Shopping is really bad for men's health and fertility, scientists are now saying after new research.
Researchers have discovered that a chemical compound found on some cash receipts contains a hazardous substance, Bisphenol A (BPA), which suppresses male hormones in the body and can make men impotent.
The compound, used to make ink visible on thermally sensitive paper, is ingested when men handle the paper and then touch their mouths or handle food.
Frank Sommer, a Berlin-based urologist, said the substance could just affect sex hormones in men.
"A substance like that could shift the balance of sex hormones in men towards oestrogen," Sommer was quoted as saying by The Telegraph newspaper here.
"In the long term, this leads to less sexual drive, encourages the belly instead of the muscles to grow and has a bad effect on erection and potency," he said.
BPA has been linked to breast cancer, heart disease, obesity, hyperactivity and other disorders, and has been banned in Canada and a few US states.
It is widely used in tins of food and canned drinks to toughen the internal lining of the container. Most manufacturers of baby bottles have stopped putting it in their products but older stock containing the chemical is still on sale.
BPA is known as an endocrine disrupter and interferes with the release of hormones. It can affect disorders associated with metabolism, fertility and neural development.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Shopping makes men impotent
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Mourners dance to Kajra re…
DABAWALI (SIRSA): Kajra re, kajra re ... a lilting tune wafted through the air as DJ juggled music CDs. But, there was no dancing, no mirth as a deathly silence prevailed among the people gathered. For, it was a funeral procession taken out in Chautala village.
The khaps may have given a fatwa against DJs, but this funeral procession, taken out by members of the Lohar community, went ahead playing Bollywood and Punjabi hits on Monday. They say it is their tradition to conduct funeral of their mukhiya (village chief) with pomp.
The procession had a flower-bedecked car, with a mobile DJ belting out songs as people danced with bottles of alcohol in hand. The body of village mukhiya Tota Ram was covered in flowers and laid on the car.
As the DJ put on a hit Punjabi song — Koi ve gulab aakhda, koi ve sharab aakhda, ke mundke kende ladoo bantne — the people in the funeral procession, of all age groups, broke into cheers and dance. They demanded encore of every Hindi song that was played. Even crackers were burst along the way.
"We are simply following an age-old tradition," said Tota Ram's sons, Jela Ram, Vajira Ram, Gurchand and Vakeel. "We even arranged for cars to bring in relatives and friends to join our father's last journey. We have spent about Rs 1.25 lakh to arrange this. It is a matter of pride for us," they said.
Fan bites Imran's hand!
Imran Khan was shocked beyond belief when despite security efforts a crazy fan managed to bite his hand
When Brad Pitt had a run-in with his crazy fan at the Venice Film Festival, his security agents were quick to act. The female fan wasn’t able to put her lips to his and had to make do with just an embrace. Imran Khan had no such luck.
The actor with chocolate looks has been busy travelling around the world to promote his film I Hate Luv Storys. On his recent trip to Dubai however, a nasty surprise awaited him.
On Saturday night, a crazy fan of his was spotted making a lot of noise. She was dying to meet the actor or at least get a closer look at him. She left no stones unturned in attempting to move closer to Imran as he struggled to make his way through a rushing, yelling crowd.
The fan managed to catch hold of Imran’s hands and started shaking them. Imran too, the sweet soul that he is, reciprocated with a smile. But on noticing that the fan was dissatisfied with just a handshake and continued to linger around Imran, not letting go of his hand, the security guards jumped at her to try and take her away. Even they hadn’t expected what came next: the fan leapt at Imran and bit his hand!
Our source present in Dubai said, “Imran was in a nightclub in Dubai when the incident happened. He had just stepped out after a promotional event for his film, when a crazy female fan got too close for comfort. There were many of his fans there but this girl seemed to be obsessed with Imran and didn’t want to let go of him. She wanted to kiss his hand and the
security guards tried to take her away but she got angry and in response attacked Imran. She started biting him on his hand and would not stop even after Imran started shouting in pain. The security had to pull her away from Imran in order to save him from her attack. Imran was shocked and could not believe what happened to him.”
When contacted, Imran Khan narrated his dreadful encounter, “I was shaking hands with lots of people outside the club, when the girl grabbed my hand and wouldn’t let go. The security guards were pulling her off and the next thing I knew, she was biting me.”
