Controversial new London Mayor Boris Johnson's deputy, a former Church of England minister, faces an enquiry into historic claims of inappropriate behaviour and financial misconduct, which he has dubbed "groundless".

The UK government will sponsor student trips to Auschwitz concentration camp in an effort to keep the message of the Nazi Holocaust alive and relevant to younger generations, say reports in Deutsche Welle, The Times and the BBC.

The leader of the Taize community has urged tens of thousands of young Christians from Europe who gathered in Geneva at the New Year to organize "vigils of reconciliation" for unity between churches divided from each other.

Methodism in Britain will focus its attention on Wales next month, as Cardiff hosts the annual Methodist Youth Conference from 16-18 November 2007 in the new Urdd Centre in the Bay area - where BBC TV series Doctor Who is based.

The church should take a lead in providing a vision of a better world for today’s children and young people, according to a youth work expert writing on the cover of the Baptist Times today. She says change is needed in individuals and communities.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will welcome five young people to serve as interns in its Geneva offices from February 2008 to January 2009 - working in areas such as peace, media relations and interreligious understanding.

Amid growing concern about depression and suicide in Britain and Ireland, especially among the young, The Salvation Army has announced that it will be holding a two-day International Conference on Suicide Prevention next month.

In 2006, the young people of Methodism challenged the Church to dedicate a month to prayer for improved relationships between people of different faiths. They pointed to the 'hostile and untrue' things that are said about some faiths, particularly Islam. Inter faith action, they decided, was hugely important as a way of challenging this. And the first step could be prayer.