Beijing, June 22 (Xinhua/UNB)-- A recent survey shows that more than 61 percent of Chinese young people oppose arranged marriage, expecting their parents to only give suggestions when finding a spouse.

The survey, released by China Youth Daily Thursday, found that the most unacceptable parental interference among young Chinese is parents attending a blind date in place of their children, making up to 45 percent.

The second most offensive interference was parents joining their child on a blind date, accounting for 25.1 percent of those surveyed.

"I don't like that parents control the whole process of my marriage as well as the blind dates," said Lin Peng, from Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. "I hope I can have more freedom."

About 57 percent of the respondents said they hope that instead of imposing ideas on their children, parents should learn more about what their children want, according to the survey, which covered 1,953 unmarried young people.

According to Ling Zi, a marriage consultant, it does more harm than good for parents to be overly involved in children's marriages. "It shows the distrust of the parents, and transfers their anxiety to their children," said Ling.

It has become common in China for pushy parents to look for spouses for their children who are too busy or slow in finding love, the paper said.

Beijing, June 22 (Xinhua/UNB)-- An exhibition of British illustrator Anthony Browne's paintings opened at the National Museum of Classic Books in Beijing Saturday.

The exhibition "Anthony Browne's Happy Museum" displays 162 original paintings and offers multimedia interaction.

The sponsor will also hold lectures and illustration painting classes during the exhibition.

Anthony Browne is a writer and illustrator of children's books and his works have been translated into 26 languages since 1976 when his first picture book was published.

The exhibition will travel across China until Sept. 22.

Dhaka, June 22 (UNB) - Is your kitchen bin or recycling overflowing with plastic bags, containers and produce wrapping? Plastic has become so commonplace that it's easy to overlook how much of it you use and to forget that it doesn’t just disappear when it leaves your home, reports BBC. 

More than 320 million tonnes of plastic was produced globally in 2015, over 40 per cent of which was single-use. Recycling helps to tackle the problem, but as Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and Anita Rani explain in BBC One's War on Plastic, the plastic you put in a recycling bin doesn't always get recycled.

How can you ditch plastic in favour of more sustainable kitchen habits? It could be simpler than you think.

Which bag is best?

Once upon a time, the average person in England got through 140 single-use plastic carrier bags a year. We have slashed this by a staggering 86 per cent, partly due to the plastic bag tax and a heightened awareness of the detrimental effects of plastic on the environment. But major retailers in England still sold 1.75 billion plastic bags between April 2017 and April 2018.

When it comes to choosing a bag, do you know your options?

It takes more than four times as much energy to produce a paper bag as it does a plastic bag. Paper also weighs more than plastic, making transport emissions higher.

The Environment Agency finds that paper bags need to be used at least three times to have lower global warming potential than standard plastic bags used only once. But paper bags do not tend to be reused. However, paper is recycled at a higher rate than plastic, so landfill is less of a problem.

By comparison, a bag for life, made of low-density polyethylene, needs to be used at least four times. While this seems doable, it still adds to plastic pollution if you throw it away. Cotton bags need to be used 131 times, but they last well and cut down on plastic pollution dramatically.

Whatever type of bags you use, the key to minimising environmental impact is to use them as often as possible until they break and then return them to a supermarket bag collection point, which many chains now provide. Lots of these 'bins' also accept plastic wrap from bread, cereal boxes, toilet roll, freezer bags, ring-joiners and lots of other single-use plastic items. Ask in store if you're not sure if your shop has one or what it accepts.

Is plastic ever better?

Some vegetables, such as cucumbers, bananas, peppers and potatoes, and meats such as beef, can last much longer when wrapped in plastic. This is due to the oxygen-free environment or micro-climate that can be created.

So which is worse for the environment – plastic or food waste? We enter the plastic paradox.

According to anti-waste charity WRAP, increasing the shelf life of produce by just one day would save UK shoppers up to £500 million per year by cutting back on their food waste.

One way to avoid the need for long-life fresh ingredients is to shop for them locally so that you can easily pop back when you want something. “Veg box deliveries and local markets or greengrocers are a way of ditching packaging while supporting local businesses”, says Emma Priestland, plastics campaigner at Friends of the Earth.

Kathryn Kellogg, the founder of Going Zero Waste and author of '101 Ways to Go Zero Waste', recommends shopping for whole foods rather than processed. "Most of the processed foods we buy come in a lot of packaging and fruits and vegetables tend to come with less. Bring your own container to buy meat and cheese from the deli and butcher. If available, you can also grab staples like nuts, grains and legumes from bulk bins”.

Pasta, rice and dried beans and pulses are often sold wrapped in plastic and if they weren’t they could be spoiled by water damage or breakage, creating food waste. Check if there is a plastic-free shop offering refill schemes near to you, then take along reusable containers.

To keep food fresh without plastic at home, Kathryn suggests you store “kale, herbs and asparagus like bouquets in a glass jar half full of water. Submerge your carrots and celery completely in water and they'll stay crisp for weeks! Store greens wrapped in a towel in a mixing bowl with a lid on and they'll stay crunchy. Keep berries in a mason jar with a lid that prevents air or moisture from getting inside so they'll stay fresh all week.”

