The Chinese news agency Xinhua recently reported on the existence of a town in Sweden called Chako Paul City, which supposedly is inhabited only by females and where lesbianism runs rampant. Much to the dismay of Chinese readers, Sweden is denying the existence of the town.

According to Xinhua, the town was founded in 1820 in the northern Swedish woods by a wealthy widow and boasts 25,000 residents, as well as a medieval castle. A pair of blonde female sentries stand guard at the town, and men wishing to enter risk being "beaten half to death" by the police. And according to the Chinese news service Harbin News, many of the residents also turn to homosexuality "because they could not suppress their sexual needs".

The Chinese press also claims that much of the all-female population is employed in the forestry industry, with many sporting a "thick waist belt full of woodworking equipment". Women who decide to leave the town to fulfill their sexual needs with men are only allowed to return to the city if they agree to bathe and undertake other measures that are designed to ensure that their trysts won't negatively affect the mental state of other women in the town.

In China, raising children is about to take on a whole new dimension thanks to genetic testing. 30 children ages 3 to 12 and their parents are participating in a new program that utiizes DNA testing to identify genetic gifts and predict the future.

Conducted by the Shanghai Biochip Corp., the test is a simple saliva swab that collects as many as 10,000 cells that enable scientists to isolate eleven different genes. By looking closely at the genetic codes, scientists claim that they can extract information about a child's athletic ability, IQ, focus, memory, emotional control, and more.

At a cost of just $880, Chinese parents can sign their children up for the test and five days of summer camp in Chongqing. Here, the children are evaluated in various settings, including art, music and sports, amongst others. By combining the scientific results from the genetic testing with observations by experts throughout the week of camp, they will then make recommendations to parents about what their child should pursue. They also believe that it could help predict possible career paths.

Nevermind swine flu, China has a potentially bigger problem on its hands - the pneumonic plague has settled in one remote farming town. Three people have died at the hands of the disease so far, prompting authorities to kill rats and fleas on Tuesday as they disinfected and sealed off the town.

The town of Ziketan in Qinghai province in northwestern China is about 300 miles west of Beijing. Police have set up checkpoints around the town after the outbreak was first detected on Thursday. The pneumonic plague is a lung infection that can kill a person in as few as 24 hours if left untreated, and in a highly populated country like China, it is imperative to contain the outbreak so it does not spread to the larger population and cause mass deaths.

Medical staff are currently disinfecting the area, and are killing rodents and insects that are capable of being carriers for the bacteria. Authorities are also keeping close tabs on those people who have come into contact with those infected.

Authorities are also urging anyone who visited the town since mid-July and has developed a cough or fever to seek immediate hospital treatment. Pneumonic plague is spread easily through the air, and can be passed from person to person through coughing.

25-year-old Sun Danyong committed suicide last week after a fourth-generation iPhone prototype that he was responsible for turned up missing.

A recent engineering graduate, Sun had landed a job handling product communications for the electronics manufacturing company, Foxconn in Shenzhen. He was charged with shipping iPhone prototypes from Foxconn to Apple.

According to reports coming out of China, Sun got 16 prototypes from the assembly line at a local Foxconn factory on July 9th. At some point over the course of the next few days, he discovered that one of the phones was missing and suspected that it was left at the factory. However, he was unable to find it. On Monday, July 13, Sun reported the missing phone to his boss, and then on Wednesday three Foxconn employees illegally searched his apartment. They have also been accused of detaining and physically abusing Sun during the investigation, but this has not yet been substantiated. Surveillance videos in Sun's apartment building showed that on Thursday just after 3am, he jumped out of a window in his apartment building to his death.

Foxconn, which is based out of Taiwan with factories throughout Asia, makes Apple's iPhones and iPods, as well as numerous other hardware devices for other international technology companies.

Every move Apple makes is documented in the press and online on various websites. There are entire blogs dedicated to following the latest Apple rumors and speculation. Because of the way Apple works - relying on the element of surprise to build up excitement for product launches - there is immense pressure on its business partners to help it maintain secrecy. Until now, the missing phone has been merely speculation on gadget sites.

