Russia has said it will grant the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority urgent financial aid, in a break with the policy of the EU and the US. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the pledge to authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a telephone call, Moscow said. This is a good thing. Any democratically elected organisation should be given a chance at the political game.

Egypt's Coptic Christians have protested in the city of Alexandria to demand greater protection following knife attacks at three churches. Hundreds rallied with banners reading: "Stop the persecution of Copts." Attacks on christians worldwide have been on the rise for many years now and they will increase in frequency until the singularity we are all fast approaching.

Britain's chief scientific adviser has said global temperatures are likely to rise by 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, sharply increasing drought and water shortages. Mankind has made its bed and will now have to sleep in it.

Evidence that foetuses can feel pain is scientifically unsound and may be putting women considering an abortion at risk, a senior psychologist has said. In my humble opinion, it is horrific to consider killing even an embryo. Many contemporary scientists appear to be not only godless but heartless too. All life forms have Living Rights and should be treated with respect.

Zacarias Moussaoui returned to the witness stand Thursday, arguing that he could not get a fair trial so close to the Pentagon and criticizing the United States' support for Israel.

Under sustained pressure from mainstream political parties and Maoists to restore democracy, Nepal's King Gyanendra on Thursday night called for general elections.

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has proclaimed his country's membership of the "club of nuclear countries".

An RAF doctor who refused to serve in Iraq because he thought that the war was illegal has been sentenced to eight months in prison.

Controversial anti-terror laws came into force across Britain Thursday, to the dismay of civil liberties campaigners and Muslim groups.

European scientists on Thursday released the first photos of Venus' south pole from their orbiting Venus Express spacecraft.

Initial exit polls suggest that Berlusconi has been ousted by Prodi in the Italian elections. I'm sure Prodi is not perfect either, but thank god thats hopefully the last we'll see of the despotic 'Berlo'.

In fact most of the Old Europe countries have their hands dripping in the blood of colonialism and its after effects in modern times.

The West's misgiven desire to spread democracy reminds me of a schizophrenic person who murders innocent people because he/she is so out of touch with reality.

Even teenagers know that this so called democracy is a farce of biblical proportions.

Yet when there are other needs in the world, like in Zimbabwe and Sudan, to name but two, this coalition of the willing (which sounds like the name of some organised crime network), they choose to do nothing.

The original reason given for invading Iraq was WMD. Now that everyone knows there was absolutely no WMD's, they say 'Oh well, at least we got rid of Saddam', but the carnage continues in Iraq, and is getting worse. How many years has it been since Bush declared the end of hostilities in Iraq?

Bush says that the idea of pre-emptive strikes in Iran to cripple their nuclear program is "Wild Speculation", it might be speculation, but that does not mean that it is not TRUE. You can bet your bottom dollar that these idea's have been around for a lot longer than we might think. What they have done is pulled off the old plans they had off the shelf and started dusting them off. If there suddenly a need for such an attack, then they would certainly want to have their plans ready.

Dont misunderstand me, I want to defend Life on this planet as much as the next decent person, and life in general is under attack on this planet. And yes, there certainly is a lot of Evil to be fought. So where is the War on Evil !!!

This matter of animal rights. Why is it ok to use animals for tests? Is it because they arent intelligent? We once werent so intelligent either, apparently. (Darwin is another bone of contention i have - suffice it to say for now, that he himself appreciated the limitations and anomalies in his ideas, more so than his modern day disciples) If intelligence is the criteria for ethical testing on animals, then why dont we test on the mentally handicapped? Every species has potential intelligence in the future of its evolutionary path. As far as I am concerned any form of testing an any sort of animal is torture and abhorrent.

Human longevity has already increased so much in the West, why do they still need to test on animals? The planet is becoming overpopulated, there is no need to test on animals to increase our lifespan. There is no point in artificially keeping people alive for longer than they would normally be in the wild because all that happens is that they get more time to breed and spread these weaker genes. If we continue on the current path, in the future humans wont be able to live without unique chemicals and will become bound to urban centres. This has happened already to some degree. There are many humans who cant handle the wild outdoors for any long period of time. They cant live without their 'creature comforts'. We are becoming weaklings who use technology to kill and maim.

God help us!