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dominici backs lacklustre france wing christophe dominici says france can claim another six nations grand slam despite two lacklustre wins so far against scotland and england. the champions only just saw off the scots in paris then needed england to self-destruct in last week s 18-17 win. the english played better than us but lost whereas we are still in the race for the grand slam said dominici. we know our display was not perfect but we can still win the grand slam along with ireland and wales. france ireland and wales all remain unbeaten after two rounds of this year s rbs six nations with the two celtic nations playing by far the more impressive rugby. france take on wales at the stade de france on 26 february and ireland in dublin on 12 march. but although france have yet to click dominici says that they can still win the hard way as long as scrum-half dimitri yachvili continues in his goalkicking form. if we have an efficient kicker on whom we can rely on a solid defence and a team who play for their lives we can achieve something dominici added. i said at the start of the competition that the winners would be clearer from the third matches and that s exactly what is going to happen. france coach bernard laporte will announce his starting line-up next tuesday for the match against wales. wing jimmy marlu is definitely out with the knee injury sustained at twickenham which is likely to sideline him for the rest of the tournament. inspirational flanker serge betsen is a doubt with a thigh injury but number eight imanol harinordoquy has shaken off his shoulder injury. in the backs centre yannick jauzion and winger aurelien rougerie are all back in contention after injury while brive back julien laharrague has received his first call-up as a replacement for pepito elhorga.

hollywood hunts hits at sundance the sundance film festival the movie industry s top destination for uncovering the next independent hits and new talent opens on thursday. the event will see screen executives decamp from hollywood to park city utah for 11 days to search for low-key movies that could make it big in 2005. open water napoleon dynamite garden state and super-size me were all snapped up at last year s festival. but stars like keanu reeves and pierce brosnan also have films showing there. the festival is being opened by a screening of quirky comedy happy endings starring former friends actress lisa kudrow and maggie gyllenhaal on thursday. kudrow s friends co-star david schwimmer plays a divorced drunkard in duane hopwood while brosnan stars as a hit man in comedy the matador. keanu reeves appears in coming-of-age tale thumbsucker while kevin costner and michael keaton are among the other big names whose films are involved. robert redford founded sundance in 1981 and it has gone on to showcase future successes such as reservoir dogs the blair witch project and the full monty. but it has received criticism that it has become more commercial and mainstream over the years. as much as the press argues that sundance has completely changed it hasn t changed that much festival director geoffrey gilmore said. it s still a place for discovery. it s a place for common ground among film-makers and audiences more than it is the celebrity stuff. other films generating interest before this year s festival include hustle & flow about an aspiring rapper the squid and the whale an autobiographical film by writer-director noah baumbach and comedy/drama pretty persuasion. it also has two new international cinema competitions.

pupils to get anti-piracy lessons lessons on music piracy and copyright issues are to be taught to secondary school pupils in the uk. the lessons aimed at 11 to 14-year-olds will introduce them to copyright - including the issues of downloading from the internet and the illegal copying of cds - and its role in protecting creativity. music piracy including illegally swapping music online costs the uk music industry millions every year and has been blamed for a decline in world-wide cd sales. british music rights (bmr) - which was formed to represent the interests of songwriters and composers - worked with education experts to put together a learning pack. songwriter guy chambers who has worked with stars including robbie williams has thrown his support behind the scheme. he said as well as educating children about music piracy it would also protect young people planning a career in the music industry from unscrupulous individuals. at a debate in london to launch the scheme chambers said: i think it is important that young people receive practical and engaging learning in schools. these lessons will give them an insight into how the creative industries work which will help them in possible future careers. the education pack which has already been requested by more than 1 600 secondary schools is aimed at giving children an understanding of copyright in relation to the music industry. it will also teach children about the importance of royalties and raises awareness of different careers in the music industry particularly in the digital age. henri yoxall general manager of british music rights told bbc news schools had been crying out for a resource to help them educate pupils about the issues. the scheme - which is an extension of bmr s respect the value of music campaign - is also being backed by singer-songwriters feargal sharkey lucie silvas and grammy award-winning composer david arnold. silvas said: i think it is so important that students gain an understanding of how the music industry works when they are at a young age. i wish i had been given an opportunity like this when i was at school. emma pike director general of british music rights said: we believe that copyright is an essential part of teaching music in schools. it is vital that the creatives of the future know how to turn their ideas into value. copyright education has always been important... creatives are facing more challenges and more opportunities from technological change. technology is allowing people to create music and distribute their music to the public in a whole host of new ways.

blair defends terror law changes the prime minister has defended measures to allow house arrest without trial saying several hundred people in the uk are plotting terror attacks. the government is facing opposition from tory and lib dem mps and its own backbenchers as it prepares for the final commons debate on the changes. but tony blair said there could be no concession on the basic principle . mr blair told the bbc the control orders would only be used in the most limited circumstances. critics in the opposition and civil rights activists are worried that the home secretary will have the power to issue the detention orders. but the government has so far resisted pressure for judges to be responsible for making the orders instead saying judges will be able to quash them. an explanation is being sent by home secretary charles clarke to all mps and peers ahead of the final debate in the house of commons. on sunday conservative shadow home secretary david davis claimed judges would get the powers to issue detention orders. and liberal democrat leader charles kennedy said some concessions had already been offered by the government during last-minute negotiations. some 32 labour mps voted against the legislation last week. barbara follett whose first husband was killed while under house arrest in south africa during the apartheid era confirmed she would vote against the government. but the government is continuing to insist that control orders must be issued by the home secretary. mr blair told bbc radio 4 s woman s hour: we are being advised by the police and the security services... what they say is you have got to give us powers in between mere surveillance of these people - there are several hundred of them in this country who we believe are engaged in plotting or trying to commit terrorist acts - you have got to give us power in between just surveying them and being able being sure enough of the proof to prosecute them beyond reasonable doubt. and these will be restrictions on their liberty that we will use only in the most limited circumstances. a yougov poll in the daily telegraph suggested 75% of respondents thought action was sometimes necessary against people who had not committed an offence but who had been found by intelligence services to be planning a terrorist attack. but tory leader michael howard told bbc news that the government was again making a mistake in rushing anti-terrorism legislation. i very much hope it would be possible to reach a compromise on this. he said after meeting tony blair he had been left with the impression that he really wasn t interested in any of the various proposals we have put forward . mr clarke wants house arrest and other powers to replace indefinite jail for terror suspects - something the law lords have ruled against on the basis that it breaches human rights. bbc political correspondent vicky young said some form of concession on the measures was likely to be needed to get the legislation through the house of lords where labour does not have a majority and would require support from other parties. shami chakrabarti director of civil liberties pressure group liberty said who was able to issue the control orders was not the main issue. she said the legislation was a travesty and a perversion of justice and would remain unpalatable even if a judge was involved early in the process.

mixed signals from french economy the french economy picked up speed at the end of 2004 official figures show - but still looks set to have fallen short of the government s hopes. according to state statistics body insee growth for the three months to december was a seasonally-adjusted 0.7-0.8% ahead of the 0.6% forecast. if confirmed that would be the best quarterly showing since early 2002. it leaves gdp up 2.3% for the full year but short of the 2.5% which the french government had predicted. despite the apparent shortfall in annual economic growth the good quarterly figures - a so-called flash estimate - mark a continuing trend of improving indicators for the health of the french economy. the government is reiterating a 2.5% target for 2005 while the european central bank is making positive noises for the 12-nation eurozone as a whole. also on friday france s industrial output for december was released showing 0.7% growth. the numbers are good said david naude economist at deutsche bank. they send a positive signal of a rebound in output... and open the way for a continuation in that trend into the new year. service sector activity improved in january hitting a seven-month high. but unemployment remains high at about 10%.

hereford 1-1 doncaster hereford win 3-1 on penalties. rovers took the lead on 59 minutes as michael mcindoe s corner found adriano rigoglioso whose stunning volley soared into the top right of the net. danny williams equalised for the hosts after 72 minutes with a crisp finish from just insist the penalty box. mcindoe saw an extra-time penalty saved giving mills the chance to net the winning penalty. mawson travis mkandawire james robinson daniel williams stanley hyde (pitman 105) purdie (mills 83) brown stansfield (green 102). subs not used: smith scott. james. daniel williams 72. ingham mulligan fenton morley priet (ryan 79) mcindoe ravenhill (price 90) rigoglioso tierney (jackson 79) beardsley coppinger. subs not used: warrington maloney. rigoglioso 59. 1 375 t parkes (w midlands).

bortolami predicts dour contest italy skipper marco bortolami believes saturday s six nations contest against scotland will be a scrappy encounter. with both sides looking for their first win of the championship the third-round game at murrayfield has been billed as a wooden-spoon decider. and bortolami feels the edinburgh contest could end up being a bruising battle of the packs. it will not be a pretty game because both teams are desperate to gain their first win said the lock forward. italy have only recorded three wins since they joined the six nations in 2000 but two of those have come against scotland. this year italy opened up with a stubborn display against ireland but ended up losing 28-17. however they were thoroughly outplayed by an impressive welsh side in rome last time out. now the italians travel to edinburgh hoping to claim their first away win in the six nations. scotland played extremely well against france in paris but not so well when ireland came to edinburgh said bortolami. we are still very disappointed with our last game against wales in rome and we are thoroughly determined to right the wrongs. as a nation our quest is to be respected as a team worthy of a place in this tournament and we can only do this by winning games.

brookside actress keaveney dies actress anna keaveney who appeared in brookside my family and a touch of frost has died of lung cancer aged 55. keaveney who played brookside s marie jackson when the channel 4 soap began in 1982 died on saturday. born in runcorn cheshire she also starred in numerous films including 1989 s shirley valentine. she played nellie in mike leigh s latest film vera drake which won the golden lion prize for best film at this year s venice film festival. and most recently she appeared alongside richard wilson in itv s king of fridges and with martin clunes in doc martin. other tv appearances included the part of matron in itv drama footballers wives and a cameo role as tom farrell s mother sheila in bbc comedy gimme gimme gimme. keaveney s career also included stage performances in neaptide for the national theatre private lives and the rise and fall of little voice. the actress died in hospital. her agent barry brown said: anna was due to have had another operation on friday but unfortunately she was too weak.

