What would a plastic surgeon do with executed queen of France, Marie-Antoinette, if she were alive today? The answer depends on whether she would prefer the French, American or Russian look.
French fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac is displaying the three busts at a Parisian art gallery as part of an exhibition entitled Tyranny of Beauty.
It took more than three months to complete the white plaster heads, complete with wigs and make-up. The Austrian-born duchess’s French version is the most recognisable: the double chin is gone, the cheeks are slightly sunken, the eyes barely changed. The nose and mouth are untouched.
The American version has had the nose straightened, the lips have been botoxed, the cheekbones accented, while the Russian version is barely recognisable from the original. (AFP)
Man dies of flesh-eating disease
A Hong Kong man has died of a flesh-eating bug in the territory’s second case of the rare disease in two months, the Health Department said yesterday.
The 48-year-old tested positive after his death on September 10 for a type of bacterium that causes necrotising fasciitis, which can enter the skin through the tiniest cut before releasing flesh and muscle-destroying toxins.
The man suffered injuries to both calves in July this year, and was hospitalised on September 8 with leg pain and shortness of breath. He went into shock and had surgery to remove contaminated flesh. Lab tests showed Vibrio vulnificus, a type of bacteria causing necrotising fasciitis, in his body.
There are just 0.4 cases of necrotising fasciitis per 100,000 people worldwide annually, according to the Medscape online clinical information service.
Quick treatment with antibiotics is the only known cure. (AFP)
Ingredients for witchcraft
Kenyan police yesterday said they arrested a mortuary attendant and a hearse driver for trying to sell male genitals outside a bank in Nairobi.
The police nabbed the unidentified pair while they were waiting for their client outside the bank.
“We received a tip-off and laid an ambush and that is when we arrested these two gentlemen just as they were trying to sell the male private parts,” said a police official, displaying the genitals wrapped in a green plastic bag. Another police official said the men were cooperating.
“They have told us how it all started and have even agreed to take us to the mortuary to show us the body from where they chopped off these private parts,” said the official.
Selling of human body parts is rare in Kenya although belief in witchcraft is widespread. (AFP)
Toilets on hold
A Brazilian call centre worker who said she was often stopped from using the toilets has won a lawsuit against her employer.
A labour court in San Paulo ordered the employer to pay $2,200 to the 36-year-old woman who said supervisors never allowed her to use the toilets for more than five minutes at a time. The court said the woman also had to report how much time she spent in the toilet and had to ask for permission in front of other employees.
The company acknowledged controlling employees’ toilet visits but said it never kept them from using it or limited their time there. (PA)
Massive manhunt
Swiss police yesterday said a plane would be deployed to drop leaflets in a bid to catch a 67-year-old man who is on the run after he opened fire at police twice last week.
Police from Bern said the leaflets contain a picture of someone close to the fugitive Peter Hans Kneubuehl, as well as a message from this contact.
“About 100 leaflets have been dropped in the region of Biel and in the surrounding forests,” said a police spokesman.
Police launched a massive manhunt after Mr Kneubuehl fired several shots in the night of Wednesday to Thursday at police officers in Biel, severely wounding one of them. The fugitive emerged near his home there the following night and opened fire again on police officers, before fleeing. (AFP)
Crack blast
Hundreds of crack cocaine rocks were blasted 20 yards and lodged into the walls of a petrol station after a car carrying the drug exploded in southern Brazil.
Police said a man and woman were suspected of having hidden five kilos of crack inside their car’s natural gas cylinder. It exploded as they tried to refuel. An investigator said a 24-year-old woman suffered minor injuries. She and her alleged accomplice, a 36-year-old man, were taken to a hospital. The man tried to escape, but was quickly recaptured. (PA)