Edmonton robbery leaves two dead

Robs spa shop, booze store before taking his own life

By RICHARD LIEBRECHT, SUN MEDIA

The Edmonton Sun


EDMONTON -- A spa-owning family is grieving after a man was shot and killed while confronting an armed robber in Mill Woods yesterday morning.

The assailant later shot himself after he held up a nearby liquor store.

"I don't know what to do," said a shaking Amanda Gill, who has worked at Bella Tonic Spa and Laser Hair Removal at 133 Millbourne Road East for about five years.

Owner Nina Bains was hysterical, pacing and wailing on the sidewalk near the store as police scoured the scene. The victim has been identified as her husband, Duane.

An armed man walked into the spa just before 10:15 a.m., said cop spokesman Jeff Wuite.

Duane confronted the armed culprit who then opened fire and fled.

The victim was later found slumped over and bleeding inside the spa, where paramedics pronounced him dead.

Within 10 minutes of the fatal shooting, another call came about an armed robbery at a liquor store about 600 metres away - with a description matching the suspect in the spa shooting.

MILLBOURNE MALL

Police raced to the scene and were in the parking lot of Millbourne Liquor at Millbourne Market Mall near 38 Avenue and Millwoods Road when the culprit tried leaving, said Wuite.

"He noticed the police presence and turned the gun on himself," said Wuite.

"In such a serious incident where two men lost their lives, there's going to be a very thorough investigation," he added.

Kapil Sharma, an accountant at the office next door to the spa, said he feels badly knowing Duane is dead.

"We met every day," he said.

Sharma described Duane as a cool and calm man - an unlikely target for a violent criminal. The two greeted each other with waves and handshakes nearly every morning when they'd arrive at their businesses, said Sharma.

"He's a good guy. I don't know how come someone could kill him without any reason," he said. "If (the thief) wants to kill himself, why would he do that?"

EMPLOYEES RELATIVES

There were only seven employees at the spa, two of them male. Most of the employees were relatives, Gill added.

"I used to go to (Bains's) daycare when I was younger," said Gill. "(They are) just very, very nice people, giving - it's shocking."

Nina Bains declined comment, barely able to speak between sobs.

Two nearby schools - St. Elizabeth Elementary at 7712 36 Ave., and St. Hilda Junior High at 7630 38 Ave. - were locked down for about half an hour following the incidents.


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The is a robbery happened in the spa which two person are killed by the robber.

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Wrinkles in the Economy Should Not Show on Your Face

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - As unemployment rises, the need for a competitive edge in the job market is becoming essential. Any way someone can compete better in this job market is a plus. Looking and feeling young can be a strong component when trying to get or keep a job.

Yet there can be hesitation about spending money in bad economic times - and cosmetic surgery, due to its cost and potential for absence from work, becomes a low priority. But due to advances in medical technology this is a great time to take advantage of cosmetic procedures because costs are lower, results are improving and less recovery time is required.

The American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery found in its 2008 Procedural Survey that some prices for cosmetic procedures have dropped significantly in 2008 alone. Take for example, a facelift, in 2007 the average cost was $7,241 and in 2008 it dropped to $7,007.

Additionally, over the past three years cosmetic surgeons have seen a significant increase in both males (456%) and females (215%) electing to have laser resurfacing. Also, laser hair removal has jumped to the second most performed non-invasive cosmetic procedure. Once again, price is a contributing factor to these procedures popularity. Laser resurfacing has seen an approximate $450 decline in price since 2002. Numbers like these show that cosmetic surgery is becoming more affordable to many.

Although the cost of cosmetic surgery is an important focal point in today’s economy, another aspect to consider is the quicker recovery times associated with many procedures due to the integration of advanced technology. The days of taking two or more weeks off of work in order to have a cosmetic procedure are less frequent. If most people take that amount of time off in this economic climate, they may return to their job to find that someone has replaced them. To avoid such a situation, many patients are discovering
alternatives like the laser facelift. By incorporating technology in procedures, cosmetic surgeons may give patient excellent results with less downtime and less pain. Many of my patients tell me that recovery time is very important. With a procedure like a laser facelift, patients are able to return to work in as little as three to five days. Cosmetic laser procedures are turning out to be an excellent alternative and the lasers are is not just limited to the face. The use of lasers in liposuction is also proving to give effective results with an acceptable recovery time and price tag.

