Appeals for Haiti launched by the Methodist Church and the Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MDRF) have raised more than £270,000. They are channelling funds through Action by Churches Together International on the spot.

A lawyer representing Methodist Church leaders in Fiji has attended a court hearing to argue that the charges against them should be dropped. The charges are thought to result from Methodist criticism of the military regime.

The military government of the interim Fijian Prime Minister has agitated the normally harmonious Methodists by attempting to stop the church's conference from taking place in late August.

A Methodist bishop in South Africa, who runs a shelter for people fleeing from his country's northern neighbour, wants police here to stop arresting Zimbabweans now that the law concerning their visas has been changed.