The southwest of England has seen an increased spate of thefts of church bells and equipment, irrigation pipes from schools and other scrap metal from business and domestic property in recent weeks.

A Christian church in central Jerusalem which is used by several different groups survived an arson attack last week as a result of prompt action by Jewish neighbours who called the emergency services and stopped the potentially lethal fire spreading.

Christians across all London's 33 boroughs, including many from the Black Majority Churches, are coming together for a Week of Peace which will look at practical community-based methods for reducing violence throughout the capital.

The leader of a large Reformed denomination in South Africa says a crime wave gripping the country is a moral issue that cannot be solved only by having more police officers and state-of-the-art forensic equipment - writes David Wanless from Cape Town for Ecumenical News International (ENI).