The 78-year-old woman, who was not named, was preparing to fly from
She was quickly swept off to the baggage handling centre, where staff members helped get her back on her feet.
The woman suffered no serious injury and caught her flight as planned.
The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of
The wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger depicts a frog about 1 metre 30 cm (4 feet) high nailed to brown cross and holding a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in another.
Called "Zuerst die Fuesse," (Feet First), it wears a green loin cloth and is nailed through the hands and the feet in the manner of Jesus Christ. Its green tongue hangs out of its mouth.
Kippenberger's works have been shown at the Tate Modern and the Saatchi Gallery in
Museum officials said the artist, who died in 1997, considered it a self-portrait illustrating human angst.
Pope Benedict, who is German himself and was recently on holiday not far from
The
Pahl, whose province is heavily Catholic, was so outraged by the sculpture of the pop-eyed amphibian that he went on a hunger strike to demand its removal and had to be taken to hospital during the summer.
"Surely this is not a work of art but a blasphemy and a disgusting piece of trash that upsets many people," Pahl told Reuters by telephone.
"This decision to keep the statue there is totally unacceptable. It is a grave offence to our Catholic population," he said.
Museum president Alois Lageder told Reuters the decision to keep the statue on display was made in order to "safeguard the autonomy of art institutions".
The board vote was 6-3 in favour. Art experts defended the work.
"Art must always be free and the artist should not have any restrictions on freedom of expression," Claudio Strinati, a superintendent for
But
And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder: One of the four beasts saying: "Come and see." And I saw. And behold, there was the other Jesus, the Bible character, calling me from a big screen saying "Jesus is the Reason for The—V-Sign this program-and will be shu-whaaa?" Clearly, Jesus is good with all this saving Humanity and making water into wine tricks, but I'm afraid he's no match for Windows errors.
For the first time in history, an unmanned machine has engaged and destroyed another unmanned machine in real combat. It sounds like science fiction, but it happened on
The MQ-9—operated by the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance and Attack Squadron—destroyed the RC car using a laser-guided 500-pound GBU-12 bomb in southeast
With an entire wing of UAVs in the US Air Force, we won't be surprised to see full-scale unmanned and robotic battles in the near future. The question is: if nobody is going to die—except probably civilians on the ground—what's the bloody point of real war? Why not just organize a videogame league and get over with it?
Uang dapat membawa maut. Itulah yang dialami Altantuya Shaariibuu (28), wanita asal
Di jalan raya, wanita yang fasih dalam beberapa bahasa asing ini berteriak- teriak, ’’Keluar kau Razak, bajingan!!!’’ Lima belas menit kemudian dua mobil patroli polisi merapat dan membawa Altantuya ke pos polisi Brickfields.
Kepada polisi, Altantuya menjelaskan, perbuatan onar itu dilakukannya karena Abdul Razak selalu menghindar jika didatangi ke kantornya. Altantuya bersama sepupu dan seorang teman wanita tiba di Kuala Lumpur dari Mongolia sepekan sebelumnya (8/10/2006). Tujuannya untuk menagih komisinya sebesar 500.000 dollar AS, yang sejak beberapa tahun lalu belum dibayar oleh Abdul Rajak Baginda.
Altantuya yang pernah kuliah di Moskwa dan Paris tidak cepat putus asa. Ia muncul kembali di depan rumah Abdul Razak pada 19 Oktober sekitar pukul 19.00 waktu setempat. Sekitar 10 menit kemudian dua mobil Proton merah dan hijau merapat dan membawa janda beranak dua itu.
Sejak itu Altantuya lenyap seperti ditelan bumi. Sepupu dan temannya yang menunggu di hotel melaporkan kepada polisi perihal hilangnya Altantuya di depan rumah Abdul Razak Baginda.
Proyek kapal selam
Pada 7 November 2006, secara kebetulan polisi menemukan serpihan tulang belulang manusia di kawasan hutan dekat Waduk Subang di pinggiran kota Kuala Lumpur. Setelah dilakukan tes DNA dengan ayah Altantuya yang datang ke Kuala Lumpur mencari anaknya, dipastikan bahwa korban adalah putrinya.
