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March 11, 2009 for yesterday's ticker entries click here
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Wednesday
March 11, 2009
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President
Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry as Ambassador to Afghanistan and Christopher R. Hill as Ambassador to Iraq. | ||||
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President
Obama Announces White House Council on Women and Girls President Obama today signed an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. The mission of the Council will be to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families. | ||||
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White
House Announces New Director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy Vice President Biden announced today that President Obama will nominate Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske as the new Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. | ||||
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Statement
from the President on the signing of H.R. 1105 | ||||
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President
Obama declares turning point on earmark reform The President lays out principals for what Congressional analyst Norm Ornstein calls "real reform." | ||||
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“Opportunities
their mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers never dreamed
of” President Obama signs an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. | ||||
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Recovery
in Action: CA, VT, GA, TN, MD, MI, MN Across the country the economy is tough, but the recovery act is fighting back. | ||||
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"It
feels different already" Nancy-Ann DeParle, the new director of the White House Office for Health Reform, takes to the op-ed page to give her perspective on the drive for health reform and why it can be successful after so many decades of frustration. | ||||
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Executive
Order Creating the White House Council on Women and Girls | ||||
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Madoff Could Go Directly To Jail After Plea Hearing from The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
by The Huffington Post News Editors | ||||
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Merrill
Lynch and Cuomo: Merrill Misled Congress on Bonus Merrill Lynch may have misled Congress in representing last November that it planned to pay out bonuses at year end, when in fact it decided to accelerate those payouts, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday. | ||||
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DHS Appoints Microsoft Executive to Secure Government Computers by Wired News - USA | ||||
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Sompo Japan, NipponKoa in merger talks-source from Reuters: Mergers News | ||||
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Selective Placement Program Coordinators from What's New at the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) | ||||
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Obama rejects push to halt election oversight by Houston Chronicle - United States | ||||
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Iraq to open doors to Australian wheat from ABC News: Breaking Stories | ||||
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CHINA: Defense Ministry urges U.S. to respect China's security concern from China | ||||
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CHINA: U.S. president to meet Chinese FM: White House from China | ||||
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WTO urges Brazil to lower tariff protection from Business | ||||
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China says stimulus plan will not sacrifice environment from Business | ||||
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China to deliver 13 planes to Indonesian airlines within 2009 from Business | ||||
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CHINA: Crude oil reserve base likely in Gansu from Business | ||||
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Obama Administration Overhauls US Mideast Policy by Voice of America - USA | ||||
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Choice of Drug Czar Indicates Focus on Treatment, Not Jail by Washington Post - United States | ||||
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U.S.
Department of State : Daily Press Briefing - March 11 Acting Department Spokesman | ||||
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Chicago Press Releases for Federal Bureau of Investigation This information has recently been updated,
and is now available. | ||||
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From Military Service to Entrepreneur –
Tools for the Veteran-Owned Small Business Do you have the mindset to be an entrepreneur? Many of our veterans do. In fact, of the 24 million military veterans in the U.S, four million are small business owners. There are a number of tools and services from the SBA, VetBiz and other non-profit organizations specifically designed to help veterans with the formation and expansion of their business ventures. This article summarizes some of the general business guides, financing options, incentives, and other resources available to help veteran-owned businesses succeed. Read more... | ||||
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ETA - Advisories - Unemployment Insurance Program Letters (UIPL) for United States Department of Labor This information has recently been updated.
