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Thursday, February 24, 2005

A paste containing synthetic tooth enamel can seal small cavities without drilling. Kazue Yamagishi and colleagues at the FAP Dental Institute in Tokyo say that the paste can repair small cavities in 15 minutes.

Currently, fillers don’t stick to such small cavities so dentists must drill bigger holes. Hydroxyapatite crystals, of which natural enamel is made, bond with teeth to repair tiny areas of damage.

Yamagishi and colleagues have tested their paste on a lower premolar tooth that showed early signs of decay. They found that the synthetic enamel merged with the natural enamel. The synthetic enamel also appears to make teeth stronger which will improve resistance to future decay. As with drilling, however, there is still the potential for pain: The paste is strongly acidic to encourage crystal growth and causes inflammation if it touches the gums.

The paste is reported in the journal Nature.

Saturday, September 9, 2006

Pope Benedict XVI told Canada to end gay marriage and instructed Roman Catholic politicians not to vote for gay marriage, urging them not to sacrifice their personal beliefs for the sake of opinion polls and social trends. Benedict met with Ontario bishops at the Vatican in Rome.

“In the name of tolerance, your country has had to endure the folly of the redefinition of spouse,” the Pope told the bishops. “In the name of freedom of choice, it is confronted with the daily destruction of unborn children.” “When the Creator’s divine plan is ignored, the truth of human nature is lost.”

Neil McCarthy, director of public relations for the Archdiocese of Toronto, said yesterday that Benedict XVI’s latest foray into the gay marriage debate came directly in response to issues the visiting Ontario bishops would have raised.

He said Catholic bishops from Quebec and the Atlantic provinces also made a visit to the Vatican this year, asking a response from the Pope on other matters of concern in Canada, such as unemployment and declining church attendance among young people.

Pope John Paul II, before his death last year, denounced Canada for its drive to legalize same-sex marriage.

Parliament passed legislation in June 2005 that made Canada the fourth country in the world to allow gay marriage.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he will revisit the issue and that members of Parliament will be asked this fall whether they wish to reopen the debate.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

English actress Rachel Weisz thinks that Botox injections should be banned for all actors.

The 39-year-old actress, best known for her roles in the Mummy movie franchise and for her Academy Award-winning portrayal in The Constant Gardener, feels facial Botox injections leave actors less able to convey emotion and that it harms the acting industry as much as steroids harm athletes.

In an interview with UK’s Harper’s Bazaar, coming out next month, Weisz says, “It should be banned for actors, as steroids are for sportsmen,” she claims. “Acting is all about expression; why would you want to iron out a frown?”

Currently living in New York, she also mentions that English women are much less worried about their physical appearance than in the United States. “I love the way girls in London dress,” she claimed. “It’s so different to the American ‘blow-dry and immaculate grooming’ thing.”

Sunday, August 5, 2012

The following is the ninth in a monthly series chronicling the U.S. 2012 presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after a brief mention of some of the month’s biggest stories.

In this month’s edition on the campaign trail: the rules of third party candidate polling are examined, a third party activist causes four other parties to lose their place on the Illinois presidential ballot, and the new vice presidential nominee of the Justice Party speaks with Wikinews.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Following the Pilkhana massacre which occurred February 25 and 26 leaving 74 dead and the inferno at the Bashundhara City shopping mall complex March 13 leaving seven dead, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said security measures are being tightened countrywide across Bangladesh.

Fire drills will be enacted at all key-point installations (KPI). Fire fighting systems will be examined by the fire brigade and the public works department (PWD) to ensure functionality. Security measures will be enhanced supplementing areas under private security such as at the Bashundhara City Complex.

The Fire Service and Civil Defence Department requires modernization and needs new equipment to fight fires past the sixth floor of buildings. The Fire Brigade says it needs turntable ladders, snorkels, foam-tenders, lighting units, emergency tenders, fireproof uniforms, and rescue ropes for fire fighting and rescue operations. Transportation to fires is also an issue due to narrow roads, low electrical wires and congestion.

The Bangladesh National Building Code requires fire fighting equipment installed in buildings over seven floors. This code is to be monitored by authorities to ensure compliance with the new guidelines and to make sure buildings are being maintained.

The Bashundhara City Complex opened Monday for shoppers two days after Friday’s blaze. A probe is underway to determine the cause of the fire and to assess structural damage.

Loss of life was minimized as the blaze broke out on a Friday, the beginning of the weekend in Bangladesh, so offices in the upper floors were empty. The lower eight floors are used for shopping and the upper floors are all Bashundhara Group offices.

The mall is valued at Tk 7.0 billion (US$100 million). It is not known if the complex is covered by fire insurance.

It is estimated that it will take over two years to rebuild the area damaged by flames which were burned down to a skeleton. Bashundhara City’s technical advisor, Latifur Rahman, estimated damages at Tk 2.0 billion (US$29m).

Only one television cameraman has been allowed in to film the burnt area. None of the 2,500 shops, cinemas or cafes were burnt by the inferno. The seventh and eighth floors still experience smoke damage, and there was water damage to merchandise.

