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In a letter congratulating South Korean foreign minister Ban Ki-Moon on his election 13 October as United Nations secretary-general, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia notes the Korean's "rich experience" as international diplomat and civil servant, assures him of the Council's prayers and support, and emphasizes that reform of the United Nations is an "important task" facing the new UN head.

Learning of the death on Friday 13 October of Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Ephesus, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia pays tribute to the former WCC president and senior representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in a tribute addressed to the ecumenical patriarch, Bartholomew I.

The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Grameen Bank's creator Muhammad Yunus not only recognizes his "creative genius in promoting his concept of microcredit, but also testifies to the fact that genuine economic and social development has to grow from below if it is to be accessible for the people," the World Council of Churches (WCC) said today in a congratulatory message.

A 10 October World Council of Churches (WCC) pastoral letter to the National Council of Churches and WCC member churches in the Philippines expresses the Council's "deep shock and grief" over the brutal stabbing on 3 October of Philippine Independent Church Bishop Alberto Ramento, and alleges that Philippines government security forces continue "to indulge in victimization, torture and extra judicial killings on the pretext of fighting the terrorist threat in the region" in spite of protests and demonstrations.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has congratulated the sponsoring states of a draft resolution on conventional arms control currently before the United Nations General Assembly and urged them to include in the text a specific reference to international human rights law.

As news on the North Korean nuclear test is breaking on 9 October, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia asks for the response to be peaceful, lawful and collective.

"You have challenged and pushed us never to adjust to the powers that are, but always to discern the signs of God's coming kingdom and to act accordingly."

"The World Council of Churches (WCC) calls for the prompt and unqualified recognition of His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilus III as the primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem by the Government of Israel," said WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a letter sent to Israel's prime minister Ehud Olmert on 29 September.