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LY £H © oF VEN? VATICAN ORDERED HIT ON POPE JOHN PAUL II with Agca in prison, telling his followers: "Pray for the brother who shot me, whom I have sincerely forgiven." (Source: Press TV, Tehran, 10 November 2010, http://www. presstv.ir/detail/150432.html) an assassination attempt on the late Pope John Paul Il has stated in a television interview that "the Vatican government” had ordered the hit. Mehmet Ali Agca, recently released after spending 30 years behind bars, stated on Turkish national television: "The Vatican governmen decided on the Pope's assassination. They planned and organised it. The order to shoot the Pope was given by Vatican Secretary Cardina Agostino Casaroli,” he said. Agca was arrested in 198 after he shot the Pope in St Peter's Square. At the time, he claimed that he had acted alone. Later, however, Agca testified that he had been paid by the Bulgarian secret service. To date, however, the motive behind the attempt remains unknown. After his release from prison in January 2010, Agca announced his intention to write a book, sparking widespread outrage. One of the prosecutors during Agca's trial, Ferdinando he man responsible for \ MICROCHIPS IN YOUR MEDICINE wiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG plans to seek regulatory approval for a pioneering tablet containing an embedded microchip, bringing the concept of "smart pill" technology a step closer. Novartis secured access to chip-in-a-pill technology developed by privately owned Proteus Biomedical of Redwood City, California. The biotech start-up's ingestible chips are activated by stomach acid and send information to a small patch worn on the patient's skin, which can transmit data to a smart phone or send it over the Internet to a doctor. Imposimato, stated that Agca "knows everything about the intelligence services behind the shooting". He added: "It's horrifying and ridiculous that people could offer him money [for his memoirs]." "It's offensive to Pope John Paul and it could jeopardise what chances are left of finding out the truth. He could be tempted to say outrageous, untrue things just to get more money," Imposimato noted. The Pope later forgave and met Longer-term plans include expanding the "smart pill" concept o other types of medicine and using he wealth of biometric information which the Proteus chip can collect, rom heart rate and temperature to body movement, to check that drugs are working properly. Because the tiny chips are added o existing drugs, Novartis does not expect to have to conduct full-scale clinical trials to prove that the new products work. Instead, it aims to do so-called bioequivalence tests to show that they are the same as the original. A bigger issue may be what checks should be put in place to protect patients’ personal medical data as it is transmitted from inside their bodies by wireless and Bluetooth. (Source: Reuters, 8 November 2o10, http://www. reuters.com/article/idUSTREO A754720101108) Agca's —_ | You wre Ts ATTAACT ME, Mew! Kw ®EFEL Lot eg , X thins THE cane aes yevekseD a. ee (et) wl —— 6 * NEXUS DECEMBER 2010 - JANUARY 2011 www.nexusmagazine.com