Imagine a country where corruption is rampant, infrastructure is very poor, or the quality of security is in question. Now what if that country built a nuclear power plant?
It may sound alarming but that is what could happen in many developing countries which are either building nuclear power plants or considering doing so - a prospect that raises serious questions after Japan's experience handling a nuclear crisis.
After Japan, where's the next nuclear weak link?
Goldman fined $10 million and to stop trading 'huddles'
Goldman Sachs Group Inc agreed on Thursday to pay a $10 million fine and stop giving favored clients trading ideas developed at internal gatherings known as "trading huddles."
The accord with Massachusetts' securities regulator resolves charges that Goldman analysts gave "priority" clients, including hedge funds that trade rapidly, short-term trading tips that might be at odds with the bank's published research, violating state law.
Once-accused priest now leads diocese inquiries into sex abuse
The Catholic official who oversees sex abuse complaints against priests in the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, has himself been accused of past sexual improprieties. A Kansas City man wrote the bishop of the diocese four years ago, alleging sexual harassment in 1984 by the Rev. Robert Murphy, a priest who is now vicar general.
Brian Heydon, a licensed professional counselor, said Murphy exposed himself and propositioned him as a young man during a meeting at St. Catherine’s rectory, where Murphy then lived. The diocese has said Heydon’s claims are unfounded.
6 Real Examples of Food Terrorism
The latest warning coming from British intelligence that al-Qaeda and other political organizations could contaminate the food supply is part of a continuing plot line that hides the obvious: our food already has been poisoned under the auspices of oversight agencies who have been complicit in the very real threats to the public food supply. The following toxins offered into the marketplace by corporate-government collusion have contributed to far more sickness and death than E. coli or salad bar terrorists ever will . . . unless of course the terrorists have bioengineered a superbug, or it has escaped from a bioweapons lab like the one at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Nuclear fuel has melted through base of Fukushima plant
The nuclear fuel in three of the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant has melted through the base of the pressure vessels and is pooling in the outer containment vessels, according to a report by the Japanese government.
The radiation will also have contaminated the soil and plant and animal life around the facility, making the task of cleaning up more difficult and expensive, as well as taking longer.
Conn. to decriminalize pot possession
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said he expects to sign a bill that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.
The measure received final legislative approval Tuesday, passing the House of Representatives 90-57, the Hartford Courant reported. Under the law, which would take effect July 1, possession of half an ounce or less would call for a fine of $150 for a first offense and between $200 and $500 for subsequent offenses.
Senate panel opens door for BP rig workers' families to sue
The Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday approved a bill to help the families of the 11 victims of last year's Deepwater Horizon blowout by changing outdated federal maritime laws, one going back to the 1850s, to make it possible to recover damages from BP, rig operator Transocean and rig subcontractors.
The Deepwater Horizon Survivors' Fairness Act would amend the Jones Act and the Death on the High Seas Act to allow the victims' families to claim non-compensatory damages, such as pain and suffering and loss of companionship.
Arsenic worries prompt chicken drug withdrawal
A drug that farmers have given to chickens for decades is being pulled off the market after federal scientists found a potentially carcinogenic form of arsenic in the livers of animals treated with the substance, officials announced Wednesday.
Alpharma, a subsidiary of Pfizer, is voluntarily suspending sales of the drug 3-Nitro, which has been given to chickens since the 1940s to protect them from a parasitic disease and help them gain weight, the Food and Drug Administration announced.
Swiss Move to End Nuclear Era
The Swiss government Wednesday decided to exit nuclear energy by phasing out the country's existing nuclear plants and seeking alternative energy sources, in a response to security concerns following Japan's nuclear disaster.
Switzerland is the second country in Europe, after Germany, to drop nuclear energy as an electricity source after protests flared up amid fears that the reactor meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, which was hit by an earthquake and a tsunami in March, could be repeated elsewhere.
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