Coming soon: World’s first solar-powered mobile phone

September 14th, 2009 LONDON - Britons keep almost 90 million unused phone handsets at home after they upgrade to new models, according to a countrywide survey. The research revealed that 52 per cent keep unused phones at home in case a current handset is stolen, lost or broken.

August 12th, 2009 LONDON - A British family who spent their summer holiday flying around the Mediterranean have set a new world record for the longest solar-powered flight by paramotor. According to a report in the Telegraph, the Cardozo family, from Mere, Wilts, and a group of friends, traveled 1,242 miles from Monte Carlo to Morocco in an electric paramotor powered by the sun.

August 1st, 2009 LONDON - A retired senior Brit banker has decided to live on a deserted island for a month in a bid to quit smoking. Geoff Spice, 56, from Surrey, started smoking 43 years ago while working as a paperboy, after stealing some cigarettes from the shop where he was working.

June 30th, 2009 LONDON - Some of the world's biggest mobile phone manufacturers have agreed to adopt a new universal standard of phone charger in an effort to be more environmentally friendly. Until now, most mobile phones have used proprietary chargers that will only work on one kind of device, leading to cupboards full of unwanted chargers in homes across the country.

June 26th, 2009 LONDON - Bertrand Picard, a Swiss adventurer is all set to unveil a prototype of a solar-powered plane he hopes eventually to fly around the world. According to a report by BBC News, the initial version of the solar plane, spanning 61m but weighing just 1,500kg, will undergo trials to prove it can fly at night.

May 30th, 2009 LONDON - Using lasers to make solar photovoltaic cells that produce electricity from sunshine makes these cells cheaper and better, researchers say. Arnold Gillner, microtechnology head at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Germany, said: "Lasers work quickly, precisely, and without contact.

May 26th, 2009 LONDON - Despite various campaigns, nearly 500,000 motorists are using hand-held mobile phones while driving, a new UK study has found. And the worst culprits are drivers of trucks and vans, the study found.

May 11th, 2009 LONDON - A panel of international experts has predicted that the Sun's new solar cycle, which is thought to have begun in December 2008, will be the weakest since 1928. Solar activity waxes and wanes every 11 years.

May 10th, 2009 LONDON - Trials of a Harry Potter-inspired tracking device which can monitor movements of family members through their mobile phones have been completed. Microsoft's Whereabouts Clock features a screen which has the ability to show the approximate location of an individual - such as "school", "work" or "gym".

April 28th, 2009 LONDON - Girl-phone affair has long been known to mankind. And now, a new study has claimed that girls spend more than four years of their lives "on the beloved".

April 14th, 2009 LONDON - Rickshaws powered by solar energy could be your next mode of transport, courtesy of a Commonwealth initiative. The Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) has set up an incubation hub in partnership with the Indian government to develop cutting edge energy-saving technologies, it announced Tuesday.

April 9th, 2009 LONDON - A solar-powered oven made from cardboard is the 50,000-pound winner of a contest to find the world's greenest invention. The invention bagged the FT Climate Change Challenge crown after beating 300 other creations, including a food additive, which stops cows passing wind.

April 6th, 2009 LONDON - A majority of Brit girls believe that they are loosing their freedom, as their parents are "too protective". In a survey conducted by Girlguiding UK, almost half girls aged 10 to 18 said that they faced too many restrictions.

March 31st, 2009 LONDON - Brazilian prisoners, who no longer have access to communication with the outside world, were discovered to be using carrier pigeons to get mobile phones delivered to them. Two of the pigeons were intercepted by prison guards as they were carrying mobile phones to detainees at a prison in Sorocaba, 62 miles from Sao Paolo, revealed a spokesperson for the state penitentiary system.

March 17th, 2009 LONDON - Mark Croft is said to have confiscated Kerry Katona's mobile phone following their reunion. He has been accused of 'cutting off' the former Atomic Kitten singer from her friends.