The Prime Minister has issued an apology for the homophobic hounding of the wartime codebreaker Alan Turing. He was driven to suicide in the 1950s by criminal prosecution and “medical treatment” imposed in response to his sexuality.

Nine Methodist Church leaders appeared in court in Fiji yesterday, pleading not guilty to charges of breaching Public Emergency Regulations. They have been released on bail but are forbidden to preach, speak in public or meet with each other.

Human rights campaigners in Zimbabwe believe they have a 50:50 chance of seeing the rights of gay, lesbian and bisexual people protected in the country's new constitution. This would overturn existing Zimbabwean law.

Church leaders have urged Filipinos to help remove new signs of despotism and to protect the democracy for which former president Corazon Aquino had struggled and sacrificed.

World Council of Churches General Secretary the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia has urged the Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to act now on safety and human rights issues.

Britain's Quakers appear to be on the brink of a decision to put same-sex and heterosexual marriage on an equal footing. This morning will see the final stage of their discussions on the issue at their Yearly Meeting in York.

Some 200 people from an informal settlement in the Harare suburb of Gunhill in Zimbabwe face being forcibly evicted without being given adequate notice or any due process.

Seven Methodist Church leaders in Fiji have been arrested and questioned by the country's military government. The regime is reported to fear political discussions at the Methodists' forthcoming annual conference.