Considering that a crazy fan of singer Zubeen Ali’s chopped off his ponytail, let’s just thank God that Imran’s fan didn’t have a pair of scissors.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
In China, fake ATM to dupe customers
BEIJING: Robbers in China came up with a novel method of looting people. They set up a fake ATM to record banking details of unsuspecting customers and then used these to make fraudulent withdrawals.
Robbers bought the ATM machine from a legitimate manufacturer but only used it to dupe customers to reveal their bank card details, China Daily reported. The fake ATM machine was placed by the robbers in a busy central part of Beijing and advertised that all major international credit cards were accepted.
But when the customer put his card in the machine it showed error, even as all the banking details were swiped from the card.
The thieves later duplicated the card details to empty the savings of unsuspecting customers. A number of such withdrawals running into hundreds of thousands of Yuan happened, before police came alive to the tactics. But even then no arrests have yet been made, the paper said
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Saudi women threaten to breastfeed drivers
By Maktoob Business
DUBAI - Saudi women seem ready to adopt a controversial fatwa as they step up their campaign to achieve the right to drive in the conservative kingdom, UAE daily Gulf News reported on Sunday.
The fatwa, or religious ruling, allows women to breastfeed their drivers and turn them into their sons.
"We either be allowed to drive or breastfeed foreigners" will be the slogan of the campaign the women plan to launch, journalist Amal Zahid was quoted as saying in the newspaper.
Zahid said their decision follows a recent fatwa issued by a renowned scholar which said that Saudi women can breastfeed their foreign drivers for them to become their sons.
"As every Saudi family needs a driver, our campaign will focus on women's right to drive," she said.
A Saudi scholar last month suggested women donate their breast milk to men in an attempt to get around the kingdom’s ban on the mixing of unrelated men and women, and his words have sparked controversy.
Sheikh Abdul Mohsin al-Abaican, a consultant at the Saudi royal court, issued a fatwa stating there should be symbolic bond between unrelated men and women who regularly come into contact with each other.
Breast milk kinship is considered to be as good as a blood relationship in Islam, Gulf News said.
Saudi woman Fatima al-Shammary, told a local Arabic daily, that the fatwa was "ridiculous and weird".
She added: "This fatwa has become a hot topic of debate among women. Is this is all that is left to us to do: to give our breasts to the foreign drivers?"
Another Saudi woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Gulf News: “Does Islam allow me to breastfeed a foreign man and prevent me from driving my own car? I have not breastfed my own children. How do you expect me to do this with a foreign man? What is this nonsense?"
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Get creative with wedding proposals!
The idea of getting down on one knee has always given men sweaty palms. Now, they can stop agonising as wedding planners turn proposal consultants for men who want to get creative about popping the question. Ask her in a limo,up in the air or have the four words spelt out in rose petals ...
The goons gagged her and drove her to an unknown destination. Then they got a bit rough,refusing Ayesha food and water and even slapping her for no reason.One of her abductors made ransom calls to her boyfriend who seemed to be in no mood to pay up.This went on for an agonising 12 hours during which the famished girl dissolved into tears, much like the helpless heroines in the Bollywood melodramas that she and her boyfriend were hooked to.
Her tears were interrupted by a sudden thud.Somebody had ripped through the door behind her.That the door was made of cardboard somehow did not take away from the bravado of the man who was standing in front of her,rose in hand.Her night-long disenchantment with him was replaced by an overwhelming sense of relief."The love of my life came to my rescue and beat up the villains much to my delight," Ayesha later told her friends in an email.That wasn't all. Once he was through with the goons, he went down on one knee,extended the rose,and proposed.
Like the movies,this drama too had a happy ending. "She was surprised,of course,and wept a great deal,but she really liked the idea," recalls a representative of the Santa Cruz-based personal occasion management company Mygenie.com,that had helped the boyfriend orchestrate the entire chain of events in much the same manner as they had taken shape in his "filmy" mind.
"We took her family into confidence as she was to be missing through the night," the representative who likes to call himself "the invisible genie" adds, about the proposal that had set the film buff back by about Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 - a small price for the priceless expression on the face of the girl who is now his fiancee.
