Scotland reportedly is about criminalize sending anyone an “indecent communication” without their consent. It is one of the new crimes covered by a law against “Outraging Public Decency.”
Continue reading “Scotland’s Crime of “Outraging Public Decency””
In Gaza, police are cracking down on the latest public scourge: women smoking water pipes (or shisha or hookahs). Citizens were handed an announcement that the Hamas government was now banning women from smoking water pipes because it leads to divorces.
Continue reading “Hooked on Hookahs: Hamas Bans Women From Smoking Water Pipes”
In a surprising move, Montreal officials have barred this campaign using Pamela Anderson’s picture marked up like a butcher shop diagram display. The city has denied permits for the display with the caption "All animals have the same parts. Have a heart — Go vegetarian."
Continue reading “Montreal Bans Pamela Anderson’s Body Parts”
A leading partner at a Toronto law firm has filed a $2.3 million lawsuit against former associates Adrian Jakibchuk, a fourth-year lawyer, and Sarah Diebel, a second-year lawyer, after they accused him of sexual harassment. The firm, Mathews, Dinsdale & Clarke, advises companies on sexual harassment claims and David Cowling, the partner, has sued two junior lawyers, who have left the firm, for defamation and intentional interference with economic relations.
Continue reading “Partner Accused of Sexual Harassment Sues Accusing Associate Lawyers”
The Russian media is reporting that Dmitry Kazachuk, 4, died during an exorcism in the Primorye region. Doctors believe the boy had pneumonia. No one by the shaman was present with the boy when he stopped breathing.
Alana Newhouse has an interesting op-ed in the New York Times about a move in the Israeli Knesset that would give the Orthodox rabbinate control of all conversions in Israel. The authority (extending to matters of all Jewish births, marriages and deaths) would allow ultra-Orthodox (or Haredi rabbis) to define who is Jewish under standards that could exclude a significant portion of the population.
In an interview with Raw Story, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) denounced President Barack Obama for blocking any investigation or prosecution of torture under the Bush Administration as inviting ‘tyranny.”
Continue reading “Nadler Denounces Obama’s Failure to Prosecute Bush Officials For Torture”
In an astonishing concession under pressure from the Catholic Church, the New Zealand Human Rights Commission has agreed to remove language from a draft report that simply stated that New Zealand is a secular state and that religion was only for the “private sphere.”
Continue reading “Human Rights Commission To Remove Language Referring to New Zealand as Secular State Under Pressure From the Catholic Church”
We have seen police charge everything from flatulence to a hug to a pillow attack as assault. However, this Toronto officer tells a young woman that if one of her bubbles touches his uniform, he will arrest her for assault. She is later shown being arrested.
Continue reading “Bubble Bust: Toronto Officer Claims Assault When Bubble Touches Him”
Islamabad, Pakistan is dealing with murder that seems the Middle East version of the water fountain scene in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.. Muslims attacked Hindus and forced dozens to flee their homes in Sindh province after a young Hindu boy committed the offense of drinking water from a cooler outside of a mosque.
Continue reading “Muslim Attack Hindu Families After Boy Drinks Water In Front of Pakistani Mosque”
Researchers have announced that they believe that they found the location of the famed round table of King Arthur. They believe it was not in a castle and not actually a table but a Roman-built structure designed to house up to 1000 knights. It was, however, round.
Continue reading “Report: King Arthur’s Round Table Discovered”
In a surprising rebuke to the United States, the Swiss have decided to block the extradition of filmmaker Roman Polanski on the curious grounds “that it was not possible to exclude with the necessary certainty a fault in the US extraditionary request.” Putting aside that the reason is incomprehensible, the decision appears to affirm that there are two different systems of justice for celebrities and non-celebrities.
Continue reading “Swiss Refuse To Extradite Roman Polanski”
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has released a disturbing account in its monitoring of abuses by police in that country. The AHRC alleges that Babul Kazi, a mechanic, was tortured to death after he was unable to pay bribes to the police. Babul was arrested with the two men who worked for him in his auto-ricksaw. Kazi was later brought to the hospital dead and showing signs of torture.
Continue reading “Bangladesh Police Accused of Murder of Man Who Could Not Pay Bribe”
Belgium will soon be giving people a funeral more befitting deceased goldfish than people. Undertakers are planning to dissolve dead bodies in caustic solutions and then flush them into the sewers.
It appears that ever-expanding hamburgers are outstripping our physical capabilities. Dentists in Taiwan have issued a warning that giant hamburgers are causing jaw damage from over-extension. It is a short-sighted move by dentists since these burgers are likely to push humans to new evolutionary breakthroughs by favoring people who can unhinge their jaws like snakes.
Continue reading “Dentists Issue Warning Over Jaw Damage Caused By Supersized Burgers”