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Monkeys Enjoy Giving To Others, Study Finds
 ScienceDaily -- Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have shown capuchin monkeys, just like humans, find giving to be a satisfying experience. This finding comes on the coattails of a recent imaging study in humans that documented activity in reward centers of the brain after humans gave to charity. Empathy in seeing the pleasure of another's fortune is thought to be the impetus for sharing, a trait this study shows transcends primate species. More...
Missouri Public School Must Stop Distribution Of Bibles To Fifth-Graders, AU Tells Court
A Missouri public school must end its policy of allowing an evangelical Christian group to distribute Bibles to fifth-graders on school property during school hours, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has told a federal appellate court. More...
Churches Vow To Fight Gay Marriage
LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- An effort is taking place to coordinate California churches' opposition to same-sex marriage, organizers say. More...
Brides Look Forward to Marrying Under Tribal Same-Sex Marriage Law
The Coquille Indian Tribe now not only recognizes legal same-sex unions from state and federal governments, but it will soon be handing out its own marriage licenses not only to heterosexual couples, but to homosexual couples as well. More...
Swiss Exonerate Europe's Last Executed Witch
BERN, Switzerland - Anna Goeldi was executed for being a witch more than 220 years ago -- the last witch beheaded in Europe. On Wednesday, the Swiss decided the least they could do was clear her name. More...
Sharia Courts Rule On Sex Lives In Britain
Ten currently operate across the country, with around 95 per cent of their cases relating to matrimonial issues. Although the hearings have no basis in British law, they are attended voluntarily by Muslim couples to settle disputes without referral to the recognised authorities. More...
Eight-Year-Old Wife Puts Saudi Laws In Spotlight
A COURT in Saudi Arabia preparing to hear a plea for divorce from an eight-year-old girl should have little difficulty in determining grounds for incompatibility: the husband is half a century older. More...
Danish Publisher Hopes To Publish 'Inflammatory' Islam Novel
A Danish publisher is in negotiations to buy Sherry Jones's novel about the child bride of Muhammad, which was dropped by Random House in America and pulled from bookshops in Serbia. More...
Fifth Suspect Arrested Over 'Islamic Internet Plot To Kill Gordon Brown'
A fifth person has been arrested in connection with threats to kill the Prime Minister which were posted on an Islamic website. More...
Indian State Erupts In Violence After Hindu Shot
(CNN) -- The remote east Indian state of Orissa -- historically a tinderbox of Hindu-Christian tensions -- erupted in violence this week after gunmen killed a Hindu leader and mobs burned churches in retaliation. Four days of communal clashes left at least nine people dead. Authorities have imposed a curfew and ordered security forces to shoot violators on sight. More...See also: Mob torches orphanage killing womanRiots grip India's Orissa region
Iraqi Police Recruits, Soldiers Killed In Bombing
30 Suspected Taliban Killed In Afghanistan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- More than 30 Taliban fighters and four policemen were killed in a series of clashes, airstrikes and bombings in Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday. More...
Blast At Rally In Pakistan Kills 3
A Teacher On The Front Line As Faith And Science Clash
In February, the Florida Department of Education modified its standards to explicitly require, for the first time, the state's public schools to teach evolution, calling it "the organizing principle of life science." Spurred in part by legal rulings against school districts seeking to favor religious versions of natural history, over a dozen other states have also given more emphasis in recent years to what has long been the scientific consensus: that all of the diverse life forms on Earth descended from a common ancestor, through a process of mutation and natural selection, over billions of years. More...
Tracing Origins Of Critical Step In Animal Evolution: The Development Of Nerves
Converting Sunlight To Cheaper Energy
ScienceDaily -- Scientists are working to convert sunlight to cheap electricity at South Dakota State University. Research scientists are working with new materials that can make devices used for converting sunlight to electricity cheaper and more efficient. More...
Humanists Hit Out At 'Discrimination' Over Council Session Prayers
UK -- THE tradition of holding prayers at council meetings has been labelled 'religious discrimination' by the Humanist Society. It has criticised local authorities in Devon for upholding the practice, but council bosses say it is "custom and tradition". More...
Suicide Bomber Kills 25 Near Baghdad
(AP) A suicide bomber blew himself up Sunday in the midst of a celebration to welcome home an Iraqi detainee released from U.S. custody, killing at least 25 people, Iraqi officials said. More...
Al-Qaeda Masters Terrorism On The Cheap
LONDON - Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, al-Qaeda has increasingly turned to local cells that run extremely low-cost operations and generate cash through criminal scams, bypassing the global financial dragnet set up by the United States and Europe. More...
