 Scientists working on an independent study of a floodwall that collapsed during Hurricane Katrina said Monday that a government test 21 years ago predicted the wall could fail. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' built a levee and floodwall system to test a design similar to the 17th Street Canal in 1985, which "indicated that failure was imminent," according to a statement from Raymond B. Seed and Robert G. Bea, in charge of the National Science Foundation's Independent Levee Investigation Team."Not only did they have that in their repertoire of information, they failed to use it, as best we can tell," Seed said in a telephone interview from the University of California, Berkeley.Corps spokesman Wayne Stroupe said his agency knew about the 1985 test, and that he would forward the scientists' statement to a Corps official for a response....
http://www.usatoday.com
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Editor - 20:34:00 03-13-06
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 Nepal roads deserted as rebel blockade begins |
Roads across Nepal were deserted on Tuesday, the first day of an indefinite blockade of Kathmandu and other major towns called by Maoist rebels mounting pressure on King Gyanendra who seized full power last year. The Maoists, fighting to overthrow the Hindu monarchy and set up a single party communist republic, have ordered the closure of all roads to the capital, disrupting the movement of people and goods to the city of more than 1.5 million. "There is a dead silence and the highway, which used to be crowded on other days, is deserted now," said Sagar Gautam, a resident in Aaptari, a key point on the way into Kathmandu, 130 km (80 miles) southwest from the capital. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1721446
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Editor - 20:25:00 03-13-06
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| China's Wen Calls Taiwan Actions `Risky,' `Dangerous' |
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao criticized the Taiwanese government for ``highly risky and dangerous'' actions and threatened to respond to steps toward independence. Taiwanese stocks fell. Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's closing of a forum on unification with the mainland and restrictions on business ties are straining ties, Wen told a press conference at the close of parliament. Wen offered to hold talks only if Chen's government accepts that Taiwan is a part of China. China is ``monitoring the developments'' and ``making preparations for any eventualities,'' Wen said today. The Taiwanese government ``keeps making trouble, creating tension within the island and across the strait.'' ...
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=anCGCfKNggT0&refer=home
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Editor - 20:20:00 03-13-06
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| Students invade Paris school, clash with police in new protests against job plan |
Scores of students stormed one of Paris' most elite schools Monday, hurling stones and cinder blocks at riot police in the latest protest against a government plan to reduce France's sky-high unemployment rate among young adults. About 200 high school and university students swarmed into the College de France to demand that Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin withdraw a measure that makes it easier for companies to fire workers under 26 during the first two years of employment. Many students holed up inside, and others came back outside to face down officers on the street. Police used tear gas to try to disperse the chanting crowd. The law, which takes effect next month, offers a measure of flexibility the government hopes will spur employers to hire young people, knowing they will be able to get rid of them if they have to. But critics say it would offer younger workers less job security than older colleagues and undermine France's generous labor protections. ...
http://images.usatoday.com/news/_photos/2006/03/13/paris-protests-in.jpg
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Editor - 20:18:00 03-13-06
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| STUDIES OF THE IRAQ DISASTER When Democracy Looks Like Civil War |
Recent studies offer a damning assesment of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq. Thanks to US political & military failures, the country could soon become failed state. Experts warn that it's time to implement an emergency plan before civil war breaks out. The verdicts reached by the experts are harsh: "The political system that the United States has helped set up in Iraq ... is a house of cards," writes failed-states expert Marina Ottaway in her recent study "Back from the Brink: A Strategy for Iraq." "Time is running out," warns Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution in a February Atlantic Monthly article. "A 6 to 12 month window of opportunity may be all that remains before the spiral toward possible chaos and civil war is beyond control." And that's unfortunately just the tip of the iceberg. Well-respected think tanks, big-name military experts and Middle East specialists are currently producing a flood of reports painting a frighteningly pessimistic picture of Iraq ...
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,405306,00.html
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Editor - 17:23:00 03-13-06
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| Israel starts work on settlement expansion: source |
Israel has begun construction to link a West Bank settlement to Jerusalem, sources in the prime minister's office said on Monday, in a move a Palestinian official said could torpedo future peace talks. Israeli bulldozers have already broken ground to build a police station near Maale Adumim, the biggest West Bank settlement, as part of a project to build at least 1,000 homes on land that would link the enclave to Jerusalem, they said. The United States, which wants Israel to halt Jewish settlement expansion, has officially opposed the plan, which would cut the West Bank off from Arab East Jerusalem. Israeli officials had said in September that the project was on hold. The sources said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told U.S. officials before his stroke in January that his "E1" plan was in its advanced stages. Washington approved construction of the station, but not of the neighborhood, the sources added. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1720166
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Editor - 16:45:00 03-13-06
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