DEVELOPERS have defended plans to convert a derelict church in Swansea into a mosque. The British National Party attacked the decision to convert the former St Andrews United Reformed Church. But Arjan Ali, one of the project co-ordinators, said the mosque would provide community services open to everyone in the city. “One of the biggest causes of racial tension is where communities ghettoise into groups,” he said. “But we believe we can achieve something for ourselves and the wider community.”

A BUDDHIST temple in Sri Lanka has opened its doors to 4,000 Roman Catholics who have been made homeless by the tsunami that devastated Asia last Sunday. Catholics fled to the Pushparama temple in Kuda Payagala, 35 miles south of the capital Colombo, after the church where they were sheltering was inundated. Malegoda Nanda, the monk who oversees the temple complex, said the refugees could stay as long as they wished. “I am ready to give them what they need,” he said.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS in Israel have found pieces of large stone jars which they say Jesus may have used to turn water into wine at the wedding in Cana. They made the discovery during a salvage dig in present-day Cana, between Nazareth and Capernaum. But New Testament scholars said that it would be difficult to authenticate the jars because experts disagreed on the location of biblical Cana.

THE Cambodian Government has banned a pop song about a Buddhist monk falling in love with a woman. Officials said the song, entitled Wrongly Quitting Monkhood for Love, should not be broadcast as it “tarnished” the reputation of Cambodian Buddhism. The song was released as a DVD, showing a monk hugging and kissing a girl while bathing in a pond near a pagoda.

A HINDU holy man has won acclaim across India for remaining standing without rest for two years. Ram Dayal Sanichar Muni’s feat began after he vowed to stand for 41 days at the Chamunda Devi temple in Himachal Pradesh, northern India. “I felt God was extending my energy and my resolve to remain standing after the 41 days were over,” he said. “I don’t even know how long I will continue to stand like this. I have completed two years and I believe it would not have been possible without God’s will.”