Within days of Hurricane Katrina's landfall in August 2005, frantic officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency ordered nearly $2.7 billion worth of trailers and mobile homes to house the storm's victims, many of them using a single page of specifications.
Just 25 lines spelled out FEMA's requirements, with little mention of the safety of those to be housed. Manufacturers produced trailers with unusual speed. Within months, some residents began complaining about unusual s... (more)
(RINF News) - A poll conducted by the World Public Opinion (WPO) has found that over 60% of the population of Great Britain and the United States do not trust their governments. The poll showed that 67% of Brits have low levels of trust in the Labour Government while 60% of Americans feel the same way about the Bush Administration.
Overall dissatisfaction of government responsiveness was much higher with 77% of Brits and an even higher percentage, 83% of Americans.
People in crowds behave just like sheep, scientists claim, by blindly following one or two people who seem to know where they are going.
Researchers at Leeds University believe their findings could have important applications, notably in the management of disasters.
The team, led by Prof Jens Krause, conducted a series of experiments in which volunteers were told to walk randomly around a large hall without talking to each other. A select few were then given more d... (more)
Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, a psychiatric outpatient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center who was waiting for the Army to decide whether to court-martial her for endangering another soldier and turning a gun on herself last year in Iraq, attempted to kill herself Monday evening. In so doing, the 25-year-old Army reservist joined a record number of soldiers who have committed or tried to commit suicide after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"I'm very disappointed with the Army," Whitesid... (more)
Jérôme Kerviel claims to have got his first taste of unauthorised trading after making a €500,000 profit as a result of the London bombings 2½ years ago.
Mr Kerviel told investigators that he had placed a bet that the share price of the German insurer Allianz would fall. It paid off in July 2005 when the Tube attacks, which killed 52 people and injured more than 700, triggered a sharp fall in share prices across Europe.
MONTPELIER — A controversial plant moved through the Statehouse without much controversy Wednesday.
Lawmakers in the House Agriculture Committee unanimously approved a bill that would allow Vermont farmers to grow hemp, a benign cousin of marijuana that boasts a variety of industrial applications.
A federal statute criminalizing the plant supercedes Vermont's legislation, so Green Mountain hemp won't go to sprout anytime soon. But advocates of the hemp bill sa... (more)
The Sunday Times has obtained a document that confirms that a file, which the FBI denied existed, could contain information about American officials stealing nuclear secrets for Turkish and Israeli spies, who would then sell the secrets to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, 37, approached the Times about "explosive" communications she discovered between high-up American officials and Turkish and Israeli spies. A FOIA request to ... (more)
As President Bush began his last big tour of the Middle East - and threatens US sanctions on Iran - George Galloway and David Frum debate the iss... (more)
ISLAMABAD, December 28 (RIA Novosti) - Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the murder of Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in a bomb explosion on Thursday, local television channels said on Friday.
Bhutto died during surgery from injuries sustained in a suicide bomb attack, which occurred when shots were fired by an assassin, who then blew himself up as Bhutto left an election rally in Rawalpindi, near Pakistan's capital city of Isla... (more)
ROME: In an "unforeseen and unprecedented" shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels, the top food and agriculture official of the United Nations warned Monday.
The changes created "a very serious risk that fewer people will be able to get food," particularly in the developing world, said Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
The agency's food price index rose by more than 40 percent t... (more)
Alan Watt: "Food as a Weapon and the GMO Weaponization of Food - Mid-East Meddling by Masters of Money" - Hour 1 - Hour 2
Close family members of U.S. troops are split on whether the Iraq invasion was a mistake, and 55% disapprove of President Bush's job performance, according to USA TODAY/Gallup Polls focusing on immediate relatives of servicemembers.
"They've maxed out on the troops. You've got guys who are over there on their fourth or fifth tours. It's ridiculous," says Jeanette Knowles, 40, of Mountain Home, Idaho, whose brother, Jeff, served a tour in Iraq with the Oregon National Guard.
... (more)
Convicted of killing his wealthy parents after confessing 19 years ago, Martin Tankleff moved closer to freedom Friday when an appeals court said there's enough new evidence to convince a jury he's innocent.
A four-judge appellate panel unanimously overturned his conviction and said it's "probable" a second jury would acquit him because cops tricked him into confessing and his lawyers have uncovered new evidence.
"It appears the [Suffolk] County Court never consider... (more)