Hasil pemeriksaan forensik menunjukkan, korban ditembak dua kali di kepala dari jarak dekat. Setelah itu tubuh korban dihancurkan dengan menggunakan bahan peledak C-4, high explosive.
Tiga tersangka dalam kasus ini adalah Abdul razak Baginda, bos Malaysian Strategic Research Center, Inspektur Kepala Azilah Hardi, dan Kopral Sirul Azhar Umar. Kedua polisi berasal dari Unit Penindakan Khas, pasukan elite polisi, yang bertugas dalam pasukan pengamanan Deputi Perdana Menteri Najib Tun Abdul Razak.
Penggunaan bahan peledak dalam pembunuhan Altantuya jelas bukan semata-mata untuk menghilangkan jejak, tetapi menyangkut balas dendam atau amarah yang luar biasa.
Karena pelakunya dari anggota pengamanan Deputi PM Malaysia, berkembang spekulasi di masyarakat mengenai keterlibatan Najib Abdullah dalam hubungan asmara dengan wanita asal Mongolia itu. Sementara Abdul Razak pasang badan untuk menyelamatkan bosnya dari rongrongan Altantuya.
Altantuya sendiri berulang kali mengirim SMS yang bersifat mengancam Abdul Razak. Antara lain, jika komisinya tidak segera dibayar, ia akan membeberkan rahasia yang selama ini disimpannya rapat.
Tak jelas apa yang dimaksud ”rahasia”. Namun, jika hal itu berkaitan dengan komisi, ia menyangkut pembelian tiga kapal selam buatan Prancis. Parlemen Malaysia menduga terjadi penggelembungan harga ketiga kapal.
Pemerintah Malaysia membeli tiga kapal selam jenis Scorpone dengan harga sekitar 1 miliar euro pada awal tahun 2000. Pembelian dilakukan melalui perusahaan Primekar Sdn.Bhd (Kuala Lumpur), milik Abdul Razak Baginda. Perimekar mendapat komisi 11 persen atau lebih kurang 114 juta euro.
Kedekatan Abdul Razak Baginda dengan Najib Abdul Razak, yang juga menteri pertahanan, memudahkan Perimekar memenangi proyek kapal selam. Ketika tim negosiasi harga berangkat ke Paris, Altantuya tampil sebagai penerjemah dan sekretaris.
Hubungan asmara
Kasus Altantuya sekaligus mengungkap tali-temali kekuasaan, uang, dan seks yang melingkari kehidupan pejabat tinggi negara. Karena kekuasaan itu pula, proses hukum kasus pembunuhan ini berjalan lamban seperti keong, tertunda-tunda, dan sejak sidang pertama (4/6/2007) hingga sekarang belum sampai pada putusan hukum.
Ironisnya, media massa Malaysia hanya memberitakan sepintas peristiwa pembunuhan tersebut. Kendalanya bukan karena kasus tersebut kurang menarik, melainkan UMNO adalah pemilik sebagian besar media massa utama. Najib Abdul Razak sendiri merupakan orang kedua setelah PM Abdullah Badawi dalam jajaran kepemimpinan UMNO, partai puak Melayu.
Akan tetapi, laporan Raja Petra Kamarudin di blog internet di Malaysia Today (18/6) mengejutkan Malaysia. Mengutip laporan intelijen militer yang disampaikan kepada PM Abdullah Badawi, Raja Petra menulis, eksekusi Altantuya pada malam naas itu disaksikan oleh istri Najib Tun Razak, Rosmah Mansor, dan Kolonel (AD) Azis Buyong serta istrinya, Letkol (AD) Norhayati Hassan. Setelah Altantuya terkapar ditembak, Kolonel Aziz Buyong meletakkan C-4 di atas tubuh janda malang itu dan meledakkannya.
Kolonel Azis Buyong dan Letkol Norhayati memprotes laporan tersebut dan mengajukan gugatan hukum terhadap Raja Petra sebagai pemilik Malaysia Today, yang melakukan pencemaran nama baik. Sebaliknya, Raja Petra justru mendatangi pengadilan dan membuat pernyataan di bawah sumpah bahwa laporannya berdasarkan kejadian sesungguhnya.
