Axis of evil country, Iran, offers helpIran said on Sunday that it was ready to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the United States through the Red Crescent.
"We are ready to help through the Red Crescent whenever we receive an official request (from the United States)," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi told reporters in Tehran.
Assefi said Iran deeply regretted the death of many Americans and the material damages inflicted on the residents as a result of the hurricane.
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China says military powers are not directed at JapanThe swaggering economic and military giant that is China, celebrated the 60th anniversary of Japan's World War Two defeat this weekend, while denying that it had any expansionist military ambitions today.
Beijing's military is expanding at break-neck speed and official comments about China's neighbours are increasingly laced with xenophobic threats. But China's president Hu Jintao used the occasion to emphasise that China's economic and military power was not directed against its ... (more)
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Paypal freezes Something Awful's relief fundPAYPAL HAS frozen a relief effort set up by popular web site Something Awful.
This brilliant wheeze will delay payments to poor people from hurricane Katrina. The good folks at Something Awful, themselves victims of the hurricane, decided to put their mouths where the money is and set up an account to take donations for the Red Cross.
Something Awful has a history of helping out, and has raised tens of thousands of dollar... (more)
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Indonesia jet crashes on take-offAn Indonesian passenger jet has crashed after take-off from the Sumatran city of Medan, killing most of the 117 on board and about 30 more on the ground.
The Boeing 737-200, run by low-cost airline Mandala, crashed onto a busy road in the Padang Bulan residential area near the city's airport.
Fire engulfed the wreckage and local TV showed images of dozens of homes and cars destroyed by the impact.
Airline and rescue officials said that up to 16 of tho... (more)
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Nation fond of smoking has 2nd thoughtsYvo de Boer walked out of a discussion on protecting the environment and immediately reveled in polluting the one around him. He lighted a cigarette.
"This is a very civilized country," the Dutch official said, puffing away in the middle of a busy hallway at Argentina's main convention center. "You can still smoke here."
Yes, you can. You can smoke just about anywhere, from the pavilions of La Rural conference center to the back seats of taxis to the best tables at ... (more)
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Despite Warnings, Washington Failed to Fund Levee ProjectsFor years, Washington had been warned that doom lurked just beyond the levees. And for years, the White House and Congress had dickered over how much money to put into shoring up century-old dikes and carrying out newer flood control projects to protect the city of New Orleans.
As recently as three months ago, the alarms were sounding — and being brushed aside.
In late May, the New Orleans district of the Army Corps of Engineers formally notified Washington th... (more)
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Cambridge firm readies push on alcoholism drugIn the high-stakes world of biotechnology, a Cambridge company's experimental injection to treat alcoholics should have all the makings of a big winner.
But first the company, Alkermes, will have to convince doctors across the country that alcoholics should be put on a drug in the first place.
The drug, called Vivitrex, has a distinct advantage over alcoholism pills now on the market: A single shot delivered by a needle slowly releases itself into the bloodstream ov... (more)
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Guilty burglars detected by glowA sprinkler system which showers burglars with an invisible liquid is being used to cut crime in Newcastle.
SmartWater, which shows up under ultra-violet light, contains a unique DNA-style code.
When a break-in happens the thief is sprayed with the liquid, which cannot be washed off and lasts for months.
Custody offices are now fitted with ultra-violet arches which every prisoner will pass through to show if they have been sprayed.
Thos... (more)
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New Orleans: Police kill army contractorsPolice shot eight people carrying guns on a New Orleans bridge on Sunday, killing five or six, a deputy chief said.
A spokesperson for the army corps of engineers said the victims were contractors on their way to repair a canal.
The contractors were walking across a bridge on their way to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain to fix the 17th Street Canal, said John Hall, a spokesperson for the corps.
Earlier on Sunday, New Orleans deputy police chief ... (more)
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Venezuela donates 1 million barrels of oil to the United States of AmericaSpeaking on his Sunday radio show, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias has announced that Venezuela will send 1 million barrels of oil to the USA to attend the emergency caused by Hurricane Katrina.
The donation came after a telephone conversation with Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) US subsidiary, Citgo, president Felix Rodriguez.
According to Rodriguez, Citgo has escaped Katrina's ravages and is at the peak of its productive capacity.
Citgo's r... (more)
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Web military technology aiding in storm recoveryAerial drones, sonic 'lasers' join bloggers in relief effort.
Amidst scenes of chaos in New Orleans and devastation across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, an army of Internet bloggers – as well as some of the most sophisticated military equipment used in the Iraq war – have been marshaled to aid the recovery effort.
With cell phone towers damaged and most land line telephones out of commission, local websites, run by individuals or businesses that st... (more)
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Doctors Taser stopped teen's heartA 14-year-old shocked by a Chicago Police stun gun has become the first Taser-linked cardiac arrest to be documented in a medical journal, two doctors from Children's Memorial Hospital say.
