From now on, most decisions of the WCC will be made not by voting, but through consensus procedures that take into account the position of all member churches. This necessarily applies to issues affecting religion and ethics. The innovation was adopted under pressure from the Orthodox, who were faced with a choice: either submit to decisions that were unacceptable to them, or leave the council.

Recently, a dispute between Alexei Mitrofanov and Sergey Ivanenko was shown on TV. Formally, it was about Stalin, attitude to the XX Congress, etc. But since all these are still not academic topics, the dispute turned out to be very lively, modern. Mr. Mitrofanov (as a worthy representative of the LDPR) tirelessly defends a very specific anthropological theory. "Man = Pig." The gaze is not new, but not aging. A person does not need freedom and dignity.

Over the course of three years, Gates will transfer $200 thousand to the community account. Activists of the DREAM project, which is the Community of St. Launched in 2002, Egidia helps approximately 20,000 people living with HIV in Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya by providing them with free medications. Thanks to the therapy received through the program, 90% of its participants were able to return to a healthy life and find work.

Deputies of the Moscow City Duma put forward an initiative to amend the federal law “On Burial and Funeral Business,” which would allow the use of unidentified and unclaimed corpses for scientific purposes. According to the current law, such bodies are subject to immediate burial.

“Representatives of parliament came to us and convinced us that there was no point in continuing the hunger strike. All the tasks and goals that we set for ourselves cannot be solved this way. We decided to stop the hunger strike and, having gained strength, continue to fight,” said the head of the “Voice of Beslan” committee, Ella Kesaeva.

Presidential Envoy Dmitry Kozak, under the auspices of the fight against corruption, has prepared a bill tightening control over judges and simplifying the procedure for holding them accountable. As Vedomosti writes, the law “On the Status of Judges” should include such a concept as “conflict of interest” (when the personal interest of a judge can influence his objectivity). If the reform is implemented, the courts may lose their independence.

Vladimir Putin assured acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he would not meet with the leadership of the Hamas delegation, whose visit to Moscow is scheduled for early March. At the same time, the Russian president said that he intends to meet “only with the second persons” of the radical Palestinian movement. Putin noted that according to Russian law, Hamas is not recognized as a terrorist organization.

In the Kremlin Dagestan and political corpses February 20, 2006 Julia Latynina Last Thursday, at half -past three, in the Government House in the city of Makhachkala was rejoicing. The permanent head of the republic, 75-year-old Magomedali Magomedov called Moscow, immediately after meeting with President Putin, and said that he remained at the post. Rumors about Magomedov’s resignation have been going on for several years.

Negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program have begun in the Kremlin. From the Russian side, they are attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak and Deputy Secretary of the Security Council Valentin Sobolev. The Iranian delegation is headed by Deputy Head of the Supreme National Security Council Sayed Ali Hosseini-Tash.

An agreement to counter nationalism, xenophobia and religious hatred was signed on Monday by 12 political parties. The document obliges the parties to the treaty to clear their ranks of those who share ideas of national superiority, and to do everything to create an atmosphere of intolerance towards promoters of ideas of interethnic and interreligious hatred in politics, public life, and the media.

The Vologda newspaper “Our Region,” which reprinted Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, is closed.