David Ortez

According to the Wall Street Journal, China is on the verge of implementing “a controversial plan to achieve universal care that would both increase health-care funding and control prices.” The plan’s goal is to cover 90% of the population by 2010 and the rest by 2020.

Critics of Universal Health Care claim that it is only possible in smaller countries. They also cite that the quality of our health care will deteriorate the more people we have to care for. After reading about the Dallas patient that waited over 19 hours in a hospital and never saw a Doctor but was billed $162 for her wait, I do not think our health care can get any worse.

Lawsuit Challenges Immigration Raids in New Jersey – Immigration agents systematically entered homes and made arrests without proper warrants during raids to round up immigration fugitives in New Jersey, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday. The lawsuit, brought by lawyers at the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, will provide a constitutional test of law enforcement methods often used by immigration agents since May 2006 when they began operations across the country to track down and deport immigrants who had been ordered to leave by the courts.

Olympics ‘worsening China rights’ – China’s human rights record is getting worse, not better, because of the Beijing Olympics, a rights group says. According to Amnesty International, China is clamping down on dissent in a bid to portray a stable and harmonious image ahead of the Games in August.

80,000 Jobs Cut in March; Unemployment Rate Rises – The economy shed 80,000 jobs in March, the third consecutive month of rising unemployment, presenting a stark sign that the country may already be in a recession. Sharp downturns in the manufacturing and construction sectors led the decline, the biggest in five years. The Labor Department also said employers cut far more jobs in January and February than originally estimated.

Back to pencil and paper for 2010 census – Technology problems will force the government to count all of the nation’s 300 million residents the old-fashioned way in the 2010 census — with paper and pencil.

Gene links smokers and lung cancer – Three new studies analyzing the genetics of lung cancer have identified two inherited gene variations that raise white smokers’ chances of getting the disease by as much as 80 percent compared to tobacco users without the genes. All smokers have a tenfold greater risk for lung cancer than nonsmokers, but less than 20 percent of smokers eventually develop the disease. Scientists believe heredity is why some smokers are more likely to develop lung cancer.

Consumer spending hits lowest point in 17 months – Consumers, jolted by a credit crisis, job cuts and soaring energy costs, turned in the weakest spending performance in 17 months in February, further evidence that the risks of a recession are increasing. The Commerce Department said today that consumer spending edged up by just 0.1 percent last month, the poorest showing since September 2006. And if the effects of inflation are removed, spending was flat in February, the third consecutive month of sluggish activity.

China Law Could Impede Microsoft Deal for Yahoo – Microsoft’s hostile-takeover attempt against Yahoo may encounter an unexpected hurdle in August after a Chinese antimonopoly law takes effect that will extend the nation’s economic influence far beyond its borders. The law, which goes into effect on Aug. 1, is intended to strengthen an existing set of antitrust regulations the Chinese originally established in 1993.

Ledger’s Joker could be biggest posthumous movie role -  Heath Ledger’s frenzied reinvention of the Joker had fans and colleagues buzzing. His dreadful clown face was seen online by millions, and stood as the goosebump-raising image upon which nearly all early marketing of "The Dark Knight" hinged. Now the Batman archfiend stands as Ledger’s next-to-last performance. And while it’s not the first, "The Dark Knight" has already emerged as arguably the biggest movie featuring a posthumous role in Hollywood history.

Cuba lifts curbs on mobile phones – Cubans are to be allowed unrestricted access to mobile phones for the first time, in the latest reform announced under new President Raul Castro. Some Cubans already own mobile phones, but they have had to acquire them via a third party, often foreigners.

Human noses ‘can detect danger’ – Our noses can quickly learn to link even subtle changes in smell with danger, claim scientists. Volunteers who could not differentiate between two similar smells found they could do it easily after being given a mild electric shock alongside one.

D.C.’s ban on handgun gets its day at Supreme Court – The District of Columbia is asking the Supreme Court to preserve the capital’s ban on handguns in a major case over the meaning of the Second Amendment’s "right to keep and bear arms." A Washington resident who wants to keep handguns at home for protection is challenging the 32-year-old ban as a violation of his constitutional rights.

Poll: McCain, Obama, Clinton in dead heat in election matchup – Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would both statistically tie Republican John McCain in a general election matchup, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll indicates. If Obama were to win the nomination, he would get 47 percent of the vote compared to 46 percent for McCain — a statistical tie given the poll’s 3 percentage point margin of error. Should Clinton win the nomination, the poll suggests she would get 49 percent compared to McCain’s 47 percent — another statistical tie.

