Witnesses say that Syrian security forces moved into the Damascus suburb of Kaswah Saturday, a day after they surrounded the area and swooped down on protesters. A Syrian rights group says at least 20 people were killed Friday in confrontations around the country between anti-goverment protesters and security forces. The continuing clashes have sent large numbers of Syrians fleeing across the country's border with Lebanon. Up to 1,000 Syrians are believed to have entered Lebanon during the past two days near the border town of Wadi Khaled.
A video on Facebook shows young protesters fleeing through a narrow street in the Damascus suburb of Kaswa Saturday as security forces storm the area. Witnesses say government tanks surrounded much of Kaswa, blocking it off from other regions. Dozens of protesters were also reportedly arrested in both Kaswa and the Barzeh neighborhood of Damascus.
Arab satellite channels showed video of thousands of mourners marching down a main avenue in Kaswa Saturday, carrying the coffins of three young men killed during Friday's protests.
A woman dressed in black screamed and shouted insults at the government as she hovered over the dead body of her thirteen-year-old son. A video on Facebook says that he was shot and killed by security forces in Kaswa Friday.
Syrian government TV claims that "armed gangs fired on security forces in Kaswa" Friday, wounding several. It added that 7 civilians and security forces were killed during the protests.
Syrian TV repeated a list of charges against protesters, claiming they "attacked fire trucks, blocked roads, threw stones, and shot at security forces." A man in the town of Jisr al-Shaghour also claimed that "armed gangs were preventing refugees from returning home from Turkey."
More than 12,000 Syrian refugees have fled to camps inside Turkey in the past several weeks.
Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut insisted that Syria is more worried about preventing the collapse of its regime, than about provoking a conflict with Turkey. He says that Syrian forces approached the border, despite agreements not to do so:
"Syrian armored personnel carriers even reached the border," said Khashan. "They were maybe two meters away from the Turkish border station. The Syrians want it to be clear that they will not allow the Turks to establish a buffer zone, whereby the opposition can be stationed there. So, the Syrians don't really seem to care if the Turks were to initiate hostility against them. What counts most for them is the survival of the regime, and I don't think they will be deterred by any United Nations resolution, even though see it coming, or by sanctions."
The French daily Le Figaro also reported Saturday that the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon has been moving rockets and other arms from inside Syria to Lebanon. Hezbollah, according to the paper, is worried about the possible collapse of the Syrian regime.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah claimed in a speech Friday that the fall of the Syrian regime would represent a "free gift to both Israel and the United States," allowing them to "impose their hegemony over the region." Hezbollah is on the U.S. State Department list of terrorist groups.
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NATO officials have responded to Libyan claims that alliance forces struck a restaurant and bakery in the eastern city of Brega, killing 15 civilians, saying its aircraft hit "legitimate military targets."
A spokesman for the NATO mission in Libya said Saturday that allied warplanes hit key command and control centers in the strategic port city, adding that the coalition has "no indications of any civilian casualties in connection with these strikes."
He said NATO had "meticulously monitored" the targeted sites, which were used by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi "to direct attacks against civilians around Ajdabiya."
Libya's state news agency quoted a military official as saying NATO warplanes hit a number of civilian areas Saturday in Brega, an oil refinery town near the eastern front.
Meanwhile, two large explosions rocked the capital, Tripoli, Saturday. It was not immediately clear if the blasts were the result of an attack by NATO, which has repeatedly targeted the area in the past.
Also Saturday, the BBC reported that 17 Libyan football (soccer) players, including four members of Libya's national team, defected to the opposition. BBC News quoted national goalkeeper Juma Gtat as saying Gadhafi should "leave us alone and allow us to create a free Libya."
Gtat announced the defections in the western rebel-held town of Jadu along with Adel bin Issa, coach of Libya's top club.
On Friday, the International Committee for the Red Cross reunited 300 people from Tripoli with family members in eastern Libya, under rebel control.
An ICRC-chartered ship pulled into Benghazi harbor on the first of three journeys the Red Cross has arranged to bring home those displaced by months of conflict in Libya. Another 110 people, stuck away from their homes since February in eastern Libya, will take the ship back west to the capital.
Rebels fighting Gadhafi's forces have taken over much of the eastern half of the country. They also control pockets in the west, including the vital port city of Misrata, about 200 kilometers from the capital, Tripoli.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Pakistani police say militants are attacking one of their stations in the northwestern part of the country, killing at least seven police officers.
