Good news for those who thought their copies of Playboy were gone forever when their moms found them and threw them away.
Playboy launched a Web-based subscription service Thursday called i.Playboy.com that allows viewers to see every single page of every single magazine — from the first issue nearly 60 years ago that featured Marilyn Monroe to the ones hitting the newsstands today.

Lebanese director-actress Nadine Labaki proves all those who insist there are no strong female voices in the Arab world wrong with "Where Do We Go Now," a film that fairly shouts its feminist message from the rooftops.
Set in a remote village where the church and the mosque stand side by side, the film follows the wily antics of the women folk to keep the village's hotheaded men from starting a war of religion.

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake partly collapsed some buildings and one mosque in western Turkey, killing at least three people and injuring nearly 100 people, authorities said Friday.
The quake that struck at 11:15 p.m. (2015 GMT) on Thursday, sent terrified residents running from their homes before midnight. It was centered in the town of Simav, the Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory said.

The tablet computers that compete with the iPad have mostly been uninspiring. The Eee Pad Transformer stands out with a design that isn't just copied from the iPad: It's a tablet that turns into a laptop.
For $399, $100 less than the cheapest iPad, you get a tablet computer with a 10-inch screen and hardware that doesn't cut corners. It's fully usable on its own. For another $149, you can buy a keyboard that connects to the tablet. Together, they look and open like a small laptop.

The tobacco industry on Tuesday threatened to slash the price of cigarettes if Australia goes ahead with plans to introduce plain packaging, saying more people will end up smoking.
Last month, Australia unveiled the world's toughest laws on tobacco promotion that would see cigarettes sold in drab olive-green packets plastered with graphic health warnings.

Two leading makers of lighting products are showcasing LED bulbs that are bright enough to replace energy-guzzling 100-watt light bulbs set to disappear from stores in January.
Their demonstrations at the LightFair trade show in Philadelphia this week mean that brighter LED bulbs will likely go on sale next year, but after a government ban takes effect.

Syria's opposition called for a general strike Wednesday in defiance of a government campaign to crush pro-democracy protests, as the army pressed its siege of the restive town of Tall Kalakh, the latest target of its violent crackdown.
"Wednesday will be a day of general strike in Syria," said a statement posted on the Facebook page of the Syrian Revolution 2011, an Internet-based opposition group that has been a motor of protests that erupted two months ago.

Dubai's government unexpectedly intervened Monday to take over Dubai Bank, a cash-strapped lender jointly owned by the Dubai ruler's investment company and the developer of the world's tallest tower.
The government, in a statement issued by the city-state's media office, vowed to immediately pump an undisclosed amount of fresh funds into the bank. The announcement is a reminder that while Dubai may be recovering from the economic downturn, it is far from being in the clear after its biggest conglomerate was forced to re-negotiate the terms on about $25 billion in debt.

The customer known only as "Cesar of Huizache" had an odd request for shoemaker Dario Calderon: He showed him a cell-phone photo of a sequined cowboy boot with pointy toes so long, they curled up toward the knees. He wanted a pair, but with longer toes.
"I thought 'What's up with this dude?'" Calderon said at his shop in Matehuala, a northeastern Mexican city of farmers and cattle ranchers accustomed to a more stoic cowboy look. The boot in the photo measured 60 centimeters (23 inches) "but we made him a pair that were 90 centimeters (35 inches) long."

A Hong Kong performing arts school will offer a Cantonese opera degree in the latest effort to preserve the traditional art form designated as a key cultural heritage.
The Academy for Performing Arts said its program will combine theory and practice to prepare students for Cantonese opera careers as performers, educators or arts administrators.
