Development agencies and church leaders have welcomed the fact that the government has held to its commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of GNI on aid.

As Conservative Party activists press to get the coalition to water down it's commitment to international aid, development campaigners are pushing back.

Can Africa attain economic liberation, social welfare, as well as ecological protection in partnership with the European Union, the United States and China?

Dr Rowan Williams, who retires as Archbishop of Canterbury in January 2013, is to become chair of the board of trustees of Christian Aid.