Food crisis? Try rat meat,

Food crisis? Try rats, says Indian state government

Monday, Aug 18, 2008

PATNA, India (Reuters) - A state government in eastern Indian is encouraging people to eat rats in an effort to battle soaring food prices and save grain stocks.

Authorities in Bihar, one of India's poorest states, are asking rich and poor alike to switch to eating rats in a bid to reduce the dependence on rice. They even plan to offer rats on restaurant menus.

"Eating of rats will serve twin purposes -- it will save grains from being eaten away by rats and will simultaneously increase our grain stock," Vijay Prakash, an official from the state's welfare department, told Reuters.

Officials say almost 50 percent of India's food grains stocks are eaten away by rodents in fields or warehouses.

Jitan Ram Manjhi, Bihar's caste and tribe welfare minister, said rat meat was a healthy alternative to expensive rice or grains, and should be eaten by one and all.

"We are very serious to implement this project since the food crisis is turning serious day by day," Manjhi, who has eaten rats, told Reuters.

In Bihar, rat meat is already eaten by Mushars, a group of lower caste Hindus, as well as poorer sections of society.

(Writing by Melanie Lee; Editing by Paul Tait)

"boobs on bikes" parade

NZ court gives green light to "boobs on bikes" parade

Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008 2:47AM UTC

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand court has allowed a parade of topless porn stars on motor bikes to proceed on the main street of the country's biggest city, local media said on Tuesday.

Auckland City Council had sought a court injunction to stop the "Boobs on Bikes" parade, scheduled for Wednesday, saying it breached a bylaw banning offensive public events.

But Judge Nicola Mathers said while opponents may find the parade offensive or tasteless, the fact that 80,000 people had gathered for a similar event last year meant a significant number of people did not agree with the critics, New Zealand Press Association said.

The parade on Queens St., featuring leather-clad local and international porn stars, is part of an "Erotica Expo" organised by self-styled "porn king" Steve Crow.

(Reporting by Kazunori Takada; Editing by David Fox)

China's Bao world's tallest again

New rules make China's Bao world's tallest again

Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 6:19AM UTC

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Guinness World Records has returned the title of world's tallest man to China's Bao Xishun after Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk refused to be measured under new guidelines.

Bao, who stands at 7 feet, 8.95 inches (2.36 metres), held the title for a year before losing it in 2006 to Stadnyk, who is 8 feet 5.5 inches (2.57 metres) tall, Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records, told Reuters.

While Bao has been measured by Guinness, which required him to be measured six times in one day -- both standing and lying down -- Stadnyk has refused. His title was awarded based on a statement from his doctor.

"We realized there was such interest and excitement in these categories to do with height that it was too important a category for us to leave it to a doctor alone," Glenday said. "So we decided to tighten things up completely to make sure there was no doubt."

Glenday said Guinness had been asking Stadnyk since about 2004 -- when the organization first heard of him -- if they could measure him, offering to fly officials to the Ukraine or fly him to Britain.

"He has gone on record saying he doesn't want to be bothered. Basically he doesn't want the fame and publicity that comes with being the world's tallest man," he said. "Whether or not that's the real reason ... I'm not sure, but that's what he's told us."

Stadnyk, who lives with his mother in a tiny village in central Ukraine, told Reuters last year he doesn't "need glory. I just want a normal life under normal conditions."

MORE BURDEN THAN BLESSING

Stadnyk said he sees his height more as a burden than a blessing, saying "the world is built for medium-sized people." He and his mother were living off a pension of about $100 (54 pounds) a month and whatever else they earn from growing tomatoes and cucumbers and raising chickens, cows and pigs.

Bao, however, loves the publicity that came with his title and "was a bit gutted" when he found out he had lost it to Stadnyk, Glenday said. The Inner Mongolian livestock herder has not yet learned he is again officially the world's tallest.

Bao is recrowned in the Guinness World Records 2009 edition, which will be released on September 17.

"He was a bit of a recluse. He looked after goats. Then the fame that he got from being a Guinness World Record holder meant that he found himself a wife, his life improved," said Glenday, adding that Bao and his 5 foot 6 inch (1.68 metre) wife are expecting a baby later this year.

Bao hires himself out for publicity stunts and his wedding last year was sponsored by at least 15 companies. In December 2006, Bao saved the lives of two dolphins by reaching deep into their stomachs with his 3.47-foot (1.06-metre) long arm to pull out pieces of plastic, according to Chinese media.

