Burma's military regime is distributing international aid today. But it is covering the boxes with the names of top generals in an effort to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.

Does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights represent a triumph of the Enlightenment over superstition? Or has it sidelined religion and sought to impose monolithic norms on diverse communities and cultures? Savi Hensman says the reality is more complex than these popular antitheses suggest.

The Anglican Bishop of Taiwan and one of his senior priests say they are saddened by the failure of the electorate on the island to pass two referendums asking whether Taiwan should enter the United Nations.

Rival political leaders in Kenya have reached an agreement on a coalition government after weeks of bitter negotiations, former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan announced today, before a major press conference.

Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations in New York, has spoken up for employment and workers' rights at a gathering on social and economic development from 6-15 February 2008.

A senior United Nations official in Burundi has pledged the support of the global body to the peace work of churches and others, paying a tribute to their efforts to stabilise the country after more than 10 years of war.

Talks aimed at resolving Kenya’s post-election violence have resumed in the capital Nairobi, amid fears among church and other groups that ethnic and political tensions are seriously worsening, in spite of efforts towards peace.

News that the director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies will receive a regional United Nations Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth Award 2008 has been welcomed by Christian Aid, which works with BCAS.

Christian Aid and other church groups say that the breach of the border between Gaza and Egypt demonstrates the desperation of a people held hostage to both a policy of collective punishment and an inadequate peace process.

An educational institution in southern Africa is hosting a major theological consultation on HIV prevention called by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), based in Geneva. Participants are expected from across the globe.