President Barack Obama has called for the U

The territorial dispute is still unresolved but Morocco has poured money into defending the majority of Western Sahara it controls, developed its mineral resources and fisheries and awarded oil exploration permits to foreign firms. Polisario has long accused Morocco of illegally exploiting Western Sahara's wealth and put pressure on foreign companies working with Morocco in the territory to cease their activities. Morocco says ancestral rights justify its presence in the territory and that most Sahrawis consider themselves Moroccan. SADR President Mohammed Abdelaziz called on foreign governments and companies to reconsider agreements with Morocco that do not explicitly exclude Western Sahara. "In particular we call upon the European Union to suspend immediately the 2005 EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement in its current form, and to prevent EU vessels from encroaching upon the waters of Western Sahara," he said in the statement The U.N. has overseen four rounds of slow-moving talks to resolve what is Africa's longest-running territorial dispute but analysts say neither Morocco nor Polisario is willing to concede enough ground to allow for meaningful negotiations (Editing by Tim Pearce).

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The tough U.S. economy is forcing hard choices on health-care managers around the country, such as those at Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago, which is closing its skilled nursing unit to cut costs. U.S."We just can't afford to operate that any longer," said Mark Newton, the chief executive officer of the hospital, established nearly 123 years ago by a Swedish evangelical group to serve immigrants seeking to build new lives in America.The hospital was probably one of the last in Chicago to offer a place for patients needing longer recovery times and close access to doctors, Newton said. The skilled nursing unit has been typically used by 20 patients at a time.Swedish Covenant, like many other U.S. non-profit hospitals, has been hit hard by the crunch in credit markets, which it has relied upon for funding, and is now trying to cope with a fast-sinking economy.A report in November by the American Hospital Association found that unpaid care for patients without private health insurance was up 8 percent from July to September 2008 compared to the same period a year earlier.At the same time, many hospitals said elective procedures and admissions were down, further cutting into revenues.Hospitals, which employ 5 million workers nationwide, saw their margins dip into the negative category in the third quarter of 2008, as many looked to cut costs, staff and services, according to the report."Primarily, the economy has had a multiple impact on (hospitals') financial performance," said Lisa Goldstein, a heath-care analyst at Moody's Investors Service.The credit ratings agency has a negative outlook on the entire U.S. health-care sector including non-profit and for-profit hospitals, health-care insurers and medical products and device manufacturers for the first time ever, meaning it could cut eventually their ratings.Goldstein said hospital investment income declined at the same time as they are facing cutbacks in Medicaid, a state and federally funded health-care program for the uninsured poor, as states struggle with their own financial problems.GRIM PROSPECTSIn a report on Wednesday, Standard & Poor's, which also maintains a negative outlook on the non-profit hospital sector, said 2009 will be a tough year for health-care providers.It cited such conditions as deteriorating credit quality, the expectation that ratings downgrades will substantially exceed upgrades and a likely rash of credit outlooks revised to negative.The Detroit Medical Center, a group of eight specialty hospitals and a cancer institute located mainly in Detroit, will be keeping a close eye on the state of Michigan's fiscal 2010 budget deliberations as state revenue continues to sink, according to Jay Rising, the center's chief financial officer."How the 2010 budget plays out for them will be important to us," he said, adding he hoped the governor and legislature would maintain a "real commitment" in terms of financing health care and particularly safety net hospitals.With a third of its patients covered by Medicaid, the hospital system has made collection efforts and payment options a priority as patient balances balloon due to the higher upfront payments and self-pay thresholds that many must now meet, Rising said.There was also hope that the new U.S. government would provide a boost for Medicaid as part of an economic stimulus package, Rising added.President Barack Obama has called for the U.S.

