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Death of candidate will delay final results for German federal election by weeks The 43-year old Kerstin Lorenz, of the far right NPD, suffered a stroke during a campaign appearance. An election official said it would be impossible to achieve all changes required before election day. How the Army Corps of Engineers closed one New Orleans breach After Category 4 storm Hurricane Katrina brushed New Orleans, several flood control constructions failed. The Corps worked on the 17th Street Canal breach, water flow was stopped September 2, and the breach was closed on September 5th.

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UN inquiry finds mismanagement and failure of oversight Independent Inquiry Committee findings: the United Nations requires stronger executive leadership, thorough administrative reform, and more reliable controls and auditing.

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Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown is removed from directing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in New Orleans by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. He has been replaced by Vice Admiral Thad W. Allen, chief of staff of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Wikipedia Current Events
During a military exercise, a Belgian Air Force F-16 fighter jet crashes in the Wadden Sea (Waddenzee), near the Dutch island of of Vlieland. The pilot, who was unable to eject, did not survive the accident. A grand jury in the United States has indicted Richard Hatch, winner of Survivor: Pulau Tiga, for income tax evasion and fraud for allegedly failing to pay taxes on his winning and misusing charity funds. An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale has been detected off the eastern coast of Papua New Guinea, though no damage has been recorded.

Israel completing Gaza withdrawal

Map of Gaza Strip

Israel destroyed their last remaining military facilities in the Gaza Strip today, leaving behind as few remnants of the occupation as possible. Soldiers placed explosives in the buildings, and watched as they were destroyed, sources say.

Shaul Mofaz, Israel's Defense Minister, expects the final pullout from Gaza to be completed by Monday or Tuesday. The remaining military troops in Gaza remain in military vehicles while waiting for the pullout.

It is being currently debated in the Israeli cabinet as to whether the synagogues will be demolished. The decision is expected to come on Sunday. According to Mofaz, "it is very hard for me to give the army orders to destroy and blow up Jewish synagogues."

If the synagogues are to be destroyed, the pullout will be delayed a day, and the pullout will be completed on Tuesday. The last soldier to leave Gaza will be General Aviv Kochavi, who will lock the Kissufim gate in a symbolic event.

Ford, Fiat to produce small cars together

Ford Ka

Italian-based Fiat Auto SPA and US-based Ford Motor Co. announced they signed an agreement to cooperate in designing two small car models. This came only seven months after General Motors severed their relationship with Fiat.

Both companies plan to work together on a new version of the popular Fiat Cinquecento and on a replacement for the Ford Ka, both to be based on the Fiat Panda platform.

Fiat Cinquecento

The cooperation can help reduce the companies' small car production costs and ease financial difficulties they are facing. Ford is struggling with high labor and health care costs, while Fiat suffers from its unprofitable Italian plants.

After the deal was announced, shares of Fiat rose $0.06 to $9.44, while Ford gained $0.06 to $9.95 on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Report: Annan Fails to Fix Oil for Food Program

In a year-long investigation, a committee has found that Kofi Annan, head of the U.N., has failed to halt corruption of the Oil for Food program, which was supposed to provide food to impoverished Iraqi citizens.

According to Paul Volcker, head of the Independent Inquiry Committee, "Our assignment has been to look for mis-or mal-administration in the oil-for-food program and for evidence of corruption within the UN organization and by contractors. Unhappily, we found both."

The report emphasized that Annan knowingly allowed Hussein to continue making huge unethical profits off of the program.

While Annan acknowledged that there was blame to pass around, he stated that "None of us -- member states, Secretariat, agencies, funds and programs -- can be proud of what it has found." Annan also says that he was at least partly at fault for the corruption; "The report is critical of me personally, and I accept its criticism."

On a lighter note, while the report is critical of Annan, it also says that the Oil for Food program did help get food to many Iraqis.

Sydney train doors stuck, passengers delayed

This article contains first-hand journalism by a Wikinews reporter.

There were angry scenes, today, at Harris Park train station in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia, when the 9:12am train to the city stopped at the platform but didn't open its doors. The train stood at the station for about sixty seconds before moving off, leaving about seventy potential passengers standing on the platform.

CityRail logo

"The guard looked at me and laughed," said one commuter. Some passengers became very angry, yelling at the station attendant and cursing CityRail. "The rail system is a bloody joke!" another commuter yelled.

