oleh admin | Mar 23, 2025 | catholicism, local news, news, politics, religion
PURBALINGGA, Lifehack My ID
– Jemaat Gereja Katolik Paroki Santo Agustinus di Purbalingga, Jawa Tengah, telah mengambil keputusan untuk mencabut perayaan ekaristi pada hari Sabtu (22/3/2025) petang.
Pengambilan keputusan tersebut dilakukan sesudah mendapatkan surat yang dikirim oleh Sekretaris Daerah Kabupaten Purbalingga ber-number 400.8/4664.
Surat itu mengharuskan tiga gereja yang berada di jalur Jalan Jenderal Sudirman Purbalingga untuk menyelaraskan waktu penyelenggaraan ibadahnya denganhari yang sama.
Tutupnya jalan itu dijalankan guna menopang gelaran MURI yang bertujuan memecahkan rekor dunia pada peristiwa bukber berisi tempe mendoan dengan partisipasi sebanyak 14.460 individu.
Pastor Gereja Katolik Santo Agustinus di Purbalingga, FX Handy Kristian Adi Putra, mengatakan bahwa karena akses tunggal ke gereja telah tertutup, akhirnya setelah berdiskusi dengan dewan jemaat, mereka memilih untuk tidak melanjutkan perayaan ekaristi pada hari Sabtu sore. Hal ini disampaikan saat wawancara dengan Lifehack My ID, Rabu (19/3/2025).
Romo Handy menyebutkan bahwa gereja tidak bisa memodifikasi jadwal misa ekaristi di hari Sabtu petang dikarenakan berbagai alasan tertentu.
“Apabila diselenggarakan lebih dini, masih banyak umat yang belum menyelesaikan aktivitas harian mereka. Sedangkan jika diadakan terlalu sore, hal itu menjadi mustahil untuk orang tua,” ungkapnya.
Ekaristi di Gereja Santo Agustinus Purbalingga minggu ini akan digelar sekali saja, yakni pada hari Minggu (23/3/2025) jam 07.00 Waktu Indonesia Bagian Barat (WIB).
“Saya memiliki ekspektasi tinggi terhadap kepemimpinan yang baru ini; rata-ratanya perlu bertambah lebih baik dan matang lagi. Untuk kita semua, menciptakan harmoni merupakan tujuan mulia. Pihak berwenang seharusnya menjunjung tinggi kesejahteraan publik sepenuhnya tanpa memandang latar belakang siapa saja,” tegasnya.
Pada saat yang sama, kabupaten Purbalingga sukses masuk ke dalam Museum Rekor Dunia Indonesia (Muri) berkat penyelenggaraan sahur bersama dengan jumlah tempe mendoan terbesar, di mana acara ini menampung partisipasi dari 14.460 orang.
Acara bernama Big Iftar 2025 diselenggarakan di sekitar Alun-alun sampai ke jalan Jenderal Sudirman Purbalingga pada hari Sabtu (22/3/2025).
Pada acara itu, ribuan partisipan jongkok mengelilingi area seluas satu kilometer guna menikmati hidangan tradisional berupa tempe mendoan secara bersama-sama.
Di samping itu, panitia telah menyediakan nasi tumpeng yang terletak di atas tampah anyaman bambu, disertai pula dengan berbagai lauk dan sayuran pendampingnya.
Bupati Purbalingga, Fahmi Muhammad Hanif, menyatakan bahwa keberhasilan acara Big Iftar 2025 tak lepas dari bantuan dan dukungan banyak pihak seperti Kodim 0702 Purbalingga, pemkab setempat, dan juga para penyokongnya.
“Acara ini menunjukkan bahwa melalui kerja sama bersama, kita dapat membuat sejarah baru. Saya mengucapkan terima kasih kepada warga Purbalingga yang sangat bersemangat dalam mensupport Big Iftar 2025. Mudah-mudahan kegiatan ini akan memperkuat ikatan persaudaraan kami,” katanya.
Acara Big Iftar 2025 diakhiri dengan salat Maghrib berjemaah serta doa bersama, dengan tujuan supaya Purbalingga terus dipandang sebagai kota yang memiliki warisan budaya yangkaya dan mengedepankan semangat persaudaraan.
oleh admin | Mar 14, 2025 | crime, culture, news, tourists, world
________________
Two young Japanese tourists in their twenties were held for two weeks in China before being expelled for snapping photographs that revealed bare backsides at the Great Wall, according to reports from local media.
NTV and other Japanese news organizations reported on Thursday about an occurrence at a World Heritage location close to Beijing. The event involved a man exposing himself and a woman taking photographs of the incident.
The foreign ministry of Tokyo stated on Friday that “the Japanese embassy in China verified on January 3 that two Japanese citizens were apprehended by local authorities at the Great Wall.”
The statement indicated that they were “released later and returned to Japan throughout January.”
