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Mars rover recovering from memory problems 13:35 28 January 04 NewScientist.com news service A full revival of the Mars rover Spirit from its electronic ailments now seems highly likely. Engineers now think there is no real hardware or software problems, but something much easier to fix - a simple overload of files in its onboard memory. If further testing confirms this diagnosis, that will be very good news for Spirit's twin, Opportunity. Any software bug or hardware weakness would probably be present in both rovers and might require weeks of analysis and repair. But if, as it appears, the problem...

<p>BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Prospects for a European Union constitution are clouded going into talks Friday in Italy, with members deeply divided over the text and over the flaunting of EU fiscal rules by France and Germany.</p> <p>Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, whose country now holds the rotating EU presidency, tried to put an optimistic face on the two-day session in Naples, Italy.</p>

Red meat molecule 'may cause health problems' Eating red meat introduces a potentially dangerous non-human molecule into the body tissues, new research has showed. A study found that the molecule, a sugar only found in non-human mammals, is absorbed into tissues such as blood vessels and secretory cells. Tests showed that it can generate an immune response which might induce harmful inflammation. The scientists have not ruled out a link with cancer and heart disease - although they acknowledge that at present this is speculation. To date, research has focused on the role of red meat saturated fats and chemical...

NEW YORK Aug. 28 — Nearly two years after the World Trade Center attack, a medical screening program continues to reveal a surprisingly high rate of physical and mental problems among cleanup and rescue workers. About 48 percent of workers screened had ear, nose and throat problems such as nasal congestion, hoarseness, headaches and throat irritation, according to the latest figures. Thirty percent had pulmonary problems, including shortness of breath, persistent cough and wheezing. The data reflect patients screened between July 2002 and April 2003. But the director of the program's medical component said patients have continued to report symptoms...

More grandpas and grandmas are getting divorced but many of them, after their initial feeling of freedom and relief, regret their move. So says Prof. Solly Dreiman of the behavioral science department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, who conducted a study of divorce among those over age 45. The clinical psychologist said that 32 percent of men and 24% of women who divorce are over 45. One of the main causes is disruption and imbalance in the couple's lives caused by "empty nest syndrome" after their children grow up and leave home. With preoccupation with their offspring...

<p>SACRAMENTO - The state budget Gov. Gray Davis plans to sign Saturday sticks a Band-Aid on California's record $38.2 billion deficit but fails to cure its fundamental financial woes.</p> <p>Even as lawmakers fled the capital and its searing heat Wednesday, the sighs of relief over finally reaching a budget compromise were replaced with the realization that when they return they'll have to defuse a ticking time bomb: a $7.9 billion shortfall.</p>

MILLBRAE -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry blasted efforts to recall Gov. Gray Davis and said President Bush should call on state Republicans to halt the campaign. The remarks came during a campaign stop here Friday, ahead of the President's visit to Burlingame later in the day to raise money for his 2004 re-election drive. "Republicans are making an effort to recall that is like the monkeying that went on with the 2000 election," Kerry said referring to the controversial presidential election that year. "Just because you are upset with a budget doesn't mean you change your governor." Sen. Kerry,...

Japan’s chilling Internet suicide pacts New trend highlights social problems, mental health crisis By Kari Huus MSNBC June 10 — The discovery Sunday of the bodies of four young Japanese men in a car at a vista point near Mount Fuji appears to be more evidence of a grim new trend in the prosperous country — group suicides of strangers who meet over the Internet. The suicide pacts, which have resulted in at least 18 deaths since February, are shocking to experts, even in a nation plagued by an astronomical suicide rate.

Third World attacks failure of Evian to tackle its problemsIn an attempt to present a united front, contentious issues were avoided in 'least substantive" meeting to date By John Lichfield in Evian 04 June 2003 The G8 summit of the world's richest countries ended yesterday with a ringing cry of economic confidence and the generation of more statements than ever before. But pressure groups for the Third World complained - and officials close to the summit admitted - that this had been a choreographed summit of fixed smiles that evaded all the most contentious issues, from the plunge of the...

<p>The revised budget Gov. Gray Davis proposed Wednesday represents a risky leap into the world of deficit financing, relying on an off-the-books $11 billion loan and a prayer that the economy will revive to bail out the state.</p> <p>It's bad enough that Davis is proposing to pay for our recent consumption of government services over the next five years, a move that might be unavoidable now that the hole is too deep to crawl out of without a ladder. But the governor is compounding that problem by declining to offer a plan that rids the state of its multibillion-dollar structural deficit.</p>

Chirac popularity falls as economic problems return By Philip Delves Broughton in Paris (Filed: 03/05/2003) The political benefits of President Jacques Chirac's diplomatic war with America appear to have reached their expiry date as the latest polls show his domestic popularity dropping sharply from a month ago. At their highest, the polls showed that M Chirac had the confidence of 75 per cent of French voters and more than 85 per cent backed his opposition to war in Iraq. Not since Georges Pompidou had a president received such support. But with the memories of the war fading and social and...