The station attendant arranged for one of the Western Line express services to stop at Harris Park, which satisfied commuters who, by this time, had started to demand their money back. However, some Harris Park passengers may have been inconvenienced because the train they were forced to catch did not stop at all stations. The next all-stations train was scheduled to arrive half an hour later.

Many commuters have expressed their dissatisfaction at the state of the rail network for some time, with many writing to major Sydney newspapers. As a result, timetable changes have been implemented by CityRail and the New South Wales state government, justifying the changes as being necessary to improve safety and reliability. The new CityRail timetable, which commenced on September 1, resulted in a decreased service from Harris Park. There are now only two city trains departing between 8am and 9am, down from the previous four - the next train from that station to arrive after 9:12am is at 9:42am.

CityRail has been contacted regarding the incident at Harris Park station, and they said that they will investigate and provide an explanation sometime today.

Firefox 1.5 beta released to public

The "Deer Park" version of the Mozilla Foundation's web browser Firefox, edition 1.5 beta, is now available for download.

Mozilla Firefox logo

New or improved features include:

quicker navigation

drag-and-drop reordering of browser tabs

new design for the options menu

support for Web Standards like SVG, CSS 2, CSS 3, JavaScript 1.6

RSS discovery

changes to descriptive error pages

Users can feel even more secure with Firefox, as the program will come with a Safe Mode version. Remaining security issues presented in previous editions of the program have been properly solved. Personal privacy is even greater, with the "Clear Private Data" feature. Improvements in the browser's pop-up blocker has greater control over the intrusive advertising.

Updating the free browser will be easier than ever in the future, as users can choose to allow the program's "Automated update" feature to take affect. Those who still want control over Firefox's improvements to the program can still download manually; notification of such updates are now more prominent, and updates are considerably smaller.

Most Mac OS X (10.2+) users will now be able to allow for profile migration from Apple's own browser, Safari, and market leader Internet Explorer.

There will be a second beta edition released, before Mozilla releases an actual stable public version.

Chris Beard, head of products and marketing at Mozilla, told TechWorld "We've had a pretty successful year following the launch of Firefox 1.0 and we're continuing to see very strong demand."

Malawi food appeal unanswered by world community

Location of Malawi

The United Nations have called upon member states to donate US$88m to fight hunger in Malawi. So far, not a single country responded.

U.N Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland launched an appeal ten days ago and especially called upon nations in the Persian Gulf, who are benefiting from the current high oil prices, to donate. "There are many countries in the Gulf and elsewhere who have received an enormous windfall from these oil prices. We can save a life for a $1 a day", Egeland said.

Malawi is one the poorest countries in the world. The majority of the population live on less than one US dollar a day. Four million people out of a population of ten million face hunger every single day.

The domestic production of maize has plunged to 1.3 million tons, only half of what is needed to feed the population. The prices on the other hand have increased by 50%, making it even harder for the affected people.

Oxfam estimates that in the entire southern Africa region, about 10 million people would face serious food shortages later this year if the developed countries don't act quickly. HIV/AIDS is also a major problem for southern Africa with the infection rate being as high as 40% of the adult population.

FEMA head Michael Brown recalled to Washington

Michael Brown

US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director Michael Brown has been recalled to Washington after criticism of his role in managing the Hurricane Katrina crisis. US Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad W. Allen replaces him as the direct head of operations.

Questions are being raised over Brown's background and his claims of previous experience in disaster management. US Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff is to hold a press conference in Baton Rouge at 13:45 EDT, where it is expected that an announcement will be made over Brown's future role.

US ABC network to offer more shows dubbed in Spanish

Due to a growing US Hispanic population, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) announced that all prime time shows in their upcoming lineup will be closed captioned in both English and Spanish. In addition, four of the shows, as well as many theatrically-released films and other specials, will be dubbed in Spanish.

The move was a major one for ABC. Previously, only the Hispanic comedy The George Lopez Show was captioned and dubbed in Spanish. "We wanted to move beyond toe-dipping and really dive in," said Stephen McPherson, ABC entertainment chief. "Almost half of the 41 million Hispanics in this country watch only or mostly Spanish-language television, and we want to bring that audience to ABC."

The SAP function allows an optional second audio transmission, which may be used for transmitting programs in Spanish. However, the additional costs of hiring voice actors to provide Spanish dialogue, as well as production costs, have been prohibitive for most networks. McPherson said that while it was "not inexpensive", having Spanish-speaking viewership could yield a significant benefit.

