Jewish, Muslim congressmen show rare unity on circumcision bill

Congressmen forge rare unity on circumcision bill

It's a rare issue on Capitol Hill for which Jewish and Muslim lawmakers will battle side by side. Male circumcision is apparently one of them. Alarmed by efforts in San Francisco to ban circumcision of infants, two Democrats, California's Rep. Brad Sherman, who is Jewish, and Minnesota's Rep. Keith Ellison, a Muslim, are co-sponsoring a House bill called "The Religious and Parental Rights Defense Act of 2011" that would prevent San Francisco or any other municipality from prohibiting circumcision for males under the age of 18. In Judaism, circumcision is obligatory for newborn males. It is not required in Islam, but tradition encourages it. Both lawmakers cited religious rights and the health benefits of the practice. San Francisco votes on the issue in November.

New U.S. stamps honor scientists

New postage stamps are giving science fans a chance to send letters and recall pioneering researchers. The four-stamp set of forever stamps sell at the current first-class rate of 44-cents each. They went on sale nationwide Thursday. Honored are pioneering botanist Asa Gray and three Nobel prize winners, chemist Melvin Calvin; physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer; and biochemist Severo Ochoa.

Arabian oryx back in the desert again

The Arabian oryx, whose distinctive horns are widely believed to have given rise to the unicorn legend, is back from the brink of extinction in the deserts of the Arabian peninsula. About 1,000 of the wild Arabian or white oryx now exist, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced Thursday. Efforts to breed captive oryx and release them back into the Arabian Peninsula, the only place this species is found, began in Oman in 1982, a decade after the last one was apparently shot in the wild. The conservation group said the breeding program demonstrated that captive oryx could adapt to harsh wild conditions, first in Oman and later in the deserts of Saudia Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and, most recently, in Jordan.