Virginia became the first US state to require by statute that girls be vaccinated against human papillomavirus when its General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to accept the governor's proposed amendment to a previously passed bill . The amendment makes it easier for parents and guardians to opt girls out of the vaccinations by striking a [...]
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have filed suit against five Jackson Hewitt franchises, seeking an injunction to bar the companies from preparing tax returns and alleging that all five corporations were involved in fraudulent tax return preparation including the filing of exaggerated claims and the use fake W-2 forms. [...]
The government of Thailand Wednesday banned access to the popular video-sharing website YouTube and several other websites that contain material deemed offensive to the country's monarch. The YouTube ban resulted from a video depicting King Bhumibol Adulyadej as a clown with feet pasted over his head, an insulting image in Thai culture that can amount [...]
The Fiji Human Rights Commission (FHRC) has accused Australian mining company Emperor Gold of human rights violations at Fiji's Vatukoula gold mine . The FHRC claims that mine workers have been subjected to sub-standard housing, paid disproportionate wages, and exposed to hazardous gases. FHRC Commission Director Dr. Shaista Shameem said that an FHRC investigation concluded [...]
The UK hacker behind unprecedented cyberattacks on US military and NASA computer systems in late 2001 and early 2002 lost an appeal Tuesday in the UK High Court to avoid extradition to the US. Last May, a UK judge recommended extradition for Gary McKinnon to face criminal charges in a US court as a cyber-terrorist, [...]
The Iowa House Human Resources Committee on Tuesday approved SF427 , a bill to extend the state's civil rights protections to gays and lesbians. The bill, which still awaits passage by the full Iowa House , was passed by the full Senate last week and would officially add gender identity and sexual orientation to the [...]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday urged all countries to sign and abide by international treaties banning landmines International Mine Awareness Day . Those treaties include the Ottawa Treaty , which bans all anti-personnel landmines, and the Protocol Five to the Certain Conventional Weapons Convention , scheduled to assemble in November to consider how to eradicate [...]
The state of North Carolina is violating international freedom of association labor standards by prohibiting governmental entities from bargaining with unions, according to a decision released Tuesday by the International Labor Organization (ILO) , the labor standards branch of the United Nations. North Carolina General Statute section 95-98 states: Any agreement, or contract, between the [...]
Iraqi Shiite religious leader Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani said Tuesday he in fact did not oppose a proposed law which would return former Baath party members to their previously held government positions, as initially reported Sunday. A spokesperson for Sistani denied the reports without revealing the Grand Ayatollah's position on the law, instead saying the issue [...]
A former Bosnian Serb soldier was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday on rape and torture charges by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) . Dragan Zelenovic was accused of raping eight Bosnian Muslim women under circumstances amounting to torture between July and October of 1992 after Serbian forces took control [...]