George Lopez will continue to air, dubbed in Spanish. In addition, two of the network's most popular shows, Desperate Housewives and Lost, as well as the new comedy Freddie, will be dubbed; Spanish voice actors are currently being cast for the roles.

How the Army Corps of Engineers closed one New Orleans breach

This article contains first-hand journalism by a Wikinews reporter.

US Army Corps of Engineers seal

New Orleans, Louisiana – After Category 4 storm Hurricane Katrina brushed New Orleans, on the night before August 29, 2005, several flood control constructions failed. Much of the city flooded through the openings. One of these was the flood wall forming one side of the 17th Street Canal, near Lake Pontchartrain. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the primary agency for engineering support during such emergencies. A USACE team was assessing the situation in New Orleans on the 29th, and the breach was closed on September 5th.

Background

The breaches that occurred on the levees surrounding New Orleans were located on the 17th Street Canal Levee and London Avenue Canal Levee. The floodwall atop the canal levee was one foot wide at the top and widened to two feet at the base. The visible portion is a concrete cap on steel sheet pile that anchors to the wall. Sheet piles are interlocked steel columns, in this case at least 30 feet long, with 6 to 10 feet visible above ground.

Another breach was on a levee by Industrial Canal, which flooded the east side of the city during the storm.

The 17th Street Canal Levees and London Avenue Canal Levees were completed segments of the Lake Ponchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project. Although other portions of the Lake Ponchartrain project are pending, these two segments were complete, and no modifications or improvements to these segments were pending, proposed, or remained unfunded.

The Corps was authorized by Congress to do a reconnaissance study back in 1999 to provide Category 4 or 5 protection. Money was received in 2000 and the reconnaissance study was completed in 2002, which indicated there was a federal interest in proceeding with the feasibility study. Preparation for that study is still underway, and involves issues such as environmental impacts, economics, and the engineering design of the project itself. The feasibility study was scheduled to begin in fiscal year 2006. It may take six years to complete, and there was nothing that could have been done to get this level of protection in place before this storm hit.

Within the city there are 13 subbasins, some of which became flooded. There are existing pumping stations to remove water from the basins. Usually there is much less water to remove, and the level became too high for some pumping stations to continue operation.

August 27: Before the storm

One of the services of the USACE is planning, designing, building and operating dams and other civil engineering projects. It has been deeply involved in creating the navigation waterways and flood control constructions around New Orleans, although construction and operation involves various levels of state and local involvement. The Corps is well suited toward emergency activities due to its combination of engineering expertise and being a component of the nation's military forces. Assigned by the Department of Defense as the primary agency for Public Works and Engineering support, USACE supports FEMA during disasters.

On Saturday, August 27, while Katrina was a Category 3 storm gathering strength in the Gulf of Mexico, USACE's Mississippi Valley Division was preparing and posturing elements from as far as Hawaii. Anticipating the possibility of a Category 5 storm placing water in New Orleans, preparations began for un-watering operations.

August 29: Day of the storm

Strength of Katrina's winds. (NOAA)

Strength of Katrina's winds. (NOAA)

August 29 6:10AM CDT - Katrina makes second landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana as a Category 4 Hurricane. A change in course made the center of the storm pass slightly east of New Orleans.

USACE District Engineer, Col. Richard Wagenaar, and a team worked out of an emergency operations shelter in New Orleans. Other teams waited in the storm's path across the Gulf coast. Corps employees assessed the situation at the 17th Street Canal floodwall that was breached overnight. Corps engineers believed that water over-topped the floodwall, scoured behind the wall, and caused it to collapse. A second breach was known to have occurred on the Industrial Canal during the storm.

Population affected in all states: 637,994. (FEMA)

Population affected in all states: 637,994. (FEMA)

The Corps worked with the U.S. Coast Guard, Army National Guard and other state and federal authorities to bring in all assets available to expedite the process. "We're attempting to contract for materials, such as rock, super sand bags, cranes, etc., and also for modes of transportation ­ like barges and helicopters, to close the gap and stop the flow of water from Lake Pontchartrain into the city," said Walter Baumy, Engineering Division chief and project manager for closing the breach.

Planning for repairs involved the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, the East Jefferson Levee District and Orleans Levee District, to locate materials and access to the breach area.

The New Orleans District's 350 miles of hurricane levee had been built to withstand a fast-moving Category 3 storm. The fact that Katrina, a category 4-plus hurricane, didn't cause more damage is considered a testament to the structural integrity of the hurricane levee protection system.