digital guru floats sub-$100 pc nicholas negroponte chairman and founder of mit s media labs says he is developing a laptop pc that will go on sale for less than $100 (£53). he told the bbc world service programme go digital he hoped it would become an education tool in developing countries. he said one laptop per child could be very important to the development of not just that child but now the whole family village and neighbourhood . he said the child could use the laptop like a text book. he described the device as a stripped down laptop which would run a linux-based operating system we have to get the display down to below $20 to do this we need to rear project the image rather than using an ordinary flat panel. the second trick is to get rid of the fat if you can skinny it down you can gain speed and the ability to use smaller processors and slower memory. the device will probably be exported as a kit of parts to be assembled locally to keep costs down. mr negroponte said this was a not for profit venture though he recognised that the manufacturers of the components would be making money. in 1995 mr negroponte published the bestselling being digital now widely seen as predicting the digital age. the concept is based on experiments in the us state of maine where children were given laptop computers to take home and do their work on. while the idea was popular amongst the children it initially received some resistance from the teachers and there were problems with laptops getting broken. however mr negroponte has adapted the idea to his own work in cambodia where he set up two schools together with his wife and gave the children laptops. we put in 25 laptops three years ago only one has been broken the kids cherish these things it s also a tv a telephone and a games machine not just a textbook. mr negroponte wants the laptops to become more common than mobile phones but conceded this was ambitious. nokia make 200 million cell phones a year so for us to claim we re going to make 200 million laptops is a big number but we re not talking about doing it in three or five years we re talking about months. he plans to be distributing them by the end of 2006 and is already in discussion with the chinese education ministry who are expected to make a large order. in china they spend $17 per child per year on textbooks. that s for five or six years so if we can distribute and sell laptops in quantities of one million or more to ministries of education that s cheaper and the marketing overheads go away.

fa decides not to punish mourinho the football association will take no action against chelsea boss jose mourinho following his sending-off in sunday s carling cup final. mourinho who was sent from the touchline for appearing to taunt liverpool fans has been reminded of his responsibilities to the game . but the fa confirmed: there will be no further action taken in this matter. mourinho claimed his silence gesture was aimed at the media although they were on the other side of the ground. the former porto coach was forced to watch the climax of his side s 3-2 victory over liverpool on television after being ushered away from the touchline by fourth official phil crossley. his gesture came after chelsea s equaliser on 79 minutes courtesy of a steven gerrard own goal. mourinho still faces an fa investigation into his allegation that manchester united s players cheated during january s carling cup semi-final at stamford bridge. and uefa could also launch disciplinary action following mourinho s failure to attend a compulsory post-match press conference after chelsea s champions league defeat at barcelona last week. in addition some time this month chelsea must also answer a charge of failing to control their players during the premiership win at blackburn in february. and a charge of failing to control their supporters following a carling cup meeting with west ham earlier this season is still to be heard. the premier league is also continuing investigations into allegations chelsea officials tapped up arsenal defender ashley cole in january.

putting a face to big brother literally putting a face on technology could be one of the keys to improving our interaction with hi-tech gadgets. imagine a surveillance system that also presents a virtual embodiment of a person on a screen who can react to your behaviour and perhaps even alert you to new e-mails. basic versions of these so-called avatars already exist. together with speech and voice recognition systems they could replace the keyboard and mouse in the near future. some of these ideas have been showcased at the london s science museum as part of its future face exhibition. one such avatar is jeremiah. it is a virtual man which you can download for free and install in your computer. his creator richard bowden lecturer at the centre for vision speech and signal processing at the university of surrey refers to jeremiah as him rather than it. jeremiah is a virtual face that attempts to emulate humans in the way it responds to activity. he is very childlike he likes visual stimulus he told the bbc news website. when he sees children running and laughing and waving at him he smiles at them. if you ignore him he gets angry. if you leave he gets sad. and you can also even surprise him. jeremiah is not actually intelligent. it works on vision reacting in a preset way to the information provided by a surveillance tracker system. it is not able to talk or to hear you at least not yet. the surrey team is already working on jeremiah s next version that will replace the human face with an underwater and more interactive creature: finn the fish. i am interested in the interaction providing the ability of a system to watch what s going on and make decisions based on that explained dr bowden. the research comes at a time when people are having to cope with an increasing number of hi-tech gadgets. experts say a much more natural way to interact with these devices such as a virtual human could make it much easier to make the most of all those new gizmos. if you get up at three o clock in the morning and you go downstairs there are probably two things you are going to do: either going to the bathroom or maybe you are going to make a cup of tea said dr bowden. now if the system can watch your behaviour over time it can learn this so it would predict what you are going to do turn on the lights for you or before you even get to the kettle it could have switched it on. you might even be able to tell your home surveillance system that you will be going away on holiday and ask if it could make sure that the house is secure once you have left. this might sound like a scary vision of an orwellian future. but it might all depend on the face that is watching you. when we put the surveillance cameras in our centre a lot of people were very unhappy about the fact that there was a system watching them said dr bowden. but when jeremiah s camera went in nobody minded because although it s still watching them they could see what it was watching.

uk needs true immigration data a former home office minister has called for an independent body to be set up to monitor uk immigration. barbara roche said an organisation should monitor and publish figures and be independent of government. she said this would counter so-called independent groups like migration watch which she described as an anti-immigration body posing as independent. migration watch says it is not against all immigration and the government already publishes accurate figures. sir andrew green chairman of the organisation says there is no need for an independent body because office of national statistics data are accurate. he says he opposes large-scale immigration both on the grounds of overcrowding and culture . he said: for example over the next 20 years one household in three will be due to immigration. we are already more overcrowded than india and we are four times more overcrowded than france. ms roche labour mp for hornsey and wood green believes legal migration is something we should welcome. she said her proposals mean we wouldn t have so-called independent experts like migration watch who come into this debate from an anti-immigration point of view. she went on: what i would like to see is there being a body which actually looked at the figures published them and was independent of government. i think that would go a long way to allaying some of the fears that are sometimes whipped up during this debate.

greene sets sights on world title maurice greene aims to wipe out the pain of losing his olympic 100m title in athens by winning a fourth world championship crown this summer. he had to settle for bronze in greece behind fellow american justin gatlin and francis obikwelu of portugal. it really hurts to look at that medal. it was my mistake. i lost because of the things i did said greene who races in birmingham on friday. it s never going to happen again. my goal - i m going to win the worlds. greene crossed the line just 0.02 seconds behind gatlin who won in 9.87 seconds in one of the closest and fastest sprints of all time. but greene believes he lost the race and his title in the semi-finals. in my semi-final race i should have won the race but i was conserving energy. that s when francis obikwelu came up and i took third because i didn t know he was there. i believe that s what put me in lane seven in the final and while i was in lane seven i couldn t feel anything in the race. i just felt like i was running all alone. i believe if i was in the middle of the race i would have been able to react to people that came ahead of me. greene was also denied olympic gold in the 4x100m men s relay when he could not catch britain s mark lewis-francis on the final leg. the kansas star is set to go head-to-head with lewis-francis again at friday s norwich union grand prix. the pair contest the 60m the distance over which greene currently holds the world record of 6.39 seconds. he then has another indoor meeting in france before resuming training for the outdoor season and the task of recapturing his world title in helsinki in august. greene believes gatlin will again prove the biggest threat to his ambitions in finland. but he also admits he faces more than one rival for the world crown. there s always someone else coming. i think when i was coming up i would say there was me and ato (boldon) in the young crowd greene said. now you ve got about five or six young guys coming up at the same time.

versace art portfolio up for sale the art collection of murdered fashion designer gianni versace could fetch up to £9m ($17m) when it is auctioned in new york and london later this year. among the pictures for sale are works by roy lichtenstein andy warhol and henri matisse. the collection was housed at versace s six-storey new york townhouse. the 51-year-old designer was shot outside his florida home in 1997 by suspected serial killer andrew cunanan who later killed himself. the auction at sotheby s will feature 45 contemporary impressionist and 19th century paintings. one of the highlights of the sale is roy lichtenstein s blue nude which has been given an estimate of £1.8m ($3.4m). tobias meyer sotheby s worldwide head of contemporary art said: this collection reflects mr versace s wide-ranging taste and impeccable eye and many of the works were commissioned directly from the artists. outstanding later examples from champions of the pop movement such as roy lichtenstein are juxtaposed with masterpieces from the most visible artists of the 1980 s including jean-michel basquiat and the collaborative genius of basquiat and warhol as well as francesco clemente. much of the collection will be offered for sale at three auctions in new york in june with smaller contemporary paintings going under the hammer in london on 22 and 23 june. a sale of versace s furniture and artworks sold in 2001fetched £5.5m ($10.3m).

irish markets reach all-time high irish shares have risen to a record high with investors persuaded to buy into the market by low inflation and strong growth forecasts. the iseq index of leading shares closed up 23 points to 6661.89 on thursday fuelled by strong growth in banking and financial stocks. a fall in the rate of inflation to 2.3% in january gave a fresh boost to shares which have advanced 4% this month. the economy is set for strong growth in 2005 while interest rates remain low. several of ireland s biggest companies saw their market value hit recent highs on thursday. allied irish banks ireland s biggest company by capitalisation touched a five year peak while bank of ireland shares rose to their highest level since august 2002. telecoms firm eircom which recently revealed that it would re-enter the irish mobile phone market hit a yearly high. analysts said that economic conditions were benign and irish shares were still trading at a discount to other european markets. ireland ticks all the boxes as far as international investors are concerned roy asher chief investment officer of hibernian investment managers told reuters. buoyant economic conditions are set to continue in ireland over the next few years and irish equities continue to offer quality growth at a reasonable valuation. bernard mcalinden head of equity research at ncb stockbrokers said equities represented good value compared to other investments. it is still looking good he told reuters. we have seen good economic data on ireland which benefits the financial stocks. ireland s economic miracle is enjoying a second wind with 5% growth forecast for 2005 and 2006. the economy cooled markedly between 2001 and 2003 after enjoying spectacular growth of more than 10% in 2000. however it has bounced back strongly with growth of just under 5% expected in 2004.

krispy kreme shares hit shares in krispy kreme doughnuts have taken a dunking on wall street after the firm revealed it would have to restate its 2004 financial reports. the company warned the move would cut its profits by $3.8m to $4.9m (£2m to £2.6m) - or between 6.6% and 8.6%. krispy kreme said accounting errors had forced the move adding that its board of directors made the decision to restate its accounts on 28 december. however the company was unavailable to comment on why it had delayed the news. it also warned it might have to further restate results for 2004 and 2005. shares in krispy kreme sank 14.87% - or $1.83 - to close at $10.48 on the news. the revelation comes just a month after the firm warned earnings would be cut by as much as 7.6% as a result of accounting errors. krispy kreme said the latest adjustments involved the way it accounted for the repurchase of three franchise restaurants. it added it would now be reviewing how it accounts for its leases. in a further blow the firm said it had been advised that some of its franchise owners were not in compliance with their loan agreements and warned it might need to borrow extra money if it was required to honour agreements on franchisee debts or operating leases. krispy kreme added that it had enough cash to fund its current operations but it could not borrow any more under its existing agreements. there are many more questions than answers especially given increased concerns regarding company liquidity jp morgan securities analyst john ivankoe said in a research note on the firm. the announcement is the latest blow for the one-time darling of wall street which has lost 80% of its stock value in just over a year. the firm is currently facing securities and exchange commission investigation of its accounts. shareholders have also launched lawsuits against the group claiming it made false statements and inflated sales.

