Alasan Keamanan, Petugas Bandara Roma Paksa WNI Lepas Jilbab

Aghnia Adzkia

Tempo.co - Karena alasan keamanan, seorang warga negara Indonesia atau WNI, Aghnia Adzkia, dipaksa melepas jilbabnya oleh petugas bandara Roma, ibu kota Italia.

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Lost da Vinci artwork unearthed beneath paint

Foxnews.com - Drawings sketched by Leonardo da Vinci are emerging from the walls of an Italian castle, announced restorers working on an elaborate fresco devised by the Renaissance master.

One of most original paintings of the 15th century, the mural covers the vault and walls of the Sala delle Asse in the Sforza Castle in Milan. It depicts a garden pergola made of 16 mulberry trees bound together by a golden, knotted rope. The trunk of each tree rises as a column supporting 16 half-moon-shaped spaces above a Gothic vault, producing an evocative, fictive grove.

Now restorers might be able to bring to light extra sections of the original work, possibly providing further insights into Da Vinci’s vision of the highly symbolic decoration.

The work was commissioned in 1498 by the duke of Milan, Ludovico Maria Sforza, nicknamed il Moro (the Moor) and was executed by Leonardo, who at that time was the court artist, and his assistants.

Experts agree the master's hand can be detected in a monochrome section of the fresco on the northeast and northwest corner of the room. The apparently unfinished work depicts sturdy roots bursting through rocks.

"Large parts of this mural can be recovered beneath several layers of whitewash," the Opificio Pietre Dure (OPD) the Florence based institute who is carrying out the restoration, wrote in a report.

Preliminary analysis produced "quite interesting results," lending hope that the work will recover "important parts of the preparatory drawings," Marco Ciatti, superintendent of the OPD art restoration institute, said.

Leonardo's work in the Sala delle Asse, or Room of the Planks (after the wood panels that lined it) has remained largely unknown. In 1499 Milan was conquered by the French who stormed the castle. In 1706, when Milan was under the Austrian rule, the castle became soldier barracks and the Sala delle Asse was turned into a stable, its walls covered with abundant layers of whitewash.

The arboreal decoration remained hidden beneath up to 13 layers of paint until 1893, when renovations to the castle revealed traces of frescoes.

In 1901, amid much criticism, the mural was heavily restored.

Only in 1954, the paint applied during the disastrous restoration was finally removed. But damage to Leonardo's work remained.

"The mural is covered by a thick layer of grime. However, our cleaning tests indicate that it can be easily removed. Leonardo's paint won't be damaged in the procedure," the restorers wrote.

Meanwhile, archival research also revealed the room's original name.

It was called "Camera dei Moroni" -- a clear allusion to Ludovico il Moro.

Indeed Leonardo's decoration is filled with punning allusions. The mulberry, or Morus tree, refers to the Duke’s well known nickname, Il Moro, the Moor. The tree is also a symbol for the Milanese silk industry - mulberries were cultivated in the region as food for the silkworm.

"This restoration is extremely important to fully understand Leonardo’s work," Milan culture councillor Filippo Del Corno said. "The project will last two years, ending just in time for the Milan's Expo 2015," he added.

Was Rocky once a Raphael? Hilarious Sylvester Stallone doppelganger discovered in 16th century Vatican masterpiece

Dailymail.co.uk - A visitor to Vatican City was stunned when he found the subject of a Raphael masterpiece had an uncanny resemblance to - Sylvester Stallone.

The Cardinal and Theological Virtues is a 1511 fresco adorning one of the Raphael Rooms at the Vatican.

It depicts Pope Gregory IX approving the Vatical Decretals - with a spitting image of Hollywood hardman Sylvester Stallone, 65, looking on.

The hilarious doppelganger was spotted by Harvard student Anthony Zonfrell, 20, who was on holiday in Italy with his family.

He said: 'My cousin had told us about how she had seen it when she went, so we were on the lookout.

The Cardinal and Theological Virtues, which was painted in 1511 and represents a combination of law and religion, makes up one wall in the 'Stanza della Segnatura' room.

It is thought Raphael, who lived from 1483 until 1520, only sketched the outline of the fresco, with team member Lorenzo Lotto carrying out the 'Stallone' paintwork.

When Anthony, who is from Massachusetts, returned from his holiday he uploaded the photograph to community website Reddit.Incredibly, the image was viewed more than 700,000 times - becoming the website's most popular page.

Anthony added: 'I posted it at night, and when I woke up it was on the front page. I was shocked at the response it got, it really blew up quite fast. All of the comments were hilarious.'

Dog Survives Being Bound, Shot And Buried

Sky.com - A dog has managed to survive despite being bound and shot in the head 40 times before being buried alive.

The stray collie - named Star by her rescuers - managed to wriggle her way to the surface of the shallow grave where she had been left to die in Malta.

Animal welfare officers were investigating a tip-off about three dogs being held in a cage when they heard her muffled whimpering.

They were shocked to find only her wired-up snout poking above the ground.

As they dug her out, they were even more horrified to discover Star had her legs tied together with shoe laces and had been shot 40 times in the head with a pellet gun.

The five-year-old was rushed to the nearest veterinary clinic where she had emergency surgery.

Vet Trevor Zammit said: "We had to spoon out pellets from under her skin. The person who shot her didn't do so accidentally because she was shot from quite close range."

Star's incredible tale of survival has touched the world with a Facebook page entitled Star: the dog who lived, set up in her honour.

The site, which has attracted more than 35,000 people, also aims to raise awareness to animal cruelty, pet adoption and rescue.

Police are now hunting the person responsible for her sickening ordeal. Video

Pil Aborsi Mulai Diujicoba

Seorang perempuan yang berusia 30 tahun telah menjadi orang pertama di Italia utara yang menggunakan pil aborsi yang kontroversial, RU486.

