Continental

German Engineering Since 1871

More than 100 years experience in the development and production of bicycle tyres has made Continental a unique company within the industry. Continental is the only German bicycle tyre manufacturer to produce its tyres in Germany. Knowing this serves as a mighty incentive to our engineers and everyone else involved in the manufacturing process to constantly strive for further innovations.

In our technology and development center in Korbach, we are constantly developing new revolutionary technologies such as the unbeatable Black Chili compound and the ultimate Vectran™ breaker anti-puncture technology, both used at the top end of race sport. These technologies demand sophisticated processes to ensure our legendary end-product quality, and these innovations as well as the new Protection and RaceSport technology for MTB tyres, can only be manufactured in our factory in Germany – “Handmade in Germany”.   In order to offer the best tyre for any application, we rely equally on dialogue with our professional racers, hobby cyclists and everyday bike riders. This results not only in high-end products for top sports applications such as the new Podium TT or the revolutionary downhill tyre “Der Kaiser”, but also tyres for everyday use like the new innovative combination EcoContact/EcoContactPlus as a companion to the latest e-bike trend.

Our heart and soul is behind the phrase “Handmade in Germany”, with all of its products and technologies.

FIFA 2011 Women's World Cup

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP)—Japan has won the Women’s World Cup, stunning the United States 3-1 in a penalty shootout Sunday night after coming from behind twice in a 2-2 tie.

Japan had not beaten the Americans in their first 25 meetings, including a pair of 2-0 losses in warm-up games a month before the World Cup. But the Nadeshiko played inspired throughout the tournament, hoping their success could provide an emotional lift to their nation, still reeling from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.  After being presented with the gold trophy, Japan’s players jumped up and down on the podium, then gathered behind a sign reading “Champions. World Champions.”  “Not one of the players gave up,” said coach Norio Sasaki, who inspired his players before a quarterfinal by showing them pictures of the devastation. “The penalty kicks are always a 50-50 percent chance.”  After easy wins in their first two games in Germany, the Americans lost to Sweden—their first loss ever in World Cup group play. 

Even President Barack Obama was a fan, taking to Twitter himself on Sunday morning to wish the team well.  “Sorry I can’t be there to see you play, but I’ll be cheering you on from here. Let’s go.—BO.”

The White House later released a photo of Obama and his family watching the game.

But the Americans lost this game as much as Japan won it.  Homare Sawa flicked in a corner kick in the 117th minute—earned after 36-year-old captain Christie Rampone raced to clear Yukari Kinga’s chip over Hope Solo off the line. It was the fifth goal of the tournament for Sawa, playing in her fifth World Cup.

Japan had already scored late in regulation to force extra time.

“We ran and ran,” Sawa said. “We were exhausted, but we kept running.”

US$ JPY

US$JPY 78.90000-1.31000 -1.63%

Eurozone finance ministers on Monday vowed to beef up a rescue mattress for troubled economies such as Greece as they went to battle to contain debt crisis contagion threatening to engulf Italy and Spain.  After more than eight hours of talks held as the euro-crisis rattled markets, endangering the single currency area, ministers from the 17-nation eurozone agreed a range of measures to end weeks of widening differences that have fed financial uncertainty.  The ministers "reaffirmed their absolute commitment to safeguard financial stability in the euro area," in a statement that pledged measures "to improve the euro area's systemic capacity to resist contagion risk."  Among them was a move to strengthen the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) set up in the aftermath of last year's Greece crisis, which has a current lending capacity of 440 billion euros ($A583.24 billion) .  Useful for smaller economies, the fund would be hard put to fly to the rescue of Italy and Spain, the eurozone's third and fourth largest economies.  The combined economies of crisis-hit Greece, Portugal and Ireland represent only half the size of Italy's.

235th

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