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Youth
from Mexico, Panama & Dominican Republic Come to US for World
Baseball Classic Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC March 11, 2009 | ||||
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Attorney
General Appoints Officials to Lead Task Force Reviews on Interrogation
and Detention Policy Wed, 11 Mar 2009 09:00:00 -0500 "These appointments reflect our commitment to develop sound options for handling detainees in the future as well as policies on interrogation and transfer that uphold American values and national security interests," said Attorney General Holder. "Having served in critical legal and national security positions over their careers, J. Douglas Wilson and Brad Wiegmann have the experience and judgment necessary to help us carry out these important tasks." | ||||
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Current Press Releases for the U.S. Department of Justice This page has recently been updated with
the following: | ||||
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March 11, 2009 PRESIDENT APPROVES $459M BUDGET FOR NATIONAL ARCHIVES Washington, DC. . . The National Archives
and Records Administration The $459,277,000 for Fiscal Year 2009 is
a $48,144,000, or 12 percent, "We are extremely pleased with the
additional resources for NARA that "We will also be able to continue
building the Electronic Records Funding for NARA's Operating Expenses is
set at $330,308,000, up from This budget also includes continued funding
for new archivists hired Also included in the appropriations bill
is $1,000,000 for the new The Administration also provides $650,000
to complete the review of For continued development of the ERA, the
Congress appropriated The budget also directs NARA to provide
quarterly progress reports on Congress also provided $6,325,000 to operate
the George W. Bush For repairs and restorations to NARA facilities,
Congress appropriated The budget also provides an additional
$2,000,000 to complete repair The National Historical Publications and
Records Commission (NHPRC) # # # For press information, contact the National
Archives Public Affairs 09-59 | ||||
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NRC NEWS Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov Site: http://www.nrc.gov Prepared Remarks for The Honorable Gregory B. Jaczko Commissioner U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at the NRC Regulatory Information Conference March 11, 2009 “Learning the Right Lessons” This is my fifth opportunity to address our Regulatory Information Conference. Each year I use this talk as an opportunity to address big themes and how they apply to the specific challenges of nuclear safety regulation. This year I would like to focus on the most important lessons we need to learn from past success to meet our mission of providing an adequate assurance of public health and safety. I would like to begin with an example of how we use information, and as Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a center of reason and thought, I will begin there today, even though that is hard for me to acknowledge as a graduate of an Ivy League institution located in a different city. I am not sure how many of you listen to that unique source of wisdom known as the NPR’s Car Talk radio show, but yes, it is produced in Cambridge. Each week the show features a thought experiment known as the ‘puzzler.’ Last month’s logic puzzle was set during wartime and went something like this: An air force flight operations chief begins
a debriefing by asking airmen who just returned from a costly
mission in which many planes were lost, “From what direction
were you attacked?” Without hesitation, the reply was, “From
above and behind.” The flight operations chief hastily scribbles
the information on the back of top secret maps, and hands it
to a junior officer with the instructions, “Get this information
to the departing air crews. It may save their lives!” As
the officer turns to leave, a more senior officer from the back
of the room booms out: “Hold that order. The information
you're about to give may not save any lives at all.” What did the senior officer know that the flight operations chief didn't? The surviving airmen answered that they were attacked from above and behind. But they survived. They were taking evidence of past success – the pilots who got home safely – and trying to predict future success. Why doesn’t this approach work? Because the pilots who made it back successfully dealt with the attack on them. Those weren't the fatal attacks. The fatal attacks were from some other direction, and those pilots didn't have any advice to offer because they did not make it back. The point of this story is that evidence of past success should not necessarily be used as a basis for predicting future performance. The successful pilots thought they had all the information they needed to help their colleagues be successful, when in fact they did not. The result of this type of thinking – using evidence of past success to try to predict future success – is a type of complacency that can be found throughout the history of nuclear power, from Three Mile Island to Davis Besse. I think it is important to set the stage for today’s discussion by looking at the status of the NRC. So before further elaborating on this theme of complacency, let me talk about the NRC’s best weapon against it – the NRC staff. There has been dramatic change at the agency during the last four years, including a ramp-up in staff, budget, and office space. I mentioned some of these statistics in a speech last month but I think it is important to revisit them for this audience. When I first joined the Commission four years ago, the NRC had a smaller staff, a much smaller budget, and headquarters consisted of two buildings. Since then, we have seen a dramatic twenty-five percent growth in the number of employees, the size of our budget has grown by fifty percent, and we have created two new offices. We have also been forced to rent space in four new interim buildings around Montgomery