Reconstruction

Dante Alighieri, traditionally portrayed as a stern figure with a large hooked nose, is now showing a softer side, thanks to a reconstruction of his face by Italian scientists. In most artistic Renaissance renditions, the most distinguishing features of the author of "The Divine Comedy" were a prominent nose and lower lip and a generally severe expression.

BALTIMORE - When Chad Billingsley was put on the 15-day disabled list Sunday because of pain in his throwing elbow, Manager Don Mattingly wondered if the former All-Star's season would end on an operating table. "It's hard not to think about it," Mattingly said. That's because Billingsley considered reconstructive elbow surgery last year, when he missed the final month of the regular season because of a partially torn elbow ligament. But instead of resigning himself to a procedure that would sideline him for the entire 2013 season, Billingsley opted for injections of platelet-rich plasma and rehabilitation.

The reconstruction of a famous Ottoman-era bridge destroyed in the 1992-95 Bosnian war began in Mostar, in what is seen as a crucial step in the slow process of the ethnically divided town's reunification. "We do not want only to link two sides of a river like bridges usually do," project head Rusmir Cisic said after a ceremony marking the reconstruction of Stari Most, or Old Bridge. "We want to link peoples in Mostar."

CHARIKAR, Afghanistan - At the doorstep of the U.S.-funded schoolhouse in this mountain-fringed northern town, Ghulam Nabi crouched in the mud and scooped up two rocks. He needed them, the school engineer explained, to scare off the building's only regular occupant: a stray dog. Nearly four years after ground was broken, the 24-room $310,000 high school stands unfinished, a bleak monument to America's unrealized ambitions in Afghanistan. Graffiti scars the entrance. Water stains blot the ceiling.

Re " 'Marshall Plan' for Iraq Fades," Jan. 15 There is an important difference between the Marshall Plan for Europe and the debacle that is Iraq: The Marshall Plan actually helped Europe. After nearly three years and $18 billion spent in a country with rock-bottom construction costs, Iraq is still in shambles. So where did the money go? Judging by the number of scandals, reconstruction was not the goal but rather was a thinly disguised welfare plan for U.S. companies. And, of course, forcing Iraq, a country we've destroyed, to pay for its own reconstruction is right out of the International Monetary Fund playbook: loan forgiveness in return for allowing corporations to "privatize" Iraq's oil and infrastructure at fire-sale prices.

The escalation of violence in Iraq this month is curtailing the pace of U.S. government-financed reconstruction, but both contractors and U.S. officials maintained Thursday that the disruption so far has been relatively minor. Tom Wheelock, director of infrastructure for the U.S. Agency for International Development, said at a news briefing here that 90% of all projects were moving forward. Privately, however, some contractors say the situation is far from normal.

The Bush administration is deeply riven by disputes over postwar Iraq, particularly on three key issues -- the role of the United Nations, who will lead the country and which elements of the U.S. government will oversee its reconstruction, administration officials say. The fight, those involved say, is about whether Iraq is transformed through an international effort under U.N.

Despite a quarter-century of tension with Iran, the United States has reached out to the Islamic Republic for help in the postwar reconstruction of Iraq -- and is getting it, according to U.S. and Iranian officials. Iran will participate in an international donors conference this month in Madrid, and may end up as one of the few aid contributors. It is already offering to provide water, electricity and technical assistance to Iraq, a top Iranian diplomat said Friday.

The U.S. has invited at least five engineering firms to submit bids for a contract to do reconstruction work in Iraq, government and company officials said. The winning company would get about $900 million to repair Iraqi schools, health services, ports and airports. Bechtel Group Inc. and Fluor Corp. confirmed they had received the invitations. The Wall Street Journal said the Agency for International Development also sent invitations to Parsons Corp., Louis Berger Group Inc.

For the first time, a major U.S. contractor has dropped out of the multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild Iraq, raising new worries about the country's growing violence and its effect on reconstruction. Contrack International Inc., the leader of a partnership that won one of 12 major reconstruction contracts awarded this year, cited skyrocketing security costs in reaching a decision with the U.S. government last month to terminate work in Iraq.

