| MasterCard spent $1.8M lobbying
MasterCard International Inc. spent $1.8 million in 2007 to lobby on Internet-related issues and on fees merchants pay when customers use credit cards. The Purchase, N.Y.-based company spent $880,000 in the second half of 2007 to lobby Congress, according to a disclosure form posted online Feb. 13 by the Senate's public records office. It lobbied on gambling regulations and the use of credit cards to purchase illegal material on the Internet. The company spent $880,000 lobbying in the first half of the year on financial literacy, data security, microchip technology and fees banks pay to credit card networks. Congress is weighing tighter regulations on the credit card industry. The industry came under fire in December, when a Senate subcommitee issued a report denouncing practices that include raising interest rates for customers whose credit ratings decline, even if they make their card payments on time.
Production notes
OWEN WILSON, coming off of the biggest comic sensation of the past several years with Wedding Crashers, now brings his latest character-free-spirited bachelor and permanent houseguest Randolph Dupree-straight to the film's front door. KATE HUDSON (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Skeleton Key) stars as Molly Peterson, the understanding-yet put upon-schoolteacher bride of Dupree's oldest friend Carl (MATT DILLON, There's Something About Mary, Crash). Joining the trio, two-time Oscar winner MICHAEL DOUGLAS (Wall Street, The War of the Roses) plays Molly's dad (and Carl's boss), the doting-yet-scheming real estate tycoon Mr. Thompson, while SETH ROGEN (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) plays Carl and Dupree's good buddy Neil Face it. No matter who you are, you have met, dated, loaned money to, bailed out of a jam or played host to a Dupree.
Jockstrip: The world as we know it.
WICHITA, Kan., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Police in Wichita, Kan., said a local man sealed up a crawlspace under a rental home while a suspected thief was inside taking copper pipes.
The police said the man, described as a pastor, heard a noise coming from under the house and phoned police after sealing a 48-year-old man inside the crawlspace, the Wichita Eagle reported Wednesday.
Capt. Darrell Haynes said the suspect, a prisoner out on work release, was taken to the Sedgwick County Jail. Haynes said officers noticed several copper pipes had been cut from inside the crawlspace.
Cocaine washes up on British beach
LONDON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A Lizard Point, England, man said he turned about 110 pounds of cocaine over to police after he found it washed up on a tourist beach.
TIO Networks Announces Availability of TIO Prepaid MasterCard(R) and ...
BURNABY, British Columbia, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- TIO Networks Corp., North America's leading automated non-bank financial services network (TSX-V: TNC) , announced that the initial deployment of its TIO Prepaid MasterCard program to 75 EWIZ stores has met the pilot criteria and will be rolling out to all 400 EWIZ stores across the United States and another 300 stores scheduled for future deployment. TIO also announced a new initiative to make NetSpend's National Savings Program available to TIO prepaid MasterCard cardholders. NetSpend cardholders can earn up to 5.00 percent interest on an annualized basis by linking their MetaBank-issued prepaid cards to an interest-bearing savings account. The program benefits under-banked Americans and/or those who prefer not to establish accounts with traditional banks.
Suicide kills more than war and murder
Lithuania posts 70.1 male and 14.0 female suicides per 100,000, while Russia has rates of 61.6 and 10.7, according to the WHO. Another factor was that such countries had undergone extreme changes. "Even though many people have benefited from those changes, many people still feel left behind,'' Prof Mishara said. "People don't kill themselves because they want to die,'' he said. "People kill themselves because they can not see any hope to feel better in the future.'' Share this article What is this? .
Love is a many-splintered thing
Romance is dead. Cupid shot his last arrow and it pierced Prince Charming's heart, striking him dead. What did you expect, a fluffy column about love at first sight? Lowellita is not for the faint of heart, my parents, or those that believe in soul mates. Happily ever after is a Disney-created fantasy and Valentine's Day is more tacky than a contestant on VH1's Rock of Love. To prove my amoré assumption I did not have to look further than this very newspaper. On Monday, the question of the day was: "What will you be getting your sweetheart for Valentine's Day?" A whopping 51 percent answered nothing. That's more than Ron Paul garnered in votes during the primary. Nothing. No card, no candy, no flowers, no cheesy stuffed-bear with a heart sewn to its paws. Somewhere between grammar school, when we gingerly cut out cardboard hearts for our crush, and now our love for Valentine's Day fizzled.
Sharif plans to contest Pakistan by-elections
Several hurdles stand in his way. But if he can overcome them, Sharif may plant himself in the running for the prime minister's slot in the new government. Pakistan will hold by-elections in the coming weeks for seats left vacant either because a candidate died or because a politician won in more than one constituency. Both Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz, will run, said Ahsan Iqbal, spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N). The party captured the second most number of votes in the Feb. 18 parliamentary elections. PML-N is currently in talks with slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to form a coalition government. PPP, which won the majority of parliamentary seats, has yet to name a candidate for the prime minister post.
My credit card's been blocked and now I'm under house arrest in New ...
As I type these words, I'm sitting in New York, failing to enjoy myself. Not because I'm a miserable curmudgeon (I'm not - I'm a sparkling sunbeam) but because I neglected to tell the Halifax that I was going abroad, and it has punished me by putting a security block on my card. It's like a parent-child relationship. I went out to play without asking permission and subsequently I've been grounded. Sorry mummy. Sorry daddy. I was trying to buy a coat and some earmuffs - it's minus 10 million degrees out here and like an idiot I arrived woefully unprepared - when the block kicked in. It's pretty embarrassing when a shop assistant hands your card back, smiles weakly and says it's been rejected. If you're like me, you ask them to try again, and they reluctantly do so while a queue builds up behind you.
J.D. Power and Associates Reports: While Small Businesses are ...
Power and Associates Reports: While Small Businesses are Particularly Profitable, Banks Struggle to Satisfy These Customers Commerce Bancorp Ranks Highest in Small Business Owner Satisfaction WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Banks struggle to satisfy small business customers, as these customers tend to be more difficult to please compared with the average retail banking customer, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Small Business Banking Study(SM) released today. Now in its second year, the study measures small business customer satisfaction with the overall banking experience based on seven factors. In order of importance, they are: transaction methods (32%); relationship with representative (19%); products (15%); fees (10%); statements (9%); convenience (9%); and problem resolution (7%).
Jonathan Takiff | Black Friday: Annual cravings, savings
READY, SET, SHOP! A 42-inch Panasonic plasma TV for $899 at Best Buy. A JVC MiniDV camcorder for $179.99 and Onkyo 7.1 channel home theater system for $399.99 at Circuit City. A Sony Vaio notebook computer with 15.4-inch display, 1GB Ram and 160 GB HD for $649.99 at Office Depot. A Samsung laser printer for $49.99 and a Navigon 2100T mobile GPS system slashed to $99.99 - one-third of the original price - with a lifetime subscription to real-time traffic updates tossed in for free, at Staples. Oh, and while you're at that last store, don't forget to ask for a universal a/v remote control - absolutely free, while supplies last. These are just the sorts of come-ons that will have people up and running at 4 a.m. this Friday and standing in line outside their favorite store by 5.
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