Christians Against Poverty’s (CAP) new report ‘Powerless People’, found that while private companies have made great strides in the way they treat people in debt, debt collections from government and councils are increasingly becoming more aggressive and frightening.

Rachel Gregory from the charity told Premier about the depths of suffering from people chased for debts like council tax and benefit overpayments.

With council tax arrears – which just under half of the people we help at Christians Against Poverty have – what we see is that things can escalate very quickly from missing one payment to having a demand to pay the full year’s council tax in full and very quickly then going to court to get a liability order to have enforcement officers at someone’s door.”

Almost half of all debt clients helped by CAP have a debt with the DWP, HMRC or their local authority, with 41 per cent more likely to have considered suicide than those with only private sector debts.

The study also found 69 per cent of debtors were so stressed that they skipped meals and 93 per cent had suffered sleepless nights as a result.

Gregory said more compassion is needed towards people struggling financially.

“People we’re helping that have these types of debt are more likely to be vulnerable. We’re seeing higher rates of mental health problems and lone parents and learning difficulties. And…

“Do not lose faith or hope,” Juan Carlos Aguilar advised the twelve boys and their football coach trapped in flooded caves.

He told The Daily Telegraph that, after he was buried alive with his colleagues by the collapse in the San Jose mine, their faith helped sustain them until they were rescued.

“There was one [miner] who did lose hope – from the first day he was saying we were going to die, but us, with the prayers and all this, this maintained us, and it maintained us united.”

Meanwhile, the Thai football team-mates, who have been stranded for more than a week, have said they are healthy, in a newly released video.

In this July 3, 2018, image taken from video provided by the Royal Thai Navy Facebook Page, a Thai boy smiles as Thai Navy SEAL medic help injured children inside a cave in Mae Sai, northern Thailand.

The group are seen sitting with Thai navy Seals in the dark cave with their visibly skinny faces illuminated by the beam of a flashlight.

The boys, many wrapped in foil warming blankets, take turns introducing themselves, folding their hands together in a traditional greeting and saying their names and that they are healthy.

The video lasting about a minute was recorded sometime on Tuesday and was posted on the navy Seal Facebook page on…

Ethiopia’s ambassador to the UK said the tabot – a tablet representing the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments – belonged in an Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Hailemichael Aberra Afework told The Art Newspaper: “We are urging all those who hold items looted from Ethiopia to return them.

“This includes the tabot held at Westminster Abbey.

“We renew the call for restitution and urge the Abbey to return this sacred artefact, which holds so much significance in Ethiopia.”

Made either of wood or stone, it is customary for any Ethiopian Orthodox Church to contain a tabot. They remain covered and can only be seen by priests.

The tabot at Westminster Abbey was offered a gift after it was taken by soldiers who fought against then-Abyssinia in the Battle of Magdala in 1868.

The then-head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abune Paulos met with the Abbey’s receiver-general in 2007, when he called for the return of the tabot.

A spokesperson for Westminster Abbey told Premier: “The dean and chapter are very conscious of the sensitivity of the Ethiopian tabot, so steps were taken a number of years ago to ensure that the tabot, which is in a very sacred place, was properly covered and could not be seen by anyone.”

They added that there are “no plans to change these arrangements”.

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People have been stopped from entering Amesbury Baptist Centre as a precaution after a man and a woman were discovered unconscious at a nearby property in the town on Saturday.

Officers believe the couple may have frequented the place of worship on Butterfield Drive before they fell ill. A staff member at the church told Premier the pair may have attended a hog roast event.

Both aged in their 40s, the man and woman are currently in a critical condition at Salisbury District Hospital.

Wiltshire Police said: “Wiltshire Police and partners have this evening declared a major incident after it is suspected that two people might have been exposed to an unknown substance in Amesbury.

Detectives have not yet established whether the pair are victims of a crime but they are keeping an “open mind”.

Officials do not believe the wider public faces a “significant health risk”.

A Public Health England spokesman said: “The current advice from PHE England, based upon the number of casualties affected, is that it is not believed that there is a significant health risk to the wider public.

“This will be continually assessed as further information becomes known”.

The pair were found at an address on Muggleton Road in the south edge of Amesbury.

Officers initially thought the pair may have taken illegal drugs but additional tests are now…

Leaders erected fencing around the statues on a lawn outside the Episcopalian Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis to remind people the family was “homeless” when they escaped King Herod’s murderous plot by fleeing to Egypt.

Dean and rector, Rev Stephen Carlsen said: “We will not stand by while children are being taken from their parents, and families are being taken from our communities and congregations.

“People of good will and faith must not allow this to continue.

“We must not be divided by race, language or culture, but reach out to care for our neighbours-because every family is sacred.”

Described as a “zero tolerance” approached, the policy was criticised for resulting in thousands of migrant children being separated from their parents at the United States’ border with Mexico.

Last month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order trying to ensure incoming families were not forcibly split up.

Rev Lee Curtis, who had the idea for the demonstration, told NBC News: “Families, all families, every family, is holy, and we hope and pray that families who are seeking out a better life for their kids are afforded that opportunity.”

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