Steve Jobs talks about Ping. Photograph: Paul Sakuma/AP Apple chief Steve Jobs’s trumpeting of the 160 million credit card holders on iTunes was a siren call to spammers. As if they needed any invitation. The most common incidence of scamming on Apple’s latest social venture, Ping, is the offering of free iPhones from a dodgy [...]

Customers wait to take money from Kabul Bank, which has seen 0m withdrawn in two days. Photograph: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images Officials in Afghanistan are resisting US pressure for a wide-ranging clean-up of Kabul Bank, which is mired in a corruption scandal which has engulfed some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country. [...]

What will job losses to do consumer demand? Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Phillip Inman The Bank of England is expected to maintain historically low interest rates next Thursday after a week of poor economic data concluded with figures showing a sharp slowdown in Britain’s services sector and a decline in construction orders. Analysts said the [...]

Chancellor George Osborne appears to have spooked the service sector with warnings of spending cuts. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images Recession alert! That’s the obvious conclusion from this morning’s news that activity in Britain’s service sector has slipped to its lowest level since April last year. There are two main reasons to be concerned by the [...]

Bridgewater Hall, Manchester: trouble started outside after a children’s talent contest there in May 2008, when police responded to a report that shots had been fired. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian Community groups in a formerly troubled area of Manchester have warned of serious damage to relations with the local police after an investigation [...]