GUWAHATI: The Assam government on Monday banned popular instant noodles Wai Wai after its samples were found to be laced with monosodium glutamate, according to Times of India. The sale and distribution of the brand’s 1-2-3 noodles (mini) variety has been banned for 30 days across the state. The new ban order comes into effect two weeks after Maggi was banned in the state. “In view of greater public safety and health, the state government has banned Wai Wai noodles. Monosodium glutamate has been found unsafe in terms of the provisions of Section 3 (1) of Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006,” said Samiran Barua, district food safety officer.

Kyrgyzstan road

BISHKEK: China will provide nearly $300 million in credit to help Kyrgyzstan build a strategic road for trade, the ex-Soviet state said on Tuesday, as part of Beijing’s grand vision to improve transport links across the region. The allocation from state-run Export-Import bank is part of an $850-million project to create a new North-South route in the Central Asian nation, tying in with China’s New Silk Road Economic Belt infrastructure projects across Eurasia. An agreement for the latest phase of construction of the road, which will connect with Kyrgyz roads into Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, was struck at the third cooperation forum between China and the five ex-communist states of Central Asia in the Chinese city of Rizhao on Tuesday.