Saturday, March 21, 2009

New Jersey has reversed its plans for a state-wide ban on bikini waxing after salon owners from across the state spoke out against the proposal.

The New Jersey Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling planned to consider a ban on so-called “Brazilian waxes” in response to two women who reported being injured during a wax.

But state Consumer Affairs Director David Szuchman, who oversees the board, asked them to abandon the ban in favor of reviewing and establishing safeguards for those who provide the service.

“Many commentators have noted that the procedure could be safely performed,” Szuchman wrote in a letter to state board President Ronald Jerome Brown, according to the Asbury Park Press. “I, therefore, believe that there are alternative means to address any public health issues identified by the board.

Salon owners from across the state expressed relief with Szuchman’s decision.

“It was an unnecessary issue,” spa owner Linda Orsuto told the Associated Press. “In New Jersey especially, where the government has been picking our pockets for so long, it was like, ‘Just stay out of our pants, will you?'”

Although millions of Americans get bikini waxes, which generally cost between $50 and $60 per session, the practice comes with risks. Skin care experts say the hot wax can irritate delicate skin in the bikini area, and result in infections, ingrown hairs and rashes.

Waxing on the face, neck, abdomen, legs and arms are permitted in New Jersey. Although state statutes have always banned bikini waxing, the laws are seldom enforced because the wording is unclear.

If the measure had passed, New Jersey might have become the only US state to ban the practice outright.

Although Szuchman’s letter was crafted more as a recommendation than an order, media reports said the ban would likely never be approved without his support because his office oversees the board.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Thomas Sam, 42, and his wife Manju Sam, 36, from Sydney, Australia, are undergoing trial for manslaughter by gross negligence for the death of their nine-month-old child, Gloria. She died from infection caused by severe eczema after they shunned effective conventional medical treatments for homeopathy, a form of alternative medicine that has been described as pseudoscience. Articles in peer-reviewed academic journals including Social Science & Medicine have characterized homeopathy as a form of quackery.

Gloria developed severe eczema at the age of four months and the parents were advised to send the child to a skin specialist. Thomas Sam, a practising homeopath, instead decided to treat his daughter himself. His daughter’s condition deteriorated, to the point that the baby spent all her energy battling the infections caused by the constant breaking of the skin, leading to severe malnutrition and, eventually, her death. By the end, Gloria’s eczema was so severe that her skin broke every time her parents changed her clothes or nappy, and in the words of the Crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, “Gloria spent a lot of the last five months of her life crying, irritable, scratching and the only thing that gave her solace was to suck on her mother’s breast.” Gloria also became unable to move her legs.

Mr. Tedeschi also told the court that, over the last five months of her life, “Gloria’s eczema played a devastating role in her overall health and it is asserted by the Crown that both her parents knew this and discussed it with each other.” However, despite their child’s severe illness, and her lack of improvement, the Sams continued to shun conventional medical treatment, instead seeking help from other homeopaths and naturopaths. Gloria temporarily improved during the rare times they used conventional treatments, but they soon dropped them in favour of homeopathy, and she consistently worsened.

Allegedly, Thomas’ sister pleaded with him to send Gloria to a conventional medical doctor, but he replied “I am not able to do that”. The parents are also accused of putting their social life ahead of their child, taking her on a trip to India and leaving her to servants while embarking on a busy social schedule, and giving her homeopathic drops instead of using the prescription creams they had been given.

Gloria was finally taken to the emergency department shortly before her death. By this time, “her skin was weeping, her body malnourished and her corneas melting”, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Speaking in the parents’ defense, Tom Molomby, SC, said that, as the parents came from India, where homeopathy is in common use, they should be declared not guilty due to cultural differences.

Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine which treats patients with massively diluted forms of substances that, if given to a healthy person undiluted, would cause symptoms similar to the disease. Typical treatments take the dilutions, with ritualised shaking between each step of the dilution, past the level where any molecules of the original substance are likely to remain; for homeopathic treatments to work, basic well-understood concepts in chemistry and physics would have to be wrong. There is no evidence that homeopathy is more effective than placebo for any condition.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The results of Saturday’s presidential run-off elections in Sierra Leone are being tallied, and early data indicated that opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma of All People’s Congress (APC) was out front with 64 percent support. Vice President Solomon Berewa of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) had garnered 36 percent support, according to the country’s election commission.

However, only 18 percent of the polls had been tallied so far and the election commission pointed out that the early poll results came mainly from an area in western Sierra Leone having strong support for APC. It could take up to 12 days to count all the votes. For the results that have been tabulated, voter turnout has been determined to be approximately 73 percent.

The lead-up to the run-off election had been marred by reports of violence and, on election day, monitors had observed some irregularities such as ballot box stuffing and excessive voter registrations. However, most observers, both domestic and international, agreed that the elections were carried out in an orderly fashion.

On September 2, the two presidential candidates signed a communiqué, which outlined ten “matters of concern” to be dealt with “immediately”. The agreement laid out a framework for cooperation on issues such as security and a weapons ban. There was a declaration to condemn “all actions of intimidation, harassment and use of provocative language, physical violence directed at any person/persons or the malicious destruction of property for any reason.”

One group of election monitors from the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDIIA) expressed their satisfaction with the election process. “Despite heightened tension and several reported instances of election-related violence during the campaign period, the delegation considers that the overall electoral process was generally transparent and peaceful,” said NDIIA in a statement on September 10.