It's not just weddings that are becoming longer and more extravagant,the proposals are getting creative too.Popping the question is now a pre-meditated event choreographed by invisible (it spoils the romance if the girl finds out) professionals.So if you want to engineer a fake kidnapping,shower flowers from a helicopter,propose in a limo or serenade your brideto-be,there's an event manager or wedding planner at your service.These proposal consultants get into the act of helping men - and it's still overwhelmingly they who do the asking - to manufacture fairytale scenarios that the wife (and eventual grandkids) will be enchanted by.
"For one client,we decorated a 100 by 100 feet open space by the beach with rose petals that had the words 'Will you marry me' spelt with white petals," remembers the 'invisible genie'.The event,which also saw the couple travel to the seaside spot in a helicopter charter,cost about Rs 56,000.
While some prefer luxurious experiences (yacht rides or air charter services,which range from Rs 60,000 to Rs 3.5 lakh per hour),others are content with relatively inexpensive options (singing telegrams) marking their offbeat Dday.
Recently,one of the clients of Marry Me wedding planners in Mumbai,for instance,took his girlfriend (at the time) to a nightclub along with their friends.It was also her birthday that day.Suddenly,when they were on the dance floor,the music stopped and a video flashed across the big screen.This special video (created by the wedding planners) had the boyfriend talk about their relationship and wish her a happy birthday.It ended with him asking her the all-important question - "Will you marry me?" "It turned out to be a beautiful proposal,with their close friends around and,of course,she said yes," recalls Candice Pereira,the creative head.
Dhawal Oza of Dreamz,too,recalls arranging a similar proposal."We had booked a private mini theatre for the couple,screened the girl's favourite movie and flashed the famous four-word question onscreen," he says.Others prefer open air,trees and waterfalls instead of dining tables and scented candles.
Mumbai's Caher Balasinorwala,whose American girlfriend is visiting India this week,has requested Aparna Dalal of lamhe.co.in,a gift registry website,to arrange for a stay at an organic farm near Thane."My girlfriend and I are both fond of nature.So I thought I'll take her to this offbeat hideout while she's here and pop the question when she least expects it," says Balasinorwala,who has also been pleading to the rain gods to help his green,romantic cause.
Often,though,wedding planners have to dismiss some requests as "non-feasible".Once,a boy approached Mygenie.com with a rather quirky plan.He wanted to propose to his girlfriend who worked on the 14th floor of a skyscraper in suburban Mumbai by climbing down a harness and hanging outside her window.Though the company had all the equipment in place,the building refused permission for safety reasons.
Wedding planner Dhawal Oza remembers an even more ambitious request."I received a call from a guy who wanted to propose while sky-diving or bungee-jumping," says Oza who,of course,refused politely.After all,if something went wrong,the only proposal that the girlfriend would be left considering is "Will you carry me?"
Some names have been changed
Iran Permits Brothels Through Temporary Marriages
Iranian authorities have allocated funds for prostitution houses under the guise of temporary marriage, Al-Osboa has reported. According to the report, the government of Iran has granted one-day, temporary marriages in certain neighborhoods to “eliminate the problem of rape and sexual repression suffered by the Iranian youth.”
Under the terms of the license, it would be legal for any Iranian or foreigner frequenting a designated house to have sex with a girl if she agrees to temporarily marry him. In Iran, sex outside of marriage is a crime, in some cases punishable with up to one hundred lashes, or in the case of adultery, the death sentence. When a temporary marriage is instituted in Shia Islam, a man and woman contract a mut’a for a limited period of time and for a specific amount of money that the man must pay to the woman.
According to the official announcement in the cities of Qom and Mashad, the price per night is between twenty and fifty dollars, depending on whether the girl is a virgin or not in addition to her beauty. Critics, however, have said that this is just an excuse to bypass restrictions on prostitution. According to the Kuwait Times, the “homes have become a breeding to the whims and desires of some officials and Shiite clerics.”
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Staring at 178 men's private parts helps crack case
Cops solve 6-year-old's rape and murder by asking men in Bhayander to strip, to check them for injuries
Imagine a policeman walking into your house in the dead of night and asking male adults to pull down their pants, and then taking a hard look at their private parts. 