blunkett tells of love and pain david blunkett has spoken of his love for married publisher kimberly quinn for the first time. the home secretary described how it affected his friends and personal life but said he was a great believer in personal responsibility. mr blunkett is taking legal action to gain access to mrs quinn s two-year-old son. she denies he is mr blunkett s. the interview with bbc radio sheffield was made before allegations he fast-tracked a visa for mrs quinn s nanny. the allegations which he has denied are being investigated by sir alan budd. mr blunkett talked about how he fell in love - but that she resisted his desire to go public. in an apparent reference to his court action to gain access to her son he says he was a great believer in responsibility and consequences even when they were painful. mr blunkett told bbc radio sheffield: i fell in love with someone and they wouldn t go public and things started to go very badly wrong in the summer and then the news of the world picked up the story. i tried for three years to make something work. i haven t spoken about it and i don t intend to. even in the biography that s being written about me i ve ensured that there s as little as possible. bbc political correspondent carole walker said the timing of the broadcast was unlikely to help his efforts to show that he is concentrating on getting on with the job of home secretary. shadow home secretary david davis says mr blunkett should quit if he is found to have influenced the visa process even indirectly. reports have claimed mr blunkett chaired a meeting to discuss delays in the visa system after he learned of nanny leoncia casalme s wait. the home office has said it would be up to sir alan s inquiry to decide if any such meeting was relevant. home office minister fiona mactaggart said she hoped mr blunkett would survive in his job. i work with him every day and i have always been surprised by how focused he is on the job in hand on working to deal with things she said. she told bbc one s breakfast with frost programme: he is just really down for the job and i hope he does (survive).

mps issued with blackberry threat mps will be thrown out of the commons if they use blackberries in the chamber speaker michael martin has ruled. the £200 handheld computers can be used as a phone pager or to send e-mails. the devices gained new prominence this week after alastair campbell used his to accidentally send an expletive-laden message to a newsnight journalist. mr martin revealed some mps had been using their blackberries during debates and he also cautioned members against using hidden earpieces. the use of electronic devices in the commons chamber has long been frowned on. the sound of a mobile phone or a pager can result in a strong rebuke from either the speaker or his deputies. the speaker chairs debates in the commons and is charged with ensuring order in the chamber and enforcing rules and conventions of the house. he or she is always an mp chosen by colleagues who once nominated gives up all party political allegiances.

tv calls after carroll error spurs boss martin jol said his team were robbed at manchester united after pedro mendes shot clearly crossed the line but was not given. the referee is already wearing an earpiece so why can t we just stop the game and get the decision right said jol after the 0-0 draw. but at the end of the day it s so obvious that pedro s shot was over the line it s incredible. we feel robbed but it s difficult for the linesman and referee to see it. mendes shot from 50 yards and united goalkeeper roy carroll spilled the ball into his own net before hooking it clear. jol added: we are not talking about the ball being a couple of centimetres or an inch or two over the line it was a metre inside the goal. what really annoys me is that we are here in 2005 watching something on a tv monitor within two seconds of the incident occurring and the referee isn t told about it. we didn t play particularly well but i am pleased - even now - with a point although we should have had three. mendes could not believe the goal was not given after seeing a replay. he said: my reaction on the pitch was to celebrate. it was a very nice goal it was clearly over the line - i ve never seen one so over the line and not given in my career. it s really really over. what can you do but laugh about it it s a nice goal and one to keep in my memory even though it didn t count. it s not every game you score from the halfway line. manchester united manager sir alex ferguson sympathised with tottenham and said the incident highlighted the need for video technology. i think it hammers home what a lot of people have been asking for and that s that technology should play a part in the game ferguson told mutv. what i was against originally was the time factor in video replays. but i read an article the other day which suggested that if a referee can t make up his mind after 30 seconds of watching a video replay then the game should carry on. thirty seconds is about the same amount of time it takes to organise a free-kick or take a corner or a goal-kick. so you wouldn t be wasting a lot of time. i think you could start off by using it for goal-line decisions. i think that would be an opening into a new area of football. arsenal boss arsene wenger also used the incident to highlight the need for video technology. when the whole world apart from the referee has seen there should be a goal at old trafford that just reinforces what i feel - there should be video evidence said wenger. it s a great example of where the referee could have asked to see a replay and would have seen in five seconds that it was a goal.

el guerrouj targets cross country double olympic champion hicham el guerrouj is set to make a rare appearance at the world cross country championships in france. but the moroccan who has not raced over cross country for 15 years will not decide until two weeks before the event which starts on 19 march. if i am to compete in it it is only if i feel i can win said the 30-year-old who is retiring in 2006. otherwise there is not much point in me going. el guerrouj achieved a lifetime ambition last august when he clinched his first olympic titles over 1500m and 5 000m. but the four-time world 1500m champion is still hungry for more success before calling time on his career. the 30-year-old has set his sights on clinching the world 5 000m crown in helsinki this summer. and he is aiming to break 10 000m olympic champion kenenisa bekele s 5 000m and 10 000m world records. el guerrouj could meet bekele in march as the ethiopian is the defending world cross country champion over both the long and short courses. but the moroccan will not commit himself to the st galmier event until he assesses how well his winter training is going. the return to training was very difficult because i accepted a lot of invitations these past few months said el guerrouj. i am almost a month behind but i am on the right track. - britain s paula radcliffe has also not ruled out competing in the world cross country championships. i haven t quite decided what events i will compete in prior to london but the world cross country is an event which is also special to me and is a definite possibility said the two-time champion.

us adds more jobs than expected the us economy added 337 000 jobs in october - a seven-month high and far more than wall street expectations. in a welcome economic boost for newly re-elected president george w bush the labor department figures come after a slow summer of weak jobs gains. jobs were created in every sector of the us economy except manufacturing. while the separate unemployment rate went up to 5.5% from 5.4% in september this was because more people were now actively seeking work. the 337 000 new jobs added to us payrolls in october was twice the 169 000 figure that wall street economists had forecast. in addition the labor department revised up the number of jobs created in the two previous months - to 139 000 in september instead of 96 000 and to 198 000 in august instead of 128 000. the better than expected jobs data had an immediate upward effect on stocks in new york with the main dow jones index gaining 45.4 points to 10 360 by late morning trading. it looks like the job situation is improving and that this will support consumer spending going into the holidays and offset some of the drag caused by high oil prices this year said economist gary thayer of ag edwards & sons. other analysts said the upbeat jobs data made it more likely that the us federal reserve would increase interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 2% when it meets next week. it should empower the fed to clearly do something said robert macintosh chief economist with eaton vance management in boston. kathleen utgoff commissioner of the bureau of labor said many of the 71 000 new construction jobs added in october were involved in rebuilding and clean-up work in florida and neighbouring deep south states following four hurricanes in august and september. the dollar rose temporarily on the job creation news before falling back to a new record low against the euro as investors returned their attention to other economic factors such as the us s record trade deficit. there is also speculation that president bush will deliberately try to keep the dollar low in order to assist a growth in exports.

edwards tips idowu for euro gold world outdoor triple jump record holder and bbc pundit jonathan edwards believes phillips idowu can take gold at the european indoor championships. idowu landed 17.30m at the british trials in sheffield last month to lead the world triple jump rankings. it s all down to him but if he jumps as well as he did in sheffield he could win the gold medal said edwards. his ability is undoubted but all his best performances seem to happen in domestic meetings. idowu made his breakthrough five years ago but so far has only a commonwealth silver medal to his name. edwards himself kept idowu off top spot at the manchester games. but he believes the european indoors in madrid represent a chance for the 26-year-old to prove his credentials as britain s top triple jumper. he has to start producing at international level and here is the beginning said edwards. phillips still needs to be much more consistent. i m sure a victory in madrid will build up his confidence and self-belief that he can be best in the world. the qualifying round of the men s triple jump in madrid takes place on friday with the final scheduled for saturday. olympic champion christian olsson will not be taking part as he is out for the entire indoor season with an ankle injury.

tsunami to hit sri lanka banks sri lanka s banks face hard times following december s tsunami disaster officials have warned. the sri lanka banks association said the waves which killed more than 30 000 people also washed away huge amounts of property which was securing loans. according to its estimate as much as 13.6% of the loans made by private banks to clients in the disaster zone has been written off or damaged. state-owned lenders may be even worse hit it said. the association estimates that the private banking sector has 25bn rupees ($250m; £135m) of loans outstanding in the disaster zone. on one hand banks are dealing with the death of their customers along with damaged or destroyed collateral. on the other most are extending cheap loans for rebuilding and recovery as well as giving their clients more time to repay existing borrowing. the combination means a revenue shortfall during 2005 slba chairman - and commercial bank managing director - al gooneratne told a news conference. most banks have given moratoriums and will not be collecting interest at least in this quarter he said. in the public sector more than one in ten of the state-owned people s bank s customers in the south of sri lanka were affected a bank spokesman told reuters. he estimated the bank s loss at 3bn rupees.

tautou film tops cesar prize nods french film a very long engagement has received 12 nominations for france s cesar film awards despite a recent ruling it was not french enough . the world war i romantic drama starring audrey tautou was recently ruled too american by a paris court as it was partially backed by warner bros. but the cesar organisers modified their rules to allow the film to compete. the film directed by jean-pierre jeunet received best actress picture and director nominations. last november a court judged the film was too american to compete in french film festivals. two associations of french producers challenged jeunet s right to french government subsidies because warner bros was a backer. the ruling meant the movie - which was filmed in france and used french actors and technicians - was not eligible to compete for french prizes. but alain terzian president of cesar organisers the academie des arts et techniques du cinema said the changes in eligibility rules which allow films of french expression were made three months prior to the court decision. other films in the best film category include police drama 36 quai des orfevres arnaud desplechin s kings and queen abdellatif kechiche s l esquive and france s number one film at the 2004 box-office the chorus. best actors are daniel auteuil for 36 mathieu amalric for kings and queen gerard jugnot for the chorus philippe torreton for l equipier and benoit poelvoorde for podium. tautou will compete against maggie cheung emmanuelle devos yolande moreau and karin viard for best actress. michael moore s fahrenheit 9/11 the motorcycle diaries lost in translation eternal sunshine of the spotless mind and 21 grams are all vying in the best foreign film prize. the awards ceremony will be held on 26 february. this year will smith star of i robot independence day and men in black will be given an honorary cesar along with french singer/actor jacques dutronc.