Local police officials said at least seven militants armed with guns and grenades launched their attack on a station in the small town of Kolachi. At least 17 police officers were on duty at the time.
By late Saturday, officials said the attack was ongoing and security forces had been called to the scene.
Kolachi is located near Pakistan's volatile South Waziristan tribal region, a known stronghold for the Pakistani Taliban and an area where the Pakistani military is targeting militants.
While no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the Pakistani Taliban has vowed retaliation for the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and routinely attacks security targets.
Earlier Saturday, officials in northwest Pakistan said 15 militants have been killed in a clash between rival militant Islamist groups.
Authorities say several people were wounded in the battle in the Orakzai tribal region near the Afghan border. It was not immediately clear what caused the clash.
Meanwhile in the south, officials said a bomb partially exploded outside the Red Cross office in Karachi.
Authorities say two motorcyclists delivered the bomb to the site. Officials say there were no injuries from the small blast.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
Israelis are calling for the release of one of their soldiers held captive in Gaza for the past five years. The soldier's freedom has become an urgent public cause in the Jewish state.
Israelis are rallying around the country to mark the fifth anniversary of the capture of soldier Gilad Shalit. He was kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen in a cross-border raid in 2006, and has been held by the Islamic militant group Hamas in Gaza ever since.
Many Israelis visited the Shalit family at their protest tent outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem.
Noam Shalit, the captured soldier's father, says the family has wide support from the public, but the Israeli government has not done enough to free his son.
Israel has offered to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit's freedom. But a deal has been elusive, because Israel refuses to release top militants responsible for some of the deadliest suicide bombings.
Hamas says the ball is in Israel's court. In a video posted on its web site, Hamas showed an image of the captive soldier - alive, but in chains. The narrator said Shalit will not be released until all the demands of Hamas are met and Palestinian prisoners go free.
It is a divisive issue among Israelis. While Israel has carried out lopsided prisoner swaps in the past, critics say that policy has led to more terrorism and cost many Israeli lives. Others say it is part of the national ethos to bring captive soldiers home at any price.
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Egypt says it has cut its budget deficit for the next year and now will not have to seek international financial assistance to help pay for its governmental operations.
Egypt's economy was buffeted during the political upheaval that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak in February, with foreign tourists staying home and many Egyptian workers disrupting commerce with protests about pay and working conditions.
Egyptian officials sought as much as $6.2 billion from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to help fund governmental operations in the fiscal year starting July 1. But Finance Minister Samir Radwan said Saturday that the government has revised its budget and cut the expected deficit to the extent that it does not need to tap the World Bank and IMF funding.
He is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying the government has cut its budget from $86 billion to $82 billion. The original budget projected a deficit of more than $28 billion, a figure that now has been trimmed by $6 billion.
Radwan said the result is that Egypt does not need the World Bank and IMF support, but is accepting aid from other Arab states. He said Qatar has given Egypt $500 million, which he described as a "gift."
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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New York has legalized same sex marriage, making it the sixth U.S state to do so. Gay rights advocates call the vote a major victory in their quest for equality.
The New York State Senate approved the legislation Friday night by a vote of 33 to 29, as four Republican lawmakers crossed party lines and voted in favor of the bill. Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had pushed for the bill, quickly signed the legislation into law meaning, pending court challenges, same sex couples can begin legally marrying in New York in 30 days.
"New York made a powerful statement, not just for the people of New York, but [also for] the people all across this nation. We reached a new level of social justice this evening," Cuomo said.
New York could become a destination for same sex couples wanting to legally marry because the state has no residency requirement for obtaining a marriage license.
Gay rights advocates filled the statehouse in Albany Friday night to celebrate the historic legislation, with many couples saying they were already planning their weddings. New York, with a population of almost 20 million people, is by far the largest U.S. state to approve same-sex marriage and a major gay pride parade is scheduled for New York City on Sunday.
In Manhattan, gay rights advocates gathered at bars and restaurants to watch the vote and celebrate its passage. Jason Carson said now gay couples will have the same choices and protections afforded straight couples.
"Now, anybody who wants to get married in the state can," said Carson. "It was always a civil rights issue and now the choice is theirs."
This was not the first time gay marriage had come up for a vote in New York. Last year the measure passed the Assembly, but failed to move through the Senate. This year, Republicans in both chambers pushed for more legal protections for religious groups that object to gay marriage or do not wish to perform the ceremony.