Taliban Turns Lethal: 101 US Deaths In Afghanistan
(AP) Taliban insurgents once derided as a ragtag rabble unable to match U.S. troops have transformed into a fighting force _ one advanced enough to mount massive conventional attacks and claim American lives at a record pace. More...See also: Taliban win over locals at the gates of Kabul
Somali City Clears Bodies After Deadly Clashes
Valleys Chapels Under Threat From Rapid Decline In Religion
Women 'Leave Churches In England'
Churches in England have lost about 50,000 women every year from their congregations since 1989, according to a Derby-based sociologist. More...
Suicide Attack Kills At Least 6 Police In Pakistan
Attack Forces Indonesian Christians Off Campus
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Hundreds of Christian theology students have been living in tents since a mob of angry Muslim neighbors stormed their campus last month wielding bamboo spears and hurling Molotov cocktails. More...
Large Hadron Collider Set To Unveil A New World Of Particle Physics
ScienceDaily -- The field of particle physics is poised to enter unknown territory with the startup of a massive new accelerator--the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)--in Europe this summer. On September 10, LHC scientists will attempt to send the first beam of protons speeding around the accelerator. More...
Kamikaze Bacteria Illustrate Evolution Of Co-Operation
Survey: Americans Feel Churches Shouldn't Meddle In Politics
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A slim majority of Americans think churches should stay out of politics, according to a new survey. More...
Protections Set For Antiabortion Health Workers
For Coach, God And Archery Are A Package Deal
US School District Sued Over Homophobic 'Witch Hunt'
FLORIDA - When a high school senior told her principal that students were taunting her for being a lesbian, he told her homosexuality is wrong, outed her to her parents and ordered her to stay away from children. More...
Fundamentalist Group Drops Public Funding Windfall After Americans United Protest
A fundamentalist Christian group that claims to help young people overcome drug and alcohol addiction through Bible study and prayer has given up a federal grant after Americans United for Separation of Church and State protested the funding. More...
3 Texas Polygamists Indicted By Grand Jury
(CNN) -- A Texas grand jury indicted three more members of a polygamist sect that was raided in April.... More...
Jesus Is Magic
Inside the Fellowship of Christian Magicians, where Scripture-quoting puppets and flaming Bibles win souls for the Lord. More...
Pastor Michael Guglielmucci Spun Gospel Of Lies
Adelaide, AU -- HE preached to thousands about his terminal illness and tugged at hearts with a hit song. The problem is the pastor wasn't dying at all Michael Guglielmucci, who inspired hundreds of thousands of young Christians with his terminal cancer "battle", has been exposed as a fraud. More...
Crocodile Eats Bangladesh Man Who Sought Its Blessing
"He went into the pond hoping to be blessed when a crocodile attacked him and dragged him into the deep part of the pond," said Inspector Humayun Kabir of the local police. More...
Nigerian Burns 1.2M In Bizarre Ritual
Sam Edem, chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, is accused of stealing a total of 3.4 million in public money to pay a witchdoctor to cast "juju" spells to secure business contracts and to kill a powerful rival at work. More...
Muslims Crack Down On Transplants For Christians
A report from the U.S. Copts Association reveals that the Muslim Brotherhood-influenced Egyptian Medical Association is trying to prohibit any organ transplants that would involve a Muslim donor and Christian recipient or vice versa. More...
Birthday Parties Against Islam Says Top Saudi Cleric
RIYADH (Reuters) - Celebrating anniversaries, birthdays or mother's day is against Muslim 'righteousness', Saudi Arabia's top cleric has said, quashing suggestions by a colleague that Islam permits personal celebrations. More...
Saudi Ban On Woman Drivers May Be Eroding
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans all women _ Saudi and foreign _ from driving. The prohibition forces families to hire live-in drivers, and women who cannot afford the $300-$400 a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or the doctor. But there are signs support for the ban is eroding. --snip-- Conservatives say women at the wheel create situations for sinful temptation. They argue that women drivers will be free to leave home alone, will unduly expose their eyes while driving and will interact with male strangers, such as traffic police and mechanics. More...
Iraq Takes Aim At U.S.-Tied Sunni Groups' Leaders
BAGHDAD -- The Shiite-dominated government in Iraq is driving out many leaders of Sunni citizen patrols, the groups of former insurgents who joined the American payroll and have been a major pillar in the decline in violence around the nation. More...
Deadly Bomb Hits Southern Thailand
BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- A car bomb exploded in southern Thailand, killing a local journalist and wounding 17 others, a police official said. More...
Civilians 'Butchered' At Mosque, Market In Somalia
MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- Heavy shelling struck Somalia's capital city on Thursday, leaving pools of blood around a neighborhood mosque, a devastated market and 11 civilians dead, according to witnesses and a local journalist. --snip-- Mogadishu's main market also came under attack, as vendors fled for their lives amid a continuous barrage of shelling that left five dead, witnesses told Haji. --snip-- Clashes between Islamic insurgents and Somali and Ethiopian soldiers also raged around Suuqa Holaha, a neighborhood in northeast Mogadishu. Fighting also continued in Folarensa junction, an intersection near the presidential palace. More...
