Free Republic

GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 600 million people worldwide work excessively long hours, with Peruvians topping the list and Britons the worst offenders amongst rich nations, the International Labour Organisation reported on Thursday. In a report on working trends in 50 countries, the United Nations agency said progress towards a maximum 48-hour week was still uneven nearly 100 years after the standard was agreed by ILO members. More than half (50.9 percent) of Peruvians work more than 48 hours a week followed by South Koreans (49.5), Thais (46.7) and Pakistanis (44.4). In developed countries, where working hours are generally shorter,...

Longer work hours may warm climate Janet Raloff U.S. employees work an average of 16 percent more hours per year than most of their European counterparts do—often with no increased productivity—a new study notes. A longer workday requires more energy for heat, light, and power, and the atmospheric emissions from that extra energy use contribute substantially to U.S. releases of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide. U.S. workers typically labor some 1,817 hours per year, compared with 1,560 hours per year among Europeans, who have shorter workdays and more vacation. "If the United States had adopted European standards for work hours,...

Flood made Britain into an island 'in 24 hours' By Tim Hall (Filed: 25/09/2006) Britain may have become an island after a Biblical-style flood split it from Europe in less than 24 hours, according to new geological research. The flood would have taken place between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago, sweeping away hills between Britain and what is now France. The theory could rewrite British prehistory, as current text-books teach that Britain - once a peninsula of continental Europe - split from the great land mass after a long process of erosion and rises in sea levels. However, surveys of...

Surgeons fought for hours to save Castro's life By Phil Hart in Havana (Filed: 06/08/2006) Doctors at the exclusive Cimeq hospital in western Havana are accustomed to handling the delicate health problems of Cuba's communist elite. It was here last weekend, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt, that they battled for several hours to save the life of the regime's most important patient, Fidel Castro. Unable to stem intestinal bleeding with drugs, the country's top surgeons performed an emergency operation on the veteran leader. To all but a handful of trusted doctors and his closest lieutenants, President Castro's medical condition has...

'I made a mixture of drugs and injected them. They were dead in three hours' Doctor provided first aid for insurgents - and went on to kill police and soldiers brought in for treatment Michael Howard in Kirkuk Monday April 17, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Lieutenant Arjuman of the Kirkuk police lay unconscious in the recovery room after a successful operation to remove an insurgent's bullet from his chest. His weary surgeons had gone home for the night, satisfied a life had been saved. Al-Jumhuriya hospital - Kirkuk's largest and busiest - was quiet. At 10.30pm, a doctor moved along...

2/14/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- A high-flying prototype “Airman” is heading home after being deployed more than four years and flying 4,245 hours supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and the Combined Task Force-Horn of Africa. Global Hawk Air Vehicle No. 3 began its journey back home at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Feb. 10, and is expected to land there Feb. 16. This unmanned aerial vehicle, AV-3, first deployed as a prototype during the build-up for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2002. It returned to Edwards for a couple of months and then was recalled by U.S. Central...

Greenwood, IN - An Indiana man is behind bars for intentionally leaving his girlfriend's children in a car in the frigid cold. On Sunday, police say Gary Willhoite left a six-year-old, a four-year-old, and a two-month old at a Greenwood gas station just south of Indianapolis. Authorities say he was angry with his girlfriend, so he left her kids in a car for six hours. By the time the children were found, police say ice had formed inside the car. Lt. Bob Dine with the Greenwood Police Department says, "The baby was in the car seat, had a wet diaper,...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel could launch a ground offensive in the occupied Gaza Strip "within hours" unless the Palestinian Authority cracks down on Islamic militants there, a senior government official was quoted as saying on Sunday. Israel Radio quoted Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim as saying tanks and troops that massed near Gaza over the weekend would begin a sweep of the coastal strip "within hours" if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas failed to meet the crackdown demand. Abbas urged Hamas and kindred Islamic militants on Saturday to halt attacks on Israel and return to a ceasefire seen as key to...

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Battle for Najaf shrine 'enters its last hours' By Toby Harnden in Najaf (Filed: 25/08/2004) American forces, newly supplemented by Iraqi National Guard troops, tightened the screw on the insurgents occupying Shia Islam's holiest site yesterday as the Baghdad government said the battle for Najaf was entering its "last hours". There were strong signs that the Americans were preparing for a final assault that would see a swift penetration of the Old City that encircles the shrine so that the Iraqi National Guard, almost certainly supported by US special forces soldiers in Arab dress, could enter the holy site. Iraqi...

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow By ADAM NAGOURNEY Published: April 9, 2004 Even by the standards of the revolving door that is sometimes the John Kerry campaign, the arrival and departure of Howard Wolfson – the high-powered political consultant from New York – had to be a record. Mr. Wolfson arrived at Mr. Kerry’s campaign headquarters on Monday to work as a communications consultant. He was on a train back to New York on Friday to return to his post at a political consulting firm. Mr. Wolfson said that his sudden departure from the campaign should not be taken as any...