A high-tech prayer rug, equipped with sensors, lights and a Koran display screen has been designed by a Muslim student in Toronto. The e-rug has built-in sensors, which can detect the posture of the worshipper. Should they make an error — such as missing or adding an extra step in the sequence of prayer — sensors will vibrate an alert. It will also alert the believer to the next time of prayer or forthcoming religious feasts.

In India, the National Council of Churches has called for Christians to take action against global warming. Green parish programmes, plastic-free church campuses and biological farming are three of the new measures now recommended by the council.

For the first time since 1810, the anniversary of Argentina’s independence from Spain will be marked with a “multifaith” ceremony on May 25, rather than a Roman Catholic Mass. The change has been ordered by the President, Cristina de Kirchner. Father Guillermo Marco, until recently the spokesman for the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, says the change reflects “the displeasure” of the authorities with the frank homilies of the city’s Archbishop, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. “For a long time, the Catholic Church was the only institution to criticise the dangerous trends instigated by this government,” Father Marco said.

The Rev Io M. Smith, a pioneer of the Black Church movement in Britain, has died aged 70. The author of The Ebony Cross: Being Black in Britain Today, Mrs Smith was for 25 years general secretary of the New Testament Assembly, one of Britain’s leading black churches.

A 24-ft scroll showing the text of the book of Isaiah went on display in Jerusalem this week for the first time in 41 years. Written by a Judaean scribe in approximately 120BC, the text features the only complete book of the Bible discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls.