A Northern Ireland-wide abortion regime remains in limbo as the issue is still being considered by the Executive, and no date has been set for its introduction.

But it also said that Health Minister Robin Swann had brought forward proposals for an early medical abortion regime to the Executive – which ministers are still considering.

Leading figures in the UK Jewish community are using Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January to focus on the persecution of Uighur Muslims, saying Jews have the “moral authority and moral duty” to speak out.

Rabbis, community leaders and Holocaust survivors have been at the forefront of efforts to put pressure on the UK government to take a stronger stance over China’s brutal treatment of the Uighurs.

In a recent letter to the prime minister, Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: “As a community, we are always extremely hesitant to consider comparisons with the Holocaust.”

However, there were similarities between what is reported to be happening in China and what happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 40s, she said. Urging Boris Johnson to take action, she said violations of the Uighurs’ human rights were “shaping up to be the most serious outrage of our time”.

A 12-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan who was kidnapped, raped, shackled hand and foot, and forced to work from dusk till dawn while authorities refused to act has at last spoken out about her ordeal.

Farah Shaheen was rescued from the house of her 45-year-old abductor Khizar Ahmed Ali (Hayat) in December 2020 after harrowing five-month ordeal.

Her father, Asif Masih said his daughter was “was treated like a slave. She was forced to work all day, cleaning filth in a cattle yard. 24-7 she was attached to a chain.”

She was also forcibly converted to Islam, married off to her kidnapper and “was sexually assaulted by her abductor and raped multiple times by [his] landlords”.

In addition, Mr Masih described his “dismay” at the alleged failure of the police, the courts and medical professionals, whom he accuses of “repeatedly letting us down” for failing to do justice for his daughter.

Mr Masih blasted the police for failing to act in June 2020 when he reported that Farah had been abducted and for taking three months to register the case.

Moreover, in spite of an official birth certificate confirming Farah was only 12 in June when she was abducted, a medical report, commissioned by the courts assessing the legitimacy of her marriage to Mr Ahmed, gave the girl’s age as between 16 and 17.

He also spoke out against the judiciary which – pending a court case into the legitimacy of her marriage to a man more than 30 years her senior – placed Farah in a women’s refuge rather than allowing her to go home to her family.

A spokesperson for Aid to the Church in Need, Regina Lynch, said they have “not been able to verify the exact details of what would be a real massacre. Travel in the region is not currently possible and communications are very restricted, but we have received confirmation of a series of killings and attacks on innocent people in many parts of the region and also in the Aksum area”.

“The population is terrified,” she added.

According to information received by ACN, there could have been another massacre with over a hundred victims in the church of Maryam Dengelat in December.

Although the conflict has led to the deaths of hundreds of Christians, the sources reiterate that the violence is not motivated by religion but by political conflict.

The US Catholic Bishops have described as ‘misguided’ an executive order of President Biden giving ‘gender identity’ and ‘sexual orientation’ a protected status equal to sex or race.

The order would allow boys and men, who identify as women, to access female only spaces, and compete in women’s sports.

The order is based in part on a Supreme Court ruling from last year which the Bishops’ say “needlessly ignored the integrity of God’s creation of the two complementary sexes, male and female, with reasoning that treated them as devoid of meaning”.

However, they say the executive order goes further than the Court and threatens “to infringe the rights of people who recognize the truth of sexual difference or who uphold the institution of lifelong marriage between one man and one woman. This may manifest in mandates that, for example, erode health care conscience rights or needed and time-honored sex-specific spaces and activities”.

A report for the Oireachtas justice committee on Kenny’s ‘Dying with Dignity Bill’ found a number of “issues” with the proposed legislation, such as a jail term of no more than one year for breaking the law, compared with the current 14-year penalty for assisting a suicide.

The paper from the Oireachtas research unit is expected to be published this week and to be debated by the committee next month.

James Lawless, chairman of the Oireachtas justice committee, pointed out that assisted suicide legislation endorsed by referendum last year in New Zealand ran to “several hundred pages”, whereas Kenny’s bill is just five pages long. “Without expressing anything about the merits of the bill before us, that in itself registers a note of caution as a very crude metric, and suggests it is likely to require significant checks and balances in a comprehensive legal framework,” said Lawless.

The Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco has issued a strong statement in which he accused US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of impugning the motives of pro-life voters.

“On the question of the equal dignity of human life in the womb”, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in a statement, she, “speaks in direct contradiction to a fundamental human right that Catholic teaching has consistently championed for 2,000 years.”

“This is not the language of unity and healing,” he said. “She owes these voters an apology.”

While Cordileone noted that there are many issues Catholic must weigh when casting their vote in November, he said that “no Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion.”

“‘Right to choose’ is a smokescreen for perpetuating an entire industry that profits from one of the most heinous evils imaginable,” he said. “Our land is soaked with the blood of the innocent, and it must stop.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said he hopes that the new US president would seek an early review of the US decision to stop funding to the UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund on global population and reproductive health which critics say promotes abortion, something the agency denies.

Mr Coveney was speaking during a web-based public event hosted by the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA).

At its founding in 1969, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) had a core mission of restricting population growth in the name of ‘humanitarian and economic development’ for the developing world. In more recent years, its stated mission has shifted to focus on the advancement of human rights, specifically, ‘sexual and reproductive health and rights’. ‘Reproductive rights’ are often defined to include abortion.

The Trump administration cut the funding in 2017, because it had determined that UNFPA helps to support a Chinese government family planning program that forces people to get abortions and sterilisations.

In a statement, UNFPA countered that the claim was “erroneous,” asserting that “all of its work promotes the human rights of individuals and couples to make their own decisions, free of coercion or discrimination.” The statement added that U.N. member states “have long described UNFPA’s work in China as a force for good.”

US President Joe Biden’s statement backing legal abortion on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade drew swift reaction from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“We strongly urge the president to reject abortion and promote life-affirming aid to women and communities in need,” the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities head Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas said Jan. 22.

“It is deeply disturbing and tragic that any president would praise and commit to codifying a Supreme Court ruling that denies unborn children their most basic human and civil right, the right to life under the euphemistic disguise of a health service,” he said.

The U.S. bishops’ conference responded to the statement from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision which mandated a permissive abortion regime nationwide.

The statement said “The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to codifying Roe v. Wade and appointing judges that respect foundational precedents like Roe.”

Although Roe v. Wade was a critical pro-abortion ruling, the statement did not mention abortion by name, preferring to use euphemisms such as “reproductive health” and “health care.”

All Churches in Northern Ireland have voluntarily extended restrictions on public worship until March.

The Catholic Primate and Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin has advised “on the basis of the clear and unequivocal public health advice that people should continue to stay at home” until March 5th.

Subject to public health advice, he said: “The celebration of the Eucharist and other liturgies should continue to take place without the physical presence of the faithful. Marriage, funeral, baptismal liturgies and drive-in services may continue (subject to strict safety guidelines and regulations).”

It follows a decision by the Northern Ireland Executive last Friday to extend the Covid-19 restrictions until March 5th, he said.

Church of Ireland Primate and Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell said they had also decided that in-person gatherings should remain suspended with the exception of weddings, funerals, as permitted by regulations.

He said that “this same step is also being taken today by the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, and the Roman Catholic Church”.