Al Qaeda Branch Claims Algeria Bombings That Killed 60
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- The North African branch of al Qaeda claimed responsibility Friday for devastating bombings in Algeria that killed up to 60 people this week, in a statement carried by an Arab TV news station. More...
Bombings Rock Pakistan Ahead Of Elections
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Taliban claimed responsibility Thursday for dual suicide bombings at a Pakistani military arms factory that police said killed 66 people and wounded more than 70 others. More...
Coalition Troops Kill 30 Militants In Afghan Fight
Petraeus Book 'Endorsement' Draws Fire
Scientists Create Blood From Stem Cells
Scientists have used embryonic stem cells to generate blood -- a feat that could eventually lead to endless supplies of type O-negative blood, a rare blood type prized by doctors for its versatility. More...
Living With Humans Has Taught Dogs Morals, Scientists Say
Georgia Men Say 'Bigfoot' Was Filled With Road Kill, Slaughterhouse Leftovers
ATLANTA -- In an exclusive interview with Channel 2, two Georgia men said their bigfoot hoax was a joke and that they never intended for it to go as far as it did. The Clayton County police chief said he did not find it funny and he fired one of the men from the department. The men confessed to Channel 2 they bought a costume off the Internet and filled it with possum roadkill and slaughterhouse leftovers. More...
U.S. Amish Population Surges And Spreads: Study
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) -- America's Amish population has nearly doubled and spread out in the past 16 years due to large families, more marriages within the community and longer lifespans... More...
Church OKs $10M Settlement In Sex Abuse Cases
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Roman Catholic diocese has tentatively agreed to pay $10 million to settle nearly 50 sexual abuse claims against the diocese and 12 of its priests. More...
Mexico Church Assailed For Maligning Miniskirt
MEXICO CITY - A Catholic priest's condemnation of miniskirts on an official church Web site is causing outrage among some Mexican women, who say the Roman Catholic Church is making it easier to justify sexual violence against women. More...
Islamic Group Call For Avril Lavigne Concert To Be Cancelled
An Islamic political party is aiming to scrap Avril Lavigne's forthcoming concert in Malaysia - claiming the pop star is "too sexy" to perform in a Muslim country. More...
Malaysia: Court Denies Woman's Appeal To Leave Islam
A civil court has denied a woman's appeal to renounce Islam in favour of Christianity, highlighting the jurisdictional disputes in Malaysia's dual legal system. More...
3 NATO Troops, 30 Fighters Die In Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S.-led coalition troops battled a group of militants in eastern Afghanistan, killing over 30 insurgents, while three NATO soldiers were killed in a roadside blast elsewhere, officials said Thursday. More...
Suicide Attack Kills At Least 50 At Pakistan Arms Factory
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Two suicide bombers blew themselves up near the gates of a military arms factory in Pakistan on Thursday, killing more than 50 people and wounding more than 70, police said. --snip-- On Tuesday, a suicide bomber detonated explosives near the emergency entrance to a hospital in the Dera Ismail Khan district, killing 29 and wounding another 35. The Taliban, claimed responsibility for that attack. More...See also: Bloodshed, Political Fight Plague PakistanGoodbye Musharraf, hello Taliban
Inside Iraq: The Militia That Won't Go Away
Strategic Shift In North Africa Militancy
Cairo - A string of suicide bombings in Algeria this week has intensified concerns that the country's Islamist militancy is rising, guided by insurgents who have been trained in Iraq and are now waging their fight in North Africa. On Tuesday and Wednesday, car bombs rocked towns near Algiers, the capital, killing at least 54 security forces and police recruits. While Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the home-grown group that recently allied itself with Al Qaeda, has not claimed responsibility, the bombings carried all the markings of the group, which has been responsible for some 200 deaths over the past 18 months. More...See also: Terror Group Entrenched In AlgeriaRagtag Insurgency Gains a Lifeline From Al QaedaNew Algeria suicide attack kills 11
New Ribosomal Research Offers Fresh Evidence, Understanding Of Evolution
Skepticism aside, evolution is steadily being verified and analyzed thanks to cutting edge computing. More...
Girl From Texas Sect Ordered Into State Care
SAN ANGELO, Texas - A Texas judge on Tuesday ordered a 14-year-old girl who was allegedly married to jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs to be placed in foster care. More...
Priest Admits Abuse
A PRIEST who sexually abused a string of boys at a top Catholic school more than 20 years ago has finally been brought to justice. More...