losing yourself in online gaming online role playing games are time-consuming but enthralling flights from reality. but are some people taking their fantasy lives too seriously when video game world of warcraft hit the shops in europe last week fans wrote in to the bbc website to express their delight - and to offer a warning. an addiction to a game like this is far more costly in time than any substance could impair - keep track of time wrote travis anderson in texas. some of the comments were humorous: this game is so good i m not going to get it there s no way i could limit the hours i d spend playing it wrote charles macintyre from england. but some struck a more worrying tone about the massively multiplayer online role playing game (mmorpg): you need to get out more could be the motto of any mmorpg. shame they are getting more popular as you know this problem is just going to mushroom wrote stuart stanton-davies in huddersfield. scare-mongering articles about addictive video games have existed since the days the first game of pong stopped everyone from working at the atari offices. gaming is like any other pastime - it can quickly become an unhealthy obsession whether it is spending too much time in the gym in front of the television or reading poetry. unfortunately gaming and addiction is a far too easy association to make. however stories about gamers spending 10 to 15 hours a day in front of some video games are becoming more frequent. and the impact that is having on their families is quite distressing for some. massively multiplayer online role playing games - mmorpgs - allow thousands of gamers to share a common experience of sharing fantasy or science fiction worlds. the scope of these games - like warcraft everquest ultima among others - is epic and exploration and adventure is almost infinite. part of the problem is grinding - by which gamers have to perform long-winded mindless tasks to bring up their levels and gain access to more adventure. such open-endedness brings with it a desire to keep playing; not for no reason is everquest (eq) nicknamed evercrack. e hayot writing in the culture blogzine print culture said recently: i used to play the online role-playing game everquest a lot. by a lot i mean probably 15 to 20 hours a week on average and on weeks where i didn t have to work as many as 30 or 40 hours. he says that in the world of online gaming such behaviour wasn t that unusual; lots of people i knew in the game played eq that much . you lie; you don t go into work because you had stuff to do at home ; you cancel or refuse invitations to dinner you spend much less time watching tv (a good thing presumably) he wrote explaining how everquest took over his time. he quit the game he says because he realised life was more fun than everquest. let us be clear - such obsession is rare. but the huge growth in online gaming means a growth in the numbers of people who take their passion for a hobby too far. almost 400 000 people bought a copy of world of warcraft in the first two days on sale earlier this month. only a fraction will descend into obsessives. the thoughts of families and friends of gamers who have been affected by everquest can be found on one blog everquest daily grind. jane who runs the website compiles a chronicle of heart-rending stories. i am actually convinced at this point that there are more than some people who spend more times in mmoprgs than in reality she said. one unnamed correspondent - all are anonymous - wrote: on the rare nights when my husband does come to bed at the same time as i do i find that i am so used to sleeping by myself that it is difficult to get to sleep with another body laying next to me. i can t talk to him while he is playing. there is absolutely no point as he doesn t hear me or is so distracted that i get a ummm... ya a few minutes after i ask him a question. gaming widows has become a comedic term for women who have been shut out by male gamers. but for some it is not in the least funny. another correspondent wrote: i believe that he is addicted to the online gaming and that is the cause of his depression and restlessness. and some of them are even sadder: today our son was five days old. the sad truth is my husband spent 11 hours today playing his warcraft game. he did not interact with our sweet tiny baby because there were important quests waiting online. video game fans often complain that their hobby is misunderstood or marginalised. but as gaming becomes ever more mainstream and games ever more immersive there will be no hiding place for social problems. i wish 30-40 hours a week was unusual but i think it probably isn t. an 11 hour stretch isn t that surprising - i ve known people to play 15+ hours at a stretch. i know of people who are spending their week s holiday from work playing warcraft. i know of people who would play ever[crack] in shifts...waking at 3am to take over from their friends and resume waiting for an item they needed to appear. i understand that the key sign of an addiction is if you alter your life around it rather than fit it into your life. by all standards many of us are addicts. so is the solution to force ourselves to stop playing..or do we just need to make real life a bit more interesting sadly with all the talk of people becoming obsessed with gaming i find myself longing to have the time to join them. i have been in a long term relationship for over 4 years - since that began games have become more and more complex. and more and more so i find i have less and less time to play them with and marriage and work being the main drag on my time. i think the line between playing a game a lot and a gaming addiction is really quite distinct. i play games a lot definately over 20 hours a week but i don t go missing work or other commitments in order to play games. i have about a year ago deleted every game on my computer. rpgs are the worst - the real world fades and all your worries sorround a new magic staff or mighty sword. unlike books or perhaps even tv you gain absolutely nothing. when you stop playing you re at the same point as when you started; all the achievements of your 10 hour session are irretrievably locked in the game and since you ve gained nothing in the real world you may as well pile on more achievement in the fake one. despite having little monetary value the rewards and encouragement offered by these mmorpgs is enough to hook games for hours daily. if only business could learn to leverage that very simply human need for easily measurable progress and recognition. perhaps the unhealthily obsessed simply need more recognition for their achievements in reality my advice to gaming widows is if you can t beat em join em . that is try playing it yourself. if he wants to play as well well at least you ll be together somewhere... i was an addict and it cost me my relationship. i still play now but without the guilt hehe how long have i played in one sitting from morning till the early hours of the next day the birds were singing out side and i had to hobble to the bath room cos my bladder was so full i was in pain i would hardly eat perhaps some toast smoke endlessly and drink. now thankfully the fascination has worn off and i have a girlfriend but still no job. for the most part online gaming give me an adiction to illusory achievement and as there is no end in sight you keep going for the mirage of the ultimate. obsessive behaviour is of course always cause for concern but it always bothers me when articles about gaming talk in terms of reality . obviously somebody who spends thirty hours a week playing everquest has a problem. this problem however has nothing to do with a dysfunctional sense of reality. an obsessive eq player does not consider the game to be real any more than - for example - an obsessive automotive tinkerer considers their car to be human. if mmorpgs have a unique danger in terms of encouraging obsessive behaviour it is not that they create an absorbing virtual world but rather that they can be easily accessed 24/7. the problem here does not lie with the nature of gaming but with the nature of modern 24 hour culture. the problem with these so called mmorpgs is that you can never really complete them there s always another quest to do. a few of my friends have only had about 10 hours sleep since it was released friday... championship manager consumed my life for years. one particular session started at about 2pm on a sunday paused for a brief sleep at 5am on the monday and after visit to university for classes restarted at about midday for another 10 hour session. the people who tend to hark on about about the problems of hardcore gaming seem to be those who have rarely allowed themselves to become immersed in a game. i would expect their perspective to change if they were to do that. i used to be an everquest addict while i was in college. it came to the point where the gaming world felt more real than the real one. i failed alot of my courses and was able to barely graduate. i was lucky that i came to my senses when i did others were less fortunate and dropped out of college. now that i am holding a job i avoid online rpgs like the plague. when i was made redundant i told my partner i had a new job for three months whilst every day i played everquest from 7:30am till 5:pm. when she came home i pretended i had just got in as well hence justifying playing it all evening. i have since quit playing mmorpg and have a good job. when i got to the point where i was eating my dinner in front of the pc i realised things were getting silly so i m trying not to spend so much time on there. it s not easy. i feel as if i ve got a real addiction going on here. for me the problem is that i love to complete a goal. once it is completed that is it i am finished time to move on. i become obsessed to complete the goal so from that standpoint it is an addiction. in a game where you will never complete an ultimate goal well it would be like falling into a black pit. it is easier to escape into a controlled fantasy world than face reality at times - in other words the goal offered in the pc game are easier and more fun than the real world. pretty scary implications if you think about it. i can t buy world of warcraft as it would destroy my marrage i just know it!! i played star wars galaxies for about a year and can attest to the addictiveness of these games. they are all engineered in such a way that early on in the game you progress quickly but this progress becomes exponentially slower requiring more and more time to reach the next level. i m sad to say that at the peak of my addiction i was spending entire weekends in front of my monitor slowly building up my character stopping only for food and toilet breaks. thankfully i made a clean break and actually managed to sell my jedi account for £800 - which is my only sanity check in an otherwise completely unproductive time vacuum. seven years ago i began playing ultima online. this game dominated 2 years of my life. they were 2 wonderful years and i still have vivid memories of the experiences and friends i had. online gaming can be a world of escapism where you can be yourself without fear of the thoughts of others. something that cannot always be achieved in the day to day running of a normal life. whilst i would warn against people giving to much of there life to these games i believe they are a better way to spend your time than say watching tv. gaming is addictive and should be made a recognised addiction. when i was single i used to play upto eight hours a night after work every night for about a year building up my stats completing evermore quests and battling ogres. but somehow i found time to get out even met someone and got married! has my life changed hell no! i still cast spells and battle till the early hours of the morning. on with the fun! online gaming should be enjoyed just as much as you would enjoy watching television or going to the cinema or the pub with your mates. many people use recreational drugs on an occasional basis and are able to lead succesfull lives with families relationships and good careers. a minority allow drugs to take over and destroy their lives and become addicted. according to this article the same is true of mmorpgs. the message to the government is clear either legalise drugs or outlaw online gaming!! sounds like there are some sad stories here - and i can believe them all. i play alot of warcraft myself and know full well how addictive it is. i am resolute that it will not take over my life. it certainly gets in the way though. i think that some people simply do not know how to draw this line or lack the willpower to stop themselves stepping over it. i think i m obsessed with gaming in general i spend far too much time playing games like everquest 2 and football manager rather than going out and interacting with real people and when i do try to i m always thinking in the back if my mind that i d rather be in front of the computer winning the league with cambridge united. i am obsessed with online role playing games. it s not so much quests but it has the adrenaline of a real life situation - goals to achieve etc. i spend about five hours per day online playing it and i rarely get more than four to five hours sleep before getting up for work the next morning... as many of the players spend their time in mmorpgs rather than in front of the tv i fail to see how it will affect players social lives negatively. furthermore these types of games contain a huge social aspect whereas other games and some other pursuits (such as being a couch potato) the players could be indulging in are solitary by nature. these games are like most things -- too much of anything is a bad thing but as long as you can walk away from the computer to do other things too they can be great fun. living in korea at the moment they have lots pc bangs (internet cafes). nearly most of south koreans are addicted to online games and one korean died because of the lack of food and water he had through playing online games. i play xbox live every day. i find my self lying and rescheduling everything around my gaming fix. the longest i played was a 24 hour straight session. i know i play for to long but it s an obsession that i can t control. can you reccomend a counsellor - this is not a wind up... but something i m increasingly concerned with... me and my mate play online for an hour or two a day we re both aware of how much time can disappear by sitting in front of a tv trying to frag some individual. it s getting the balance between getting home and relasing the stress of a day by an hour or so gaming and enjoying real life... i bought the us version of world of warcraft when it came out. the longest period i played was 23 hrs straight. i gave up the game after a month because it was so addictive but have subsequently just bought the european version (couldn t help myself). in future i m going to regulate my time far more strictly. great game! having played mmorpg games for some years i agree that these type of games can be life sucking. but my concern is for the younger generation of gamers that play for hours on end in an adult enviroment. most mmorpg games you need a credit card to play but i dont think parents know just what they are letting there children into. unless there is undeniable medical proof that staring at a computer screens for hours at a time can damage a person¿s health you can expect this not to decline but to get worse. these people are pathetic. they need to get off their machines and notice that our world is being swiftly overcome by issues and troubles that make the trifling worries of and online universe absolutely meaningless. 24hours when i was a kid at school and i was on half term ultima online was the game ahhhh them was the days ! lol

