Georgetown University's Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, like any good institution, knows that the way to steer publicity toward their work is to make a list. This is the only possible explanation I can conjure up for their report on the world's top 500 most influential Muslims.

Somewhere, Prince Al-Waleed must be pleased that he's getting his money's worth from the $20 million donation he made to establish the Center. Headlining the list is his uncle, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. One can, of course, legitimately argue that Abdullah is the world's most influential Muslim -- he is the custodian of Mecca and Medina and Saudi Arabia has done more to spread its version of Islam than any other state. However, it's hard to read the description of King Abdullah's reforms as anything other than a press release. The report lauds Abdullah for "his ability to enact multiple landmark reforms to fight corruption, balance the Saudi budget, tailor the education system, [and] address women's and minority rights." This, in a country where women cannot drive.

Looking at the list more broadly, there is also a clear bias towards the Middle East (using a broad definition including Iran and Turkey). The top 14 Muslims all hail from the Middle East, and only six out of the top 40 are from outside of the region. Perhaps only a third of the world's Muslims live in this area, giving them an outsized influence on what it means to be "Islamic" in today's world.

The list is also weighted very heavily toward invidividuals who represent more conservative forms of Islam. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah clocks in at number 17 and Hamas's Khaled Mashaal is included at number 34, but PA President Mahmoud Abbas and IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei -- who no doubt consider themselves good Muslims -- are nowhere to be found in the top 50. Even Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an adherent of the Alawi sect, is considered too heterodox for this list. That's without mentioning hugely influential figures outside politics such as Mohamed El-Erian, Fareed Zakaria, and Muhammad Yunus, who didn't make the cut.

To be fair, these figures are mentioned later in the report -- a list of 500 names gives room to cover all the bases. The report's title is something of a misnomer; it provides a ranking ofthe top 50 influential Muslims, and then organizes the remaining 450 by subject field without attempting to impose a hierarchy. Nevertheless, it is instructive that the individuals headlining the report are filled almost exclusively with rulers and conservative theologians from the Middle East. In the end, this report tells us very little about the world's most influential Muslims, and a great deal about what Georgetown's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding believes constitutes a good Muslim.

(Above: German free style motocross champion Hannes Ackermann performs in front of Istanbul's Blue Mosque in 2008)

MUSTAFA OZER/AFP/Getty Images

There is going to be a Muhammad biopic. Yes, that Muhammad. Many readers may wonder: How is that possible, with the whole he-shall-not-be-depicted rule? Well, it's pretty simple; the movie will never show him.

Due to start shooting in 2011, producer Barrie Osborne of Matrix and Lord Of The Rings fame will throw $150 million into a movie that he said is, "an international epic production aimed at bridging cultures. The film will educate people about the true meaning of Islam."

Osborne has enlisted Egyptian cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi to help guide the film's positive portrayal of Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance, though it should be noted that Qaradaw is also barred from entering the U.K. because he defended suicide attacks on Israelis as "martyrdom in the name of God."

KARIM JAAFAR/AFP/Getty Images

This NYTimes article is sad and hilarious all at the same time. In this age of high tech technology, this bomb detector wand works the same way as "a Ouija board" according to a U.S. air force officer.

Poor NYTimes reporter tried to use the wand on weapons in plain sight and it wouldn't go off--apparently because he didn't have enough training or his body temperature wasn't in tune with the wand.

I have never been a big fan of National Post and am genuinely happy that this publication will soon see the last of its days.

A Maryland scientist who once worked in varying capacities for the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been arrested for attempted espionage, David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Channing D. Phillips, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director for the FBI’s Washington Field Office, announced today.

A criminal complaint unsealed today in the District of Columbia charges Stewart David Nozette, 52, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, with attempted espionage for knowingly and willfully attempting to communicate, deliver, and transmit classified information relating to the national defense of the United States to an individual that Nozette believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer. The complaint does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under U.S. laws in this case.

Nozette was arrested earlier today by FBI agents and is expected to make his initial appearance tomorrow in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

"The conduct alleged in this complaint is serious and should serve as a warning to anyone who would consider compromising our nation’s secrets for profit," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

"Those who would put our nation’s defense secrets up for sale can expect to be vigorously prosecuted," said Channing D. Phillips, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.  "This case reflects our firm resolve to hold accountable any individual who betrays the public trust by compromising our national security for his or her own personal gain."