Requests for comments from the Japanese embassy in Beijing went unanswered.
According to the reports, which cited sources, the tourists were apprehended immediately by security personnel and kept for approximately two weeks.
Showing the bottom part of one’s body in public areas is illegal in China, as reported.
It is said that the tourists informed the Japanese embassy about their actions, claiming it was just a joke.
The reports ignited anger in China, a nation whose historical memory retains vivid recollections of the brutalities inflicted during Japan’s colonization of the country in the 1930s and 40s, evoking intense emotions even today.
A hashtag translating to “Japanese man and woman detained for indecent behaviour at the Great Wall” had been viewed over 60 million times on social media platform Weibo by Friday morning.
A lot of highly upvoted comments criticized the tourists for their actions, with several resorting to hate speech directed at Japanese individuals.
A remark from Chinese actor Chen Yitian, who boasts more than 7 million followers online, criticized them for performing “disgraceful acts at my Great Wall.”
Some proposed that China should prohibit all visitors from Japan.
Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc.
Syndigate.info
).
oleh admin | Mar 13, 2025 | business, commerce, money, news, singapore
With Chinese tourists returning to Southeast Asia, WeChat Pay has formed an alliance with Singapore’s premier resort island.
Tencent Holdings
‘Weixin Pay, a prominent digital payments service in China, is extending its reach into Southeast Asia to leverage the increase in mainland travelers following Covid-19. The firm aims to broaden its horizons due to the underwhelming performance within its home market.’
“In recent years, we’ve gathered substantial input from Southeast Asian merchants who expressed their desire for assistance in attracting more Chinese travelers. This led us to prioritize ensuring these local businesses receive improved support,” stated Etienne Ng, the regional director for Southeast Asia at Weixin Pay, during an interview earlier this week.
WeChat Pay and Alipay, the leading mobile payment service providers in China, serve millions of domestic users. While traveling internationally, many people opt for these well-known payment applications. The Tencent-managed platform is branded as WeChat Pay for international customers.
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Alipay already caters to Chinese travelers in places such as Singapore and Malaysia. It operates under Ant Group, a financial technology subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding, the owner of this publication. WeChat Pay, which arrived in Singapore in 2018, now encompasses more than 100,000 local businesses within its network, ranging from the Lau Pa Sat food court to bike-sharing company Anywheel.
Weixin Pay, linked to the domestic version of Tencent’s super app
WeChat
On Tuesday, they declared a strategic collaboration with Singapore’s Sentosa Development Corporation and CapitaLand Group. This alliance seeks to incorporate various services from the bustling tourist destination onto WeChat’s local platform, catering to the increasing influx of Chinese visitors.
Singapore saw an influx of Chinese travelers in 2024, with the city-state hosting 3.08 million visitors from China, marking a 130 percent rise compared to the prior year, as reported by the Singapore Tourism Board. Despite this surge, visitor numbers remain lower than pre-pandemic figures, indicating room for additional expansion moving forward.
In collaboration with Sentosa Development Corporation, they launched the Weixin mini-program called “Sentosa Discovery Guide.” This tool was specifically created to improve the visitation experience for Chinese tourists through a Mandarin-supported platform. According to Ng, this initiative helps tackle significant staffing issues related to the lack of employees who can speak Chinese.
Launched officially on Tuesday, this mini-program offers functionalities including AI-driven trip planning, live tour guiding, and same-day ticket reservations for top destinations such as Universal Studios Singapore. Tourists can use their yuan through WeChat Pay for transactions, thus avoiding the hassle of exchanging currencies.
One of Singapore’s biggest property firms, CapitaLand, provides special tourism benefits through their mini-program.
“The agreement represents a positive beginning as it demonstrates the dedication and enthusiasm from our partners and merchants across Southeast Asia,” according to Ng.
This partnership underscores Weixin Pay’s continuing strategy shift towards catering primarily to Chinese travelers instead of local users in Southeast Asia. Back in August, Tencent discontinued WeChat Pay Malaysia, its six-year-old e-wallet service aimed at domestic customers, announcing that it will concentrate on “cross-border transactions denominated in renminbi.”
According to the Singapore Tourism Board, Alipay experienced a 56 percent rise in expenditures made by Chinese travelers in Singapore over the recent Lunar New Year season compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, WeChat Pay noted that Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand were among the top five overseas locations frequented by its users during the festive period.
“The information is highly significant as it serves as proof of the groundwork we’ve established in this area during the past several years,” Ng stated.
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The article initially appeared on the South ChinaMorning Post (www.scmp.com), which is the premier source for news coverage of China andAsia.
Copyright © 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
oleh admin | Jan 6, 2025 | biology, healthcare and medicine, life sciences, news, science
I will now condense my extensive discussions with Dr. Daniel Block and Dr. Andres Morato, share details about my own recoveries, and offer my individual perspectives on the enigma of stem cells.
