats.’
Pray: that God would confuse the enemy and bind those who are threatening violence. (Ps.7:9)
More: http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/%E2%80%9Cal-qaeda-planning-attack-hague%E2%80%9D
Poland: Reconciliation walk
Descendents of Nazi SS officers, together with Holocaust survivors and their offspring completed a week-long march across Poland and through the sites of former Nazi death camps today. The symbolic march began at Auschwitz, near Krakow, in southern Poland on Monday and ends on Friday 31st at Treblinka, 65 miles north-east of the capital Warsaw. At the opening ceremony one of the descendents of a Nazi SS officer asked for forgiveness for her grandfather, an electrician who installed the electrified barbed wire fence at Auschwitz-Birkenau and wired the camp's gas chambers. Other descendants spoke at the opening ceremony in an effort to try to begin to rectify the unspeakable bitterness that divides the two peoples. Lia Shemtov, an Israel member of Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu, together with hundreds of people from Israel, Poland and Germany, will attend the final ceremonies.
Pray: According to the words of St Francis that where there is hatred, let there be love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light’ where there is sadness, joy. Amen (Col.1:19-22)
More: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/159125#.UD35FaAsE9Z
Poland: Reconciliation walk
Descendents of Nazi SS officers, together with Holocaust survivors and their offspring completed a week-long march across Poland and through the sites of former Nazi death camps today. The symbolic march began at Auschwitz, near Krakow, in southern Poland on Monday and ends on Friday 31st at Treblinka, 65 miles north-east of the capital Warsaw. At the opening ceremony one of the descendents of a Nazi SS officer asked for forgiveness for her grandfather, an electrician who installed the electrified barbed wire fence at Auschwitz-Birkenau and wired the camp's gas chambers. Other descendants spoke at the opening ceremony in an effort to try to begin to rectify the unspeakable bitterness that divides the two peoples. Lia Shemtov, an Israel member of Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu, together with hundreds of people from Israel, Poland and Germany, will attend the final ceremonies.
Pray: According to the words of St Francis that where there is hatred, let there be love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light’ where there is sadness, joy. Amen (Col.1:19-22)
More: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/159125#.UD35FaAsE9Z
Drugs are too easy to get hold of, warn grieving parents
Drugs are everywhere and far too easy for teenagers to get hold of, warn the grieving parents of a teenage girl who died after taking ecstasy. They criticised websites for glorifying the effects of drug use and blamed peer pressure for the death of their daughter, 16-year-old Serena Harding. The judge, sentencing three men for supplying the teenager with drugs, said the ‘misguided individuals’ were part of a culture which believes that taking drugs such as ecstasy is harmless. Miss Harding collapsed after taking ecstasy whilst on a night out with friends to celebrate her exam results. Mr and Mrs Harding warned: ‘It’s too easy for teenagers to get hold of drugs. Drugs are everywhere and somebody will always know somebody who will sell you some.' Three men were sentenced for supplying Miss Harding with the drugs, one of whom was said to be a close friend of Miss Harding.
Pray: for the authorities that they will be able to find the source of these dangerous drugs blocking the supplies and jailing those responsible. (Rom.13:5)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/drugs-are-too-easy-to-get-hold-of-warn-grieving-parents/
Putting the 'fair' back into welfare
This is the theme of an expert panel discussion that will take place at the Greenbelt Festival, at 11am on Saturday 25th August 2012. The controversial Welfare Reform Act has reignited debate about the scope and nature of public support for children, carers, disabled people and vulnerable people in society. So is ‘the welfare state’ a thing of the past? Who is welfare for? Who provides for whom? And what is the role of voluntary and faith bodies? This Children’s Society panel in association with the Christian think-tank Ekklesia looks at the future of ‘welfare for all’ in tough economic times, and asks how fairness and creativity can help chart fresh ways forward. The speakers are: Sam Royston (Children’s Society policy adviser) - Sue Marsh (Disabled activist, Spartacus Welfare Campaign) - Savi Hensman (Care and equalities adviser, Christian commentator) - Simon Barrow (Ekklesia think-tank).
Pray: that the discussions will lead to a wider understanding of fairness in this generation and beyond. (Pr.2:9)
The Word of God in 667 languages and counting!
Faith Comes By Hearing has added five new language recordings to their catalogue of Audio Scriptures this month. Combined, these five languages represent more than 169,000 people who now have God's Word in audio available in their heart language. The new releases are: Ayta Mag-antsi - Philippines; Kandozi - Peru; Kebu – Uganda; Quichua - Northern Pastaza - Ecuador/Peru; Terena – Brazil. These recordings are possible because of the dedicated work and partnership of many translation ministries and Bible Societies around the world. Our catalogue of Audio Scripture features a total of 667 languages, but changes regularly with new additions every month. Notably, New Testaments in 94 languages have been added in just the last 12 months. Spoken in almost every country in the world, these recordings as a whole represent a potential outreach to more than 5 billion people - or in other words, two-thirds of the world's population. This unprecedented access via the Digital Bible Platform continues to expand rapidly.
Praise: God for this opportunity to harness technology to spread the Word. (2Th.3:1)
More: http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/word-god-667-languages-and-counting