Uruguay to legalise marijuana sale
London: The Uruguayan government has unveiled plans to legalise the production and sale of marijuana, a media report said Saturday.
The measure has been proposed by Uruguayan President Jose Mujica and is expected to come into force by next week, the BBC reported.
Licensed pharmacies will be allowed to sell one gram of marijuana for 20-22 pesos (85-95 cents) and consumers will be allowed a maximum of 40 grams a month.
Every household in Uruguay can grow up to six cannabis plants.
The use of marijuana will be allowed in public spaces where tobacco usage is also permitted, but not in workplaces.
Action will be taken against anyone caught smoking while driving.
Uruguay became the first country last year to legalise the consumption of marijuana. The medicinal use of cannabis is legal in a number of countries, including Canada, the Czech Republic, Israel, the Netherlands and in the US states of Colorado and Washington. (IANS)
Is there a ‘Mona Lisa’ in 3D?
London: Is there a second Mona Lisa painting by the great Leonardo Da Vinci in 3D?
There may actually be one.
German visual scientists have found a ‘Mona Lisa’ painting in the Museo del Prado in Madrid that may have been painted either by Da Vinci or by one of his students, visual scientists said.
The original ‘Mona Lisa’ painting is in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The researchers from University of Mainz in Germany looked at so-called trajectories – or the paths from a distinctive point on the source such as the tip of Mona Lisa’s nose.
It turned out that the real ‘Mona Lisa’ and the Prado one were painted from slightly different perspectives.
They found that the two paintings form a stereoscopic pair. When viewed together, these create an impression of depth, a 3D image of the ‘Mona Lisa’.
This evidence “might indicate that Da Vinci did not only think about the 3D issue theoretically but in a very practical sense in terms of experiments”, the researchers were quoted as saying in media reports. (IANS)
No houses on rent for Indians in Singapore
Singapore: Many online home rental websites in Singapore include the words “No Indians, no People’s Republic of China (PRC)”, which is sometimes followed by the word “sorry”, leading to increasing rental discrimination in the city.
The issue appears more common with less expensive properties and on sites where content is posted directly by users, the Online Citizen reported.
The president of the Universal Society of Hinduism (USH), Rajan Zed, has called on Singapore’s President Tony Tan and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to put an end to the discrimination, which is becoming a rising menace.
The emergence of anti-foreigner sentiments in Singapore has become a major cause of concern, with the government constantly urging the Singaporeans to welcome expatriates and to help them integrate into the city-state’s multi-cultural society.
One Indian expatriate said his agent told him that many landlords would refuse to rent flats to him because “Indians always cook smelly curries”, BBC reported.
Charlene, an estate agent, said it was common for landlords not to rent houses to tenants from India or China because such tenants “are not people who are house proud”.
“Many don’t clean weekly, and they do heavy cooking, so dust and oil collect over the months. They may use a lot of spices that release smells people don’t like,” Charlene added.
Singapore is one of the ethnically most diverse nations, consisting mainly of Chinese-origin people along with Malay, Indian and other ethnic groups. (IANS)
Czech man to cross Atlantic on wooden raft
Prague: A 62-year-old Czech man has planned to sail across the Atlantic Ocean from Portugal to Florida, the US, on a wooden raft, media reported on Friday.
Jozef Bohac said he was inspired by the Czech traveller Eduard Ingris who was sailing on the Pacific Ocean on a raft in the 1950s, xinhua reported.
“The famous Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl was sailing across the Atlantic on vessels made of balsa wood or papyrus. But no one has ever managed to sail from one continent to another on a raft made of several beams tied together,” Bohac said.
Bohac’s voyage will cover several thousand km. His raft is made of 16 spruce beams connected by steel cables. It will have a platform with a superstructure, two masts. Food, water and other personal belongings will be preserved in barrels. (IANS)
Peruvian, 116, stakes claim to oldest-woman crown
Lima: A 116-year-old Peruvian living in extreme poverty in the heart of the Andes is in the running to become the oldest person in the world.
Born December 20, 1897, Filomena Taipe Mendoza is only three months younger than Japanese Misao Okawa, who is the world’s oldest person according to Guinness World Records and the US-based Gerontology Research Group. Peru’s Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion says Taipe Mendoza’s identity card shows the date she was born. “I am not of the past century, young man, but the other one… I am very old,” she told an official accompanying her to cash the first check of a retirement program for seniors living in extreme poverty.
“My secret to longevity is a natural diet: I always ate potatoes, goat meat, sheep milk, goat cheese and beans,” said the wizened Taipe Mendoza, who has never left her dirt-poor village in Huancavelica. “Everything I cook comes from my garden.
I never had canned soft drinks. “I had a very hard life, I was very a young widow with nine dependent children and I worked hard to raise them. Only three of them are alive,” the ministry quoted her as saying. “I wish I still had teeth,” she added of her one wish.
The pension means Taipe Mendoza will now get free medical care and receive every month about 250 Soles (USD 90). (AFP)
Woman gives birth aboard plane
Madrid: Aviation officials say a woman has given birth prematurely aboard a passenger plane after it was diverted to a Spanish resort island.
The 30-year-old woman, who was in the 26th week of pregnancy, went into labor during the British Airways flight from Abuja, Nigeria, to London, Spanish airport authority AENA and the airline said.
Officials say the Boeing 777, carrying 296 passengers, was given clearance to divert to and land at Palma de Mallorca airport after she began to give birth. Airport medical staff came aboard to help the plane’s crew with the birth yesterday. The airline said its cabin crews are trained in birthing procedures and both mother and child were taken to a hospital on the island.
The mother and the newborn were in good condition. (AP)
British royals spotted at Memphis restaurant
Memphis (US): British Princes William and Harry have been spotted at a downtown Memphis, Tennessee, restaurant.
Local media reported the two arrived last night for a dinner party in a private room of Charles Vergo’s Rendezvous. Tennessee has been abuzz for weeks with speculation on whether William and Harry would travel to Memphis for the weekend wedding of a friend.
A C Wharton Jr, mayor of the Tennessee city famous for Blues music, says Memphis was ready to host the British royals should they attend what he describes as a strictly private affair.
A busy weekend looms in Memphis with the start of the annual Memphis in May tourism event and The Beale Street Music Festival kicking off. (AP)
Now, find love with the help of dating assistants
Melbourne: An online service has come has proposed that it can help men successfully land a date with an “attractive woman” at a cost of 9.50 dollars/hr.
Matthew Valentines, creator of personaldatingassistants.com, says his online service is a place where men can employ “dating assis-tants,” who will set up one’s profile on the dating site of their choice, source and contact potential dates and exchange phone numbers with interested parties, a website reported. (ANI)