JEDDAH, 12 April 2003 — There was a Saudi working with a Bangladeshi in the Jeddah fruit market for SR60 a day. One day he had an argument with the Bangladeshi and the Bangladeshi fired him. This is the reality of Saudization in the fruit market. Saudization, Al-Madinah newspaper wrote, is failing wherever it rears its head. It failed in the car industry and it failed in the gold shops, because many of them closed after several Saudis turned down jobs in the business. The newspaper asked what went wrong. Many believe that the problem is caused by the inadequate...

NASA Administrators Under Fire For Oversights NASA (news - web sites) managers spent Moday afternoon being grilled by Columbia accident investigators. The major question from investigators: why foam insulation has repeatedly fallen off the shuttle's external fuel tank during launches, and why that problem was never fixed, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported. When the large external tank separates, cameras take a picture. Pictures taken from previous shuttle launches repeatedly showed chunks missing from the external fuel tank. The pictures revealed chunks missing from the same place on several different missions. Investigators have theorized that chunks flew off the tank, damaging Columbia's...

NASA engineer wanted photos of damage to Columbia days before breakup WASHINGTON - NASA (news - web sites)'s chief shuttle engineer wrote in a draft e-mail days before Columbia's fiery breakup that a failure to seek photographs of possible damage to the shuttle's left wing was wrong and "bordering on irresponsible," according to internal documents. But Alan R. "Rodney" Rocha never sent the message to his colleagues at the space agency. In the draft, Rocha cautioned that severe enough damage to delicate insulating tiles near Columbia's wheel compartment "could present potentially grave hazards." Rocha's draft e-mail, which NASA said was...

Shuttle Team Sought Satellite Assessment of Liftoff Damage Two or three days after the space shuttle Columbia's liftoff, a group of NASA engineers asked the shuttle program manager to request the aid of United States spy satellites in determining the extent of debris damage to the shuttle's left wing, but the manager declined to do so, a senior NASA official said yesterday. Advertisement The official said the satellites would "absolutely" have helped the engineers measure any damage to the wing's protective heat tiles from debris slamming into them about 81 seconds after liftoff on Jan. 16. He said Lambert Austin,...

© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com Bill Clinton inherited a strong nation with a growing economy, a bull market in stocks and few serious threats from overseas. Over the past eight years, he has undone all that. America is weak and now vulnerable to several foreign threats; the Nasdaq just turned in its worst year in history; and the economy is on the verge of a hard landing. It is customary in business and elsewhere for an employee or officer of a company to maintain a record of the duties and pitfalls of his or her job to present to an eventual replacement (hopefully in...

FREEPERS TAKE NOTE: One thread discussing marijuana legalization generates > 1000 comments. Dozens of threads discussing police abuse of power generate > 600 comments. We have some serious problems facing this nation. Government is a problem. The economy is a problem. The people living here are a a problem. External enemies (Muslim Extremists) are a problem. Drugs are a problem. Sexual immorality is a problem. Don’t have room to list all of the problems. What’s the solution? Well, someone posted the above except that the threads about police abuse have WAY OVER 150 comments each. In fact, one has over...

Discipline problems on the rise in schools Emily Peters / The Town Talk Posted on September 24, 2002 Burline Vallier, a teacher at Rosenthal Montessori School in Alexandria, LA, has seen student discipline decline in her 27 years in the classroom. "Discipline has definitely become more of an issue," she said. "I've seen the changes broken families have brought. More students are home alone. There is a lack of respect for adults." Vallier summarizes the feeling of some Rapides teachers: Discipline in the classroom is important, but parental involvement is the bigger issue. In a poll of Louisiana public schoolteachers,...

Problems at the polls By First Coast News Staff JACKSONVILLE, Fl - Some of the problems that caused the extended voting period Tuesday night was caused by a variety of problems - from understaffed polling sites to problems with the new optical scanners. It has been so bad that many of the candidates are asking the Department of Justice to send observers to our area to investigate these problems. Many of these observers are already in other counties across the state. At the voting precinct in Springfield, the polls didn't open until an hour and a half later than scheduled...