Culturite

Police in Shanghai have confirmed they have cracked an alleged terrorist group that was planning an attack on the Beijing Olympics.

A so-called international terrorist group was plotting an attack on a soccer match to be held in Shanghai as part of the Olympics, according to Chinese police.

Deputy director of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, Cheng Jiulong, said a series of raids had cracked the cell.

He did not say where the would-be attackers were from or how many suspects had been detained.

The stadium concerned is where the Olyroos will play the first of two matches for China’s Olympics.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin must be rolling over in his grave. Just 17 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the one-time capital of communism is now home to the world’s most expensive cup of coffee. The average cup of joe in Moscow is $10.19, including service, according to a new survey by the London office of U.S. consulting firm Mercer.

The rest of Europe isn’t much kinder–coffee is $6.77 in Paris and $6.62 in Athens. International travelers looking to satisfy their caffeine cravings should look to South America and Africa for relief: At $2.03 per cup in Buenos Aires and $2.36 in Johannesburg, both continents offer relief to cash-strapped java seekers. New York is far from the most expensive, weighing in at a mere $3.75.

Though it can feel expensive at times, New York isn’t even among the top 20 most expensive cities, according to Mercer. This year the Big Apple slipped from No. 15 to No. 22 on the list, and is the only American city in the top 50.

Men who eat soy foods are more likely to have lower sperm counts than men who don’t, new research suggests.

Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that men who eat an average of half a serving of soy foods per day have 41 million sperm per millilitre less than men who do not consume any soy products.

The normal sperm concentration range is between 80 and 120 million per millilitre.

The findings are published in the online edition of Human Reproduction.

Previous research has linked a high consumption of plant compounds known as isoflavones, which can be found in soy products, with infertility in animals. Isoflavones are known to mimic the hormone estrogen in the body.

Three types of isoflavones — daidzein, genistein and glycitein — are found mainly in soy beans and other soy-based products.

For this study, researchers led by Dr. Jorge Chavarro studied the soy intake of 99 men who visited a fertility clinic with their spouses between 2000 and 2006.

They included foods such as tofu, tempeh and soy-based meat and dairy alternatives and energy bars.