Sarfaraz Bugti, home minister for the southwestern Baluchistan province, said hundreds of worshippers were attending services at the church ahead of Christmas. He said the attackers clashed with security forces, with one assailant killed at the entrance while the other made it inside.

Baluchistan police chief Moazzam Ansari praised the response of security forces guarding the church, saying the attacker who made it inside was wounded and unable to reach the main building. “Otherwise the loss of lives could have been much higher,” he told reporters.

Quetta police chief Abdur Razzaq Cheema said a search is under way for two suspected accomplices who escaped.

Wasim Baig, spokesman for Quetta main hospital, confirmed the attack’s toll, updating earlier accounts from officials.

No one immediately claimed the attack. Muslim extremists have targeted Pakistan’s small Christian minority in the past.

Local television showed ambulances and security patrols racing to the scene while women and children were being led out of the church’s main gate.

Hospital officials said two women were among the dead while another five women and two children were among the wounded.

A young girl in a white dress sobbed as she recounted the attack to television, saying many people around her were wounded.

Aqil Anjum, who was shot in his right arm, told The Associated Press he heard a blast in the middle of the service, followed by heavy gunfire. “It was chaos. Bullets were hitting people…

Christian founder of The Entertainer wants his staff to spend Christmas Eve with their families. 

Gary Grant already doesn’t open on Sundays but December 24th would have possibly earnt the company £2million in sales. 

But he believes the gain for the families of his 1,700 staff is worth it, according to The Mail on Sunday, he said: “I have given the concept of one day in seven as a day of rest a lot of thought and I am not making an exception just because it is Christmas Eve.”

He said family life is already: “under attack enough.”

In a photo of Gary Grant in a shop front he stands behind a sign that says: “The Entertainer wishes each of you a Happy Christmas. Pictured here in the first nativity, we remember the reason for the season – the birth of Jesus Christ.”

His open faith has been well-received by some on twitter too. 

Absolutely love the ethos of Gary Grant @EntertainerToys – closing on Sundays to give staff a day with family, and remembering the first Christmas pic.twitter.com/nIFIiTHhEw

— Mark Russell (@markrusselluk) 2 December 2017

Proud of The Entertainer and its owners for being so clear about the reason for Christmas. They won’t be open on Christmas Eve, as they don’t open on Sundays- a decision that could cost them millions of pounds. But we could choose to shop there this Christmas and stand with them! pic.twitter.com/6Alm3Kfz2l

— Malcolm Duncan (@MalcolmJDuncan) December 2, 2017

Ian Elliott told BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme he was “very disturbed” by statements about alleged “factual inaccuracies” in his report, and said those within the Church who could support his findings have failed to back him publicly.

Taking the unusual step of speaking out about the report, Mr Elliott said he was particularly perturbed by senior figures within the Church who wrongly believed pastoral support to victims should be withdrawn the moment legal proceedings begin.

Mr Elliott said withdrawing that care left survivors, particularly those with mental health issues, vulnerable.

He said: “Now that just simply should never happen and I needed to draw attention to that fact in the report, which I did, and I think that’s something which – my impression is – has caused a great deal of upset and concern amongst many who I do not think have the correct attitude or approach to survivors within the Church of England.”

Mr Elliott said one survivor told him he had spoken to two senior and prominent members of the CofE about his “shocking” abuse, but they had not taken “the required actions”.

He said: “(The survivor) spoke to 23 victims, all of whom he identified when and where the conversations took place. Not all of those individuals said they could remember the conversations, but half of them did and confirmed they had not taken the right actions – not known really what do to.”

Mr Elliott said the main factors included a lack of knowledge on the part of the…

An amateur baker who created a 6ft nativity scene out of cake has said it took her six months.

Lynn Nolan started crafting her vision of Bethlehem in the summer, with the icing taking two months to complete.

The former florist said she used 240 eggs, 50kg of marzipan, 90kg of icing and four litres of whiskey.

Now on display in the Youlgreave village shop near Bakewell, Derbyshire, the scene shows an entire street of LED candle-lit houses, market stalls and the traditional stable.

The 61-year-old, originally of Manchester, made headlines last December when she baked a replica of her entire village to raise money for roof repairs for the local church.

A year on, Ms Nolan said: “I had people saying, ‘are you doing it again, are you doing it again?’, and I found out the school needed a new playground.

“The baby Jesus is so tiny, it’s about the size of the top of your little finger. So actually, getting his head on was a nightmare.

“There are all the little houses and wiring it all up with little lights was tough.”

She said the hardest part was the camels, adding they ended up looking like “the Loch Ness Monster”.

She continued: “It was all in my head, I had a vision of where I was going but I didn’t write it down.

“The icing of the whole cake took about two months, but I think from start to finish it took six months.”

She said supermarkets donated a total of £225 towards the ingredients, which came to an estimated £850, and some were donated by local…

The Pope told the Italian Periodical Press Union and the Italian Federation of Catholic Weeklies that dredging up old scandals too was one of the “sins of communication” that hurts all involved.

He welcomed the journalists saying they have: “a task, or rather a mission, among the most important in today’s world: to inform correctly, to offer everyone a version of the facts conforming as closely as possible to reality”.

Pope Francis described how the media must not fall into: “slander, which is sensationalistic, or defamation, looking for outdated and old things, and bringing them to light today; they are very grave sins, which damage the heart of the journalist and harm people.”

He described journalism though as fundamental for the growth of any society that wishes to be called democratic but criticised the: “drive for sensationalism to the detriment of precision.”

The Pope called for thoughtful reflection and said: “there is an urgent need for reliable information, with verified data and news, which does not aim to amaze and excite, but rather to make readers develop a healthy critical sense, enabling them to ask themselves appropriate questions and reach justified conclusions.”