israel looks to us for bank chief israel has asked a us banker and former international monetary fund director to run its central bank. stanley fischer vice chairman of banking giant citigroup has agreed to take the bank of israel job subject to approval from parliament and cabinet. his nomination by prime minister ariel sharon came as a surprise and led to gains on the tel aviv stock market. mr fischer who speaks fluent hebrew will have to become an israeli citizen to take the job. the us says he will not have to give up us citizenship to do so. previous incumbent david klein who often argued with the finance ministry steps down on 16 january. mr fischer will face a delicate balancing act - both in political and economic terms - between mr sharon and finance minister binyamin netanyahu who also backed his nomination. but his appointment has also raised hopes that it could bring in fresh investment - and perhaps even an improvement in the country s credit rating mr fischer first went to israel for six months in 1973 and almost emigrated there before deciding finally to return to the us. while teaching at the massachussetts institute of technology he spent a month seconded to the bank of israel in 1979 beginning a long-time involvement in studying israel s economy. in 1983 mr fischer became adviser on israel s economy to then-us secretary of state george shultz. at the world bank in 1985 he participated in drawing up an economic stabilisation package for israel.

tsunami to cost sri lanka $1.3bn sri lanka faces a $1.3bn (£691m) bill in 2005 for reconstruction after the tsunami which killed more than 30 000 of its people its central bank says. this estimate is preliminary bank governor sunil mendis told reporters and could rise in 2006. the island state is asking for about $320m from the international monetary fund to help pay for relief he said. the bank has 5bn rupees ($50m; £27m) set aside to lend at a lower interest rate to those who lost property. according to mr mendis half the imf support could come from a freeze on debt repayments which would free up resources immediately. the rest could come from a five-year emergency loan. sri lanka is hoping for a wider freeze from other creditors. the paris club of 19 creditors meets on 12 january to discuss a debt moratorium for the nations hit by the tsunami which ravaged south and east asia on 26 december. some 150 000 people across the region are feared to be dead and millions have been left homeless and destitute. a full reckoning of the economic cost to sri lanka of the tsunami will not be clear for some time to come. but already it looks likely that growth in the first half of 2005 will slow mr mendis told reporters although he would not say by how much. one side-effect of the disaster has been that the value of the rupee has risen as foreign funds have flooded into the country. the currency has strengthened 4% since late december coming close to 100 rupees to the us dollar for the first time in more than six months.

asia quake increases poverty risk nearly two million people across asia could be thrown into poverty because of the indian ocean tsunami the asian development bank (adb) has said. in its first overview of the disaster the adb said the impact on economic growth would be slight because major cities and factories escaped damage. but the blow to many low-income people could be enormous . the paris club of rich creditor nations on wednesday offered to freeze debts owed by tsunami-hit countries. the move was aimed at helping south asian governments find budgets to rebuild devastated coastal areas though so far only sri lanka indonesia and the seychelles have indicated that they will take it up. other countries believe their economies are strong enough to cope or wish to avoid being viewed as credit risks. poverty is potentially the most important impact of this natural disaster said adb chief economist ifzal ali. donor nations have promised to give $717m (£379m) in disaster relief over the next six months according to the united nations. mr ali added his voice to those warning that aid pledges must be promptly delivered saying the number of people at risk of poverty hinged on concerns over sanitation and health conditions and other basic needs being properly and quickly addressed . there are 1.9 billion people in asia living on less than $2 a day. the adb fears that 1 million indonesians could join them while in india just over half a million people - 645 000 - are at risk of falling into poverty. a quarter of a million sri lankans and 23 500 people in the maldives are also facing poverty. in the maldives where 43% of the population already lives on less than $2 a day this could rise to half. sri lanka and the maldives are the two countries the adb fears are most at risk of suffering lasting economic damage from the tsunami. sri lanka s government has estimated reconstruction costs at nearly $3bn. a government task force held meetings to discuss an emergency rebuilding plan with the adb world bank and japanese aid agencies on wednesday and promised to publish the plan within 10 days. indonesia malaysia thailand and india have enjoyed strong economic growth in recent years which should cushion them against reconstruction costs. although indonesia s northern province of aceh suffered the worst death toll the region s oil and natural gas production facilities have survived intact the report said. however it remains too soon to asses the damage to poor people s livelihoods in aceh because it would depend on how much farm land had been flooded by seawater. this is a profoundly tragic event for the region and for the millions who are suffering. but the economies of the affected countries except sri lanka and the maldives should emerge with minimal damage the adb report said. some businesses may even gain from the reconstruction efforts thereby creating jobs. at a meeting in thailand abd president thadao chino said he was confident of the country s own capabilities to restore normalcy to the affected areas and meet the rehabilitation requirements . thailand has said it does not wish to opt for a debt repayment freeze while india has also rejected international aid saying it can cope on its own resources. debt repayment holidays carry the risk of credit ratings downgrades making it more expensive to borrow money in future. indonesia however is pressing for greater help with its debts than the current freeze would bring. it is one of the world s most indebted countries.

chinese dam firm defies beijing the china three gorges project corp is refusing to obey a government order to stop construction of one of its giant dams the chinese state press has said. the builder of the three gorges dam is continuing work on the sister xiluodu dam said the beijing news. the xiluodu dam is one of 30 such large-scale construction projects called to a halt because of a lack of proper environmental checks. the beijing news said the company may instead choose to pay a fine. the firm has also ignored orders to stop construction at two of its other projects - the three gorges underground power plant and the three gorges project electrical power supply plant. so far only 22 of the 30 construction projects targeted by china s state environmental protection agency (sepa) for having not carried out mandatory environmental impact assessments have complied with its shutdown order. the china three gorges project corp could now face a fine up to 200 000 yuan ($24 000; £12 700). last week it denied that its projects violated regulations. the three gorges corporation has all along abided by the law and have built our projects in accordance with the law it said. the sepa order comes as the chinese government appears to be trying to cool the country s booming economy. previously it has encouraged construction of new electricity generating capacity to solve chronic energy shortages which forced many factories into part-time working last year. in 2004 china increased its generating capacity by 12.6% to 440 700 megawatts (mw). the xiluodu dam is designed to produce 12 600 mw of electricity and is being built on the jinshajiang - or river of golden sand as the upper reaches of the yangtze are known. it is a sister project to the main three gorges dam downstream where more than half a million people have had to be relocated drawing criticism from environmental groups and overseas human rights activists.

farrell due to make us tv debut actor colin farrell is to make his debut on us television in medical sitcom scrubs according to hollywood newspaper daily variety. the film star who recently played the title role in historical blockbuster alexander will make a cameo appearance as an unruly irishman. the episode featuring the 28-year-old will be screened on 25 january. farrell s appearance is said to be a result of his friendship with zach braff who stars in the programme. it will be the actor s first appearance on the small screen since he appeared in bbc series ballykissangel in 1999. the gentle sunday night drama came to an end in 2001. he has since become one of hollywood s fastest-rising stars with a string roles in major league films such as minority report phone booth and daredevil. farrell is pencilled in to play the role of crockett in a film version of 1980s police drama miami vice. scrubs which appears on the nbc network in the us and has been shown on channel 4 on british television is an off-beat comedy about a group of hospital doctors. other film stars to have appeared in scrubs include heather graham while friends actor matthew perry has guest-starred and directed an episode of the show. its leading star zach braff has recently been seen on the big screen in garden state which he also directed.

defection timed to hit tax pledge with impeccable and precisely-calculated timing tory defector robert jackson and his new labour bosses have attempted to overshadow michael howard s latest announcement on taxation and spending. with just about everyone in westminster now working towards a may general election mr howard is eager to map out some clear and distinctive policies aimed at finally shifting the tories resolutely depressing poll showings. the big idea is his £35bn savings on waste and bureaucracy which mr howard has pledged to plough back into public services and tax cuts. and it was virtually certain his pledge on tax cuts was meant to be the core message from his interview on the bbc one s breakfast with frost programme. he and his shadow chancellor oliver letwin have been edging towards an announcement on this front for some months now but without any concrete pledges. but mr howard announced that of the £35bn he has earmarked from savings £12bn will be used to plug labour s claimed financial black hole with any left over going to tax cuts in mr letwin s first budget. he would not be precise but there are already suggestions he is set to announce lifting the threshold on income tax and reforming or abolishing inheritance tax. but he did for the first time say there would be such tax cuts. at this election people will have a clear choice between mr blair who will waste more and tax more and the conservative party which will give value for money and tax less . it is the tories attempt to open that famed clear blue water between them and the labour party and return to a traditional tory agenda that will both reassure the middle england voters who have abandoned him and appeal to core conservative voters. so it is a pretty safe bet to assume that when robert jackson finally decided to jump ship and swim over to the labour benches his new masters decided to time the announcement for the greatest possible impact. mr howard however was dismissive. these things happen from time to time. there are disagreements between robert jackson and me. the election is not going to be decided on what robert jackson did he added. and that is certainly true. the election will be decided on the economy stupid . other issues like the iraq war and the trust thing will also play a major part. but it is the economy that will probably be the greatest influence over the way people finally vote. and many on the tory benches have been crying out for mr howard to get back onto the old tory tax cuts agenda. mr howard knows that risks accusations that as a result he would slash public services so he has attempted to shoot that fox first. with polls suggesting voters would rather any government cash surpluses were spent on schools and hospitals before tax cuts he has suggested that is exactly what he will do. whether this will finally be enough to shift those polls remains to be seen.