Jika laporan intelijen tersebut benar, kehadiran Rosmah Mansor di lokasi kejadian memperkuat isu yang selama ini beredar di masyarakat, yakni hubungan asmara antara Najib Abdul Razak dan Altantuya telah membuahkan anak.
Selain itu, bocornya laporan tersebut ke tangan Raja Petra Kamarudin sekaligus menunjukkan adanya suatu skenario di kalangan militer untuk menjatuhkan pimpinannya, Najib Abdul Razak, sebagai Menteri Pertahanan.
Menguntungkan PM Badawi
Berbeda dengan kasus pembunuhan Altantuya, kasus sodomi II yang dituduhkan kepada Anwar Ibrahim terus-menerus mendapat sorotan media cetak dan elektronik Malaysia. Kalangan oposisi menyebut peristiwa ini sebagai konspirasi politik untuk merusak citra Anwar Ibrahim dan mengakhiri karier politiknya di bui.
Nama Deputi PM Najib Tun Abdul Razak disebut-sebut berada di balik konspirasi tersebut. Buktinya, tiga hari sebelum Saiful bin Azlan (23) melaporkan kepada polisi peristiwa sodomi yang dialaminya, ia diterima Najib Abdul Razak di kediaman resmi deputi PM.
Najib membantah keras tudingan itu. Belakangan, setelah muncul foto ajudannya bersama Saiful, ia mengaku pertemuan itu tiga bulan sebelum heboh sodomi II. Menurut Najib, saat itu Saiful meminta saran untuk mendapat beasiswa. Terakhir, Najib mengaku bertemu Saiful tiga hari sebelum melapor kepada polisi. Pertemuan itu membicarakan masalah sodomi.
Menurut Raja Petra, seusai dari kediaman Deputi PM Najib, Saiful bertemu dengan Asisten II Kepala Polisi di Raja Malaysia Mohd Rodwan Mohd Yusof di kamar 619 Concorde Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Sebelum pertemuan ini, keduanya berkomunikasi lewat telepon seluler sebanyak delapan kali (Malaysia Today, 11/8).
Rodwan adalah perwira polisi yang merekayasa kasus sodomi I terhadap Anwar Ibrahim 10 tahun silam. Saat itu sebuah kasur besar ditampilkan sebagai barang bukti dalam persidangan. Di kasur yang pernah terjadi sodomi terdapat percikan darah Anwar Ibrahim.
Belakangan ketahuan bahwa darah tersebut dicuri Rodwan dari tempat penyimpanan sampel darah Anwar Ibrahim. Setelah hal ini terbongkar, jaksa penuntut umum meminta majelis hakim mencoret kasur tersebut dari daftar barang bukti.
Anwar Ibrahim divonis sembilan tahun penjara dalam kasus sodomi I. Namun, Mahkamah Agung membebaskannya tahun 2004.
Dalam kasus sodomi II, dua atau tiga jam sebelum melapor kepada polisi, Saiful lebih dulu datang ke Pusat Perawatan Islam,
Entah siapa yang melakukannya, kopi catatan medis Dr Osman atas pasien Saiful bin Azlan beredar di internet. Akibatnya, polisi tiga kali mendatangi Dr Osman dan mengancam akan menangkapnya jika menolak bekerja sama. Khawatir keselamatan dirinya, Dr Osman dan keluarganya terpaksa meninggalkan Malaysia
Dalam perkembangan selanjutnya, kecurigaan terhadap Deputi PM Najib sebagai sosok di balik konspirasi politik sodomi II mulai diragukan, terutama karena Najib sendiri mulai digerogoti dalam kasus Altantuya. Najib tidak menyadari bahwa ia sedang dikondisikan sebagai biang kerok semua gejolak.
Dalam hal ini, satu-satunya yang paling diuntungkan adalah PM Badawi. Jika Anwar dan Najib terlempar dari panggung politik, Badawi akan tetap berkuasa. Soal janji mundur tahun 2010 tidak harus dipenuhi, terutama karena calon penggantinya, Najib Abdul Razak, kemungkinan besar sudah meringkuk di bui bersama Anwar Ibrahim.
Farmer Fabio Anze found the naked baby girl on Thursday, being kept warm among his dog
Egidio Melia, director of the Melchor Romero hospital, told television and newspaper reporters that the baby was just a few hours old when she was found, and was in good health although she had some bruises.
