Wikinews Shorts: September 7, 2010

Texas issued hurricane watch, Tropical Storm Hermine headed to coast
A hurricane watch has been issued by Texas authorities as grows closer to the Gulf of Mexico coast. The US National Hurricane Center expects Hermine to reach hurricane strength by Monday night, when it's also expected to make landfall on the Gulf coast. Eric Blake, hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center, said Monday that Hermine "will briefly be over Mexico, and then we're expecting it to produce very heavy rainfall over south Texas." A hurricane watch has also been issued for parts of Mexico.

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September 11 Quran burning endangers troops, says US Gen. Petraeus
General David Petraeus, US commander in Afghanistan, warned on Monday that a planned Quran burning in a Florida church would endanger US troops in Afghanistan. Gen. Petraeus said that the burning of the Islamic holy book, set to take place on September 11, "could cause significant problems" for US troops fighting in the Afghanistan War. The general also said that the burning "is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses."

The Quran, also known as the Koran, burning is set on the day that Islamic terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York. The book burning will be in a, Florida church called the Dove World Outreach Center. Pastor Terry Jones has declared September 11 "International Burn a Quran Day".

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God "not necessary" for creating universe, says Hawking
In British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking's new book, the scientist argues that a God was "not necessary" for creating the universe. In The Grand Design, Professor Hawking also says that the Big Bang was a consequence of physics at work. The Grand Design was co-authored by Hawking and Caltech physicist Leonard Mlodinow, who explained that "We're not saying there is no God, we're saying there is no need for God to explain the universe."

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