The provincial government of Prince Edward Island (PEI) in Canada has approved plans for the construction of a 120-hectare monastery in PEI municapilty of Brudenell. The monastery complex, which will be able to house up to 1,400 nuns, is a project of the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute (GWBI), led by Master Zhen-Ru and focused on nurturing the study and practice of Buddhist nuns.

Israel passed a law on Thursday to declare that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country, something members of the Arab minority called racist and verging on apartheid.

India has instructed all its state governments to conduct an immediate inspection of all childcare homes run by the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic order founded by the late Mother Teresa, amid concerns over baby trafficking.

Pope Francis on July 14 appointed presidents-delegate for the Synod of Bishops scheduled from October 3 to 28 in the Vatican.

A seventh-century Buddha statue that was severely damaged by Taliban insurgents in 2007 has been restored to near-original condition.

Scientists at the Teopanzolco archeological site discovered an ancient temple this week that was exposed by a devastating earthquake in central Mexico last September.

The Church of England is to plant more than 100 new churches in coastal areas, market towns and outer urban housing estates.

Pope Francis expressed his "heartfelt solidarity" with all those affected by the worst flood disaster to strike western Japan in 35 years and said he is praying “especially for the repose of the deceased, the healing of those injured and the consolation of all those who grieve”.

Some 6,000 young people from over 100 nations concluded their youth festival on Sunday in the Philippine capital, Manila, after 3 days of  sharing, music, art and concrete actions in the name of brotherhood. 

South Korea's mainstream Buddhist order has set out to build a large-scale complex in a southern city to provide experiences of "Seon" meditation, better known as Zen meditation, to Buddhist followers as well as ordinary people, a committee in charge of the project said Wednesday.

The leader of a cult in Japan whose followers released deadly gas in the Tokyo subway in 1995, killing 13 people and injuring thousands, was executed Friday.

Pope Francis' visit to the southern Italian Adriatic port city of Bari will be an occasion to once again affirm the church's closeness with persecuted Christians in the Middle East, Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch said.

Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Apostolic Nuncio and Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York addressed a high-level conference on counter-terrorism.

A joint team of Chinese and Japanese scholars on Saturday marked the completion of a mammoth undertaking began in 2012 to reprint a rare 5,500-volume translation of the Tripitaka from China’s Song dynasty (960–1279).

A Turkish ancient temple site in southeastern Anatolia was given UNESCO World Heritage status on Sunday, the UN agency announced at a meeting in the Bahraini capital Manama.