Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Buddhist Channel/Interfax-Religion

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=3,6058,0,0,1,0

A prayer service for a peaceful settlement of the situation in China's Tibet Autonomous Region was being conducted on Sunday at the Golden Shakyamuni Buddha Shrine temple in Elista, Kalmykia.

The prayer was being conducted by Doctor of Buddhist Philosophy, Geshe Tenzin Dugda and by monks, and was being attended...

Author: SOMINI SENGUPTA

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/world/asia/17tibet.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

The Dalai Lama accused China on Sunday of waging “cultural genocide” against his followers in Tibet and called for an international inquiry into the suppression of protests there, his strongest defense to date of Tibetan Buddhists who have staged an uprising...

Author: Huang Yi-jing

Source: Taipei Times

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/03/17/2003405885

The country's religion-affiliated schools are accepting applications for the upcoming school year after the Ministry of Education (MOE) agreed last year to allow religion-based schools to set up departments devoted to the study of a single faith.

The decision was a major move for the ministry, which historically...

Author: Sara Sidner and Tess Eastment

Source: CNN

Wire Service: AP

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/14/tibet.unrest/?iref=hpmostpop

Violent protests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa have left at least 10 people dead as protesters calling for an end to Chinese rule in the region planned more demonstrations in India and Tibet.

Quoting the Tibetan government, China's state-run Xinhua...

Author: Raymond Brown

Source: The Buddhist Channel/Cambridge-news

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=3,6043,0,0,1,0

THE tradition of prayers before council meetings faces the axe - under the banner of political correctness.

And Buddhist chants at the start of Cambridge City Council's meetings by a monk could also fall foul of race discrimination and human rights laws.

The ancient custom now hangs in the balance...

Author: Stefan Lovgren

Source: The Buddhist Channel/TOL

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=47,6059,0,0,1,0

On the banks of the remote Uur River in northern Mongolia, the Dayan Derkh monastery stands as a testament to Mongolia's religious revival.

This was one of hundreds of Buddhist monasteries destroyed in the 1930s as the Soviet Union brought Mongolia under its control and effectively banned Buddhism here. For decades,...

Author: Benjamin Kang Lim

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSPEK23024220080311

China on Tuesday officially approved a Taiwan Buddhist group which has been quietly conducting charity work for almost two decades, a landmark concession to religion by the country's atheist Communist rulers.

China maintains tight control over religion but has sought to use Buddhism to help curb rising social unrest and help...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7289508.stm

Religious and faith organisations contribute more than £100m in economic benefits to Wales, a report says.

But the groups have little in return, with barely a quarter of faith communities getting public funding, the research found.

According to the study, around 40,000 unpaid volunteers do 80,000 hours of community work a week...

Author: Janaka Perera

Source: The Buddhist Channel

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=3,6027,0,0,1,0

Sri Lankan Buddhist monks on Mahasivarathri Day March 7 blessed a site situated in Berlin, Germany, on which is planned the construction of Europe's second largest Hindu temple.

The proposed temple's custodians are Indian Hindus who have received land in the city of Berlin free of charge from the German Government for building...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Tibetan_exiles_set_off_from_India_on_symbolic_march_home/articleshow/2851139.cms

More than 100 Tibetan exiles in India were flagged off to loud applause on Monday as they started a symbolic march home as part of pro-independence protests ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Thousands lined the...

Author: Charles Haviland

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7286160.stm

After more than 15 years of waiting, the first Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have started to leave for a new life in other countries.

More than 100,000 Nepali-speaking Bhutanese people have been in refugee camps in Nepal since the early 1990s.

The mainly Hindu people were forced out of Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom which has a code of...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Buddhist Channel/TNA

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=52,6026,0,0,1,0

Five senior Thai Buddhist monks arrived in the Egyptian capital on Sunday for an official visit in which they will hold talks with the Sunni Muslims’ highest spiritual leader later in the week.

The Thai monks, led by Phra Dhramakosajarn, rector of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, were welcomed by Thai...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The TImes of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Gujarat_to_withdraw_Freedom_of_Religion_Amendment_Bill/articleshow/2848531.cms

The Gujarat government has decided to withdraw the controversial Freedom of Religion Amendment Bill 2006 after Governor Nawal Kishor Sharma returned it to the Assembly for reconsideration.

The bill will be...

Author: Mark Sappenfield

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0307/p04s01-wogn.html

Sakena Yacoobi well knows the hardships of Afghan women, caught between a war and the hopelessness of poverty and illiteracy.

Yet on International Women's Day Saturday, the Afghan educator will not ask the world to help Afghan women. Instead, she will ask Afghan women to help the world.

In a time of growing conflict...

Author: John Lyon

Source: The Buddhist Channel/The Morning News

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=61,6012,0,0,1,0

A Sebastian County circuit judge did not violate the U.S. Constitution when he decided who could vote in an election at a Buddhist temple in Fort Smith, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The Supreme Court upheld the results of the temple's September 2006 election of its board of directors, rejecting...