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The World Council of Churches' (WCC) central committee has urged religious and political leaders to promote the return of displaced persons, co-existence and reconciliation in the divided region of Kosovo as the basis of any long-term settlement.

Now available in electronic and printed format, the WCC Annual Review 2005 is an illustrated account of WCC programmes and activities over the year. The Annual Review also contains key information on WCC member churches, governing bodies, finances, publications and other resources.

At its first meeting since its appointment in February 2006, the WCC's executive committee has approved new programmatic directions for the Council and has endorsed a framework for activities in the coming years.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee today said that the new UN Human Rights Council needs to avoid "policies and practices of double standards, en-bloc voting and politicization of the human rights agenda that were so prevalent at the UN Commission on Human Rights" that they "virtually paralyzed" it before its "ignominious end".

"I have learned to see everyone infected as a brother, a sister, a niece, a nephew - a close relative," said Samuel Kobia this afternoon in Bern. The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary was speaking at an ecumenical event for World AIDS Day held outside the Swiss parliament.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Samuel Kobia has called on the Ethiopian government "to exercise utmost restraint and bring to an immediate halt the military action against the people and release the political prisoners as soon as possible".

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"As custodians of an ancient spiritual heritage, Ethiopian Christianity has a unique contribution which is of central importance in Africa and to the ecumenical family world-wide," stated the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, during his first official visit to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, 24-30 September 2005.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia will meet Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, 16 June. The encounter, which includes a private audience, is the first meeting between the two since they took up their current positions. A press conference is scheduled at 12:30 the same day, after the meeting.

<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Critical moment interreligious conference

More than a hundred people from diverse faiths and traditions will participate at the "Critical moment in interreligious dialogue" conference scheduled for 7-9 June 2005 to analyse, assess and review the experience of interreligious collaboration and dialogue as it has been practised over recent decades and might be practised in future.

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A seminar on the responsibility of the UN for human rights in Iraq, to be held at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on Tuesday 22 March 2005 (13:00-16:00), will focus on the norms and principles that should apply to the situation in Iraq, and facilitate a dialogue on the responsibilities of the international community and UN human rights machinery.

<span style="font-weight: bold; "» Where is the ecumenical movement going in the 21st century?

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Middle Eastern church leaders have condemned attacks on Iraqi churches and called for solidarity following bombings at churches yesterday.

The WCC has forcefully denounced the series of bombings which targeted Christian churches in Iraq on 1 August 2004.