"The FBI is committed to protecting the nation’s classified information and pursuing those who attempt to profit from its release or sale," said Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director for the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

According to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Nozette received a Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences from MIT in 1983, and worked at the White House on the National Space Council, Executive Office of the President, in 1989 and 1990. He developed the Clementine bi-static radar experiment that purportedly discovered water on the south pole of the moon. Nozette also worked at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from approximately 1990 to 1999 where he designed highly advanced technology. At the Department of Energy, Nozette held a special security clearance equivalent to the Defense Department Top Secret and Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information clearances. Department of Energy clearances apply to access to information specifically relating to atomic or nuclear-related materials.

Nozette was also the President, Treasurer and Director of the Alliance for Competitive Technology (ACT), a non-profit corporation that he organized in March 1990. Between January 2000 and February 2006, Nozette, through his company ACT, entered into several agreements to develop advanced technology for the U.S. government. Nozette performed some of this research and development at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Virginia, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. From 1989 through 2006, Nozette held security clearances as high as Top Secret and had regular, frequent access to classified information and documents related to the U.S. national defense.

According to the affidavit, on Sept. 3, 2009, Nozette was contacted via telephone by an individual purporting to be an Israeli intelligence officer, but who was in fact an undercover employee of the FBI (UCE). During that call, Nozette agreed to meet with the UCE later that day at a hotel in Washington D.C. According to the affidavit, Nozette met with the UCE that day and discussed his willingness to work for Israeli intelligence.

Nozette allegedly informed the UCE that he had, in the past, held top security clearances and had access to U.S. satellite information. Nozette also allegedly said that he would be willing to answer questions about this information in exchange for money. The UCE explained to Nozette that the Israeli intelligence agency, or "Mossad," would arrange for a communication system so that Nozette could pass information to the Mossad in a post office box. Nozette agreed to provide regular, continuing information to the UCE and asked for an Israeli passport

According to the affidavit, Nozette and the UCE met again on Sept. 4, 2009, in the same hotel. During the meeting, Nozette allegedly informed the UCE that, although he no longer had legal access to any classified information at a U.S. government facility, he could, nonetheless, recall the classified information to which he had been granted access, indicating that it was all still in his head. In the meeting, Nozette allegedly asked when he could expect to receive his first payment, specifying that he preferred to receive cash amounts "under ten thousand" so he didn’t have to report it. At the conclusion of this meeting, Nozette allegedly informed the UCE, "Well I should tell you my first need is that they should figure out how to pay me . . . they don't expect me to do this for free."

On or about Sept. 10, 2009, undercover FBI agents left a letter in the designated post office box for Nozette. In the letter, the FBI asked Nozette to answer a list of questions concerning U.S. satellite information. The undercover agents also provided a $2,000 cash payment for Nozette. The serial numbers of the bills were recorded. Nozette retrieved the questions and the money from the post office the same day.

On or about Sept. 16, 2009, Nozette was captured on videotape leaving a manila envelope in the designated post office box in the District of Columbia. The next day, FBI agents retrieved the sealed manila envelope that Nozette had dropped off and found, among other things, a one-page document containing answers to the questions posed by the undercover agents and an encrypted computer thumb drive. One of answers provided by Nozette contained information classified as Secret, which concerned capabilities of a prototype overhead collection system. In addition, Nozette allegedly offered to reveal additional classified information that directly concerned nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, and other major weapons systems.

Also on or about Sept. 17, 2009, undercover FBI agents left a second letter in the post office box for Nozette. In the letter, the FBI asked Nozette to answer another list of questions concerning U.S. satellite information. The FBI also left a cash payment of $9,000 in the post office box. Nozette allegedly retrieved the questions and the money from the post office box later that same day.

On or about October 1, 2009, Nozette was filmed on videotape leaving a manila envelope in the post office box. Later that day, FBI agents retrieved the manila envelope left by Nozette and found a second set of answers from him. The answers contained information classified as both Top Secret and Secret that concerned U.S. satellites, early warning systems, means of defense or retaliation against large-scale attack, communications intelligence information, and major elements of defense strategy.

This investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office with assistance from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

The prosecution is being handled by Trial Attorneys Deborah A. Curtis and Heather M. Schmidt, from the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Asuncion, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

The public is reminded that a criminal complaint contains mere allegations and that every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

It turns out that scientists don't make good spies. While the Department of Justice does not allege that the government of Israel was involved, Politico (http://bit.ly/etxNw) appears to suggest otherwise.