August 30: Flood

Breach in 17th Street Canal flood wall in New Orleans, Louisiana, August 31, 2005. (NOAA)

Wind and other storm damage had already stopped the city. Many power lines were down and the remains of trees and buildings blocked streets.

At 2 or 3 AM, Corps officials got a telephone report of a suspected 17th Street Canal breach.

Flooding had begun slowly, but the second disaster appeared as water poured in even as the winds abated. Storm surge and rainfall had raised the level of Lake Pontchartrain, providing an enormous amount of water which poured into the city. By the end of the day much of the city was under as much as 20 feet of water.

As USACE workers working with FEMA begin work on city cleanup and civil engineering tasks, several boats survey the flooded and blocked waterways around the city. Corps of Engineers motor vessels are delivering barges with cranes and excavating equipment and critical recovery materials.

Plans were made to begin levee work, including use of 3,000-pound sand bags on the 17 Street Canal. Army National Guard helicopters are expected to begin assisting in the operation August 31.

Lake Pontchartrain is slowly draining and it is forecast the lake should return to normal level in about 36 hours.

August 31: Recovery begins

The Corps delivered two 5,000 cubic feet per second pumps to the Louisiana Superdome, and deployed 15 boats to assist in search and rescue.

The breach at the 17th Street Canal Levee, a levee-flood wall combination, is about 300 feet long. It's believed that the force of the water over topped the flood wall and scoured the structure from behind and then moved the levee wall horizontally about 20 feet, opening both ends to flow.

State Transportation workers began building a road toward the breach with available equipment.

The Corps released two contracts to close the breach in the 17th Street Canal. The 3,000 pound sandbag operation at the 17th Street Canal was postponed early in the day when U.S. Army Chinook helicopters were diverted for rescue missions. The Corps continued to coordinate with Army officials to have helicopters assist in placement of sandbags at the breaches. The 3,000 pound sandbags are each about 3 feet square.

Water began flowing slowly out of New Orleans as Lake Pontchartrain returned almost back to normal levels.

Corps officials worked with Orleans Parish and Louisiana Department of Transportation officials and Boh Brothers Construction Company, headquartered in New Orleans, to place piling at the lakefront to stop flow in the 17th Street Canal. This would stabilize the water flow and allow work on the levee, while also helping to stabilize the rest of the levee system.

Along with local and state officials, the Corps contracted to build access roads to the breach sites and to fill in the breaches. Rock/stone/crushed concrete would be hauled by truck for road construction and to repair the breaches. One plan called for building an access road from Hammond Highway to the 17th Street breach, and then southward to the end of the breach. The road would have to be built to safely permit backing and dumping of heavy materials.

September 1: Construction

Lake Pontchartrain was almost back to normal levels, so little water flowed out of the city. This allows a change of plans, and marine equipment was used to drive sheet piling at the mouth of the 17th Street Canal to seal off the entire canal from the lake.

Shortly after 1 PM the first piece sheet piling is driven, to form a steel wall across the lake's entrance to the 17th Street canal. The opening was expected to be closed by the end of the day. A contractor began bringing in rock to build a road toward the breach. The breach was south and east of the Hammond Highway bridge over the canal, with dry land on the west side of the bridge.

Rock was being transported from offsite to complete the access road and closure at the 17th Street breach. Once the rock required to build the roads arrived in New Orleans and the access road to the breach has been completed, the Corps estimated closure of the breach could be completed in three to four days. Several private firms have volunteered services and provided assistance in design of the closure.

Similar work was planned for sealing a 300-foot London Avenue breach, although in that case materials would come from demolition of Lakeshore Drive. Five 42-inch pumps were ordered, with delivery expected within three days.

The 17th Street Canal Levee, a levee-floodwall combination, was now estimated to have a breach 450 feet long. It was still believed water overtopped the floodwall, scoured the structure, and then moved the structure 20 feet horizontally.

Corps work continued on nearby waterways, including several locks which were closed. Use of some locks requires raising bridges. The Industrial Canal Lock needed repair, and its lock master raised St. Claude Avenue bridge, but lowered it because of hostility from civilians wanting to cross on both sides.

September 2: Water flow stopped

To allow drainage, backhoes mounted on marsh buggies and drag lines mounted on barges cut breaches in some other levees. Marsh buggies are tracked vehicles whose wide tracks enable them to operate in soft, marshy terrain.