Is Yoga Evil?
A leading exorcist claims yoga can be a path to "the evil spirit". More...
'Boys Forced Into Muslim Flogging Ritual'
A devout Muslim encouraged two teenage boys to flog themselves until their backs were covered in bloody cuts, a jury was told yesterday. More...
Islamic Terror Cell 'May Have Been Plotting To Attack Queen'
The cell, which included Britain's youngest ever terrorist, arrested on his way home from his GCSE chemistry exam, was found with information about the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh along with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex and the Princess Royal. Also on the list were Princess Michael of Kent, The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and The Duke and Duchess of Kent. More...See also: Schoolboy extremist faces jail over terror training manuals
Muslim Rebellion Rocks Towns Across Southern Philippines
BANDS of Muslim rebels stormed several towns in the southern Philippines in a bloody rampage that killed at least 34 people. The attacks by hundreds of guerrillas on Mindanao island also caused 7,000 people to flee their homes, and triggered a swift response from government troops. More...
Chain Wrapped Around 'Old Man's Body' Found In Mosque
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- "There are the bloodstains on the wall, and here it is dried on the floor," says Abu Muhanad as he walks through a torture chamber in a Baghdad mosque where more than two dozen bodies have been found. More...See also: Iraq Moves Against Some US-backed Sunni Fighters
Suicide Bombers Try To Storm U.S. Base
(CBS/AP) A team of suicide bombers tried to storm a U.S. military base near the border with Pakistan in a daring insurgent attack on a major American installation, officials said Tuesday. Six suicide bombers attacked the base and three detonated their vests when surrounded, NATO officials said. Afghan officials said at least 13 militants died in the attack, including six suicide bombers. NATO offered a slightly different account, saying three suicide bombers detonated their vests and three more were shot dead. NATO said seven attackers in total were killed. More...See also: 10 French Soldiers Killed In Afghan Fighting
Pakistan Hospital Bomb Kills At Least 23
43 Dead In Algerian Suicide Bombing
(CNN) -- An attack on a military school in Algeria killed 43 people and wounded another 38 on Tuesday, the interior ministry said. More...
Fair Discount Day Causes Controversy
Supernatural Science: Why We Want To Believe
"Humans first started believing in the supernatural because they were trying to understand things they couldn't explain," says Benjamin Radford, a book author, paranormal investigator and managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine. "It's basically the same process as mythology: At one point people didn't understand why the sun rose and set each day, so they suggested that a chariot pulled the sun across the heavens." --snip-- Today's ubiquitous and often one-sided, promotional coverage of the paranormal, both on the Internet and TV, perpetuate myths and folklore as well or better than any ancient storyteller. Fiction and belief masquerade as fact and news, feeding the 24/7 appetite of the easily swayed. Scientists are left with an impossible task: proving something does not exist. You can prove a rock is there. You can't prove that Bigfoot or a ghost or the god of thunder is not there. Bigfoot paraphernalia purveyors and cash-cow psychics know this well. More...See also: Start your own cult (Humor)
Survey: Many Believe In Divine Intervention
Story Highlights:57 percent in survey said God could save a patient even if doctors said it was futile Researchers: Docs should be prepared to deal with families who expect a miracle More...
Doctors Can't Deny Lesbians Care On Religious Grounds
The California Supreme Court today ruled unanimously that doctors cannot cite their religious beliefs as grounds to deny gay and lesbian patients medical care. More...
Texas Wants 8 Sect Kids Back
(AP) More than two months after being forced to return children from a polygamist sect to their parents, Texas child welfare authorities want eight of the youngsters put back in foster care. More...
Catholic Leaders Block Contraceptive Advice For 30,000 Scots Girls
A VACCINE against cervical cancer will be given to schoolgirls without them receiving any safe sex advice as a result of a controversial deal struck between the Catholic Church and health officials, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. More...
Four Hurt In Philippines Hotel Bomb Blasts
Escalating Violence In South Stems From Christian-Muslim Tensions More...
Controversy Over Imam 'Cult'
When President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad launched Iran's first domestically built telecommunications satellite into space yesterday, he did so in the name of the last true Shia imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi. The launch coincided with the end of festivities in Iran to mark the birthday of the imam, one of the holiest figures in Shia Islam, who is believed to have gone into hiding in the year 941 and will return to bring peace and justice to the world. More...
The Afghan Women Jailed For Being Victims Of Rape
In Lashkar Gah, the majority of female prisoners are serving 20-year sentences for being forced to have sex. More...
Resilient Sunni Stronghold Tests Iraqi Army
The offensive unfolding here in Diyala province, one of the most resilient strongholds of Sunni extremists, is proving to be one of the Iraqi army's biggest challenges. More...
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