For nearly $4.5 million a year, the State Department in June assigned a 16-person security detail to protect six U.S. contractors in Iraq who already had a team of hired guards they didn't really need.
The expensive miscue is one of many described in an audit issued Monday of a $2.5 billion State Department contract with DynCorp International for training Iraq's police force. The department repeatedly failed to oversee the contract properly, according to the audit by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.
Audit hits State Dept. on failures to monitor Iraq work
Over 200 poisoned with 'holy water' from wells
Believers take water from churches on January 19. The Orthodox Church celebrates the baptism of Christ, or Epiphany, when water is believed to become holy and have healing properties. The water sanctified in churches is often stored by believers for long periods.
Many believe any water, even from the taps from the kitchen sink, poured or bottled by Christians on Epiphany becomes holy.
TVNL Comment: How do people believe in this silliness? The water becomes "holy?" Are humans that simple minded as to believe in these fairy tales?
Vatican bank charged with money-laundering
The allegation of the Vatican bank's financial corruption has been made by an Italian magazine that pointed to the financial institute's purported involvement in stealth fiscal transactions —via several accounts —with Italy's UniCredit Bank, Russia Today television network quoted the Panorama magazine as reporting.
“This corruption is continuing on a regular basis in the Vatican,” claimed Janathan Levy, a lawyer familiar with the bank.
The Re-Education of Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski
In my studies over the past 30 years, I have learned much about you and your actions. I also know you and your colleagues are getting desperate.
Witness the events over the past nine years: false-flag 9/11 attacks; illegal passing of The Patriot Act; establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, a modern-day Gestapo; establishment of the Transportation Security Administration; false-flag attack by the Detroit bomber, which led to the great push of installing of full-body scanners in airports and which will be introduced in all transportation hubs and ports, plus major centers of public foot traffic.
The Obama Administration's Cover-up of the Flight 253 Affair
Relevant questions begging for answers include: Who made the decision not to "connect the dots"? Are right-wing elements and holdovers from the previous administration actively conspiring to destabilize the Obama government? Was the attempted bombing a planned provocation meant to incite new conflicts in the Middle East and restrict democratic rights at home?
As with the 9/11 attacks, these questions go unasked by corporate media. Indeed, such lines of inquiry are entirely off the table and are further signs that a cover-up is in full-swing, not a hard-hitting investigation.
U.S. says wind could power 20 percent of eastern grid
Wind energy could generate 20 percent of the electricity needed by households and businesses in the eastern half of the United States by 2024, but it would require up to $90 billion in investment, according to a government report released on Wednesday.
For the 20 percent wind scenario to work, billions must be spent on installing wind towers on land and sea and about 22,000 miles of new high-tech power lines to carry the electricity to cities, according to the study from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
SEC mulled national security status for AIG details
U.S. securities regulators originally treated the New York Federal Reserve's bid to keep secret many of the details of the American International Group bailout like a request to protect matters of national security, according to emails obtained by Reuters.
The request to keep the details secret were made by the New York Federal Reserve -- a regulator that helped orchestrate the bailout -- and by the giant insurer itself, according to the emails.
U.S. 'nuclear renaissance' had roots in Bush-Cheney
The "nuclear renaissance," hailed in many headlines and speeches over the last few years, started under President George W. Bush.From 2002 through 2007, nuclear programs got $6.2 billion for research and development, twice as much as fossil fuel programs received, according to the Government Accountability Office. "Clean coal" may have garnered more headlines under Bush, but R and D money for nuclear programs grew by 59 percent, while money for fossil fuels stayed flat, the GAO reported.
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Premier: Israel to keep parts of West bank forever
Israel's prime minister declared on Sunday that his country would retain parts of the West Bank forever — a statement that infuriated Palestinians and could complicate the year-old peace mission of a visiting U.S. envoy.
"Our message is clear: We are planting here, we will stay here, we will build here, this place will be an inseparable part of the state of Israel for eternity," Netanyahu proclaimed at a tree-planting ceremony celebrating the Jewish arbor day at a settlement just south of Jerusalem.
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