House of Representatives last week responded with a proposed package that includes one of Obama's major campaign pledges computerizing health records.STIMULUS EYEDThe stimulus proposal, which Democrats hope to pass next month, would give hospitals billions of dollars to renovate clinics and research facilities, beef up wellness programs and provide $30.3 billion to insure the unemployed.Meanwhile, hospital financing costs have grown more expensive, eating into hospitals' bottom lines or forcing the postponement of new financings.Swedish Covenant was just one of many non-profit hospitals that took advantage of the auction-rate market where long-term debt could normally fetch attractive lower interest rates.But that all changed as the subprime mortgage crisis hit municipal bond insurers, which guaranteed much of that debt. The insurers began to lose their top ratings, auctions began to fail and Swedish Covenant saw interest rates on its debt soar to as much as 12 percent last February, according to Newton.He estimated that conversion of the auction-rate debt to variable-rate demand bonds, swap termination payments, bank letter of credit support and other related items cost the hospital nearly $20 million, or 10 percent of its net revenue.Newton said no one anticipated that muni bond insurance would essentially disappear, the auction-rate market would freeze and the cost of credit enhancement for variable-rate debt would triple.Looking forward, he is wary."What else is out there that could be problematic" he asked.The refunding of hospital auction-rate bonds helped push health-care debt issuance up to nearly $61 billion in 2008 from $49 billion in 2007, according to Thomson Reuters data.Rising said while the Detroit Medical Center is eyeing new financings, including a debt issue for a $30 million pediatric center, the municipal market continues to be a barren place."The market right now is at a point where we'll have to pay a premium where a year ago there wasn't much of a risk premium," he said, adding the medical center, which is rated in the "BB" category, will wait until a deal could be done at a "reasonable price."(Reporting by Karen Pierog, additional reporting by Lisa Lambert in Washington; editing by Gary Crosse) U.S.. But overall this season they have had a lot of good moments and some bad.Offensively, Tech looked like the same team we have seen the past three seasons after their opening game against Alabama. The time of possession was dominated by Alabama (37-plus minutes) and Ryan Williams was the only bright spot for the offense.The Hokies responded nicely the following week against Marshall, but then reverted to old form, until the final drive, against Nebraska. Since that point, Tech's offense has beenformidable and, for once, they weren't the main reason for the team's defeat against Georgia Tech. Defense: CVirginia Tech's defense has been average at best, and inconsistent throughout much of the season. Rushing defense has been their biggest weakness, as exposed by Georgia Tech, who ran for over 300 yards on the Hokies.Though the defense is very young in the middle, there's no reason for your starters to be missing tackles and allowing so many big plays through the air. Maybe it looks worse than it actually is because of past years' success, but the Hokies have a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball.Excluding this past weekend, when was the last time a Virginia Tech defense was solely responsible for the team's loss Special Teams: AShould this section be titled "Special Teams" or "Dyrell Roberts" Either way, the Hokies' special teams has once again been one of their strongest qualities. Roberts is a beast on kickoffs, true freshman Jayron Hosley has been very good on punt returns, and the Hokies have done a pretty good job of defending and blocking punts and kicks of the opposing squad. Coaching: B-Bryan Stinespring, Virginia Tech's offensive coordinator, has been very impressive in his play calling so far this season, and maybe that can be attributed to more experience on offense.Bud Foster has had a difficult time adjusting to younger linebackers. I've never seen Foster struggle the way he did against Paul Johson and Georgia Tech this past weekend. Every time Foster made a change, Johnson countered and took the Hokies' best playmaker in the secondary, Kam Chancellor, out of the game. Foster and the Hokies were dumbfounded.Frank Beamer has done a good job of managing the roster as a whole, but I've been a little disappointed in how certain players (David Wilson, Logan Thomas, Greg Boone) have been utilized.Thomas was one of the top athletes in the nation coming out of high school, but the coaching staff decided he's going to be a quarterback down the line. That's fine, but I was a little disappointed not to see him on the field as a receiver.Wilson has hardly been used at all outside of the Marshall game, but it seems he's starting to find himself in a few more formations each week. It's still not too late for Wilson to bust out. It's only the mid-way point.Boone has basically been non-existent this year. He was injured against Alabama, causing him to miss a couple of games. On the field the last couple of weeks, Boone looks like he's just another blocker. Expectations: D A D never looks good, but the Hokies have once again underachieved. They were expected to compete for a national title, and did so through six games. That ended in their seventh game, against Georgia Tech, when the Hokies' national title aspirations fell to the wayside and their chances at a thirdconsecutive ACC Championship took a hit.The ACC Championship is still within reach, or else the Hokies would havereceived an F in this category. If they end up getting to the ACC Championship game they will likely win because they'll be playing a team from the ACC's Atlantic Division. This also goes for Georgia Tech, Miami and even Virginia because that's how big of a joke the Atlantic has been.It's tough to say that three straight ACC Titles and Orange Bowlappearances would be disappointing. But when you're not competing for national championships, it'sdisappointing. Overall: CThe Hokies have improved in key areas (quarterback, running back, wide receiver, special teams), but they've regressed on defense. Virginia Tech is through the toughest part of their schedule, with a couple of scars to show for it.If the Hokies run the table, it's notguaranteed they make the ACC Championship game. Right now, the Hokies need tofocus on what's in front of them and worry about the technicalities when they come If they come.. Morgan Stanley analyst Nigel Dally, in a note to clients,said there had been a "severe decline in the price of varioushybrid securities issued by European financial institutions."He said he believed Aflac had "significant exposure" to thesecurities.