paris promise raises welsh hopes has there been a better six nations match than saturday s epic in paris and can the welsh revival continue all the way to a first grand slam since 1978 those are the two questions occupying not just wales supporters but rugby fans as a whole after a scintillating display in paris. welsh legend mervyn davies a member of two of three grand slam-winning sides of the 1970s hailed it as one of the great performances of the past three decades . martyn williams wales two-try scorer on the day called it one of the most surreal games i have ever played in . a crestfallen france coach bernard laporte simply observed: there was a french half and there was a welsh half . and what a half it was for the red dragonhood transforming a 15-6 half-time deficit into an 18-15 lead within five mesmerising minutes of the second period. but while that passage of play showed the swelling self-belief of a side prepared to back its own spirit of adventure the final quarter told us a whole lot more about this welsh side. that they recovered from a battering in the first half-hour to first stem the tide before half-time then reverse it on the resumption was remarkable enough. but in resisting a seemingly unstoppable wave of french pressure in a nail-biting final five minutes wales showed not only their physical attributes but their mental resolve. in international rugby any of the top seven sides can beat each other on a given day but the great sides are those that win the close contests on a consistent basis. england suffered some infamous six nations disappointments en route to world cup glory the pain of defeat forging bonds that ultimately led to victory when it really mattered. wales have some way to go before they can be remotely considered in a similar light. but the signs are that players previously on the receiving end are learning how to emerge on the right side of the scoreline. ten of the 22 on duty on saturday were also involved when wales were trounced 33-5 in paris two years ago. but since they threw off the shackles against new zealand in the 2003 world cup wales have rediscovered much of what made them a great rugby nation in the first place. the confidence in the squad has been building and building since the world cup and we now have young players who are becoming world class noted coach mike ruddock. the likes of michael owen gethin jenkins dwayne peel and gavin henson are certainly building strong cases for inclusion on this summer s lions tour to new zealand. and players like stephen jones martyn williams shane williams and gareth thomas are proving it is not only the youngsters that are on an upward curve. jones after his superb man-of-the-match display observed that we are a very happy camp now . ruddock and thomas can take much of the credit for that ensuring the tribal and regional divisions that have often scarred welsh rugby do not extend to the national squad. the joie de vivre so evident in that magical second-half spell in paris also stems from a style of play that first wooed supporters the world over in the 1970s. if england had half the innate attacking exuberance wales have produced in this championship they would not be contemplating the debris of three consecutive defeats. similarly wales have learnt that style alone does not win matches and that forward power mental toughness and good decision-making under pressure are equally important. so on to murrayfield where wales have not won on their last three visits. while the hype in the principality will go into overdrive the players will set about the task of beating scotland. only then - with the visit of ireland to finish - can they start thinking about emulating the hallowed players of the 1970s and writing their own names into welsh legend.

civil servants in strike ballot the uk s biggest civil service union is to ballot its 290 000 members on strikes in protest at government plans to extend their pension age to 65. the public and commercial services union will co-ordinate any action with up to six other public sector unions. unions have already earmarked 23 march for a one-day strike which could involve up to 1.4 million uk workers. the government says unions will be consulted before any changes are made to the pension system. pcs leader mark serwotka warned there could be further walkouts unless there was a government rethink. for a government that lectures everyone on choice - choice on public service choice on this and choice on that - isn t it ironic that they re saying to public sector workers there is no choice he said. if you want the pension you were promised when you started you must work for an extra five years - that is working until people drop. in the 20th century it s completely unacceptable. bbc correspondent stephen cape said the combined unions represented a formidable force which could embarrass the government in the run-up to the general election. a stoppage involving civil servants in particular could seriously disrupt or close government departments agencies and museums he said. opposition to raising the retirement age is one thing all the unions are agreed on our correspondent added. unison s 800 000 workers the transport and general workers union s 70 000 and amicus 20 000 are among those being balloted about a 23 march walkout. deputy prime minister john prescott held a private meeting with senior union figures on thursday night. our correspondent said that he understood no deal had been offered in that meeting but that there was room for further negotiations. there was some possibility of the strike action being avoided he added.

russian ex-spy on hunger strike an ex-russian intelligence officer who risked his life spying for mi6 is entering the seventh week of a hunger strike near 10 downing street. viktor makarov 50 claims he has been betrayed by the british authorities who promised he would live like an average british citizen . but despite a £65 000 settlement four years ago he says he has been denied defector status and a decent pension. other ex-russian spies have been given civil service pensions. hunger strike is a weapon of last resort. it can work only with determination and of course the realisation of the righteousness of your case - without that it will not work mr makarov told the bbc s newsnight programme. since i came to this country two batches of promises have been made and broken one after the other. oleg gordievsky a senior kgb officer who became a secret agent for the british said he was very happy with the way the government have treated him since him since he defected in 1985. commenting on mr makarov s case he said: the british state is not a fat cow - it is impossible to come here and demand give me more money every week. but mr makarov s case has been backed by david kahn - a former yale historian and a leading expert on code-breaking who has confirmed his information was valuable to the western allies. i believe the government of the united kingdom which in that respect was probably the same as most other power authorities - took the information that victor makarov had wrung him dry and left him to hang out in the cold mr kahn said. mr makarov joined the kgb in 1970s russia as an idealistic 20 year-old. one of his fellow pupils at intelligence school was vladimir putin. at kgb headquarters in moscow he was posted to the secret 16th directorate - which decoded intercepted diplomatic traffic from the west. by the 1980s he had risen to the rank of senior lieutenant - and was privy to the thoughts of western powers. but he had became deeply disenchanted with the soviet regime - fuelled by its repression both at home and in poland. through his english teacher he made an approach to m16 - and then began passing secrets to the british intelligence service. he spied for mi6 for two years before being betrayed by a friend and sent to perm 35 - a soviet hard labour camp in the artic circle. within a week of his release in 1992 he made contact with the british authorities he d been spying for who arranged a meeting between him and an mi6 agent in latvia. he was given a false passport and he says promised that he would be given the chance to live like an average uk citizen. but after arriving in london 13 years ago he feels this promise has not been fulfilled. after long periods of living in bedsits with deteriorating health four years ago he took legal action against the government - and settled for £65 000 to buy a small house. but he says he will remain on hunger strike until he receives a decent pension and the right to work something he feels he has been denied because the authorities do not trust him. government sources told the bbc they had reached a final settlement with the former spy which he has been able to appeal to security and intelligence tribunals.

cable offers video-on-demand cable firms ntl and telewest have both launched video-on-demand services as the battle between satellite and cable tv heats up. movies from sony pictures walt disney touchstone miramax columbia and buena vista will be among those on offer. the service is similar to sky plus as users can pause fast forward and rewind content but they cannot store programmes on their set top box - yet. it could sound the death knell for some tv channels telewest predicts. it allows us to demonstrate a clear competitive advantage over sky for the first time in many years said telewest chief executive eric tveter. video-on-demand will offer a deeper range of content than currently exists on tv. there will be less compromising around the tv schedule and some of the less popular channels may go by the wayside said philip snalune director of products at telewest. telewest customers in bristol and ntl viewers in glasgow will be the first to test the new service which sees a raft of movies on offer for 24 hour rental. during the year the service will be extended to all cable regions. films will range in price from £1 or £2 for archived movies to £3.50 for current releases. new releases initially on offer will include 50 first dates kill bill: volume 2 gothika and the station agent. in addition ntl is offering children s programmes adult content music video and concerts. telewest will launch similar services later in the year. ntl is also offering viewers the chance to catch up with programmes they have missed. its pick of the week service will offer a selection of bbc programmes from the previous seven days such as eastenders casualty top gear and antiques roadshow. the bbc is trialling a similar service offering broadband users the chance to watch programmes already broadcast on their pc. for telewest it is the beginning of a £20m investment in tv-on-demand which will also see the launch of a personal video recorder (pvr). pvr has been a big success for sky because it gives customers control over programmes. satellite customers without pvr cannot pause rewind or fast forward their programmes. with both services on offer from telewest mr tveter is confident the cable firm can dent not just the viewing figures for terrestrial tv but also gain a huge competitive advantage over sky. we offer the best of both worlds and most households have an interest in having both video-on-demand and pvr he said. video rental stores may also have to watch their back. video-on-demand is better than having a video-store in your living room and is more convenient he said. ntl said it had not ruled out the possibility of offering a pvr but for the moment is concentrating on video-on-demand. pvr is a recording mechanism whereas what we are offering is truly on demand said a spokesman for the company. video-on-demand has the added advantage of not requiring a separate set-top box or extra remote controls he added. adam thomas an analyst at research firm informa media believes the time is ripe for video-on-demand to flourish. while sky will remain the dominant force in uk pay tv for some time to come ntl and telewest seem well placed to successfully ride this second wave of vod enthusiasm and if marketed correctly this could help them eat into sky s lead he said.

new year s texting breaks record a mobile phone was as essential to the recent new year s festivities as a party mood and auld lang syne if the number of text messages sent is anything to go by. between midnight on 31 december and midnight on 1 january 133m text messages were sent in the uk. it is the highest ever daily total recorded by the mobile data association (mda). it represents an increase of 20% on last year s figures. wishing a happy new year to friends and family via text message has become a staple ingredient of the year s largest party. while texting has not quite overtaken the old-fashioned phone call it is heading that way said mike short chairman of the mda. in the case of a new years eve party texting is useful if you are unable to speak or hear because of a noisy background he said. there were also lots of messages sent internationally where different time zones made traditional calls unfeasible he said. the british love affair with texting shows no signs of abating and the annual total for 2004 is set to exceed 25bn according to mda. the mda predicts that 2005 could see more than 30bn text messages sent in the uk. we thought texting might slow down as mms took off but we have seen no sign of that said mr short. more and more firms are seeing the value in mobile marketing. restaurants are using text messages to tell customers about special offers and promotions. anyone in need of a bit of january cheer now the party season is over can use a service set up by jongleurs comedy club which will text them a joke a day. for those still wanting to drink and be merry as the long days of winter draw in the good pub guide offers a service giving the location and address of their nearest recommended pub. users need to text the word goodpub to 85130. if they want to turn the evening into a pub crawl they simply text the word next. and for those still standing at the end of the night a taxi service in london is available via text which will locate the nearest available black cab.

