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Sunday, September 29, 2019

British princess Beatrice of York, the oldest daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, is engaged to the British property developer Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, the announcement was made by Buckingham Palace on the morning of September 26, 2019.

The palace official statement was followed by posts on the official social networks of royal family members congratulating the couple. Beatrice’s engagement photos were taken by her sister, Princess Eugenie, during a family vacation in Italy. The princess’s engagement ring is made of platinum and features a large diamond in the center, positioned between the two smaller cuts of the crystal. The 3.5-carat diamond ring was designed by Shaun Leane and costs £100,000. Leane had a private consultation with Mapelli Mozzi to think about the ring design and include personal meanings for the couple in it.

The ceremony is expected by 2020, but no data are yet set.

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Sunday, July 22, 2007

The Macedonian government declared a nationwide state of emergency on Thursday in face of a heatwave that is predicted to get worse.

As forest fires rage across the country, temperatures of over 44°C (111°F) are predicted for the weekend. The emergency plan, which has been implemented for at least two weeks, reduces working hours to six hours a day, calls for special shifts for outdoors workers, and warns people to stay out of the sun and take other common sense precautions.

The new working hours for state and public workers are from 7am to 1pm indoors, and two shifts of 7am to 11am and 6pm to 8pm outdoors. All pregnant women have been given paid leave. Although these measures are not compulsory for the private sector the government has recommended that they are adopted where possible. It is expected that lost time will be made up through Saturday working over the rest of the year.

According to Pande Lazarevski, director of the government’s Crisis Management center, over 200 fires have been registered across the country, destroying roughly 2,500 hectares of land, mainly forests.

Health services have seen an increase in emergency calls and the Red Cross has teams on stand-by.

Meteorologists have explained that the soaring temperatures are caused by a heat mass from Africa, and have predicted that temperatures will start dropping next weekend.

At least 35,000 people died in the European heatwave of 2003.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Once you get a chance to talk to West Palm Beach, Florida native Whitney Cunningham, who placed seventh on the eighth cycle of the popular reality TV series America’s Next Top Model, you begin to understand what host Tyra Banks meant when she described her as the “full package.”

First of all, she is confident and headstrong, which is a must on these kinds of shows, almost as much as it is to take a beautiful modelesque picture. Second, she turns that confidence into drive. She has been receiving steady work as a model since leaving the show, and still believes that her goal of being the first woman to wear a size ten dress on the cover of Vogue is in reach. Third, and probably most important to television viewers, she obliterates the age-old model stereotype that to be pretty and photograph well, one must also be vapid and without a thought. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Cunningham also dreams of becoming a writer, and is working toward dual goals: a model who can express herself like no other model before her.

Cunningham recently sat down with Wikinews reporter Mike Halterman in an impassioned interview, taking hours to field questions from the reporter as well as from fans of America’s Next Top Model. Always in high spirits, Cunningham shows that she is a distinct personality who has carved her own niche in the Top Model history books. At the same time, she exhibits a joie de vivre that is oddly reminiscent of earlier Top Model fan favorite Toccara Jones, who showed America just how to be “big, black, beautiful and loving it.” However, Cunningham is quick to remind everyone that she isn’t big at all; she is simply a regular woman.

This is the first in a series of interviews with America’s Next Top Model contestants. Interviews will be published sporadically.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Grammy Award-winning rock band The White Stripes announced on Wednesday the Canadian leg of a tour in support of their soon-to-be-released album, Icky Thump. The tour, which would be the first cross-Canada excursion for The White Stripes, will see the band play dates in all provinces and territories.

The latest tour for The White Stripes will kick off June 1 in Nürburgring, Germany and will play several dates in Europe before starting off in Canada on June 24, in Burnaby, British Columbia. Canadian dates will include stops in northern locales such as Whitehorse, Yellowknife, and Iqaluit, on Baffin Island.

The White Stripes, made up of guitarist/singer Jack White and drummer Meg White, have developed a significant worldwide following with their blend of punk and blues, guitar-oriented rock. The band had expressed interest in playing cities they had not yet visited. “Having never done a full tour of Canada, Meg and I thought it was high time to go whole hog,” said Jack White on The White Stripes website. “We want to take this tour to the far reaches of the Canadian landscape. From the ocean to the permafrost.” The band’s website referred to Canada by its nickname, the ‘Great White North’.

The White Stripes have played to thousands in large outdoor festival settings, but will have to deal with different logistics while setting up in a northern location, such as Iqaluit.

Some 500 tickets for the Iqaluit show are to be sold, with an admission fee of approximately CA$40. Mike Bozzer, the city of Iqaluit’s economic development officer, told CBC News that talks have taken place with The White Stripes’ publicist regarding equipment, technicians, security and other such details. “It’s definitely going to have some economic impact, and they’ll come back home with positive stories of the city,” said Bozzer.

The band’s ten-year anniversary will be reached at a point during the Canadian leg of the tour, which will be commemorated. “Another special moment of this tour is the show which will occur in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia on July 14th, The White Stripes’ Tenth Anniversary,” said Jack White.

Following the Canadian dates, The White Stripes will embark on a tour in the United States, which will reach some 16 states they have not yet visited during their career, among other repeat locations.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

The Iraqi parliament approves the new government – the first first full-term government since the US-led invasion in 2003 – consisting of 37 ministers which now holds members from Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni sects including Foreign Minister Hoshivar Zebari (Kurd), Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zaubai (Sunni) and Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani (Shia).

Due to disagreements the positions for the Interior, National Security and Defence Minister roles have been left vacant. For now the new Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki (Shia) is also taking the role of Interior Minister while Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zaubi will take the role of Defence Minister. Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh has taken the role of acting National Security Minister. The mixed Cabinet of Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish sects also includes two women, the Human Rights Minister Wijdan Mikaeil and Women’s Affairs Minister Fatin Abdel-Rahman.

