16th-century reformer Jean Calvin can inspire a "reformation of values" in the face of the world's economic and ecological crises, a Swiss politician has said in marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant leader's birth.

The number of people forcibly uprooted by conflict and persecution worldwide stood at 42 million at the end of last year, with the largest displacement being caused by the US and UK - who are not among the main hosts.

In many parts of Africa 80% to 90% of people live in extreme poverty. Parents struggle to feed their children, and the life expectancy of many children in around five years. Adults rarely live beyond the age of 50 years.

Against the backdrop of a sharp rise in anti-migrant rhetoric, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches has said the Bible is the "ultimate immigration handbook" and that Christians should stand with the oppressed.

This Sunday Christian congregations across the country will remember and pray for oppressed and persecuted people seeking sanctuary in the United Kingdom as well as for the workers at the UK Border Agency.

The anti-poverty charity War on Want today welcomed reports that French company Veolia has abandoned the $500 million rail project linking Jerusalem and illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

A massive 95% of the British public do not know how many people apply for asylum in the UK each year, with the vast majority hugely overestimating numbers, a British Red Cross survey has revealed.

An approach called 'simultaneous policy', which offers a fast-track to addressing global problems such as climate change, has succeeded in attracting broad cross-party support in the European parliamentary elections.

Two aid and development groups, both Geneva-based, with similar names and backers, have announced they are to unite and will formally launch in March 2010 as the ACT Alliance, which will have access to billions of dollars.

An earthquake of 7.1 on the Richter scale struck Honduras at midnight two days ago. The epicentre of the two-minute quake was the Caribbean coast just north of Bay Islands. Suggestions of another quake is adding to tensions.

Leaders of three large Free Churches in Britain have issued a statement encouraging the voting public in Britain to use the upcoming European elections to back major change on global finance, climate and international poverty.

Urging support for decent funding for international aid programmes, 59 of the 65 synod bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have signed a letter calling on members of the US Congress to act.

Poor families often have to walk miles to gather water and food. Food, when it can be grown, also has to be taken to market to be sold. This can be a very time- and energy-consuming job. Children are often required to help with these household tasks. Having to work for the family means that many children miss out on school.

The gap between standards in the developed world and the less developed world is stark: in one flush of a toilet, we in the West use more water than most Africans would in the course of an entire day.

The Rt Rev George Katwesigye, the Bishop of Kigezi in Uganda, as challenged government donors to be more ‘faith literate’ and to release the largely untapped potential of the local church in tackling the sanitation crisis in the world’s poorest countries.