PHOENIX — Matt Kemp is expected to play Friday for the first time since off-season surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. But Carl Crawford , the Dodgers' other rehabbing All-Star outfielder, hit a bump in his comeback from reconstructive elbow surgery. "It depends on how he comes in in the morning," Manager Don Mattingly said of Kemp's status. "The morning tells us usually. You may feel good at the end of the day, but the next morning you see how it's going. " Kemp has been hitting against live pitching this week and said he has been pain-free, but, Mattingly cautioned, "he's just getting started.

Colombian scientists have reconstructed the interplanetary path of a meteor that flamed across the Russian skyline this month and smashed into the countryside, leaving hundreds of people injured. The meteor, estimated to be about 45 feet across and weighing 10,000 tons, was flung toward Earth as it orbited around the sun. It wasn't a declaration of war by bugs on Klendathu after all. Apparently, it was just a matter of time before it hit, researchers concluded in a study published this week on ArXiv.org.

The mud and floodwaters that ravaged the East Coast when Superstorm Sandy roared ashore three months ago have been supplanted by a sea of red tape, leaving thousands of residents and businesses in limbo as they await insurance funds or help from the federal government. Some have used savings or loans to get back into their homes or reopen businesses. Others remain in temporary housing or hotels, or face the winter in frigid, unfinished housing, resulting in a staggered state of recovery that bodes ill for a region trying to make itself whole again.

The celebration of the “Rites” has begun. “The Rite of Spring” (Le Sacre du Printemps) is the revolutionary 1913 ballet by choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, composer Igor Stravinsky and artist Nicholas Roerich that clamorously heralded a new age for dance, music and all the arts. The L.A. Music Center and others will spend many months this year marking the 100 th anniversary of this 36-minute Ballets Russes juggernaut, which debuted in scandale and now resides secure in the canon.

LONDON -- Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistani teen who was shot by the Taliban after campaigning for the rights of women and girls for an education, will undergo her final cranial surgery in a few days, her British doctors told reporters Wednesday. The medical director of Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth hospital, where Malala has been treated since mid-October, outlined in a televised news conference the complex cranial reconstruction procedure. Malala, 15, gained online fame through the blog she began as an 11-year-old schoolgirl about attending school in an area of Pakistan's Swat Valley under strict Taliban rule, which bans girls from receiving a secondary education.

Robert Griffin III underwent reconstructive knee surgery Wednesday and faces a challenging rehabilitation if he is to return for the start of next season. The Washington Redskins quarterback had his lateral collateral ligament repaired and his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee reconstructed for a second time. The surgery was performed in Florida by orthopedist James Andrews , who was optimistic that Griffin would be back on the field this fall. "We expect a full recovery, and it is everybody's hope and belief that due to Robert's high motivation, he will be ready for the 2013 season," Andrews said in a statement released by the Redskins.

The cost of building materials in Iraq has soared as much as tenfold amid fears of shortages, threatening the pace of the already troubled U.S. reconstruction effort, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Tuesday. Local suppliers have jacked up the prices of such basics as lumber, gravel and bricks in the expectation that a U.S.-funded building boom is poised to take off and will drain stocks of the materials, the officials said.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad flew to the hometown of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on Thursday to pitch a joint civilian and military project as the model for this battered country's reconstruction. In a muted ceremony on a U.S. base in this northern city, Khalilzad inaugurated the reconstruction team for Salahuddin province, the last of seven teams the U.S. has established. In addition, Britain, Italy and South Korea are sponsoring a team each.

Gary Squier, who became the first housing director for the city of Los Angeles in 1990 and faced a formidable housing challenge in the aftermath of the Northridge earthquake, died Dec. 4 at his Santa Monica home. He was 61. The cause was lung cancer, although he was not a smoker, said his wife, Anita Landecker. With a background in nonprofits, Squier was said to bring an advocate's zeal to his work when Mayor Tom Bradley appointed him to lead the newly created Housing Preservation and Production Department.

The so-called docudrama "Shady Lady" amateurishly reconstructs the World War II tale of the then-longest aircraft bombing mission in aviation history. But about five minutes into this stiff hybrid you wonder whether it's all not a sneaky attempt to concoct a flatfooted howler for midnight movie cult status. Or better yet, a WWII version of "Airplane. " The worthy, potentially exciting subject matter would certainly have lent itself to either a straight-on documentary or a seriously budgeted narrative feature.