Nighttime temperatures are chilly but not freezing in the Southern Hemisphere winter in the rural area around
Police said they had located the 14-year-old girl who gave birth to the baby outdoors during the night.
It was not clear whether the mother left her baby in the dog's pen or whether the dog found the baby outdoors and carried it in to join her puppies.
These hand-carved wooden animal flash drives are the latest in the tradition of semi- to fully perverse animal USB sticks. While this time the cute definitely outweighs the eww, Japanese designers Monodo just couldn't help themselves when it came time to select the connection point for these 1GB drives. Joining this little schnauzer is an elephant, swan, hippo and little piggy, all sharing the same unfortunate hook-up location. They can be yours in a few weeks for around $70.
Deretan pakaian warna- warni
Pelbagai kisah roman, kepahlawanan, hingga dukungan Soekarno terhadap perjuangan Tiongkok saat diserbu Jepang tahun 1937 ditampilkan dalam pelbagai pertunjukan Monte Carlo. Pelbagai golongan masyarakat senantiasa memadati pertunjukan
Lusi Liana, petugas di Persada Bung Karno, mengatakan, kostum kelompok
Ragam naskah
Ragam naskah yang ditulis Bung Karno di Bengkulu menunjukkan betapa, meski hidup di pengasingan, dia tidak ketinggalan mengikuti perkembangan dunia luar. Sebagai contoh adalah naskah Chungking Djakarta, Rainbow atau Poetri Kentjana Boelan, Koetkoetbi, Si Ketjil (Klein’ duimpje), dan Hantoe Goenoeng Boengkoek. Kisah Chungking Djakarta memaparkan perjuangan masyarakat Tionghoa di Nusantara yang menyokong perang melawan agresi kaum fasis militer Jepang di daratan Tiongkok.
Bung Karno, seperti ditulis sejarawan Bengkulu Agus Setiyanto dalam Bung Karno Maestro Monte Carlo, bersikap menentang agresi Jepang di Tiongkok. Dikisahkan dalam Chungking Djakarta tentang perjuangan kaum Huakiao dan peranakan yang mengumpulkan dana perjuangan mendukung pemerintah Zhung Hua Min Guo (Republik Tiongkok) dalam menentang agresi Jepang yang membabi buta.
Kisah itu sejalan dengan karya sastra Melayu-Tionghoa pada zamannya, yang juga menyatakan perlawanan terhadap ekspansi fasis dan militer Jepang, seperti karya Batalyon Setan oleh Monsieur d’Amour dan Pendekar dari Chapei karya Kwee Tik Hoay yang diterbitkan ulang oleh Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia (KPG). Masa itu semangat perlawanan terhadap fasisme Jerman, Italia, dan Jepang memang menggelora.
Naskah lain menampilkan kedalaman, pemahaman pengetahuan, dan toleransi Bung Karno terhadap keberagaman. Kisah Rainbow alias Putri Kentjana Boelan menampilkan persaudaraan antarelite penguasa Inggris yang mengadopsi seorang putri bangsawan Bumiputera Bengkulu.
Kisah Koetkoetbi menampilkan cerita zaman Hindu di Jawa dengan para empu sakti hingga awal abad ke-20. Para arkeolog di Jawa awal abad ke-20 bertemu dengan Koetkoetbi, seorang pelayan kuil yang dikutuk Empu Agni. Pelbagai istilah dan kata bahasa Sansekerta dan Jawi Kuna digunakan Bung Karno.
Kisah terakhir tentang Klein Dumpje atau Si Kecil Djem- polan diadopsi dari kisah Eropa tentang kecerdikan seorang anak bungsu yang berhasil menyelamatkan enam kakak- nya yang nyaris dimangsa raksasa.
Sisi lain seorang Bung Karno dalam dunia panggung nyaris tenggelam ditelan masa. Bahkan, naskah-naskah karya Bung Karno di Bengkulu ditemukan secara tidak sengaja di Istana Bogor tahun 2002.
