Forty pastors from five different tribes and denominations met for a peace-building seminar at the Eastleigh Fellowship Centre, located in a semi-slum area of Nairobi, recently. The centre facilitates church and community programmes.

As US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice travels to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the wake of the chaos occasioned by Israel's intervention in Gaza, senior US church figures have written calling for urgent action.

Ethnic and political divisions have prevented church leaders in Kenya from responding to the political crisis in their country, the main governing body of the WCC has been told by its general secretary, the Rev Samuel Kobia.

With peace seemingly returning to the troubled country, churches within and outside Kenya are now taking stock of the experiences from an ecumenical team visit made during a month of unrest and violence.

Two weeks after the country's disputed election and the violence that has followed in its wake, Mennonite relief work is continuing and the peace church reports that Kenyan Mennonite Church members are safe despite the troubles.

Two British development workers are establishing a project to support the growing number of street children in war-torn Congo, cooperating with the Anglican Church. It will be based in Lubumbashi, the country's second city.

Pope Benedict has cancelled a visit to the prestigious La Sapienza University in Rome after protests about his past remarks about Galileo. But a professor there says attempts to stop him speaking violate intellectual freedom.

The recent freeing of Clara Rojas and Consuelo González in Colombia has been welcomed by a World Council of Churches' spokesperson as a sign of hope that non-violence and justice is still possible in the troubled country.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia has called upon all Kenyan political leaders to keep moving towards dialogue while praising the countries' churches for their role in peacemaking.