Kickstart: Major League Pickleball, presented by composites

Toray Industries Inc. sees an opportunity to grow with pickleball, becoming the first materials company and first Asia-based platinum-level sponsor of Major League Pickleball.

That means Toray branding will appear on courts, marketing material and apparel during games at professional, coed and team league events. That's an important marketing opportunity to get the Toray name in front of players who likely don't know who made the carbon fiber used in their rackets.

"We also aim to enhance the recognition of our carbon fiber business in the U.S., create communication opportunities with Toray's related companies in the U.S., and partner companies and potential customers across the country," Toray CEO and President Mitsuo Ohya said in a news release.

George Killebrew, chief revenue officer of the United Pickleball Association — which includes MLP — said the sports organization has found itself learning about Toray and carbon fiber throughout negotiations to bring the Tokyo-based company on board.

"They will literally be our partner, helping to shape future global paddle production," he added.

Toray said it hopes to leverage the exposure to educate players on its materials and its applications in paddles, pickleballs and sports apparel.

The MLP season begins April 24 in Orlando, Fla.

We could be just months away from the arrival of a Foxconn electric vehicle on U.S. roads.

At an industry event in Japan, Jun Seki, a top executive for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. — best known as Foxconn, the manufacturer of iPhones and other consumer electronic devices — said the company will begin by assembling cars in Taiwan while working with partners in the traditional auto industry. Its Model C car already is available for the Taiwan market under the name Luxgen N7. Foxconn intends to produce cars for other companies to sell, similar to the business-to-business operating system it has for electronics.

Hans Greimel from our sister paper Automotive News, who was at Seki's presentation, writes that the first test vehicles will be available for potential U.S. customers to check out before the end of this year. Sales of future models will begin in the U.S. by 2027. Other markets, including Taiwan and Australia, will be able to access Foxconn EVs even earlier.

Paddington Bear has returned to where he belongs after repairs to his fiberglass likeness. No, not Peru, but sitting on a bench eating a marmalade sandwich.

Two men heavily damaged the statue in March when they tore it from its location in Newbury, England. They have since been sentenced to community service. The bear was patched up and unveiled on April 9 in front of local schoolchildren.

For the record, this version of Paddington wasn't exactly historic. It was one of 23 installed in the United Kingdom in 2024 to mark the release of the movie Paddington in Peru. But Newbury is the home town of Paddington's creator, Michael Bond, and it quickly became a local highlight, especially for children, local officials told the BBC.