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Virgin Mary Spotted In Suburban Tree Trunk

Mr Moreau has admitted he was drinking in his garden when he first spotted the likeness, but insists he was completely sober. "I'm not a wacko," he said.

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Manitoba Dig Uncovers 80-Million-Year-Old Sea Creature

A public dig organized by the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre has turned up the biggest fossil find in Manitoba in nearly 30 years.

The summer dig near the centre in Morden, Man., that is still underway has already unearthed a mosasaur, an 11-metre-long ancient sea creature estimated to be 80 million years old.

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'Armored' fish study helps strengthen Darwin's natural selection theory

Dung beetles provide an object lesson in the speed of natural selection

B.C. Health Official Says Mumps Outbreak Began With Unimmunized Religious Group

AGASSIZ, B.C. -- A British Columbia health official says a spreading mumps outbreak began with a Fraser Valley religious group that shuns immunization.

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Judges Uphold Abortion Rights In Mexico City

Mexico's supreme court yesterday upheld the capital's abortion law by dismissing a challenge brought by the conservative federal government by eight votes to three.

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Dead Sea Scrolls Go From Parchment To The Internet

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- More than 2,000 years after they were written, the Dead Sea Scrolls are going digital as part of an effort to better preserve the ancient texts and let more people see them than ever before.

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Praise The Lord And Pass The Business Plan As God Embraces Mammon

God wants you rich, and as if to prove it His golden forefinger is pointing down through the stage ceiling at the Excel exhibition centre in east London.

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Shock Anti-Religion Leaflet Distributed In Hertford

A SHOCKED Hertford resident contacted the Herald after receiving an anti-religion leaflet through her door.

A leaflet was delivered to her home in the Foxholes estate, and she was "freaked out" to read the words "They want your child's mind: Do not give it to them!"

The leaflets feature artist's drawing of Jordanian preacher Abu Qatada, who has been dubbed Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, alongside an Islamic crescent, a stereotypical representation of a Jew complete with the Star of David and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, with a crucifix.

The group behind the campaign against religious education call themselves Notori, an acronym which refers to their slogan, 'Say no to religious indoctrination at school' the leaflets also feature a website address.

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http://www.notori.co.uk/

Abuse At St Stanislaus College 'Involved Night Orgies'

ORGIES involving up to 60 schoolboys, priests and teachers are among allegations levelled at former staff members of a NSW Catholic boarding school.

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Shia Muslim Convicted Of Child Cruelty After Forcing Two Boys To Flog Themselves

Syed Mustafa Zaidi, a warehouse supervisor, told the boys, aged 13 and 15, to beat themselves with a zanjeer zani, a wooden-handled implement containing five curved blades used when commemorating the death of Hussain, grandson of Muhammad and one of the most important figures in Shia Islam. Zaidi is due to be sentenced on September 24.

Manchester crown court heard how Zaidi, 44, flagellated himself at an event held in January in Manchester until his back was bloody and cut. Others at the event also flogged themselves. Some of those present, fearing Zaidi would seriously harm himself, asked him to calm down. Zaidi agreed, only to turn his attention to the two boys.

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Turkish Military Will Defend Secular State, Government Warned

One of Turkey's most senior army commanders has warned the Islamist-rooted government that it will face a powerful military backlash if it seeks to alter the country's secular system.

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Church Burns As Indian Religious Riots Spread

Hindu mobs ransacked a church and clashed with Christian villagers in eastern India as authorities struggled to control spiralling religious violence in the region, police said today.

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Kashmir on brink as Islamic militants take family hostage

Bomb Attack Kills 9 On Pakistan Bus

(AP) Suspected militants bombed a bus carrying prisoners in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least nine people as fighting between security forces and extremists flared across the country's tribal belt.

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Iraqi Troops To Take Control Of Former Restive Province

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S.-led coalition troops are scheduled to hand over control of a onetime hub of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq to Iraqi forces on Monday, a senior American military official said.

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Top Iraqi Shiite Arrested In Baghdad

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Mob torches orphanage killing woman

Riots grip India's Orissa region

Iraqi Police Recruits, Soldiers Killed In Bombing

Story Highlights:

Bombing kills 30 people, mostly Iraqi soldiers, police recruits

55 others were wounded in the Diyala province attack

Police: Unrelated car bombing in Tikrit kills 4, wounds 14

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Dazed Iraqi teen suicide bomber says she didn't want to die

Girl, 15, caught with suicide bomb vest

After 5 years of war, Iraqis desperate for water

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.

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Blast At Rally In Pakistan Kills 3

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A blast at a rally in southwestern Pakistan killed three people and wounded at least 20 others Tuesday, authorities said.

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Top US diplomat escapes gun attack in Pakistan

Pakistan's ruling coalition collapses; government bans Taliban

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.