On east side of the 17th Street Canal, closure by sheet piling of the 200-foot-wide canal was done after the Corps was confident that the lake had fallen to a normal level and water was not trapped inside the city that would otherwise drain out by gravity.

Water could no longer flow from the lake into the city.

With the mouth of the canal sealed, the sheet piling prevented lake water from getting to the levee breach. Since no additional water can get through the breach it was no longer necessary to seal the breach itself. The next step is to get existing pumps working, and to bring in additional pumps to drain the surrounding city and the canal. Later, the canal can be drained so permanent repairs will be made to the levee.

Helicopters were dropping large sandbags made of strong, synthetic materials in the breach. Heavy equipment on the ground has been placing rock. Ground access was created by building a rock road from Hammond Highway, which is about 700 feet lake-ward of the breach. The 17th Street Canal is a drainage canal whose dimensions and an important bridge, integral to the flood control system, would not permit entry of barges and towboats to haul rocks and placement cranes.

A pump station was pumping out about 5,000 cubic feet per second at the Industrial Canal. One pump was working in New Orleans East. Removing water will take 36 and 80 days according to Brig. Gen. Robert Crear.

President Bush visits the 17th Street Canal site.

September 3

The first of the five pumps was delivered. Four more pumps have been loaned to the Corps by St. Charles Parish.

Senator Landrieu overflies the area in the morning, reports seeing "a single, lonely piece of equipment."

September 4: Almost done

Work continued on the breach. The sheet piling still blocks water from flowing in.

September 5: Breach closed

17th Street Canal breach was closed. After the emergency is over, the canal will be drained and the wall repaired.

Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters had dropped over 200 sand bags. Approximately 125 sandbags had broken the surface of the water.

There were three 42" mobile pumps staged and two 42" and two 30" pumps were placed at the sheet pile closure. Sewer & water board, electric utility and 249th Prime Power Engineer Battalion were completing pump house inspection.

When pumps began operation, a 40-foot-wide opening was made in the sheet piling to allow water to flow out the canal.

September 6: Pumping

The pump stations began to get online on 17th Street Canal. Pump Station 10 was actually pumping at this point. Pump Station 6 was interrupted to clean up some debris out of the area.

Pump Station 1, which is a little bit further up in the system, was pumping to Pump Station 6, so as to drain the upper area, uptown areas. Over on the east side, Pump Station 19 had been running for some time. Two of the three big pumping stations in New Orleans East were running, in addition to temporary pumps. At least one pump station was running in Plaquemines Parish.

It was decided to use sheet pile closure to stop water flow at the London Avenue breach, similar to what was done at 17th Street Canal. A rock wall had initially been built there. The London Avenue canal will be drained so the breach can be repaired.

Approximately 100 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers workers were in New Orleans. Over 500 contracted workers were involved in repairs.

Storm surge was estimated at 20 feet; levee height was about 17 feet. Several small breaches caused by the storm had been found and were being closed. Draining the city was estimated to take anywhere from 24 to 80 days. Volunteers from as far as Germany and the Netherlands offered to assist with pumps and generators.

News Corp acquires IGN for US$650 million

US-based News Corporation (formerly based in Australia) has announced its purchase of IGN Entertainment, a US-based online media group, for US$650 million. IGN's assets include popular video game sites IGN.com and GameSpy.com, as well as movie and game review site Rotten Tomatoes. IGN will become part of the News Corporation's Fox Interactive Media division, which will expand the company's online presence to become the fourth largest online media company, with over 70 million individual users and 12 billion page views per month when the takeover is complete.

This deal is the third purchase of an online media company by News Corp since July. The current deals followed the previous purchases of Intermix Media and Scout Media. Over $1.5 billion has been spent by the company in acquiring online media this year, with another $500 million still to be spent under the current budget.

News Corp has been criticized for spending too much to bring IGN into the fold, including paying off the latter's US$50 million debt, since IGN has never been very profitable. However, IGN revenue has sharply increased over the past year, and it may be a profitable addition once integrated with News Corp's other online holdings.

GNOME Project unveils latest version of Linux and Unix desktop

GNOME project logo

The GNOME Project announced today the release of the latest version of its free desktop environment for Linux and Unix operating systems. Version 2.12 of the GNOME Desktop has several new features including an updated look and feel, an improved file manager, a new "About Me" panel to keep a user's personal information and Evince, a new PDF and PostScript document viewer. Several components comprising the GNOME Desktop, including its Web browser, e-mail client, and multimedia applications, have also undergone significant changes.