WHO Declares First Global Flu Pandemic in 41 Years

For the past several years we've been subjected to the warning ads in various media - radio, television, and print - that the world is overdue for a flu pandemic and that one is sure to be coming soon. The day has finally arrived. On Thursday the World Health Organization declared a swine flu pandemic, the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.

Infections around the globe, including the United States, Europe, South America, and Australia, have now climbed to nearly 30,000 cases.

The announcement of the pandemic is official scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly making its rounds globally. Now that the WHO has upgraded the situation to pandemic levels, they will begin asking drugmakers to speed up the production of a swine flu vaccine. The declaration should also prompt governments to devote additional funds towards efforts to contain the virus.

Dr. Margaret Chan made the announcement Thursday following an emergency meeting with flu experts. Chan indicated that the WHO would be moving the world up to the agency's highest alert level - phase 6. Phase 6 means that a pandemic, or global epidemic, is already under way.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, along with his wife and a member of his security team, have been quarantined in Shanghai, China after possible exposure to the H1N1 virus sweeping the globe. Nagin traveled to China on an economic development trip, and flew there on a plane with a passenger being treated for symptoms suspected to be from the virus.

A statement from the mayor's office said that all three are symptom free, and that "The mayor is being treated with utmost courtesy by Chinese officials."

A Picture of actor David Carradine, who's dead body was found in the closet of his Bangkok hotel room with ropes tied around his neck and genitals, has angered the family of the star. The photo was published by a a newspaper in Thailand and Carradine's brother Keith released a statement, saying,

"The family wants it understood that, per attorney Mark Geragos, any persons, publications or media outlets will be fully prosecuted for invasion of privacy and causing severe emotional distress if the photos are published."

The family of the actor has also enlisted the aid of celebrity attorney Mark Geragos. The attorney said regarding the matter:

"They (Carradine's family) want an investigation. I would think that the people in Bangkok would want to support an investigation and allow the FBI to go over there and assist in the investigation so we can get the answers to the questions."

On Thursday, swimmer Michael Phelps apologized to all of China, in an attempt at saving his $1 million golden advertising deal with car manufacturer Mazda. In a video distributed by Mazda to Chinese media, the Olympian begs for forgiveness from fans that cheered him on during his eight gold medal wins last summer in Beijing.

"To my Chinese friends, as many of you know, I recently engaged in behavior which was regrettable and not what people have come to expect from me. I will learn from these mistakes, train hard, and make you proud again," said Phelps in the video apology.

The photo of Phelps smoking from a bong which was published in News of the World has already cost him an advertising deal with Kellogg. Other sponsors have stuck by him and accepted his apology, including now Mazda who hired him for more than $1 million to help push cars in China.

Watch the video here:

India is quickly becoming known as the place to mass produce cheap goods. First they introduced us to the $2500 Tata Nano car, and now this week plans for a $10 laptop to be mass produced have been revealed. There are concerns, however, of whether such a device could be produced at such a low price, especially considering that no model or prototypes have yet been unveiled.

Officials are promising that the $20 "Sakshat" laptop will be available for just $10 about six months after it goes into mass production. Plans for the laptop were revealed on Tuesday in the city of Tirupati.

Specs on the laptop include 2GB of expandable memory, WiFi, and fixed Ethernet capability. It will also consume just 2 watts of power, and is expected to run off of simple version of the open source Linux operating system.

16-year-old high school student Eri Yoshida may be the first woman to play professional baseball in Japan, having been drafted by the Kobe 9 Cruise, a professional team in a new independent Japanese league that will begin its first season in April. Yoshida, who is 5 feet tall and weights just 114 pounds, spoke with the press on Monday.

"I always dreamed of becoming a professional. I have only just been picked by the team and haven't achieved anything yet," she told the press."

Yoshida, a pitcher, throws a side-arm knuckleball and said that she wants to follow in the footsteps of Boston Red Sox's pitcher Tim Wakefield, who has built a career on the knuckleball. She took part in a tryout earlier this month, and passed. The right-handed pitcher held male batters hitless for one inning during the tryout, which helped her become one of the 33 players chosen in the draft.