Bao reached his height in a seven-year spurt that began in his teens which doctors have yet to explain, according to Guinness, while Glenday said Stadnyk's growth is said to have been caused by a tumour on his pituitary gland that stimulated over-production of a growth hormone.

The tallest man on record was Robert Wadlow from Alton, Illinois, who measured 8 feet 11 inches (2.72 metres) and died in 1940, according to Guinness World Records.

Guinness has also crowned a new shortest man under the new rules -- He Ping Ping, who stands 2 feet 5.37 inches (74.61 centimetres) tall and lives just a few hundred miles from Bao in Inner Mongolia, Glenday said.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

Japan 61-yr-oldmum gives birth

Japan 61-yr-old surrogate mum gives birth: clinic

Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008

TOKYO (Reuters) - A 61-year-old Japanese woman has given birth to a surrogate child, an obstetrician in central Japan said on Wednesday. She is believed to be the oldest surrogate mother yet recorded in Japan.

The woman became pregnant with an embryo created from the egg of her daughter, who has no uterus, and sperm from the daughter's husband, the maternity clinic involved said in a statement.

The clinic is run by Yahiro Netsu, who has defied longstanding opposition to surrogate births from Japanese obstetricians.

The clinic declined to confirm when the woman gave birth or to give her name, citing privacy concerns.

"The clinic hopes that Japan will hold forward-looking discussions on surrogate births and that it will take place in Japan without abuses," the clinic said.

Netsu helped eight surrogate mothers become pregnant and give birth between 1999 and 2008, said clinic spokeswoman Chihiro Netsu.

In four of the eight cases, mothers aged 55 to 61 gave birth for their daughters. The remaining four involved women giving birth for their brothers or sisters, she added.

Prior to this case, the oldest surrogate motherhood case known in Japan was a 60-year-old woman who became pregnant in the United States last year with an embryo created from donated egg and sperm.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; editing by Roger Crabb)

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Sex and the city forbidden, but let the Games begin

Monday, Aug 04, 2008 4:41AM UTC

By Paul Majendie and Ben Blanchard

LONDON (Reuters) - Whatever happened to the Mongolian prostitutes? Where have all the "money boys" gone?

Looking for a high-class hooker in the lobby of a five-star hotel? It could be a tough assignment.

Anyone hoping for some readily available sex-for-sale in Beijing during the Olympics may be in for a shock. China is clearly keen to portray a squeaky clean image at the Summer Games and picture postcard Beijing is a top priority.

Prostitution is illegal in China. Banished after the Communist revolution in 1949, it returned with a vengeance in the 1980s when the country embarked upon economic reforms and started opening to the outside world.

For prostitutes and pole dancers alike, pickings now are slim. They cannot wait for the Olympics to end.

Climbing down from her pole in a sparsely populated bar in Beijing's Sanlitun area, 22-year-old Yang Shuo sighed.

"Business is OK but it could be better," she said. "It's the Olympics, you know. Police are cracking down on places like this."

Looking out on a tacky bar filled with a handful of customers, she said: "I am looking forward to the Olympics finishing."

For the oldest profession in the world, drumming up clients at the Olympics is hard work.

"Business is terrible," confessed one prostitute as she strode up to a passing westerner in a downtown Beijing street offering "Sex, Sex, Sex".

"We have been thrown out of the hotels," said the woman in her mid-30s, wearing a low-strung orange top. "We have to do our business on the streets and cut our prices."

"CLOSED FOR RENOVATION"

She normally charges 600 yuan (45 pounds) for three hours. The special Olympic price is now down to 500 yuan.

"I hate the Olympics. We can't wait for them to finish -- then business can return to normal."

The outlook was equally bleak at a bar once notorious as a haunt for picking up Mongolian prostitutes. The guard outside said: "It is closed for renovation. It will not be re-opening until September."

Trying to find out how business was for the money boys -- China's name for gay rent boys -- was not easy. None was prepared to talk unless you paid them first.

The Chinese government has told discos, karaoke bars and other entertainment venues to install windows in private rooms and ensure staff dress modestly in an effort to crack down on prostitution and drugs.

The Ministry of Public Security has decreed that entertainment venues must install transparent partitions between rooms that ensure "the whole environment of the consumer's entertainment area in the room can be seen".

Discos and karaoke bars in China frequently have private rooms for hire and are a favourite place for businessmen to entertain guests, sometimes with prostitutes.

Skimpy outfits were also officially discouraged. Staff members should "dress tastefully and not be too exposing".

(Writing by Paul Majendie; Editing by Nick Macfie)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road to Beijing" at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)