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A videotape of a heinous torture session is delaying the ratification of a civil nuclear deal between the United Arab Emirates and the United States, senior U.S. officials familiar with the case said. Videotape allegedly shows al Nahyan torturing an Afghan grain dealer. Videotape allegedly shows al Nahyan torturing an Afghan grain dealer. Click to view previous image 2 of 3 Click to view next image In the tape, an Afghan grain dealer is seen being tortured by a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi, one of the UAE's seven emirates. The senior U.S. officials said the administration has held off on the ratification process because it believes sensitivities over the story can hurt its passage. The tape emerged in a federal civil lawsuit filed in Houston, Texas, by Bassam Nabulsi, a U.S. citizen, against Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan. Former business partners, the men had a falling out, in part over the tape. In a statement to CNN, the sheikh's U.S. attorney said Nabulsi is using the videotape to influence the court over a business dispute.

"Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy American and British bombardment. Dr Ahmad Hardan, who served as a special scientific adviser to the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, says that there is scientific evidence linking depleted uranium to cancer and birth defects. He told al Jazeera English [3], "Children with congenital anomalies are subjected to karyotyping and chromosomal studies with complete genetic back-grounding and clinical assessment. Family and obstetrical histories are taken too. These international studies have produced ample evidence to show that depleted uranium has disastrous consequences." Iraqi doctors say cancer cases increased after both the 1991 war and the 2003 invasion. Abdulhaq al-Ani, author of "Uranium in Iraq" told al Jazeera English [4] that the incubation period for depleted uranium is five to six years, which is consistent with the spike in cancer rates in 1996-1997 and 2008-2009."

Dr Dominique Raynaud is an expert at climatic change issues. Along with other researchers from the IntergovernmentAl Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore he received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2007. Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth is partiAlly based namely on the research of Raynaud. Dr. Raynaud was on a visit to Sofia where he delivered a lecture on the preparation of the conference on climate change in Copenhagen. - Mr. Raynaud, how reAl is the threat of globAl warming? - GenerAlly the stakes are rather high. Take Africa for example. This continent is Already in a very dangerous situation. The sea level will rise by 50 or 80 cm or even more by the end of the century. This means there will be a lot of problems in many coastAl countries. In Bangladesh, for instance, thousands of people will have to be evacuated. Millions of people will have to immigrate, increase of conflicts is very possible etc? - You believe the future of the Earth is to an extent in the hands of the people. Do you think that they, though, can reAlly be motivated to change the status quo? - People should be educated, things should be explained to them. This issue should not be abandoned; people should be persuaded without being compelled. We are tAlking of a threat, of a possibility, not about something that will for sure happen. I Also hope we are wrong. But even if we are right, this will happen for good because we will have to change our lifestyle. - What do you think of nuclear energy? A lot of discussions are currently being held in Bulgaria on the necessity of constructing a second NPP?

Dr Dominique Raynaud is an expert at climatic change issues. Along with other researchers from the IntergovernmentAl Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore he received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2007. Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth is partiAlly based namely on the research of Raynaud. Dr. Raynaud was on a visit to Sofia where he delivered a lecture on the preparation of the conference on climate change in Copenhagen. - Mr. Raynaud, how reAl is the threat of globAl warming? - GenerAlly the stakes are rather high. Take Africa for example. This continent is Already in a very dangerous situation. The sea level will rise by 50 or 80 cm or even more by the end of the century. This means there will be a lot of problems in many coastAl countries. In Bangladesh, for instance, thousands of people will have to be evacuated. Millions of people will have to immigrate, increase of conflicts is very possible etc? - You believe the future of the Earth is to an extent in the hands of the people. Do you think that they, though, can reAlly be motivated to change the status quo? - People should be educated, things should be explained to them. This issue should not be abandoned; people should be persuaded without being compelled. We are tAlking of a threat, of a possibility, not about something that will for sure happen. I Also hope we are wrong. But even if we are right, this will happen for good because we will have to change our lifestyle. - What do you think of nuclear energy? A lot of discussions are currently being held in Bulgaria on the necessity of constructing a second NPP?

