Same-sex couples are to be allowed to adopt children under a radical overhaul of adoption laws in Scotland. In the first major change to the laws governing adoption for 25 years, unmarried couples, including gay couples, will be able to adopt jointly. At present, only married or single people can adopt and although homosexual or unmarried couples can currently raise children, only one can be recognised as the legal parent
The Washington Post today confirmed that W Mark Felt, a former number-two official at the FBI, was Deep Throat, the secretive source who provided information that helped unravel the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s and contributed to the resignation of president Richard Nixon. The confirmation came from Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate story, and their former top editor, Benjamin C Bradlee
The effort to ban municipal networks in Texas has failed. Texas House Bill 789 originally had provisions to ban muni wireless networks. The Senate passed a significantly rewritten version, without a ban. A conference committee failed to reach agreement, so the bill died when the Texas legislature adjourned this weekend
The British Medical Journal has discovered something which may have escaped the attention of the less well-informed reader: that long pointy knives are sharp and can be stuck into people thereby causing them damage or even provoking a death-related incident. The solution? Oblige long pointy knife manufacturers to make the knives less pointy by rounding off the tips
The government of Idaho has commended Jared Hess and his film Napoleon Dynamite for their contributions to the state.
The text of bill HCR029 lists the aforementioned contributions with bureaucratic zeal. Highlights include the following:
16 WHEREAS, the friendship between Napoleon and Pedro has furthered
17 multiethnic relationships; and
18 WHEREAS, Uncle Rico's football skills are a testament to Idaho athletics;
19 and
20 WHEREAS, Napoleon's bicycle and Kip's skateboard promote better air qual-
21 ity and carpooling as alternatives to fuel-dependent methods of transporta-
22 tion;
The bill was unanimously passed, possibly due to the clause stating:
2 WHEREAS, any members of the House of Representatives or the Senate of the
3 Legislature of the State of Idaho who choose to vote "Nay" on this concurrent
4 resolution are "FREAKIN' IDIOTS!"
Brazil has rejected the retarded monkey boy‘s AIDS-relief money because it came with strings attached: a requirement to condemn prostitution, rather than working with sex-workers to promote safe sex. The Bush AIDS money comes with requirements to block abortion, birth control and sex education in favour of abstinence programs — via BoingBoing
US courts have struck down the FCC’s broadcast flag requirement. In a stunning victory for hardware makers and television buffs, a federal appeals court has tossed out government rules that would have outlawed many digital TV receivers and tuner cards in the US from mid year. The EFF has details on the flag and the official ruling is online for examination
Following the Federal Court decision that the Department of Immigration has breached its duty of care by failing to provide adequate psychiatric treatment for two Baxter detainees, Senator Kerry Nettle revealed another case where DIMIA spent $13,159 to prevent him from receiving proper psychiatric treatment
NSW will be the first Australian state to outlaw unauthorised spying of employees using technologies including video cameras, e-mail and tracking devices with the introduction of the Workplace Surveillance Bill 2005 to state parliament today. The new laws will make it a criminal offence to take part in any form of covert surveillance unless an employer can prove they had reasonable suspicion of wrong doing by an employee
Acting Immigration Minister Peter McGauran says an Australian woman who was deported by mistake four years ago is missing overseas. The woman’s case is one of a number Mr McGauran has referred to the inquiry investigating the detention of Cornelia Rau, who was kept in immigration detention for 10 months even though she is an Australian resident. Mr McGauran says a search is under way for the woman and says there might be other cases of the same severity
The US forced out a top human rights investigator at the United Nations, Egyptian-born law professor Cherif Bassiouni, just days he released a report criticising the US for committing human rights abuses. Cherif Bassiouni says, The US has done an enormous disservice to the cause of human rights in Afghanistan simply because they wanted somebody who was going to look the other way on what their practices were
The retarded monkey boy has signed into law the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act. A lawbreaker can land in jail for up to three years for distributing a single copy of a prerelease movie on the Internet. The MPAA’s president Dan Glickman applauded the move, stating he wanted to thank the congressional sponsors of this legislation for their strong advocacy for intellectual property rights
Tony Blair was told by the government’s most senior law officer in a confidential minute less than two weeks before the war that British participation in the American-led invasion of Iraq could be declared illegal. Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, spelt out to Mr Blair the dangers of Britain going to war without a second resolution. It is understood that he then went on to warn that British soldiers could be hauled before the International Criminal Court
Senator Eric Abetz has launched a free open source CMS for use by government departments and not-for-profit organisations. However, a leading IT lawyer and several software developers have claimed it isn’t really open source
Victoria may become the first Australian state to use electronic voting, with the Victorian Electoral Commission looking into using electronic systems for the 2006 state election. An Electoral Commission spokesman said that the current project was about making voting easier and more private for people with disabilities, rather than a test of e-voting technology for wider use. This is not about introducing wide-scale electronic voting at the next state election,
spokesman Doug Beecroft said
A battle in the war against RFID beacons in US passports has been won. The State Department now admits that their previous RFID proposal would put Americans at risk and is now considering other options. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the State Department continues to blindly cling to the false promise of planting RFID chips in passports — via BoingBoing
US delegates to the US Commission on Human Rights say that body’s country membership must be reformed to prevent those who abuse human rights from using their positions on the committee to prevent criticism of their records
Belgian trainers helping police to understand body language have caused a controversy by likening the retarded monkey boy‘s facial expressions to a chimpanzee’s. I’m guessing the chimps complained
A report [PDF] by Homeland Security Department Acting Inspector General Richard Skinner, said the agency misinformed individuals, the press and Congress in 2003 and 2004. It stopped short of saying TSA lied, Bruce Schneier didn’t
In the aftermath of India being forced/coerced to adopt patent law that quite literally kills people as a condition for joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO), US representatives at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) are moving to counter efforts by developing countries and numerous non-government organisations (NGOs) to bring public-interest considerations — like protecting human health — to its decision-making. Specifically, representatives have reportedly been circulating a draft paper that attempts to reframe the problem, arguing that WIPO is already addressing development issues and proposing merely a WIPO Partnership Program
— an Internet-based database to bring together donors and recipients of IP development assistance
— via BoingBoing
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