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Nation & World
NASA: foam caused space shuttle disaster
NASA investigators have concluded that a piece of foam that hit Columbia during its launch is what caused a hole to open in the front edge of the shuttle's left wing and allowed superheated air to burn it apart on re-entry.
The conclusion is a turnaround for NASA. In the early days after Columbia disintegrated on Feb. 1, NASA's top officials said they did not see how the foam insulation that fell off the external fuel tank could have significantly damaged the shuttle's heat-protective skin. Administrator Sean O'Keefe derided critics who had placed blame on the foam as "foamologists." NASA also relied on an engineering analysis conducted before Columbia's re-entry that said the foam hit would not pose a danger.
Secret Service tracking U.S. currency
Investigators are trying to figure out how hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars ended up in Iraq despite U.N. sanctions.
The Secret Service is checking to see if piles of $100 bills are genuine. The $100 bill is the most counterfeited U.S. note outside of the United States. If the bills are legitimate, they could have come into Iraq through oil and cash smuggling schemes, illegal trade deals and sham businesses.
U.S. soldiers discovered more than $600 million in packets of new $100 bills hidden behind a false wall in Baghdad.
The Los Angeles Times reports that $656 million was found last week in a neighborhood along the Tigris River.
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