Unheeded warnings, poor planning and apathy in recognising the scope of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction led to the slow emergency response from the White House down to local officials, a damning US government investigation says.

I AM surprised at Tom Carew's remarks about Noam Chomsky (Irish Examiner letters, January 24).

Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms burst into the home of a Sunni Arab sheikh today, killing him, three of his sons and a son-in-law in what police believe may have been aimed at discouraging Sunnis from participating in next month’s election.

HE has been called an idiot, an incompetent and worse. The vilification of federal disaster chief Michael Brown, emerging as chief scapegoat for whatever went wrong in the US Government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, has ratcheted into the stratosphere.

THE Jodi Jones case is the latest in a line of controversies Goth rock star Marilyn Manson has been drawn into.

DEMOCRATIC presidential contender John Kerry holds a shrinking three-point lead over Howard Dean on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, according to the latest poll.

DEMOCRATIC presidential hopeful John Kerry’s lead over Howard Dean dipped slightly, but he still holds a formidable seven-point advantage two days before the New Hampshire primary, according to a Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby poll released yesterday.

FOUR Democrats were locked in a tight race last night on the eve of Iowa’s presidential caucuses, with John Kerry clinging to a narrow lead, according to a poll released yesterday (Pic: Howard Dean).

THE White House said yesterday the federal budget deficit would balloon to a record $455 billion this fiscal year after absorbing heavy costs from the war in Iraq. It also said it would climb a further $20 billion in 2004, a presidential election year.

The US Senate yesterday sided with environmentalists over the Bush administration’s controversial plans to open up some of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration.