London, England (CNN) -- Religious leaders in Britain on Friday hit back at claims by leading physicist Stephen Hawking that God had no role in the creation of the universe.

In his new book "The Grand Design," Britain's most famous scientist says that given the existence of gravity, "the universe can and will create itself from nothing," according to an excerpt published in The Times of London.

"Spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," he wrote.

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper [fuse] and set the universe going."

But the head of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, told the Times that "physics on its own will not settle the question of why there is something rather than nothing."

He added: "Belief in God is not about plugging a gap in explaining how one thing relates to another within the Universe. It is the belief that there is an intelligent, living agent on whose activity everything ultimately depends for its existence."

Williams' comments were supported by leaders from across the religious spectrum in Britain. Writing in the Times, Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said: "Science is about explanation. Religion is about interpretation ... The Bible simply isn't interested in how the Universe came into being."

The Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, added: "I would totally endorse what the Chief Rabbi said so eloquently about the relationship between religion and science."

Ibrahim Mogra, an imam and committee chairman at the Muslim Council of Britain, was also quoted by the Times as saying: "If we look at the Universe and all that has been created, it indicates that somebody has been here to bring it into existence. That somebody is the almighty conqueror."

Hawking was also accused of "missing the point" by colleagues at the University of Cambridge in England.

"The 'god' that Stephen Hawking is trying to debunk is not the creator God of the Abrahamic faiths who really is the ultimate explanation for why there is something rather than nothing," said Denis Alexander, director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.

"Hawking's god is a god-of-the-gaps used to plug present gaps in our scientific knowledge.

"Science provides us with a wonderful narrative as to how [existence] may happen, but theology addresses the meaning of the narrative," he added.

Read why Hawking says God didn't create the universe

Fraser Watts, an Anglican priest and Cambridge expert in the history of science, said that it's not the existence of the universe that proves the existence of God.

"A creator God provides a reasonable and credible explanation of why there is a universe, and ... it is somewhat more likely that there is a God than that there is not. That view is not undermined by what Hawking has said."

Hawking's book -- as the title suggests -- is an attempt to answer "the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything," he wrote, quoting Douglas Adams' cult science fiction romp, "The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Read CNN's Belief Blog

His answer is "M-theory," which, he says, posits 11 space-time dimensions, "vibrating strings, ... point particles, two-dimensional membranes, three-dimensional blobs and other objects that are more difficult to picture and occupy even more dimensions of space."

He doesn't explain much of that in the excerpt, which is the introduction to the book.

But he says he understands the feeling of the great English scientist Isaac Newton that God did "create" and "conserve" order in the universe.

It was the discovery of other solar systems outside our own in 1992 that undercut a key idea of Newton's -- that our world was so uniquely designed to be comfortable for human life that some divine creator must have been responsible.

But, Hawking argues, if there are untold numbers of planets in the galaxy, it's less remarkable that there's one with conditions for human life. And, indeed, he argues, any form of intelligent life that evolves anywhere will automatically find that it lives somewhere suitable for it.（from CNN.com→http://bit.ly/9dXsO5）

(CNN) -- The pastor of a Florida church says his congregation has decided to call off the burning of the Quran that was to be held Saturday -- the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States by the al Qaeda terror network.

"We will definitely not burn the Quran," the Rev. Terry Jones told NBC's "Today" on Saturday "Not today, not ever." The burning had been planned for 6 p.m.

Jones arrived in New York late Friday night and was working to set up a meeting with the imam in charge of the Islamic center planned near ground zero. The planned meeting, Jones had said, helped persuade him to halt the burning.

Earlier Friday, Jones gave mixed messages about whether he intends to carry out his plans, which have sparked international controversy and protests in the Muslim world. U.S. military leaders said the event would imperil the lives of troops abroad.

President Obama said Friday that the idea that "we would burn the sacred texts of someone else's religion is contrary to what this country stands for."

He said he hopes Jones "prays on it" and refrains from doing it. The government has to send a "very clear message" that burning the Quran would endanger U.S. troops and serve as a major recruiting tool for al Qaeda, Obama added.

On Saturday, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said police met with Jones and plan to keep a "close tab on him" for his own safety.

