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May 19, 2009 “Concept” and “bra” aren’t two words you’d typically expect to go together. After all, a bra is the epitome of simplicity. As Seinfeld's George Costanza said, “Two cups in the front, two loops in the back. How do they do it?” Well, Japanese lingerie maker Triumph International has complicated the humble undergarment with its concept “Konkatsu bra” – a bra that is designed to help Japanese women search for husbands by proudly declaring they're “on the hunt”. Triumph International's Konkatsu Bra takes its name from an abbreviated form of kekkon-katsudo, a Japanese term for “marriage hunting”, which...

Marks & Spencer has admitted to making a mistake by charging extra for bras with a DD cup or larger. The retailer had been the target of a campaign from Facebook group Busts 4 Justice, which orchestrated a protest against the "tit tax". Marks & Spencer said: "We boobed. It's true our fantastic quality larger bras cost more money to make, and we felt it was right to reflect this in the prices we charged. "Well, we were wrong, so as of Saturday May 9, the storm in a D cup is over! We will reduce the price of our...

ONDON – Busty women have banded together to battle Britain's largest clothing retailer over a surcharge for extra-large brassieres. Frustrated with failed attempts to convince Marks & Spencer to drop a 2 pound ($3) extra charge for sizes DD and larger, the women plan to take their fight to the company's annual meeting. "They aren't listening to customers, maybe they'll listen to shareholders," said Beckie Williams, a founder of Busts 4 Justice who has purchased a share of M&S stock so she can attend the meeting. "People think it would be great to have big boobs, but it's an emotional...

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - Money stuffed in a woman's bra saved her life after she was shot aboard a bus in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia, local media reported. The incident took place Saturday in Bahia's capital, Salvador, where 58-year-old Ivonete Pereira was shot in the chest by one of two attackers who tried to rob the bus. She was traveling to her summer home in the nearby town of Lauro de Freitas and because of frequent bus attacks in the region, she hid 150 reals (69 dollars) in 20- and 10-real notes coiled inside the left side...

A STEM cell therapy offering “natural” breast enlargement is to be made available to British women for the first time. The treatment could boost cup size while reducing stomach fat. It involves extracting stem cells from spare fat on the stomach or thighs and growing them in a woman’s breasts. An increase of one cup size is likely, with the potential for larger gains as the technique improves. A trial has already started in Britain to use stem cells to repair the breasts of women who have had cancerous lumps removed. A separate project is understood to be the first...

You know, writing about technology every day, you get used to a certain level of stupidity. But I’m pretty flabbergasted, no outraged, about this story of kids being threatened with jail time for “sexting.” So - check this out: The New York Times reports that 15-year-old Marissa Miller, a Pennsylvania cheerleader, was contacted by District Attorney George P. Skumanick, who said he had a nude photo of her on someone else’s cell phone. He threatened Miller and another girl with charges of sexual abuse of a minor unless she attended a 10-hour class on pornography and sexual violence. Nude photo?...

SNIPPET: "(LAWFUEL) - A 20-year-old Malaysian woman faced court in Melbourne today charged with attempting to import approximately 400 grams of heroin into Australia concealed within her bra." SNIPPET: "A female Customs officer conducted a frisk search of the woman which revealed inconsistencies around the woman’s bra and a package containing a white powder was subsequently located. Further testing of the white powder revealed approximately 400 grams of heroin concealed inside the package in the woman’s clothing."

The bizarre story behind the construction of Boston's most controversial building

Lawyers are seeking class-action status for a suit filed by an Ohio woman claiming many women have had allergic reactions to bras sold at Victoria's Secret. Roberta Ritter said that her skin blistered and became inflamed and itchy after she wore Angels Secret Embrace and Very Sexy Extreme Me Push-Up bras purchased at the lingerie retailer, ABC News reported. Her lawyers say they have received similar complaints from other women, including some who want to join the lawsuit."I was floored," Ritter said. "I thought, 'I have to come out with this. The can of worms has to be opened because...

