Now, Japanese using mobile phones to find nearest toilet

September 14th, 2009 NEC, Casio, Hitachi to merge handset businessesTOKYO — Japanese electronics makers NEC Corp., Casio Computer Co. and Hitachi said Monday they will combine their mobile phone handset-manufacturing operations by April next year in a bid to boost their competitiveness at home and abroad.

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.

September 9th, 2009 CHICAGO - C-Sam, a technology company founded by Sam Pitroda, and Germany-based Giesecke and Devrient, have signed an agreement to integrate and leverage their respective expertise in the area of transactions over mobile phones. The pact allows them to offer customers a comprehensive secure transaction platform for mobile payments and other value added services such as mobile banking, money-transfers, ticketing, bill and premium payments and advertising.

September 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Two Chinese men ended up putting their bums on fire, after they tried lighting up a cigarette in a public toilet. The two men from Qinzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, was seriously scalded when they accidentally ignited the marsh gas last Thursday.

September 4th, 2009 LAHORE - Terrorists detained in different prisons across the country are planning attacks from prisons, Pakistan Interior Ministry sources said. According to a private television, top militant commanders, who are locked inside different prisons, are in constant touch with their associates through mobile phones and other communication equipment and are planning terror attacks from there.

September 3rd, 2009 LONDON - The mobile phones of British princes William and Harry may have been hacked into by tabloid reporters, a senior British police officer said. Detective Chief Superintendent Philip Williams of the Metropolitan Police spoke of his suspicion at a hearing Wednesday of the British parliament's select committee on culture, media and sport.

September 3rd, 2009 LONDON - Mobile phones of Princes William and Harry may have been hacked, it has been suggested. Detective Chief Superintendent Philip Williams, from the Metropolitan Police, mentioned the probability.

August 18th, 2009 SYDNEY - An Australian study conducted on youth gambling has discovered that teenagers are betting their mobile phones, running up debt on their parents' credit cards, and even wagering their virginity. The research conducted by the Central Coast Problem Gambling Service found most teens over 14 have gambled for money or goods, whether it is in the playground, online or illegally at pubs and clubs, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

July 29th, 2009 LONDON - An Australian woman was trapped in her toilet for a week before being rescued. The 67-year-old woman reportedly spent a week wedged between her toilet door and the bowl at her house in the eastern city of Ipswich, the Daily Express reports.

July 16th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Call it "materialism" or simple liking, but most people prefer to sacrifice breakfast than live without their mobile phones or favourite bag, a new Australian study has found. The research conducted by arnold and bolingbroke on the bequest of American Express focussed on the attachment Aussies have to the personal possessions they carry every day.

July 6th, 2009 DoCoMo invests $45.5M in US mobile video firmTOKYO — NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone operator, said Monday it spent $45.5 million to take a 35 percent share in a U.S. company that makes multimedia technology for its mobile phones.

July 2nd, 2009 LOS ANGELES - A new satellite designed to allow the convergence of cellphones and satellite phones throughout the US was successfully launched Thursday, mobile communications provider TerreStar announced. Weighing 6,910 kg, TerreStar-1 is the largest commercial satellite ever and was launched by Arianespace from Kourou, French Guiana Tuesday.

June 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - A Chinese man was pulled out from a lavatory after being stuck in the pot for three hours. It was when a woman spotted the man inside the belly of the toilet on Wednesday afternoon that cops and firefighters were called in to rescue him.

May 8th, 2009 Dow Jones, SBI to start Japanese WSJ.comTOKYO — The Wall Street Journal is going multilingual in Asia soon. Japanese financial services firm SBI Holdings Inc.

January 26th, 2009 TOKYO - At first, they blackmailed their victim. Again and again, four high school students sent text messages to their classmate, demanding hundreds of thousands of yen.