Rev Canon Andrew White learned he will face no further action after a probe into an accusation he paid terrorists in order to secure the release of six or seven Yazidi women being held as sex slaves in Syria and Iraq.

He always insisted that the captives were freed thanks to successful negotiations utilising his contacts in the region – and not by illegal payments to the group, which is also known as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Speaking on Premier’s News Hour with a touch of sarcasm, the 54-year-old said: “I have had this police investigation hanging over my head because I did the awful thing of trying to get back sex slaves from ISIS.

“What I didn’t do at any time was pay money to ISIS.

“It was a story which really had no foundation because at no time had I ever committed this crime.”

When the allegations surfaced, Canon White was suspended as president in 2015 from a charity he founded – the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East.

An investigation by the charity watchdog into the organisation is currently ongoing. The Charity Commission told Premier it will publish a report “once the inquiry has concluded”.

Last year, Canon White posted on social media that the Foundation “kicked” him out – despite officially being “retired” by the organisation.

In a statement given to Premier, the…

Release International, which supports persecuted Christians worldwide, said the military stepped up its campaign against the mainly Christian Kachin people in April.

They launched attacks using artillery, helicopter gunships and infantry. Troops have displaced thousands, driving them from their burning homes.

The military have also occupied churches and interrogated entire congregations.

There are reports that the soldiers are using rape as a weapon of war and are deliberately targeting camps for the displaced, which is a war crime. They are also said to be sowing landmines to make villages uninhabitable.

Andrew Boyd, spokesperson for the charity, told Premier the oppression amounts to war crimes.

“We’re talking about something like 10,000 people displaced and what we saw happening with the Rohingya Muslims, all of the brutality of that, exactly the same kinds of tactics, we’re now seeing happening with the largely Christian Kachin people,” he said.

“People have been displaced. They’ve been moved from their homes to camps, they’ve been moved from one camp to another camp. If that’s true, and the evidence certainly points in that direction, these are war crimes.”

According to Release International, conflict between the controlling Myanmese people and other peoples erupted after World War Two. Some Christian tribes, who…

Phil Knox has joined the Evangelical Alliance following 12 years working for Youth for Christ, where he has most recently been director of church resources.

Knox’s role will focus on the development and delivery of creative initiatives to engage young adults to serve the church in its mission.

It is part of the Evangelical Alliance’s ongoing work to “catalyse young adults, and give them confidence as Christians, as they navigate challenges in society and changes in the church”.

Gavin Calver, director of mission at the Evangelical Alliance, told Premier News Hour reaching out to younger people is crucial.

“There’s always desperate need to work with young people,” he said.

“Eighty-six per cent of people that come to faith do so when they’re young. We as the Church need to prioritise young adults and young people, and we at the Evangelical Alliance want to do the same.”

Knox said: “It is with great sadness that I move on from Youth for Christ. It is an incredible movement with which I have seen thousands of young lives transformed. But, I am also so excited to be joining the Evangelical Alliance. I am full of hope that the church can relevantly engage a generation of young adults and look forward to playing a part in seeing something amazing happen over the coming years.”

Knox will take up his role for the Evangelical Alliance on 3rd…

Mike Pilavachi told Premier Christianity magazine that when God told him to end the youth festival after 25 years, he questioned God about what would happen to the young people.

“He said ‘Mike, they’re not your responsibility’, and ‘they’re my responsibility. I will look after them…’ That was like a burden lifted,” Pilavachi said.

“We’re talking to youth organisations about them starting something in the summer of 2020. It’s my hope and expectation that next summer; we want to introduce these three events.

“I want to commend them. I only want to commend the events where I believe that they are doing it because they love the kids.

“Anyone can start anything they want, but I couldn’t bring myself to commend anything where it was about people seeing a gap in the spiritual market… It’s those who love the kids, and they’re not going to use the kids, they’re going to serve the kids.”

Pilavachi also said that he considered doing a nationwide search for other youth workers to head the big annual events, but he said God steered him in another direction.

“Both Andy and Ali, who host the events with me, and others on the team said to me when I said I was going to step back, ‘when you step back, we’ll step back because God told us to do it with you’, and then we suddenly realised to bring someone in from outside is setting…

Peter Ball was sentenced to 32 months in 2015 for a string of offences between the 1970s and 1990s, and the handling of allegations against him is now being examined by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

At a hearing on Wednesday, counsel to the inquiry Fiona Scolding QC said that statements had been requested from the prince and his principal private secretary.

According to a transcript posted on the inquiry website, she said: “We have also requested a witness statement from both His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and his principal private secretary.

“The Prince’s solicitors have indicated their client’s willingness to assist us and have raised a number of important issues for us to consider.

“This has led to lengthy and complex discussions and we are currently considering the latest points they have raised. We hope to be able to provide an update to core participants on this in the next couple of weeks.”

Charles had exchanged a series of letters with Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester, whose diocese covers Highgrove, the prince’s country home.

A spokesman for the prince told the Daily Mail last year that the correspondence contained nothing of relevance to the clergyman’s offending.

Lawyer Richard Scorer from Slater and Gordon, who is representing complainants at the IICSA, said: “It is…