Iraq has lost $8 billion through corruption over the past three years, Radi al-Radhi, the head of Iraq's public corruption commission, told AP Wednesday. Al-Radhi said his office has investigated 2,600 cases of wasted or stolen public funds, and blamed a clause of the Iraqi constitution for allowing cabinet ministers to block investigations. The Commission [...]
Amnesty International decried worsening conditions at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in a report released Thursday, claiming detainees have "suffered harsh treatment throughout their detention, confined to mesh cages or maximum security cells" and that the new facility opened late last year subjects detainees to "even harsher and apparently more permanent conditions of [...]
The family of John Walker Lindh said Wednesday that a clemency petition has been filed on their son's behalf, seeking to reduce his 20-year sentence in light of the nine-month sentence handed down to Australian David Hicks last week. Lindh, the American caught fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, pleaded guilty in 2002 [...]
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 [...]