The doctors, in a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week, say the electricity delivered from the Taser stun gun led the boy to suffer "ventricular fibrillation,'' in which the heart stops beating.
In the boy's case, paramedics already on the scene immed... (more)
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Scandal of the children locked up in 'adult' jailsHardline measures to curb anti-social behaviour are to blame for an unprecedented rise in the number of children, especially young girls, being sent to jail. A memo written by the Government's youth justice chief and leaked to The Independent on Sunday reveals that the number of teenagers in custody has soared over the past three months, with figures now at a three-year high - with a serious risk of suicide and self-harm.
In a personal warning to the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke... (more)
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FEMA Outsourced N.O. Disaster Plans To Political Cronies/DonorsFEMA privatized hurricane disaster recovery planning for New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana. The firms that received the contract are big GOP contributors. Adding to the controversy regarding the Army Corps of Engineers diverting $250 million from the SELA (Southeast Louisiana) Urban Flood Control Program to Iraq and Halliburton reconstruction projects, is the revelation that FEMA outsourced hurricane recovery planning to the Baton Rouge-based consulting firm Innovative Emergency Management ... (more)
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New Orleans mayor fears CIA to take him outNew Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said he's feeling better about his city, he feels confident he has gotten the attention of Gov. Kathleen Blanco and President Bush, but he said he fears the Central Intelligence Agency may take him out because he's been yelling at these officials.
He didn't say it once. He said it twice.
Last night he told a reporter for the Associated Press: "If the CIA slips me something and next week you don't see me, you'll all know what happened."... (more)
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Why did help take so long to arrive?'It is incredible, the government had no evacuation plan ... the first power in the world and it left its own population adrift." It will be particularly galling that the man voicing those thoughts, echoed yesterday by many across the United States and around the world, was Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezuela, and one of the Bush administration's main hate figures.
That bewilderment, tinged with anger towards officials at local and national level, was shared at the scen... (more)
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London bombers 'recorded video in Pakistan' with help of al-QaedaThe chilling video message of Mohammad Sidique Khan, the British suicide bomber, was recorded in Pakistan after he was given orders to attack London, MI5 investigators suspect.
According to senior Whitehall officials, the Security Service is probing the theory that Khan, 30, was filmed during a three-month visit to Pakistan with fellow bomber Shehzad Tanweer, which began in November last year.
British investigators are working with security services in Pakistan to t... (more)
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Babes in Warland The toddlers were at the pizza parlor to celebrate Kristina's 3rd birthday. A dozen youngsters jumped and clapped their hands as a giant rat, Chuck E. Cheese, came out to greet them. The Iraq War was far from my mind.
If you have never been to Chuck E. Cheese, it is a mix of carnival and play park, with so-so pizza, lots of video games, coin operated kiddie rides, and arcade games like ski ball. The place is designed for 2- to 10-year-olds, with occasional adults playing the g... (more)
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Bush sends marines as flood fury growsPresident George Bush ordered an extra 17,000 troops - including 7,000 elite airborne troops and marines - into New Orleans and the devastated Gulf Coast yesterday to try to bolster the stumbling flood relief effort and salvage the reputation of his presidency.
The order was announced after it became clear that National Guard troops sent into the city on Friday were no match for the scale of the disaster unleashed by Hurricane Katrina and the consequent collapse of the levees arou... (more)
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An Angry 'Times-Picayune' Calls for Firing of FEMA Chief and Others in Open Letter to President On Sunday he Times-Picayune of New Orleans on Sunday published its third print edition since the hurricane disaster struck, chronicling the arrival, finally, of some relief but also taking President Bush to task for his handling of the crisis, and calling for the firing of FEMA director Michael Brown and others.
In an "open letter" to the president, published on page 15 of the 16-page edition, the paper said it still had grounds for "skepticism" that he would follow through on saving the ci... (more)
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Search for ideal adhesive leads to fake gecko feet: Team reports the synthetic hairs have 200 times the sticking power made by natureThe scientific quest to make artificial gecko feet has taken a leap forward.
Geckos, lizards that are notorious for their sticky feet, can run up walls and across ceilings, and hang tauntingly by one toe. They have no suction cups, hooks or glue on their feet, so how do they do it?
Five years ago, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University and Lewis & Clark College found the secret: About 500,000 minute hairs cover the sole of each ... (more)
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NH to monitor highways with camerasThe state plans to use surveillance cameras to keep watch over New Hampshire's busiest roadways.
The idea is to start with the interstates, then add cameras to other commuter routes. The images will be monitored by state transportation and law enforcement officials, and available on-line — most of the time — to the rest of us.
State officials say the camera surveillance will make New Hampshire roads safer, by helping them manage traffic during emergencie... (more)
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