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British high-end chocolate maker and retailer  Hotel Chocolat , which currently operates over 40 stores in the UK, the Middle East and the US, wants to expand even further. But rather than turning to banks or big investors for money, they're inviting customer to buy bonds. Bonds that will pay chocolate returns. Two values of Chocolate Bond will be issued: both with the return paid in monthly Tasting Boxes. Holders of a GBP 2,000 Chocolate Bond will receive six free tasting boxes a year worth GBP 107.70 per year, and those holding a GBP 4,000 bond will receive thirteen boxes, worth GBP 233.35 per year. Which comes down to a 5.38% return. After an initial term of three years, and on every anniversary thereafter, bond holders can redeem their bond for a full return of their investment. If they decide to continue to hold the bond, the monthly boxes will keep on coming. The company doesn't have to worry about the logistics of interest payment in kind; it already operates a tasting...

Dad says smoking toddler is ‘addicted’ 2-year-old throws tantrums when he can't light up msnbc.com news services updated  1:51 p.m. PT,   Wed., May 26, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdWpLEapfV8 JAKARTA, Indonesia - A video of smoking toddler is sparking outrage on the web. When the clip of 2-year-old Sumatran Ardi Rizal puffing away surfaced on YouTube Wednesday, it spread to online social media like, well, fire. Popular blog Gawker linked to the smoking baby video, calling him " totally cooler than you ." But user Faldo777's response was the more typical response: "His parents should be jailed ..." In fact, his parents say Rizal throws a tantrum when they refuse to give him a cigarette. His father gave him his first smoke when he was just 18 months old. The smoking toddler was witnessed by a reporter who recently visited his home in the fishing village of Musi Banyuasin, in Indonesia's South Sumatra province. "I'm not worried about his...

Interview with Dina Kaplan Blip.tv is an online television network focused on featuring, promoting and monetizing the best original shows on the Web.  According to Dina Kaplan, who is a co-founder and COO of blip.tv, the conditions to becoming a successful career woman are threefold: 1) great communications skills, 2) diverse experience and 3) aggressiveness. Dina Kaplan oversees the operations for the company, including media partnerships, advertising and sponsorship deals, public relations and marketing.  She is one of the most influential women in the Internet and is one of a handful of female founders of a successful Internet company.  We met her in New York City to get her views on the conditions to becoming a successful career woman. Dina majored in College of Social Studies at Wesleyan University.  College of Social Studies is a very rigorous interdisciplinary major that focuses on history, economics, philosophy and government and emphasizes the impor...

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Some of the recent financial crisis was blamed on the reckless culture of gambling on Wall Street . The LA Times  reports today  that they are now literally hiring people with few qualifications beyond a love of poker. From the article: The 30-year-old never went to business school or even took a finance class. But he knew poker. He had made a living playing the game online for six years from his Manhattan apartment, betting on up to eight hands at a time. Within a few days, Fargis - with no Wall Street experience - was offered a position trading stock options, a job that entails making multimillion-dollar gambles. His poker skills sealed the deal. It's cheaper than business school. http://gawker.com/5540041/wall-street-ignores-irony-literally-hires-gamblers

Ready for action Director Tim Burton, jury president of the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, holds a film clapper in Cannes, France, on Tuesday, May 11. The festival, the world's biggest, runs from May 12 to 23.

CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 14: A dog wearing a red top hat rides a scooter during the 63rd Annual  Cannes Film Festival  on May 13, 2010 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images) http://www.festival-cannes.com/

14 May 2010 - Mike Foster So, where is the happiest place in the world? 'Supertrends', a new book by entrepreneur and author Lars Tvede, highlights why a well-run economy makes you happy, and what happens at the other end of the scale If you want to stay happy as fear and loathing grip the markets, it is probably best to head down Costa Rica way. According to a happiness index compiled by Ruut Veenhoven of the Erasmus University of Rotterdam [ chttp://bit.ly/cstl6z ] , Costa Rica, in central America, was the world's most joyful country during the noughties with an average score of 8.5, against an average of 5.8. According to a happiness index compiled by Ruut Veenhoven of the Erasmus University of Rotterdam [ c http://bit.ly/cstl6z  ] , Costa Rica, in central America, was the world's most joyful country during the noughties with an average score of 8.5, against an average of 5.8. His findings draw on a range of surveys and opinion polls to reach its conclusions. Analys...

It's a toss-up Atletico Madrid team members throw head coach Quique Sanchez Flores into the air in celebration after they beat FC Fulham 2-1 in the Europa League soccer final in Hamburg, Germany, on May 12.

Goodbye, Gordon The outgoing prime minister had one enemy more powerful than all the others: his own personality. By  William Underhill  |  Newsweek Web Exclusive  May 10, 2010 With the right spin doctor, Gordon Brown could seem an easy politician to admire. This was the smart, serious-minded Scot who took prudence as his watchword in his successful management of the British economy; the man who oversaw the country's longest period of economic growth and averted global catastrophe through his handling of the financial crisis. He was the clergyman's son who thrived on hard work and liked to talk of the "moral compass" offered by his parents' example. But he was always hard leader to like. Insider accounts speak of a prime minister who was thin-skinned, tantrumprone, and woefully short on the charisma that endeared the public to Tony Blair, his predecessor as prime minister. One leading civil servant spoke of Brown's "Stalinist" management style. His ...

Pick out the rock stars Flea (2R) and Anthony Kiedis (2L) of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, attend Game Two of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs between the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz at Staples Center on May 4, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. Coach Jack is back Actor Jack Nicholson reacts in the second quarter as he sits courtside during Game Two of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs between the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz at Staples Center on May 4, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. Leo like L.A. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio sits courtside during Game Five of the Western Conference Quarterfinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder at Staples Center on April 27, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

MONDAY The News  Germany, Europe’s largest economy and the most important — and most reluctant — partner in trying to help Greece forestall a financial meltdown, agreed to lend it up to $30 billion over three years, part of an international bailout package negotiated over the weekend. The European Central Bank said it would accept Greek bonds as collateral regardless of any credit downgrades. Behind the News  The moves cleared up some lingering uncertainty over the bailout and relieved some of the upward pressure on the interest rates Greece had to pay. TUESDAY The News  Public employees began striking in protest against pay and spending cuts proposed by the government of Prime Minister George Papandreou to stave off default, reassure investors and win backing for the bailout. Behind the News  The high cost and low productivity of Greece’s vast public sector, which employs one-third of the labor force and until recently guaranteed jobs for life, were major factors l...

Gulf oil spill could hit your wallet Shipping delays may increase the price of bananas, coffee By HARRY R. WEBER, VICKI SMITH The Associated Press updated  5:56 p.m. PT,   Mon., May 3, 2010 NEW ORLEANS - The calamitous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico isn't just a mess for the people who live or work on the coast. If you drink coffee, eat shrimp, like bananas or plan to buy a new set of tires, you could end up paying more because of the disaster. The slick has forced the shutdown of the gulf's rich fishing grounds and could also spread to the busy shipping lanes at the mouth of the Mississippi River, tying up the cargo vessels that move millions of tons of fruit, rubber, grain, steel and other commodities and raw materials in and out of the nation's interior. Though a total shutdown of the shipping lanes is unlikely, there could be long delays if vessels are forced to wait to have their oil-coated hulls power-washed to avoid contaminating the Mississippi. Some cargo ships m...