Free Republic

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has executed the leader of a bogus scheme for breeding ants to make aphrodisiacs that conned investors out of 3 billion yuan ($439 million), the official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday. Wang Zhendong was executed on Wednesday in the northeastern province of Liaoning, Xinhua cited an unnamed local official as saying. The fictitious ant-breeding project that Wang fronted features prominently in posters and other government educational materials warning of the risks of pyramid schemes and other investment schemes that sound too good to be true. One investor committed suicide after realizing he had been duped,...

COLLEGE STATION -- A cold slice of watermelon has long been a Fourth of July holiday staple. But according to recent studies, the juicy fruit may be better suited for Valentine’s Day. That’s because scientists say watermelon has ingredients that deliver Viagra-like effects to the body’s blood vessels and may even increase libido. “The more we study watermelons, the more we realize just how amazing a fruit it is in providing natural enhancers to the human body,” said Dr. Bhimu Patil, director of Texas A&M’s Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center in College Station. “We’ve always known that watermelon is good...

Spicy sausages and smelly cheese hold the secrets to good sex, not oysters or champagne, an Italian poll has revealed. A quarter of Italian women said salami was their favourite aphrodisiac, while 21 per cent chose cheese. Other culinary delights that fan Italian libidos include risotto alla Milanese, which is flavoured with saffron, and plates of steamed vegetables, which both attracted 12 per cent of the vote. Oysters, which are traditionally considered to be aphrodisiacs but are relatively rare in Italy, did not feature at all in the survey published by Telecom Italia. Italian food is not often praised for...

'Kim Jong-il' Aphrodisiac Gang Busted Police have busted a gang that sold fake aphrodisiacs trading on the name of North Korean leader and serial polygamist Kim Jong-il. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency booked four people including a North Korean defector identified as Lee (44) without detention on Thursday on charges of producing and selling illegal pharmaceuticals concocted by mixing erectile dysfunction drugs and medicinal herbs. Police said the scammers built a food factory in February last year in Songpa-gu, Seoul where they made three kinds of unlicensed health products by mixing herbs with Tadalafil, the active ingredient in impotence drug Cialis,...

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) -- Peruvian officials saved some 4,000 endangered frogs from being whizzed into popular drinks after they were found hidden in an abattoir. "We were checking the fridges when out jumped a frog. It had escaped, they were in big crates," a spokesman for Lima city hall said on Thursday. Frog cocktails are popular in the Andes because of their supposed aphrodisiac qualities. Shops in central Lima selling the drinks have tanks where customers can choose their frogs.