Around 3,000 youth workers and young people from over 100 nations are gathering at London’s Excel Centre this week for a celebration of the Christian charity.

Launched in London in 1844 by Sir George Williams to improve the spiritual condition of young men, the organisation grew to become the world’s oldest and largest youth movement.

It reaches 65 million people across 120 countries.

Speaking to Premier from the 175th anniversary event, Dr John Sentamu said: “In nearly 15 years I’ve been president of YMCA England I have seen lives of young people transformed.

“I’m ever so thankful to God for the work that the YMCA does.”

When asked about the message he’d like youth workers to be giving to young people in today’s society, he said: “They should be giving them joy, hope and love and telling them it doesn’t matter what circumstances you are going through – God, in the power of the holy spirit, is closer to us than our breath.”

“God is much closer to you than you think” – Archbishop of York and @YMCAEng_Wales President @JohnSentamu opening today’s morning devotion of #YMCA175 pic.twitter.com/cYt1AobsXa

— World YMCA (@WorldYMCA) August 6, 2019

Those gathered at YMCA175 will receive more than 200 hours of lectures and interactive workshops, innovative collaborative sessions and open seminars.

Denise Hatton, Chief Executive of YMCA England & Wales, said: “We are…

Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil stated: “Christianity in Iraq, one of the oldest Churches, is perilously close to extinction.”

Archbishop Warda told the charity Aid to the Church in Need that Iraq’s Christian presence has been decimated over the last two decades.

He said: “In the years prior to 2003, we numbered as many as one-and-a-half million – six percent of Iraq’s population. Today, there are perhaps as few as 250,000 of us left, maybe less. Those of us who remain must be ready to face martyrdom.”

Archbishop Warda said that, although Daesh – or ISIS – has been driven out of northern Iraq, the ideology it spawned is still present.

“The defeat of Daesh has not seen the defeat of the idea of the re-establishment of the Caliphate.

“And with this idea of the Caliphate there comes all the formal historical structures of intentional inequality and discrimination against non-Muslims.

“I speak here not only of Iraq. We see leaders in other countries in the Middle East who are clearly acting in a way consistent with the re-establishment of the Caliphate.”

Speaking about the Daesh invasion that led to the displacement of more than 125,000 Christians and the loss of their homes and businesses, he said: “Our tormentors confiscated our present while seeking to wipe out our history and destroy our future.

“This was an exceptional situation, but not an isolated…

According to new data gathered from 19 police forces across the UK, the number of violent incidents by children towards their parents has doubled in the last three years.

The forces’ statistics recorded a jump from 7,224 incidents of adolescent to parent violence and abuse in 2015 to 14,133 in 2018.

Christian author and mother of six children, Lynette Burrows said these figures are not surprising.

Speaking to Premier, she said: “I think this is a result of years and years of ‘academic’ child care advice, particularly in the correction and disciplinary area, where we’ve not thought it’s important to instil respect for any authority figures.

“I’ve always thought and maintained that if you can’t control the child’s behaviour at four, you certainly won’t be able to do it at 14, when the issues are even more grievous.”

Lynette says that media and culture have left many parents uncertain about how to bring up their children.

“The mass media and advice from schools always stresses that you mustn’t make children do what they don’t want to do. The wild extremes such as never using the word no and nonsense like that – that would be practically impossible to do in reality.

“They try to criminalise smacking, as they’re still trying in Scotland, which, of course, would criminalise a very large majority of parents who know that smacking a child is about correction. It’s not really…

The assistant commissioner Neil Basu has said that 70 to 80 percent of those who wanted to attack the UK were British born or raised, which he said strongly indicated that domestic social issues were among the root causes of extremism.

He said: “That has got to tell us something about our society – that we have got to look at why they would be prepared to do that.

“I want good academics, good sociologists, good criminologists to be telling us exactly why that is.”

Dr Antony McRoy, an academic in Islamic Studies, told Premier he disagrees with Mr Basu’s analysis of the situation: “I think it’s just madness to say that it comes down to the fact that there aren’t opportunities for people in this country. Everyone in this country has the same opportunities before the laws as everyone else.

“I think the problem is his analysis of why this is happening.

“The only answer to violent extremism is increasing police activity, increasing intelligence activity. The only other thing that could work is a change in policy amongst western government but obviously governments cannot allow terrorism in any way to influence their policies.

“As Christians, we have a community, the worldwide Church and our loyalties are to Jesus. Muslims are part of a worldwide community as well, and so when Muslims in Britain see Muslims elsewhere suffering, their reaction is ‘that is what’s happening…

Christian members of the ‘Kattunaickar’ Scheduled Tribe filed the case at the High Court at the Madras Madurai Bench in Tamil Nadu after facing years of hardship because of their beliefs.

There are approximately 100 Christian converts living among the predominantly Hindu tribe, based in the village of Sathyamoorthy Nagar in the Madurai District.

Local sources say that the hostilities towards the Christians started in 2004, but religious discrimination escalated when the local extremist group Hindu Munani, began to systematically target Christians in 2016.

The Hindu Munani have now imposed sanctions on Christian families there, preventing them from purchasing food, attending public ceremonies and accessing public roads and water supplies. Christian children are prohibited from mixing with Hindu’s in the playground and a tax of 50,000 rupees (approx £590) has been enforced for all families in the area who do not follow the Hindu faith.

The case at the High Court has been filed against 11 respondents, which includes members of the Hindu Munani, the District Collector, the Superintendent of Police, the Revenue Divisional Officer and the Inspector of Police.

An order to prevent the respondents from imposing penalties and excommunicating the Christians and request for police protection has been submitted.

The petitioner of the case, who cannot be named for security…