Japan to trial world's first urine test to spot cancer
TOKYO, Apr 17: A Japanese firm is poised to carry out what it hailed as the world's first experiment to test for cancer using urine samples, which would greatly facilitate screening for the deadly disease. Engineering and IT conglomerate Hitachi developed the basic technology to detect breast or colon cancer from urine samples two years ago. It will now begin testing the method using some 250 urine samples, to see if samples at room temperature are suitable for analysis, Hitachi spokesman Chiharu Odaira told the news agency. — AFP
Kidnapped S Korean actress dies at 91
SEOUL, Apr 17: A South Korean actress who was once kidnapped by the North's agents on the orders of late leader Kim Jong-Il in a Cold War-style intrigue and forced to make movies for the regime has died aged 91, her family says. Choi Eun-hee was the South's most famous actress for decades before being brazenly abducted by North Korean spies in Hong Kong in 1978 at the request of the North's then leader-in-waiting Kim Jong Il, an avid film fan. During her visit to Hong Kong to meet a potential investor in her arts school, she was reportedly lured onto a boat by her guide before being transferred against her will to a cargo ship destined for North Korea. She was forcibly sedated with a needle and then kept drugged and without food for eight days before arriving in the North. — AFP
Robbers steal French queen's heart from museum
LONDON, Apr 17: A 16th-century gold case containing the heart of the only woman to be crowned queen of France twice has been stolen, according to The Telegraph daily. The British newspaper said in an online report Sunday that the 15.24-cm oval reliquary containing the heart of Anne of Brittany was stolen by robbers, who broke in through a window of the Thomas-Dobree Museum in the western French city of Nantes on the weekend. The queen was buried at Saint Denis near Paris when she died in 1514, but her heart was stored in her family tomb in Nantes to show her loyalty to Brittany. — Xinhua
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