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The United Arab Emirates will stop individuals and small businesses accessing the most private data services offered by BlackBerry, a UAE newspaper said, but the government said no services would be disrupted to any subscribers.

UAE to put some curbs on BlackBerry services: Paper

The United Arab Emirates will stop individuals and small businesses accessing the most private data services offered by BlackBerry, a UAE newspaper said, but the government said no services would be disrupted to any subscribers. Only businesses with 20 or more subscriptions will be allowed to use high security accounts on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which allows for services such as highly secure corporate email, The National newspaper reported on Saturday. The move comes months after the UAE dropped a threat to suspend BlackBerry services after resolving a dispute over access with Canada?s Research In Motion. It also coincides with efforts by Arab states to stem rolling pro-democracy revolts, largely organised on social media, that have hit all but two Gulf states, the UAE and Qatar. Citing a ruling by the UAE?s telecoms regulator, The National said that small businesses would still be able to use the BlackBerry Internet Service, which does not rely on private servers, as well as encrypted messaging. UAE officials had no immediate comment but the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said on its website that BlackBerry services including messenger, email and internet browsing would continue without disruption to all customers.

Internet gambling site owners charged with fraud

The owners of three of the largest Internet poker companies operating in the United States were accused on Friday of tricking regulators and banks into processing billions of dollars of illegal Internet gambling proceeds. Eleven people, including the owners of Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and PokerStars, were charged with violating US anti-Internet gambling laws, according to charges filed by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Prosecutors also filed civil money laundering charges seeking to recover at least $3 billion from the companies, which are all based overseas, court documents said. The Internet domain names of the companies were also seized. Representatives for the companies could not immediately be reached to comment on the charges. Two of the men were arrested on Friday, one is expected to turn himself in to law enforcement and eight others are not currently in the United States, prosecutors said. Raymond Bitar, 39, of Full Tilt Poker and Isai Scheinberg, 64, of PokerStars were charged with violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and other laws. Absolute Poker owners Brent Beckley, 31, and Scott Tom, 31, faced similar charges.

Chinese social networking site Renren may raise $ 584 m via IPO

Renren Inc, China?s largest social-networking service, filed to raise as much as $584 million in an initial public offering to fund expansion. Renren plans to sell 53.1 million American depositary receipts for $9 to $11 each in an initial public offering, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The ADRs represent 159.3 million Class A ordinary shares, according to the filing. The company expects proceeds from the IPO of about $508 million, and will use them to woo more visitors as it competes with local rivals Tencent Holdings and Baidu in the world?s most populous Internet market. Renren ? a name that means ?everyone? in Chinese ? has similar features as Facebook Inc, which is blocked in China.

Google investors wanted more from Page during analyst call

Google investors say they got scant reassurance from new chief executive officer Larry Page during this week?s earnings conference call, following a surge in operating expenses. Page spoke for less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds near the beginning of the April 14 call with analysts, which lasted about an hour. Page, who wasn?t originally slated to speak on the call, said he was pleased with first-quarter results and that there was strong momentum at the company. ?The thing that has spooked everybody is the combination of the expense numbers being higher than people anticipated ? and this kind of odd, slightly disconnected-sounding, ?Hey, everything is great,? said Bob Rice, general managing partner at New York-based Tangent Capital Partners LLC, which owns Google shares. ?The whole way it was staged was bizarre.?

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First published on: 18-04-2011 at 01:24 IST
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