Opponents of the measure had also spent the last week in Albany trying to persuade lawmakers to abandon the bill. New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan derided the measure saying it sought to redefine the definition of marriage, which he says is solely the union between a man and woman.
One lawmaker who voted against the measure, Senator Ruben Diaz, told the Senate he could not change his stance on what he believes is the definition of a marital union.
"God, not man, has set the definition of marriage a long time ago," said Diaz.
Advocates say the new law is also historic because more conservative Republican lawmakers were able to move across party lines and strike an agreement with Democrats on a major piece of legislation.
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U.S. President Barack Obama is calling for a renewed emphasis on cutting-edge research and technological advances as a way to spur the country's sluggish job growth.
In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said a new partnership he has launched that joins governmental, university and corporate interests will seek to quickly transform ideas into useful products, helping to create quality jobs and make U.S. businesses more competitive.
He said he is committed to working with both Republicans and Democrats to cut the country's burgeoning budget deficits. But he said as a country, "[we] can't simply cut our way to prosperity." He said investment in research and technologies is necessary to create new jobs in clean energy and advanced manufacturing.
He gave the address at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where on Friday he watched a display of mini-robots that explore water and sewer pipes looking for leaks and cracks. He said such innovative technology helps "renew the promise of American manufacturing."
Lately, Obama has visited a variety of businesses to cite their commercial ventures as a path toward toward spurring economic growth. But, as Mr. Obama faces a re-election contest in 2012, polls indicate that voters give him their weakest approval ratings for his handling of the American economy, the world's largest. The country's unemployment rate has hovered at about 9 percent for the last two years.
In the Republican address Saturday, Representative Renee Elmers of North Carolina said a better path to job growth would include reduced governmental regulations, expanded domestic energy production and a requirement that the government consider the effect of federal rules on hiring.
She said that business people she knows are simply asking that government get "out of the way."
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
The U.S. government has launched an investigation into whether Internet search engine Google is using its dominance to promote its products while blocking competitors.
Google controls more than 65 percent of web searches worldwide and earns most of its money - billions of dollars - in search-related advertising.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says it wants to know whether Google is using its dominance in searches not only to earn advertising revenue but also to channel users to its growing network of services.
The FTC investigation mirrors a similar probe the European Union opened last year. The U.S. state of Texas also is looking at Google's business practices.
Google executives say they do not believe they are doing anything wrong or violating any antitrust laws.
In the 1990s the FTC looked into the business practices of Microsoft and whether it was using its Windows operating system to kill competing software makers.
That case was settled in 2002. It was only last month that Microsoft emerged from government oversight.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Greek parliament has until the end of this month to decide on a fresh wave of austerity measures that are a precondition for international loans. Those loans are to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debts. Greek citizens already are feeling the pain, however, from a year of heavy spending cuts and tax increases.
The financial hardships are evident in the capital, Athens. The streets are littered with deserted storefronts, even in the wealthiest shopping districts. Homeless people sleep on pavements and one in six across the country are unemployed.
One of those is 29 year-old Areti. She was in a car crash two years ago that killed her fiancé and almost took her life. Since then she hasn't been able to work.
"Having the car accident, losing your fiancé, losing your health, you need something to get out of the home and get out of the Internet, make new friends, have something to make your mind work again," said Areti. "If you don't have a job, this is very difficult because your life is only the hospital, the sadness… it's very difficult."
She said many of her friends also are without work. She said all their energy and ideas for the future of Greece are wasted.
"It's like you're sleeping for a very big period and you are dreaming and every day you feel less strong and less happy."
It's a dream that Greece seems unlikely to wake up from anytime soon.
The country is in major debt and is relying on its partners in the European Union and on the International Monetary Fund to keep its economy afloat. An aid package worth over $100 billion is designed to keep Greek creditors at bay.
But that won't solve Greece's long-term problems, and despite the pain inflicted by tax hikes and spending cuts over the past year, they've failed to put a dent in the deficit.
Now, the EU and the IMF say before additional money is handed over, more cuts will have to be made. Lawmakers have until the end of the month to decide on around $40 billion worth of new spending cuts and economic reforms.
Many Greek citizens say austerity is bringing the country to its knees. Stefanos Manos is a Greek politician and a former government minister.
"When is it going to be over, no one has given an answer. And the government says this is it, many times," he said. "And every time they change their mind. That was not it, let's have some more measures. So people are now very unsure of the future."
But Manos said that despite the pain, more cuts are necessary. He said the Greek public sector is too large and inefficient, and in order for the country to get its economy in shape, public sector costs have to be downsized.
