some french butchers are giving away meat in an attempt to regain public confidence in their products.
 a bevy of butchers ferry steaming platters of barbecued beef to crowds in a central paris park. it's sane cow day in paris, according to the 200 butchers who organized the free cookout.
they're hoping locals will cast aside mounting fears in france over bse, the deadly brain wasting disease in cattle, and its human equivalent, variant creutzfeldt jakob disease.
 france's agriculture ministry announced four new cases of bse in cattle last friday, bringing this year's total to over 120 cases, more than four times the figure for 1999.