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Friday, November 27, 2020

Voters in the Australian electoral district of Groom are scheduled to go to the polls in a by-election this week following the resignation of Liberal National MP John McVeigh for family reasons.

Groom is located in the state of Queensland, and is centred around the city of Toowoomba. At the last federal election, the Liberal National Party, Queensland’s dominant conservative party, won this seat by over 70% of the two-party-preferred vote, and since the seat’s creation in 1984, it has been held by conservative political parties.

Some political analysts considered this a foregone conclusion, with analyst Kevin Bonham having declared it on his blog as “Australia’s most boring by-election”, however Bonham noted the size of the swing may have been indicative of the dominant centre left Labor Party’s general performance in Queensland. There was a 4.2% swing against the Labor Party in the state of Queensland at the previous federal election.

Wikinews spoke to one of the four candidates running in the by-election, Sandra Jephcott, who is running for the Sustainable Australia party. Sustainable Australia describes itself as a “independent community movement from the political centre”. According to the party’s website, Jephcott is a veterinarian and farmer, who has completed a veterinary degree from the University of Queensland, as well as a Master of Business Affairs at Bond University and a Master of Science at James Cook University. With Wikinews, Jephcott discussed climate change, COVID-19, water security, and foreign ownership.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella announced Sunday that he will retire from Major League Baseball after almost fifty years of coaching, managing, and playing the sport.

Piniella’s announcement came after the Chicago Cubs lost to the Atlanta Braves 16-5 at the Cub’s Wrigley Field. The 66 year-old Piniella said that he was retiring because of family issues. For much of the 2010 MLB season, Piniella’s 90 year-old mother has been ill.

“This will be the last time I put on a uniform. This has been very special for me. I’ll go home, do what I have to do there…and enjoy my retirement,” said Piniella. “My mom needs me at home; she hasn’t gotten any better since I’ve been here. In fact, she’s had other complications. Rather than continue to go home, come back…It’s not fair to the team, not fair to the players. The best thing to do is to step down, go home and take care of my mother,” he added.

During his 18 year career as a player, Piniella logged 1,705 hits. As a manager, he also won 1,800 games over the course of 23 years. Mike Quade, The Cub’s third-base and outfield coach, will be Cubs manager for the remainder of the 2010 season.

Saturday, March 5, 2005Simply massaging low birth weight babies with sunflower seed oil can protect them from potentially fatal infections.

Infections and complications from preterm birth cause more than half of all neonatal deaths, and very low birth weight babies are particularly vulnerable.

Preterm babies have immature skin that lacks a protective film called vernix that has antimicrobial properties.

In some countries, such as India, newborns are routinely massaged with mustard oil.

But mustard oil, says Gary Darmstadt of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, can delay recovery of the skin barrier and have a toxic effect on skin.

Seeking an alternative low-cost product, Darmstadt and colleagues experimented with sunflower oil and an ointment called Aquaphor that comprises petrolatum, mineral oil, mineral wax and lanolin.

The researchers tested the treatments on 497 newborns (72 hours old or less) and preterm babies (less than 33 weeks gestation) between 1998 and 2003 in Bangladesh.

They applied the treatments to the entire body besides the scalp and face three times daily for the first 14 days and then twice daily until discharge.

Babies treated with sunflower oil were found 41% less likely to develop infections than controls.

“Evidence is emerging that the skin is much more important as a barrier to infection than previously recognized, particularly in preterm infants whose skin is underdeveloped,” says Darmstadt. “The good news is that treatment is available to strengthen the function of the skin as a barrier in these vulnerable newborns.”

Friday, April 30, 2021

On Tuesday, the Governor of the US state of Arizona Doug Ducey signed into law a bill banning abortion if sought solely because of a foetus’ genetic abnormality.

Senate Bill 1457, which stalled twice for criticism by opponents of abortion, passed both chambers of the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature last week in a party-line vote, amended twice along the way to alleviate concerns by two hesitant Republicans.

The bill makes it a Class 6 felony, the least severe, to seek or perform an abortion “because of a genetic abnormality of the child”, defined as “the presence or presumed presence of an abnormal gene expression in an unborn child”, but not a “severe fetal abnormality” considered “incompatible with life.” Intimidating someone to get an abortion and soliciting or accepting monies to finance an abortion for this purpose has been made a Class 3 felony.