NO REJECTION OF THE STEM CELLS FROM THE EMBRYO
Since 1931, reports of cancer-resistant black sheep have surfaced after Dr. Paul Niehans uncovered and began implementing Living Cell Therapy (LCT). This was followed by his aide, Dr. Siegfried Block, then later by his offspring, Dr. Petra Block, along with her brother, Dr. Daniel Block. Additionally, they boast an impressive 86% rate of successful treatments.
More than 2,500 of these black sheep wander freely across the Block family’s sprawling 25-square-kilometer jungle-like property in Landsberg, Germany. The facility particularly chooses first-time mother black sheep for slaughtering due to their excellent health and ideal conditions which ensure they can produce top-notch offspring. For each group of patients, seventy ewes are selected at the start. A week before the procedure begins, twenty of them are isolated, and within two to three days leading up to it, two or three of the finest are culled.
In under 40 minutes after slaughtering, the embryo’s components are swiftly processed into an emulsion within their EU-approved facility and then carefully dispensed using calibrated syringes for patient injections. This therapy is referred to as “live cells” rather than powdered or frozen ones. Although recovery can sometimes be immediate, typically it takes between four to ten weeks following the injection before visible improvements appear.
THEREFORE, 10 WEEKS LATER, ON OCTOBER 23, I ASKED DR. DENNIS SERRANO FOR ASSISTANCE.
To assess my LCT, after some preliminary examinations, he informed me with great delight that the cancerous cells in my prostate appeared “dormant,” and my PSA level stood at an impressively low 0.33. Consequently, he decided to discontinue my hormone therapy and reduced my use of Duodart to just two times per week.
In response, I shared with him that my lower back discomfort hadn’t returned since July; both my tennis game and golf stroke had improved significantly; and now I could maintain a fast walking pace as well as dance continuously—waltzing, tangoing, and swinging—for half an hour without issue. Nevertheless, I noted minimal relief from symptoms related to my carpal tunnel syndrome and varicose veins.
Doctor Serrano plans to perform more comprehensive examinations by the end of this month to reach a clearer verdict about my condition with the prostate. Nonetheless, he confirmed that both my physical health, mental state, and sexual capabilities are well above average. I remain optimistic and am continuing to pray, leaving everything up to God’s plan for me.
In the meantime, I plan to maintain an intermittent fasting routine to stay under 70 kilograms, work out at the gym, and play tennis every Monday and Friday. Golf will be part of my schedule on Wednesdays and Saturdays; meanwhile, I’ll take swift walks around the Manila Polo club track on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Sundays, I’ll utilize my treadmill for some indoor exercising.
I will continue to (1) keep my mind active (as using it prevents atrophy), (2) fully participate in every meeting as a board or committee member for companies, charities, and groups where I serve, (3) resolve conflicts between major business leaders and politicians, (4) spend quality time with loved ones through social activities, travel, meals, and laughter, and (5) write my articles wholeheartedly.
I HAVE FELT A PASSION FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Since my high school years, I aspired to become a chemical engineer. The journey that led me to law is an entirely different tale. In my 2003 publication titled “The Bio-age Dawns on the Judiciary,” I articulated this sentiment: “… even as we strive to adapt to the transformative changes brought about by the information age, humanity finds itself confronted anew by a groundbreaking event —the successful sequencing of the entire human genome completed on April 14, 2003. This monumental scientific feat carries profound implications for every individual across the globe, affecting not just common folks but also those within judicial circles.”
The word ‘genome’ encompasses all the genetic material present within a person. Due to the successful conclusion of the genome-sequencing initiative, researchers possess a comprehensive catalog of the essential components of the human genes. This achievement can be likened to having meticulously listed every part needed to construct an aircraft, thus paving the way for either building a brand-new functional craft or—in cases where this machinery may already exist—scientifically rejuvenating a deteriorated version. With the project’s culmination, scientists gain the ability to explore, manipulate, adjust, or transform these genetic frameworks with aims to extend lifespans and accelerate evolutionary progress.
Starting from this achievement, Dr. Jennifer Doudna and her group developed the CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology to remove faulty sections of an individual’s genetic code and introduce healthy segments instead. This innovation aims to eliminate biological disorders and imperfections, effectively redesigning life itself. As recognition for this groundbreaking work, Dr. Doudna received the Nobel Prize. In my view, this accomplishment might hold the key to understanding stem cells—specifically their inherent capacity to encourage regeneration, rejuvenation, and repair of damaged tissues and organs in patients.