A three member committee is currently investigating the cause of the fire which will consist of Iqbal Khan Chowdhury, joint secretary of the ministry, representatives of the police, IGP Noor Muhammad, and fire brigade, Director General Abu Nayeem Md Shahidullah. The committee is required to report within the week with their findings. The forensics department is also sifting through the burnt remains.

The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries has also formed a committee which has begun interviewing witnesses and recording their testimony alongside the government committee.

It has been discovered that 150 closed circuit cameras were not being used when the fire started. Another mystery is why the mall fire fighting system has been found unused.

“In the shopping mall there is an ultra-technology elevator which runs even without electricity but we have found that locked,” Iqbal Khan Chowdhury, joint secretary (Police) of the home ministry, said. “Why the fire burnt so fiercely is a matter to think. We have to see if there was any incendiary substance there. These matters seem to be mysterious.”

Mall management has been asked to submit substances and items which would have been in the upper floors when the fire started. The fire erupted on the 17th floor and spread quickly to the two floors above and engulfed the three floors below. The aerial ladders belonging to the Fire Service and Civil Defence reached as high as the 13th floor of the 21-storey building.

Videos have been sent to the United States (US) for examination to assist in determining the cause of the fire and to help in the damage assessment. Experts from the US are expected to arrive soon.

Firefighters were brought to the rooftop of the 20-storey tower by helicopter. The only fatality in this operation was Baki Billa, a firefighter of Bashundhara City firefighting department, who fell when climbing down a rope from a helicopter to the roof of the building. Three other firefighters made the transition safely. At this same time, the chief security officer was safely rescued by the Bangladesh Air Force helicopter, a Bell 212. Six security officers of the complex also lost their lives.

April 7, 2005

The state Premier of Western Australia (WA), Dr Geoff Gallop, gave an apology to children physically and sexually abused in institutional care within the state between the 1920s and 1970s. The statement was given in reaction to an Australian Senate inquiry into institutional child abuse published last year.

“We acknowledge our state’s history, the role played by the state in providing care for children and particularly past practices in the provision of care,” Dr Gallop told Australian Associated Press.

“We apologise to all those people who were harmed as children while in institutional care, and express deep regret at the hurt and distress caused. We recognise that the effects of physical, psychological and sexual abuse did not end when these children became adults.”

Many of the children had been placed in care by government agencies.

“Overwhelmingly, the (submissions) make tragic and distressing reading. They tell of neglect, of shocking abuse, of predatory behaviour from so-called carers and of criminal activity,” Senator McLucas told federal parliament at the time of the Forgotten Australians report, last year.

“The evidence is also there that authorities in the church and in governments either knew or should have known that much of this horrific activity was occurring.”

The inquiry found that an apology was an important symbolism in recognising past wrongs and helping victims gain closure, according to an ABC News report. And Dr Gallop said the victims’ personal histories must be heard and acknowledged in order to build a better care system for the future.

WA’s Community Development Minister, Sheila McHale, said those wishing to find out about their time in care in WA as children should contact the Department for Community Development, which is also providing counselling services to those who were abused in an institution.

Monday, February 14, 2022

On Friday, Australia’s federal environment minister Sussan Ley declared the koala an endangered species in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

The announcement follows proposals in 2020 by World Wildlife Fund Australia (WWF-Australia) and other organizations. The koala was previously considered a vulnerable species, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) still lists it as one in the rest of the world.

Some link the decline in koala population with previous natural disasters in the country, especially the 2019-2020 Australian bushfire season. The bushfires had “killed, injured or affected” 60 thousand of the animals, according to WWF-Australia. This, along with droughts, urbanization and habitat destruction, had contributed to the drop in population. Efforts to prevent the koala’s extinction have also been announced by the government.

A report in April 2020 indicated the decline of koala populations in eastern Australian states since 2001 reached 50% in Queensland and 62% in New South Wales. In that month, WWF-Australia, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Humane Society International (HSI) proposed the IUCN change the species’ category. It has been designated ‘vulnerable’ for a decade.

A New South Wales inquiry in June 2020 predicted the extinction of the koala could occur by 2050 without appropriate prevention measures.

In her announcement, Ley said these events “have led to the advice”. Ley has also stated actions to protect the species are being planned: “There is still time to save this globally iconic species if the uplisting serves as a turning point in koala conservation. We need stronger laws and landholder incentives to protect their forest homes.”

According to Ley, AUD 74 million (USD 52.9 million) have been funded to back these decisions.

Some conservation groups have expressed their disapproval. President of the Australian Koala Foundation Deborah Tabart argued the species is also endangered in Victoria and South Australia, and blamed the federal government for continuing to “approve” the animal’s habitat loss.

HSI campaign director Alexia Wellbelove advised the government to adequately address the country’s environmental problems. Wellbelove defended the decision should be reviewed by former competition watchdog head Graeme Samuel, who concluded a year ago that the government didn’t take the appropriate steps for conservation and proposed a change in environmental standards.