---
title: "SNP to launch Scottish independence blueprint, and other stories &#8211; our morning round-up"
date: "2013-11-26T08:24:46+00:00"
modified: "2013-11-26T08:24:46+00:00"
url: "https://rationalists.org.uk/2013/11/26/snp-to-launch-scottish-independence-blueprint-and-other-stories-our-morning-round-up/"
post_id: 6039
categories: ["Uncategorised"]
---

# SNP to launch Scottish independence blueprint, and other stories – our morning round-up

[SNP to launch independence blueprint](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-25088251)

Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond will today publish his party’s 670-page white paper on independence, ahead of the referendum set to take place on 18 September 2014. (BBC News)

[China aims to harness religious beliefs to promote harmony](http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/26/uk-china-religion-idUKBRE9AP04820131126?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401)

Chinese president Xi Jinping wants the Communist Party to be more tolerant of religious belief, in the hope that the religious can help to promote harmony in the country. (Reuters)

[New Clues May Change Buddha’s Date of Birth](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/26/science/new-clues-may-change-buddhas-date-of-birth.html?_r=0)

New archaeological evidence suggests Buddhism may have emerged in what is now Nepal as early as the sixth century BC. Previously, it was thought that the religion emerged no earlier than the third century BC. (New York Times)

[Richard III remains: York v Leicester legal battle to be laid to rest](http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/26/richard-iii-remains-york-leicester-legal-battle-laid-rest)

A judicial review will this week determine whether the Ministry of Justice was right to approve plans for the burial of the remains of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral. Descendants of the last Plantagenet king, whose remains were excavated in a Leicester car park in 2012, argue he should be interred in York. (Guardian)

[Modern life ‘turning people off sex’](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25094142)

The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, conducted every ten years, indicates that British people are having less sex, with results suggesting that economic concerns and modern technology are to blame. (BBC News)