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Chicken Soup keeps cold and flu at bay

Chicken soup is effective home remedy against colds and flu, says medical journal PHONEIX in its issue, noting that chicken and  meat cooked with vegetables has an anti-inflammatory effect. Also drinking soup in small gulps helps clear mucus from the nose.

  The mucous membrane is often dry in the early stages of cold, a condition characterized by a rasping cough and a blocked nose, says magazine. It advises adequate quantities of liquid to keep the membranes moist and to make it easier for the nose and the throat to clear. Chicken soup helps expectoration and symptoms themselves as viruses are thus removed from the body by coughing.

  In general, everyone should guard against the flu at this wet and cold time of the year with a Vitamin rich diet. Fresh fruit and vegetables contain important vitamins which strengthen the body's defense mechanisms. The Vitamin C contained in citrus fruits for example, sustains the immune system, while beta-carotin, contained in various vegetables and salads, is vital to help membranes effected by the dry, heated air in the home, writes the journal.

( Courtesy: Oman Observer )

Construction of world’s tallest building begins.  

South Korea's Lone Group started  to construct what it said would be the world's tallest building .The skyscraper with 107 stories would be 464.5 metres tall. It will be taller than the 92 storey Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur which stands 452 metres high as the world's tallest.

The planned South Korean skyscraper will house ice rinks and a theme park from the basement to the I Ith floor and 1,500 hotel rooms above, it said.. The structure is to be completed by December 2005 at a cost of 1.2 trillion won (some $1 billion )

Lone Group, whose business focuses on entertainment and distribution, operates the country's largest hotel and department chain. - AFP

 ( Courtesy – Times of Oman )  

Coconut Oil used as alternative to diesel 

BANGKOK - Thai farmers are using coconut oil, a new alternative fuel source, as a substitute for increasingly expensive diesel, district officials said yesterday.

In the southern district of Prachuap Khiri Khan, about forty farmers have begun using coconut oil to power their trucks, tractors and rice-milling machines and have discovered they run as effectively as diesel.

Coconut oil is a viable "alternative for farmers, it allows them to save money as well, and it also benefits coconut growers in the area" . At current prices, coconut oil is about 4 baht (0.09 dollars) per litre cheaper than diesel.

The coconut oil gives engines a smooth movement.  It does not cause pollution at all or create technical problems, claimed , one of the Prachuap farmers, told the Nation daily.

The Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) yesterday confirmed that the quality of octane in coconut oil is similar to that of diesel.  PTT has reportedly initiated a study, in conjunction with Toyota Motor Thailand, to examine whether coconut oil could be a viable long-term replacement for diesel. The  PTT-Toyota project is expected to begin in April 2001. - AFP

( Courtesy: Times of Oman )