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NEARLY a quarter of French operating theatres should be closed because they do not meet safety standards, a report commissioned by the government warned this week in a blistering attack on a health service long vaunted as the world's best. To add to the woes of French doctors and their patients, the Hospital Federation of France, which represents almost all public hospitals, said yesterday the health service faced a deficit of more than £1 billion for 2006. French hospitals receive £34 billion in funding each year. The French health service has long been praised for its high standards of care...

Seasonal Sandstorms: a Survival Guide Satellite images released by the Korea Meteorological Administration of sandstorms that blanketed the nation between 4:30 a.m. Saturday (top) and 11 a.m. on Sunday. As the annual sandstorms are blown into Korea from the arid wastes of Mongolia, the annual health questions emerge. Are an itchy nose and itchy ears a sign of danger? Will sunglasses protect the eyes? The Chosun Ilbo has the lowdown on surviving seasonal sandstorms. First of all, bear in mind that you inhale as much as three times more dust than normal when the sandstorms descend. And the dust contains...

confirmed killed by wolves... the confirmed kills varied from the reported animal deaths and values, which came to 40 animals valued at roughly $40,000. He cautioned people not to draw conclusions about the confirmed numbers, because unconfirmed kills are often those in which the livestock is discovered too late to actually identify, by tracks, tooth marks or other means, the actual cause of death. Their agency is part of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, though they often are mistaken for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is part of the...

The prevailing wisdom on skilled work being shifted abroad - outsourced - is that it is anecdotally alarming but not really a big deal economically. Sure, the thinking goes, some software engineers and others are losing their jobs to low-cost workers in India, but there is always churning in the dynamic American job market of 130 million people. It's what makes the United States economy competitive. Last Monday, at a dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, Mark R. Anderson, editor of The Strategic News Service, a technology newsletter, sounded like a traitor to his class. He was speaking to...

The government agency leading the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay has consistently overstated its progress while minimizing threats to the bay and its own failures to address them, according to a federal oversight report released yesterday. ... The criticism comes amid growing angst among policymakers and the public that an agreement reached five years ago for cleaning the bay by 2010 could fail without a big political and financial boost. In the agreement, known as Chesapeake 2000, the region's political and environmental leaders proposed cutting the amount of major pollutants that enter the bay nearly in half over a decade....

In a report released Friday, the investigative arm of Congress found that fully electronic voting machines hold promise for U.S. elections but still have security and reliability problems. E-voting failures in elections have been a problem in California, and the state's experiences are mentioned several times in the latest report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Analysts for the GAO found that crucial vote-recording and tallying files could be altered, that voting software often had weak or nonexistent password protections and that manufacturers had installed unapproved software in several places, including California. Yet fixing those problems could be years away....

NEW YORK (AFP) - Former US president Bill Clinton gathered world leaders at his alternative to the UN summit, with the same goals of reducing poverty and conflict and highlighting Gaza on opening night. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, King Abdullah II of Jordan and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were the stars at the first session of the Clinton Global Initiative on Thursday night. While the UN summit struggles to answer the main problems facing the planet: nuclear proliferation, terrorism and the fight against poverty and disease, Clinton hopes to secure concrete commitments to counter the different scourges...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, just one day after praising Sacramento politicians for trying to negotiate a deal on his reform agenda, took a combative tone Friday and insisted that the Nov. 8 special election "is not a referendum on me'' but on the state's lawmakers "who created the problems in California.'' The California governor, at an appearance at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, vowed to pass his self-styled reform agenda of shortened teacher tenure, a budget cap and a new political redistricting plan "no matter how many unions or special interests get in my way.'' But the governor's critics have a different...

How to Make Your Wife Feel Insecure Milan: A Macedonian motorist stopped for gasoline,while on the road to Rome. His wife decided to make a “pit stop” while they were at the station. Six hours later , the police in Milan contacted him : had he, perhaps forgotten something ? If not, why was his wife still in their fair city : penniless, without documentation, and extremely irate ? ( Gee, Officer : I THOUGHT she was kinda quiet !) Salt Lake City: A 35 year old man disappeared in late July, while on a solo hiking trip in southwestern...

HAVANA - President Fidel Castro said Tuesday his government was revolutionizing Cuba's aging electrical system, asking a nation weary of recent breakdowns to be patient while his government works to fix the problems. Summer heat in the 90s and hours-long blackouts that stop fans and water pumps and cause refrigerated food to spoil have increasingly irritated Cubans and led to reports of small, sporadic protests and scattered anti-government graffiti. While occasional blackouts are common every summer, Cubans say these are the most frequent and longest of recent years. "We will overcome. Have a little bit of faith," the Cuban leader...

