Kwtia

More than 800 people in northern Sweden may have developed cancer as a result of the fallout of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, a new study says. ---Pentagon hawks have begun discussing military action against Iran to neutralise its nuclear weapons threat, including possible strikes on leadership, political and security targets.--- Saudi Arabia is ready to combat swarms of locusts, which have already descended on Egypt, Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel--- Abdul-Hadi Al Khawaja, executive director of the dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, is convicted of inciting hatred of the government and sentenced to one year in prison

In todays news also...Scientists have unearthed remains of a primate that could have been ancestral not only to humans but to all great apes, including chimps and gorillas---this may come as shock to some 'creationists' considering:

• At a park called Dinosaur Adventure Land, run by creationists near Pensacola, Florida, visitors are informed that man coexisted with dinosaurs. This fantasy accommodates the creationists’ view that the Earth is only 6,000 years old and that Darwin’s theory of evolution is false...
• In Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Washington, and West Virginia legislators introduced anti-evolution bills, while Alabama mandated evolution disclaimers for biology textbooks and Louisiana tried but failed to do the same.

with regard to the idea of evolution and what it really means as opposed to what each side says about the other:

Fossils show that Hominids (human like species) have existed for 7 Million years...

Evolutionists have been very clear about this distinction of fact and theory from the very beginning, if only because we have always acknowledged how far we are from completely understanding the mechanisms (theory) by which evolution (fact) occurred. Darwin continually emphasized the difference between his two great and separate accomplishments: establishing the fact of evolution, and proposing a theory--natural selection--to explain the mechanism of evolution.
- Stephen J. Gould, " Evolution as Fact and Theory"; Discover, May 1981 (Found at:

PBS has a great site that explains what is scientifically known about evolution and what fossils and bones and geological evidence tell us..it is user friendly, colourful and playful..

The BBC has a site also, and so does skeptictank...

"..biological evolution in its complete form was presented by a great early zoologist, al-Jahiz in the ninth century...An early exponent of the zoological and anthropological sciences, al- Jahiz discovered and recognized the effect of environmental factors on animal life; and he also observed the transformation of animal species under different factors. And in many remarkable passages of his book, he also described for us the struggle of existences for survival, its aim and mechanisms and value in a scientific way, as well as in a folkloric way. As to know the mechanistiis of evolution, al-Jahiz described three mechanisms. These are Struggle for Existence, Transformation of species into each other, and Environmental Factors. " (from salaam)

Muslim views:

1. HUMANKIND’S RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE AND PARTICIPATION IN THE PROCESS OF CREATION BY TECHNOLOGY-ISLAMIC POINT OF VIEW
2. The Muslim Responses to Evolution
3. Does Islam believe in Evolution?

Peace..