He said if that doesn't happen, Greece may be forced to default on its debt and risk losing its place in the European Union.
"I hope it doesn't happen. I think it would be a disaster for Greece," said Manos. "Therefore, I would go all out to cut the spending so that we are never forced to either default or be pushed out of the European Union."
Manos isn't the only one hoping to avoid that outcome. European politicians are struggling to find a way forward that will prevent the union from unraveling. But for now, Greek citizens are the ones taking the hit from their remedy.
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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has offered his country's support for Europe and its common currency during a visit to Hungary.
Speaking at a Saturday news conference, Wen said China is a long term investor in Europe that has made large increases in its holdings of euro bonds in recent years. The Chinese leader did not cite the amount of Beijing's euro holdings.
Wen arrived in Hungary Friday to start a five-day tour of Europe. He will also visit Britain and Germany.
The trip coincides with sharp economic problems in Greece that have European leaders worried about the financial stability of the eurozone.
Standard Chartered Bank has said that China appears to be favoring investments in European debt over U.S. securities.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his country and China signed a dozen agreements expanding business and cultural ties.
Budapest currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Falk is best known for his portrayal of the rumpled, seemingly slow-witted television detective Columbo, a role that earned him four Emmy awards.
One of Lieutenant Columbo's trademarks was an ever-present, wrinkled raincoat that was plucked from Falk's personal closet.
In 2006 Falk wrote a book about his professional and personal lives entitled Just One More Thing, named after his Columbo catchphrase.
Surgeons removed Falk's cancerous right eye when he was three. He was fitted with a glass eye and went on to become a high school athlete.
Falk earned a master's degree in public administration and worked for the state of Connecticut as an efficiency expert before deciding to become an actor.
In the early 1960s, he won his first Emmy for his role as a truck driver who befriends a lonely, pregnant girl in The Price of Tomatoes, a segment of The Dick Powell Show.
Falk was nominated twice for an Academy Award - first in 1960 for Murder, Inc. and a year later for Pocketful of Miracles.
A versatile actor, Falk appeared in the original stage productions of works by Paddy Chayefsky, Neil Simon and Arthur Miller. He also worked with film directors Frank Capra, John Cassavetes, Blake Edwards and Mike Nichols and studied with legendary acting coach Eva Le Gallienne.
The cause of Falk's death was not given, but in recent years he had suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
Peter Falk is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik has urged North Korea to work for peace on the Korean peninsula and stop what he called "reckless military provocation".
Speaking Saturday during a ceremony in Seoul marking the 61st anniversary of the start of the Korean War, Kim invited the North to join the path "where 70 million Korean people can live together."
Meanwhile, about 10 activists, mostly North Korean defectors, gathered near the border city of Paju to release balloons filled with anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the demilitarized zone into the North. They said the balloons carried 100,000 leaflets, one-dollar bills, books, radios and DVDs.
The Korean War started on June 25, 1950, when communist North Korean troops launched a surprise attack across the 38th parallel into South Korea.
The United Nations, particularly the United States, came to the aid of South Korea in repelling the invasion. A rapid U.N. counter-offensive drove the North Koreans past the 38th Parallel, almost to the Yalu River, and the People's Republic of China entered the war on the side of the North.
The Chinese launched a counter-offensive that pushed the U.N. forces back across the 38th Parallel. The Soviet Union materially aided the North Korean and Chinese armies.
In 1953, the war ceased with an armistice that restored the border between the Koreas near the 38th Parallel and created the Korean Demilitarized Zone, a 4-kilometer wide buffer zone between the two Koreas. Minor outbreaks of fighting continue to the present day.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei has confirmed that four of his associates were freed from detention this week, soon after he was released from prison on bail.
Ai was released Wednesday after nearly three months in detention. He is one of the most prominent activists detained in China's crackdown on dissent, which began in February.
Ai's colleagues said the 54-year-old activist confirmed to them Saturday that the four had been released this week.
The terms of Ai's bail prevent him from leaving Beijing or talking to the media.
The official Xinhua news agency said Ai was released because he had confessed to tax evasion and promised to repay what he owes. It also said the diabetic artist was released on medical grounds.
Ai is one of China's best-known artists and an international celebrity. He has exhibited in the world's top art museums and had a hand in designing Beijing's "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium.
