The Japanese government and Christians should support the rights of the Ainu indigenous people in Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, a United Church of Christ leader in Japan has said.

A festival atmosphere was evident on the lawns outside Parliament House in Canberra yesterday. Thousands of people celebrated outside in the wake of Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations. Doug Hynd was there to see it.

The first opening of the Australian Parliament after the election of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Labour Government has proved a historic moment in the history of Australia – with an apology finally being made to indigenous people.

In an unusual diplomatic move, Methodist Bishop Eugenio Poma, an indigenous Aymara Indian from Bolivia, has become his country's ambassador to Denmark. Poma also used to work for the World Council of Churches.