ILLUSTRATION/SATISH ACHARYA
Nah, no act of queer voyeurism this. Instead, this is what policemen in Bhayander had to go through on Wednesday during a nocturnal combing operation in the locality.
It was part of an investigation pertaining to a rape and murder case of a six-year-old girl. The victim's body was found in an open drain. The autopsy confirmed that she was raped before being murdered.
A police team underwent a five-hour-long exercise of examining genitals of 178 men in over 200 houses. The police said this case could be linked to the disappearance of several minor girls reported missing from Kurla.
One arrested
The exercise has borne fruit. The policemen zeroed in on a suspect, Prakash Kevat (24), in whose house the girl's undergarments were found.
The team comprised over 100 policemen, including staff from the Bhayander police station and State Reserve Police Force personnel from Thane (Rural) division.
"This was done to check if any man had sustained injuries like a scratch from a nail, for instance, around his private parts," said Police Inspector AB Nimbalkar.
"Thanks to the exercise, we cracked the case within 24 hours of the crime," said a senior officer.
Locked house
"We kept an eye on the only house we found locked in the area," said Nimbalkar. "When it was opened the next day, we found the victim's missing undergarments and also spotted bloodstains there."
Kevat, who was arrested from his workplace in Vasai, has confessed to the crime, the police said.
"Kevat said he found the victim loitering outside her house and took her to his house and assaulted her sexually," said Nimbalkar. "Fearing that she would tell on him, he said he killed her."
Kevat has been remanded in police custody till June 23.
Two Suns on 21th June 2010
Two Suns on 21th June 2010
According our reliable source at National Institute 
of Oceanography, Banana Republic, two suns will be sighted in the sky on 21st June 2010.
Star Aderoid will be the brightest in the sky, starting 10 June. It will look as large as the sun from naked eye. This will culminate on 21stjune when the star comes within 34.65M miles of the earth. Be sure to watch the sky on june. 21 at 12:30 pm. It will look like the earth has 2 suns.
The next time Aderoid may come this close is in 2287 reports the director of the institute.
20 women battle it out in crying competition
A cultural organisation ''Arkashree'' organised a crying competition in Orissa's Konark town on Wednesday, which saw the participation of over 20 women, battling it out crying and moaning
The participants recited poems recalling their ''Vidaai'' (a ritual where a bride bids a tearful farewell to her family) in full tears.
The organisers said the competition was organized to keep the ritual of crying alive in the minds of young girls getting ready for marriage.
"This is a very old ritual, where a girl cries when she leaves her family after marriage. When a girl cries while leaving her parent's home, she expresses herself by reciting a poem," said Rabindra Bahinipati, a member of Arkashree.
"That ritual has disappeared, so we have organised this competition to revive the ritual," he added.
The participants claimed the girls nowadays have forgotten the ritual of crying during the ''Vidaai''.
Taramani Biswal, a participant at the competition, said that they used to have a book from which girls used to learn crying.
"In our time, we had a book from which we used to learn crying and we use to cry holding our parents, brothers and sisters.
The competition is amusing, but at least young girls can learn the art of crying properly," said Biswal
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
'Excess' breast milk goes on sale online
Single mother sells 120 ml for Rs 1,025 to 10 of her regular customers
Milking profit: Toni Ebdon started selling milk as she found it difficult to make ends meet
Many mothers struggle to produce enough breast milk to feed a growing baby.
But when Toni Ebdon gave birth she found herself with so much she decided to bottle it up and sell it on the internet.
Ebdon got the idea when a friend laughed that she had enough breast milk to open her own dairy. Although it was meant as a joke, Ebdon took the idea to heart and put the excess milk up for sale. Three months later, she has sold one and a half pints.
She has ten regular customers who pay £15 (Rs 1025) for 120 ml of her breast milk. "I intend to carry on selling it until it dries up," she said.
After giving birth to baby David, Ebdon said she found herself with so much breast milk that her breasts became painful. She started using a breast pump to filter off the excess and stored it before putting an ad on the website.
Ebson had expected that mothers who could not breastfeed themselves would be the only ones interested. But to her surprise, she has been inundated with e-mails from men.
