1. Microsoft offers cash back search
(News/Technology)

... which is based on a percentage of the product price. Savings will be credited to users via an online bank account, Paypal or a cheque. Cashback is expected to be a US-only service at launch. Cour...

2. Pop mogul gets 25 years for fraud
(News/Entertainment)

... 25 years in prison for a $300m (£153m) fraud. Pearlman swindled family, friends, investors and banks by enticing them to put money into two fake companies for 20 years. He pleaded guilty in M...

3. Identity fraud hits net telephony
(News/Technology)

...9;t that mainstream and therefore have not been targeted by criminals in the way that e-mail and online banking services have," he said. Courtesy: BBC News  ...

4. Nizam heirs claim London fortune
(News/Asia & Region)

...he Indian princely state of Hyderabad has joined the claims for a share of a fortune frozen in a London bank. The Nizam of Hyderabad deposited £1m in the bank in 1948. It is now estimated to be...

5. Texan tries to cash $360bn cheque
(News/World)

... record business, authorities in the state said. The 21-year-old's attempt to cash the money in a bank in Fort Worth failed when staff spotted the 10 zeros on the personal cheque. Mr Fuller wa...

6. New Rights For Workers Under Employment Bill
(News/National News)

...reason for dismissing any member of staff. But an amendment proposed by Ibra, saying that in case of bankruptcy a company would be obliged to pay its employees before settling other debts, failed t...

7. Major Risks To Maldives Economy: ADB
(News/National News)

... a “crucial” need to address economic inequalities, a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has warned. The Asian Development Outlook report for 2008 sees Maldives suffering ...

8. India, Maldives Set To Prepare New Trade Agreement In Three Months
(News/Travel & Business)

... The visit laid the groundwork for longer-term loan provisions to Maldivian companies from the State Bank of India, a measure aimed at tackling poor availability of credit, which Jameel told Miniva...

9. New York, Tokyo may follow tropical Maldives underwater
(News/Science & Nature)

...Washington to Beijing realize the magnitude of the steps necessary. A report last year by former World Bank economist Nicholas Stern found that failure to invest now might cut global gross domestic p...

10. Paradise without the gloss
(News/Reports & Analysis)

...'s other islands via a series of causeways. Now, the Maldivian government may be more than happy to bank the tourist dollar but it ideally likes to keep our wicked Western ways at arm's length...

11. Indian rupee at fresh dollar high
(News/Travel & Business)

...ral disaster." Foreign exchange dealers quoted by the Reuters news agency said the Indian Central Bank had intervened in the market on Wednesday to limit the rupee's rise, one claiming the b...

12. Strategic partnership will tackle challenges -ADB
(News/National News)

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it has entered into a five-year Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) with the Maldives to ensure the country can cope with development

13. 'Gay bomb' scoops Ig Nobel award
(News/Science & Nature)

...omless" bowl of soup. Economics - Kuo Cheng Hsieh of Taiwan for patenting a device that can catch bank robbers by dropping a net over them. Aviation - A National University of Quilmes, Argentin...

14. Investors flock to India's booming markets
(News/Travel & Business)

...tio. The BSE's PE for 2008 stands at 14.5, the same as the Asia-wide average, according to Deutsche Bank estimates.   "All this gives India the opportunity to see [an economy] in exces...

15. Maldives borrows US$30mn from HSBC
(News/National News)

The Maldivian government has secured a 30 million dollar commercial loan from the global banking giant HSBC to rebuild harbours, a senior minister said Tuesday. The money will be used to repair jettie

16. Best For Business In South Asia: World Bank
(News/Travel & Business)

The Maldives has been rated the easiest country in South Asia to do business by the World Bank for the second successive year. It has the sixtieth best business environment in the world, the Bank'

17. Maldives goes for a sovereign rating
(News/National News)

...has come from bi-lateral or multi-lateral debt. A few years back, the government tapped international banking giant HSBC for a 10 million dollar project loan to partially fund the upcoming second in...

18. Maldives Expenditure Unsustainable: Asian Development Bank
(News/National News)

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has predicted a massive slowdown in growth for the Maldives economy in a major report published on Monday. ADB had predicted a 12% rise in Maldives’ Gross Do

19. Hi-tech crime 'is big business'
(News/Technology)

...nomy has its own auction sites and marketplaces that sell valuable data such as credit card numbers and bank accounts. They also sell toolkits for novice cyber criminals who lack technical know-how ...

20. DIPP plans to reduce hurdles to business
(News/Asia & Region)

...pecial provisions for facilitating SMEs to overcome procedural hurdles. Significantly, the World Bank report on doing business (2006) placed India at 134, just four notches up from its previous...

21. Facebook opens profiles to public
(News/Technology)

...tions in a Facebook profile - because of the way it has been traditionally used as a way of identifying bank customers. Facebook began life as a way of keeping US college students in touch with each...

22. Bank's U-turn on student charges
(News/Education)

A student campaign using the social networking website Facebook has forced an international bank into a U-turn over charges. HSBC is to abandon plans to scrap interest-free overdrafts for students le

23. Israelis kill seven Palestinians
(News/World)

...ed the tightly guarded northern Gaza Strip border and were in Israel when they were shot. In the West Bank city of Jenin, three militants were killed. One of the dead is thought to be a leader of th...

24. 'Notorious' eBay fraud sentence
(News/Technology)

...ay for them. When the computer seller attempted to get it back when the money failed to appear in his bank account, Shortman sent him abusive emails. In 2005, when he was 17, Shortman was given a ...

25. Bail for Bollywood's Sanjay Dutt
(News/Asia & Region)

...bail and the matter will be considered on merit, the judge added. Dutt is one of Bollywood's most bankable stars and his bail has been welcomed by the film industry in Mumbai. "It's f...

26. Heavy losses sweep world markets
(News/Travel & Business)

...ch 2003. The falls came despite the Federal Reserve pumping an extra $17bn (£8.6bn) into the US banking system. Central banks have been taking such action to try to restore confidence and a...

27. US markets join global recovery
(News/Travel & Business)

Global stock markets have recovered some ground from last week's sharp falls, after central banks moved to ease fears of a world credit crisis. US markets opened up on Monday, echoing European ga

28. President’s Brother Faces Corruption Investigation
(News/National News)

...006 and April 2007 on behalf of DOM. All three invoices demanded payment to Mr Algeen’s personal Bank of Maldives account. The invoices were leaked to prominent Malé lawyer Husnu al ...

29. IMF warns Maldives against money printing as budget deficit skyrockets
(News/Reports & Analysis)

...lloon to 23.9 percent in 2007. The IMF warned the island nation to stop printing money (using central bank credit) to finance the expanding deficit and welcomed a recent law that gave the Monetary A...

30. IMF Alarmed By Maldives Record Budget
(News/National News)

...-tsunami average of 2.5 percent. The IMF has warned against the “practice of automatic central bank financing of fiscal deficits,” which adds to the supply of money in the country. ...