A former minister of police in South Africa's apartheid regime has again washed the feet of people he says he wronged while head of one of the most feared arms of the State - but this time they were apartheid's 'foot soldiers' themselves.

Church and community leaders across Britain have stressed the importance of voting to stop racist and extremist candidates in today's European and local elections. Polling stations are open between 7am and 10pm.

Churches could have a vital role to play in rejuvenating democracy, says Jonathan Bartley. But it needs to be through a faith-engagement with politics based on openness and change.

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has told peace campaigner Harmeet Sooden - a former kidnap victim in Iraq - that it will not act on his official complaint regarding his mistreatment by Israeli authorities.

The actions of a group of German church members in 1934 to resist the Nazi regime still serve as a powerful model for churches today according to the head of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, But there is a dark side to the story, too.

Some Catholic leaders in Hong Kong have criticised one of their faithful, the head of the government there, for making what they say is a distorted moral judgment on the 4 June 1989 massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square

The Church of England has for too long been slow to take its own ethnic diversity to its heart, says Vasantha Gnanadoss. If it now also claims that Christianity is superior to others it could be unwittingly supporting white nationalism and undermining action against the BNP and others.

As public anger and dissatisfaction grows at the corruption in the mainstream political system, the Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and York have made a joint appeal to voters not to support the BNP and other racist or extremist parties in protest.

Burma's ruling military dictatorship has "strongly rejected" a statement by the Association of Southeast Asian nations condemning the trial of imprisoned pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, while global outrage builds.

Black church and community leaders have launched a new online opinion to gauge public opinion on government plans to retain the DNA of citizens with no criminal record, many of whom are discharged suspects.

Worldwide vigils have been held for Troy Davis, a death row prisoner in Georgia, USA, who is believed to be innocent, and is still trying to get a court to hear evidence collected since his original trial 18 years ago, which could prove his innocence.