Dubai Police top saver with National Bonds
Dubai Police is the top regular saver with National Bonds, the Sharia-compliant savings organisation revealed this week. It led the list of 100 entities that had signed up the highest number of employees to National Bonds’ Employee Savings Programme. More than 1,000 savers are now enrolled in the Tharwaty programme that National Bonds designed specifically for Dubai Police personnel. Transguard took second place on the list, with Dubai Duty Free in third place.
$226bn
US households increased their borrowing in the final three months of last year at the fastest pace in three years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Consumer debt rose by US$226 billion, or 1.8 per cent, in the fourth quarter, led by a $130bn increase in mortgage loan balances and a $32bn increase in credit card borrowings, according to the New York Fed. The increase brought total consumer debt to $12.58 trillion, just shy of the $12.68tn peak in the third quarter of 2008.
Hong Kong’s generous budget
Hong Kong handed out billions in tax cuts and poverty relief on Wednesday, to stimulate its economy that is expected to grow more strongly than anticipated, at 2 to 3 per cent, this year despite headwinds from rising global trade protectionism, the financial secretary, Paul Chan, said in his maiden annual budget address. He said stronger exports and jobs, rising wages and construction projects worth nearly HK$87 billion (Dh41.17bn) this year, had bolstered consumer confidence and domestic demand that would feed into the local economy.
Quote:
“It’s pretty clear that people do have to work longer. It’s something that they seem capable of doing.”
Matthew Rutledge, a research economist at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College in the US
Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
The Perfect Couple
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Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
Sunday's fixtures
- Bournemouth v Southampton, 5.30pm
- Manchester City v West Ham United, 8pm