As difficult as the economy may seem, the options available to cosmetic surgery patients is remaining steady. The bottom line is that patients can truly benefit from advances in medical technology; they can improve appearances and self-confidence without having to spend a fortune.


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As difficult as the economy is. The matured women fear to their wrinkles to show up but their are options available which is the costmetic surgery.

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Scarred in the quest for beauty

BELINDA MERHAB


Governments are dithering while some under-trained operators leave ungainly legacies.A walk through any supermarket or pharmacy tells the story: for women, facial and body hair have joined age and gravity as enemies in the quest for beauty.

Meredith Jones, a lecturer in cultural studies at the University of Technology, Sydney and author of Skintight: An Anatomy Of Cosmetic Surgery, says we are becoming a culture that refuses to accept hair on women; except on top of the head, of course. "There's definitely a lot of angst about it, and it's something that women seem to need to work on quite a lot throughout their lives. Some of them resent that," Jones says.

Now at work on an anthology about women and body hair, Jones says she interviewed a woman who encountered verbal abuse from men at a gym for having hairy legs. "We're so surrounded by these images of perfection that we forget to look at each other and see what normal people look like," she says. "With the mainstreaming of pornography, things like the Brazilian wax, which used to be quite extreme, have now become part of the everyday visual lexicon." Studies over 10 years show women find their body hair unattractive. In a 1998 American study, Women And Body Hair: Social Perceptions And Attitudes, participants watched videos of a bikini-clad woman, filmed first with body hair and then without. The participants judged the hairier woman as less happy, less intelligent and less attractive.

Permanent removal of women's pubic hair is getting more popular too. A study last year by the Cosmetic Physicians Society of Australasia found 75 per cent of clients cited aesthetics as the main reason for hair removal, and 65 per cent of women surveyed said they felt sexier without hair.

These sentiments have elevated laser hair removal to a multimillion-dollar business in Australia, with most hair and beauty salons offering laser or intense pulsed light (IPL) services. Hair, cellulite, pigmentation, scars and spider veins - indeed, most skin imperfections - can be removed by laser.

Upper lip "permanent hair reduction", a common treatment, will cost anywhere between $70 and $150. A full leg can cost up to $700 a treatment, and at least six treatments are generally required. Laser treatments in Australia are estimated to number in the tens of thousands each year.And this booming industry is largely unregulated.

Federal law requires laser machines to be registered as medical devices, but no NSW law applies to laser operators, despite years of mounting evidence that, in untrained hands, these devices can cause serious damage and scarring.
In May, Victoria's Human Services Department issued a tender to gather a working group to investigate regulation of the cosmetic laser industry, following complaints from women suffering permanent damage. No one has been appointed to the investigation.

The NSW Health Department has been aware of a problem for at least a decade. In 1999, the Cosmetic Surgery report recommended guidelines for the use of lasers, suggested operators be licensed and asked for accredited training programs. It seems to have fallen through the bureaucratic cracks.

A spokesman for NSW Health said regulation of lasers was the responsibility of the radiation regulator, the Department of Environment and Climate Change, which says it is waiting for the federal framework being prepared by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA).

In 2001, the federal agency assembled medical professionals to investigate uniform national regulations and, four years later, the working group reported in draft form on the use of lasers on people.

The working group leader, Stephen Newbery, of Tasmania's Health and Human Services Department, presented in that 2005 draft a doctor's email reporting 52 cases of hyper-pigmentation, or darkening of the skin, 22 cases of hypo-pigmentation (loss of skin colour) and scarring, 17 cases of burning and blistering, and four cases of lesions treated inappropriately, including three instances of malignant melanomas and one of a
pre-malignant mole.

