Rare durian fruit on sale in Indonesia for $1,000
JakartaZ: A rare variety of the stinky durian fruit is selling in Indonesia for almost a whopping $1,000, the media reported on Tuesday. The so-called “J-Queen” variety has gone on sale at a shopping centre in Tasikmalaya, West Java – where several are on display in clear boxes atop red satin and adorned with fake flowers – with an accompanying price tag of 14 million Indonesian rupiah ($993), reports the Guardian. News of the ostensibly rare durian has spread quickly in Indonesia, with social media users deriding its fantastical price tag, and locals flocking to the supermarket to snap a photograph alongside the spiky, pungent smelling fruit, considered a delicacy across much of South-East Asia. The brain behind the J-Queen variety is a 32-year-old Indonesian psychology major called Aka, who claims he created a new and rare version of durian by crossbreeding two superior varieties from different regions in Indonesia. The J-Queen tree, he says, bears fruit only once every three years and reportedly has a “peanut butter taste”. Typically oblong in shape, fruit from the J-Queen durian is round and yellow gold. According to reports in the Indonesian media, only two J-Queen durians have been sold since the weekend. The durian’s pungent smell is powerful – so much so that it is often banned from public transport. (IANS)
Joshua Tree national park may take 300 years to recover
San Franciscoz: A former official of the Joshua Tree national park in California has said that it could take 300 years to recover from damage caused by visitors during the longest-ever US government shutdown, the media reported on Tuesday. “What’s happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years,” former superintendent Curt Sauer said. He retired in 2010 after running the park for seven years, the Guardian reported. The park reopened on Monday after the record shutdown that began on December 22. Park workers returned to a state of chaos, including damaged trees, graffiti and ruined trails. The reduced ranger supervision during the shutdown saw increased vandalism at the park, causing officials to announce on January 8 that Joshua Tree would temporarily close. It was announced a day later that officials were able to use recreation fee revenue to avoid the closure. “While the vast majority of those who visit Joshua Tree do so in a responsible manner, there have been incidents of new roads being created by motorists and the destruction of Joshua trees in recent days that have precipitated the closure,” park spokesman George Land said on Monday. The shutdown left nearly 800,000 federal workers furloughed, forcing many parks to operate without rangers. (IANS)