Spillway Opening Fails to Ease Flooding Fears in Louisiana

It seemed, on the face of things, to make sense: The first gate of the Morganza Spillway opened on Saturday afternoon, sending 10,000 cubic feet of Mississippi River water churning south toward the Atchafalaya Basin, all part of a concerted effort to help relieve pressure on burdened levees protecting Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

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Heavy Metal

Over the past six years, The Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled more than 180 million pieces of metal jewelry that contained dangerous levels of lead, and in August 2009 it lowered the acceptable amount of lead in children’s jewelry to 300 parts per million . But the progress in regulating lead appears to have propelled manufacturers to use another toxic metal, cadmium

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Emanuel: Bush never asked key questions on Afghanistan

One of President Obama’s top advisers said Sunday the Bush administration failed to ask critical questions about the war in Afghanistan, leaving the Obama administration starting from scratch — and leaving the war “adrift.” “The president is asking the questions that have never been asked on the civilian side, the political side, the military side and the strategic side,” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told CNN’s “State of the Union.” Among the things the Obama administration wants to know from Afghan leaders: “Do you have a credible Afghan partner for this process that can provide the security and the type of services that the Afghan people need” The United States faces “a much more complex decision” than just determining the appropriate level of troops, Emanuel told CNN chief national correspondent John King in a rare interview. “It’s clear that basically we had a war for eight years that was going on, that’s adrift, that we’re beginning at scratch, just at the starting point …

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Study: Fossils Suggest Ancient CO2-Climate-Change Link

Some of the best evidence linking rising carbon dioxide levels to a warmer world comes from the coldest places on earth. Samples of ancient air extracted from deep inside the Antarctic and Greenland ice caps make it clear that CO2 is scarce in the atmosphere during ice ages and relatively abundant during warmer interglacial periods — like the one we’re in now

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Gates: U.S. ‘not leaving Afghanistan’

Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared Monday that the United States will remain in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future, no matter what President Obama decides on immediate troop levels. “We’re not leaving Afghanistan,” Gates said in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that also included Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

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