It is with great regret, and profound shock, that we have received Professor Lennart Bengtsson's letter of resignation from his membership of the GWPF's Academic Advisory Council.

The Foundation, while of course respecting Professor Bengtsson's decision, notes with deep concern the disgraceful intolerance within the climate science community which has prompted his resignation.

Professor Bengtsson's letter of resignation from our Academic Advisory Council was sent to its chairman, Professor David Henderson. His letter and Professor Henderson's response are attached below.

Dr Benny Peiser, Director, The Global Warming Policy Foundation

A ruptured oil pipe near the city of Glendale, Los Angeles County, has caused a massive leak as 10,000 gallons of crude oil spilled onto streets, which is knee high in some places, the Los Angeles Fire Department reports.

Earlier in the day as much as 50,000 gallons had reportedly spilled onto the streets, but Captain Jamie Moore, a public information officer with the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), later revised the figure.

The leak from a 20-inch pipe was first reported at around 12:15 am local time. The oil line was remotely shut off, the (LAFD) said in a press release. The oil spill has covered approximately a half-mile area, and is knee deep in some spots.

"We are on hand vacuuming up the spilled oil, mopping up what's left behind and pressure washing the area with a soap solution," Reuters cites Moore as saying. "The responders are mopping what's on the ground with absorbent diapers." The cleanup is expected to take 24 hours.

The leak, which was sprung near 5175 W. San Fernando Rd., has affected some commercial businesses. Four people at a nearby business were evacuated with respiratory complaints, and two people were transferred to a hospital, the Associated Press said, citing a fire official.

"Oil is knee-high in some areas," the fire department said in a statement. "A handful of commercial businesses are affected."

The United States is the only Western country, and one of three in the world, that does not require some kind of paid maternity leave for new mothers, said a new United Nations study released Tuesday.

Published by the International Labour Organization, an agency of the UN, the study - Maternity and Paternity at Work: Law and Practice Across the World (pdf) - surveys national law and practice on both maternity and paternity at work in 185 countries and territories.

Among the findings, the ILO reports that the U.S., Oman and Papua New Guinea are the only three countries that fail to provide any "cash benefits paid during maternity leave."

"Revenge porn" is now a felony in Arizona, with perpetrators who post sexually explicit images or videos online without a person's consent subject to jail time and the label of sex offender.

The Arizona Legislature unanimously passed the bill last week, and Gov. Jan Brewer (R-Ariz.) signed it into law on Wednesday, MSNBC reported. Arizona is the ninth state to pass a law against revenge porn, also known as non-consensual pornography, but is the first to make it a felony without an exception for lawful purposes, according to the Daily Dot.

The law makes it a crime "to intentionally disclose, display, distribute, publish, advertise or offer a photograph, videotape, film or digital recording of another person...if the person knows or should have known that the depicted person has not consented to the disclosure."

The only exceptions are when reporting illegal activity to law enforcement, lawful practices of medical treatment, or images involving "voluntary exposure" in public, according to the Phoenix New Times.

Russian lawmakers have proposed creating their own version of Eurovision after Europe's premier song competition was won by a bearded Austrian drag queen who promotes gay rights.

Lawmakers in the Kremlin-controlled parliament picked up on swelling outrage in the socially conservative country at Conchita Wurst's weekend triumph by proposing a Russian-based contest in which family values prevail.

"The last Eurovision contest's results exhausted our patience," Communist Party deputy Valery Rashkin told the Interfax news agency.

"We must leave this competition. We cannot tolerate this endless madness."

Rashkin said he would push for the creation of a "Voice of Eurasia" songfest instead, which would primarily group nations from the former Soviet Union.

Victims of the Odessa fire massacre died within seconds, but not from smoke or carbon monoxide suffocation, the head of Odessa's emergency service department, Vladimir Bodelan, said on his Facebook page.

Violent clashes erupted on May 2 between rival rallies of anti-government protesters and radicals supporting the coup-imposed authorities in Kiev. The confrontation led to a tragedy that left 42 people dead and over 200 injured as nationalists burnt the protester camp and then set fire to the Trade Unions House with anti-Kiev activists trapped inside. According to witnesses, many of those who managed to escape the flames were then strangled or beaten with bats by radicals.

"I'm sure that 99.9 percent of the people were killed in the Trade Unions House within seconds and did not suffocate from smoke...[or burn in the] fire. But there are forensic experts, we will wait for their findings," Bodelan said.

Bodelan was by the building when it was set on fire and said that even before the smoke spread inside, he saw people leaning outside windows trying to take a breath of fresh air.

"I cannot explain why they were having such trouble breathing, but I am 100 percent sure that it was not because of the smoke caused by the fire," Bodelan said.