Padahal, ketika itu sejumlah bintang juga lahir dari Monte Carlo. Reputasi Monte Carlo kala itu nyaris seperti kelompok Dardanella, Miss Tjitjih. Salah seorang bintang panggung, yakni Hanafi, yang menambah namanya dengan Anak Marhaen (AM) Hanafi, kelak menjadi Duta Besar Republik Indonesia untuk Republik Kuba. Monte Carlo adalah sisi lain seorang Soekarno yang memiliki kedalaman rasa soal seni budaya. Kota Bengkulu dan Persada Bengkulu merekam catatan sejarah. (ONG)
Along with a new PSP and PS3 wireless keyboard, Sony also announced a 160GB PS3 today at the Leipzig Games Convention. In the
The Burj Dubai tower, the tallest skyscraper in the world, is about to be completed. To celebrate it, David Hobcote has taken a series of amazing high resolution pictures from the air which give an exact impression of the breathtaking, massive scale of this building.
Forget those naff spy pens: This spy camera watch from Brando may actually be a decent spying gizmo. For example... can you see the camera in the photo of it? It's in the whorl of the numeral 2, and the watch is pretty convincing. It only shoots 352 x 288 pixel AVIs, but it does carry 2GB aboard, so that should be good for a whole bunch of sneaky vids, and its rechargeable batteries get juice from a USB connection. Just cover up that USB port with a sticker or plug of some kind so it's less obvious, and spy away. Presumably it also tells the time, but that's curiously not mentioned on Brando's web page. Yours for $236.
According to the Nikkei Business Daily (via Tradingmarkets.com), Japan’s Suzuki Motor Company will begin selling cars that run completely on 100% ethanol in the US and Brazil by 2010. The company will begin the transition by first offering an E25 sedan for sale in
Currently the most ethanol that a flex-fuel car can run on in the
Ethanol use in the
Drinking fruit juice dramatically reduces the effectiveness of drugs used to treat cancer, heart conditions and high blood pressure, scientists say.
Research has shown that orange, apple and grapefruit juice can also wipe out the benefits of some antibiotics and hay-fever pills.
It is thought the drinks stop drugs from entering the bloodstream and getting to work in the body - possibly rendering them useless.
The potential effects are so serious, researchers warned, that if in doubt, patients should swap fruit juices for water when on medication.
Researcher David Bailey said: 'This is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure we'll find more and more drugs that are affected this way.'
Twenty years ago, Professor Bailey showed that grapefruit juice dangerously magnifies the effect of the blood pressure drug felodipine.
His findings led to warnings that the drink should be avoided by those on some medicines.
The latest study shows that fruit juices can also reduce the power of medicines - potentially stopping them from doing any good.
Professor Bailey, of the
Drugs shown to be weakened by grapefruit, orange and apple juices include the blood pressure-lowering beta blockers atenolol, celiprolol, and talinolol and the hay-fever treatment fexofenadine.
The multi-purpose antibiotic ciprofloxacin, used to combat germs behind food poisoning and bone and joint infections, is also affected.
So is the cancer drug etoposide and a drug given to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs.
Many other drugs are also likely to be affected, an American Chemical Society conference heard yesterday.
The study showed juices do not need to be taken at the same time as drugs to have a dangerous effect.
Those drunk up to two hours before can reduce drug absorption.
But patients need not stop drinking juice altogether.
Professor Bailey said: 'Juice taken four hours prior to drug intake did not have an effect. Thus, it should be possible still to take grapefruit, orange and apple juices while on affected medications provided there is a sufficient time interval.
'I would recommend taking drugs with water on an empty stomach to get the most consistent effect.'
The researcher, a professor of pharmacology, advised patients to speak to their doctor or pharmacist before taking fruit juice with medicines.
Professor Bailey made the link after asking volunteers to take the hay fever drug fexofenadine at the same time as either a glass of water or grapefruit juice.
Taking it with juice cut its absorption into the bloodstream by half.
Experiments showed naringin, the chemical which makes grapefruit taste bitter, blocked the drug from moving from the small intestine into the bloodstream.
The researchers have pinpointed a naringin-like compound in orange juice and are looking for a similar one in apples.
A different mechanism is at play with the drugs whose levels are boosted by grapefruit juice.
There, juice deactivates a liver enzyme that breaks down drugs, making normal doses potential overdoses.
The study is not the first to highlight the dangers behind supposedly healthy juices.
