Church representatives from Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia will visit churches and civil society groups in India to back justice and peace work and oppose caste discrimination and violence against Christians.

Religious freedom and interreligious dialogue will be on the agenda of an international inter-church team visiting Pakistan next week, meeting representatives from churches, the Muslim community and government.

The Vatican and Mennonite World Conference representatives who met in Rome in October 2007 to prepare theological reflections on peacemaking have made available the full statement and background material.

Churches around the world will pray for the Pacific as an international church initiative against violence focuses attention on the region this year. Pacific churches themselves will work together on how best to promote peace.

A US Christian leader has asked a World Council of Churches peacemaking team visiting the United States for assistance to rid his country of the "scourge" of gun violence during the team's September 2007 visit.

Church leaders and communities facing situations of violence in New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC and New Orleans will share their experiences with an international team from different churches, who will visit the United States next week.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will welcome five young people to serve as interns in its Geneva offices from February 2008 to January 2009 - working in areas such as peace, media relations and interreligious understanding.

An International Ecumenical Peace Convocation will galvanize a range of actions taken by Christians in a major global peacemaking and justice initiative, says the World Council of Churches.