As more comes to light about Diane Griego Erwin, the former Sacramento Bee columnist, the more revealing and instructive the story becomes. It is a story we mentioned in a recent Media Monitor, but much more has come to light. In one sense, it is another validation for the New Media, specifically the blogs; and for another, it shines a light on problems related to diversity in the newsrooms, when diversity strictly refers to skin color. It also spells potential big trouble for the Sacramento Bee editor, Rick Rodriguez, the new president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE)....

RIGA - The number of Latvian residents with a negative opinion about the European Union increased in June, a poll revealed. In May, 20 percent of respondents said the EU was a “bad thing,” while in June the figure rose to 25.5 percent, said the European Union Information Agency. These respondents were mostly people living in Latvia’s central region of Zemgale, non-Latvians, unemployed persons and those older than 55. In May, 36 percent of respondents said the EU was a “good thing” while in June that figure dropped to 30 percent. This included young people aged 18-24, persons with higher...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A state report paints a bleak portrait of California's public school finances, finding that as many as 79 districts may not be able to pay their bills in two years. One-third of the state's 982 public school districts have tapped reserves to make ends meet, with 14 expecting to run out of money in the next two years, according to a report released Thursday. Another 65 districts reported a possibility that their expenses would outpace revenues within that time. Ten of the 79 most financially troubled schools are in Los Angeles County. "For the first time in...

SACRAMENTO - It's like a credit card bill that California lawmakers can't seem to get under control - the state budget deficit born of a perpetual imbalance between what the state spends and what it takes in. The gap stood at $17 billion last year, had been projected to be almost $9 billion this year and is likely to be about $5 billion in the 2006-2007 fiscal year. Despite a balanced-budget agreement struck this week, economists and fiscal analysts warn that future shortfalls are likely to continue until a long-term fix is found. "We haven't come to grips with the...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday created a task force charged with improving the economy and quality of life in California's San Joaquin Valley, a quickly developing region beleaguered by high unemployment, suburban sprawl and some of the nation's dirtiest air. The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley establishes a 26-member panel that includes government representatives and those from the private sector. "I want to make this task force a model for how state governments can work together more effectively with local governments and the regional economy," the governor said. "The valley is home to the...

The light is blinking red. Media crises and controversies seem to be reaching a tipping point. Dissatisfaction with the media ranges from disgust and outrage to general suspicion. This sensibility is spreading like a virus via the blogosphere, media watchdogs, and books written by media insiders. Factors include inappropriate influence by political figures, use of unreliable anonymous sources, use of non-existent sources, laziness, general dishonesty, corporate bean-counters, corporate influence on content, pressure to not displease advertisers, infotainment mentality, staff cutbacks, loss of morale in the newsroom, payola, lack of opportunity for enterprise reporting or the pressures of the 24-hour news...

The state budget is a mess. Traffic is a nightmare. There aren't enough good jobs or affordable homes. The schools are overcrowded, most are failing. The health care system is on the verge of collapse. And yet in 20 years, these may be remembered as the good ol' days. So say researchers at the Public Policy Institute of California, who have amassed mountains of data to suggest that as bad as the current state of affairs in California is, things are going to get a lot worse, approaching crisis levels by 2025, unless dramatic steps are taken soon. Fed in...

The experimental lightweight concrete on the new Benicia Bridge is not drying properly, and Caltrans says it may need $130 million to correct the problem. It is only the latest in a series of snafus that have plagued the new Interstate 680 span and caused costs to shoot up from an official estimate of $385 million in 1999 to $1.06 billion before Caltrans' discovery this week. First, poor rock quality under the Carquinez Strait slowed and complicated the construction of foundations. Then, noise from the work unexpectedly killed endangered fish. Then, Caltrans design mistakes, including failing to prepare for construction...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A report commissioned by the United Nations calls for a formal investigation into the operation of the widely praised U.N. office that helps organize elections around the world, citing staff allegations of sexual and professional harassment and the possible misuse of money to support travel for a favored group of staff members. The report by a Swiss-based management consulting firm, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, focuses on the management of the Electoral Assistance Division by Carina Perelli, an Uruguayan whose work in helping organize elections in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Palestinian territories has received high...

This a.m., I have found a Harley Davidson motorcycle on my ebay account for sale which I do NOT own!I don't know how it happened and am in the process of contacting ebay. Any other ebay users need to check accounts immediately! I have no idea as to whom the motorcycle belongs or how to find out as my personal information is still on the account. Anyone else having problems?