According to Middle East Concern, the four are accused of “inciting a Muslim to change his religion,” an offence which is punishable with a prison term of two to five years and a fine of 500,000 to 1 million Algerian Dinars ( approx. £3,300 to £6,600).

The charges in the province of Bouira, in the Kabylie region follow accusations made in July this year by a 40-year-old woman whose husband, the main defendant, had converted to Christianity.

She and members of her family accused her Christian husband, together with a Christian family that had attempted to mitigate in the conflict between the couple, of wanting to convert her to Christianity.

Separately, Middle East Concern also report the acquittal of a 29-year-old Christian man who had been charged with “illegal importation of Christian materials.”

The man was returning from a visit to a Middle Eastern country in the summer of 2016 and had with him some items, such as keyrings and scarfs, with Christian inscriptions.

He was tried and acquitted, but in September 2018, the prosecutor decided to appeal. He appeared before a court of appeals in Algiers on 18th October and was once again acquitted of all charges.

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Fr Victor Adigboluja, Fr Anthony Otegbola, Fr Joseph Ediae and Fr Obadjere Emmanuel were captured in the south-eastern Delta State on Tuesday evening.

The Holy See-run Vatican News website said: “Nigerian Catholic Church authorities have asked the faithful in that country to pray for the release of four priests abducted by gunmen…”

The group had been returning from a two-day reunion in Warri (pictured), celebrating their tenth anniversaries as priests when they were ambushed.

The vehicles they were travelling in were sprayed with bullets. Other priests managed to drive away but four members of their party were captured.

The incident comes a fortnight after the release of five nuns from the nearby town of Agbor who were kidnapped on 25th October.

Advising against all but essential travel in inland areas of Delta, the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office currently warns there is a “high threat of criminal kidnap” in the area.

Four British missionaries were abducted in Delta State last October. One of them, 57-year-old Ian Squire from Shepperton, died in captivity.

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One of the oldest purpose-built museums in England, an Elizabethan bridge which collapsed following heavy rain and a purpose-built cutlery works have also been added to the heritage at risk register, Historic England said.

In total 242 sites have been added this year to the register, which has been going for 20 years, but 318 others have been removed as they are no longer considered to be at risk of being lost, the Government heritage agency said.

Some 1,489 historic buildings and scheduled monuments, 911 places of worship, 2,151 archaeological sites, 99 parks and gardens, four battlefields and four protected wreck sites and 502 conservation areas are listed as at risk of neglect, decay or inappropriate change.

Historic England said two-thirds of the buildings and sites on the original 1998 list have been rescued, often due to the dogged determination of local communities, charities and owners.

Among the buildings added to this year’s at risk list are Grade II* St Luke’s Church in Weaste, Salford, Greater Manchester, where Emmeline Pankhurst married in 1879, which is threatened by damage from a leaking roof.

Holy Trinity Church in Coventry counts Mary Ann Evans – the author George Eliot – as one of its famous parishioners, and survived the Blitz thanks to its vicar and others sleeping in the church during a raid in November 1941 and dousing any fires.

It is on the…

Although they will still be paid by a state subsidy fund, Tuesday’s decision marks a significant shift in the status of bishops, and the separation of Church and state in Greece.

This deal was made and announced by Prime Alexis Tsipras and the head of the Church of Greece, Archbishop Ieronymos.

Prime Minister Tsipras said: “I would like, if you allow me, to begin by saying that this meeting is the culmination of a dialogue that has begun a long time ago, both between us, but also between the State and the Church.”

He said that the aim of these decisions was to deal with historic disagreements that hinder current functioning and to make the church self-reliant.

He said: “It solves many decades of outstanding issues that have arisen since the 1920s, but mainly because it is an Agreement for the benefit of both sides” and used language of “mutual respect”.

The main change was that: “The Greek State undertakes to pay annually to the Church in the form of a subsidy an amount corresponding to the current salary cost of the active priests, which will be adjusted according to the salary changes of the Greek State.”

The move takes over 9000 church staff off the payroll and onto a separate state fund, not necessarily altering their pay but ending their direct salaries from the state. However, an increase in the number of clergy would not require the fund to increase.

The fund…

Two of the three staff members abducted are still being held, according to Fonki Samuel Forba, moderator of Cameroon’s
Presbyterian Church.

He said the schoolchildren, who were kidnapped on Sunday night from a church school, had been left at a church near Bamenda, the North West Region’s capital.

Mr Forba said the students looked tired and appeared to have suffered during their captivity.

He pleaded with the kidnappers to free the staff still being held, and has asked parents and guardians to take their children home.

The spokesman added that the Presbyterian boarding school with 700 students is being closed because of the security situation.

He said: “It is unfortunate we have to close the school and send home 700 children.

“Their security is not assured by the state and armed groups constantly attack and kidnap them.”

Mr Forba added that the school had previously had some students kidnapped, a situation which was resolved when the church paid a ransom of 2.5 million francs (about £3,000) to the armed gang.

“We can no longer continue,” he said.

Cameroon’s north-west and south-west areas are beset by instability caused by English-speaking separatists.

Fighting between the military and separatists increased after the government clamped down on peaceful demonstrations by English-speaking teachers and lawyers protesting…