The bill also allows the unborn child’s father or, in case the mother is under 18, a maternal grandparent to sue, as well as including the applicability of state law to “an unborn child at every stage of development”, which Senator Kirsten Engel and Representative Melody Hernandez wrote in a submitted minority report “would open up the potential for prosecutors to charge persons including the pregnant individual whose conduct results in a woman having a miscarriage with murder, manslaughter or child endangerment.”

Other provisions of the bill includes a prohibition on the distribution “via courier, delivery or mail service” of abortion-inducing drugs, a ban on any public educational institution from performing or aiding non-life saving abortion, a ban on the use of public or tax monies paid by the state or students for university research involving foetal remains or somatic cell nuclear transfer, or any state money towards organisations providing abortion care, and requiring all foetal remains to be buried or cremated.

KYMA-DT reported Ducey is an anti-abortion rights governor who ran on the Republican ballot and has never vetoed anti-abortion legislation. In a statement, Duckey said, “[t]here’s immeasurable value in every single life — regardless of genetic makeup […] We will continue to prioritize protecting life in our preborn children, and this legislation goes a long way in protecting real human lives.” The news release, originally published on his website also read, “[w]ith this legislation, Arizona remains among the top pro-life states in the nation.”

Senator Nancy Barto said, according to the release “[w]e need to protect our most vulnerable, especially those with treatable genetic conditions […] They are loved, integral members of our community that make Arizona whole”. Cathi Herrod, president of Center for Arizona Policy said in her own news release, according to the Associated Press “[t]oday, Arizonans win.”

Representative Diego Espinoza wrote in a tweet, “I’m disappointed to see Arizona moving in this direction, ignoring the needs and desires of doctors, women, and families for an extreme political agenda.” Representative and House Democratic Leader Reginald Bolding wrote in a statement “it’s disturbing and wrong that the legislature is not focusing on policies to help [women], and instead is stripping away the fundamental freedom to choose if, when, and how to start or grow a family.”

In a letter shared to a Facebook post, the union United Campus Workers at Arizona State University urged last Saturday to the Arizona Board of Regents, university president Michael M. Crow and University of Arizona president Robert D. Robbins to “immediately speak out against SB 1457”, calling it “a blatant attack on reproductive freedom”.

Friday, March 28, 2008File:Yugo 7.62×39 M67.jpg

The United States Army has suspended its contract with a company that delivered old and corroding ammunition from China for use by Afghan army and police forces in a way that violated the contract terms.

The ammunition was supplied by the Miami-based AEY Inc., a company run by a 22-year old named Efrain Diveroli. The nearly US$300 million contract stated that bullets were coming from Hungary, but were actually decades-old, damaged and corroded bullets from China.

Officials from the Army Legal Services Agency notified Diveroli, via a letter, that his company is suspended from future contracting with any U.S. government agency. The letter came as part of an Army investigation since November regarding violation of the contract.

According to the New York Times, Diveroli signed papers back on November 25, 2007 certifying that 28 pallets of ammunition for Afghanistan had been manufactured by MFS 2000, a Hungarian company, according to a memo written by investigators.

AEY violated the contract by breaking two clauses, one stating that the ammunition could not be acquired directly or indirectly from the People’s Republic of China, which is a violation of American law. The other clause specified that it must be packaged to comply with best commercial practices for international shipment.

According to the Times, says the ammunition arrived in decomposing cardboard boxes which contained ammunition dating as far back as 1966. However, Army officials believe some ammunition even dates back further to 1962.

The Army had contracted with AEY in January 2007 to supply various types of nonstandard ammunition for use by the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police, an Army official said on background. The company was required to purchase the ammunition and deliver it to Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan. AEY was recently awarded a delivery order amount of $48,717,553 on March 17, 2007 as part of the $298,004,398 contract.

Also according to the Times, when purchasing the ammunition, AEY worked with middlemen and a shell company which has been placed on federal list of entities suspected of illegal arms trafficking. Also, the Times reported that, Diveroli was secretly recorded in conversation that suggested corruption on his company’s purchase of 100 million aging rounds from Albania.

