Christianity “has been an overwhelming force for good in the world”, according to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Speaking at the launch of World Youth Day in Sydney, Mr Rudd said that while many criticised the Church it was important to speak about the great good it does as well. The launch and opening Mass was attended by 150,000 people.

The UK father of a teenage boy who was shot dead as he went for a haircut has urged parents to "get closer" to their children to better understand their lives. Rashid Chaiboub said parents should be aware when their children stop sharing their thoughts and feelings with them, as his 17-year-old son Tarek had.

Fathers are being increasingly marginalised in children's lives, according to the UK's equality watchdog. According to the chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Nicola Brewer, said that maternity leave laws had led to an increased disparity between the time mothers and fathers spend with children.

The mental health and emotional wellbeing of young teenage girls is being placed under pressure from numerous directions, according to new research. A report by Girlguiding UK and the Mental Health Foundation discovered that girls feel pressure as a result of sexual advances from boys and also to wear clothes that make them look older.

Children and adults who are the result of IVF, the technique developed by Professor Bob Edwards and Dr Patrick Steptoe in the 1970s, gathered in Cambridgeshire yesterday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the creation of In Vitro Fertilisation.

A State-employed Christian registrar who refused to carry out same sex civil unions because they went against her faith has won a landmark discrimination battle and hailed her triumph as a victory for religious liberty.

A culture of “moral neutrality” is preventing politicians and other leaders from saying what needs to be said about the problems facing British society, according to the leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron.

Catholic education authorities have proposed a radical plan to stop the ‘flight’ of parents from urban schools all over the country. The plan involves requiring parents to send their children to the school closest to them.

A Swedish school has accused an eight-year-old boy of violating the rights of fellow school children for not inviting two of his classmates to his birthday party.

Addressing the need for legislation to protect vulnerable people in dependant relationships does not require the redefinition of marriage, Senator Jim Walsh said in the Seanad yesterday. Responding to reports about his Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party motion last week, he said that the current understanding of marriage as intrinsically heterosexual was “for the propagation of society and the welfare of children”.

A proposed EU anti-discrimination directive, aimed at outlawing any discrimination based on sex, religion or sexual orientation outside the workplace could have implications for Church property.

Gang life is replacing the family for a generation of young people, according to a leading UK police chief. Barbara Wilding, the Chief Constable of South Wales, says that a culture of gangs, drugs and crime has become a way of life in poorer areas in large English cities, and family breakdown is a major part of the problem

A clear majority of parents would prefer State-run schools to religious run schools, a poll published on Monday suggests. According to a RedC poll carried out on behalf of the Irish Primary Principals Network, over 70 per cent of parents indicated they would prefer a State run school system.

The UK Labour Government is engaged in a “witch hunt” against faith schools, according to a new document published by think tank the Centre for Policy Studies. And this policy could end up alienating the UK's growing Islamic population, as Islamic faith schools help to integrate young Muslims into British society, the document says.

A group of Fianna Fáil TDs and Senators are supporting a motion in the parliamentary party to secure the special status of marriage under the Constitution. The motion comes just days after the Government published the heads of a Bill which proposes giving same sex couples many of the rights currently enjoyed by married couples.

Same sex couples are to be granted marriage like rights under new Government proposals published on Tuesday. Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern launched the proposals, saying that the Civil Partnership Bill did not equate to “gay marriage”.

However, the measures envisaged will give legal status to same-sex couples who register for the proposed scheme that may end only on the death of a partner or dissolution by a court.

It will also enable registered couples, both same sex and heterosexual, to access a range of rights in relation to maintenance, shared home, succession, taxation, social welfare schemes and pensions, currently available only to married couples.

The new proposals are set to provide cohabiting couples (both same-sex and opposite-sex couples) with the safety net of a redress scheme in the event of economic vulnerability at the end of their relationship, even where they have not registered for the scheme. However, same-sex couples will not be able to apply for status as joint adoptive parents under the new scheme.

It is envisaged that the final legislation will become law within a year. The Minister said that gay marriage could not be conceded because it would fall foul of the Constitution. He added that such couples will also not be able to adopt.

The proposed legislation will mean that same sex couples will be able to register their relationship before a registrar, as long as the partners are over 18 and not involved in any other unions. Furthermore, courts will be able to dissolve relationships as long as the partners have lived apart for two of the previous three years.

The Attorney General Paul Gallagher, the Minister continued, had repeatedly warned that nothing could be done in the legislation "that would equate" civil registration, or cohabitation with marriage.

"The view is that anything that would provide, or try to replicate 'marriage' in this legislation would not stand constitutional scrutiny," he told The Irish Times.

The legislation will also mean significant changes even for same-sex and opposite-sex cohabiting couples who choose not to formalise their relationships, but who have been living together for at least three years, or two years if they have children.

A court-administered "safety net scheme" ensuring that a partner is not left in poverty by the ending of a relationship is part of the scheme. Thus will also allow recognition of cohabitant agreements which will be similar to pre-nuptial agreements.

The changes will have major implications for tens of thousands of cohabiting couples, who now comprise almost 12 per cent of all families in Ireland according to the 2006 census.

The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network called the proposed legislation as "comprehensive", but said it failed to provide protection for gay and lesbian parents and their children.

The Irish Times reported yesterday that the Green Party unsucessfully pressed for some form of legal recognition on this point.

However, the party's justice spokesman Ciarán Cuffe TD, said the Bill allowed for "ancillary" orders which would allow the courts to adjudicate on issues such as financial provision for children in such circumstances.

A Canadian court has stated that a father of a 12-year-old girl cannot ground her for disobeying him, his lawyer said last Wednesday.

Limerick has the highest percentage of births outside marriage, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The data shows that 56.4 per cent of children born in Limerick city in 2005 were outside wedlock.

A new report has shown that women do the bulk of caring in the home for children and elderly or ill family members. The report by the ESRI, Gender Inequalities in Time Use is published by the Equality Authority. According to the study, women spend twice as much time as men each day doing unpaid work, including caring and housework.

Ireland could be given opt-outs from the Lisbon Treaty if it would help the Government win a new referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, according to reports, including an opt-out from family policy.