The informant doctor, whose name was concealed, said more cases arrived daily and 96 per cent of complications were the result of beauty therapists using IPL. Another doctor's letter emphasised concern about beauticians not being trained to identify melanomas, the country's third leading cause of cancer death.

The working group recommended licensing operators of 3B lasers, and that patients be assessed by doctors before beauty therapists operate the most powerful lasers commonly used for hair removal, and IPL devices.

In 2005, the federal safety agency's radiation health committee accepted the working group recommendations.Alan Melbourne, ARPANSA's manager of standards development, says the recommendations are being assessed to test how the costs of regulation stack up against the benefits of patient protection. Recommendations will then be released for public comment.

James Walter, an investigator on the working group, says state and federal governments are sitting on their hands. "I've done my bit; I've told the state government representatives" who report to the federal agency, he says. "It's the state government which regulates things. They've had [the information] for a year, 18 months. They've sent the regulations out to the beauty therapists, and they [the therapists] say 'you can't do that'. The government is too frightened to act. Meanwhile people are being damaged every day because these beauty therapists have no idea what they're doing … We don't want to stop beauty therapists using IPL but we want to make sure that they're trained. With government the wheels turn slowly."

Meikin Rees owns Laser Therapy Centre, which offers a government-accredited laser and IPL training course. Rees, back recently from a laser conference in the US, says Australia has been slack in regulating laser therapies, compared with the US. She sees victims of laser burns daily. "Lots of people have been burnt and they don't have anywhere to turn to or anyone to tell about their experience. The public should be more aware not to go near these [inexperienced operators]."

Her course in laser and IPL runs for six to eight days, and participants are required to fill out a logbook of practical work they do with clients. But Rees says beauty therapists are more likely to take the free training offered by the manufacturer of the laser, which she and dermatologists agree is insufficient. "Bigger companies will offer two days' training on how to operate the machine and how to read the manual, but the
distributor or manufacturer may not know how to operate it themselves, or the skin and hair conditions. It's not as simple as turning on a machine; they need to know about health and body science and how to apply it accordingly," she says.She says her pleas to government have gone unanswered. ""We've made submissions to local government, virtually every local council in the Sydney metropolitan area, WorkCover, the Health Department at both state and federal levels.

"We received no reply from Tony Abbott when he was Minister for Health. We have tried to cover as many different agencies as possible, but it appears that it is too hot to handle really, just too difficult."



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People are judging on what they saw to their appearance.

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Admit it, you need it now more than ever

BY KATHRYN WEXLER

kwexler@MiamiHerald.com


With consumers cutting back on everything from salon visits to dinners out, the seaweed-wrap business isn't exactly going great guns.

But the economic downturn is giving a boost to Spa Week, a biannual event organized by Spa Week Media, which maintains a website promoting all participating spas at spaweek.com. From April 13-19, all treatments that are part of the promotion cost $50.

When the event was held last fall, about 550 spas nationwide were part of the campaign, said Kristine Cholakian, a Spa Week Media spokesperson.

Since then, nearly 100 more spas have jumped onboard, she said.

In South Florida, 21 spas from Palm Beach to Miami are touting the $50 services through the website, and nine of those are new to the campaign, such as The Standard in Miami Beach, Palm Aire Spa at the Wyndham Resort in Pompano Beach and The Center for Beautiful Skin in Coconut Grove.

''They're definitely turning to us to help bring in consumers,'' Cholakian said of the uptick.

Spa Week Media has come up with a new category for spa treatments called Stress Busters. These are services that are supposed to make you forget for 50 minutes that there's a recession out there. The treatments tend to include things like massages and aromatherapy.

Services offered for the event normally cost $100 to $250, Cholakian said.

They run the gamut from classic facials to laser hair removal, microdermabrasion, facial peels and body scrubs. Some are condensed or modified to fit within the 50-minute window.

But spa owners hope that their reduced prices will generate repeat business -- long after Spa Week is gone


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Because of the global financial crisis there are a lot of company who are affecting, especially the spa. The spa has a promotion which all treatment are discounted they offer it so that they can easily get the attention of the people.