County. Even more dramatic, almost half of our workforce has been at the agency for five years or less. Why is that significant? In concrete terms it means that most of our staff joined the agency after September 11, 2001. Most were not at the NRC when the Davis Besse vessel head cavity was discovered in 2002, let alone during the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. This makes knowledge management tremendously important. Now, I do not want anyone to get the wrong impression. We have excellent and dedicated staff. The people who come to the NRC have top-notch educations and diverse and impressive professional backgrounds in industry, government, and science. Take one small branch in our security office that assesses threat information for the agency as an example. These seven folks have well over one hundred years of combined experience in military, intelligence, and law enforcement fields. They have worked at the U.S. Secret Service, the Army, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, the CIA, and the newest member of the office served in Iraq. Such staff is selected and hired for the expertise they bring to help the agency ensure nuclear materials are adequately secured. Similar levels of expertise are repeated in offices around the NRC by staff with both agency and external experience. The demographic changes we have gone through present us with the challenge of taking advantage of the ability these new employees have to look at issues from a fresh perspective to make us even better, while making sure all our staff continues to understand the lessons that were learned from the past. This makes it crucial to have written documentation for use in our safety work – clear regulations and guidance documents. This is important not just for the public and for licensees to clearly understand the requirements, but also for the NRC staff who are asked to oversee and enforce them. I would note the good work the staff has done over the last four years after the Commission directed them to update guidance documents and standard review plans. The staff has updated 248 sections in all 19 chapters of the Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants or NUREG-0800, with less than 20 sections left to go. We have also updated all of the agency’s regulatory guides needed to support applicants’ new reactor licensing efforts, but more than 200 other regulatory guides are not yet completed and the schedule to finish those has slipped. These updated tools are even more important now, and we need to prioritize the resources for that work. So what should our staff be doing to stay focused on safety? Not be complacent. Not take false comfort in calculations. Not ignore seemingly unlikely events. This is the real lesson of the puzzler I began with. This is also the real lesson of Davis Besse, which took the NRC and industry by surprise. The NRC and industry had previously recognized the potential for nozzles to experience some cracking but in spite of that knowledge, Davis Besse happened anyway. That is partially because we were resting on past evidence to tell us it could not be an immediate safety concern and we got complacent. Unforeseen events with potentially very bad consequences are always possible and could happen over time. When we think about the lessons learned from Davis Besse, we think of incremental improvements to ensure we do a better job of inspecting and ensuring regulatory compliance. But the real lesson of Davis Besse or even TMI is that we must never get complacent. Neither event was thought to be probable, or significant, until the very moment when they happened. This reinforces the importance of doing our jobs, not relying on past evidence of success and always being on the lookout for new problems. One specific area where we can make additional progress is the Reactor Oversight Process, which is a good oversight tool. We can do so by improving performance indicators. When we look at performance indicators and see more and more ‘green’ results, we can draw one of two conclusions: either everything is working well and there are no issues to be worried about, or, alternatively, that the usefulness of specific indicators is declining. I think we have a duty as regulators to consider both possibilities. We have an obligation to make sure performance is consistently high and not just that it is being tuned more finely to the indicator itself. If actual performance is being maintained, then a whole host of indicators should show that. To ensure that is the case, we should develop a new set of performance indicators. They should include a spectrum of indicators used on a rotating basis to give us a better understanding of actual plant performance. An example of what I think we should do involves the Mitigating Systems Performance Index indicator, which went into effect in early 2006 as a new way to measure the availability of mitigating systems. This indicator has provided more than triple the greater than green findings in the two years after implementation, compared to the same cornerstone two years before – 68 vs. 20 findings. This indicator provides an example of the value of meaningful performance indicators to help make sure we aren’t making the wrong conclusions about the successes of past performance. A broader solution to the fight against complacency is to focus on safety culture and I am glad to see the Commission making progress. This is a topic I have been focused on for a long time. In fact, regular RIC attendees may note that it has featured prominently in all four of my RIC speeches, including the first one in 2005 when I called for the integration of security into the safety culture concept. Referring back to the puzzler for a moment, the individual who expressed concern about the value of the information the returning pilots possessed demonstrated a healthy safety culture. The NRC has a number of initiatives underway to strengthen this type of culture. We have added attributes of safety culture to the ROP, and more broadly, we are now developing a policy statement that will lay out our expectations for a healthy safety and security culture at all NRC licensees. The staff has worked with a broad group of stakeholders on this, as well as on the internal NRC safety culture initiative I strongly believe in, and I am pleased with the progress so far. These safety culture exercises will come together to give us a definitive understanding of what the NRC should be doing in the area of safety culture oversight. Of course, I could not give a RIC speech without talking about fire protection at nuclear power plants. In fire protection, we have an example of actual evidence of past problems back all the way to the Browns Ferry fire in 1975, that are still in need of a transparent solution. I am sometimes asked why the Commission cares about this issue, and my simple answer is ‘because according to our analysis, fire is a significant contributor to the overall risk of core damage at a plant.’ To stretch my opening analogy even further, fire protection is like the plane that got shot up very badly and barely limped back to base. It can actually teach us lessons about failure that can be useful, and fire protection has many of those lessons to share about challenges that need to be resolved. We have made some progress on the fire
barrier issues, we are working on a database of exemptions to
be completed this year, and the staff has a fire protection closure
plan in the works. We have even discovered what I believe is
the ultimate solution but we have not yet given the order to
implement it. Therefore, we need to all recognize the reality
that NFPA-805 is the only way to finally resolve the fire protection
issue. It is the only possible success path to fully resolve
issues associated with operator manual actions and fire induced
circuit failures. I am glad to see that many licensees have recognized
this but unfortunately not all have. In fact, I often hear about the industry’s interest in more performance based, risk-informed regulations. Yet, NFPA-805 is a performance based, risk-informed rule and yet 56 out of 104 plants are not pursuing it. Part of the issue is that probabilistic risk assessment models for fire are not complete. This is one of the lessons of NFPA-805 – we must have the PRA tools in place first. I do not believe it is the most effective use of agency resources to focus on risk informing our regulations when there is more work to be done on that risk assessment infrastructure. This brings me to a few items in the area of new reactors I would like to discuss. One tremendous success in this area is the Commission’s recent decision to provide clear direction about how new plant designs have to deal with the threat of a commercial aircraft crash. With this new rule, I believe the Commission has resolved most concerns the aircraft threat poses for both the existing reactors, which had a focus on mitigation, and any new plants which will have to focus on design improvements. The Commission that was in place following September 11, 2001, especially Chairman Meserve and Chairman Diaz, deserves credit for ensuring the agency developed the technical information that made these policy decisions possible. Finally, I’ll touch on an area of new reactors in which I do not think we have fully learned the lessons of the past. The Commission made a strong effort to learn lessons from processes that did not work – so much so that we flipped the application process from ‘build first and then license,’ to ‘license first and then build.’ This greatly lessens the financial risk involved but unfortunately applicants have not used this process as intended. At the heart of this change was that the key to success is having completed designs done early. But we are right back into a situation where we have incomplete designs and less than high quality applications submitted for review. The very first application we received was on hold for a year and a half during which time we could only do minimal work on it. In fact, the NRC had to withdraw the hearing opportunity because that applicant was not ready and the agency was only able to re-notice it last month. Even today, almost a fifth (3 of 17) of the COL applications we have received are on hold at the request of the applicants themselves. Vendors are revising four of the new plant designs. The temptation is to plow on anyway and conclude that if plants got licensed in the 1960s and 1970s under less than ideal conditions, it won’t be the end of the world if the current process begins to look more and more like that one. But everyone would be better served by focusing on the lesson of all those plants that never got built and concentrating on getting designs completed first. Of course, it is up to licensees to decide which process to follow. The Commission made it clear, however, that if licensees choose not to follow the new Part 52 process of referencing an early site permit and a certified design in their applications, they do so ‘at their own risk.’ I challenge the industry to focus on those projects that are most likely to go forward and get their design and environmental work done, so that success can be used as a model for others to follow. And in that context, I would like to acknowledge our staff who have shown dedication and flexibility in responding to this rapidly changing new reactor environment. The challenge I would issue for everyone in this room going forward is to continue to work to minimize risks, never rest on success, and always be on the lookout for new information and for the unexpected. Each of us should be focused on both the safety issues we know about today as well as the search for tomorrow’s safety issues we have not yet discovered. What safety issues will we be talking about at next year’s conference? Will it be something new in digital instrumentation and control? Materials degradation? BWR sump screens? We must think about these things now and not get complacent. We must not assume we know everything there is to know. For the NRC, we should recognize that we will continue to have to make hard – and sometimes unpopular – decisions. When we deliberate about those decisions, we should do so by transparently engaging all members of the public. We must understand society’s current level of acceptable risk to ensure our adherence to the agency’s mission. Once we have done that, we have a responsibility to decisively implement and enforce safety standards. Thank you, and I look forward to answering
