Two aid and development groups, both Geneva-based, with similar names and backers, have announced they are to unite and will formally launch in March 2010 as the ACT Alliance, which will have access to billions of dollars.

Thousands of families who have opened homes to those fleeing the crisis-hit eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo are facing danger themselves as aid agencies seek to bring assistance amid conflict.

Christian denominations working through the ecumenical Action of Churches Together and the Catholic network Caritas are contributing short- and long-term aid to those hit by hurricanes and tropical storms recently.

Development agencies say that the final outcome of the Burmese cyclone disaster, which latest reports suggest has claimed over 23,000 lives, may be on the scale of the Asian tsunami a few years ago. They are urging a global response.

Churches in Bangladesh have launched a massive relief effort, with support from international partners and agencies, for victims of the devastating cyclone that has claimed thousands of lives along the country's southwestern coast.

Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) in the USA is among the global church agencies providing emergency assistance to communities hit by severe flooding in Ghana and Uganda. Nearly 17 African countries have been affected by heavy rains which began in June 2007.

As the security situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate and hundreds more local people die, an Action of Churches Together - Caritas employee has been killed in western Darfur, highlighting the ongong carnage.

A gathering in Musselburgh will trace the footsteps of a famous son of a black Jamaican slave

The capacity of the alliance of global churches from different Christian traditions "to respond to the challenges of today's world depends to a large extent on more creative and future-oriented forms of co-operation and networking," said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia in launching a fresh ecumenical initiative.

After the intervention of the Ethiopian troops, the situation in Somalia continues to be very tense, with the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) refusing a government offer for amnesty, say church agencies working in the region.