"His safety could be an issue, and we emphasized that to him last evening. And, he seemed to agree. You know. We would like to make certain that he remains safe while he's in this city."（from CNN.com→http://bit.ly/b2SH3o）

Quran burning legacy would have lasted generations

Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, is a professor of international law and a prominent authority on Islam. He has authored more than 400 published works, including a translation of the Quran and "Fatwa on Terrorism" which dismantles terrorist ideology. He is also founding leader of Minhaj-ul-Quran International which promotes religious moderation, human rights and welfare.

(CNN) -- The 'Burn the Quran Day' planned -- and now apparently canceled -- by a small U.S. church sparked outrage worldwide.

Such an event would not only have hurt the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims but also of billions of peace-loving people belonging to different religions and cultures of the world.

Such an act is deeply offensive and would have increased divisions and hatred. It could only have been helpful for the cause of extremists, to provide them grounds to exploit the situation to validate their philosophy of hatred. It would have enabled them to recruit vulnerable youth and fuel the growing wave of home-grown radicalization in the U.S. and abroad.

If this event had gone ahead it would not be less than 9/11 in the sense of far-reaching consequences and after-effects. It risked religious clashes and riots. It would have impacted badly upon peacemaking efforts worldwide, the culture of dialogue, and the processes of cohesion and integration between different religions and communities.

Any step that creates a rift between societies, becomes a cause of division between societies, and is damaging for societal cohesion, no matter where it is from and who is committing it, should not be allowed.

A handful of individuals, it does not matter whether they are related to mosque or church, cannot be given the right to flippantly play about with peaceful co-existence, and their so-called sentiments cannot be preferred over global peace.

After the efforts of generations, humanity has come to a point where peaceful coexistence has become a universally agreed principal, and we should not allow any individuals, no matter what their religion is, to push the world back to the path of religious crusading.

If we had allowed 'Burn the Quran Day' to happen in our time, it would have left a most terrible legacy for generations to come. The announcement to stop this event is welcomed and a positive step.

Such actions in the U.S. should be stopped by the U.S. government at any cost; allowing it does not fall within the constitutionally protected scope of freedom of expression and it is also against the concept of basic human rights.

Denial of the Holocaust is regarded as a crime in many countries and there is an agreement between many nations that such a ban is not against freedom of speech and freedom of expression because it infringes the sentiments of a religious community.

On the same grounds, any act of an individual or group which is detrimental to world peace and hurts the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslim should be stopped at any cost.

Similarly, in the U.S. and in many other countries, hate speeches are banned and such a ban is never considered as against the principal of freedom of expression. It is time to ensure that freedom of speech does not transgress the boundaries of hate, crime and incitement.

The burning of the Quran can never be justified due to the criminal actions of some individuals who misuse the name of Islam and wrongly quote the Quran.

Similarly any controversial action or demand of any group of Muslims cannot legitimize the fierce action of the burning of the Quran, a sacred book. No true Muslim of the world can even think of any blasphemous act against the Bible.

According to a tradition of Abu-Dawud, once the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, went to settle a dispute within a Jewish tribe and a special mat was set for the Prophet to sit upon, but when the book of Torah was brought by the people, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, stood up in respect of the Torah and placed the book on the mat which was placed for him and he himself sat on the ground.

The global efforts of eliminating terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq are still incomplete. Pakistan is also facing a wave of terrorism, probably the worst in its history. Many western countries, including the UK and the US, are facing the threats of home-grown terrorism. In such global circumstances the act of burning the Quran would only fan the flames of this fire in those countries and other places and could also help the extremists and terrorist groups to win sympathy and support.

Muslim nations and governments around the globe are becoming united against extremism and terrorism. Many organization and leaders have been working on this front for decades.

For the last 30 years, Minhaj-ul-Quran International has been working for the restoration of peace at a global level and for cohesion between societies and interfaith harmony.