The 26-year-old said she found it hard to make ends meet after giving birth in March. "My baby's father is still on the scene but he doesn't have the means to support us financially," she said.
Britney Spears
Britney Spears in hot water! The singer has been alleged of sexually harassing her bodyguard. Her bodyguard, Fernando Flores, 29 has quit his job after having been harassed by some bizarre invitations, reports The Sun.
He confided to his friends that Britney often showed up naked in front him and asked him into her bedroom!
He told pals Britney, 28, often paraded naked in front of him and beckoned him into her bedroom. He is now considering suing her.
The Sun quoted a pal of Britney saying, "She was always giving him the come on and he felt if he didn't reciprocate he could lose his job. He finally handed in his notice last week and is considering legal action,"
The friend added: "Working for Britney is tough. She's a nightmare to deal with and her emotions are totally out of control.
"She runs round the house naked and yelling at staff.
"All her guards knew they could be removed if they looked at her the wrong way. Unfortunately for Fernando, she took a liking to him, so he was under more pressure than most. He wanted to be a good security guard and look after her but the situation became unbearable."
The last straw came when Britney's dad JAMIE - who is in legal control of her and can hire and fire staff - kicked off after she left her Los Angeles home without underwear, says The Sun.
Last month Jamie banned his daughter from going out without a bra and told her security team to enforce the rule. She was then pictured leaving a Hollywood restaurant without wearing knickers.
The source revealed: "It was embarrassing to tell her to put on underwear. Some guys would do it but others were too ashamed.
"Jamie went mental when he saw the pictures and Fernando was made the fall guy. He was not fired but told he was to blame. He had had enough."
The divorced dad-of-two is considering a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Britney, claiming her sexual harassment forced him out.
Another ex-Britney minder, Tony Barretto, went to an LA court in 2007 complaining about the her erratic behaviour and insistence on walking around naked.
A Bizarre End to the Sri Sri ‘Incident’
So it turns out that the shot fired on the evening of May 30 near the ashram of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the outskirts of Bangalore was, in fact, carefully aimed.
It’s just that it was aimed to scare away feral dogs which had been bothering farm animals, not to kill the Art of Living founder and revered guru.
Karnataka’s director general of police, Ajai Kumar Singh, said Saturday that the bullet that ultimately grazed an Art of Living devotee was fired by local farm owner, Mahadeva Prasad, who was fed up with stray dogs pestering his animals and intended to scare the canines away. He fired shots from his 0.32 caliber pistol, one of which traveled 2,500 feet, or just short of 800 yards, or almost half a mile before bumping into the devotee’s leg at a velocity too slow to cause serious injury.
It was a suitably odd conclusion to an episode in which no-one involved - save perhaps the Bangalore police – has come out shining. Many newspapers were too quick to hype a story before any confirmable facts were in. As a result, almost every salient fact they had initially was wrong.
Home Minister P. Chidambaram suggested publically that the shot had been fired as part of a dispute between two of the guru’s followers, which turns out to be not the case.
And Art of Living officials and Mr. Shankar face a number of awkward questions concerning their responses.
From the beginning, Art of Living helped propagate the idea that the bullet was aimed at the guru. It issued a statement May 30 entitled “statement regarding firing attempt on Sri Sri’s convoy.”
Its first line read: “An unidentified assailant shot at Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s convoy as he was leaving from a public Satsang at around 6:00 pm on Sunday in Bangalore. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was unhurt. The bullet missed Sri Sri but struck an Art of Living member’s thigh causing minor injury.”
The statement also included a generous sound bite from the guru: “Many people are suffering due to violence. We need to convey the message of peace and non-violence to every household by reinforcing the human values of compassion, friendliness and service.” The following day, Mr. Shankar, in an interview with NDTV, invited his attacker to come to his ashram, saying all was forgiven.
Overall, they created the strong impression, both directly and indirectly, that the guru’s life was in danger, something that must have been very alarming to his millions of followers worldwide.
The foundation has been quick to act when it feels it has been maligned. Later the same week, for instance, it expressed its displeasure with Mr. Chidambaram’s (false) suggestion that the incident stemmed from a dispute between two disciples. But it has been silent on clearing up other issues and contradictions that would be helpful to our complete understanding of what happened.