US intelligence agencies knew months before the November 05 Fort Hood shooting that suspect Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan tried to contact people with al-Qaeda links, ABC News reported November 09, citing two US officials. However, it was unclear if the US Army had been informed. Having read the above news, I wonder if Seymour Hersh is thinking to use his acid soaked pen to write another article about the insecurity of American nukes since members of the American military of Muslim faith are allegedly in touch, or were trying to get in touch, with al-Qaeda. Here's a unique glimpse of what he may write.

US intelligence agencies knew months before the November 05 Fort Hood shooting that suspect Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan tried to contact people with al-Qaeda links, ABC News reported November 09, citing two US officials. However, it was unclear if the US Army had been informed. Having read the above news, I wonder if Seymour Hersh is thinking to use his acid soaked pen to write another article about the insecurity of American nukes since members of the American military of Muslim faith are allegedly in touch, or were trying to get in touch, with al-Qaeda. Here's a unique glimpse of what he may write.

"ALL eyes are on FaisAL Shahzad, the man charged with the attempted bombing in Times Square on Saturday. But perhaps we ought to be concerned a bit less with Mr. Shahzad, a failed terrorist now in custody, and significantly more with Sharif Mobley - a New Jersey native, a former high school wrestler and, until shortly before he moved to Yemen to ALlegedly join AL Qaeda, a maintenance worker at five nuclear power plants ALong the East Coast. Since his arrest by Yemeni security forces in March, American law enforcement officiALs have taken pains to emphasize that Mr. Mobley's low security clearance makes it unlikely that he passed cruciAL details about American nuclear-plant security to AL Qaeda."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called on the UN Security Council to monitor the Israeli nuclear program, and to further order Mideast countries to strip of nuclear arms, Egyptian daily al-Masri al-Youm reported. "Israel's nuclear capabilities cannto evade world attention," Gheit said in a letter sent to the 15 nation members of the Security Council.

"A North Carolina environmental group is seeking to sway local officials from Bellefonte Nuclear Plant near Scottsboro supporting completion of Bellefonte Nuclear Plant near Scottsboro or the construction of a new nuclear plant next to it. "We don't want to see mistakes repeated here," Lou Zeller, science director for the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, told the Scottsboro City Council Monday, referring to the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pa. But Jack Bailey, vice president of Nuclear Generation Development at TVA, said in an interview Tuesday the public will have "nothing to fear" if a nuclear plant becomes operational at Bellefonte."

Incidences of cancer, deformed babies and other health problems have risen sharply, Iraqi officials say, and many suspect contamination from weapons used in years of war and accompanying unchecked pollution as a cause. "We have seen new kinds of cancer that were not recorded in Iraq before war in 2003, types of fibrous (soft tissue) cancer and bone cancer. These refer clearly to radiation as a cause," said Jawad al-ali, an oncologist in Iraq's second city of Basra. In the city of Falluja in western Iraq, scene of two of the fiercest battles between U.S. troops and insurgents after the 2003 U.S. invasion, a spike in the number of births of stillborn, deformed and paralyzed babies has alarmed doctors.

Incidences of cancer, deformed babies and other health problems have risen sharply, Iraqi officials say, and many suspect contamination from weapons used in years of war and accompanying unchecked pollution as a cause. "We have seen new kinds of cancer that were not recorded in Iraq before war in 2003, types of fibrous (soft tissue) cancer and bone cancer. These refer clearly to radiation as a cause," said Jawad al-ali, an oncologist in Iraq's second city of Basra. In the city of Falluja in western Iraq, scene of two of the fiercest battles between U.S. troops and insurgents after the 2003 U.S. invasion, a spike in the number of births of stillborn, deformed and paralyzed babies has alarmed doctors.

