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29 March 2024

Bizzare: Boy sells kidney to buy iPhone

Published
By AFP

A teenage high-school student in China sold his kidney for an illicit transplant operation and used the proceeds to buy an Apple iPhone and iPad, state press said on Friday.

The 17-year-old boy, who was paid 22,000 yuan ($3,500), was recruited from an online chatroom and is now suffering from kidney failure and in deteriorating health, the Xinhua news agency said.

A surgeon and four others have been arrested and are facing charges of illegal organ trading and intentional injury.

The kidney donor, only identified by his surname Wang, agreed to the April 2011 operation in the central province of Hunan without his parents consent, the report said.

One of those detained was a hard-up gambler identified as He Wei, who acted as a middle-man between a hospital worker and the teenager. He was paid 220,000 yuan.

Health ministry statistics show that about 1.5 million people in China need transplants, but only around 10,000 transplants are performed annually.

The huge gap has led to a thriving illegal market for organs.

Executed prisoners remain the main source of organs used in transplant operations due to the lack of voluntary donations, Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu was quoted by state media as saying last month.

International human rights groups have long accused China of harvesting organs from executed prisoners for transplant without the consent of the prisoner or their family - charges the government has denied.

Man runs amok….reason is Mayonnaise

A hungry Kuwaiti man went into a restaurant and requested his favourite meal. But he warned them not to add any Mayonnaise because he hates it.

Once he began devouring his meal, he abruptly stopped and went mad after finding out that the food contains Mayonnaise.

“He went amok….he started to swear at the waiters and the manager…he then went through the hall and began turning the chairs and tables upside down,” the Kuwaiti Arabic language daily 'Al Watan' said.

“The manager tried to calm him down and offered him a free meal…he refused and went on kicking and throwing things down…the restaurant manager had no choice but to call the police.”

10-minute marriages for just Dh2,000

A syndicate in Malaysia is offering roadside marriages for just over Dh2,000.

According to a report in'AsiaOne', young lovers whose parents do not approve of their union or men who seek to take in another wife without the permission of the first spouse are queing up for the service.

The '10-minute marriages' are being offered for something between  RM2,000 (Dh2395.6) and RM5,000, reported Harian Metro.

The syndicate advertises on the Net and distributes flyers, too. Tok Ayah, a 50-year-old is allegedly the brain behind the venture. He has several assistants to help lure customers.