He added that there was a bang after the fire started inside the building, which apparently extinguished the blaze on the central staircase. "In that second, a few people jumped from the building...The majority of them were alive and they were even able to walk on their own two feet. But a couple dozen meters later, they lost consciousness and fell to the ground, with their tragic end known to all."

He witnessed rescuers carrying more than 350 individuals out of the building while others who managed to jump out of the windows were heavily beaten by radicals - which led to many choosing to stay inside the building.

Bodelan said that several thousand individuals who were gathered outside the building prevented firefighters from getting close to the scene of the fire for quite some time.

"The worst thing in this situation was that fire brigades that arrived at the site on time could not begin putting out the fire because the attackers were shooting and resisting," he said.

All of Bodelan's attempts to increase police presence in the area went unanswered.

"I was forced to negotiate with activists, who looked to me as heads of fighter units, that we could work calmly," he said.

Forty-two of those killed in the massacre have been identified by both local and social media. Up to 48 people are still considered missing, according to various sources. Over 60 people remain in hospitals, 26 of whom are in grave condition.

Residents of Odessa gathered last weekend for a memorial service to commemorate the victims of the May 2 bloodshed.

The people's mayor of Slavyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, claims that Ukraine's security forces suffered heavy losses during clashes with militiamen outside of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday evening.

"Eleven people were killed and 24 were injured on the adversary's side. One person was killed on our side. The adversary keeps firing on Slavyansk and Kramatorsk all the time. They are not storming [the cities], but are trying to trigger panic among the population," he said.

Both the militia and the civilian population of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk are "furious" with the Ukrainian Armed Forces for their constant attacks and provocations, Ponomaryov said.

"Our people are angry. They are prepared to resist the adversary using everything at hand. The adversary has driven the people to despair, and an ever-growing number of civilians are enrolling in the militia," Ponomaryov said.

The Ukrainian security forces continue to strike against the outskirts of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk at the moment, he said.

"They are firing at the outskirts. They are using mortars, among other weapons. We have no other choice but to respond. Gunfire is underway in Slavyansk now, but it has already stopped in Kramatorsk," he said.

Eleven years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, not a single high-level official has been held accountable for the numerous war crimes perpetrated throughout the war. Yet, a Tuesday announcement that the International Criminal Court is re-opening a "preliminary" investigation into charges that British troops systemically perpetrated atrocities in Iraq raised the faint possibility that this could change.

"It is good news is that the ICC is finally going to look at the extraordinary and serious war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Iraq War and the lead-up to it," said Phyllis Bennis, senior fellow at Institute for Policy Studies, in an interview with Common Dreams. "The bad news is that this is very late and the U.S. is not in the docket."

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda came to the decision after being presented with new evidence alleging the "responsibility of officials of the United Kingdom for war crimes involving systematic detainee abuse in Iraq from 2003 until 2008," according to an ICC statement.

Have you ever given food to a homeless person? Well, if you do it again in the future it might be a criminal act depending on where you live. Right now, there are dozens of major U.S. cities that have already passed laws against feeding the homeless.

As you will read about below, in some areas of the country you can actually be fined hundreds of dollars for just trying to give food to a hungry person.

I know that sounds absolutely insane, but this is what America is turning into.

Communities all over the country are attempting to "clean up the streets" by making it virtually illegal to either be homeless or to help those that are homeless.

Instead of spending more money on programs to assist the homeless, local governments are bulldozing tent cities and giving homeless people one way bus tickets out of town.

We are treating some of the most vulnerable members of our society like human garbage, and it is a national disgrace. What does it say about our country when we can't even give a warm sandwich to a desperately hungry person that is sleeping on the streets?

A retired couple down in Florida named Debbie and Chico Jimenez wanted to do something positive for their community during their retirement years, so they started feeding the homeless in Daytona Beach.

A 17-year-old Richmond girl says she was kicked out of her prom because the father chaperones at the event said her dress was "too provocative," and that she was creating "impure thoughts" among the dads.

In the blog post on HannahEttinger.com, the young woman identified as Clare writes of her experiences at the Richmond Homeschool Prom that she attempted to attend with her boyfriend.

Almost immediately upon entering the event, she was told by one of the women organizing the event, identified as Mrs. D, that her "dress is too short," and "too provocative."

According to the author of the blog post, "F*** The Patriarchy," the only guideline for the prom was that dresses were "fingertip length," which was made problematic by the 17-year-old's 5-foot-9-inch height and long legs. After recognizing that the dress was the appropriate "fingertip length," Mrs. D just told her to be "careful" and to "make sure it stays pulled down."

As she is allowed to enter the event ballroom, the writer notes that she was "a little grossed out by all the dads on the balcony above the dance floor, ogling and talking amongst themselves."