"Saudi Arabia is not considering developing an atomic energy program, even as neighboring oil producers pursue nuclear plants to meet power demand and diversify domestic energy sources. "We are ruling out nuclear energy for now," Mohammed Salim Sorour al-Sabban, who also heads Saudi's United Nations climate negotiations, said in an interview in Riyadh today. "We are joining the International Renewable Energy Agency and we will focus on solar energy as a renewable." Saudi Arabia aims to boost solar energy projects and export electricity from such plants, al-Sabban said. "

"The South Jersey man who Yemini officials are calling a terrorist with links to al-Qaeda previously worked at three local nuclear power plants. Sharif Mobley, 26, is being held in a jail in Yemen after he allegedly killed a police guard and seriously injured another during a shootout at a hospital on Monday. The Buena, N.J. native has also been accused of taking part in several acts of terrorism, Yemini officials say. He also purportedly has ties to the same branch of al-Qaeda who are suspected of attempting to blow up a U.S. airliner on its way to Detroit on Christmas. As details of Mobley's arrest trickle back to the U.S., more people who knew him are coming forward."

Officials with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Tennessee Valley Authority said they are unsure how long a proposed AP1000 nuclear plant near here could be delayed after Westinghouse failed to show that certain parts of a shield building can withstand design basis loads. "Obviously, it won't make it shorter," TVA spokesman Terry Johnson said this afternoon. NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said in a phone interivew that the shield building encloses the containment building, which contains the reactor. In a press release issued this afternoon, the NRC said it informed Westinghouse, the designer of the AP1000 proposed for Bellefonte Nuclear Plant, "that it has not demonstrated that certain structural components of the revised...shield building can withstand design basis loads."

Officials with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Tennessee Valley Authority said they are unsure how long a proposed AP1000 nuclear plant near here could be delayed after Westinghouse failed to show that certain parts of a shield building can withstand design basis loads. "Obviously, it won't make it shorter," TVA spokesman Terry Johnson said this afternoon. NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said in a phone interivew that the shield building encloses the containment building, which contains the reactor. In a press release issued this afternoon, the NRC said it informed Westinghouse, the designer of the AP1000 proposed for Bellefonte Nuclear Plant, "that it has not demonstrated that certain structural components of the revised...shield building can withstand design basis loads."

Most recent model could be destined for Bellefonte site The expansion of nuclear power in the United States depends on the next generation of reactors that are to be standard in design, easier to manufacture, modern and safe. TVA's Bellefonte plant is scheduled - though no final agreement has been announced - to house two of the new reactors, the AP 1000, designed by Westinghouse.

Three environmental groups accuse the Tennessee Valley Authority of violating federal environmental law in its latest request to complete two reactors at Bellefonte Nuclear Plant near Scottsboro and build another plant with two reactors next to it. TVA's neglecting to include the two unfinished reactor units in its licensing application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for two new reactors violates the National Environmental Policy Act, according to the groups' petition to the NRC for a hearing on the issue.

An environmental group urged a federal licensing board today to reject the Tennessee Valley Authority's plans for a second nuclear plant at its Bellefonte site near here beause it said the site is unstable. Louis Zeller, a representative of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, said there are sinkholes a mile or two from the proposed site. He also said TVA has failed to conduct any geological study of the site since doing one in 1970s for building Bellefonte's Unit 1 and 2.

But TVA lawyers say no evidence to support claim SCOTTSBORO - An environmental group cited cancer risks, an unstable terrain, Guntersville Lake's diminishing aquatic life and several other reasons in its opposition Wednesday to building a second nuclear plant near here. Louis Zeller, director of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, presented information at a public hearing that he says shows exposure to low levels of radiation in a nuclear plant over its typical 40-year lifetime will lead to about 100 people getting cancer and about half of them dying from it.

A joint legislative committee Monday urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Tennessee Valley Authority to move forward with building a new twin-reactor plant next to the unfinished Bellefonte nuclear plant in Jackson County. The Permanent Joint Legislative Committee on Energy Policy unanimously adopted a resolution sponsored by Sen. Parker Griffith, D-Huntsville, supporting the action.

Birmingham is on a route for regular shipments of radioactive waste scheduled to begin this fall, with trucks moving from Oak Ridge, Tenn., along Interstates 59, 20 and 459 and on to Carlsbad, N.M. In Carlsbad, the estimated 60 to 120 truckloads a year of waste from Tennessee will be buried a half-mile deep in containers in an old salt mine. The transports to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad are expected to take three years, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.