Counterfeiters busted by FBI

Following a tip off from the FBI, Pakistani authorities have nabbed a gang of 15 who printed "high-quality" counterfeit bank notes including foreign currency, reports, Gulf Times.

It reported that the gang has cost the national exchequer Rs30 to 35bn (more than $500mn) due to its illegal activities. Operating in several major cities in Pakistan, the gang had printed and used Pakistani and Indian rupees, US dollars, British pounds and UAE dirhams worth billions over the past seven years.

It was reported that several influential people, including bankers and government officials, were aiding the gang, therefore, the authorities would not make public the names of the arrested people. Printing material and state-of-the-art machines used by the counterfeiters were also seized.

The anti-fraud group Kontra Daya, picketed the National Printing Office of the Phillipines to protest what it dubbed an "anomalous presence of a private printer in the NPO which has been linked to election anomalies in 2004," reports Davao Today.

The group previously said that the Grand C Graphics printer is presently being used inside the NPO to print Election Returns and Certificates of Canvass.

The Comelec, the government printer was allowed to enter into a lease agreement with accredited private printers for the production of election paraphernalia.

HP has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tabblo Inc, a developer of Web-based software, reports Imaging Resource.

It said HP intends to use Tabblo's technologies to make printing from the Internet simpler than it is at present. The technology enables users to arrange and print text, graphics and photos from the web.

HP says it plans to make this Web-printing experience widely available to people by working with other companies to integrate the technology into their Web sites.