South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, the world’s top smartphone maker, has sold more than 10 million units of its newest Galaxy S III model since its launch about two months ago, a report said Sunday. The company said earlier this month it expected a record operating profit of 6.7 trillion won ($5.9 billion) in the second […]
Month – July 2012
Volunteer army keeping the Games moving
A 70,000-strong volunteer army from across the globe is helping to put on the 2012 Olympics, giving up their free time or holidays in return for a part in the biggest show on Earth. Teachers, lawyers and students are among the “Games Makers” eagerly taking a role in London’s Olympic adventure and relishing the chance […]
Disaster-hit Japan could use microfinance: Yunus
Nobel prize winner Muhammad Yunus said Thursday that microfinance could help disaster-struck Japan rebuild, even though the concept he pioneered is usually associated with poor and developing nations. Yunus, seen as one of the world’s leading anti-poverty activists, said extending small loans could help people in regions devastated by last year’s quake-tsunami disaster, despite Japan […]
China rejects call for ban on tiger farms
The UK and India have called on China and other countries to ban tiger farms because they undermine conservation efforts. But China responded strongly at the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Geneva, challenging delegates to “show us the evidence that [tiger farms] encourage poaching of wild tigers”. There are […]
Weapons sales boom following Dark Knight shootings
GUN sales in Colorado have soared following the shootings in a cinema that claimed 12 lives and left 58 wounded. Background checks on customers who bought guns were up 41 per cent after Friday’s shooting at a packed cinema screening of the latest Batman film The Dark Knight Rises, according to The Denver Post. The […]
Coca-Cola develops cooling power-free vending machine
Coca-Cola (Japan) Co Ltd, together with Fuji Electric Retail Systems Co Ltd have succeeded in developing the “A011” peak-shift vending machine. This vending machine, developed as part of the Apollo ultra-energy-saving vending machine development project, can operate without using power for cooling for up to 16 hours per day. The successfully developed A011 peak-shift vending […]
Happy campers pitch in to join the Games
IT’S ultra cheap and when the sun’s out, pretty cheerful too. But if London’s Olympic Games turn out to be the wettest ever, as Britain’s gloomier meteorologists fear, there will be several thousand visitors rather more disappointed than others. ”It rained when I arrived and was trying to put up the tent last night,” said […]
Italy’s wartime hero used cycling fame to save Jews
GINO Bartali was born dirt poor, and the odds in Italy at the time said he should have stayed that way. His school results were so bad his teachers struggled to say something positive on his report cards. They settled for the only attribute they could find: ”Good personal hygiene”. The social order of the […]
No butts about it, Paris is at war
Since France banned smoking in public places more than four years ago, Parisians have felt little compunction about throwing their cigarette butts into the streets and gutters, overwhelming the city’s ability to keep them clean. A stroll through parts of Paris on weekend mornings is like walking in an ashtray. Now the city is quietly […]
Customs officials say pens need weapons import license
Japanese customs officials who impounded 200 pens more than a year ago said Friday the writing implements needed a weapons import license because they were shaped like bullets. Fountain and ballpoint pens made by U.S. firearms and knife manufacturers, including Smith and Wesson, have been held up by inspectors in Nagoya and Osaka since April […]