New wrinkle treatment

Indian scientists are hoping to turn camel milk into a skin-care product that would wipe away wrinkles and lighten the complexion, a report said.  “The cream developed from camel milk has been given to a hospital’s skin department to study it on 20 people for at least four months,” centre director K.M.L. Pathak told the United News of India agency.

The government’s team of camel researchers, which has already pioneered such products as camel milk ice cream, said it has found cosmetic properties in the hardy mammal’s milk.

“Only after laboratory experiments and tests would the cream be produced commercially,” said the chief scientist of the unit, which is based in the desert state of Rajasthan and has bred a herd of 270 camels for research projects. Having fairer skin is something of a national obsession in India and has helped spur massive growth in the beauty industry, currently worth around $400-million annually.

Rickshaw drivers strike

Over 6,000 rickshaws in Pakistan’s second largest city, Lahore, are on a wheel jam strike this month against the ban on two-stroke rickshaws and the increase in fines for violation of traffic rules. Union President Asghar Mohmand said the government was not giving rickshaw drivers a margin for survival and was banning their only source of income. Police said the most they could do was to not issue tickets to rickshaw drivers until they replaced their current machines.

Royal allowance scrapped

Nepal’s government has stopped paying an allowance to King Gyanendra and other members of the Royal Family.  Last year they received about C$525,000. But the king has lost popularity and political support since he was forced by mass demonstrations in the year 2006 to give up his executive powers. 

Many government leaders want to abolish the 240-year-old monarchy for good.But Nepal is a traditional country and many people still revere the man, and the monarchy.

Casual chats risky

Three company executives were detained and interrogated for several hours by police in New Delhi for having a casual conversation about airplane hijacking. The trio was taken off the flight and questioned for nearly eight hours before being let off. An Italian woman told her co-passenger that she had a “bomb on my mind.”

That was overheard by the cabin crew and the woman was immediately detained for questioning.

Missing cops dead

Twenty-four Indian police officers who had gone missing after a fierce gunbattle with Maoist insurgents in the jungles of central India were found dead, a top officer said.

“Search parties have recovered all the 24 bodies from very close to the encounter site,” said Girdhari Nayak, inspector-general of police in Chhattisgarh said, a day after fighting between the two sides earlier this month.