One in 10 shops empty, says BRC

















More than one in 10 shops are empty, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the highest since it began collecting data on occupancy levels of High Street premises.













The BRC said the town centre vacancy rate of 11.3% was the worst figure since its nationwide survey began in July 2011.


The figures come as the failed retailer Comet prepares to close stores.


The BRC said the worst affected region was Northern Ireland.


The vacancy rate there was 20%.


The two next worst regions, Wales and the North and Yorkshire, each had about 15% of retail premises lying empty.


The BRC’s director general, Stephen Robertson, said the new figures would set “alarm bells ringing”.


Other big branded chains that have either gone under or cut back their number of outlets include JJB Sports, Clinton Cards, Blacks Leisure, Game and Peacocks.


The BRC survey also said that overall footfall – which attempts to measure the number of shoppers – dropped by 0.4% on a year ago in the three months to October, with a big drop-off in numbers in October itself, when numbers fell by 2.6%.


The findings echo those from the Office for National Statistics, which last week showed retail sales fell 0.8% in October.


Mr Robertson said that retailers were also being hurt by higher prices and overheads: “Many retailers are battling stagnating sales and rising costs, and next year’s threatened business rates increase can only make matters worse.


“If the government wants to breathe life back into our town centres and ensure the retail industry can play its full role in job creation it needs to freeze rates in 2013.”


BBC News – Business



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Israel, Gaza fighting rages on as Egypt seeks truce
















GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel bombed Palestinian militant targets in the Gaza Strip from air and sea for a fifth straight day on Sunday, preparing for a possible ground invasion though Egypt saw “some indications” of a truce ahead.


Militant rocket fire into Israel subsided during the night but resumed in the morning with three rockets fired at the nearby coastal city of Ashkelon, the Israeli army said.













“As of now we have struck more than 1,000 targets, so Hamas should do the math over whether it is or isn’t worth it to cease fire,” Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon, over Twitter.


“If there is quiet in the South and no rockets and missiles are fired at Israel’s citizens nor terrorist attacks engineered from the Gaza Strip, we will not attack.”


Forty-eight Palestinians, about half of them civilians, including 13 children, have been killed in Israel’s raids, Palestinian officials said. More than 500 rockets fired from Gaza have hit Israel, killing three people and injuring dozens.


Israel unleashed intensive air strikes on Wednesday, killing the commander of the Hamas Islamist group that governs Gaza and spurns peace with the Jewish state. Israel’s declared goal is to deplete Gaza arsenals and press Hamas into stopping cross-border rocket fire that has plagued Israeli border towns for years.


Air raids continued past midnight into Sunday, with warships shelling from the sea. A Gaza City media building was hit, witnesses said, wounding 6 journalists and damaging facilities belonging to Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV as well as Britain’s Sky News.


An Israeli military spokeswoman said the strike had targeted a rooftop “transmission antenna used by Hamas to carry out terror activity”.


Two other predawn attacks on houses in the Jabalya refugee camp killed two children and wounded 13 other people, medical officials said.


These attacks followed a defiant statement by Hamas military spokesman Abu Ubaida, who told a news conference: “This round of confrontation will not be the last against the Zionist enemy and it is only the beginning.”


The masked gunman dressed in military fatigues insisted that despite Israel’s blows Hamas “is still strong enough to destroy the enemy”.


An Israeli attack on Saturday destroyed the house of a Hamas commander near the Egyptian border.


Casualties there were averted however, because Israel had fired non-exploding missiles at the building beforehand from a drone, which the militant’s family understood as a warning to flee, and thus their lives were spared, witnesses said.


Israeli aircraft also bombed Hamas government buildings in Gaza on Saturday, including the offices of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and a police headquarters.


Among those killed in air strikes on Gaza on Saturday were at least four suspected militants riding motorcycles, and several civilians including a 30-year-old woman.


ISRAELI SCHOOLS SHUT


Israel said it would keep schools in its south shut on Sunday as a precaution to avoid casualties from rocket strikes reaching as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in the past few days.


Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile interceptor system destroyed in mid-air a rocket fired by Gaza militants at Tel Aviv on Saturday, where volleyball games on the beach front came to an abrupt halt as air-raid sirens sounded.


Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack on Tel Aviv, the third against the city since Wednesday. It said it had fired an Iranian-designed Fajr-5 at the coastal metropolis, some 70 km (43 miles) north of Gaza.


In the Israeli Mediterranean port of Ashdod, a rocket ripped into several balconies. Police said five people were hurt.


Israel’s operation has drawn Western support for what U.S. and European leaders have called Israel’s right to self-defense, but there was also a growing number of calls from world leaders to seek an end to the violence.


British Prime Minister David Cameron “expressed concern over the risk of the conflict escalating further and the danger of further civilian casualties on both sides,” in a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a spokesperson for Cameron said.


London was “putting pressure on both sides to de-escalate,” the spokesman said, adding that Cameron had urged Netanyahu “to do everything possible to bring the conflict to an end.”


Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, said the United States would like to see the conflict resolved through “de-escalation” and diplomacy, but also believes Israel has a right to self-defense.


Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi said in Cairo as his security deputies sought to broker a truce with Hamas leaders, that “there are some indications that there is a possibility of a ceasefire soon, but we do not yet have firm guarantees.”


Egypt has mediated previous ceasefire deals between Israel and Hamas, the latest of which unraveled with recent violence.


A Palestinian official told Reuters the truce discussions would continue in Cairo on Sunday, saying “there is hope,” but it was too early to say whether the efforts would succeed.


In Jerusalem, an Israeli official declined to comment on the negotiations. Military commanders said Israel was prepared to fight on to achieve a goal of halting rocket fire from Gaza, which has plagued Israeli towns since late 2000, when failed peace talks led to the outbreak of a Palestinian uprising.


Diplomats at the United Nations said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to visit Israel and Egypt in the coming week to push for an end to the fighting.


POSSIBLE GROUND OFFENSIVE


Israel, with tanks and artillery positioned along the frontier, said it was still weighing a ground offensive.


Israeli cabinet ministers decided on Friday to more than double the current reserve troop quota set for the Gaza offensive to 75,000 and around 16,000 reservists have already been called up.


Asked by reporters whether a ground operation was possible, Major-General Tal Russo, commander of the Israeli forces on the Gaza frontier, said: “Definitely.”


“We have a plan. … It will take time. We need to have patience. It won’t be a day or two,” he added.


A possible move into the densely populated Gaza Strip and the risk of major casualties it brings would be a significant gamble for Netanyahu, favored to win a January election.


The last Gaza war, a three-week Israeli blitz and invasion over the New Year of 2008-09, killed 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Thirteen Israelis died in the conflict.


But the Gaza conflagration has stirred the pot of a Middle East already boiling from two years of Arab revolution and a civil war in Syria that threatens to spread beyond its borders.


One major change has been the election of an Islamist government in Cairo that is allied with Hamas, potentially narrowing Israel’s maneuvering room in confronting the Palestinian group. Israel and Egypt made peace in 1979.


(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Douglas Hamilton)


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Kansas robber recognizes victim from prison, gives wallet back
















KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Reuters) – A Kansas robber who helped seize a man’s cell phone and wallet at gunpoint recognized the victim as an ex-convict he had served time with and gave the possessions back, police said on Thursday.


A Wichita, Kansas man reported that two young men approached him on the street late on Wednesday, one of them brandishing a large semi-automatic handgun, Wichita police Sergeant Joe Schroeder said.













The gunman demanded the victim’s phone and took his wallet while the second man searched his pockets, Schroeder said.


“Then, he (the second man) realized he spent some time in prison with him. He apologized, shook hands and walked away,” Schroeder said.


Although the victim went to police and said he knew one of the robbers in prison, the man said he did not think he could identify them in a suspect line-up, Schroeder said.


(Editing by Greg McCune and Eric Walsh)


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Larry Clark film wins top prize at Rome fest
















ROME (AP) — A film by “Kids” director Larry Clark set in a small Texan town and to be released online only has taken the top award at Rome’s film festival.