Pil tersebut dikeluarkan Senin (19/4) di Niguarda, Milan, dan direncanakan diberikan kepada seorang lagi perempuan Italia akhir pekan ini.

"Pasien itu meminta alternatif bagi aborsi melalui operasi, dan ia berada dalam kondisi baik dalam batas waktu 49 hari," kata pemimpin bagian ginekologi dan kandungan di rumah sakit Niguarda, Mario Meroni.

Ia merujuk pada panduan dari dinas farmasi Italia, AIFA, yang mensahkan penggunaan RU486 di rumah sakit di bawah pengawasan medis sebagai pilihan bagi aborsi melalui operasi sampai usia kehamilan 49 hari.

"Kami memberikan pil RU486 kepada pasien itu kemarin, dan hari ini ia menjalani pemeriksaan," kata Meroni.

Para dokter di kota Bari, Italia selatan, awal Maret melakukan aborsi kimia pertama kepada seorang perempuan berusia 25 tahun, beberapa hari setelah RU486 tersedia di rumah sakit Italia.

"Seorang pasien lain yang juga berada pada batas kehamilan 49 hari akan diberikan pil tersebut dalam beberapa hari. Ia sudah menjalani pemeriksaan dan telah menandatangani semua dokumen yang diperlukan yang memberi kami izin untuk melanjutkan prosedur ini," kata Meroni.

"Ia memiliki anak perempuan yang masih sangat kecil dan datang dari wilayah Lombardy," katanya.

Semua pasien yang menggunakan aborsi kimia dengan menggunakan pil RU486 diharuskan tetap berada di rumah sakit sampai embrio mereka benar-benar keluar.

"Catatan internasional memberi tahu kami bahwa rata-rata 65 persen pasien harus berada di rumah sakit selama empat hari," kata Meroni.

Kehadiran pil RU486 mengundang reaksi emosional di Italia, yang kebanyakan warganya adalah penganut agama Katholik dan menjadi salah satu negara terakhir di Eropa yang mempergunakan obat tersebut.

Vatikan telah mengecam pil RU486 dan sebanyak 70 persen dokter di Italia mengatakan mereka tak bersedia melakukan aborsi dengan alasan agama.

Dua gubernur konservatif yang baru terpilih, Roberto Cota di wilayah Piedmont di Italia utara dan Luca Zaia di wilayah Veneto di Italia timur-laut, secara terbuka telah menentang pil aborsi itu disediakan di rumah sakit lokal.

Aborsi telah disahkan di Italia sejak 1978 pada 90 hari pertama kehamilan dan sampai pekan ke-24 jika nyawa ibu terancam atau janin cacat.

Synthetic Bone Material Made From Trees Matches Real Bone

Another reason to love trees - they can give you new bones! Scientists in Italy have discovered a way to transform rattan (yep, as in what we weave into furniture) into synthetic bone material, matching human bone structure incredibly closely - more so than anything else available right now. Anyone who needs bone replacement, from those who have an accident to cancer patients, are potential candidates for the synthetic material.

Scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics in Faenza found that by heating rattan wood at high pressures while adding calcium and phosphate, they can create a synthetic for bone that is load-bearing, durable, and structured so much like real bone that blood and tissue cells have no problem treating it as if it were a continuation of the actual bone.

The material has been tested out successfully in sheep, finding that the material is so thoroughly accepted by the body that it became difficult to see the fuse where the synthetic bone ends and the real bone begins.

Unlike ceramic or metal materials currently used for bone replacements, this material would never need to be replaced.

However, it'll be another 5 years or so before the technology is perfected enough for use on human patients.

Galileo May Get Eyes Checked Posthumously

ROME - Italian and British scientists want to exhume the body of 16th century astronomer Galileo for DNA tests to determine if his severe vision problems may have affected some of his findings.

The scientists told Reuters on Thursday that DNA tests would help answer some unresolved questions about the health of the man known as the father of astronomy, whom the Vatican condemned for teaching that the earth revolves around the sun.

"If we knew exactly what was wrong with his eyes we could use computer models to recreate what he saw in his telescope," said Paolo Galluzzi, director of the Museum of History and Science in Florence, the city where Galileo is buried.

Watson, who has studied Galileo's handwriting, letters and portraits of the astronomer, suspects he may have had unilateral myopia, uveitis — an inflammation of the eye's middle layer — or a condition called creeping angle closure glaucoma.

Watson believes Galileo did not acquire his eye problems by looking at the sun but by systemic illnesses, including an attack when he was young that left him temporarily deaf and bloody discharges and arthritis so severe he was bedridden for weeks.

He was under particular stress when he was tried for heresy by the Inquisition because the Copernican theory he supported conflicted with the Bible.

Galileo was buried in Florence's Santa Croce Basilica about 100 years after his death. Before, his remains were hidden in a bell tower room because the Roman Catholic Church opposed a proper burial.

Crucified Frog Sculpture Angers Pope

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian museum on Thursday defied Pope Benedict and refused to remove a modern art sculpture portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that the Vatican had condemned as blasphemous.

The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano decided by a majority vote that the frog was a work of art and would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition.

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 London and at the Venice Biennale, and retrospectives are planned in Los Angeles and New York.

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 Bolzano, did not agree.

The Vatican wrote a letter of support in the pope's name to Franz Pahl, president of the regional government who opposed the sculpture. Pahl released parts of the letter, which said the work "wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God's love".

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 Rome's state museums, told an Italian newspaper on Thursday.

But Italy's culture minister, Sandro Bondi, said museums that receive state funds should not "exalt artworks of desecration, of useless provocation and of nonsense".