VA to pay veterans for ID theft exposure
WASHINGTON: The Veterans Affairs Department agreed yesterday to pay $20 million to veterans for exposing them to possible identity theft in 2006 by losing their sensitive personal information. In court filings yesterday, lawyers for the VA and the veterans said they had reached agreement to settle a class action lawsuit originally filed by five veterans groups alleging invasion of privacy. The money, which will come from the Treasury, will be used to pay veterans who can show they suffered actual harm, such as physical symptoms of emotional distress or expenses incurred for credit monitoring. A U.S. District Court judge must approve the terms of the settlement before it becomes final. The lawsuit came after a VA data analyst in 2006 admitted that he had lost a laptop and external drive containing the names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of up to 26.5 million veterans and active-duty troops.
Group says Myanmar persecutes minorities
BANGKOK, Thailand: The "forgotten" Chin people, Christians living in the remote mountains of northwestern Myanmar, are subject to forced labor, torture, extrajudicial killings and religious persecution by the country's military regime, a human-rights group has said. A report by New York-based Human Rights Watch said tens of thousands have fled the Chin homeland into neighboring India, where they face abuse and the risk of being forced back into Myanmar. It said the regime also continues to commit atrocities against its other ethnic minorities. Myanmar's ruling junta has been widely accused of widespread human-rights violations in ethnic minority areas where anti-government insurgent groups are fighting for autonomy. The government has repeatedly denied such charges. An e-mailed request for comment on the new report was not immediately answered. A top official for India's Mizoram state, Chief Secretary Vanhela Pachau, said he hadn't seen the report and could not comment.
Human Rights Watch said insurgents of the Chin National Front also committed abuses, including the extortion of money from villagers.
