Americans have been lulled into a false sense of security that they are prepared for a devastating earthquake, according to a report issued Wednesday by the National Research Council.
Among other recommendations, the report's 20-year "road map" for preparedness -- which was in the works long before a magnitude 9 quake hit Japan on March 11 -- calls on the U.S. to beef up earthquake research and improve forecasts and warning systems.
Nation's quake-warning systems need work, scientists say
UN staff killed during protest against US church Koran burning
At least eight foreign UN workers and four others have been killed in an attack on a UN compound in the Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, officials say. The violence happened during a protest over the burning of the Koran in a US church last month.
Witnesses said hundreds of people were protesting peacefully in the city when the scene suddenly turned violent. A local police spokesman told the BBC the city was now under control and a number of people had been arrested.
Army group says there ARE atheists in foxholes
The cliche notwithstanding, there are atheists in foxholes.
In fact, atheists, agnostics, humanists and other assorted skeptics from the Army's Fort Bragg have formed an organization they hope will be a pioneering effort to ensure fair treatment and win recognition for nonbelievers in the overwhelmingly Christian U.S. military.
"We exist, we're here, we're normal," said Sgt. Justin Griffith, chief organizer of Military Atheists and Secular Humanists, or MASH. "We're also in foxholes. That's a big one, right there."
CEO pay soars while workers' pay stalls
The heads of the nation’s top companies got the biggest raises in recent memory last year after taking a hiatus during the recession.
At a time most employees can barely remember their last substantial raise, median CEO pay jumped 27% in 2010 as the executives’ compensation started working its way back to prerecession levels, a USA TODAY analysis of data from GovernanceMetrics International found. Workers in private industry, meanwhile, saw their compensation grow just 2.1% in the 12 months ended December 2010, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Army suicide prevention efforts raising privacy concerns
An Army effort to reduce suicides by sharing more of soldiers' personal therapy information with squad, platoon or company leaders — even in cases where there is no threat of self-harm — is pushing the limit of privacy laws, say civilian experts on medical records restrictions.
Soldiers may be discouraged from seeking care if they fear their privacy will be violated, says Mark Botts, an associate professor of public law at the University of North Carolina who specializes in the privacy of behavioral health records.
WTO: US subsidies to Boeing illegal
US aircraft manufacturer Boeing received at least $5.3bn (£3.3bn) in unfair aid from Washington, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has concluded.
The subsidies included money for research and development from the Nasa space agency, a panel of international trade judges has ruled. Last year the WTO said that Boeing's arch rival Airbus had received illegal aid from European governments.
Air pollution is another potentially deadly threat for U.S. soldiers in Iraq
As if U.S. troops serving in Iraq didn’t face enough risk to life and limb already, these servicemen and women are putting their long-term health at risk because the air in Iraq is so polluted.
A study begun in 2008 is finding that much of the air pollution in Iraq is of the most insidious sort – the very small dust particles that can make their way deep into the lungs and stay there. The study’s preliminary findings were presented late Wednesday at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim.
WikiLeaks cable casts doubt on Guantanamo medical care
The Bush administration was so intent on keeping Guantanamo detainees off U.S. soil and away from U.S. courts that it secretly tried to negotiate deals with Latin American countries to provide "life-saving" medical procedures rather than fly ill terrorist suspects to the U.S. for treatment, a recently released State Department cable shows.
The U.S. offered to transport, guard and pay for medical procedures for any captive the Pentagon couldn't treat at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba, according to the cable, which was made public by the WikiLeaks website. One by one, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Mexico declined.
Gravity satellite yields 'Potato Earth' view
It looks like a giant potato in space. And yet, the information in this model is the sharpest view we have of how gravity varies across the Earth. The globe has been released by the team working on Europe's Goce satellite.
It is a highly exaggerated rendering, but it neatly illustrates how the tug we feel from the mass of rock under our feet is not the same in every location.
Gravity is strongest in yellow areas; it is weakest in blue ones.
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