Bryan Whitman, The Pentagon’s spokesperson told reporters that suspension of the contract was due to the violation of the origin of the ammunition and the packaging of the ammunition, not the safety and performance.

“Safety and performance has not apparently been a factor, according to our folks in Afghanistan. They have had no safety incidents reported and no reports of any ammunition that has malfunctioned associated with this particular contract,” Whitman told the press.

He also denied that the issue happened because the Army awarded the contract to the lowest bidder and that he was not aware of AEY’s qualifications to fulfill the contract.

“As the United States government does business, they are obviously always trying to ensure they get the best value,” he said. “But that does not mean that, in achieving the best value for the taxpayer, that we will accept something that is below standard for what it is we are purchasing, either.”

According to an Army official, the suspension of the contract will not have an impact on Afghanistan operations and other contractors are expressing interest into entering into a contract. “Besides, there’s no shortage of ammunition already in Afghanistan. This will have no impact,” he said.

Michael Diveroli, Efrain’s father, who originally founded AEY as a small printing business, said of his son’s career choice to CBS’ Miami affiliate, WFOR, “I would prefer he became a nice Jewish doctor or lawyer rather than an arms dealer. He’s never asked for my approval on the company. He doesn’t always take my advice, I don’t influence him. As a father of a boy genius he’s hard to control.”

Angelo Diveroli, Efrain’s grandfather said the young man frequently accompanied him to gun shows when he was younger and became an expert at weapons.

A friend of Diveroli said to WFOR, “The government came here and checked him out and gave him the contract. How do you give someone, a 21 year old kid a contract like that?”

The United States Army Criminal Investigation Command is continuing their investigation, according to officials.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

It turns out that dogs may not be the only ‘man’s best friend.’ A parrot in Muncie, Indiana is being credited with saving the lives of its owners.

According to the owner 33-year-old Shannon Conwell along with his 9-year-old son were watching television when they both fell asleep on the living room couch when a fire began to spread through the house around 3:00 a.m. on Friday October 19.

The Amazon, yellow-headed Parrot named Peanut reportedly imitates the sounds of several objects and began to emit one very similar to a fire alarm, waking the family from their sleep.

“He was really screaming his head off. I grabbed my son and my bird and got out of the house,” said Conwell who also said that the fire alarm was also going off, but the bird woke her and her son. Conwell said that there were several pieces of medical equipment inside the house that also make a lot of noise. The equipment was there due to an accidental finger amputation which occurred only a few hours prior to the fire.

A bedroom, the kitchen and the dining room were all severely damaged in the fire, but no one was injured or killed. The fire department says that they are currently investigating the incident and have not said what the cause was.

Saturday, July 10, 2021

After the resignation of Australian Labor Party Member of Parliament Duncan Pegg of the Queensland branch, voters in the Queensland electoral district of Stretton are to go to a by-election on July 24.

Pegg announced his resignation on April 22 to deal with a cancer diagnosis, and died on June 10. Stretton covers suburbs in south Brisbane such as Calamvale, Sunnybank Hills, Kuraby, and the eponymous town. At the 2020 Queensland state election, Pegg won 56.59% of the first preference vote in Stretton, with his closest opponent being Peter Zhuang of the Liberal National Party, who won 30.21% of the vote.

Since the seat’s establishment in 2001, it has been held by the Labor Party except for one exception in the 2012 Queensland state election, which was a victory for the Liberal National Party, who won 78 of Queensland’s 89 seats. Pegg was first elected in 2015, after defeating the Liberal National incumbent Freya Ostapovitch.

Five candidates are running in this by-election, including Andrea Wildin of the Greens. The Greens’ website describes Wildin as a former nurse and midwife, who now has been “volunteering as a disability advocate throughout the COVID-19 pandemic”, being a wheelchair user herself. Wildin previously ran for the Greens in Stretton at the previous state election, coming in third place among four candidates and winning 8.71% of the vote. Wikinews spoke to Wildin in an interview via email about issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare, and more important subjects both on a statewide and local level.