Reconstruction

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."

Owners of the Glendale Galleria have launched a massive makeover intended to update the regional shopping center in downtown Glendale. Improvements to the 1.5-million-square-foot center will include the previously announced addition of a Bloomingdale's department store in the space formerly occupied by Mervyns. The Bloomingdale's store is set to open next year. Other changes will be the most comprehensive since the mall opened in 1976 and "nothing short of dramatic," General Manager Larry Martin said.

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.

Acknowledging major problems with the quality of its investigations into serious traffic collisions involving officers, the Los Angeles Police Department on Tuesday announced new rules intended to improve the thoroughness and credibility of the inquiries. The move follows a pair of Los Angeles Times articles in January that examined the human and financial toll of officer-involved accidents. The Times found that police caused about 1,250 crashes over the last three years — an average of about one a day. Most were minor, but some resulted in life-threatening injuries or were the result of the officer violating traffic laws, according to LAPD records.

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.

Gregory Mevs leaped from his armored silver Toyota SUV and marched past the guards and mango trees into what serves these days as the center of the Haitian government. He was ready to dispense a million gallons of fuel to the earthquake-ravaged capital. But the paperwork was not in order. He needed the Haitian prime minister's signature. Ten minutes later, he had it. Mevs can do that. He has the prime minister's ear. He hobnobs with people like Bill Clinton, George Soros and the chief executives of the world's largest corporations.

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.

Originally built from 1890 to 1893 by a Bible salesman from Illinois, the Victorian-style Newhall Mansion burned to the ground three decades ago when a fire broke out during a kitchen remodel. Meticulously reconstructed in keeping with its elaborate Queen Anne architecture, the manse is the centerpiece of an estate that includes nearly 10 acres of native flora, lawns, fountains and a manager's house. Location: 829 Park Road, Piru 90340 Asking price: $2.399 million Year built: 1984 House size: Main house: six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, 11,500 square feet; manager's house: two bedrooms, one bathroom, 1,100 square feet Lot size: 9.6 acres Features: Eight fireplaces, den, library, art studio, wine cellar, basement, swimming pool Also available: The adjacent three-bedroom, three-bathroom Warring Stone House, built in 1934, is listed at $499,000.

A federal audit has finally accounted for nearly $6.6 billion in Iraqi reconstruction money that seemed to have disappeared after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, ending a mystery that highlighted the chaos of the early days of the U.S. occupation. The Pentagon flew the Iraqi cash under its control to Baghdad in planeloads of shrink-wrapped bundles of $100 bills in 2003 and 2004. But its failure to keep complete records showing where the money went fueled concern that some or all of it had been stolen.

Insurgents with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades launched a sustained attack Thursday against a U.S. base in Kandahar. No coalition casualties were reported, but the hours-long confrontation demonstrated the Taliban's continuing ability to strike in the heart of Afghanistan's main southern city. The attack, which began in midafternoon and stretched into the evening, targeted a joint civilian-military installation housing what is known as a provincial reconstruction team, or PRT, mainly devoted to development projects.

Let's take you out to the ballgame, Angels vintage. No peanuts and crackerjack. Just late-season major league drama and tension. At 4:15 p.m. Monday, Torii Hunter said his Angels are "95% dead, but 5% alive. " At 4:35, Manager Mike Scioscia said, "We're still breathing. " By 7:15, the gagging, choking, floundering Boston Red Sox had added oxygen. They had managed to lose again. The wild-card spot in the American League that was once an afterthought, a done deal for them, was still not settled.

Haitian President Michel Martelly just marked his first 100 days in office, yet the bawdy kompa singer turned politician who vowed to remake his homeland is still struggling to fulfill his first obligation: forming a government. An opposition-led Parliament twice has nixed Martelly's choice for prime minister. Without one, Martelly and Haiti are left without a functioning government. A caretaker administration oversees Haiti's day-to-day affairs but lacks authority to set goals or direct a reconstruction strategy.

After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the George W. Bush administration flooded the conquered country with so much cash to pay for reconstruction and other projects in the first year that a new unit of measurement was born. Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time.

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.

Gov. Jerry Brown had a cancerous growth removed from the right side of his nose in an outpatient procedure Friday in Oakland, according to a statement released Saturday by the governor's office. After the procedure to remove basal carcinoma cells, and some reconstructive surgery, Brown was released to return home. Basal cell carcinoma is one of the most common forms of skin cancer, and can be caused by sun exposure. The statement released by Brown's office said the procedure was conducted under a local anesthetic.