“Marfa Girl” explores the inner life of a teenage boy and other characters in a town near the Mexican border and bustling with border patrol police.













The festival jury gave it the Golden Marcus Aurelius prize for best film on Saturday night.


Clark, whose other credits include “Bully” and “Ken Park,” says the new film won’t be distributed in theaters but will be available online later this month to get around the Hollywood system.


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Golf-Obsession drove Aussie Batibasaga to mental institution
















MELBOURNE, Nov 18 (Reuters) – The desire to improve can drive professional athletes to distraction, but for Australian golfer Rika Batibasaga it became a dangerous obsession that saw him handcuffed and thrown into a Florida mental institution.


In 2008, Batibasaga, whose father played international rugby for Fiji, was a 21-year-old living in Florida and grafting on the Nationwide Tour when his world spectacularly imploded.













“I was living away from home for the first time and it all got too much for me,” Batibasaga told Reuters at the Australian Masters in Melbourne on Sunday.


“I had a psychotic episode – it’s called psychosis. I lost the plot because of a lack of sleep – just due to stress.


“And I couldn’t control it and basically just flipped it out.”


Like hundreds of other young talents drawn to the United States to chase their dreams, Batibasaga felt hard work would prove the difference after he carried countryman and former house-mate Jason Day’s bag at a local tournament.


Feeling his game was not far off the professionals in that tournament, Batibasaga threw himself into a punishing training regime of 10-hour days hitting hundreds of balls, followed by running and gym sessions.


“It was stupid. It became an obsession. I felt I needed to push it a lot harder because I was almost there,” he recalled.


“But my brain just wouldn’t turn off and I would just get so frustrated and angry.


“When I went two or three days without sleep, I panicked and that it made it even worse. It just sort of snowballed.”


Into his sixth consecutive day without sleep, Batibasaga snapped.


Wearing just a pair of underwear, he jumped into a car belonging to the owner of the Orlando house he was living in and crashed it in the garage.


He jumped into another car, this one his house mate’s, and was arrested by police in front of Universal Studios.


“They both had their guns out. I guess it’s just America and they love pulling a gun on someone,” Batibasaga, an affable 25-year-old with a wispy beard, laughed.


“I was just driving around, I had no idea where I was going. I was in no state to drive.


“They put me in an ambulance, they obviously thought I was on drugs. They knocked me out at the hospital and I woke up feeling fine.”


With no phone or identification cards, Batibasaga was taken to a mental hospital where he spent “probably the scariest two days” of his life before being checked out.


The same problems came back to haunt him later, though, and he returned home for further treatment and a course of prescription drugs at a Brisbane hospital where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.


Batibasaga, who made the cut in his debut Australian Masters, has not suffered any further mental illness, and has learnt to take a more measured approach to success and failure.


He continues to grind on the minor tours but has shown signs of his promise, winning A$ 18,459 ($ 19,000) at the European Tour co-sanctioned Perth International last month for finishing joint 25th.


Batibasaga still has the green uniform from the Lakeside mental institution in Florida as a souvenir and wore it out to a New Year’s Eve party.


He says dozens of young golfers struggling to make the step up to the A-grade suffer from anxiety and depression that borders and often crosses over into mental illness.


“It’s rife. Because you’re always by yourself and if you’re not playing well, you go back to your hotel alone,” he said.


“When things aren’t going well, that’s when it’s tough.” ($ 1 = 0.9702 Australian dollars) (Editing by Nick Mulvenney)


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Europe’s Economy: Look Out Below, Again
















It’s official: Europe has double-dipped. The 17-country euro zone has fallen into its second recession since 2008, as figures released on Nov. 15 showed gross domestic product declining 0.1 percent during the third quarter. That followed a 0.2 percent contraction during the previous three months, according to the European Union’s statistics office.


There were some unexpected bright spots. Germany and France posted 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter growth, ahead of expectations. Even some of the region’s most troubled economies suffered relatively modest contractions, including 0.3 percent in Spain and 0.2 percent in Italy.













