Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), the North American development and peace agency, is working with local partners to provide a 10-day supply of food for 5,050 families caught up in the post-flood crisis in Bangladesh.

The UK-based international development agency Christian Aid is launching an appeal to help more than 20 million people in India and Bangladesh who have been affected by the worst flooding there in living memory.

Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other global church leaders have welcomed a ruling from the Madras High Court in Chennai that dismissed a challenge to the constitutionality of India's patent law from a Swiss pharmaceutical giant.

The poorest people in India, Nepal and Bangladesh are the chief victims of major monsoon-driven floods across South Asia. And the situation is being made worse by lack of effective international action, local development planners are saying.

More than 150 people have died and 20 million have been displaced from heavy floods in south Asia. Reports estimate more than 12 million people in India, 5.5 million in Bangladesh and 750,000 in Nepal are affected.

Christian women activists have expressed anger at what they say is an alarming crisis due to female feticide in India, after two dumps of illegally aborted female foetuses were found in the world's second most populous nation.

A Christian health organization in India has warned that new official statistics showing a fall in the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the south Asian country should not lead to people lowering their guard.

The Indian government and the United Nations has praised the minority Christian community in India for its important efforts in helping to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Children are not often asked for their opinions on the big issues of life, but church partners in India and the UK have decided that children are the perfect place to start when talking about peace.