The number of rare vultures in one of Nepal's few conservation sites has nearly doubled after a special feeding facility started serving drug-free carcasses to the birds.

Scientists say the survival of vultures eating dead cattle treated with the anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac, was threatened in South Asia because the drug poisoned the scavenging birds. Diclofenac was found responsible for the decline of two vulture species from Nepal and the region, Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN), said.

In a drive to protect vultures by offering them health food, the group opened what it calls a "restaurant" for the birds last year in Nawalparasi district in Nepal where sick and old cattle not treated with diclofenac are kept. After their death, these animals are offered as chemical-free, safe food to vultures.

BCN said the effort has paid off and the number of the nesting pairs of vultures in Nawalparasi reached 32 last year from a mere 17 in 2005.

Fake anti-impotence pills seized

French customs officials have intercepted a shipment of 224,000 fake Viagra and Cialis anti-impotence pills worth €2.4 million, the Budget Ministry said yesterday.

The copies of the best-selling drugs were found on December 18 during a search at the French capital's main air hub at Roissy, in a freight cargo on its way to Brazil from India.

Branded Powergra and Erectalis, each box contained, in fact, four tablets in the characteristic shape and colour of Viagra or Cialis pills.

However, the companies Pfizer and Eli Lilly, which respectively own the Viagra and Cialis brands, quickly confirmed the counterfeit nature of these products and the 224,000 pills were seized.

Pop diva is deaf in one ear

One of Japan's most famous singing stars, Ayumi Hamasaki, has revealed that she has gone deaf in her left ear, Japanese media said yesterday. Ms Hamasaki, 29, is a pop icon in Japan and influential across other parts of Asia, with dozens of number one hit singles and albums to her name.

"Last year I had a hearing test and found out my left ear was not functioning at all and that there was no way of curing it," she was quoted as saying in her blog. "But I want to keep singing as long as my right ear holds out," she added.

The singer, who is also a hugely successful model whose fashion sense has inspired many imitators, is celebrating ten years since she reluctantly launched her career after being persuaded by a music producer she met by chance.

Swiss prisons condemned

Europe's leading human rights body yesterday denounced correction measures in some Swiss prisons where inmates are disciplined by solitary confinement. "They receive only a Bible or Koran as reading material, and in Aarau, Champ-Dollon and Zurich (prisons), from the first day, they have no right to an hour of outdoor exercise," experts from the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) said in a preliminary report.

The CPT has instructed Swiss authorities to ensure prisoners who are disciplined at the three prisons citied in the report receive at least one hour of outdoor exercise per day.

Last October, the CPT criticised Georgia, a former Soviet state, for foot-dragging on pledges to improve conditions in jails where some holding cells are smaller than 0.5 metres.

Taxis no haven for smokers

Once smoker-friendly, Japan got less sympathetic to tobacco lovers yesterday when a ban on lighting up in Tokyo taxis went into effect.

Two Tokyo taxi groups instituted the ban out of concern over lawsuits from drivers suffering the effects of second-hand smoke and in response to demands from passengers.

Japan was once a haven for smokers but a growing number of municipalities and companies have banned smoking on the streets and at the workplace in recent years. Some Tokyo smokers said they opposed the latest move.

"As a matter of free competition, I think there should be taxis where it's OK to smoke," said Masayuki Oda, a 41-year-old insurance company employee. "Sometimes I used to catch a cab just to have a cigarette," added the pack-a-day smoker.

For passengers who can't hold out, Tokyo drivers will carry tiny portable ashtrays and pull over at a safe place to let their customers have a smoke, the Tokyo Taxi Association's Sato said.

No perfect shape for mantou

Thousands of Chinese snack vendors are happily digesting news that China's ubiquitous steamed bun, or "mantou", does not have to be perfectly round. China has battled to boost food quality and standards in the wake of a string of food safety scandals, but media reports of a new standard for "mantou", a cheap wheat-based snack sold on street corners, outraged internet users and academics.

China's quality watch-dog denied that standards recommending a "perfect shape" for mantou held the force of law.

"There are no specific regulations on the shape of wheat-flour mantou in the standard," the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its website.