Several members of the Sunni factions led a walk-out before the approval of the new Cabinet after their proposal to postpone the event was turned down.

Mr Maliki hopes that people not associated with any or Iraq’s militia groups will fill these positions.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair so far has hailed the progress as “a very, very crucial change in Iraq”. The news has also prompted a response from the new Italian Prime Minister – “Italy supports Iraq in this direction”, Romano Prodi, Italian Prime Minister – after Mr Romano said he would propose the withdrawal of Italy’s 2,600 troops in Iraq.

In the following speech to the 275-seat assembly by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki announced that his government will focus on the issues of stability and security by working with the occupying forces, putting in place new laws to break up militias and integrate them into the federal forces. In his speech Mr. Maliki also mentioned other issues such as terrorism and “an objective timetable” for multinational forces to leave Iraq.

There are mixed feelings about whether the formation of the new government can bring peace amongst the religious factions. Many people hope however that these are the first steps to quell the resent escalating sectarian violence that has spread across the country. Some of the recent violence includes a bomb blast in a predominately Shia precinct of Baghdad, a suicide bomb attack on a police station in Qaim and numerous accounts of dumped bodies bearing evidence of torture and execution. Hundreds of people have been killed and even more have fled their homes since the bombing of a Shiite shrine in February 2006 in fear of more sectarian violence.

Sunni politicians have made allegations that death squads are operating as part of the security forces and are to blame for many of the killings.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.

If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.

There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”

There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.

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.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Eight men and five Brookyln-based Spinka charitable organizations have been charged with tax fraud and money laundering. Six have been arrested, and two are still at large.

The men charged are Naftali Tzi Weisz, 59, a Grand Rabbi from Brooklyn; Gabbai Moseh E. Zigelman, 60, also from Brooklyn and Weisz’ assistant; Yaacov Zeivald, 43, of Valley Village; Yosef Nachum Naiman, 55, of Los Angeles; Alan Jay Friedman, 43, of Los Angeles; Joseph Roth, 66, an international accounts manager at a bank in Israel from Tel Aviv; diamond merchant Moshe Arie Lazar, 60; and Jacob Ivan Kantor, 71, an attorney from Tel Aviv. The first six were arrested last Wednesday, and four of them have been released on bail. The FBI believes Lazar to be in Israel. Kantor is also believed to be in Israel according to other reports.

The charitiable organizations named as defendants in the charges are Yeshiva Imrei Yosef, Yeshivath Spinka, Central Rabbinical Seminary, Machne Sva Rotzohn, and Mesivta Imrei Yosef Spinka. The FBI alleges that these charities issued fraudulent receipts for bogus charitable contributions and were the beneficiaries of fees charged for transfers of funds as part of a money laundering conspiracy.

By a 37-count grand jury indictment that was unsealed on Wednesday morning, Weisz and Zigelman are charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and other crimes, 19 counts of mail fraud, one money laundering conspiracy count, 11 counts of international money laundering, and one count of operating an illegal money remitting business. Zigelman is in addition charged with two counts of aiding in the preparation of fraudulent income tax returns. Zeivald, Lazar, Naiman, and Friedman are charged in the main conspiracy count and with operating an illegal money remitting business. Zeivald is in addition charged with one count of mail fraud. Roth is charged in both conspiracy counts; several mail fraud counts; and several international money laundering counts. Kantor is charged in both of the conspiracy counts and several international money laundering counts.

The charges laid are that over a period of 10 years the conspirators solicited USD8.7 million in contributions to these charitable organizations, promising to secretly refund to the donors up to 95%, allowing the donors to claim the full amounts of the donations as tax deductions on their federal income tax returns. According to the FBI, this was done in two ways: Some donors received cash payments through an underground money transfer network involving Zeivald, Naiman, Friedman, and Lazar, some of whom operated businesses in and around the Los Angeles jewelry district. Other donors were reimbursed via loans made from the United States branch of an Israeli bank, organized by Roth and Kantor and secured on funds secretly held in that bank in Israel, to which the donations had been sent via wire transfer.

Several of the Brooklyn charitable organizations are schools. One such is Yeshiva Imrei Yosef, a private Orthodox Jewish school for boys in grades PK–12 with 312 students, which is one of 5000 such organizations approved for charitable donations by the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco. The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles draws a parallel between these charges and the creation of bogus schools in the case of New Square, quoting Jonathan Sarna, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University, as saying “I think that in Eastern Europe, especially where corruption was rampant, it was very common for Jews to engage in, shall we say, ‘extra-legal activities’ when they believed they were doing so not for their personal gain but for the good of the community or for some higher purpose.”

His observation is that defrauding a corrupt government is part of the culture that has sometimes been carried in to the United States, and that people justify it when they believe that the money is going towards Jewish education. “I think the idea is that Jewish education is so important and so expensive and the folks say to themselves, ‘we’re forced to pay for public education which we don’t use’, and they manage to sometimes justify in their own minds these kinds of activities that are for the sake of a holy end.”

Sarna states that violating the law is not condoned by Jewish communities in the U.S., a sentiment that has been echoed in reactions from the Los Angeles Jewish community, such as that by Rabbi Meyer H. May, president of the Rabbinical Council of California: “One thing is clear: The Orthodox community deplores any attempt to defraud the government of the United States, and there is no excuse for it, and there’s no rationalizations that are acceptable. […] It’s against the Torah and it’s against our moral foundation. At the same time, regarding these specific individuals, they should be allowed to have a fair trial, as everyone is innocent until proven guilty.”

The FBI’s press release contains a similar reminder of the presumption of innocence.

Calls by the New York Times were unable to obtain any comments on the case from the defendants.