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The first woman to receive a successful uterus transplant from a deceased donor is this week officially six weeks into a normal, healthy pregnancy, Turkey's Akdeniz University Hospital stated on Monday. The statement reported a fetal heartbeat from Derya Sert, the 22-year-old Turkish woman, who was born without a uterus. Ms Sert's womb transplant came after a first attempt at the same procedure in 2000 on a patient in Saudi Arabia. The womb was from a living donor, however doctors had to remove the transplant due to heavy clotting, 99 days af

Announced yesterday in Sydney, the shortlist for Australia's most prestigious literary award, the Miles Franklin Literary Award, includes only women for the first time in the award's history. The award had been criticized in the past for its exclusion of women on the short list, with no women appearing on it in 2009 and 2011. This year's authors on the short list include Romy Ash for Floundering, Michelle de Kretser for Questions of Travel, Annah Faulkner for The Beloved, Drusilla Modjeska for The Mountain, and Carrie Tiffany for Mateship wit

A gunman opened fire at a hunting shop in the Russian city of Belgorod yesterday, leaving six people dead. Two of the victims were young girls aged 14 and 16. The Moscow Investigative Committee identify the main suspect as former convict Sergei Pomazun. Authorities said the man, believed to have used a hunting rifle, killed three salespeople and two bystanders, and injured another woman who died of head wounds shortly after the incident. The man left the scene in a BMW, later abandoning the vehicle. The assailant has yet to be arrested. Pol

Maroochydore came from behind to defeat University 21–11 in their week five rugby union match on Australia's Sunshine Coast. Trailing 8–6 at half time, Maroochydore kicked five penalties to one in the second half to seal the win. In other matches, Caboolture defeated Nambour 65 points to 20 and Noosa defeated Fraser Coast 72 points to five. Caloundra had the bye.

Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital have created laboratory-grown rat kidneys that function when transplanted into rats according to a study published online yesterday in the medical journal Nature Medicine. The kidneys were capable of urine production and excretion without blood clots in both the laboratory and inside living rats. The researchers were able to create the functional kidneys by using a donor kidney and using a detergent to remove the rats' kidney cells, then used new cells to cause the kidney to grow around the re

250 protesters gathered today at the Faslane Naval base in Scotland to call for the UK's Trident nuclear weapons programme to be scrapped. A number of protestors chained themselves to the gates of the base and were cut free by Police Scotland officers. Around 47 people were arrested including the Green Party Edinburgh councillor Chas Booth. The protest was organised by the Scrap Trident Coalition, which is campaigning to persuade the UK Government to scrap the Trident programme. The Scrap Trident Coalition claims that the estimated £100 bill

Earlier today in Massachusetts, two explosions went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon that left two people confirmed dead according to local police. A third explosion went off at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library located 8 miles (12.8 kilometres) from the race finish. No deaths were reported at the site of the library explosion. The explosions went off at approximately 2:30pm Boston local time. A third explosion at the Boston Marathon site went off at approximately 4:00pm Boston local time, with the Boston police aware

France's upper house voted yesterday to approve a bill to allow same-sex marriage to be legal following protests for and against the bill. The bill also makes it legal for gay couples to adopt children, and is scheduled to return to the lower house next Wednesday. The bill is being supported by the ruling Socialist party and by President Hollande, as well as by the Communists and Greens. Hollande's justice minister Christiane Taubira said it would "move our institutions towards ever more freedom, equality and personal respect" and would streng

On Wednesday, the Internet hacking collective Anonymous vowed to publish the names of the four suspects involved in the alleged rape of Canadian Rehtaeh Parsons, who committed suicide last week. A message sent to Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) by the hacktivist group called "for immediate legal action" in the case, citing that "If we [Anonymous] were able to locate these boys within 2 hours, it will not be long before someone else finds them." This latest operation by the group, dubbed "Operation Justice For Rehtaeh", led to expression

Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the United States Friday to close its prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. She argued the continuing indefinite detention without trial violates international law. "We must be clear about this: the United States is in clear breach not just of its own commitments but also of international laws and standards that it is obliged to uphold", Pillay stated. Pillay said those held in Guantanamo Bay should face a civilian trial rather than a military tribunal, as the latter "d

The remains of an unmarked grave suspected to be that of King Alfred of England who died in 899 AD were exhumed in order to protect them for security reasons from St Bartholomew's Church in Winchester. Prayers were led by The Right Reverend Peter Hancock during the exhumation which was led by archaeologists on March 25–26 due to fears that the bones may be subject to theft. Wikinews interviewed Nick Edmonds from the Diocese of Winchester and Professor John Clarke from the University of Buckingham about why the bones were dug up and the likelih

Yesterday, the Milwaukee County district attorney charged Cory J. Feerick, a 33-year-old from Brookfield, Wisconsin, with five misdemeanor counts of stealing US$35,000 worth of flush valves from fast food restaurants and university toilets and urinals. If convicted, Feerick could spend to 9 to 45 months in jail, and pay between US$10,000 and US$50,000 in fines. Initially arrested in late January following a local news television story on the thefts, he stands accused of stealing parts worth between US$300 and US$600 each from locations that in