The United Nations has endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people for the first time ever. The U.N. Human Rights Council passed the cautiously worded resolution by a narrow margin. It espresses "grave concern" about abuses suffered by people because of their sexual orientation and commissions a global report on discrimination against gays.
The U.S. and other backers, including the European Union and Brazil, are hailing the document put forward by South Africa as "historic." One gay rights advocate says the resolution "breaks the silence that has been maintained for far too long."
UN group backs gay rights for first time
Fukushima: It's much worse than you think
"Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind," Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president, told Al Jazeera.
Gundersen, a licensed reactor operator with 39 years of nuclear power engineering experience, managing and coordinating projects at 70 nuclear power plants around the US, says the Fukushima nuclear plant likely has more exposed reactor cores than commonly believed.
NYPD Officer Martin Tom remembered, family claims he contracted deadly cancer at ground zero
A veteran cop killed by cancer after working amid the deadly toxins of Ground Zero was hailed at his low-key funeral Wednesday as one of the unsung heroes of 9/11. The sendoff for veteran NYPD Officer Martin Tom was intentionally done with little fanfare over fears the city might seize his corpse - as it did with another cop killed by "9/11 toxic exposure."
Tom, 49, the father of a 4-year-old daughter, died last week after a 14-month fight with liver cancer that eventually spread to his brain.
In Rebuilding Iraq’s Oil Industry, U.S. Subcontractors Hold Sway
American drilling companies stand to make tens of billions of dollars from the new petroleum activity in Iraq long before any of the oil producers start seeing any returns on their investments.
Lukoil and many of the other international oil companies that won fields in the auction are now subcontracting mostly with the four largely American oil services companies that are global leaders in their field: Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Weatherford International and Schlumberger. Those four have won the largest portion of the subcontracts to drill for oil, build wells and refurbish old equipment.
Citigroup releases more about credit card breach
Citigroup released more details about the May attack that compromised some personal information of about 1 percent of its credit card customers.
According to a statement from the company, 360,083 accounts were breached in total. Of those accounts, 142,426 were not current — they had been closed or new cards had been automatically issued. The company said it has reissued 217,657 new cards to affected customers.
Spitzer telescope snaps stunning image of 'ring' nebula
The Spitzer space telescope has snapped a striking false-colour image of the RCW 120 nebula, a vast cloud of gas and dust where stars have recently formed.
RCW 120 lies about 4,300 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius, just above the plane of the galaxy. It emits a broad range of colours in the infrared region, with wavelengths far beyond those we can see.
Ex-Spy Alleges Bush White House Sought to Discredit Critic
A former senior C.I.A. official says that officials in the Bush White House sought damaging personal information on a prominent American critic of the Iraq war in order to discredit him.
Glenn L. Carle, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who was a top counterterrorism official during the administration of President George W. Bush, said the White House at least twice asked intelligence officials to gather sensitive information on Juan Cole, a University of Michigan professor who writes an influential blog that criticized the war.
Ft Calhoun Spent Fuel In Ground Pools, Flooded Already?
Ft. Calhoun is the designated spent fuel storage facility for the entire state of Nebraska...and maybe for more than one state.
Calhoun stores its spent fuel in ground-level pools which are underwater anyway - but they are open at the top. When the Missouri river pours in there, it's going to make Fukushima look like an x-ray. But that's not all. There are a LOT of nuclear plants on both the Missouri and Mississippi and they can all go to hell fast.
Rainbow Flags Aflutter, Orthodox Groups Enter a Float in Israeli Gay Pride Parade
Amid a sea of rainbow flags and equal-rights banners at Tel Aviv’s 18th annual Gay Pride parade, an unexpected soundtrack filled the air: Hasidic music. Despite the suspicions of some marchers, it wasn’t an act of protest by Orthodox groups. Rather, the music was coming from a float designed by a group of Orthodox gay and lesbian Israelis.
The first-of-its-kind float, which made its debut at the June 10 parade, boasted the corporate sponsorship of Google, and carried members of the Bat Kol alliance of Orthodox lesbians; Havruta, an organization of Orthodox gay men, and Pride Minyan, a prayer group for Tel Aviv’s Orthodox gay and lesbian community.
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