The race to set the industry standard for high-definition DVDs swept into Japan’s stores Friday as Toshiba put on sale its first next-generation player. Supporters of the HD DVD format pushed by Toshiba and NEC are vying with the rival Blu-ray format, led by Panasonic and Sony, in a replay of the VHS-Betamax battle between two types of video cassette tapes in the late 1970s.
A man has won 600 yuan () compensation from a clothes store for emotional distress after the shop sold him a T-shirt that said in English, ”This Bitch Bites”, a media report said on Friday. The unidentified man, who did not speak English, took action after his girlfriend told him why people laughed at him in the street, the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily reported.
Israel suspects journalists, particularly press photographers, of being behind the spread of deadly bird flu in the Jewish state, an agriculture ministry official told Agence France-Presse. "It’s one of our working hypotheses," the official said, asking not be identified. "Bird flu can be transmitted on clothing, footwear, the wheels of cars and even on cameras," the official added.
Alan Hansen was born in June 1955, which means he was around — albeit in nappies and in Scotland — when the Busby Babes won their first league title in April 1956. Hansen will be pleased to know that even though there was no televised football at the time there were plenty of people telling Matt Busby that Manchester United would never win anything with kids.
The story of Paul Vaessen, hero of Arsenal’s 1980 victory over Juventus, is a warning to all young stars. You probably won’t remember Paul Vaessen. Not many people do. Like the Unknown Soldier, nobody even seems to know where he is buried after his death from drug abuse in 2001, aged just 39.
Toyota has set out its vision for the future of motoring. It envisages accident-proof eco-cars, powered by a non-polluting engine that can clean the air around it, running on open roads free of congestion. The Japanese group is on course to become the world’s biggest carmaker this year, and says its vision could become reality in 10-20 years.
A painting by United States artist Norman Rockwell that was stolen more than 30 years ago was sold in 1988, and federal officials now are trying to find out who bought it. FBI officials said on Thursday that the agency’s Art Crime Team, created in 2004, has several leads in the theft of Rockwell’s Russian Schoolroom.
Hail the arrival of an all-new car, and hail the arrival, to go with it, of an all-new acronym. You’re thinking: it’s a smallish car with a lot of seats in it, so that would make it a small MPV, or multi-purpose vehicle, right? But you’re wrong. No such tired and misleading labels for the Mazda5.
Cesc Fabregas, lured away from Barcelona where he was youth team captain at 15, finally came of age during the comprehensive 2-0 Champions League quarterfinal win over Juventus on Tuesday. Captain Thierry Henry, who made the first goal for Fabregas and scored the second himself off a pass from the young Spaniard, says: ”He is only 18 but he is old in the head.”
After extending its phenomenal run earlier on Friday, the JSE was in the red just before noon after hitting profit-taking. The weakness was in line with European markets and softer precious metals prices. At 11.57am, the all share index was down 0,86% and 20 499,61.