For me as well, what remains even more enigmatic than stem cells is the process where the sperm fuses with the egg and forms a zygote which then has the remarkable capability to split repeatedly and swiftly develop various bodily structures autonomously. Such an extraordinary phenomenon—the genesis and progression of life—is beyond our understanding and solely within the domain of divine creation. Ultimately, I must acknowledge that everything originates from and concludes at the feet of the Lord. Henceforth, my constant refrain shall remain “Glory to God!” echoing Saint Augustine who once proclaimed, “Until my heart found peace in Christ Jesus.”
—————-
Comments to chiefjusticepanganiban@hotmail.com
oleh admin | Des 27, 2024 | celebrities, entertainment, money, news, wealth
From David Copperfield to David Blaine, and Lance Burton to Penn & Teller, here are 7 of the richest magicians and illusionists who dazzle the globe.
They astonish spectators with their incredible illusions, crafting parallel worlds that very few can unravel. Magicians and illusionists consistently challenge boundaries: be it David Blaine putting himself at risk with progressively bold feats, or the iconic duo of Penn & Teller still mystifying crowds nearly four decades since they first appeared, these artists have transformed their skills into profitable ventures.
If you’re a parent worried that your child’s geeky interest might be a misuse of time, keep reading to learn about the substantial wealth accumulated by many renowned magicians today. Some have amassed fortunes so vast that one has even become a billionaire…
7. Hans Klok
Approximate fortune: $25 million U.S.
The Dutch illusionist Hans Klok got a set of magical tools as a gift on his tenth birthday, which quickly led him to perform at various events and participate in contests—often emerging victorious. Known as “the quickest magician globally,” Klok achieved championship titles both nationally and across Europe during his younger years. He later expanded his performances worldwide. Among his standout appearances were the 2006 FIFA World Cup drawing ceremony, an act at Stella McCartney’s 2018 fashion event, and a series of shows in Las Vegas.
Pamela Anderson
as his aide and receiving the esteemed Silver Clown Award in 2014.
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6. David Blaine
Approximate fortune value: US$40 million
American magician and illusionist David Blaine rose to fame as an endurance artist, attracting widespread attention with his high-risk stunts like suspending himself in a clear acrylic case over the River Thames in London for 44 days back in 2003. During the ’90s, he began making waves with his performances.
David Blaine: Street Magic
He became well-known for it, but it was acts like being buried alive or encapsulated in ice that truly made him a recognizable figure. Most recently, Blaine has increased his fortune through a residency in Las Vegas and appearances on various TV shows including
Beyond Belief Featuring David Blaine
and the forthcoming
David Blaine: Don’t Try This at Home
.
5. Criss Angel
Approximate fortune value: US$50 million
Illusionist extraordinaire Criss Angel continues to be one of the leading figures in the magical arts, thanks to his successful residency in Las Vegas.
Criss Angel Mindfreak
Enhancing his reputation further, Angel has broadened his influence from literature to consumer products, television programs, and audio broadcasts. Leveraging his bonds with well-known personalities like Donny Osmond and Debbie Gibson, who agree to participate in his performances, he continues to elevate his profile, establishing himself as an essential attraction in Las Vegas.
4. Lance Burton
Approximate fortune value: US$100 million
In 1981, he unveiled his techniques to the global audience on
The Tonight Show Featuring Johnny Carson
In 1982, magician Lance Burton became both the first American and the youngest performer to claim the Grand Prix title from the Federation Internationale des Societes Magiques. Over his three-decade-long career, he reportedly staged over 15,000 performances primarily in Las Vegas and Monte Carlo. Though largely retired today, he still dedicates time to coaching aspiring magicians.
2 and 3. Penn & Teller
Approximate combined wealth: US$400 million
Penn Jillette and Raymond Teller have collaborated for nearly five decades, forging a partnership that has proven both highly lucrative and instrumental in cementing their place in popular culture. Besides headlining their own performances on Broadway, in Las Vegas, and numerous other venues, the duo—whose cumulative fortune is valued at approximately $400 million—have also made appearances in successful television programs including
Friends
and
The Simpsons
Their performance at The Rio in Las Vegas, starting in 2001, has made their residency the longest-running one inSin City.
1. David Copperfield
Approximate fortune value: US$1 billion
The Emmy Awards, Guinness World Records, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the prestigious title of Chevalier of Arts and Letters from France — all these accolades underscore why David Copperfield has amassed significant wealth. As an accomplished American illusionist who began captivating audiences on television and stages during his teenage years, Copperfield is famous for grand spectacles like making the Statue of Liberty vanish and strolling through the Great Wall of China. Even today, he maintains an active presence in live performances, notably with his ongoing shows in Las Vegas.
David Copperfield: A Cozy Night of Great Magic
, operating continuously since 2003 with performances five days a week. Additionally, the celebrity owns an archipelago comprising 11 islands in the Bahamas, which can be rented privately; however, such luxury likely requires resources akin to those of Copperfield.
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The article initially appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), which is the premier source for news coverage of China and Asia.
Copyright © 2024. South ChinaMorning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.