News for prayer for Week of August 15, 2022

Headline News:

The local director for Cáritas, an International organization belonging to the Catholic Church which is a service organization dedicated to combating poverty and other areas, was interviewed recently. He was sharing concerns given the high cost of living and amount of help families are needing. They are seeing that the numbers since the pandemic return back down as people begin to return to work. However, they are concerned with the cost of gas for people as they look to warm their homes in the winter. The people groups needing the most help currently are immigrants, women and young people.

With all the festivals happening in the different cities of Gipuzkoa, the police are having reports of at least 11 women being drugged by injections. They feel a pinch and when a blood test is run, they find that a chemical has been injected. Only 1 arrest has been made about the injections. They are also having reports of sexual assaults during the festivals.

Economy:

Several articles talked about the economic situation in Basque country. The expectation was that this summer everything would return to normal, however that is not the expectation now. With the energy concerns and rise in inflation several experts are expecting a complicated fall. One item that has seen a decrease of ~2.5% in the past several weeks is the cost of gas. A positive sign for the economy is the number of people that are working. Unemployment numbers are currently holding steady over the past couple of months even with the pending uncertainty. Spain ended the month of July with inflation being reported at 10.8%, the highest it’s been in over 20 years.

The IBEX35 ended last week on an upward trend closing at 8,400.40, a 2.85% increase over the previous week.

Political:

In 1968, during the Franco era, a law was put in place to protect the secrets of the state. However, that law is now undergoing some change. A new law has been written where a committee will review the secrets of the state and put it into 4 different categories. Additionally, it will carry another label for the potential severity of damage, which also has 4 categories. Depending on those labels, information will be able to be released after 20 years versus the previous law under Franco that was forever.

Recently Sánchez put an executive order for energy savings that went into effect on Aug 8 and will remain in effect until November of 2023. The order stated that in summer the AC for business and public places could be set at a minimum of 77ºF. For winter the heaters could be set at 66ºF max. Initially Urkullu was not planning to conform to the request, however by the end of the week they were willing to follow the request from the new orders. The fines for not complying could be as high as 60,000€ and will be enforced by the autonomous regions. Similar restrictions are now being done in Germany, France, Italy and Hungary.

International:

A sampling of the international headlines included the following: Russian invasion of Ukraine, rise in tensions in Gaza, FBI removing documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and Afghanistan 1 year after US’ departure.

Sports:

Real Sociedad finished preseason play and began La Liga play on Aug 14 against Cadiz CF with a 1-0 win. That had them in 3rd place at the end of the first week. Their next game has them playing Barcelona on Sunday Aug 21.

Gipuzkoa Basket starts official play on October 8.

Prayer Points and verse for the week:

Prayers points:

  • Aggressions against women in festivals
  • Economic Situation

The verse for the week:

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? … But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. (Psalm 13:1-2a, 5)