The National Council of Churches USA and the development agency Church World Service, holding their annual meeting, have urged the US House of Representatives to officially recognize the slaughter of Armenians in 1915 as a genocide.

There is an "international responsibility to protect people at risk in the Darfur region ... and in neighbouring Chad," says the World Council of Churches executive committee, calling on member churches to bring that responsibility "to the attention of their governments".

Following on from his visit to the United States, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has embarked on a series of short visits to Armenia, Syria and Lebanon. The aim is to deepen church relations and promote peace. The trip runs from 22 - 29 September 2007.

The murder on 19 January 2007 of prominent editor Hrant Dink in Istanbul, Turkey "is a devastating development," said Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, diocesan legate and ecumenical officer, Diocese of the Armenian Orthodox Church of America.

The former moderator of the World Council of Churches, Catholicos Aram I of the Armenian Apostolic Church, says Lebanese leaders need to sustain the democracy they have and not continue fomenting insecurity that could easily trigger more unrest in Lebanon, reports Ecumenical News International.