Jakarta - Indonesia imposed an import ban on pork, in addition to increasing surveillance at all entry points for travelers with flu-like symptoms, to prevent the spread of swine flu, a cabinet minister said Monday. "The import of pork will be temporarily halted until a further progress concerning the swine flu, or until the condition was safe," said Aburizal Bakrie, the coordinating minister for people's welfare.

Washington, April 27 : Scientists in The Netherlands are reporting development of a new plastic with a "self-healing polymer" that has potential for use in the first easy-to-recycle computer circuit boards, electrical insulation, and other electronics products that now wind up on society's growing heaps of electronic waste.

Antonius Broekhuis and colleagues note in the new study that so-called thermoset plastics are widely used in consumer electronics due to their hardness and heat resistance.

Washington, April 27 : In a new research, scientists in Japan have reported the development of a new type of ice that may provide a more efficient, environmentally-friendly method for putting out fires, including out-of control blazes that destroy homes and forests.

Toshihisa Ueda and colleagues note in the new study that firefighters have used water and carbon dioxide (CO2) as fire extinguishing agents for decades.

That knowledge led the scientists on a quest to see if carbon dioxide hydrates, frozen crystals made of water and CO2 bonded together, may serve as promising fire-suppressing materials.

Such icy chunks occur naturally in some parts of the world, including hydrates containing methane.

Hindus have asked Australia to create a “bill of rights” as a high-priority.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Australia was one of the few Western countries that did not have a charter of rights.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, says that although Australia does have a National Action Plan for Human Rights, but according to a report of Australia Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a statutory organization that reports to the federal Parliament, this “plan however does not adequately identify positive, forward-looking measures to address the human rights issues…”

New York, Apr 27 : It looks like Mel Gibson's Russian lover is a good friend of Senator Ted Kennedy.

Oksana Grigorieva's, who also has a son with former 007 star Timothy Dalton, met the senator in Washington during a fund-raiser for Bill Clinton, and seems to have left good impression on him.

Just six weeks later, when her parents in Russia attempted to get a visa to visit her and their new grandchild, they were refused.

And it was Kennedy, who helped Grigorieva's parents get their visas.

Washington, April 27 : In a new research, scientists have challenged the theory that a meteor impact 65 million years back killed off the dinosaurs in a mass extinction event.

The crater, caused by the meteor, was discovered in 1978 in northern Yucutan and measured about 180 kilometers (112 miles) in diameter, proof of a massive extra-terrestrial impact.