The Shrine of Baha’u’llah near Acre, north of Haifa – the holiest spot on earth for members of the Baha’i Faith – also is part of the World Heritage designation.

QUEBEC CITY — A United Nations committee meeting here has determined that two Bahá’í shrines in Israel possess “outstanding universal value” and should be considered as part of the cultural heritage of humanity.

The decision today by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee means that the two most sacred sites for Bahá'ís – the resting places of the founders of their religion – join a list of internationally recognized sites like the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, and Stonehenge.

The Shrine of the Bab illuminated at night

HAIFA, Israel — This week Baha’is mark the 158th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Bab, one of the two central figures in the founding of their religion.

On 9 July 1850, at noon, the Bab was put to death by firing squad in the public square of Tabriz, Iran.

Six years earlier, He had declared that He was a messenger of God whose mission was to prepare the way for the imminent arrival of the Promised One of all religions who would come to establish a new age of peace and prosperity in the world. In 1863, Baha’u’llah announced publicly that He was that Promised One.

NEW YORK — Six Nobel Peace Prize laureates have issued a statement calling on the Iranian government to free immediately seven prominent Iranian Baha’is imprisoned in Tehran.

The six Nobel winners, under the banner of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, called on the Iranian government to guarantee the safety of the Baha’is –- being held in Evin Prison with no formal charges and no access to lawyers -- and to grant them an unconditional release.

NEW YORK — Seven prominent Baha’is imprisoned in Iran have each been allowed a brief phone call to their families, the Baha’i International Community has learned.

The calls were the first contact with the jailed Baha’is since six of them were arrested on 14 May in pre-dawn raids at their homes in Tehran. The seventh was arrested in March in the city of Mashhad.

The Shrine of Baha’u’llah in the foreground, and the Mansion of Bahji behind it, are the site of a special program at 3 a.m. on 29 May to mark the 116th anniversary of His passing. His final hours were in a room on the second floor of the mansion.

ACRE, Israel — Four hundred Baha’i pilgrims will be among the thousand followers of Baha’u’llah from around the world who gather at His burial site on 29 May at 3 a.m. to commemorate the 116th anniversary of His passing.

Around the globe, tens of thousands more will turn their faces in the direction of the same shrine – for Baha’is, the holiest spot on earth – in remembrance of the night in 1892 that Baha’u’llah passed away at His home near Acre in the Holy Land.

NEW YORK, — Allegations by Iran that six Bahá’ís were arrested last week “for security reasons and not for their faith” are utterly baseless and without documentation, said the Bahá’í International Community today.

“All of the allegations issued in a statement on Tuesday by the Iranian government are utterly baseless,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations, referring to statements made in a press conference given yesterday in Tehran by Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham, at which he acknowledged the arrest and imprisonment of six Bahá’í leaders last week.

Erin Murphy-Graham of the University of California, Berkeley, speaks at the workshop on the SAT program at the U.N. on 8 May 2008.

UNITED NATIONS, — A Bahá’í-inspired program that has trained thousands of people in Honduras and Colombia to contribute to rural development was highlighted as a model for sustainable development at a major U.N. meeting this month.

The program, known as SAT -- an acronym for Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial (Tutorial Learning System) -- was presented in a three-hour workshop during the 16th session of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development, held 5-16 May at U.N. headquarters in New York.

All seven Bahá'ís who form a group that sees to the needs of the Bahá'í community of Iran have been arrested, six of them in early-morning raids on 14 May 2008 at their homes in Tehran.

NEW YORK — Six Bahá’í leaders in Iran were arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison yesterday in a sweep that is ominously similar to episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Bahá’í leaders were summarily rounded up and killed.

The six men and women, all members of the national-level group that helped see to the minimum needs of Bahá’ís in Iran, were in their homes Wednesday morning when government intelligence agents entered and spent up to five hours searching each home, before taking them away.

Among the thousand delegates from 150 countries at the International Bahá'í Convention were Keyhan Ighanian and Thor Henning Lerstad, both from Norway.

HAIFA, Israel — Experiencing the diversity of the human family can be humbling, as Bahá’ís attending their recent international convention learned.

One can meet an industrialist from Italy, a civil engineer from Barbados, and a presidential advisor from South Africa – but realize that a 25-year-old student from South America is equally impressive with her knowledge of how to organize classes for children and youth.

Delegates line up to share information about Bahá'í core activities on different continents.

HAIFA, Israel — There is a new wind blowing in the Bahá’í world.

That message came through loud and clear in three days of consultations at the 10th International Bahá’í Convention.

Delegates from 153 countries described how a systematic, grassroots process of community-building -- focused on training, learning and service -- is creating a new dynamism in Bahá’í communities worldwide and striking a chord in wider society.