1. The fact that so much is still unknown is exciting mission scientists such as Haken Svedham: "Venus was once quite similar to Earth, but now the planets are very different.

2. Haken Al–Mutairi, secretary general of the Umma (Islamic Nation) party, urged him to apologize for «calumnies against the Prophet Mohammed and Islam.» The president of Germany’s Central Council of Muslims, Aiman Mazyek, responded to Benedict’s comments by recalling violent chapters in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported yesterday. «After the bloodstained conversions in South America, the Crusades in the Muslim world, the coercion of the church by Hitler’s regime, and even the coining of the phrase ‘holy war’ by Pope Urban II, I do not think the church should point a finger at extremist activities in other religions,» he said. — With input from agencies

3. Haken al–Mutairi, secretary–general of the emirate‘s Umma [Islamic Nation] party, urged the pope to to apologise immediately "to the Muslim world for his calumnies against the Prophet Muhammad and Islam". Al–Mutairi hit out at the pope‘s "unaccustomed and unprecedented" remarks, and linked the Catholic Church leader‘s comments to "new Western wars currently under way in the Muslim world in places such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon". "We demand that the pope make a public apology" Sayed Baqer al–Mohri, head of the Kuwaiti assembly of Shia ulemasThe pope‘s statements amounted to "the pursuit of Crusades", he said.