Audit finds Iraq funds squandered
A U.S. government audit found American-led occupation authorities squandered tens of millions of dollars that were supposed to be used to rebuild Iraq through undocumented spending and outright fraud. In some cases, auditors recommend criminal charges be filed against the perpetrators. In others, it asks the U.S. ambassador to recoup the money.
Dryly written audit reports describe the Coalition Provisional Authority’s offices in the south-central city of Hillah being awash in bricks of $100 bills taken from a central vault without documentation. It describes one agent who kept almost $700,000 in cash in an unlocked footlocker and mentions a U.S. soldier who gambled away as much as $60,000 in reconstruction funds in the Philippines.
The report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction is one in a series of audits for the Pentagon and State Department.
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Dumped bag baby rescued from lake
A baby girl was found inside a plastic bag floating on a lake in Brazil after passers-by heard her crying. The infant was released from a hospital Sunday in good health, doctors said.
Amateur footage broadcast on Brazilian TV showed rescuers using a tree branch to pull the black plastic bag out of the water Saturday. They opened the bag and found the 2-month-old girl inside, wearing a pink dress.
“I heard what sounded like a cat,” Jose da Cruz told Globo TV. “Then the noise was increasing and it caught my attention.”
A wooden board inside the bag apparently kept it from sinking in the lake in downtown Belo Horizonte, a city about 300 miles northeast of Sao Paulo. “It’s a miracle she survived the heat and somehow didn’t drown,” said Dr. Claudia Guimaraes, who helped care for the child.
The baby’s mother, arrested Sunday, denied throwing the girl into the lake, Globo reported. The mother said she gave the baby away to a group of homeless people because she didn’t have enough money to raise the child.
Vatican City
Pope urges fight against poverty
Pope Benedict XVI called on world leaders to unite in the fight against poverty Sunday and sent two doves flying into St. Peter’s Square in a symbol of peace, continuing a tradition begun by his predecessor, John Paul II.
From his studio window overlooking the square, Benedict offered a special greeting to those who suffer from leprosy, a disease that affects hundreds of thousands.
Noting that Sunday was World Day of Leprosy sufferers, the pontiff encouraged missionaries, health care personnel and volunteers working in the field against the scourge.”Leprosy is a symptom of a more serious and vaster ill, which is poverty,” Benedict told pilgrims, tourists and a group of Italian Catholic children in the square.