Overall, though, “Europe’s economic downturn has not only deepened; it’s broadened with a vengeance,” says Nicholas Spiro, managing director of Spiro Sovereign Strategy in London. Usually solid economies in such countries as Austria and the Netherlands were among those posting quarterly declines.


In some countries, even worse times could lie ahead. “Whereas austerity is starting to ease in Italy, Spain is heading for the point of maximum pain,” economist Holger Schmieding of Berenberg Bank in London wrote in a research note. Recent austerity measures in Spain “will likely lead to a more pronounced recession” during the current quarter and in early 2013, Schmieding says.


France’s 0.2 percent expansion, which followed three quarters of flat growth, “is probably the result of a temporary rebound at the European level,” says Michel Martinez, an economist at Société Générale in Paris. France “is heading to a moderate recession or at best remaining flat.”


The picture isn’t likely to improve soon, Spiro says. “We’re looking at a period of extreme weakness. This is all because of the repeated failures on the part of politicians to shore up confidence in the single currency area.”


Businessweek.com — Top News



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Jamaica to abolish slavery-era flogging law
















KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica is preparing to abolish a slavery-era law allowing flogging and whipping as means of punishing prisoners, the Caribbean country’s justice ministry said Thursday.


The ministry said the punishment hasn’t been ordered by a court since 2004 but the statutes remain in the island’s penal code. It was administered with strokes from a tamarind-tree switch or a cat o’nine tails, a whip made of nine, knotted cords.













Justice Minister Mark Golding says the “degrading” punishment is an anachronism which violates Jamaica’s international obligations and is preventing Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller‘s government from ratifying the U.N. convention against torture.


“The time has come to regularize this situation by getting these colonial-era laws off our books once and for all,” Golding said in a Thursday statement.


The Cabinet has already approved repealing the flogging law and amendments to other laws in the former British colony, where plantation slavery was particularly brutal.


The announcement was welcomed by human rights activists who view the flogging law as a barbaric throwback in a nation populated mostly by the descendants of slaves.


“We don’t really see that (the flogging law) has any part in the approach of dealing with crime in a modern democracy,” said group spokeswoman Susan Goffe.


But there are no shortage of crime-weary Jamaicans who feel that authorities should not drop the old statutes but instead enforce them, arguing that thieves who steal livestock or violent criminals who harm innocent people should receive a whipping to teach them a lesson.


“The worst criminals need strong punishing or else they’ll do crimes over and over,” said Chris Drummond, a Kingston man with three school-age children. “Getting locked up is not always enough.”


The last to suffer the punishment in Jamaica was Errol Pryce, who was sentenced to four years in prison and six lashes in 1994 for stabbing his mother-in-law.


Pryce was flogged the day before being released from prison in 1997 and later complained to the U.N. Human Rights Committee, which ruled in 2004 that the form of corporal punishment was cruel, inhuman and degrading and violated his rights. Jamaican courts then stopped ordering whipping or flogging.


Latin America News Headlines – Yahoo! News



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Analysis: New Microsoft mantra after Sinofsky – teamwork
















SEATTLE/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The sudden departure of powerful Windows boss Steven Sinofsky this week is the first step in a plan by CEO Steve Ballmer to remodel Microsoft Corp as a much more integrated operation in an attempt to take on Apple Inc and Google Inc at their own game.


After nearly 13 years at the helm of the world’s largest software maker, which just launched its first own-brand computer, sources inside the company say Sinofsky‘s departure signals Ballmer‘s new-found focus on co-operation between its self-sufficient – and sometimes warring – units.













“What I’m hearing over and over is collaboration and horizontal integration is the new mantra,” said one Microsoft insider, who asked not to be named. “They (top management) understand that, if they don’t move to a model where devices and software are more integrated across the entire Microsoft system, they are in a weak position.”


After floundering for most of the last decade, Microsoft is trying emulate the way Apple‘s software and hardware – such as iTunes and the iPhone – work perfectly together; or how Google‘s online suite from Web search to YouTube and Gmail are seamlessly joined.


