(MENAFN - AFP) An 80-year-old Japanese man who underwent heart surgery in January reached the summit of Mount Everest on Thursday, becoming the oldest person to scale the world's highest mountain.
Yuichiro Miura and his party, including his second son Gouta, arrived at the summit at around 9 am local time (0315 GMT), according to Miura's website, besting the previous age ...
(MENAFN - AFP) Nothing like a good hairdo to fight deeply entrenched racism in one of the world's emerging economic giants.
The tools of battle, such as scissors and conditioners, are being wielded on the outskirts of Rio in a chain of beauty parlors that cater to black and mulata women of limited means.
Rather than straighten out their afro-style hair, as many blacks ...
(MENAFN - AFP) Despite earning a civil servant's salary for three decades, Taib Mahmud, the powerful chief minister of Malaysia's Sarawak state, is reputed by critics to be one of Asia's richest men.
Taib, 77, and his family are accused of massive corruption and running Malaysia's largest state like a family business, controlling its biggest companies with stakes in hundreds ...
(MENAFN - AFP) US teen births have dropped to a record low, but the country still has one of the highest rates among developed nations, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
"The overall rate declined 25 percent from 41.5 per 1,000 teenagers aged 15-19 in 2007 to 31.3 in 2011 -- a record low," the CDC report said.
(MENAFN - AFP) South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Thursday that global sales of its latest flagship Galaxy smartphone had topped 10 million units less than a month after its debut.
A company statement said the Galaxy S4 had already topped the 10-million sales mark worldwide following its April 26 launch. Its predecessor, the S3, had taken 50 days to pass the same threshold.
(MENAFN - AFP) Japan's SoftBank is preparing to hand the US government an unusual degree of influence over operation of Sprint Nextel, after security concerns raised by the proposed cross-border takeover, The Wall Street Journal reports online.
"Tokyo-based SoftBank has agreed to give the (US) federal government the right to approve one of the directors it names to Sprint's ...
(MENAFN - AFP) A handful of marines living on a World War II-era ship that is grounded on a remote, tiny reef is the Philippines' last line of defence against China's efforts to control most of the South China Sea.
The soldiers are stationed on Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands aboard a former US tank-landing vessel that was deliberately abandoned there to serve ...
(MENAFN - AFP) Indonesian event organiser Risti Rahmadi wears an Islamic headscarf, uses halal lipstick and knows that it's time to pray when an app on her BlackBerry emits Koranic verses five times a day.
The 37-year-old, who in her 20s would save up for the latest Guess clothes and Revlon make-up, now strictly buys products that show she is a proud Indonesian Muslim ...
(MENAFN - AFP) Ford announced Thursday it would cease making vehicles at its unprofitable Australian plants in 2016 and axe 1,200 jobs, having produced its first car in the country in 1925.
Ford Australia chief executive Bob Graziano made the announcement as he revealed losses of Aus$141 million (US$136 million) after tax in the last financial year and Aus$600 million ...
(MENAFN - AFP) Manufacturing activity in China contracted in May for the first time in seven months, HSBC said Thursday, in another sign of the weakness of recovery in the world's second-largest economy.
The banking giant's preliminary purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 49.6 this month from a final 50.4 in April, putting it below the 50 mark that indicates contraction. ...
AFP News
23 May 2013