The "Fatwa on Terrorism" I pronounced earlier this year, has laid down the gauntlet to de-radicalize Muslim youth the world over, but I fear that this one step of burning the Quran would have not only neutralized the effect of this fatwa and other anti-extremism efforts by countries and leaders, but also have taken us back many years in our struggle against extremism and terrorism.(from CNN.com→http://bit.ly/bxjzK9）

（from CNN.com→http://bit.ly/byIGSx）

　イギリス、アメリカ両国の政府関係者によれば、今の時点でウィリアムズの遺体が見つかった奇妙な状況を説明するに足る情報はつかんでいないという。遺体は８月23日、過去１年の間出向していたＭＩ６（英国情報部国外部門）の本部からそう離れていないアパートで見つかった。ちなみにＧＣＨＱは通信傍受システム「エシュロン」をイギリスで管轄する機関で、彼はつい最近まで１年間、ＭＩ６に出向していた。

　発見現場のアパートはＭＩ６から１キロ弱離れた高級住宅地ピムリコにあり、イギリス国内の報道によれば、ＭＩ６の「アジト」だった可能性がある。ロンドン警視庁の声明によればウィリアムズは「服を着ていない状態で...遺体は空っぽの浴槽に置かれた大型の赤いスポーツバッグに入れられ、ファスナーは閉められ南京錠がかけられていた」という。

　声明によるとアパートに誰かが押し入った形跡はない。「内部で争った形跡もなく、部屋から持ち去られた物はないと思われる。物の置き場所がわざと動かされた形跡もない。薬物そのものも、薬物を使用した痕跡も一切見つからなかった」

　声明によれば、「以前から予定されていた休暇でアメリカに」出かけていたウィリアムズは８月11日にロンドンに戻ってきたことが確認されている。ロンドン各地に設置されている監視カメラの映像には、帰国後に有名なロンドンの商業地区で買い物をするウィリアムズの姿が捉えられている。

　警察は６月か７月の夜遅く、ウィリアムズのアパートを訪れた男女２人組の身元を追っており、市民からの情報を求めている。２人組は「共用の表玄関」からアパート内部に入っており年齢は20～30歳。どちらも「地中海地方出身のような外見」だったというが、声明ではこれ以上の手がかりは提示されていないし、２人とウィリアムズとの関係を示す証拠も示されてはいない。

　地元イギリスの報道では事件についてさまざまな憶測が飛び交っている。例えばロンドンで最も過激なタブロイド紙の一つであるデイリー・メール紙は、事件現場のアパートに侵入した人物はイスラム過激派だ、いや北アイルランドのテロリストだ、いやロシアのスパイだといった相矛盾する仮説を次々と展開。ウィリアムズの私生活に何らかの関係があるのではとの説も飛び出した。

　すらっとした体型のウィリアムズが体にフィットした自転車レースのユニフォームを着ている写真があちこちのメディアに登場するや、事件とロンドンのゲイ社会とのつながりを疑う声も出た。もっとも遺族はウィリアムズは同性愛者ではなかったと主張している。

(CNN) -- U.N. officials on Tuesday put the number of rapes and other sexual attacks in eastern Congo since late July at more than 500, more than double the previous estimate.

In remarks prepared for delivery to the Security Council after returning from a fact-finding trip to the region, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Atul Khare cited 267 rapes or other sexual attacks in the town of Uvira -- on the eastern edge of the country -- and other nearby regions of North and South Kivu, in addition to the 242 rapes that had already been reported in and near the village of Luvungi.

Among the additional cases was a report of 10 women raped by members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo on August 17 and 18 in the community of Katalukulu, in Fizi territory, South Kivu, he said.

On August 17, at least 40 rapes were committed in the village of Mubi by an alleged coalition of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda and Mayi-Mayi, a militia group active in the region, he said.

A

On August 26, Khare received reports of 74 cases of sexual violence -- including 21 directed at girls 7 to 15 years of age -- and six men in the village of Miki in the territory of Mwenga, he said.

The incidents occurred in July and August, he said.

Five days later, he said, 130 cases of rape were recorded in several villages in the territory of Shabunda. There were reports that in one village, "all women might have been systematically raped," he said.

Khare had gone to Congo to find out why peacekeepers said they hadn't learned about the rapes near Luvungi sooner.

The United Nations reported last week that some 242 people were raped by armed Congolese and Rwandan rebels in villages in North Kivu province between July 30 and August 3.