His detention had become an issue in many of China's diplomatic encounters with other countries. The release comes ahead of an important trip to Europe by Premier Wen Jiabao and a high-level U.S.-Chinese diplomatic meeting Saturday in Hawaii.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
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Scientists have developed a technique for accurately measuring the body temperature of dinosaurs. Researchers say the highly accurate method for taking the temperature of these enormous creatures raises as many new questions about dinosaur biology as it answers.
U.S. and German scientists have developed a method for measuring the body temperature of sauropods, giant plant-eating dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic period some 150 million years ago, by analyzing the chemical makeup of 11 fossilized teeth unearthed in Tanzania, Wyoming, and Oklahoma.
Using this so-called chemical thermometer, researchers determined the body temperature of the adult Brachiosaurus, which averaged 23 meters long and weighed about 40 tons. The reptile's normal was 38.2 degrees Celsius and the temperature of a slightly smaller sauropod, the Camasaurus, was 35.7 degrees Celsius.
"It you were to walk up to a living sauropod and put your hand on its side, its temperature would be very similar to your own," said John Eiler, a professor of geology and geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and co-author of the study.
But Eiler says the issue is what type of metabolism the animal had. If sauropods had an endothermic metabolism, Eiler says that would have allowed them to generate their own body heat internally like mammals. Creatures that are exothermic rely on the temperature outside their bodies and store heat internally.
Eiler says models have predicted that sauropods had warmer body temperatures than the latest study suggests because of the creatures' great body size and its presumed ability to store and maintain heat.
Eiler says it's possible that these Jurassic giants - with their small heads, long necks and giant bodies - were anything but slow, lumbering creatures.
"It's reasonable to surmise that their enzymes were working efficiently, because they were at a temperature that we know that animal enzymes operate efficiently at and therefore they should have been more vigorous," he said. "What we don't know is whether they had the metabolic machinery to regenerate energy efficiently the way mammals and birds do, and therefore have endurance."
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Hundreds of Syrians have fled across the border into neighboring Lebanon to escape escalating violence in their homeland.
A Lebanese security official said Saturday that up to 1,000 Syrians, at least six with gunshot wounds, have crossed into northern Lebanon over the past two days near the border town of Wadi Khaled. The injured refugees are receiving treatment in Lebanese hospitals.
The new arrivals join thousands of other Syrians who entered Lebanon in May and early June.
The latest group of refugees fled shortly after Syrian security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters Friday. A Syrian rights group that collected reports from around the country said at least 20 people were killed, including two children. Most of the deaths are said to have occurred in or around the capital, Damascus.
Witnesses and activists said tens of thousands of protesters gathered in various locations Friday despite a heavy security presence and fears of the continuing crackdown.
The military's recent sweep through northwestern Syria, where armed resistance flared in early June, also has sent more than 12,000 refugees into Turkey, where there are now huge encampments of Syrian refugees.
Turkish officials said Friday that more than 1,500 Syrian refugees crossed the border after government troops stormed the town of Khirbet al-Jouz.
Syrian troops were said to be within 500 meters of the Turkish frontier Friday - their closest approach to Turkish territory since military operations in the area began two weeks ago. Turkish troops moved their border positions several hundred meters back to avoid potential confrontations with Syrian units.
Demonstrators in Syria attempting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad have been under assault by pro-government forces for more than 100 days.
In the Damascus suburb of Irbin Friday, protesters shouted, "Tell the world Bashar is without legitimacy."
Syrian state television claimed "armed gangs," not government forces, killed three people in one Damascus suburb.
Details of the latest violence could not be independently confirmed because Syria allows very few foreign news reporters into the country, and such visitors do not have full freedom of movement. Activists say Syria's crackdown has killed at least 1,400 people in the last three months.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
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More than 300 universities across the U.S. are turning green, meaning environmentally oriented. They are building sustainable facilities, renovating buildings, connecting solar and wind systems, planting organic gardens and reducing their overall carbon footprints. They also have initiated academic programs on environmental issues. Experts call it the largest transformation of colleges and universities in the last few decades.
George Washington University - in urban Washington, D.C. - is having a good strawberry harvest. The sunflowers grew back after the winter, and the zucchinis are looking good. Eloise Smith just graduated from GW and is looking after its community garden.
"These are the little squash blossoms," she said. "You pick the male ones because those aren't the ones that will turn into the vegetable."
This is one of two gardens tended by student volunteers. But most important, this is only one of several sustainability programs at George Washington University.
