BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS Boy 'molested in closet every week for 1 year' Teacher allegedly sexually abused student before sending him back to class with note
Officials call meeting after slayings
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS -- France's health minister on Sunday called for hospitals and police to work more closely after two hospital workers were found slain - one decapitated and the other with her throat slit - at a psychiatric facility.
The killings in the idyllic southwestern town of Pau shocked France, and hospitals across the country were to observe a moment of silence Monday to honor the two slain women.
Investigators released five men who had been brought in the day before for questioning - one of them a former hospital patient who the media had said was the prime suspect. State prosecutor Eric Maurel denied that, telling The Associated Press that "no evidence has been found against him at this stage."
The bodies were found at daybreak Saturday in the hospital's geriatric ward, where a shattered window indicated a possible break-in, Maurel said. Officials said the nurse's head was found on top of a TV set at the hospital.
The men who were questioned ranged from 30 to 40 years old and were drunk when arrested, Maurel said. One of them had called police the night before the bodies were found with "information about a violent scenario," Maurel said. He and three others at his home were questioned.
A judicial probe was to be opened early in the week, he said.
Health Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy held an urgent meeting Sunday with health workers and Interior Ministry officials, the Health Ministry said.
"All emergency services, but also psychiatric services, must be linked directly to police stations," Douste-Blazy told reporters after the meeting.
Union leaders faulted a staff and funding shortage. They said security had been a problem for months, dozens of jobs were to be cut, and violence at the hospital was a common occurrence.
"It is horror, terror, fear, disgust - fear of returning to work," Cathy Sanders, a regional official from Worker's Front union, told RTL radio. "Last night, the staff was doubled" as a precaution, she said.
A front-page headline on Sunday newspaper Journal du Dimanche read: "Scenes of hospital horror."
Pau is known as a charming town of sunny skies, gardens and palm trees, nestled at the foot of the Pyrenees. As the birthplace of Henri IV, this year-round tourist destination is as popular among history buffs as it is among winter sports enthusiasts.
Douste-Blazy said last week that he would present a mental health reform package by March.
Argh!
Clean this country out and let's start all over.
Start with all the camel lovers here.
Christmas cancelled due to lack of interest
By Sophie Goodchild, Home Affairs Correspondent
19 December 2004
It will be a bleak midwinter for Manchester churches, according to the first major study of seasonal congregations. The capital of the north will have Britain's emptiest pews on Christmas Day.