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Supreme Court will hear gay marriage cases

The court will take up California’s ban on same-sex marriage, and will also decide whether Congress can deprive legally married gay couples of federal benefits.

Veterans who were at Pearl Harbor laid a wreath in front of the USS Cassin Young on Friday. L-R Donald Tabbut, Emery Arsenault, Gerald Halterman, and Francis M Connolly.

Pearl Harbor remembered in Charlestown

The 71st anniversary of the surprise Pearl Harbor attack that killed 2,400 people and crippled the Pacific fleet was commemorated by survivors Friday.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2012/12/07/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/Child%20Care%20Sex%20Abuse.JPEG-086ee--90x90.jpg Past cases against alleged molester were weak, prosecutors say

Prosecutors did not charge John Burbine in 2005 and 2009 in part because the victims and their families were “unwilling or unable” to cooperate.

Egyptian protesters gathered outside the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday.

Egypt delays early voting in disputed draft constitution

The move signals an attempt by President Mohammed Morsi’s government to give room for negotiations with the opposition as it faces mass protests.

NASA satellite provides new views of Earth at night

The photos show the planet as not just a beautiful swirl of clouds, but delicate pinpricks of light that outline human civilization.

NASA has released new photos of the Earth at night, taken by the Suomi NPP satellite earlier this year.

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

NASA has released new photos of the Earth at night, taken by the Suomi NPP satellite earlier this year.

Light from North and South America is shown from  a composite  image assembled from data acquired by the satellite.

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

Light from North and South America is shown from a composite image assembled from data acquired by the satellite.

This image of the US at night was assembled from data acquired in April and October 2012.

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

This image of the US at night was assembled from data acquired in April and October 2012.

Light from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East can be seen in this composite image.

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

Light from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East can be seen in this composite image.

The aurora australis, or

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

The aurora australis, or "southern lights," can be seen over Antarctica’s Queen Maud Land and the Princess Ragnhild Coast.

Using the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), the satellite was able to monitor the Arctic sea ice.

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

Using the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), the satellite was able to monitor the Arctic sea ice.

The satellite captured nighttime images of of wildfires burning in Idaho and Montana on the night of  August 29.

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

The satellite captured nighttime images of of wildfires burning in Idaho and Montana on the night of August 29.

City lights along South America's Atlantic coast were captured in this image from the night of  July 20.

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

City lights along South America's Atlantic coast were captured in this image from the night of July 20.

The satellite captured a nighttime view of low-lying marine layer clouds along the California coast on September 27.

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

The satellite captured a nighttime view of low-lying marine layer clouds along the California coast on September 27.

NASA image acquired September 24, 2012 City lights at night are a fairly reliable indicator of where people live. But this isn’t always the case, and the Korean Peninsula shows why. As of July 2012, South Korea’s population was estimated at roughly 49 million people, and North Korea’s population was estimated at about half that number. But where South Korea is gleaming with city lights, North Korea has hardly any lights at all—just a faint glimmer around Pyongyang. On September 24, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this nighttime view of the Korean Peninsula. This imagery is from the VIIRS “day-night band,” which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as gas flares, auroras, wildfires, city lights, and reflected moonlight. The wide-area image shows the Korean Peninsula, parts of China and Japan, the Yellow Sea, and the Sea of Japan. The white inset box encloses an area showing ship lights in the Yellow Sea. Many of the ships form a line, as if assembling along a watery border. Following the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War, per-capita income in South Korea rose to about 17 times the per-capital income level of North Korea, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Worldwide, South Korea ranks 12th in electricity production, and 10th in electricity consumption, per 2011 estimates. North Korea ranks 71st in electricity production, and 73rd in electricity consumption, per 2009 estimates. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using VIIRS Day-Night Band data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership. Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Defense. Caption by Michon Scott. Instrument: Suomi NPP - VIIRS Credit: <b><a href=

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

An image taken on September 24 shows the vast difference in light emitted from North and South Korea.

Exclusive Sunday Preview | Diversity Boston

Why is TV still so white?

The lack of good roles for people of color proves television has yet to catch up with American demographics, writes the Globe’s Wesley Morris.

Exclusive Sunday Preview | Magazine

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2012/12/07/BostonGlobe.com/Magazine/Images/mag1209%20meier%20A7.jpg The drug lab scandal: Who’s cleaning it up?

Veteran Boston lawyer David Meier was handed the unenviable task of fixing the drug lab debacle, one of the state’s biggest law enforcement scandals ever. Is he up to the job?

Boston Capital

Still battling over a sale gone bad

James and Janet Baker spent nearly two decades building the voice recognition software company Dragon Systems, only to see their fortune disappear in a puff of fraudulent smoke.

Globe Insiders

From the Archives | Photo Gallery

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2012/12/05/BostonGlobe.com/Enterprise/Advance/Images/pearl005--90x90.jpg The attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor left over 2,400 dead, 68 of them civilians, after waves of Japanese carrier-based fighters and bombers turned the naval base in Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor into an inferno.

Business

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The Fenway Center project, which would include 550 residences, retail stores, offices, and parking using some air space over the Massachusetts Turnpike, is in jeopardy because the developer cannot finalize a lease with the state transportation department.

Fenway Center in jeopardy due to impasse with MassDOT

A stalemate between the developer and state officials is stalling what could be the first successful project involving turnpike air rights projects since the 1980s.

Arts

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Classical Notes

Canadian pianist Glenn Gould (in an undated photo) first recorded Bach’s Goldberg Variations in 1955.

How Glenn Gould reinvented Bach

When the recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations was released in 1956, it changed all expectations with which listeners approached Bach’s keyboard music.