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Tracing Origins Of Critical Step In Animal Evolution: The Development Of Nerves

ScienceDaily -- University of Queensland researchers have traced the origins of one of the most important steps in animal evolution -- the development of nerves.

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Exploding Chromosomes Fuel Research About Evolution Of Genetic Storage

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.

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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".

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Taliban win over locals at the gates of Kabul

Somali City Clears Bodies After Deadly Clashes

(CNN) -- Families were beginning to bury their dead Saturday after three days of heavy fighting in the Somali port town of Kismayo left at least 89 people dead and 207 wounded, according to residents and human rights organizations.

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Journalists kidnapped in Somalia

Bodies litter streets of Somali city

Valleys Chapels Under Threat From Rapid Decline In Religion

UK -- TRADITIONAL Valleys chapels are in danger of disappearing an expert has warned.

Dr Paul Chambers of the University of Glamorgan, said: "Wales is now experiencing the most rapid and deepest rate of religious decline in the UK."

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Save our churches: A congregation of 200 'is not viable'

Now skint Aberdeen City Council may axe nativity scene because of costs

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.

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Suicide Attack Kills At Least 6 Police In Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- Police say a suicide bomber used a car laden with explosives to attack a police station in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least six officers.

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Pakistan army hits Taliban after suicide strikes

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.

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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.

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Kamikaze Bacteria Illustrate Evolution Of Co-Operation

Bacteria can commit suicide to help their brethren establish more damaging infections -- and scientists think that they can explain how this behaviour evolved.

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Manes, Trains And Antlers Explained: How Showy Male Traits Evolved

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.

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Protections Set For Antiabortion Health Workers

The Bush administration yesterday announced plans to implement a controversial regulation designed to protect doctors, nurses and other health-care workers who object to abortion from being forced to deliver services that violate their personal beliefs.

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Controversial Rule On Abortion Moving Forward

Bush plan would blunt state birth control law

For Coach, God And Archery Are A Package Deal

BEIJING -- Two weeks before leaving to compete in the Olympics, the archer Brady Ellison waded into a pool not far from the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., and was baptized in the Christian faith.

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Olympic Coach's Use of Religion Raises Some Eyebrows

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.

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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.

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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....

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Jesus Is Magic

Inside the Fellowship of Christian Magicians, where Scripture-quoting puppets and flaming Bibles win souls for the Lord.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Coalition Troops Kill 30 Militants In Afghan Fight

(CNN) -- U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops killed 30 Taliban militants, including a commander, in a battle in western Afghanistan early Friday, according to a coalition spokesman.

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Eight troops dead in Afghanistan in 24 hours: military

'Al-Qaeda-in-Iraq inspiring Taliban attacks in Afghanistan'

Afghanistan's Renewed Jihadi Allure

Petraeus Book 'Endorsement' Draws Fire

Gen. David Petraeus is used to controversy surrounding the war in Iraq, but his publicized thoughts on an Army chaplain's book for Soldiers put him squarely in the middle of the ongoing conflict over religious proselytizing in the U.S. military.

The book is "Under Orders: A Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel," by Army Chaplain (Lt. Col.) William McCoy, and according to Petraeus' published endorsement of the work, "it should be in every rucksack for those times when soldiers need spiritual energy."

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Coverage of the new documentary Constantine's Sword, which examines church-sanctioned violence, from the Middle Ages through today's religious extremists.

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.

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Living With Humans Has Taught Dogs Morals, Scientists Say

Dogs are becoming more intelligent and are even learning morals from human contact, scientists claim.

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Mama gorilla won't let go of her dead baby

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.

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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...

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Bloodshed, Political Fight Plague Pakistan

Goodbye Musharraf, hello Taliban

Inside Iraq: The Militia That Won't Go Away

Mr Ahmed and his buddies work for about US$230 (Dh844) a month guarding one of several dozen checkpoints in his hometown. Fluorescent yellow sashes identify them as SOIs - 'Sons of Iraq' - the name given by the US military to the largely Sunni militia they created to help drive out al Qa'eda.

There are more than 90,000 SOIs -- a force of untrained, armed, minimally employed young men which the United States cannot disband and the Iraqi government is reluctant to embrace.

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Key U.S. Iraq strategy in danger of collapse

Iraqi Exodus

10 people killed in 24 hours throughout Iraq, official says

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.

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Terror Group Entrenched In Algeria

Ragtag Insurgency Gains a Lifeline From Al Qaeda

New 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.

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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.

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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.

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Is Yoga Evil?

A leading exorcist claims yoga can be a path to "the evil spirit".

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'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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Iraq Moves Against Some US-backed Sunni Fighters

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Friday, August 29, 2008