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Grooming: Ahead of the pack

By Janetta Mackay

My guinea pig enjoyed his first taste of a mini-facial and said his skin felt more toned and looked clearer afterward.

For men who are already familiar with skin treatments, a spa is an enticing rather than a scary place, offering rare "me" time. Frequent long-haul fliers are apt to check-in to their hotel spas for a post-flight massage and facial to help relax and rehydrate. Couple treatments, where you and a partner are both massaged in the same room are a nice experience.

Check out the new Chuan Spa at the Langham Hotel for Auckland's newest luxury experience.
DIY grooming

A good basic at-home skincare regime of cleansing, shave care and moisturising with use of sunblock should be a given, and you can add on extra products such as an eye cream or refining masks.

Man makeup: This is not much in evidence in marketing, but it's not uncommon for cosmetic consultants to help men find a subtle face base within women's ranges to even out their complexions for a healthy natural glow. A few men's ranges include tinted moisturisers or self-tanning products. (If applying self-tan exfoliate and moisturise first to guard against a blotchy application).

Brush-on mineral makeup, used in broadcasting for its barely there, natural looking coverage, is easily obtainable via female supermarket ranges such as Maybelline and L'Oreal. Concealer is another trick of the trade, with Yves St Laurent one of the few to have a men's version with its under-eye brightening Magic Touch pen.

Brow and lash tints in salon are a way of defining these areas, without the daily drag of applying makeup. But that's not just for K Rd queens as All Black Ma'a Nonu and Top Model's Colin Mathura-Jeffree show. If you want to experiment with makeup, ask your BFF or try fashion forward ranges like M.A.C where you're most likely to feel welcome.

Extra help

Spas and salons such as the Forme and About Face groups welcome male clients, stock specialist skincare ranges and say men are adding advanced skin rejuvenation and laser treatments to their waxing, facial and manicure appointments. Leanne Dore, owner of The Beauty Connection on Broadway, Newmarket, is also finding men moving on from regular maintenance to anti-ageing treatments. "Men are really embracing the science of having treatments." This includes light therapy and lasers, used to treat scarring and veins and
remove hair.

Big appearance medicine clinics, the Skin Institute and Caci, report a similar upsurge.The Skin Institute's Sally Ellison, says: "We find IPL (Intense Pulse light) for skin rejuvenation and hair reduction are very popular." Laser hair removal works best on dark hair and pale skin and can permanently nix 80 per cent or more of hair after around six treatments. Popular areas include chest, back, neck, face, nose and ears with costs depending on area.

"IPL is fantastic for reducing brown pigmentation, rosacea, flushing, visible red vessels, birthmarks, while also boosting collagen within the skin." To achieve good colour correction you will need 2-3 treatments, one month apart. Costs vary from $300 plus a treatment.

Botox is used by men to rejuvenate their look, with popular areas being the frown, forehead and crows feet. Cost vary, but range from $180 to $360 per area.
Caci is doing more work with botox and fillers on men from all walks of life. Salesmen are signing up to maintain a youthful edge in a competitive market.


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Skin treatment are commonly use for reconstructing to be smoother and look great. Some men are using it already.

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The new UB logo has taken away UB history

From a novice like myself, when it comes to graphic design and all that has to do with visual representation I am a total disappointment but I am still appreciative when I see what the gifted can do and call it art.

Have you ever attended an art exhibition? You will see all types there, the wannabe art critics, the wannabe artists and the wannabe wannabe's who try hard to make it seem LIKE they appreciate abstract art. Judging by what people usually say after they stare at those things for few minutes, they must have a hallucinatory effect on people and I am sure it does help the artist, besides, he/she does not have to bother coming up with anything remotely recognizable.

The University of Botswana, obviously with the help of some ultraspiffy artists in their respective field of branding and graphic design has recently unveiled an ultrabuenotastic abstract masterpiece, all in the name of re-branding the institution.

Do not get me wrong, it was surely time to re-brand the institution and bring it up to speed with the ultra modern institutions across the world but that did not mean eroding its history at the same time.

