Man in soup over attempt to smuggle birds’ nest
Colombo: A Chinese national was arrested by Sri Lankan customs authorities for attempting to smuggle edible birds’ nests with a street value of nearly Rs two million, hours before Chinese president’s visit here. The 48-year-old Chinese man was arrested at the departure lounge of the Bandaranaike International Airport with edible bird’s nests worth Rs 1.9 million, Sri Lanka Customs officials said. The birds’ nests, a rare delicacy in China, were concealed in 12 tea tins, weighing 4.75 kilograms, Colombo Page reported. The man was attempting to board a SriLankan Airlines flight to Guangzhou in southern China hours before the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s arrival at the airport for a state visit, the officials said. A probe is underway while the suspect is currently being interrogated, they said. Edible bird’s nests are bird nests that are prepared and eaten by humans, particularly prized in Chinese culture due to their rarity and exquisite flavour. Bird’s nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans, with an average nest selling for up to USD 2,500 per kilogramme. The nests have been used in Chinese cooking for over 400 years, most often as bird’s nest soup. The bird’s nests are supposedly rich in nutrients, which are traditionally believed to provide health benefits, such as aiding digestion, raising libido, alleviating asthma and an overall benefit to the immune system. In addition to its use in soup, edible birds nest can be cooked with rice to produce bird’s nest congee or bird’s nest boiled rice, or it can be added to egg tarts and other desserts. (PTI)
Man jailed for stealing signed guitars
Canberra: A court in Australia Tuesday sentenced a man to a two-year jail term for stealing a valuable collection of signed guitars from the house of a music enthusiast, media reported.
The 14 guitars, which were autographed by the music legends such as American rock band The Eagles, American singer-writer Chubby Checker, American rock singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, Scottish-born Australian rock singer-songwriter Jimmy Barnes, were stolen from the Brisbane house of music enthusiast Merv French, 81, last month, the Brisbane Times reported.
Police handed over all the stolen guitars back to the owner Sep 15 but some of them were not in their original condition. Some had been buried in dirt underneath a home in nearby Lota, and the signatures had been wiped off others. The breakthrough came after an anonymous tip-off to authorities, a police official said.
Austen Sheffield, 50, appeared in Wynnum magistrate’s court in Brisbane Tuesday charged with entering the premises to commit an indictable offence, and an unrelated charge of possessing tainted property. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years behind bars. The guitar collection, valued at an estimated A$30,000 (over $27,000), will now be stored in a more secure location. (IANS)
Meet the ‘naked therapist’ who helps internet porn addicts by stripping on web cam
London: Sarah White, who calls herself ‘naked therapist,’ has claimed that she can help internet porn addicts by taking off her clothes on internet. The 28-year-old has helped hundreds of clients all over the world, including celebrities and VIPs and believes that arousal was the key to unlocking the male psyche, the Mirror reported. Even though clients, both men and women could masturbate while White strips but she insisted that she was not a sex-cam girl. White said that many men won’t talk to normal therapists about a variety of issues because they’re too embarrassed but they feel comfortable talking to her because they find her willingness to undress for them as a sign that she won’t judge them. However, she does not have a licence to practice as a psycho-therapist in the US because her arousal methods are deemed unethical. But White was defiant and insisted her risque methods are breaking new ground in the world of psychology. (ANI)
Promoting peace: Japanese man on hugging spree
Tokyo: A young Japanese man has been traveling three years through Asia distributing “free hugs for peace” in an initiative to bring people together, His videos have registered more than 1.5 million views on Youtube.
Koichi Kuwabara, 29, began his adventure just after graduating from university and has since toured South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan giving hugs to all passers-by who come to claim their “Free Hugs for Peace”.
His videos recorded on the streets of Seoul, Beijing and Taipei, in addition to those on Youtube, have more than 5,300 followers on Facebook and about 3,000 on Twitter. Kuwabara’s aim is that neighbouring countries “set aside their political problems and the hatred and contempt among them” because despite their differences “all Asians have much in common”, he told Efe news agency.
“That we do not agree on some territorial issues does not mean we cannot be friends. We are all equal. I would like the people to realise that by watching my videos,” Kuwabara explained.
Following his trek, Kuwabara returned to Japan to work temporarily at Disneyland Tokyo before embarking on new journeys.
Kuwabara said,he dreamed of “Asian people uniting someday” and believed that “South Koreans or Chinese getting along well is much more fun than hating each other”. His plans are to continue distributing hugs throughout the East Asian countries next year, and even extend his trips to the rest of the world if he saves enough money. Japanese, Chinese and South Korean media have reported on Kuwabara’s initiative and have praised it in the present context of tense relations among the major Asian countries because of territorial disputes or the consequences of Japan’s aggression during the World war II.
Because of these conflicts, nearly half of Japanese, or 47 percent, have an “unfavourable image” of their South Korean neighbors, while the vast majority of the latter, or 77 percent have a bad impression of the Japanese, according to an opinion survey conducted last year. (IANS)
Japanese firm develops test kit for dengue
Tokyo: A biomedical venture firm in Japan has developed a new test kit to diagnose dengue in short time, which is likely to help prevent further spread of dengue infection. The Chiba city-based Biomedical Research Institute Co.Ltd. Monday announced that it has developed a dengue detecting kit named RapiDeng Ag, which has a 10 cm-long test strip containing dengue antibody and is priced at about 1,000 yen (about $9.32), Xinhua reported.
Like early pregnancy test paper, the dengue test strip adopts immunochromatography, only requiring a few drops of blood dripping onto the test strip. If the result is positive, a red line will appear after about 10 minutes. The accuracy is as high as 90 percent.
Rapid and accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment are the first step to prevent expansion of dengue infection, said the director of the institute. (IANS)
Malaysia to donate 20 mn gloves for Ebola affected
Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysia government has announced that it has plans to donate over 20 million protective rubber gloves to the five African countries affected by Ebola outbreak. They will be distributed among medical workers in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, BBC reported.
A shortage of protective equipment has been one of the factors in the virus spreading. Health workers in Liberia recently went on strike, demanding more protective equipment.
Malaysia, a leading rubber glove manufacturer producing 60 percent of the world’s supply, will send 11 containers overall, each holding 1.9 million gloves, a statement from Kuala Lumpur said. “Malaysia can make a unique and vital contribution to the fight against Ebola because we are one of the biggest manufacturers of rubber gloves,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement. “We hope this contribution will prevent the spread of Ebola and save lives.” (IANS)