LAW & SOCIETY

The United States government grants tax incentives to companies working on medical breakthroughs, urban redevelopment and alternatives to fossil fuels, the results of which could improve lives worldwide. However, the US government also grants tax breaks for the video game industry. Tax analysts are asking, “Why?” In a country that provides tax breaks for a company that created a video game about killing space zombies, tax analysts are baffled, to say the least.

An international human rights group demanded that Vietnam close down drug rehabilitation centers that are subjecting inmates to abuse and forced labor.

Auckland barrister Mark van Leewarden said 67 people from NZ invested and all together lost $6.7 million over a period of five years when they trusted a Hamilton man now living in Panama. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) confirmed on Wednesday it had investigated a complaint about Tony Lusby and his investment scheme, but they could not act on the Kiwis behalf.

The parents of an English schoolgirl of Pakistani descent, who went missing eight years ago have appeared in court charged with her murder.

Having a snake as pet in NZ, gets jail time.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday that the pending sale of 66 F-16 aircrafts from the United States to Taiwan may sever the peaceful development of Sino-US and cross-Strait relations.

The alleged victim, Johnny Jean, and his mother, Rose Marie Jean, told Haitian radio stations he had been raped by Uruguayan marines and provided testimony to a judge in the southern town of Port-Salut, where the incident allegedly took place on July 28.

Qantas pilots have lost a dispute with the airline and its New Zealand subsidiary, Jetconnect.

As British parliamentary hearings on the Murdoch empire's phone hacking scandal resumed Tuesday, James Murdoch's credibility came under more doubt.

The Chinese government through its Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu has validated Libyan opposition spokesman Abdel Raham Busim’s statement that earlier this year, communist China accommodated Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in hope to purchase firearms and other high-caliber guns following the Libyan rebellion, reports said.

Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop has contributed an interesting idea to the asylum seeker debate in the wake of Prime Minister Julia Gillard leaving for the Pacific Islands Forum. Ms Bishop has suggested that the PM should use this particular trip to explore the possibility of Nauru taking asylum seekers.

Finance Minister Penny Wong has conceded that the downward spiral in the popularity of Prime Minister Julia Gillard is not unexpected.

Things get a little stickier for Julia Gillard as needed public support for her wanes further.

Portuguese authorities arrested two Australian men over attempts to smuggle six pieces of rhinoceros horns valued at $538,000.

Fathers will soon be able to watch their newborns 24/7 when industries begin to grant paternity paid leaves beginning on January 1, 2013.

The Australian Prime Minister has defended comments she has made about the High Court in relation to the Malaysian refugee deal initially proposed by the Government, eliciting criticism from the Law Council of Australia.

Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Hailong on Friday called for larger representation of developing countries within the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), specifically African nations, in line with the UN's goal for reform.

One of Australia's most wanted men, who allegedly strapped a fake bomb on the neck of an 18-year-old, has been arrested in Kentucky, U.S. authorities said.

Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday that government was considering blocking the use of social media services like FaceBook, Twitter, BlackBerry Messenger to prevent riots.

After four nights of the worst riots in decades, Britain's capital is quiet but the aftermath of the unrest continues with courts open through the night to deal with 1,200 arrested looters.

David Cameron is flying back from Italy to chair an emergency meeting in Downing Street after riots in London continued unabated in its third day.

Casey Anthony would have to wait a little longer before she could be set free. CNN reported that the release date, after a not guilty verdict, has been rescheduled for July 17, not July 13 as originally planned in a statement released by Florida's Orange County Corrections last Thursday. According to the statement of Allen Moore, the department's public information officer, the new date is a result of "a detailed recalculation of the projected release date".

Lindsay Lohan had dodged a bullet for consuming alcohol while she is on house arrest, and it seems she won't be wearing orange jumpsuits in the near future.

On June 9, the U.S. Supreme Court, by unanimous decision, upheld a $290 million jury verdict against Microsoft for willfully infringing a patent of a small Canadian firm. The case can be depicted as a classic David vs. Goliath or can be a plot to a John Grisham novel. However, what's more significant -- in the area of intellectual property law -- is that the Supreme Court has settled the issue of whether a lower standard can be used to invalidate patents.

John Hemming, the MP who named Ryan Giggs in Parliament, has spoken out the reasons why he went on revealing the footballer's name in court.

Within the same day that its managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn filed his resignation from the International Monetary Fund, the institution came out with its own official list of code of conduct for its officers and employees to follow.

A Malaysian who once was with the late Osama bin Laden’s band of warriors in Afghanistan and has remained on the FBI’s list of “most wanted terrorists” is reportedly now hiding in Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

Mel Gibson’s ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva has decided to let bygones be bygones and dropped the charges she filed against the actor in a court hearing recently.

Sony has admitted and confirmed that some of the credit and debit card data on its PlayStation Network for videogame players were stolen. Therefore, customers must take action in checking their accounts with their banks.