Christian and other peacemakers staged a 10-hour vigil outside Canada House in London's Trafalgar Square yesterday, to call on on the Canadian government to halt the deportation of US soldiers who have fled the war in Iraq.

Pax Christi International has issued an open letter to G8 leaders meeting in Hokkaido, Japan, urging them to make renewed efforts toward the disarmament of nuclear weapons.

Christians have been urged to hold a day of remembrance, prayer and action on 19th March, the eve of the anniversary of the war with Iraq. The call is one of the responses following an ecumenical seminar held in London this week.

Catholic parishes in England and Wales will this week be preparing to celebrate Peace Sunday on 20 January 2008, with its theme derived from an annual global message from the Pope. This year the focus is human solidarity.

Four hundred Christians from a variety of traditions will gather in Swanwick, Derbyshire, next weekend )from 20 - 22 July) for a vocational and campaigning conference entitled 'Called to be Peacemakers - Who Me?'

Pax Christi (the Catholic peace movement), the Fellowship of Reconciliation and St Ethelberga's Centre for Peace and Reconciliation are co-hosts of an evening in central London looking at nonviolence in the midst of conflict.

Catholic peace campaigners have welcomed the news that an Austrian Farmer, killed for refusing to fight with the Nazis, is to be beatified by the Catholic church.