your questions. | ||||
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C-SPAN Daily Alert C-SPAN Highlights Tonight: Tomorrow: ********************************************************************** Tonight: Tomorrow: Tonight: Tomorrow: Tonight: Tomorrow: * C-SPAN Political Programming - Sunday
on C-SPAN at 6:30pm ET * Newspaper Articles * President Obama laid out his principles for overhauling the earmark process Wednesday as he agreed to sign into law a $410 billion spending bill that has fanned the flames in the debate...- Full Story at www.c-span.org/capitolspotlight/ * How many districts favored McCain but
elected House Democrats with no formal opposition? - Answer at
www.c-span.org/capitolspotlight/ | ||||
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Remarks
After Her Meeting With Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Secretary of State Treaty Room Washington, DC March 11, 2009 | ||||
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James W. McJunkin Statement Before the House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection
FBI Role in Mumbai Investigation Even before the crisis ended, the investigation had begun. Agents from FBI offices in New Delhi, Islamabad, and Los Angeles joined forces with the Indian government, the CIA, the State Department, and foreign partners. Through these partnerships, we had unprecedented access to evidence and intelligence. Agents and analysts interviewed more than 70 individuals, including the sole surviving attacker. Our forensic specialists pulled fingerprints from improvised explosive devices. They recovered data from damaged cell phones, in one case by literally wiring a smashed phone back together. At the same time, we collected, analyzed,
and disseminated intelligence to our partners at home and abroad—not
only to determine how these attacks were planned, and by whom,
but to ensure that if a second wave of attacks was planned, we
had the intelligence to stop it. The surviving Mumbai attacker has claimed
that the Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Tayyiba
(LT) provided him training and direction for the attack. The
FBI assesses that LT, which is well known to the U.S. Intelligence
Community, remains a threat to U.S. interests in South Asia and
to the U.S. Homeland. We have no current intelligence indicating
that there is an organized LT presence in the United States or
that LT senior leadership is seeking to attack the U.S. Homeland.
LT does maintain facilitation, procurement, fundraising, and
recruitment activities worldwide, including in the United States.
For example, in 2003, several followers of “Virginia Jihad”
cleric Sheikh Ali Al-Timimi were convicted of providing material
support to terrorism relating to their training at an LT-sponsored
training camp in Pakistan, with the intention of fighting against
Coalition Forces in Afghanistan. In addition, the FBI is investigating
a number of individuals across the United States who are linked
in some way to LT—primarily through witting and unwitting
fundraising for the group, as well as the recruitment of individuals
from the United States to attend LT camps. Lessons Learned from Mumbai Attacks The FBI is implementing the lessons learned from the Mumbai attacks by continuing to maintain a high level of vigilance for all indications of developing terrorist activity. We recognize that the planning for the Mumbai attacks likely unfolded over a relatively long period of time with careful surveillance of the target sites and transportation routes. We are continuing to work closely with our state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners in our Joint Terrorism Task Forces to follow up on indications of suspicious activity that could potentially be related to terrorism. We are also sharing relevant information
from the Mumbai investigation with our intelligence and law enforcement
partners. Classified information is available to cleared state
and local law enforcement personnel in Joint Terrorism Task Forces
and Fusion Centers. In addition, the FBI and the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) jointly issued an unclassified alert
about the attacks to state, local, and tribal officials on November
27, 2008. The FBI and DHS also issued an Intelligence Bulletin
on December 3, 2008 to building owners and operators, as well
as the law enforcement community, to alert them to preliminary
findings regarding the techniques and tactics terrorists used
in the Mumbai attacks. The bulletin indicated that the FBI and
DHS had no credible or specific information that terrorists were
planning similar operations against public buildings in the United
States, but urged local authorities and building owners and operators
to be aware of potential attack tactics. We continue to work
with our partners to heighten the public’s awareness of
the continued threat of terrorist attacks and the need to report
suspicious incidents. Conclusion | ||||
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Minneapolis Press Releases for Federal Bureau of Investigation This information has recently been updated,
and is now available. | ||||
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Philadelphia Press Releases for Federal Bureau of Investigation This information has recently been updated,
and is now available. | ||||
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What's New at AHRQ for Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) This information has recently been updated,
and is now available. | ||||
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WAAS News for U.S. Federal Aviation Administration This information has recently been updated,
and is now available. | ||||
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Napolitano
