Morality Can Thrive Apart From Religion

The emergence of beliefs in evil spirits, witches, deified ancestors and punitive gods is not the source of morality but, likely, an outgrowth of morality. Had our early ancestors not had the benefits of innate morality, they probably would have been less likely to imagine supernatural agents who were somehow interested in human behavior.

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Neanderthal DNA Shows They Rarely Interbred With Us Very Different Humans

For the first time, scientists have sequenced the mitochondrial DNA of a Neanderthal.

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The mitochondria are only passed down the female line, so can be used to trace the species back to an ancestral "Eve", the mother of all Neanderthals. The team analysed the DNA of 13 genes from the Neanderthal mitochondria and found they were distinctly different to modern humans, suggesting Neanderthals never, or rarely, interbred with early humans. The genetic material shows that a Neanderthal "Eve" lived around 660,000 years ago, when the species last shared a common ancestor with humans.

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Pinpointing Genetic Variations In European Americans

Fingerprints Provide Clues To More Than Just Identity

Ancient City Uncovered In Afghanistan

CHESHM-E-SHAFA, Afghanistan - Centuries-old shards of pottery mingle with spent ammunition rounds on a wind-swept mountainside in northern Afghanistan where French archaeologists believe they have found a vast ancient city.

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WWJB: What Would Jesus Buy?

Worship has a new look now that the Bible, God and church have become commodities. From the Bible Bar to Holy bottled water, to quench your spiritual hunger and thrust, some marketers are selling religious merchandise in the hopes of spreading their faith.

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Novel On Prophet's Wife Pulled For Fear Of Backlash

A romantic novel about Aisha, the child bride of the prophet Muhammad, has been withdrawn because its publisher feared possible terrorist acts by Muslim extremists.

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Pakistani Forces Bomb Houses Near Afghan Border -- At Least 100 Dead

KHAR, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistani forces bombed dozens of houses in a tribal region near the Afghan border Sunday, officials and witnesses said, in a military offensive that comes amid U.S. pressure for Pakistan to crack down on militants.

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Purported al-Zawahiri message criticizes Pakistani leadership

Nine Killed In Iraq Attacks

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A spate of bomb attacks across Iraq on Sunday targetting a bank, a town hall and a string of military patrols killed at least nine people and wounded more than 50, security and hospital officials said.

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Attack On Government Facilities Kills 8 In Remote China

(CNN) -- Pre-dawn clashes in a remote northwestern county Sunday killed at least eight people, including a security guard, after assailants using handmade explosives attacked police and government facilities, China's state-run Xinhua reported.

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Eight Dead In Algeria Car Bombing

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- Explosives packed into a vehicle detonated outside a police station in northern Algeria, killing eight civilians and wounding eight others, the national radio said Sunday.

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5 Arrested In Italy 'Terror Cell' Bust

ROME, Italy (AP) -- Police broke up a suspected terror cell Saturday and arrested five North Africans, including the alleged leader who Italian officials said recruited Islamic extremists for attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Uproar Over Loud Prayer Calls In Muslim Morocco

(AP) The muezzins' calls echo well before daybreak, summoning the Muslim faithful to daily prayers and reminding foreign tourists in the Moroccan capital how far they are from home.

But the rising decibel level is deepening fault lines between a government drive to modernize and a wave of rigorous political Islam.

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Nigerian Official Accused Of Hiring Witch Doctor

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- Police on Friday arrested the head of a federal agency charged with developing Nigeria's impoverished southern oil region after allegations that the man spent millions of dollars on a witch doctor in hopes vanquishing a rival.

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The police said Edem was "incensed" when none of the work contracted to the witch doctor had been achieved and had demanded a total refund. The witch doctor refused.

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Physicist's Quantum-'Uncollapse' Hypothesis Verified

ScienceDaily -- In 2006, Andrew Jordan, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, together with Alexander Korotkov at the University of California, Riverside, spelled out how to exploit a quantum quirk to accomplish a feat long thought impossible, and now a research team at the University of California at Santa Barbara has tested the theory, proving it correct.

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Catch the big meteor show while you can

Hubble Instruments Slated for On-Orbit 'Surgery'

Activists, Hindus, Jews Protest Highway Crosses

A church-state watchdog group has joined Hindu and Jewish organizations in arguing that a Utah court erred in ruling that a highway cross memorializing a fallen state trooper is a "secular symbol of death."

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Camp Offers Training Ground For Little Skeptics

Bupp says polls show that people who believe in reason, not God, are among the fastest growing groups in America. And this camp is designed to teach children to investigate and question everything. They study fossils, they learn about morality without religion, they meet an expert who debunks mysteries like weeping icons and ghosts and crop circles.

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Victoria Osteen Denies Attacking Flight Attendant

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- The wife of megachurch evangelist Joel Osteen told jurors Friday that she was "dumbfounded" and "shook up" after a flight attendant accused her of assaulting her over a spill on a first-class seat.

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On Thursday, another flight attendant on the plane, Maria Johnson, testified that Victoria Osteen demanded special attention to clean up a half-dollar-sized spill on her armrest.

When Victoria Osteen didn't get her way, Johnson testified, the passenger became verbally and physically abusive to both flight attendants. She said Osteen eventually grabbed Brown by the shoulders, elbowed her in the chest and pushed her out of the way in an attempt to get into the cockpit.

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Iraq Bombing Kills 21

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A bombing at a crowded outdoor market in northern Iraq on Friday killed 21 people and wounded 50 others, according to police.

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Sadr to disarm if U.S. withdraws

Mehdi Army to give peace a chance?

In Iraq, Regional Politics Heats Up

Impeachment Hopes And Fears

The decision by Pakistan's new ruling alliance to impeach the country's President, Pervez Musharraf, has sparked jubilation as well as fears across the country.

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Child, 4 Women Killed During Afghan Raid

(CNN) -- Coalition troops in eastern Afghanistan accidentally killed four women and a child during an operation against the Taliban, the U.S.-led coalition said on Friday.

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Researchers Halt Spread Of HIV With RNAi In Animal Model

ScienceDaily -- Hopes languished last September when a promising candidate HIV vaccine failed to work. Despite this setback, many researchers still believe immunization is possible, and a new study suggests they're correct -- at least at the cellular level.

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Medicinal Marijuana Effective For Neuropathic Pain In HIV, Study Finds

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Gene For Sexual Switching In Melons Provides Clues To Evolution Of Sex