Sudan and Chad Sign Peace Pact – President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan and President Idriss Déby of Chad on Thursday signed a peace agreement meant to end cross-border rebel attacks in a region that includes Darfur. 

US admits economy is in downturn – US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has admitted that the US economy is facing a "sharp decline" at the moment but hoped for a recovery later in the year. The news comes after the US central bank, the Federal Reserve intervened to rescue troubled bank Bear Stearns, providing $30bn in emergency support.

Dalai Lama Says He’ll Resign if Violence Escalates – The Dalai Lama on Tuesday invited international observers, including Chinese officials, to scour his offices here and investigate whether he had any role in inciting the latest anti-Chinese violence in Tibet. He also threatened to resign as leader of Tibet’s government-in-exile in the event of spiraling bloodshed in his homeland. 

With McGrady locked down, Alston steps up as Rockets take over top West spot – Rafer Alston scored 31 points and hit eight 3-pointers, both career highs, and the Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 104-92 to stretch their streak to 22 and claim sole possession of first place in the Western Conference.

Historic agreement for Israel, Germany – Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert chaired a joint session of members of the two countries’ Cabinets, at which both governments signed off on a range of projects, including in education, the environment and defense. The two sides agreed to hold such meetings once a year, alternating as hosts.

U.S. Markets Volatile After Fed Actions – Stocks got off to a rocky start on Monday as Wall Street weighed a stunning series of weekend developments that confirmed investors’ worst fears about the fragile state of the financial industry.

China Blocks YouTube After Videos of Tibet Protests Are Posted – Internet users in China were blocked from seeing YouTube.com on Sunday after dozens of videos about protests in Tibet appeared on the popular American video Web site. The blocking added to the Communist government’s efforts to control what the public saw and heard about protests that erupted Friday in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, against Chinese rule.

US House passes surveillance law – The US House of Representatives has passed a surveillance bill that would allow lawsuits against phone companies. President George Bush has promised to veto the bill because it does not give immunity to companies that participated in a controversial wiretap programme. 

Who gets rich off $3 gas – who doesn’t – Motorists may fume when forking over $3 a gallon at the local service station, but as it turns out, your local filling spot makes chump change from a gallon of gas. So exactly who is getting rich? The guy running the service station makes just a few cents, while crude oil producers take the biggest chunk.

Violence in Tibet as Monks Clash With the Police – Violence erupted Friday morning in a busy market area of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, as Buddhist monks and other ethnic Tibetans brawled with Chinese security forces in bloody clashes.

U.S. Image Abroad Hard to Fix, Longtime Ally Says – Bernard Kouchner, the foreign minister of France and a longtime humanitarian, diplomatic and political activist, said this week that whoever succeeds President Bush might restore something of the United States’ battered image and standing overseas but that “the magic is over.”

EU-US agree on visa waiver talks – The EU and the US have agreed on a twin approach in their talks on doing away with visas for travel to the US. The US will negotiate with the 27-member bloc as a whole, but will also talk to individual countries.

Streak hits 21 with Lakers up next – Their run was in peril but they refused to let it end, driving themselves to a second-half comeback and an 89-80 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night that pushed the Rockets’ winning streak to 21 games, the second longest in NBA history.

Beijing rebuffs Olympics critics – China’s foreign minister has strongly criticised "anti-China forces" he says are determined to politicise this year’s Beijing Olympics. In recent weeks human rights groups and a number of Hollywood personalities, including Steven Spielberg, have stepped up criticism of China’s record.

Spitzer Resigns, Citing Personal Failings – Gov. Eliot Spitzer, reeling from revelations that he had been a client of a prostitution ring, announced his resignation today, becoming the first governor of New York to be forced from office in nearly a century.

Leaving it all behind, to bike around the world – In 2002, at the ages of 62 and 48, Pat and Catherine Patterson decided to leave it all behind. They sold their real-estate business and their cars, gave their furniture to their children, and put their home up for rent. Strapping their remaining possessions to two bicycles, the couple set off to bike around the world.

Euro tops $1.55 for first time – The euro has set a new record high against the US dollar, passing $1.55 for the first time.

Study: 1 in 4 teen girls has an STD – A virus that causes cervical cancer is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection in teen girls aged 14 to 19, while the highest overall prevalence is among black girls — nearly half the blacks studied had at least one STD. That rate compared with 20 percent among both whites and Mexican-American teens, the study from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.