Announces New Louisiana 'Decision Team' and Appoints Recovery
Personnel Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:00:00 -0500 Secretary Napolitano announced on March 11, 2009 the establishment of the Unified Public Assistance Project Decision Team in the Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office, and her choice of Charlie Axton to lead the newly-created team. Secretary Napolitano also announced the appointment of Tony Russell to be the acting director of the Transitional Recovery Office. | ||||
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March 11, 2009 Earmark Reforms Under the Democratic Congress Today, House Democratic Leaders announced
new earmark reforms to help ensure that taxpayer money is being
spent effectively on worthy projects benefitting local communities,
including: Read more about the many earmark reforms implemented by the Democratic Congress. ### | ||||
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USAID and IOM Announce HIV Prevention and Care for Farm Workers March 10, 2009 PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA - MARCH 10, 2009
- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and International
Organization for Migration (IOM) in Southern Africa launched
a new program to reduce HIV vulnerability of farm workers in
South Africa's Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces. The project will be known as "Ripfumelo," which means "believe" in xiTsonga. It will target 20,000 seasonal, temporary, and permanent farm workers in South Africa, including documented and undocumented migrant workers through increasing the technical capacity of its implementing partners: Agri-IQ, CHOiCE and the Hoedspruit Training Trust. This increased capacity will lead to the provision of sustainable HIV prevention and care services to farm workers. "One prevention program doesn't fit
all people's needs. Farm workers face higher risks of getting
and spreading HIV than many other groups. Our prevention efforts
tackle their vulnerabilities, including alcohol abuse, that arise
from many factors related to poverty and the transitional lifestyle
of migrant workers," said USAID Southern Africa Director
Dr. Carleene Dei. Julia Hill-Mlati, IOM regional project
manager, reports, "HIV prevention efforts often focus purely
on medical issues and fail to consider interrelated factors that
affect people's vulnerability to the AIDS virus. This reason
prompts our USAID Ripfumelo project to address the contextual
issues such as workplace policies, improving life skills, financial
literacy and promoting healthy recreational activities." Promoting peer-led education and referrals
to relevant services and support. Integrating locally tailored Social and
Behavioural Change Communication programs that are developed
and disseminated by local Change Agents. | ||||
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Distinguished Speakers Recognize International Women's Day at USAID March 11, 2009 WASHINGTON, D.C. - Tuesday, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) hosted Congresswoman Betty McCollum from Minnesota and a distinguished panel of speakers in recognition of International Women's Day. The event, entitled "Women: A Driving Force for Economic Recovery" was an opportunity to recognize the important role that women around the world play as drivers of economic growth and recovery. "I am honored to join USAID to celebrate
International Women's Day and reaffirm America's goal to ensure
women and girls achieve their full potential and contribute their
full power. A commitment to the survival, safety, success of
women and girls is necessary to reshape our bilateral relationships
and redefine our nation's foreign assistance investments,"
said Congresswoman McCollum (MN-4), Co-founder and Co-chair of
the Global Health Caucus and Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee
on State and Foreign Operations. "Until our sisters around
the world are a priority, U.S. efforts to fight poverty, disease,
and hunger, and promote Democracy, economic opportunity and human
rights cannot fully be achieved." For more information about USAID and its
development programs for women, visit www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/wid/.
The U.S. Agency for International Development
has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for
nearly 50 years. | ||||
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This information has recently been updated,
and is now available. | ||||
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Today's top Air Force stories AF mourns the loss of first Chief Master
Sergeant of the Air Force Thule members aid in lifesaving ice rescue
C-130s undergoing inspections Airmen process more than $1 billion worth
of equipment Combat controller receives Air Force Cross,
Purple Heart | ||||
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Democrats draw up plan for second stimulus bill by Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom | ||||
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Clinton: Road to health care reform easier now by CNN - USA | ||||
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CHINA FM: Promoting trade tops diplomacy agenda by China Daily - China | ||||
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UN Confirms Iran Caught Red-Handed in Ship Loaded with Weapons by Asia News | ||||
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Summary of LAO Recommendations for Legislative Action: Federal Economic Stimulus Package from Legislative Analyst's Office | ||||
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VACANCIES
AT THE UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
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VACANCY:
CONSULTANT: UNDP EXECUTIVE SECRETARY TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE
FOR DEFENCE | ||||
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VACANCY:
UNDP HEAD OF GAZA OFFICE | ||||
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ticker timeline 21:07 Eastern Time Tuesday
March 10, 2009 | ||||
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