BEIJING -- Chinese President Hu Jintao Friday assessed earthquake damage in Sichuan province where the death toll may top 50,000.Hu described the rescue and relief effort mounted by tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians as "forceful, orderly and effective," the state-run Xinhua news agency reported."The challenge is still daunting, the task is still arduous and the time pressing," Hu said in Mianyang city.He said while the so-called "golden time" of 72 hours after an ... [full story]

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Six sea lions found dead in traps near a dam on the Columbia River in Oregon were killed by heatstroke, the National Marine Fisheries Service said.Necropsies ruled out the possibility the animals were shot by vandals, The Portland Oregonian reported. Experts who examined the carcasses concluded the evidence was consistent with overheating.Sea lions have a thick layer of blubber, which makes them vulnerable to overheating when they are out of water. In ... [full story]

TACOMA, Wash., May 16 (UPI) -- A tribal judge with the Makah Nation in Washington state had to give up prosecuting five men for illegally killing a gray whale because he could not get a jury.One of the whalers told the Seattle Times the judge questioned 200 potential jurors from Neah Bay, a remote settlement on the Olympic Peninsula. But he was unable to find jurors who were not related to one of the defendants ... [full story]

ST. GEORGE, Utah -- A lawyer for the Utah man facing trial for marrying his first cousin while she was a juvenile says a book by the defendant's ex-wife threatens the proceedings."Stolen Innocence," by Elissa Walls, was released Tuesday.A hearing for Allen Steed scheduled for Thursday was postponed for 60 days at the request of both prosecution and defense, the Deseret Morning News reported. Both sides said factors outside their control made a continuance desirable.Polygamist ... [full story]

OTAY MESA, Calif. -- The controversial military contractor Blackwater denies it used deception to get permits to convert a California warehouse into a training center.Local officials did not realize Blackwater was the purchaser of the warehouse in Otay Mesa until they got an inside tip, the Los Angeles Times reported. The company dropped plans in March for a larger facility in the desert 45 miles from San Diego, which was opposed by a coalition of ... [full story]

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Cuban police experts are in Venezuela to design a training program for the country's National Police, officials said.The delegation of Cuban police is led by the chief of the National Revolutionary Police of Cuba, Ramon Rodriguez Curbelo, and will remain in Venezuela for three months to conduct its training, El Nuevo Herald reported Thursday.Cuba regularly sends teachers and doctors to Venezuela to provide education and healthcare in the country's poorest neighborhoods. In ... [full story]

CLEVELAND -- An Ohio firefighter was convicted Thursday of killing a neighbor and two other people because he was angry about a noisy party.Terrance Hough Jr. of Cleveland could face the death penalty for aggravated murder, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. The sentence will be decided by the same jury that convicted Hough after the penalty phase of the trial.Hough, 36, shot and killed his next-door neighbor, Jacob Feichtner, 24, and Katherine Rosby and Bruce ... [full story]

What happened to me when I was trying to fly home recently is no different than what happens to people every day. My flight from Memphis, Tenn., to San Diego was cancelled at the last minute. The airline assured me that they could get me home by noon the next day, fully 15 hours after they had promised to do when I bought the ticket. So I was no longer flying from Memphis to Dallas ... [full story]

Today's workers are obviously attached to their laptops, cell phones, Blackberries and pagers. Thirty-seven percent of employees, according to Yahoo! HotJobs' annual virtual workplace survey that questioned more than 1,465 participants, are more relaxed than stressed when carrying a wireless device to stay in contact with work. And 42 percent of workers feel indifferent toward their gadgets. Tom Musbach, managing editor of Yahoo! HotJobs, finds it interesting that most employees think it is normal to ... [full story]

The San Francisco Fairmont's new general manager is an old style hotelier with an up-to-the-nanosecond mind-set on how to treat travelers. Give them everything they want even if they have to pay for it, and emblaze your brand of hospitality in their brain so they never forget you. "Businesspeople want recognition, speed, flexibility, security, choice, comfort food, generous beverages and fine dining when they have a meeting," says Tom Klein, a GQ kind of dresser ... [full story]