For instance, the May 30 statement said the bullet missed Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Undoubtedly true, since he was unharmed. Moreover, the police and Mr. Chidambaram say he had left the ashram about five minutes before the incident happened. So it would be helpful to know from Art of Living where the guru was precisely when the shot was fired and whether he was, in retrospect, ever in any danger?
Some news reports also suggested that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and others heard, even saw, the shot. It would helpful if the Art of Living could clarify whether or not this was true, considering the shot was fired from almost half a mile away five minutes after Mr. Shankar had departed the scene.
The foundation also could have clarified its May 30 statement as soon as it became clear that the statement was not accurate. So far, it hasn’t provided any guidance about why or how it reached the initial conclusion that Mr. Shankar was attacked. Nor has it made it clear subsequently that he was not attacked.
India Real Time has put these questions by email to the Art of Living foundation and we will share its comments when a response is received.
Mr. Shankar, though, seems to be eager to put the incident behind him. “It is a closed chapter and will be forgotten,” he said, according to the Times of India. The Hindustan Times also quoted him as saying, “I don’t want cheap publicity.”
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
No tall guards for Sarkozy
The French president is notoriously sensitive about his 5'5" stature
Tall security agents have been discreetly advised not to apply for a job guarding the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, police sources say.
The vertically challenged French president is said to have banned statuesque bodyguards despite their added value of being able to spot potential attackers in a crowd.
A police source told Le Parisien that "there's no point recruiting supermen" as "large-sized" candidates stood little chance of being hired.
The presidential guard, known by its acronym GSPR, has been beefed up from 50 to 80 men since 2002, when a mentally disturbed man managed to take a potshot at Jacques Chirac, Sarkozy's predecessor, with his hunting rifle before being overpowered.
Napoleon was taller
Sarkozy is notoriously sensitive and secretive about his diminutive height of around 5ft 5 ins -- making him shorter than Napoleon.
He has gone out of his way not to stand small on the world
stage or when next to his 5ft 10 ins former model wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who mostly wears flat pumps.
Most controversial
But his most controversial move to date on the height front was when his aides bussed in a group of factory workers last September who claimed they had been picked to appear alongside the French leader because they were short.
The Elysee dismissed as "grotesque and absurd" reports that it had stage managed the visit to the Faurecia auto parts company in Normandy, despite the fact that staff confirmed they had been selected because they were "no bigger than the President".
But it only added fuel to the fire of satirists and cartoonists, who often depict Sarkozy as a dwarf.
In April, the Elysee cried foul after a German car hire firm launched a poster campaign urging customers to rent a small Citroen C3 hatchback, with the slogan, "Be like Madame Bruni, take a small French model".
However, France's first couple chose not to press charges, reportedly for fear of boosting the firm's sales.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Bride turns out of be a boy
LUCKNOW: If marriages are made in heaven, Gangaram Tewari must be wondering why did he have manufacturing defect in his fate. This 30-plus small-time electrician from Gauri Shankerpurwa hamlet in Bahraich, was ‘fraudulently’ married to someone other than his fiancee. Worse: this “someone” turned out to be a teenaged boy in disguise of a bride.
Tewari now has lodged an FIR against the match-making couple who brought the two sides together for tying the nuptial knot and charged Rs 30,000 for it. Police have arrested the “bride” boy who admitted to have been married away similarly at least 18 times in the past. A manhunt is on for the other members of the gang.
Tewari’s hopes to get his Rs 30,000 back now rest with god. Ram Bharose, the superintendent of police (SP), Bahraich, says that police teams were now on the lookout for the gang. “This is one of its kind case that I have come across in my entire service till date,” says the SP, talking to TOI.
It all started in March last when fed up with the loneliness in his life, Gangaram Tewari finally decided to have a life-partner. Looking for a bride, his family bumped into a match-maker couple — Dheeraj Tewari and his wife of Ramgaon locality in the city — who assured them a compatible match for Rs 30,000 as their fee. The couple offered a number of proposals for Tewari. Finally, the family shortlisted one — Sunita, daughter of late Sukhai Yadav, hailing from a tiny hamlet of Barabanki district near Lucknow.