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> Papuan rights highlighted at UNCHR > Kobia keynote speaker at CCA Assembly > Decade to Overcome Violence focus on Asia launch > WCC scholars discuss "Marks of Peacemaking" > Farmers' global forum on life-giving agriculture > Global Week of Action on trade > Debate on military intervention for humanitarian purposes

> WCC general secretary visits Scandinavian countries > Inter-orthodox preparatory meeting for World Mission Conference > Ecumenical event for the 2nd Alternative World Water Forum > WCC general secretary to visit Asian countries > Decade to Overcome Violence Asia focus launch

A new group of 12 "ecumenical accompaniers" last week joined four others staying on in Israel and Palestine from previous groups within the framework of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The new arrivals bring the total number of ecumenical accompaniers now on the ground to 16.

In a series of public statements and recommendations approved one day before the end of its 15-22 February meeting in Geneva, the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee covered a wide range of issues.

To open debate in the appropiate international forums about "a timetable for the reduction and termination of the United States-led coalition’s military presence in Iraq and for the removal of its military bases there" is the first among a series of recommendations made in a statement about Iraq approved by the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee one day before the end of its 15-22 February meeting in Geneva.

Dialogue and conversation took centre stage at the WCC central committee meeting on Thursday as members broached the subject of human sexuality. Using a proposed new consensus model for conducting meetings, information was presented and discussed without the heated atmosphere that often surrounds such controversial issues.

Young theologians on future issues of mission: Is there miraculous healing in today's churches? How can people be reconciled in a society torn apart like post-apartheid South Africa? How can the Holy Spirit help to find a new understanding of mission?

Is reconciliation possible? What does forgiveness mean, and what is needed for it to happen when the offence was a frightful one and the pain seems insurmountable? These and other fundamental questions will be part of the themes treated at the next Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME).

"What is the magma within religions that can erupt so suddenly and brutally?" This is one of the questions raised at a panel discussion on "International ethics, religious conflicts and peace" at the fifth World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Organized by a global ecumenical coalition that includes the WCC, the panel explores the role of religion in conflicts, and seeks to identify resources within religion for...

"The other world we are thinking of is the one we have, not a world beyond," said Rev. Orlando Santos de Oliveira. The primate of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil was speaking at the opening session of a theological forum on the theme of "Theology for another possible world". Therefore "The only possible theology is one that engages with a liberating God on a concrete pastoral base, in dialogue with new religious...