A senior Catholic figure in Scotland is using the hotly contested Glasgow East by-election to push a controversial anti-government message in the apparent hope that voters will punish it for defying the church.

A major report on abortion, assisted reproductive technologies and stem cell research has been received by the Methodist Conference. The report, Created in God’s Image, also discusses embryo screening and egg and sperm donation.

While the media focus is on in-fighting over sexuality and gender, the July 2008 Lambeth Conference of worldwide Anglican bishops will be challenged to look outwards at the HIV-AIDS pandemic facing millions in Africa.

Church leaders and anti-gun charities have paid tribute to Ms Pat Regan, a mother who became a prominent campaigner against violence after she lost her son in what was dubbed 'an underworld style shooting' in 2002.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has addressed the 61st World Health Assembly which ends in Geneva tomorrow. Holding up a t-shirt proclaiming "HIV Positive Kids Need Treatment," he highlighted the need to address the challenges

An al-Qaeda leader in Iraq has been sentenced to death for the killing of the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho - despite the church's opposition to the death penalty. The Iraqi government said the criminal court had imposed the death sentence on Ahmed Ali Ahmed.

The UK-based international developement agency Christian Aid is responding to the huge magnitude earthquake that hit China’s Sichuan province on 12 May through the work of the Amity Foundation, a recognised NGO.

The leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, visiting Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, has spoken of the "genocide" suffered by his compatriots in the Ottoman empire, and said that those with power should ensure that justice prevails.

Chinese churches and Christian agencies, as well as the government and army, have begun responding to the recent earthquake. The quake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, has devastated a region west of the provincial capital Chengdu.

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is set to express its outright opposition to the death penalty for the first time. It has never previously resolved to oppose capital punishment ‘unequivocally’.

Burma's military regime is distributing international aid today. But it is covering the boxes with the names of top generals in an effort to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.