Decades of Soviet nuclear testing on the steppes of Kazakhstan have been blamed for an alarming number of health problems suffered by residents in the area. 　　Now scientists are trying to determine whether the victims are passing on faulty genes to their children, the BBC's Rayhan Demytrie reports. 　　"It looked... More

　　The Muslim blessed month of Ramadan has become a popular time for many non-Muslims, especially Filipino migrant workers, to convert to Islam. 　　Everyday in Saudi Arabia, Islamic centers across the country open their arms to non-Muslim migrant workers who decide to join the world's fastest growing religion. 　　During Ramadan, a... More

　　Israel "punished and terrorized" civilians in Gaza in a disproportionate attack in its three-week war on the territory earlier this year, a United Nations report has found. 　　Judge Richard Goldstone, who led the inquiry, said he found evidence Israel targeted civilians and used excessive force in the assault, which was... More

　　"He was picking grapes when he died," says Khalil Kassem Terkiya, glancing at his wife as he recalls the day their son was killed by a cluster bomb in southern Lebanon. 　　Graying and slight, Terkiya looks older than his 46 years: "A cluster bomb was caught in the vine and... More

　　The leader of an Afghan political group wanted by the US has said that Washington used a false pretext to launch its war on Afghanistan, on the eve of the eighth anniversary of the conflict. 　　Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who leads a faction of the Hizb-e Islami group, said that the war... More

　　The Afghan Taliban pose no threat to the West but will continue their fight against occupying foreign forces, they said on Wednesday, the eighth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that removed them from power. 　　U.S.-led forces with the help of Afghan groups overthrew the Taliban government during a five week... More

　　Doctors in Iraq are recording a sharp rise in the number of cancer victims south of Baghdad. Sufferers in the province of Babil have risen almost tenfold in just three years. 　　Locals blame depleted uranium from US military equipment used in the 2003 invasion. Some 500 cases of cancer were... More

　　A U.N. investigation into explosions in south Lebanon indicated on Sunday that Israel had planted spy devices on Lebanese land in what a senior U.N. official said would be a violation of a ceasefire agreement. 　　The UNIFIL peacekeeping force in Lebanon said its preliminary probe into two explosions in the... More

　　Israel is denying Palestinians adequate access to clean, safe water while allowing almost unlimited supplies to Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, human rights group Amnesty International has said. 　　"Swimming pools, well-watered lawns and large irrigated farms in Israeli settlements... stand in stark contrast next to Palestinian villages whose... More

　　Abu Abdullah got hooked on painkillers after his house was destroyed and his 12-year-old daughter was killed by Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the turn of the year. 　　"I'm not an addict," said the 39-year-old father of five, who now lives in a cramped rented apartment in Gaza... More

　　Twaneh School in Hebron has seen some improvements since former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair paid it a visit as UN Middle East envoy last year. 　　The track leading from the school to the new main road joining Jerusalem to Israeli settlements on the south eastern slopes of Palestine is... More

　　Israel stripped 4,577 Palestinians of right to live in Jerusalem in 2008, blocking residency status, at a faster rate than at any time in the history of the Jewish state, an Israeli rights group said on Wednesday, citing official Israeli statistics. 　　"Revocation of residence has reached frightening proportions," said Dalia... More

　　The Land Research Center (LRC) of the Arab Studies Society in Jerusalem reported that the Israeli authorities conducted 187 violations against Jerusalem in November, and demolished 14 Palestinians homes in addition to issuing orders to demolish 170 homes. 　　The center prepares and publishes its reports in cooperation with the Civil... More