Reconstruction

A half-completed prison in Iraq that cost $40 million marked the biggest reconstruction failure identified to date by a U.S. government watchdog, which on Monday laid responsibility for the project with a Pasadena contractor. The company, Parsons Corp., said the project was too dangerous to finish.

Rising production and skyrocketing prices could more than double the Iraqi government's expected bonanza in oil revenue this year, leading a top U.S. government auditor to call for an end to American funding of Iraqi reconstruction projects. The Iraqi government had projected 2008 oil revenue of about $35 billion. But a U.S. report to be issued today by the special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction will say that oil production in the second quarter of the year hit 2.

In one of the most misguided reconstruction projects attempted in Iraq, the U.S. spent nearly $100 million to build a sewage treatment system for the city of Fallouja, according to a government audit report released today. Sewage continues to run in the streets, and the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found that the system may never be properly connected to individual homes, lacks the necessary fuel to operate and is unlikely to ever cover the full city.

All approaches to the stately Taj Mahal hotel remain blocked by police checkpoints, and the smell of its charred woodwork continues to waft in the heavy air of Mumbai's crowded waterfront. But the doors of this Victorian symbol of last month's terrorist attacks will reopen tonight, along with the similarly targeted Oberoi hotel across town, in the highest-profile attempt yet by this scarred city to return to normality. Like other efforts here to deal with the fallout of the Nov.

Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the newly installed day-to-day commander of military operations in Iraq, said that success here would depend on a multi-pronged strategy that included economic aid and political negotiations in addition to increased military actions targeting Shiite and Sunni Arab militants.

For nearly a year, a team of U.S. civilian and military officials has worked from small, sparsely furnished offices here trying to help Iraqi officials with their most urgent needs: building a local government and providing basic public services. "Provincial reconstruction teams" like this one are expected to be central to the economic component of the new Iraq policy that President Bush plans to unveil today. But in emphasizing such steps, Bush and his aides are courting widespread skepticism.

The military's new strategy for Iraq envisions creating "gated communities" in Baghdad -- sealing off discrete areas and forcibly removing insurgents, then stationing American units in the neighborhood to keep the peace and working to create jobs for residents. The U.S. so far has found it impossible to secure the sprawling city. But by focusing an increased number of troops in selected neighborhoods, the military hopes it can create islands of security segregated from the chaos beyond.

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.

The main street of Ganta, shrouded with dust and decorated with ribbons of plastic rubbish, hardly seems worth fighting over. Three years after the end of the civil wars that burned across the country for 14 years, tribal rivalries over land and housing are threatening to tear apart this east-central Liberian border town once more.

The often-contentious relationship between historic preservationists and private homeowners has flared up here in recent weeks, as activists determined to save the city's distinct architecture face off against Hurricane Katrina victims who can't afford to repair architecturally significant homes -- and need a place to live.