About 164,000 Rohingya have flooded into Bangladesh since violence erupted in Burma on August 25, the UN's refugee agency said.

Three boats carrying ethnic Rohingya fleeing violence in Burma have capsized in Bangladesh and 26 bodies of women and children have been recovered, officials said.

The photo of a dead 3-year-old Syrian boy on a Turkish beach captures everything we don’t want to see when we tap our phones or open our newspapers: a vicious civil war, a surge of refugees, the death of an innocent. 

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Ancient sacred Buddha relics said to have mysterious energy and healing properties are to go on public display in Cork for the first time — all thanks to a non-Buddhist.

USA:An Indiana woman is under investigation after her husband’s corpse was left in their home for more than nine months and fed on by birds, authorities said.

THESE days it’s all about panic in schools with mocks occurring, projects being hauled up and the cramming being turned up to overload. The question being asked around is this: is religion necessary in schools these days?

I’m delighted at the success of my book Staring at Lakes, but I have to admit I’m surprised by it.

Thailand's Buddhist monks are under investigation following complaints sparked by a video showing some flying on a private jet.

Buddhist mobs hurling bricks attacked two mosques and torched more than 100 homes in central Burma, killing one person and injuring at least nine more.

A state of emergency has been declared in a central Burmese town where at least 20 people have been killed in violence between Buddhists and Muslims.

The UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution welcoming positive changes in Burma but expressing serious concern at an upsurge of sectarian violence between Muslims and Buddhists in strife-torn Rakhine state.

Victims of Burma's latest explosion of Muslim-Buddhist violence fled to already-packed displacement camps along the country's western coast as a United Nations humanitarian chief said the unrest had forced more than 22,000 people from their homes.

Burma democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi arrived in Norway yesterday to finally deliver her Nobel lecture — more than two decades after winning the peace prize for her dogged campaign to free her people.

Gunshots rang out and residents fled burning homes today as security forces in western Burma struggled to contain deadly ethnic and religious violence that has displaced thousands of people.

Burma’s president has declared a state of emergency in a western state where sectarian tensions between Buddhists and Muslims unleashed deadly violence.

Dzogchen Beara is a welcoming retreat centre for anyone needing some direction in life, says Siobhán Cronin.

I have a dirty little secret; I’ve paid the household charge.

AS our train from Colombo snaked up the jungled hills to Kandy, ancient capital of Sri Lanka, the rain came down and the distant mountains disappeared behind mist rising like smoke from valleys far below us.

Vast crowds were gathering at Burma’s most sacred Buddhist shrine to celebrate a festival banned for more than 20 years under the former military government.

SPIRITUAL leader the Dalai Lama is expected to visit Limerick during an Irish visit to appeal for peace in some of the troubled estates in the city.

WHEN Aung San Suu Kyi was finally released from years of house arrest last week, memories flooded back of Nelson Mandela’s own release from Victor Verster prison and his triumphant walk to freedom. Dare we hope that Burma too might soon join the civilised nations of the world? The chances, unfortunately, are slim.

THERE’S a cartoon from the New Yorker magazine which shows two middle-aged men languidly sipping cocktails in front of a fake chateau.

Suspected Muslim insurgents have killed nine civilians in a flurry of attacks in southern Thailand, the Thai army said today, the fifth anniversary of a bloody assault by security forces against militants at a mosque.

A TEENAGE boy who many believe is the reincarnation of Buddha has re-emerged from the jungle in southern Nepal, attracting thousands of devotees.

Three-year-old Matani Shakya, the newly appointed “kumari” or living goddess in Nepal, has been carried from her parents home to an ancient palace in the heart of Kathmandu which will be her new home.

Tens of thousands of South Korean Buddhists are taking to the streets in anger over what they allege is pro-Christian bias by the administration of President Lee Myung-bak.

WE are carrying out exploratory research into the early history of Buddhism in Ireland. We are interested in people who identified themselves as Buddhists or practised Buddhism here at any time before 1975.

President George Bush said today that US relations with China will not be damaged by honouring the Dalai Lama.

Monks leading the biggest public protest staged in Burma for nearly 20 years were today warned of a government crackdown.

Thailand's prime minister said today he supported allowing Buddhists to arm themselves against Muslim insurgents who are targeting civilians.

THE number of Catholics in the country has increased in Ireland by more than 218,000 since the last census.

Suspected Muslim insurgents hurled a bomb at a commuter van in Thailand’s restive south today and then opened fire on its Buddhist passengers, killing eight of them execution-style.

At least 22 bombs exploded almost simultaneously today inside commercial banks in southern Thailand, killing two people and injuring 28 in a region bloodied by a Muslim insurgency.

A powerful land mine ripped through a bus packed with commuters and schoolchildren in northern Sri Lanka today, killing at least 62 people.

WITH Sri Lanka’s foreign minister dead and the country under emergency rule, there is growing fear among the island’s minority Tamils that they may once again be targeted by security forces fighting Tamil Tiger rebels.

The body of a beheaded police officer was found in southern Thailand today, a fellow officer said, in the latest deadly attack in 18 months of sectarian violence and the seventh beheading in the Muslim-dominated area since mid-June.

Uma Thurman slams the assumption she enjoying a hippie-influenced upbringing simply because her parents are practicing Buddhists.

Britain's Prince Harry provoked outrage today after being pictured dressed as a Nazi soldier at a fancy dress party.

A young Sri Lankan woman has spoken of how she survived the tsunami, only to suffer the inhumanity of her rescuer as he raped her.

Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Christians make sense of great loss differently, writes Kenneth Woodward.

China pledged $60m (€44m) today to help countries ravaged by the brutal earthquake and tsunami in South and Southeast Asia that claimed more than 120,000 lives.

Five people fought for their lives in Sri Lanka on Sunday a day after a grenade attack killed two concertgoers and wounded 17 at a controversial show featuring top Indian film stars in the Sri Lankan capital, police said.

A grenade exploded at a concert featuring leading Indian movie stars in the Sri Lankan capital today, a day before the anniversary of the death of a leading Buddhist cleric, the military said.