There are new green buildings, which means they are built to affect the environment as little as possible. There are recycling programs, green roofs and even a GW television and multimedia show on the environment.
Meghan Chapple-Brown, director of Sustainability, said, "We've got an integrated system on this building and two other buildings that make the East Coast the largest array of solar hot water."
She said the greening of the university, now 10 years in the making, has evolved in three areas.
"Climate, water and eco-systems," said Chapple-Brown. "We have begun a great project on the ground that addresses climate change. We are planning on becoming carbon neutral and impact-reducing our foot print by 40 percent by 2025. So everything from there being solar hot- water systems on our rooftops, to making our building much more energy efficient."
The university is investing roughly $2 million on greening its campus. Some of the investments are already paying off with lower water and energy bills.
Sophie Waskow is a graduate student. "This is a rain barrel and is connected to a down spout from the roof of this residence hall," she said. The rain collectors here feed the greenery at the university and prevent more runoff into the Potomac River.
Chapple-Brown said the school, with 20,000 students, now offers 140 different courses on sustainability and the environment. She said prospective students have been key drivers of change.
"The other thing they are looking at is at the green aspects of the university. We know that is a really important factor and our students voice those concerns when they get here," Chapple-Brown.
More than two thirds of high school students consider a school's environmental performance when they select a university, according to the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a non-profit organization. Executive Director Mark Orlowski said that in the past five years, more than 300 colleges and universities around the country have moved toward sustainability.
"We have seen numbers like less than 20 percent of schools had a green building policy five years ago, and now upwards of 80 percent of schools having a policy, which states that their new building will be built in a green fashion," said Orlowski.
Orlowski said colleges and universities around the world are starting to look into the economic aspects of greening campuses. He said students and universities are trying to meet today's needs without compromising future generations.
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Judge Ariranga Pillay, the former president of the Southern African Development Community's [SADC] tribunal and three of his fellow judges are protesting what they say is the illegal dissolution of this regional court of last resort.
The former tribunal judges note that among the court's rulings were significant judgements against Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's land policies.
Pillay is a former chief justice of Mauritius. He and his colleagues on the SADC tribunal say the tribunal has been dissolved and they have been unfairly dismissed.
The SADC tribunal's first ruling in 2008, in Windhoek, found that a group of white farmers evicted from their land since 2000 were victims of racial discrimination. The tribunal also ruled that the expulsions of white farmers should end and those who already had been evicted should be compensated.
Zimbabwe ignored the ruling and its highest court claimed the SADC Tribunal did not have jurisdiction in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe then moved for a review of the SADC tribunal's responsibilities.
At a summit in Windhoek in May, South African President Jacob Zuma, who is SADC's mediator on Zimbabwe's ongoing political crisis, was unable to attend. The summit then dissolved the tribunal and ended the contracts of Judge Pillay and three of his colleagues.
The outcome was applauded by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his colleagues in ZANU-PF party.
Lawyer Lloyd Kuveya, who leads a regional legal advocacy program in Johannesburg, said the dissolution of the tribunal came as a shock.
"South Africa wasn't there, and with hindsight a lot of people are saying had South Africa been there, perhaps Zimbabwe's very strong views against the tribunal might not have carried the day."
He said President Jacob Zuma, as SADC mediator on Zimbabwe, had shown up recently at two SADC summits, in March and on June 11, and was determined that Zimbabwe's next elections would be free and fair.
"Zuma seems to be taking very strong positions, really holding Mugabe accountable and putting him in check, and asking him to follow SADC principles on elections on human rights, rule of law," said Kuveya.
Kuveya said he and many colleagues were surprised at the consensus within SADC to dissolve the Tribunal.
"So the countries that really surprised us in supporting Zimbabwe are Namibia and Botswana because when you look at the democratic credentials of SADC countries, Namibia and Botswana really come out at the top," said Kuveya.
SADC has committed to establishing a new tribunal late next year after the treaty that established the first one is amended. The court was originally set up for citizens of member states who exhausted legal remedies in the courts in their countries.
Pillay maintains dissolution of the Tribunal was illegal. In his statement this week to the SADC secretariat, he said that although the tribunal is now "defunct," its decision on Zimbabwe's farmers is not.
He said dissolution of the tribunal sent "the worst possible signal to potential investors, donors and the international community that the highest authorities of SADC only pay lip service to human rights, democracy and the rule of law."
Pillay also has told the secretariat that he and his three colleagues seek compensation for what he said was the "high handed and imperious manner" in which their employment was terminated.
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