The lives of 1,000 young children a day are being lost to disease and poverty in poor countries because of illegal trade-related tax evasion, says a new report from Christian Aid. It has calculated that this evasion costs the developing world at least US$160bn annually.

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’.

Burmese cyclone survivors face a massive crisis unless they are urgently delivered aid, leading aid agencies have warned - while Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on Burma's generals to ease restrictions on outside assistance.

Following the worldwide success of online social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, the Roman Catholic Church is getting in on the act with a website which hopes to attract more than just the usual faithful.

The Christian Research organisation, whose latest data survey on the decline of UK church attendance has annoyed the Church of England, has defended its work against accusations of being misleading.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, has called for an improved dialogue between believers and non-believers to establish the shared values of British society.

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has described his private meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican earlier this week as "friendly and informal". They talked for an hour, especially about Christian-Muslim relations.

Teams from Disasters Emergency Committee member agencies, along with flights of emergency relief items, are now reaching those affected by Cyclone Nargis. DEC is calling for urgent donations to the DEC Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Appeal.

An unprecedented range of leaders from all sections of the Christian community have come together to affirm the right of both Israelis and Palestinians for a just and peaceful future - after years of division and violence.

As the death toll from the Burma cyclone continues to rise dramatically, possibly to around 100,000, the Methodist Church and the Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MRDF) in Britain have launched an emergency appeal for funds.