The September 8 run-off elections followed the first round of presidential and parliamentary elections held on August 11, which were the second held since 2002 after the end of the civil war. Opposition leader Koroma, 54, garnered 44 percent of the vote, while Berewa, 69, won 38 percent support. Should Koroma win ultimately, it would mark the APC’s return to power for the first time since it was overthrown in a 1992 coup.

In a statement following Saturday’s run-off elections, the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed Mr. Ban’s support for the process. “The Secretary-General is pleased to note that the second round of the presidential election in Sierra Leone took place on September 8 in a generally orderly and peaceful atmosphere, in spite of the tensions and violence that marred the campaign period. The Secretary-General urges the political parties and people of Sierra Leone to exercise restraint as counting of the ballots proceeds and to resolve all arising disputes through the existing legal channels.”

Spokesman for the U.S. Department of State Sean McCormack relayed the sentiment of the administration. “The United States congratulates the Republic of Sierra Leone for the peaceful presidential run-off electoral process on September 8, 2007. We commend the independent National Electoral Commission, the Sierra Leone Police, and especially the people of Sierra Leone for the overall calm and sense of order shown as voters cast their ballots.”

The winning candidate will take over from current president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah who, by law, must step down after his current, second term in office.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Marty Bahamonde, the only FEMA emplyee in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina, testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, contradicts former FEMA director Michael Brown’s testimony and says Brown ignored his pleas for help.

In an August 31 Blackberry email:

“Sir, I know you know that this situation is past critical. Here are some things you might not know. Hotels are kicking people out, thousands gathering in the streets with no food or water. Hundreds still being rescued from homes” and “medical staff at the Dome expect to run out of oxygen in about 2 hours”

In an email from one of Brown’s aids:”Please schedule Joe Scarborough this evening… Also, it is very important that time is allowed for Mr. Brown to eat dinner. Gievn[sic] that Baton Rouge is back to normal, restaurants are getting busy”

Monday, August 8, 2005

NASA has postponed the landing of the Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-114, planned for today.

Officials initially delayed the landing, but finally cancelled any attempts for today citing the reason as “unstable, unacceptable cloud cover [with the] potential for showers in vicinity of landing site.”

Landing the space shuttle craft has been likened to landing a “brick“. The approach to the landing field is at a steep pitch (nose up) and a high rate of descent. The shuttle is not very maneuverable and has one shot at the correct landing approach. Pilots cannot re-fire the engines to circle around for another approach, which is why low cloud cover is of such concern.

Discovery has spent twelve days in orbit. On Tuesday, there will be six landing opportunities: two each at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Edwards Air Force Base in California, and White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Shuttle managers prefer a landing at Kennedy, but will consider the alternate sites if bad weather in Florida rules out landing there. NASA administrators insist that the shuttle will land tomorrow at one of the three sites, rather than spending yet another day in orbit.

The flight marked the first time a shuttle has been inspected in orbit. The crew made two space walks to effect minor repairs to the Orbiter’s thermal protection system as a result.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Buffalo, New York —Buffalo, New York developers have been stymied by old real estate deeds.

The prospective Elmwood Village Hotel may be scuttled and businesses now located there may be forced to move.

Frustrations over property located in an area once known as “Granger Estates” circulate around a clause in the original deeds over land divided by then-owner Erastus Granger in the early 1800’s.

According to the documents, “no business establishment of any kind whatsoever” shall ever be constructed on the property, and they shall forever be exclusively for residential use only. Also prohibited are barns, farms and stables.

Sam Savarino, CEO of Savarino Companies, the prospective hotel developer, announced that his legal research team found the restrictions on properties located between 1109 and 1121 Elmwood Avenue which also stated in part that “no businesses, hospitality establishment of anykind whatsoever” shall ever be permitted to be built on the property.

Savarino, whom is expected to contest the restrictions, said that his company could have ignored the findings, but that, “we can’t risk the future of a multimillion-dollar project on the hope they wouldn’t be discovered. Our opponents would have had a field day if they’d surfaced after the fact.”

Savarino said his attorneys and researchers are anticipated to determine “exactly what weight the restrictions carry and if there’s a way for the courts to negate them.”

Existing businesses are also jeopardized.

Hans Mobius, owner of some of the restricted properties upon which a carriage house is built, said, he wasn’t aware of any restrictions, and “never had a reason to research the deed and title documents.” He confidently added that, “the lawyers can get this taken care of.”

Other threatened businesses include Don Apparel, H.O.D. Tattoo, Forest Plaza Art Gallery and Allentown Music.

==Sources==

• Sharon Linstedt. “Restrictions in old deeds threaten hotel” — Buffalo News, November 18, 2006

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

According to NATO, one of its service members has died from a bomb attack at an army base in southern Afghanistan. In addition, an Afghan soldier reportedly died and the blast left three others injured.

The International Security Assistance Force released a statement yesterday, saying that “[the soldier] died today following an explosion at an Afghan National Army facility in Kabul.” An anonymous official said that the blast occurred when a mortar fuse exploded while a training exercise was underway. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the incident, saying that an infiltrator had caused the explosion.

This latest death brings the total death toll of foreign soldiers in 2010 to 166 in Afghanistan.

The last deaths reported by NATO were of two Dutch soldiers killed Saturday by a roadside bomb in the Uruzgan province. The Netherlands’ Defense Ministry said a third Dutch soldier had been seriously wounded in that attack.