Attackers blocked roads and prevented villagers from reaching outside communications. Many homes were also looted and burned. Many of the victims were gang-raped by as many as six men at a time, according to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The rapes were first publicly reported on August 22.

The United Nations initially said it did not learn about the attacks until August 12, when it was alerted by International Medical Corps. That group said it first told the United Nations about the rapes on August 6.

But on Tuesday, the United Nations acknowledged that it first learned of a report of rape on July 30, nearly two weeks earlier than it had previously said.

"We can confirm that the Daily Field Security Report from North Kivu on 30 July included the following: 'Today 30 July 2010 during morning hours, the locality of Mpofi (52 Km E of Walikale) passed under control of FDLR [Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda] combatants. One woman was reportedly raped and locals fled towards Walikale and Kibua. More information to be ascertained.'

"We can also confirm that, on the basis of this information, an e-mail was sent by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs transmitting information of the FDLR movement," it said.

The July 30 internal U.N. email was relayed to relief agencies working in the area and warned that the rebels had taken over the villages, and had already committed one instance of rape.

U.N. officials have said they will toughen efforts to stop rapes in the region.

"The women of eastern DRC deserve better," said Margot Wallstrom, a U.N. special representative for sexual violence in conflict who sent a senior member of her staff with Khare on his fact-finding mission to the region. "For them, there is no safe place. They are raped when harvesting crops; when going to market; when fetching water and firewood; when carrying their babies; when in their homes at night, among their loved ones."

She added that the rape is becoming a weapon of choice in eastern DRC. "The sad reality is that incidents of rape have become so commonplace that they do not trigger our most urgent interventions," she said.

Noting that the information about the rapes "was slow to surface," she called for the United Nations to focus on how to improve its response to such reports. "We should examine the U.N.'s response, including that of our peacekeepers on the ground, not in a spirit of self-recrimination but with a determination and resolve to do better to protect civilians in what is undoubtedly one of the most complex, vast and volatile conflict zones in the world."

She noted that some rebel leaders have been identified as having been present during the attacks and called for them to be used "as a starting point" to bring the attackers to justice. "Our policies of 'zero tolerance' cannot be backed by a reality of 'zero consequences,'" she said.

nother 13 rapes occurred in Pinga area in Chuho market, he said.(from CNN.com→http://bit.ly/ca7So5)

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- Authorities were searching for more than 680 inmates Wednesday who escaped after gunmen attacked a prison in northern Nigeria, police said.

The prison was attacked by suspected members of an Islamist sect called Boko Haram on Tuesday.

One police officer was killed and two prison officials were injured, police said.

The group freed 721 inmates, said Emmanuel Ojukwu, a police spokesman.

Police captured 35 of the escapees and were searching for the others, Ojukwu said.

About 200 members of the Boko Haram sect attacked the prison, triggering a massive gunbattle, according to authorities.

Police suspect the prison was attacked because it was holding 80 members of the sect.

Boko Haram has been at odds with Nigerian officials because the group wants the government to impose Islamic law, known as sharia, in the entire Muslim-dominated northern half of Nigeria.（from CNN.com→http://bit.ly/dxveCm）

(CNN) -- Fidel Castro told a visiting American journalist that the "Cuban model" no longer works, an apparent admission of failings in the communist economic model introduced by his revolution more than 50 years ago.

"The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore," Castro told Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic in an interview last week. Goldberg published parts of the exchange on a blog Tuesday and Wednesday.

Castro's younger brother and successor, President Raul Castro, has said as much in numerous speeches since taking the reins of power in 2006.

More recently, he said that a full fifth of state jobs could be redundant and that the government would have to review its role in the country's economy.

A few small changes have already been introduced: allowing more private enterprise for farmers and barbers, for example.

Goldberg said that Castro's statement was in response to a question about whether the Cuban model was still worth exporting.

"Did the leader of the Revolution just say, in essence, 'Never mind?' " Goldberg wrote.

The comments come amid speculation that the two brothers are divided on the economic issue and that Fidel Castro might not wholly support Raul's changes.

Fidel Castro has studiously avoided domestic topics in his many public appearances over the last couple of months.（from CNN.com→http://bit.ly/dj1fM0）