oscars steer clear of controversy the oscars nominations list has left out some of the most controversial films of the past year in favour of safer less contentious cinema. if best film nominees were drawn on the basis of column inches two of the front-runners would have had to be michael moore s bush-baiting documentary fahrenheit 9/11 and mel gibson s the passion of the christ. both films polarised opinion but had critics talking and the public turning up to see them - fahrenheit 9/11 breaking us box office records for a documentary and the passion of the christ making more than us$370m (£196m) in the us alone. but this year s academy awards have shied away from the big name controversies with the passion of the christ - a film accused of being anti-semitic - receiving nominations only in the minor categories of cinematography makeup and musical score. fahrenheit 9/11 has also been overlooked despite winning the palme d or at the cannes international film festival in 2004. moore s caustic documentary may have been affected by its distributors decision to enter it in the best picture category rather than best documentary says tim dams the news editor of trade magazine screen international. but he also believes the strong political viewpoint of moore s film does not sit well with the academy. if you look at past oscar winners and nominees the very conservative oscar voters tend to go for very conservative epic-style pictures. fahrenheit 9/11 didn t really fit in to that category. they tend to go for films like titanic gladiator and the lord of the rings films with scale that often aren t too contentious he said. while he said the oscar voting panel were not snubbing moore s film he thought it was unlikely a documentary could ever seriously compete in a best film category. i think it s more a misjudgement by the people putting it out rather than a deliberate snub he said. the problem with mel gibson s film he believed was that the voting panel may have been cautious in nominating a film with dialogue in aramaic an ancient middle eastern language. hollywood doesn t tend to like foreign-language films - no-one s ever tried doing a film in a dead language he said. but aside from these two films some potentially contentious pictures have won nominations. the german film the downfall a biopic tracing the final days of nazi leader adolf hitler in his berlin bunker has been recognised in the best foreign film category. the film has caused some controversy in showing hitler as a fallible but human man rather than a semi-mythical historical monster. but mr dams said: it s not an inflammatory film. it has done very well in germany and it s a film that portrays hitler as a human rather than some kind of devil or monster. another contentious film mr dams said has gained a nomination in the best documentary section through the force of its charm. independent film-maker morgan spurlock may have forced fast-food giant mcdonalds to withdraw its super size portions in the us after he went on a month-long diet eating nothing but mcdonalds meals - and filmed his progress. the film has been a hit around the world. mr dams said: it s a political film but it s quite fun and punky and well-paced. morgan spurlock is a really likeable guy. it s a very accessible film and it doesn t beat you over the head with its views. while in fahrenheit 9/11 there are moments of comedy i think the way that super size me is put together - the fact it s a very likeable film - means it s won through on charm. dam s pick at this year s oscars the aviator martin scorsese s biopic of aviation pioneer and hollywood player howard hughes. tinseltown it seems likes nothing more than a picture about one of its own.

blunkett hints at election call ex-home secretary david blunkett has given fresh clues that the general election will be announced on monday. he told bbc radio five live: i m out in my constituency getting ready for what we presume will be an announcement very shortly at the weekend. he clarified that he meant he would be in his sheffield seat this weekend not that he expected an election call then. tony blair is tipped to ask the queen on monday to dissolve parliament ready for a 5 may poll.

movie body hits peer-to-peer nets the movie industry has struck out at file-sharing networks with another round of lawsuits in the us. the motion picture association of america (mpaa) also said it had succeeded in getting a network called lokitorrent closed down. it is the latest network which uses the peer-to-peer system called bittorrent to be hit by the mpaa. the mpaa began its legal campaign against operators of similar networks across four continents in december. a dallas court agreed that hollywood lawyers would be allowed access to lokitorrent s server records which could let them single out those who were sharing files illegally. in october 2004 the site had provided links to more than 30 000 files. the action came after the operators of lokitorrent agreed a settlement with the mpaa. a stark message has appeared on the site from the mpaa warning you can click but you can t hide . in bittorrent systems server sites do not host the files being shared. they host links called trackers that direct people to others that have it instead. as well as filing an unspecified number of file suits across the us the mpaa said it had given operators that host edonkey servers take down notices. hollywood studios are aggressively clamping down on file-sharers who it says infringe copyright laws by copying films and tv programmes then share the files online. but it is now targeting the operators of bittorrent networks themselves. it has filed 100 lawsuits against operators of bittorrent server sites since december. the strategy of hitting those who run the servers which link to copyrighted material is intended to stunt file-sharers ability to swap content using bittorrent systems. the film industry says the black market for illegally copied videos and dvds already costs them billions every year and it is worried that illegal file-sharing is adding to their losses. in december the legal action claimed its most high-profile victim. the popular suprnova.org website was forced to close and others like phoenix torrent followed soon after.

sfa awaits report over mikoliunas the scottish football association is awaiting referee hugh dallas s report before acting against hearts winger saulius mikoliunas. mikoliunas 20 barged linesman andy davis who had advised dallas to award rangers an injury-time penalty in hearts s 2-1 defeat at tynecastle. he was sent off for violent conduct in the 90th minute but we don t know if he did something else after the whistle. we don t know how many red cards he was shown said an sfa statement. hearts could also face action after three fans were arrested for throwing coins on the pitch. rangers striker dad prso was also sent off during the same incident when he received a second yellow card for wrestling the ball away from craig gordon and leaving the hearts keeper on the ground. the sfa said: once the referee s report comes in then we ll immediately look at things. we don t normally get the reports until a couple of days after the game but we re well aware of what happened here. prso was sent off for two cautions and that will just be a one-match suspension. the sfa is certain to come down hard on mikoliunas after southampton s david prutton was banned for 10-games on wednesday by the english fa for shoving referee alan wiley. hearts boss john robertson said: mikoliunas has thrown his chest against the assistant referee s chest and got a red card for it. the officials have got to take into account the fact he s a young lad. but people have got to take into account why he was incensed. why were 10 000 hearts fans incensed why did nobody from the rangers bench claim for a penalty kick rangers boss alex mcleish accepted referee dallas had no option but to send prso off. mcleish said: i m glad to see the spirit of the players fighting to the very end - literally with dado trying to get the ball back from craig gordon. but it was over-zealousness and i don t think hugh had any option.

air jamaica back in state control the jamaican government is regaining control of air jamaica in an bid to help the ailing company out of its financial difficulties. the firm has failed to make money since the state sold a majority stake to hotel tycoon gordon stewart in 1994. in common with many carriers air jamaica with debts of $560m (£291m) has been hit by high fuel costs and the impact of the 11 september attacks. the company will be restructured with the aim of finding a new buyer. the administration is committed to a viable national airline that will serve as a major catalyst for our economy said finance minister omar davies. the 35-year-old airline transports about 55% of all passengers to the island and its pilots are reportedly among the best paid in the industry with senior members of staff earning in excess of $234 000 a year.

critics back aviator for oscars martin scorsese s the aviator will win best film at the oscars according to the uk s leading movie critics. but several of those surveyed by the bbc news website think the veteran film-maker will lose the best director prize to clint eastwood. most of the critics tipped jamie foxx and hilary swank to scoop best actor and actress for ray and million dollar baby respectively. the jury comprised experts and critics from the top uk film publications. the panel also revealed which nominees they would personally prefer to win. all expect the aviator to win best film but many think it will be a close race between scorsese s howard hughes biopic and eastwood s boxing drama million dollar baby. the other films nominated are wine comedy sideways factual drama finding neverland and ray charles biopic ray. i m pretty sure this is the year of the aviator though my own choice would be sideways said the observer s philip french. sideways should win but it doesn t have a hope said jamie graham of total film a position shared by film 2005 presenter jonathan ross. the form going in to the oscars points to the aviator but i liked million dollar baby more said tim dams news editor of trade weekly screen international. five of the eight critics tipped scorsese to win best director with mr dams heat s charles gant and empire s angie errigo plumping for eastwood. sideway s alexander payne ray s taylor hackford and british director mike leigh - nominated for period drama vera drake - are considered outsiders in this category. up until recently i could have sworn scorsese would get it just for being scorsese ms errigo told the bbc news website. but i m beginning to think eastwood will get it. i d be very happy for mike leigh to win but i don t think he has any chance said charles gant film editor of heat. foxx s portrayal of ray charles has already seen him win prizes at the golden globes baftas and screen actors guild awards. mr dams said this made him out-and-out favourite to be named best actor on oscar night. everyone would be incredibly surprised if he didn t win he said. if you re a betting man he s as close as you get to a certainty. if paul giamatti was nominated for sideways it would be a different game says total film s jamie graham. but foxx will and should win. with vera drake star imelda staunton nominated for best actress alongside kate winslet britain has a good chance of victory - on paper. jonathan ross for one will be very happy if winslet wins for eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. but while wendy ide of the times still thinks staunton has a chance heat s charles gant believes her bafta win will cut little ice with academy voters. i d like staunton to win but her chances are not that great said mr gant who predicted a second oscar for hilary swank. i think swank will win said mr french. imelda has got as far as she s going to get playing that role. staunton is also the personal choice of steven gaydos executive editor of industry magazine variety. but while he tipped swank to win he predicted it would be a close contest. everything has the ability to flip by one vote and go the other way he told the bbc news website. there s not a sense that it s obvious how it s going to go. meanwhile thousands of people have voted in a bbc radio five live poll to find the best film never to have won a best picture oscar. the audience voted overwhelmingly for the shawshank redemption the 1994 frank darabont tale of hope and humanity which received 52% of the online votes and 68% of the text messages. the other two finalists citizen kane and a matter of life and death split the remaining votes roughly equally. this year s academy awards will be shown in the uk by sky movies 1 at 0130 gmt on monday. - tim dams screen international: film - the aviator; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - angie errigo empire: film - the aviator; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - philip french the observer: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - charles gant heat: film - the aviator; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - steven gaydos variety: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - jamie graham total film: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - wendy ide the times: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - imelda staunton. - jonathan ross film 2005: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - tim dams screen international: film - million dollar baby; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - angie errigo empire: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - philip french the observer: film - sideways; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - imelda staunton. - charles gant heat: film - sideways; director - mike leigh; actor - jamie foxx; actress - imelda staunton. - steven gaydos variety: film - million dollar baby; director - clint eastwood; actor - don cheadle; actress - imelda staunton. - jamie graham total film: film - sideways; director - alexander payne; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - wendy ide the times: film - sideways; director - alexander payne; actor - don cheadle; actress - imelda staunton. - jonathan ross film 2005: film - sideways; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - kate winslet.

broadband steams ahead in the us more and more americans are joining the internet s fast lane according to official figures. the number of people and business connected to broadband jumped by 38% in a year said the us federal communications commission (fcc). in a report it said there were more than 32 million broadband connections by the end of june 2004. but the us is still behind compared to other nations ranked 13th in the world by a un telecoms body. during his 2004 re-election campaign president george w bush pledge to ensure that affordable high-speed net access would be available to all americans by 2007. according to the report by the fcc broadband is becoming increasingly popular with people using it for research and shopping as well as downloading music and watching video. the total number of people and businesses on broadband rose by to 32.5 million in the year ending june 2004 compared to 23.5 million in june 2003. whereas in the uk most people hook up to broadband via asymmetric digital subscriber line (adsl) technology which lets ordinary copper phone lines support high data speeds. but in the us cable leads the way accounting for 18.6 million lines. broadband over the phone line makes up 11.4 million connections according to the fcc figures.

