February 3, 2010 The courtroom was packed for yesterday's [February 2, 2009] hearing in the breast cancer gene patents case, a testament to the significance of our challenge. Both sides argued that the judge should rule in their favor without a trial. (You can read our motion for summary judgment... » read this article

Canada's top judges expressed such concern in a Jan. 29 decision, arguing that Khadr has endured and continued to experience violations of his rights under the constitutional Canadian Charter of Rights after the U.S. military captured the then 15-year-old in 2002 and imprisoned him for the past eight years at... » read this article

Thousands of Afghan civilians have began fleeing their homes before a threatened US military offensive against Taliban fighters. International Red Crescent aid workers in the southern Afghanistan city of Marjah, Helmand province, reported that US warplanes had dropped leaflets on the area warning people to leave or be killed. The... » read this article

The successful creation of more medical facilities has seen new developments in the capital and outside. A post-operative "village" has been assembled in tents in an area called Delmas 30. Patients will be taken there from other MSF hospitals to recover from their operations. The range of work MSF is... » read this article

Israel submitted its formal response last month to a U.N.-commissioned probe that accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes during last winter's war in the Gaza Strip. Israel defended its conduct and pledged to fully investigate the U.N. allegations, but stopped short of a U.N. demand to appoint an... » read this article

The newly elected Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) government's plans to move legislation, that will greatly affect migrants and refugees, have been both welcomed and criticised by rights organisations and activists. The interior ministry is ready with legislation that will allow migrants to apply for citizenship as long as they have... » read this article

Seven young doctors have just arrived at the Croix des Bouquets field hospital. They have come from the United States and wish "to help their Cuban brothers and sisters in attending to the suffering Haitian people. We are in the process of having our Medical degrees validated, but felt the... » read this article

MOSCOW - The leader of democratically elected Palestinian movement Hamas met here Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for talks on efforts to reunify the two main Palestinian independence movements. "We met to pursue our discussions, and our principal goal is to build on efforts brokered by Egypt to... » read this article

A state prosecutor admitted before the Supreme Court today that the Immigration Police illegally detained the two international activists arrested yesterday in a pre-dawn raid on the International Solidarity Movement's  Ramallah offices. The two will be released on bail. Earlier today, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the release on bail... » read this article

After the three-day visit of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to Israel and a short visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, a judgement is due. Berlusconi came with a large Italian ministry delegation (Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti, Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni,... » read this article

The State of Israel owes more than NIS 8.3 billion* (including interest) to Palestinian workers from the Occupied Palestinian Territories who worked in Israel. This money was deducted from the Palestinian workers’ salaries for social benefits they did not receive. This is the conclusion of detailed research conducted by the... » read this article

Dwarfing recent opposition protests, more than 100,000 supporters of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez marched in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, yesterday in defence of the ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ and to celebrate 18 years since Chavez, then a lieutenant colonel, led a failed civilian-military uprising against the corrupt government of former president Carlos... » read this article

Romania's supreme defence council has approved a US proposal to place anti-ballistic missile interceptors in the country as part of Washington's revamped missile shield. President Traian Basescu announced on Thursday that NATO-member Romania would host "ground capabilities to intercept missiles" that would "increase its national security" when they become operational... » read this article

Through the creation of a series of quasi-private "foundations", such as Albert Einstein Institute (AEI), National Endowment for Democracy (NED), International Republican Institute (IRI), National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House and later the International Center for Non-Violent Conflict (ICNC), Washington began to filter funding and strategic aid to political parties... » read this article

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Humberto Montes de Oca, interior secretary of the Mexican Electricians' Union (Sindicato Mexicano de Electristras - SME), was on his way to Washington, he told a meeting here recently. His mission: to lodge a complaint with NAFTA authorities against the Mexican government for labor violations. He said... » read this article

Exotic tree seedlings grow next to native species in the southeastern German village of Laufen, at a site where researchers are experimenting with ways to restore forests lost to the effects of climate change. The forest of the future - made up of the Bulgarian fir (Abies borisii-regis), oriental beech... » read this article

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela deported alleged major drug traffickers to the U.S. and France on Tuesday, the country's top security official said. Suspected Colombian drug kingpin Salomon Camacho Mora, French smuggling suspect Jean Marie Bonnamy and alleged Colombian paramilitary member Oscar Ospino were escorted to helicopters at Venezuela's secret police... » read this article

Thousands of Pakistanis have staged rallies against the conviction of a Pakistani scientist found guilty of trying to kill American servicemen in Afghanistan. Protests were held on Thursday in several cities in Pakistan, where many believe that Aafia Siddiqui is innocent. The neuroscientist, branded "Lady Qaeda" by some in the US... » read this article

General Dynamics. Shell. Apache Corporation. Philip Morris. Pfizer. These are weapons manufacturers, oil companies, mining corporations, tobacco companies, and pharmaceutical giants. Notorious war profiteers, environmental destroyers, and human rights violators. Morally and ethically, these are not the types of firms with which one would expect Ottawa's Carleton University to have... » read this article

The Pentagon's advanced research division has set aside $6 million from its next budget for research on the creation of "synthetic organisms" whose DNA can be altered to make them live forever, or die on command, and even keep a genetic record of what they have been doing. In its... » read this article