Lego pasta

Officials of the Wuxi city government in Jiangsu, China are addressing obesity among its population through an amusing challenge. They are swapping beef for every kilo of fat that participating challengers will lose.

More than 1,000 Wuxi residents have registered for the challenge since it was launched last month. Organizers register participants by taking their body mass index and waistline, Agence France-Presse reported.

The gimmick is similar to that of popular supermarket chain Yonghui which offers customers half a kilo of beef, crayfish, or kiwi in exchange for 1.5 kilos of their weight shed over 10 days.

Meanwhile, a Southern California man was making a killing by swapping pasta for expensive toys.

The Irvine Police Department, however, arrested 28-year-old Paramount resident Jarrelle Augustine on 14 April and booked him into the Orange County Jail on suspicion of grand theft, the New York Post (NYP) reported.

Authorities accused Augustine of buying Lego sets at Target stores, then removing the more valuable mini figures and select pieces from the box, and stuffing the packages with dried “durum wheat semolina pasta” before returning them for refunds, according to NYP. The stolen pieces were repacked and sold.

The suspect allegedly got $34,000 in refunds for the Lego boxes stuffed with pasta. Police recovered more Lego pieces from the suspect.