Owen Taylor, chairman of the GNOME Foundation's board, explained that "GNOME 2.12 looks better than ever before and brings greater consistency." He added that "[t]here are useful new features throughout the desktop, carefully implemented to increase usability while keeping GNOME simple and intuitive."

The GNOME Desktop, which is available in 43 languages, has received some attention over the past few years with large deployments, affecting hundreds of thousands of users, reported in Spain and Brazil and several more on the way in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and China. The Italian South Tyrol province of Bolzano reported only a few days ago that 16,000 students would now be using the GNOME Desktop in private and public schools. Software vendors such as Real Networks, Mozilla (responsible for the Firefox browser), the Eclipse Project, and VMWare have adopted elements of its developer platform for software development.

More than 500 people, both volunteers and employees of sponsoring companies, make up the GNOME Project, which releases a new version of the GNOME Desktop every six months. The GNOME Foundation provides organizational support to the project.

EBay may acquire VoIP firm Skype

eBay logo

Online US-based auction company eBay is in talks to acquire Voice-over-IP (VoIP) provider Skype for US$5 billion. Many believe that eBay intends to enter the rapidly expanding VoIP market and give recent entrants, Google and Microsoft, a run for their money.

The speculation that eBay may buy the small Luxembourg-based company sent their shares down four percent on Wall Street.

Last month, Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation, was in talks with Skype to possibly buy the company. The talks ended when Skype said the company was not for sale.

VoIP is becoming an increasingly significant threat to traditional telephone companies, since most calls between computers are free and some users wonder why a separate land line is still needed.

Skype was founded by the creators of the P2P file-sharing program KaZaA.

NASA announces Shuttle delay due to Hurricane Katrina

Damage at Stennis Space Center

There will be a delay in future Shuttle flights until at least the fall of 2006, due to damaged NASA facilities that house and manufacture parts for the Shuttle program. Hurricane Katrina has damaged several NASA facilities, including not only the Kennedy Space Center, but more importantly the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans itself and the Stennis Space Center on the gulf coast of Mississippi, both major worksites of NASA subcontractors that help with the servicing of parts for the shuttle.

The Michoud New Orleans facility is the primary manufacturing facility for the external fuel tanks that are used on Shuttle launches. The Stennis Space Center is the manufacturing and test center for the main shuttle rocket engines. NASA is still trying to contact employees who have been evacuated from the New Orleans and Gulf Coast areas who have not reported to work due to the disaster and current situation in New Orleans. NASA announced that the Michoud Assembly Facility will not reopen until September 26th at the earliest.

There have been many setbacks for the Shuttle program as well. Hurricane Katrina simply added to these problems. Hurricane Ophelia forced the facilities at the Kennedy Space Center to go into a weather protection status, returning the shuttle Atlantis back to its hanger from the Vehicle Assembly building. The external fuel tank that was earlier scheduled to return to New Orleans prior to Katrina for some minor repairs had to be secured from the storm. MSNBC reported that Wayne Hale, NASA’s deputy shuttle program manager, suggests that it may be over a year before they can get back to flying another shuttle mission.

Among other problems facing NASA, employees at these damaged facilities have faced very personal losses. Some have lost family members, their homes, and more. In some cases, NASA has been unable to locate employees, or employees of contractors. For those that have been located, many of them from New Orleans are being transferred either to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, or to the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Damage at Michoud Assembly Facility

At the Stennis Space Center, they at first attempted to put the facility to use as an evacuee center to take in some people coming from out of New Orleans. As of Wednesday, those plans were dropped when evacuees were being transferred to other facilities better equipped to deal with their long term needs. The center is now focusing on efforts to recover from the damage to the facility itself.

At the Michoud Assembly Facility, the U.S. Marine Corp is also using it as a staging area for its operations in New Orleans, and as a temporary military base.

Today in History

September 10 :

1813: The Battle of Lake Erie was fought between the United States and the United Kingdom.

1897: A peaceful labor demonstration made up of mostly Polish and Slovak anthracite coal miners in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, was fired upon by a sheriff's posse comitatus in the Lattimer Massacre.

1898: Empress Elisabeth of Austria (pictured) was fatally stabbed in Geneva, Switzerland.

1960: Mickey Mantle hit what is thought to be the longest home run in major league baseball, an estimated 643 feet.

1990: Africa's largest church, the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire, was consecrated by Pope John Paul II.

Quote of the Day

"Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love." - Leo Tolstoy

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