News for prayer for Week of July 11, 2022
Headline News:
COVID has made its way back into the news. One area is the impact they are now seeing on the admittance to the hospital for assistance with mental health. They reported that those between the ages of 11 to 17 have seen the largest increase, 45% since 2019. In 2021 they have also seen a rise in the number of patients that need to re-enter within 30 days after leaving, with a majority of those being girls. The other is the number of cases due to summer festivals. In this region some type of festival/celebration will be happening every weekend through September. For the areas that have had a festival they have seen the number of cases double. Some are calling this the seventh wave as people have once again started returning to pharmacies to buy at home tests.
It has been 25 years since the assassination of Basque politician Miguel Ángel Blanco. The paper I read had a 24 page pullout walking through the events of the assassination. On Sunday a ceremony was held to remember the event. Those in attendance included King Felipe, President Sánchez, Iñigo Urkullu, leader of the Basque government, several other leaders from the Spanish and Basque governments and members of his family. This event changed people’s perception to be more against ETA in Basque Country and greater Spain.
Economy:
Inflation has gone over 10% as of June, the final number was 10.2%. Previous months had it in the upper 9% range, as discussed before these numbers continue to be the highest seen in over 40 years. One of the principal reasons for the increase was the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the reduced availability of grains. These grains are basic ingredients in several items, one of them is feed for animals, which impacts meat prices as well. The government is attempting to figure out what can be done to address the issue.
With tourism starting to ramp up in the region the workers in the accommodations sector went on strike to improve some conditions. The agreement between workers and businesses had not been refreshed since 2019. Originally the strike was supposed to last for 3 days, fortunately it only lasted 24 hours. One key change was a pay increase of 0.8% in addition to inflation cost for 2022 through 2024.
The IBEX35 ended last week on a slight downward trend closing at 8100.30, a 0.93% decrease for last week.
Political:
On June 19 elections were held in Andalucia and the results were historic. The PP party won 32 seats and VOX gained 2. The absolute majority for the legislature is 55 so PP now has full control without needing an agreement with another party. Voter participation was at 58%, slightly higher than 2018. PP is also looking to see how they can have greater influence in Basque Country. PP is beginning to gain confidence about unseating PSOE as the currently prominent political party in Spain.
International:
Here are a few key items from the international section here: French President Macron preparing the upcoming changes in government after his party lost the absolute majority, Boris Johnson, UK Prime minister, stepping down, and the assassination of Shinzo Abe in Japan. The Roe vs Wade decision got a special pull out on the Sunday after the decision was made, where the author was from Texas talking about the impacts the change has made in the state.
Sports:
The sports normally covered in this section are in the off season. One item of note is that San Sebastian is one of the 15 locations to be a host stadium for the 2030 FIFA world cup. The winner will be announced in May or June 2024.
Prayer Points and verse for the week:
Prayers points:
- Mental health
- Impacts of rising prices on households
- Political unity
The verse for the week:
Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.
Romans 15:4 NLT