The UB re-branding exercise should have been more concerned with repositioning the institution so as to make it more competitive and raise client expectations and inject a fresh look. When it comes to the logo, a great number of years seem to have been shaved off and flushed with the old logo; but how surprising is it in the age of laser hair removal, botox injections, push up's, Viagra ... age is a shame, no one seems to want to be associated with such a burdening thing.

I guess the new logo is wearing a push up or something, it looks like that of an institution created yesterday and has no visual link whatsoever with the history behind the UB ... maybe it would make sense to an ultra modernist or one of those Japanese robots. I am told that all the elements of the old logo have been re-interpreted in the new logo ... ? But then again who am I? I said earlier that I was a complete novice when it comes to design; I cannot even draw to save my life, now what more with exercises that require the expertise of so called "Branding Guru's?"

The transparency of the logo just bothers me; couldn't you at least just modernize the old logo a bit so that it still makes a lot of sense to us earthlings? I am not even going to go into that discussion about how great institutions do things in this world, at least one thing that I have noticed about them is that their visual representations of themselves seem to have some sort of connection with what they do, you don't even have to have it explained to you but with the UB logo I am told there are horns somewhere ... "ahh you mean those wild animal horns?" but then again Botswana is wild animal territory right and maybe one can learn about it at the UB right? What with the introduction of such courses as tourism? A book somewhere ... ? "Yes I see the paper thin laptop like thing; sometimes you call it a notebook right? Real books do not exist anymore" A sorghum head somewhere ... ? "Ok, sorry now I am really lost, but then again with all this genetically modified stuff that we get fed there might be a sorghum head somewhere there".

Let's keep on hallucinating while looking at the logo one day we might be able to figure it all out. The great and famous Spanish abstract artist, Picasso, once drew a portrait of a woman who was posing for him and after the portrait was done the lady said that it looked nothing like her and this is what Picasso said, "in time it will." You figure it out ...


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The university of Botswana(UB) change their logo, the old logo interpet them into new logo.

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Beating your fuzz in the light way

By Katy Islip »


SALON: JR Medical, 42 Highfield Gardens, Westcliff TREATMENT: Underarm IPL Hair Reduction COST: £45 per session (repeat sessions required) THERE are some parts of a girl’s beauty regime that are more fun than others, but hair removal is never going to set the world on fire.

For most women, it’s a necessary evil that, depending on your chosen method and the area in question, takes anything from five minutes in the shower to half-hour waxing sessions at your local beauty salon.

Therefore, when I first heard about more long-term solutions to the dilemma of wax, shave or epilate I was intrigued and decided if I could reclaim even a few minutes from my morning routine I would be game for a go. My underarms were where the battle would commence.

No salon can yet claim to permanently remove hair using laser or light treatment, but repeat treatment can significantly reduce hair growth to the point where further hair removal is unnecessary.

Intense pulsed light hair reduction delivers hundreds of wavelengths of filtered light to damage hair follicles and reduce regrowth.

It was this treatment I opted for at the bright and modern JR Medical centre in Westcliff.

After a consultation with the husband-and-wife team of Jafar and Shahrzad Rafiei about the treatment, possible after-effects and the results I could expect, I had a patch test with the intense pulsed light machine to assess if my skin would be suitable for the treatment.

Once given the all clear, I donned my protective goggles and Dr Rafiei set about his task.

I had worried the treatment would be painful, but all I felt was a tiny pin-prick as each light pulse was applied, followed by a slight warming of my skin which soon faded.

After treatment I was given a cooling ice-pack to minimise any redness, before a soothing post-treatment cream was applied.

From start to finish, the whole session from consultation to treatment took no more than an hour, with the actual process taking less than 15 minutes in total.

At least six treatments are required to achieve a long-lasting result, and the process takes several months due to the three-week or more gaps between each session, but it is a small price to pay for never having to pick up a razor again.

As well as laser and intense pulsed light hair reduction, the clinic offers a variety of treatments including laser tattoo removal, microdermabrasion and mole and skin lesion removal.


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There is no methods that can permanently remove hair using laser or light treatment. But still it can reduce hair growth.

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