Microsoft – which Ballmer rechristened as a “devices and services company” last month – has all the parts, analysts say, but has failed to put them together. Now Ballmer looks set to reshape the company to try to make that a reality.


“I certainly expect the org chart to look a lot different six months from now,” said Brad Silverberg, who ran the Windows unit during its massive growth spurt in the 1990s. “There will be attrition from Steven’s (Sinofsky’s) people and Steve Ballmer will have a chance to create a more harmonious organization.”


Ballmer replaced Sinofsky with two executives with a reputation for co-operation. The move marks the third time in the last few years that Ballmer has replaced a single unit head with two leaders sharing responsibilities.


“Sinofsky really centralized all the power under himself. We’ll see how it shakes out from here,” said one manager in the Windows unit.


More fundamental organizational shifts could be in the cards.


“A lot of things are up for grabs,” said David Smith at tech research firm Gartner. “How the management is structured – there could be more changes.”


NO ROOM FOR AN EMPIRE BUILDER


Sinofsky, a 23-year Microsoft veteran, built up a walled empire around his Windows unit.


His hard-charging but methodical style, which took on the name “Sinofskyization,” alienated other groups in the company, especially the Office unit, the other financial pillar of Microsoft‘s success.


“Steven is a brilliant guy who made tremendous contributions to Microsoft,” said Silverberg. “But he was also a polarizing guy and the antibodies ultimately caught up with him.”


The decision not to share the latest internal test versions of Windows 8 and keep the Surface tablet a secret until just before its announcement especially upset the Office group, which insiders say accounts for the lack of a fully featured Office suite on the Surface RT tablet.


“All good leaders create friction, but my guess is the cost of doing business with Sinofsky ended up outweighing the benefits,” said a former Microsoft staffer who saw Sinofsky operate at close quarters.


“If you work in Steven’s team, you love him,” said a former colleague who now works for a financial technology firm in Seattle. “If he’s outside of your team? That’s where his reputation of being hard to work with came from.”


Ballmer has made it clear that executives have to work together better. Next year, top managers will get bonuses based on company-wide performance, not just their own unit, which Ballmer hopes will lead to “deeper cross-organization collaboration.”


But there is no guarantee Ballmer can radically redirect almost four decades of culture at Microsoft – which he is partly responsible for – that gave Windows primacy and intentionally pitted teams against one another to get the best results.


Nothing will change without new leaders from outside the company, said Trip Chowdhry, managing director at Global Equities Research.


Microsoft is clinging to the past and they keep bringing in the people from the past. This is a fundamental flaw in the logic,” Chowdhry said.


CEO THRONE


Despite urging collaboration, Ballmer – a 32-year Microsoft veteran who took over as CEO from Bill Gates in 2000 – does not let any junior executive get too close to challenging his authority.


Sinofsky, widely touted as Ballmer’s successor for the past three years, was just the latest in a line of would-be CEOs. Over the last five years alone, Ballmer has seen off a clutch of rising stars that were discussed as potential leaders.


Windows and online head Kevin Johnson went to run Juniper Networks Inc, Office chief Stephen Elop went to lead phone maker Nokia, while Ray Ozzie – the software guru Bill Gates designated as Microsoft‘s big-picture thinker – left to start his own project.


“They’ve gone through quite a bit of senior management talent in the past few years. The bench is not what it used to be,” said Smith at Gartner. “The overall management structure, career path, replacements, succession planning – a lot of that is an issue for Microsoft.”


Ballmer’s promotion of Julie Larson-Green and Tami Reller to jointly fill Sinofsky’s role may only be temporary, Microsoft-watchers say.


“The question is what comes after, like in the next three years,” said Rob Helm at Directions on Microsoft, an independent firm that advises business customers on how to deal with Microsoft.


(Reporting By Bill Rigby in Seattle and Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco.; Editing by Edward Tobin, Martin Howell and Andre Grenon)


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“Gangnam Style” song channels New Yorkers’ power woes
















NEW YORK (Reuters) – Move over Psy. The next hot thing – at least on Long Island, New York – is a music video parodying the South Korean rapper and dancer’s blockbuster hit, “Gangnam Style.”


