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Alleged victim loses everything The trial starts Thursday of a down-on-his-luck businessman Norman Glass, who stole another mans identity and made millions selling his victims assets to unsuspecting buyers.   Get-rich-quick scheme About six months ago Glass cooked up a get-rich-quick scheme after hearing about an American living in the UK, who owned a building lot as well as an apartment on 14^th Street. He began by assuming the identity of the property owner, a man named Kalev. Glass grew a beard and acquired a cane, a cap and the gait of a man 26 years his senior. He then created the documents that would enable Glass to present himself as Kalev. He began spending time outside the latters apartment building, where he collected Kalevs mail and absorbed whatever information he could find. He used a computer to create a high-quality forgery of Kalevs official identity card using Kalevs personal information and his own photograph. Read more…

How to save on banking costs Whatever you do in or with the bank costs you money, from talking to a teller to withdrawing a large amount of cash. Agreed they are all petty charges but add them up and you will see the big picture. Even getting your statement printed on a sheet of paper costs you these days. Sometimes I think the bank has forgotten that it is in business because its customers keep their cash there!   New fees Thinking up new fees is the bank’s money-raising strategy which brings in an estimated $12 billion a year. Yep, the banks are having a rough time but that doesn’t mean that you have to pay for it. Bank fees are here to stay, but heres how to avoid some of them:   Understand the fees A study by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that disclosure documents averaged 111 pages long. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is being pressed to require banks to publish a one-page disclosure of all fees. But d Read more…

A few under-$50 ideas: Start by classifying your gift recipient.   A Fitness Freak The Taylor Biggest Loser Scale ($33.08 at bestbuy.com) tracks not just weight but body fat and BMI, and calculates how many calories you need to eat per day to maintain your weight. The AquaJogger buoyancy belt ($44.95 at aquajogger.com) guarantees a full-body water workout that’s easy on the joints. In case of emergency, the VITAband ($39.90 at vitaband.net) bracelet stores your medical history and emergency contacts. The Delaney Plus Running Pack ($39 at camelbak.com) holds keys, I.D., cash, an energy bar and a 24-ounce water bottle.   A gardener These items are ideal for people who love gardening. The Paper Braid Garden Hat ($28 from The New York Botanical Garden Shop, nybg.org), lightweight and stylish. The Dramm Colormark Rain Wand in six colors ($26.00 from The New York Botanical Garden Shop, nybg.org) can help you water hard-to-reach plants. The g Read more…

Why hasn’t this happened to me? A San Jose man reportedly stumbled on to $500,000 worth of gold and silver after bidding on an abandoned storage unit. The man, identified only as John, apparently paid $1,100 for the unit only to see his blind investment turn into a goldmine after a number of rare coins and a few gold and silver bars were found in a blue Rubbermaid container inside the unit.   Storage units In recent years storage unit auctions have gained wide-spread recognition after becoming reality fodder for shows like Storage Wars and Spike TV’s Auction Hunters.   3 month limit In California a storage unit is available for auction if the rental has not been paid for three months. Bidders are able to view the storage unit from outside for five minutes to glean what they can, and then the bidding starts. While some units are worth little, the possibility of a big payoff draws treasure hunters who are willing to take a chance.   Read more…

If it has, join us in Bologna, Italy for some serious eating Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. It is the seventh largest city in terms of population and it is the heart of a metropolitan area of about 1,000,000 inhabitants. It is home to the world’s oldest university, fifth-largest church and 24 miles of elegant porticos. The problem is that you can miss them because of the temptation to spend all your time eating. Bologna is the culinary capital of a country that celebrates food.   The sights In a nation of Premier League city breaks, Bologna is still on the bench, over-shadowed by the crowd-pleasers Florence, Venice and Rome. But it deserves a place on the pitch, and not just for the food. Piazza Maggiore and the adjoining Piazza Nettuno are the centre of the action. But there aren’t postcard stands or tour groups to be seen. Instead, businessmen bustle past and young Bolognese flirt around Neptune’s fountain. There is a great gelateria right there. Opposite the medieval palace on one side is the vast San Petronio Basilica, which you will admire between licks of ice cream.   The church Work on the world’s fifth-largest church started in 1390, and it was designed to be grander than Saint Peter’s in Rome. But apparently when the Vatican got wind of this, funds were switched elsewhere. Its facade is still incomplete, but the lofty interior is worth seeing. The porticos are another feat of local craftsmanship. There is an uphill trek along a 2 mile long portico to the Sanctuary of Madonna di San Luca. At the end of the return journey you will find the Trattoria Meloncello, which serves the best meatballs in town. There’s no menu: a waiter lists the options, including the city’s most famous export. Don’t order spaghetti Bolognese here. It is a la ragu and served strictly with tagliatelle, a local pasta considered the perfect size to soak up the sauce.   Evening By evening, Bologna bubbles. Walk along the shop-lined Via Independenzia, which leads to the main square. Here you will observe the passeggiata, the Italian evening stroll, to see, be seen and enjoy an aperitif or two along the way.   Nicknames The city has three nicknames: la dotta (the learned), la grassa (the fat one) and la rossa (the red one). The learned are everywhere, the city’s students, a powerful force here since the university was established in 1088. The red refers to Bologna’s terracotta roofs and pinky-orange walls, but it also describes Bologna’s politics.    A rich city The city of Bologna was selected to participate in the Universal Exposition of Shanghai 2010 together with 45 other cities from around the world. Bologna is also one of the richest cities in Italy, often ranking as one of the top cities in terms of quality of life in the country: it was ranked 5th in 2006, and 12th in 2007, out of 103 Italian cities. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, and it has spectacular history, art, cuisine, music and culture.

The flock of British shoppers to Aldi for their weekly shop has resulted in increased profits for the discount supermarket chain. Aldi Stores reported operating profits of £18.7m and a 4.6pc jump in sales compared to the previous year. By comparison, Aldi Stores recorded an operating loss of £21.2m in 2010.

Shoppers found favour in Aldi Stores during the early days of the credit crunch. Initial concerns over finances drove many families to discount stores such as Aldi and Lidl. Aldi managed to bask in the dull glow of the global financial crisis until about 2008. But similar fears over an impending second round of the global financial crisis are sending shoppers en masse to cut their shopping bills and seek for bargains.

A survey conducted in September by a retail research group revealed that 29pc of British shoppers planned to shun supermarkets like Tesco for their weekly shop. Frozen food store chains Iceland and Farmfoods are also enjoying a higher percentage of shoppers coming in. T

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The 2012 cars are on the way Despite the fragile economy, American car buyers are lining up to test drive fuel-efficient four-doors. The demand for automobiles, coupled with a comeback in production for Japanese carmakers, means the auto industry is heating up. For car buyers there are plenty of great models to choose from, from domestic as well as import brands. Yet there’s always that nagging feeling: is it worth waiting for something even better just around the corner?   Toyota If you’re looking for a mid-sized family car, wait until 2012, when most of the biggest sellers in this category will be redesigned and updated with more efficient engines and advanced technologies. Toyota Motors is rolling out a new version of its Camry, and next year, virtually all of its major rivals will be updated too. That will be the best time for car shopping.     GM Malibu GM is aiming to get a jump on the rest of the pack by moving up the debut of the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu ECO by three months, to early 2012. It’s a s Read more…