Last month, research from
But eating whole pieces of fruit cuts the likelihood of developing the disease. It is thought the lack of fibre in juices may cause spikes in blood sugar levels.
The baby was pronounced dead several hours earlier, after doctors at
Magdoub was in the fifth month of her pregnancy.
The baby, weighing only 600 grams at birth, spent at least five hours inside one of the hospital's morgue refrigerators, before her parents, who had taken her to be buried, began noticing some movement.
"We unwrapped her and felt she was moving. We didn't believe it at first. Then she began holding my mother's hand, and then we saw her open her mouth," the Telegraph quoted Magdoub, as saying.
Hospital deputy director Moshe Daniel said: "We don't know how to explain this, so when we don't know how to explain things in the medical world we call it a miracle, and this is probably what happened."
"We've informed the Health Ministry and I guess they'll appoint a commission of inquiry. The hospital will ask for an external investigation of the case," Daniel added.
Motti Ravid, a professor of internal medicine, told
Now the 12-year-old is one of the most prominent AIDS activists in
"The boys and girls who live with HIV are here and we are growing up with many goals," Keren said Sunday at the opening of an international AIDS conference where she shared the stage with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
"We want to be artists, teachers, doctors — even get married and have kids. ... But achieving these goals will only be possible when we receive the attention we need, when we are guaranteed the medicines that we need, when we are accepted in schools."
Taking several deep breaths to overcome stage jitters, Keren delivered what was clearly the star speech of the conference's inauguration: Audience members repeatedly interrupted her brief, but moving words with loud applause and whistles, and followed her discourse with a standing ovation that lasted well after she left the stage.
In an interview with The Associated Press days before the conference, Keren talked matter-of-factly about the virus she has had since birth, flashing a dimpled smile and exposing a row of braces.
"It's like a little ball that has little dots, and is inside me, sort of swimming inside me," she said, curling her fist as she recalled what her parents explained to her with drawings long ago.
Keren's openness about her HIV status comes as the virus's victims grow increasingly younger.
Worldwide, people ages 15-24 accounted for 45 percent of people infected with HIV in 2007, according to the 2008 U.N. AIDS report.
In
And while more than 60 percent of the adults with HIV receive antiretroviral drugs in
Even so, children born with HIV are increasingly looking forward to long lives.
"There's a whole new generation of young people that were born with HIV that are reaching adulthood. It presents very interesting challenges," said Nils Katsberg, UNICEF'S director of
It won't be easy encouraging HIV-positive children to speak out in
When she first started school, Keren's classmates refused to play with her. Speaking out about HIV made all the difference. At 9, she began accompanying her parents — founders of the AIDS advocacy group "Llaves" — on talks to schools. She has visited half-a-dozen countries to share her story.
Last year, she started up "Llavecitas," a children's version of a magazine her parents publish. The Llaves foundation distributes 10,000 copies every two months across
Too often, children with HIV "live in a culture of secrecy," said Maria Villanueva Medina, a psychologist with Casa de la Sal, a group that runs an orphanage for children with HIV in
"They can't talk about their diagnosis in the school because they can be kicked out. They can't talk about it in their communities with their neighbors."
At Casa de la Sal, children are told about the virus around the same age as Keren was, but few dare to tell their schoolmates even where they live.
Casa de la Sal is adapting to a new reality. When it first opened 22 years ago, many of the children died by the time they reached their teens. Today, the orphanage has not had a death in eight years. The government provides antiretrovirals.
Faced with the challenge of preparing the children for adulthood, the orphanage eventually began sending them to regular schools instead of giving classes within the institution.
The hope is that someday, many will be outspoken advocates for their own cause.
"We need to start getting young people involved in leadership again in HIV and AIDS because it's easy to get kind of complacent," said Joe Cristina, whose Los Angeles-based Children Affected by AIDS Foundation helps fund the orphanage.
Keren writes an upbeat editorial each week. ("I want to congratulate all the boys and girls who have graduated and got good grades. Keep it up!!") She is now popular among her classmates.
She takes singing and acting lessons, dreams of going to Hollywood and breathlessly notes that she shares the same Zodiac sign — Sagittarius — and favorite color — purple — with her teen idol, Miley Cyrus.
"Sometimes I have so much fun that I forget I have this" virus, she said.
