Colombian president Alvaro Uribe admits that a Red Cross symbol was worn by a member of the military mission that freed 15 hostages including Ingrid Betancourt from Farc rebels recently.

Church leaders in Britain, including Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, have continued to make private and public appeals for the release of Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahno, who was kidnapped recently in Baghdad.

Christians are fleeing Iraq and Christianity risks disappearing from the country, says a senior Baghdad archbishop, reiterating appeals made recently to Western churches to intercede with their governments about the Iraqis' plight.

There were celebrations this morning (Sunday 21 October) at the news that two Iraqi Catholic priests abducted over a week ago in the northern city of Mosul had been released alive and well.