Many major UK supermarkets have pledged to reduce avoidable unrecyclable plastic packaging while slashing the amount of food waste produced. So in the future we could start seeing better alternatives and new solutions to plastic that increase shelf-life.

Utensils and storage

“When it comes to spoons, spatulas, cutlery and everything else you use to cook and eat, opt for wooden or metal utensils. But don’t go to your kitchen right now and chuck out all your plastic utensils. Keep on using the plastic items you already have, and then when they reach the end of their life, look at replacing them with plastic-free alternatives”, says plastics campaigner Emma Priestland.

Lunch boxes

If you're taking your own food to work, school or college, you're already on the right track. Purchasing lunches such as sandwiches, soups and meals-to-go from shops involves a lot of single-use plastic. Reusing a box, no matter what it's made from, is key. “A steel lunchbox is perfect for taking your food to work – it won’t be prone to cracks or discolouring in the same way as a plastic one”, says Emma.

Clingfilm

For those who can afford them, beeswax wraps are an alternative to clingfilm – you can wipe them down and if the wax starts to come off or you accidentally melt it, you can recoat the wrap with wax yourself. However, the environmental impact of them at scale is not clear.

Freezer bags

It's best to freeze leftovers in reusable boxes rather than freezer bags or cling film. But try not to forget it’s in the freezer and label everything clearly so you know what you're defrosting!

Soda makers

If you buy a lot of bottled fizzy water or drinks, consider investing in a water carbonator. It will allow you to carbonate tap water instantly and store it in a glass bottle, rather than buying single-use plastic bottles.

The key is to use all your belongings until they break. When you have to buy something new, weigh up the options and decide what works best for you and the planet. Kathryn Kellogg says “of course, we don't live in a perfect zero-waste and plastic-free world. We can only do the best we can.”

Dhaka, June 22 (UNB) - Other than Bangla Chinese, if there is one cuisine that suits Bangladeshi tastebud, it’s Indian. Kurry Accent is a newly launched Indian restaurant that offers fine dining at their first outlet in the country located in Gulshan. A quick look at their menu and you will find both regular items such as Palak Paneer and Dal Makhni and unique dishes like Makhni Chooza and Dark Chocolate Kulfi Dome.

I decided to pay them a visit for lunch with my friends and was scrolling through their Facebook page to come across their “Lunch Dabba” deal for a really affordable price. Upon entering the almost empty restaurant I realized that they are open only from 12-3 PM for lunch. We placed our order at 2.40 PM and the dabba was served within 10 quick minutes.

Steam started coming out as soon as they were unboxed. The box contained rice, naan, 1 vegetarian and 1 non-vegetarian dish, and a dessert. They cut one naan into 4 pieces. They weren’t as fluffy as naans regularly tend to be. Infact, were more on the crispier side but not so much that they would crumble.  For vegetarian option, we were served Daal Makhani which was creamy, rich, and full of flavors. I also found Rajma used generously and it went exceptionally well with the naan. For rice we got the Matar Pulao. The basmati rice with chopped veggies was a delight! Very light and aromatic. However, it was the chicken which was the highlight of the meal! Four big chunks of chicken in a spice-packed gravy with a tomato base! Best Chicken Tikka Masala I've had till date. Use of tomatoes was abundant and were smooshed into the gravy leaving some texture to the creaminess.

Finally we opened the smallest container and it had one plump looking Gulab Jamun with saffron strands and almond bits in its sugary syrup. It was warm and not overly sweet providing the perfect ending to a great meal.

The only downfall with Kurry Accent is their service and overly dim lights. The waiters needed to go to the kitchen to consult the chef every time we had a request. Other than that, for real, I had no complaints with any of their dishes that day but upon my second visit just 2 days later. The quantity of the rice (that day they had veggie Biryani) and daal had decreased but the taste was still top notch.

I've been hearing gospels of Kurry Accent ever since Ramadan due to their Jilapis so I intended to try this place anyway. However, little did I expect to end up LOVING their food. Fine dine for 2 at just Tk 499, YES PLEASE!

By: Ifreet Taheea 

Canberra, June 22 (Xinhua/UNB) -- People with too much iron are more likely to contract diabetes and liver disease according to a joint study released on Friday.

While the medical issues associated with an iron deficiency have been well-documented, the study by researchers from the University of South Australia (UniSA) and Imperial College London revealed the implications of an iron surplus.

They found that people with high iron levels are protected against anaemia, a blood condition linked to iron deficiency, and are less likely to have high cholesterol but are also more likely to contract liver disease, diabetes and bacterial skin infections.

UniSA geneticist and co-author of the study Beben Benyamin said that the link between an iron surplus and a lower risk of high cholesterol was particularly important.

"We used a statistical method, called Mendelian randomization that employs genetic data to better estimate the causal effect of iron status on 900 diseases and conditions. Through this, we found a link between excess iron and a reduced risk of high cholesterol," he said in a media release.

"This could be significant given that raised cholesterol is a major factor in cardiovascular disease and stroke, causing around 2.6 million deaths each year according to the World Health Organization.

"In this study we have provided population-based evidence that iron is associated with certain diseases. The next step is to investigate whether direct manipulation of iron levels improve health outcomes through clinical trials."

Benyamin and co-author Dipender Gill from the Imperial College London also found that people with high iron levels are more likely to contract cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection that affects 21 million people in 2015 and kills 17,000.