 While the eyes of the world are focused on the international military coalition's continuing struggle with the Taliban, Afghan children are dying because of a little reported drought which has hit huge areas of the country. The U.N. says 1.9 million people are at risk because of the drought and along with the Afghan government has appealed for $76 million for food aid. In one village, Sya Kamarak in western Afghanistan, three children died recently on the same day from malnutrition. The father of one of them, Attalullah, said he was angry that millions of dollars were coming into his country in aid, but he did not have enough to feed his two-year-old daughter Uzra. "We had very little milk or food to give my daughter. She was always hungry and crying," he said, sitting by the small pile of stones that marks the grave of his daughter. "Lots of money is coming into our country but here we do not see any of it." The villagers say 50 children have died so far this year -- ...
http://www.cnn.com
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Editor - 17:58:00 12-25-06
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 Abuse could push Katrina costs to $2 billion GAO says its initial estimate of $1 billion in waste was ‘likely understated’ |
The tally for Hurricane Katrina waste could top $2 billion next year because half of the lucrative government contracts valued at $500,000 or greater for cleanup work are being awarded without little competition. Federal investigators have already determined the Bush administration squandered $1 billion on fraudulent disaster aid to individuals after the 2005 storm. Now they are shifting their attention to the multimillion dollar contracts to politically connected firms that critics have long said are a prime area for abuse. In January, investigators will release the first of several audits examining more than $12 billion in Katrina contracts (PDF). The charges range from political favoritism to limited opportunities for small and minority-owned firms, which initially got only 1.5 percent of the total work. “Based on their track record, it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw another billion more in waste,” ...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15587326/
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Editor - 17:56:00 12-25-06
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| They Won’t Be Home for Christmas |
There are 2,969 Americans who won’t be home for Christmas today. They won’t be home for Christmas next year either. In fact, they won’t ever be home for Christmas again. No, it’s not because they’re homeless or broke. It’s not because they’re an atheist or a humbug. And it’s not because they’re celebrating Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. I’m sure most of them would want to celebrate Christmas with their families, but they can’t. Not this year, next year, or any year in the future. The plain truth is they have an irreversible and unalterable condition that prevents them from ever coming home – for Christmas or otherwise.They’re dead....
http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance100.html
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Editor - 12:49:00 12-25-06
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| Interior, Pentagon Faulted In Audits Effort to Speed Defense Contracts Wasted Millions |
The Defense Department paid two procurement operations at the Department of the Interior to arrange for Pentagon purchases totaling $1.7 billion that resulted in excessive fees and tens of millions of dollars in waste, documents show. Defense turned to Interior, which manages federal lands and resources, in an effort to speed up its contracting. Interior is one of several government agencies allowed to manage contracts for other agencies in exchange for a fee. But the arrangement between Interior and Defense "routinely violated rules designed to protect U.S. Government interests," according to draft audit documents obtained by The Washington Post. More than half of the contracts examined were awarded without competition or without checks to determine that the prices were reasonable, according to the audits by the inspectors general for Defense (DOD) and Interior (DOI). Ninety-two percent of the work reviewed was awarded without verifying that the contractors' cost estimates were ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/24/AR2006122400916.html
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Editor - 11:43:00 12-25-06
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| Subdued Christmas in Bethlehem |
Thousands of people joined by marching bands, clergymen in magenta skullcaps and children dressed as Santa Claus celebrated Christmas Eve in the center of Bethlehem Sunday, doing their best to dispel the gloom hovering over Jesus' traditional birthplace.Most were local residents or Christian Arabs from neighboring Israel with a sprinkling of foreign tourists."It hasn't really set in that I am here in Bethlehem where everything happened so many thousand years ago," said an overwhelmed Matt Lafontaine, a 21-year-old university student from Plymouth, Minnesota. "It's really exciting. It's just starting to set in. It's surreal."In an annual tradition, Bethlehem's residents enacted Christmas rituals that seem out of place in the Middle East. Palestinian scouts marched through the streets, some wearing kilts and pompom-topped berets, playing drums and bagpipes. They passed inflatable red-suited Santas, looking forlorn in the West Bank sunshine....
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/24/bethlehem.christmas.ap/index.html?eref=rss_world
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Editor - 10:10:00 12-25-06
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| Violent Storms Tear Up Fla. Homes; Tallahassee Gets Heaviest Christmas Rain in 100-Plus Years |
Powerful storms damaged at least a dozen homes as heavy rain and strong wind swept across the Southeast on Monday. The worst damage was near Lake City, about 60 miles west of Jacksonville in northern Florida, where Columbia County authorities said two homes were destroyed and at least 10 others were damaged by what may have been a tornado. "It's amazing we don't have serious injuries or deaths," Columbia County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Laurie Windham said. "We are incredibly blessed today." Windham said one person was treated for cuts. The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for the area Monday morning. In Pasco County, along the Gulf coast north of Tampa, a roof was blown off a home and some trees were knocked over, with one briefly blocking a county road intersection in New Port Richey, sheriff's deputy Doug Tobin said. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2750333
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Editor - 10:05:00 12-25-06
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