A police report on the closure of the church in Zager, which was obtained by Christian persecution charity, Open Doors states: “The nuns were told to leave the hospital immediately and were prevented from taking hospital equipment with them.”

The incident follows a number of sources claiming nuns in health facilities have faced evictions recently and have been left to “fend for themselves”.

Last month, the new UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Daniela Kravetz, stated that during the closures, soldiers were posted outside Catholic health facilities, patients were ordered to go home, and health staff were threatened.

She explained: “The seizure of these health facilities will negatively impact the right to health of the affected populations, in particular those in remote rural areas.

“By curtailing the activities of the Catholic Church, the Eritrean authorities are restricting the right of their citizens to enjoy quality health care.”

In May, 2002, Eritrea outlawed Christian denominations not affiliated with the Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran or Orthodox Christian Church or and Sunni Islam, and began shutting down Evangelical and Pentecostal churches.

Christians who worship in unregistered churches can face punishment and any believers in the armed services caught practicing can be imprisoned.

The government has insisted…

Pastor Alistair Begg from Parkside Church in Cleveland invited the 71-year-old to the stage to deliver his testimony.

The Welcome to My Nightmare rocker told worshippers that Christianity “got a hold of my life and turned me upside down, which was really to turn me the right way up”.

Cooper decided it was time to change his rock-star lifestyle nearly 40 years ago, when he found himself throwing up blood, which he says saved him from alcoholism

“I went as far away as I could,” Cooper said from the pulpit, standing beside his wife of 40 years, Cheryl.

“And of course I became an alcoholic, I became a drug addict. Cheryl lived through that with me.

“It doesn’t matter how many drugs I take, I’m not fulfilled. This isn’t satisfying.

“There’s a spiritual hunger going on. Everybody feels it. If you don’t feel it now, you will. Trust me. You will…Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that’s a tough call. That’s the real rebellion.”

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every morning.

The Bishop of Newcastle, who spoke as the amendment was tabled in the House of Lords, told peers that the current inconsistency meant that reforms introduced in most of the UK – such as the cap on the maximum stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) – do not apply in Northern Ireland.

“The anomalies and confusions abound,” she said.

“Gambling operates inconsistently within the UK, and this affects lives.”

The amendment was supported by Baroness Smith of Basildon, the shadow leader of the Lords, the Liberal Democrats and a DUP peer. It was adopted without any vote by the Government. 

The Bishop of St Albans welcomed the decision and said: “Currently people from Northern Ireland are three times more likely to have a gambling-related problem than in the rest of the country.

“While the rest of the United Kingdom sees progress in reducing stakes on Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals, and has independent regulation from the Gambling Commission, Northern Ireland is dependent on out-of-date legislation.

“Bypassing the 2005 Gambling Act, the Province instead uses an equivalent from 1985 resulting in legal grey-areas existing including on FOBTs.

“Even the advertising watchdog, the ASA, advises gambling companies to seek legal advice in Northern Ireland because the 2005 Act does not apply despite it underpinning…

Michael Higginbottom, 76, is said to have targeted his victims while they were pupils at the now closed St Joseph’s College in Upholland, Lancashire, in the late 1970s and mid-1980s.

Both complainants said they were abused by Higginbottom in his private living quarters at the boarding school for boys aged 12 to 18, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Opening the case, prosecutor David Temkin said: “The boys were not there at the same time. They didn’t know each other then. They don’t know each other now.

“Despite that, their accounts – if true -demonstrate that they had very similar experiences, at around the same sort of age, in the defendant’s private quarters.

“They were both abused by this defendant – regularly, systematically and horrifically. They were both threatened with violence and both were struck with a strap or a belt.

“The prosecution say that the defendant must have thought these boys had not said anything to anyone. However, in recent years each of them came forward independently with their separate but similar allegations and the defendant’s past had finally caught up with him.”

The court was told the first complainant attended the college in the late 1970s because he had decided to become a priest.

He told police that St Joseph’s was a “cold, dark and forbidding place” and for him it was the venue for “mental, physical and sexual abuse”.

Higginbottom – a…