While the locally produced “LIPA Style” may not attract millions of YouTube views, it’s channeling the frustration of thousands of disgruntled New Yorkers, many of whom went weeks without power after Sandy slammed the East Coast last month.













“There’s been this outpouring of thanks,” said John “Online” Mingione, a correspondent for a Long Island radio station, who created the video after going more than week without power.


After watching the video, people “are saying this is the first time they’ve been able to smile in weeks,” said Mingione.


The response to the cleanup by the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has resulted in lawsuits and investigations. The chief operating officer of the state-owned utility also quit under fire for the company’s slow response in restoring power.


Mingione, 23, did not initially mind going without power at his Long Island home. But after five days, the food and friends were gone, and he started to get lonely and bored. A colleague came up with the idea for the song, which was inspired by thousands of complaints the station – WBLI/106.1 FM – received from listeners.


In less than a week, the video with its lyrics about life without power, pleas for help from LIPA and absurd dance moves performed by Mingione and two co-workers in faux LIPA uniforms with a local 5-year-old has been viewed more than 250,000 times on YouTube.


Mingione’s favorite line: “I’m running out of formula, my baby won’t stop crying” which included footage with a co-worker’s infant son.


“I know they’re working their hardest,” he said. “It’s not the linemen’s fault, but at this point it’s ridiculous that people are still without power.”


(Reporting by Jilian Mincer; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Jackie Frank)


Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News



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Rising obesity strains Europe’s shrinking health budgets
















LONDON (Reuters) – More than half of Europeans are obese or overweight, adding significant pressure to healthcare costs at a time when spending is being cut by governments, the OECD and European Commission said on Friday.


On average across the European Union, health spending per capita rose by 4.6 percent a year in real terms between 2000 and 2009, but fell 0.6 percent in 2010.













In a report on health across the 27-nation bloc, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Brussels-based Commission, said 52 percent of adults in the EU are now overweight or obese.


The report blamed physical inactivity and the widespread availability of energy-dense, sugary and fatty foods.


In 18 countries out of the 27 member states, the proportion of overweight and obese adults now exceeds 50 percent and the obesity rate, at 17 percent on average across the region, has doubled since 1990 in many countries.


“(The rise) is a major public health concern,” the report said. “Because obesity is associated with higher risks of chronic illnesses, it is linked to significant additional healthcare costs.”


The report noted that the growing cost burden coincided with governments around Europe cutting spending to reduce the debts left over from the 2008 financial crisis.


“Spending had already started to fall in 2009 in countries hardest hit by the economic crisis,” it said. “But this was followed by deeper cuts in 2010 in response to growing budgetary pressures and rising debt-to-GDP ratios.”


As a result, EU members spent an average of 9.0 percent of their GDP on health in 2010, up from 7.3 percent in 2000, but down from a peak of 9.2 percent in 2009.


The Netherlands was the highest, devoting 12 pct of its gross domestic product to health in 2010, followed by France and Germany, both at 11.6 percent.


The rate of obesity in France is close to twice what it was in 1990 but at 12.9 percent it is still less than half the rate in Britain of 26.1 percent.


The risk of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, asthma, arthritis and some forms of cancer is increased by obesity.


Although it was affecting all populations, obesity tended to be worse among the poor and less well educated, and was more prevalent in women than men.


People with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 30 are classed as overweight while those at 30 or higher are obese. BMI is formula of weight and height that differs slightly depending on whether it is done in kilograms and meters or pounds and inches.


Despite the fall in health spending, life expectancy in the EU continued to rise and stood at an average 79 years in 2010, up more than six years since 1980.


This was driven by improved living and working conditions as well as better access to higher quality healthcare.


But Yves Leterme, the OECD Deputy Secretary-General, and Paola Testori Coggi, head of the Commission’s directorate for health, had a warning for EU governments.


“If the report does not yet show any worsening health outcomes due to the crisis, there is no cause for complacency – it takes time for poor social conditions or poor quality care to take its toll from people’s health,” they said in a joint foreword to the report.


(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)


Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News



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