Parents' groups have reacted with disbelief after a leading UN organisation came out in favour of teaching children about masturbation.

Government proposals to grant same-sex couples marriage-like rights constitute "an alarming attack on the fundamental principle of freedom of religion and conscience", according to the Primate of All Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady.

A primary school receptionist in the UK is taking legal action against her employers after they disciplined her for asking friends to pray about the school’s treatment of her daughter.

The Commission on Taxation in a upcoming report may recommend taxing Child Benefit payments according to The Irish Independent. However, it says a tax credit should be given to lower-income families to compensate them for this.

A date has been set to hear a lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in the state. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker set January 11, 2010 as the date for the hearing.

The Australian state of Queensland is proposing a new law that would recognise both same-sex partners as parents on the birth certs of children over whom they have custody.

Over 11,000 people have signed a petition against changing the child benefit allowance, according to the Irish Times.

Police have threatened to arrest a street preacher in the UK for reading passages from the Bible in public that relate to homosexuality. Lawyers acting for Miguel Hayworth, 29, have demanded an explanation over the alleged intimidation and abuse of power by three officers.

Spanish pro-life groups have slammed the country’s Minister of Justice, Francisco Caamano, who said Thursday that “there is no room for conscientious objection” when it comes to abortion.

New laws regarding marriage and the family will “inevitably change the perceptions and attitudes of people”, a leading Irish bishop has warned.

Italy's highest court has ruled that there is no legal difference between a cohabiting couple and a married couple.

The Swedish Government is set to effectively ban homeschooling. In a draft of its new legislation on the issue, it says that "there is no need for the law to offer the possibility of homeschooling because of religious or philosophical reasons in the family."

Married couples on a single-income are set to be penalised under Government plans to tax child benefit of simply cutting the amount of payment.

Britain remains a Christian country and believers should not privatise their faith, Gordon Brown has told a Christian radio station.

A couple in the UK have used IVF to create the first ‘saviour sibling’ twins who will be used to help treat an older son’s blood illness, a practice widely condemned as ‘end justifies the means’ morality.

Laurence Maguire and his partner Wendy Plant have a four year old son, Connor, who has aplastic anaemia, a very rare blood condition.

The couple underwent IVF treatment after a worldwide search for bone marrow.

Embryos from the IVF were then tested to see if they were suitable as future bone marrow donors for Connor.

Mr Maguire said they had not realised that IVF would be a difficult process: “It is a massive undertaking, with blood tests all the time, daily injections. It is incredibly stressful”.

The IVF resulted in five embryos and the two that were a match for Connor were implanted.

When the twins, Amy and Anthony, were born nearly two years ago, their umbilical cord blood was immediately taken and stored for use in the future.

So far, however, it has not been needed as Connor’s condition has stabilised.

Mr Maguire insisted he and his partner had always intended to have more children, denying that the twins were created in order to provide ‘spare parts’.

He added: “It wasn’t really a choice at all, because you will do anything for your child.”

The laws allowing the ‘saviour sibling’ process to take place were passed in 2008, but as early as 2004 the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority gave permission for one family to create a ‘saviour sibling’.

During the debate in the House of Lords on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, Lady O’Cathain opposed the creation of ‘saviour siblings’ to provide ‘spare-part’ tissues for the treatment of an existing child.

She said in the debate: “To manufacture a person in this way is to offend against the respect that is due to the integrity of that person, no matter how compelling the goal of trying to cure.”

Lord Tebbit said at the time: “Because it might bring great benefits to particular people does not mean it should be done.

“If we accept arguments of that kind we are effectively saying that the end justifies the means.”

Childcare providers throughout the State are looking for more money from the State, an Irish Independent report has revealed.

Vandals have attacked the Amsterdam offices of EuroCongress, the professional conference organizer for World Congress of Families (WCF), due to start next week.

Government statistics show the number of civil partnerships being formed in the UK continues to fall significantly.

The Government is to axe a €1000-per-year childcare payment to parents with children under the age of five. The payment, which parents were free to use at their discretion, will now be given instead to directly to childcare providers.