The fact that Irish banks do not require any further capital could tip Moody’s into upgrading Ireland’s sovereign credit rating.

Even though Bank of Ireland will probably not need new capital as a result of the Balance Sheet Assessment or the EU-wide stress tests next year, it should raise €300m to shore up its capital position, according to Deutsche Bank.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has thrown open its ranks to gay youngsters — but not gay adult leaders — in a compromise some warned could fracture the organisation and lead to defections.

The Boy Scouts of America has thrown open its ranks to gay youngsters, but not adult leaders, in a compromise that some warned could fracture the organisation and lead to mass defections.

The US Scout movement is signalling its readiness to end a ban on gay members and leaders after a wave of protest.

The country’s leading technology trade association, which represents major multinationals including IBM, Boeing and Microsoft, has written a brief in support of the Boy Scouts of America in a lawsuit that seeks to make public the organisation’s so-called “perversion files”.

Mortgage lending in the UK bounced back during August after being negative for the first time on record during July, figures showed today.

The number of mortgages approved for people buying a home in the UK rose to a 12-month high during April, but economists warned that house prices still had further to fall.

PIRACY of software on personal computers in Ireland fell 2% from 2006 to 2007, from 36% to 34%, amid a global trend in which piracy rates dropped in most countries.

MORE than one third of all packaged software installed on PCs in Ireland in 2005 was illegal, according to an annual global software piracy study.

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has commenced a vigorous campaign amongst Irish small to medium sized enterprises reinforcing the importance of proper software asset management to protect against legal liabilities arising from inadvertent copyright infringement.

Almost 40% of software installed on Irish computers is counterfeit, according to an organisation representing computer companies worldwide.

The Business Software Alliance has claimed that almost half of all computer software used in Ireland has been copied illegally.

In Britain, the Building Societies Association (BSA) reports that new approvals for home mortgages were down 7.2% in November from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted level of £4.42bn (€6.28bn).

SOFTWARE piracy costs the Irish software industry €40 million a year and now the Business Software Alliance (BSA) has started taking legal action against companies suspected of using unlicensed software.

Almost half of all computer software used by Irish businesses last year was pirated, according to a survey conducted by the Business Software Alliance.

A new survey says Ireland must do more to stamp out software piracy.

Microsoft has launched a new information tool to help consumers and businesses determine the legitimacy of software claiming to be genuine Microsoft software.

Half of all the software used by businesses in Ireland is illegal, according to a watchdog group for the IT sector.

Legal proceedings have been initiated against an Irish engineering firm for inadequate software licensing.

The software piracy rate in Ireland has increased 1% on last year and currently stands at 42%, equating to revenue losses of almost €42,3m for the Irish software industry, according to the Business Software Alliance's (BSA) seventh annual survey on software piracy.