A California woman is crying gender discrimination after she claims she was forced to strip off her bra and walk through airport security without support after being busted when the underwires in her lingerie set off a metal detector. The brassiere boondoggle took place Sunday morning at Oakland International Airport as Nancy Kates, a 45-year-old documentary filmmaker who grew up in Lexington, was going through security on her way to Boston. “I felt I was being treated like a criminal,” said the Harvard-educated Kates, who was headed to Massachusetts to see her mother and vacation on the Cape.

can't post, have to link

Nancy Kates, who wore a large underwire bra, told the San Francisco Chronicle the security check by a female TSA agent before JetBlue flight 472 at Oakland International Airport was too invasive. <snip> TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said security agents must "resolve an alarm" in all circumstances. "Unfortunately, we can't take a passenger's word for it," Melendez told the San Francisco Chronicle.

According to the Telegraph, female cops were complaining that while bullet-proof vests did their job adequately, they had the unfortunate side-effect of pushing the treacherous underwires and fixings of normal lingerie into the skin, causing pain and injury. This underweary unpleasantness has now been fixed thanks to the sturdy new street-battle-corsetry. The bras are well padded and free of pesky flesh-puncturing fastenings. 3,000 female cops have been issued with three apiece and are obliged to wear them on duty (not all at once, though, that would be silly). Just to make sure they are employed solely for utilitarian purposes and...

Stuck, lost and hobbled in the German Alps, a quick-thinking Colorado Springs woman hooked her bra to a mountainside supply line, which alerted rescuers to her whereabouts just as they were giving up the search. "We're going to have a party for her every June 19, and give her some new bras," Elana Bruinsma, said Monday morning of her sister, Jessica Bruinsma, 24. The white sports bra has become the talk of the Berchtesgaden area of Germany near the Austria border.

Solar bra brings conservation closer to the heart Wed May 14, 2008 8:53pm IST      A model (C) displays lingerie maker Triumph International Japan's "Photovoltaic-Powered Bra" during an unveiling in Tokyo May 14, 2008. The camisole bra, which the company calls it as "earth and human friendly", features a solar panel which can display messages on the removable small electric board when the cell generates electricity. The bra is also equipped with pads designed to hold beverages so that the usage of cans and plastic bottles can be reduced, the company said. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao    Related Video Solar...

A bra and a pair of knickers have been blamed for a flood and road collapse in County Durham. Northumbrian Water said the underwear was flushed down a toilet and caused a blockage in a sewage pipe in Middleton-St-George, near Darlington. Heavy rain, together with a build up of grease and fat, caused the pipe to burst and the road above to collapse. The road will remain closed for days and Northumbrian Water estimates repairs will cost more than £15,000. The company has now urged residents to think carefully about what they flush away. 'Offending items' A spokeswoman said: "If...

The Boston Redevelopment Authority went to court yesterday to prevent four of its key officials from having to answer questions under oath about a deal in which a city-owned parcel of land was transferred to an Islamic group for construction of a mosque. Lawyers for the city's most powerful agency argued in Suffolk Superior Court that critics of the mosque project at Roxbury Crossing had no right to depose the BRA officials about the project or obtain more documents than those already provided to the David Project, a nonprofit Jewish advocacy group. Leaders of the David Project have questioned the...

YUBA CITY, Calif. - A taxpayer advocate has complained to Sutter County supervisors that metal detectors at county buildings are so sensitive they are being set off by underwire bras. Sutter County Taxpayers Association member Roberta Fletcher said the male security guard seemed to enjoy waving the handheld metal detector over her chest. "It is, at a minimum, for a woman, embarrassing. And at a maximum, it is sexual harassment to hold your arms outstretched while a male officer waves a wand in front of your breasts," Fletcher told supervisors at their meeting Tuesday. Sheriff Jim Denney said courthouse guards...

A Cardrona Valley ratepayers and residents association survey had come out in unanimous support of the valley's iconic bra fence to stay as it is, chairman John Scurr said yesterday. A letter from the association asking that the bra fence be allowed to stay would be on Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Clive Geddes's desk today, Mr Scurr said. "We've asked for it to stay as long as there is some caretaking of the fence. We don't want it getting higher, longer or suddenly being filled with boots and knickers as well. But it should stay because it's become part of...

Top Czech model Helena Houdova was arrested in Cuba last week while taking photographs of Havana's slums – but she managed to smuggle out pictures she hid in her bra. Houdova – Miss Czech Republic 1999 – was arrested along with fellow model Mariana Kroftova, and Cuban police confiscated a roll of film in the women’s camera. However, Houdova concealed the memory card of her digital camera insider her brassiere. "The revolution's watchmen rose up because I was taking pictures of something they do not like," Houdova told journalists after returning to the Czech Republic. The Communist regime of Fidel...