A total of 131,708 fertilized eggs were gotten rid of last year due to an increase in the number of embryo transfers and the prevalent medical practice of collecting multiple eggs for higher chances for conception, officials said Thursday.According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, nearly 250,000 eggs were collected by registered fertility centers across the country in 2012. But only 95,000 eggs were utilized for would-be mothers. Of the remaining eggs, 50,000 were stored in freezers for fu

In Amy Tan’s newest novel, she returns to familiar ground: the relationships between mothers and daughters amid moral ambiguity.But in “The Valley of Amazement,” Tan proves there are plenty of surprises left when the mothers and daughters inhabit the world of courtesans in turn-of-the-century Shanghai. For 600-plus pages, she delves into the secrets of the women who lived on that precarious rung of society, tolerated and even celebrated but not fully accepted.Tan hasn’t written a new novel in ei