Boredom strikes! 01 (Jul 08 - Oct 09)

[winston]

Britain calls for more sperm donors

The British Fertility Society is warning the country is facing a shortage of men willing to donate their sperm.

Fertility clinics are struggling to recruit donors, have long waiting lists and high costs. In some parts of the country, there are no clinics at all.

The warning came on Wednesday in the British Medical Journal from Mark Hamilton and Allan Pacey, members of the fertility society's board of directors.

They say part of the problem is that Britain banned anonymous sperm donation in 2005. Children who were born to a donor can now trace their biological parents once they are 18.

About 4,000 women a year need donor sperm to become pregnant. In 2006, only 307 men registered to become donors.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

[blid2def]

They should just connect up toilets to the sperm bank directly.

[winston]

They say part of the problem is that Britain banned anonymous sperm donation in 2005. Children who were born to a donor can now trace their biological parents once they are 18.

Still dont understand this one. Why would they want to let the kids trace their biological parens ? Then what ?

[kennynah]

then f**k them lah .... for bringing them to suffer in this world

[blid2def]

They say part of the problem is that Britain banned anonymous sperm donation in 2005. Children who were born to a donor can now trace their biological parents once they are 18.

Still dont understand this one. Why would they want to let the kids trace their biological parens ? Then what ?

I can think of a possibility, though I'm not sure how relevant that is. How about avoiding inbreeding? For example, a guy's sperm is used to produce a child A. The same guy has his own child B with his wife. What happens if child A and child B meet and wanna breed? They'd be half-siblings, right?

[millionairemind]

Anybody knows Y the day after Thanksgiving that kicks off the Christmas shopping season it is called BLACK FRIDAY???

Care to make a guess?

[winston]

Retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss for most of the year (January through November) and made their profit during the holiday season, beginning on the day after Thanksgiving. When this would be recorded in the financial records, once-common accounting practices would use red ink to show negative amounts and black ink to show positive amounts. Black Friday, under this theory, is the beginning of the period where retailers would no longer have losses (the red) and instead take in the year's profits (the black).

[winston]

Paris jewellery thieves pull off 80 million euros heist

PARIS: Armed robbers pulled off one of the world's biggest jewellery heists at a famed Paris store, making off with diamonds and valuables worth 80 million euros (102 million dollars), investigators said on Friday.

The four robbers on Thursday stole nearly all the jewellery on display at Harry Winston jewellers on the Avenue Montaigne, which attracts a wealthy international clientele just off the Champs-Elysees.

The heist was well-planned, a source from the investigating team told AFP. The men knew the names of some of the shop's employees and the location of some hidden storage cases for jewels.

Two of the four men were disguised as women when they managed to elude the high-security surveillance system and burst into the boutique at 5:30 pm (1630 GMT) on Thursday during the busy holiday shopping season.

Brandishing weapons, they threatened some of the dozen employees and customers and herded them into a corner, while some of the personnel suffered blows, according to investigators.

The loot initially estimated at up 62 million euros was revised early Friday to 80 million euros, making it by far the biggest jewellery heist ever in France.

Police said they were dealing with "major pros" who had meticulously planned their crime and knew the boutique's lay-out well, suggesting it may have been an inside job.

The thieves, who apparently were French-speaking, stuffed brooches, rings, necklaces and other finery in bags and quickly left, without firing a shot.

No leads were ruled out including the possibility that the robbers may have connections in eastern Europe, where the loot could be sold, contrary to western Europe where such high-value stolen goods would be quickly detected.

Police described the eastern European market as a "new El Ddorado for traffickers" trying to get rid of high-end stolen goods.

Police on Friday were questioning customers, employees and pedestrians to try to come up with clues.

Harry Winston, which specializes in ultra-luxury jewellery, was hit by another heist in October last year when armed robbers stole an estimated 10 million euros worth of valuables.

An insurance company offered a 500,000-dollar reward for information leading to the thieves' arrest, but they were never found.

The US jewellery chain has stores across the world and has sold precious stones to royal families and lent them to film stars for events such as the Cannes film festival or the Oscars in Hollywood.

Belgium holds the record for the world's biggest jewellery heist when diamonds worth 100 million euros or more were stolen on February 14, 2003 in Antwerp.

A 1.8-million euro necklace was stolen in June 2001 from the Alexandre Reza shop in Cannes on the French Riviera, followed a month later by a 3.8-million-euro heist at a Van Cleef and Arpels shop in the same city.

Among other notable heists, three Paris shops were targeted in October 2001 by a conman posing as a rich Kuwaiti emir who managed to make off with 2.2 million euros in jewels.


- AFP/so

[LenaHuat]

Watch this abt George Bush in Iraq (it's the best video I had seen 2day):-

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4667952n&tag=topHome;topStory

[millionairemind]

Dec 22, 2008
Internet porn star detained

SHANGHAI - A CHINESE woman who became an online sensation after posting a homemade pornographic film of herself on the internet has been detained in Shanghai, according to state media.
The 12-minute-video showed the woman, surnamed Huang, performing 'sex acts', the official China Daily said in its weekend edition, without elaborating.

'It soon became one of the most popular downloads on the mainland, with thousands of people downloading it last month,' the report cited the local police as saying in a statement.

The woman set up a blog, hoping to profit from her notoriety and sell interviews with herself for up to 30,000 yuan (S$6,410) a time, the newspaper said.

Despite the police's best efforts, the video is still available online, it added, without saying what penalty the woman may have to pay.

Pornography is illegal in China, although it is widely available on pirated DVDs throughout the country, and on the internet. -- REUTERS