s korean credit card firm rescued south korea s largest credit card firm has averted liquidation following a one trillion won ($960m; £499m) bail-out. lg card had been threatened with collapse because of its huge debts but the firm s creditors and its former parent have stepped in to rescue it. a consortium of creditors and lg group a family owned conglomerate have each put up $480m to stabilise the firm. lg card has seven million customers and its collapse would have sent shockwaves through the country s economy. the firm s creditors - which own 99% of lg card - have been trying to agree a deal to secure its future for several weeks. they took control of the company in january when it avoided bankruptcy only through a $4.5bn bail-out. they had threatened to delist the company a move which would have triggered massive debt redemptions and forced the company into bankruptcy unless agreement was reached on its future funding. lg card will not need any more financial aid after this laah chong-gyu executive director of korea development bank - one of the firm s creditors - said. the agreement will see some 12 trillion won of debt converted into equity. the purpose of the capital injection is to avoid delisting and the goal will be met david kim an analyst at sejong securities told reuters. south korea s consumer credit market has been slowly recovering from a crisis in 2002 when a credit bubble burst and millions of consumers fell behind on their debt repayments. lg card returned to profit in september but needed further capital to avoid being thrown off the market. south korea s stock exchange can delist any firm if its debt exceeds its assets two years running.

straw attacked on china arms moves to lift the european union s ban on arms exports to china have been condemned by human rights groups and the conservatives. the 15 year embargo was imposed in the aftermath of china s crackdown on protesters in tiananmen square in 1989. uk foreign secretary jack straw who will hold talks in beijing on thursday said an eu arms code was more effective than the current ban. but human rights watch says the eu is putting commerce above abuse concerns. in december the eu pledged to work towards lifting the ban but said it was not ready to do so yet. germany and france have repeatedly called for the embargo to be lifted. britain has been more cautious but mr straw last week said he also wanted it to end despite us objections. he expects it to be lifted over the next six months a prediction which has alarmed critics. brad adams from human rights watch said: this is a huge political signal from europe that they are willing to forget about tiananmen square. there are still thousands of people who are unaccounted for. mr straw said it was wrong to put china under the same embargo as countries such as zimbabwe and burma. the scope of the embargo was very narrow and did not have any force of law behind it he told bbc radio 4 s world at one. in the uk more export licences were refused under the existing european union arms code than under the embargo he said. and only two of the licences denied under the embargo would have been granted under the code. the code of conduct is much more effective it s a more powerful tool of and we intend to strengthen it as a pre-condition of lifting the embargo with china he said. mr straw denied the decision would suggest to china that tiananmen square had been forgotten. the level of human rights was a key criteria under the eu arms exports code he said. human rights groups say the code of conduct is not legally binding - but mr straw said it would be given legal force by the laws of many eu countries. conservative shadow foreign secretary michael ancram said the move would be profoundly wrong . the decision could undermine nato as it severely damaged relations with the us which is opposed to ending the ban. mr ancram argued: what the british government is doing is giving in to french and german pressure especially the french who see vast contracts available to them if the embargo is lifted... it gives the wrong signals to china who are simply not prepared to accept that what happened at tiananmen square was wrong. mr straw s china trip is part of regular high-level meetings with beijing ministers. he will meet chinese counterpart minister li zhaoxing to discuss developing relations between their two countries hong kong and china s part in the talks on north korea.

uk heading wrong way - howard tony blair has had the chance to tackle the problems facing britain and has failed michael howard has said. britain is heading in the wrong direction the conservative leader said in his new year message. mr blair s government was a bossy interfering government that takes decisions that should be made by individuals he added. but labour s campaign spokesman fraser kemp responded: britain is working don t let the tories wreck it again . mr howard also paid tribute to the nation s character for its generous response to the asian quake disaster. the catastrophe was overshadowing the hopes for the future at this usually positive time of the year mr howard said. we watched the scenes of destruction with a sense of disbelief. the scale the speed the ferocity of what happened on boxing day is difficult to grasp. yet britain s response has shone a light on our nation s character. the last week has shown that the warm caring heart of britain beats as strong as ever. he went on to reflect on the values that most britons hold dear . looking ahead to the coming general election he pledged to turn these beliefs into reality and set out the choices he says are facing britain. how much tax do people want to pay who will give taxpayers value for money the clean hospitals and good disciplined schools they want who can be trusted to get a grip on the disorder on our streets and the chaos in our immigration system mr blair has failed to tackle these problems he claimed saying he has the wrong solution to them. the result is big government and higher taxes eroding incentives undermining enterprise and denying people choice. worst of all it is a government that has wasted people s money and failed to tackle the problems families face today. the tories he said can cut crime and improve public services without asking people to pay more taxes. we can have progress without losing what makes britain great - its tolerance the respect for the rule of law the ability of everyone to fulfil their potential. we simply need to change direction. the election will give britain the chance to change. this is the record mr blair will have to defend in the coming months he said urging voters to hold him to account. but labour spokesman mr kemp said: it would be more appropriate for this message to come out on 1 april not 1 january. let us never forget that when michael howard was in government britain suffered mass unemployment 15% interest rates record home repossessions and the introduction of the poll tax. with labour britain is working. rather than alluding to false promises michael howard should be starting 2005 with an apology to the british people for the misery that the government of which he was a member inflicted upon the country.

ireland win eclipses refereeing errors the international rugby board may have to step in to stop frustrated coaches and players from publicly haranguing referees when things go belly-up. it may have to go the whole way and have nfl-style video cameras all over the field or slap the vociferous perpetrators over the knuckles. what the irb does not want is a football scenario where the verbal slanging matches often overshadow the game itself. sunday s explosive six nations clash at lansdowne road was a good example as ireland took another step towards their first grand slam since 1948. the game was as exciting as it comes with a much-improved england side enraged at a few decisions that did not go their way. one can understand that frustration. there was no doubt that ireland had the rub of the green in their 19-13 victory but the reaction from the england camp may not have endeared them to the sport s blazers . referee jonathan kaplan was not perfect by any means and two decisions in particular made him the villain of the piece. i doubt whether kaplan would have been too pleased at the comments made. after all he has no public recourse to criticism. it was the same for simon mcdowell the touch judge who was heavily criticised by scotland coach matt williams after their defeat against france. as far as england were concerned there were queries over mark cueto s first half-effort when he went over in the corner from a charlie hodgson kick. england coach andy robinson referred to a similar case at ravenhill in january when ulster were playing gloucester in the heineken cup. on that occasion david humphreys kicked to tommy bowe who touched down in the corner only for the try to be wiped out. but you cannot have cameras at every conceivable angle to pick up such anomalies. perhaps robinson was right to say the referee should have gone upstairs when josh lewsey was driven over the irish line near the end. lewsey claims he touched it down and was in full control. however one has to credit ireland flanker johnny o connor for cleverly scooping the ball away and blocking any evidence of a touchdown. but in rugby everything tends to even out over the 80 minutes. the referee also missed england s danny grewcock taking out ronan o gara off the ball to allow martin corry a sunday stroll to the line. those were the stand-out moments in a classic game between the two old foes. but there were many more and one should not take away from those. brian o driscoll s winning try was as well-conceived as they come while charlie hodgson s brilliant kicking display was another highlight. and ronan o gara s tremendous ability to control the game was also a crucial component. but the defining moments came with ireland under the cosh in the final 15 minutes. two outstanding pieces of defensive play denied england and allowed ireland to hold on. the first was denis hickie s brilliant double tackle in the right-hand corner. he gobbled up cueto from another hodgson cross-field kick then regained his feet to stop lewsey from scoring a certain try. ireland s second-row colossus paul o connell was equally superb. england had turned ireland one way then the other and the defence cordon was slowly disintegrating. england prop matt stevens ran in at full steam to suck in a few more tacklers. unfortunately he ran into o connell who hit him hard - very hard - and then wrestled the ball away for a crucial turnover. that spoke volumes about ireland s back-foot display with defensive coach mike ford taking a bow at the end. to win a game like that showed that ireland have moved forward. it may be tries that win games but it is defence that wins championships.

kenyan school turns to handhelds at the mbita point primary school in western kenya students click away at a handheld computer with a stylus. they are doing exercises in their school textbooks which have been digitised. it is a pilot project run by eduvision which is looking at ways to use low cost computer systems to get up-to-date information to students who are currently stuck with ancient textbooks. matthew herren from eduvision told the bbc programme go digital how the non-governmental organisation uses a combination of satellite radio and handheld computers called e-slates. the e-slates connect via a wireless connection to a base station in the school. this in turn is connected to a satellite radio receiver. the data is transmitted alongside audio signals. the base station processes the information from the satellite transmission and turns it into a form that can be read by the handheld e-slates. it downloads from the satellite and every day processes the stream sorts through content for the material destined for the users connected to it. it also stores this on its hard disc. the system is cheaper than installing and maintaining an internet connection and conventional computer network. but mr herren says there are both pros and cons to the project. it s very simple to set up just a satellite antenna on the roof of the school but it s also a one-way connection so getting feedback or specific requests from end users is difficult. the project is still at the pilot stage and eduvision staff are on the ground to attend to teething problems with the linux-based system. the content is divided into visual information textual information and questions. users can scroll through these sections independently of each other. eduvision is planning to include audio and video files as the system develops and add more content. mr herren says this would vastly increase the opportunities available to the students. he is currently in negotiations to take advantage of a project being organised by search site google to digitise some of the world s largest university libraries. all books in the public domain something like 15 million could be put on the base stations as we manufacture them. then every rural school in africa would have access to the same libraries as the students in oxford and harvard currently the project is operating in an area where there is mains electricity. but mr herren says eduvision already has plans to extend it to more remote regions. we plan to put a solar panel at the school with the base station have the e-slates charge during the day when the children are in school then they can take them home at night and continue working. maciej sundra who designed the user interface for the e-slates says the project s ultimate goal is levelling access to knowledge around the world. why in this age when most people do most research using the internet are students still using textbooks the fact that we are doing this in a rural developing country is very exciting - as they need it most.

brown outlines third term vision gordon brown has outlined what he thinks should be the key themes of new labour s next general election bid. he said ensuring every child in britain had the best start in life could be a legacy to match the nhs s creation. the chancellor has previously planned the party s election strategy but this time the role will be filled by alan milburn - a key ally of tony blair. the premier insisted mr brown will have a key role in labour s campaign and praised his handling of the economy. writing in the guardian newspaper mr brown outlined his view of the direction new labour should be taking. as our manifesto and our programme for the coming decade should make clear labour s ambition is not simply tackling idleness but delivering full employment; not just attacking ignorance disease and squalor but promoting lifelong education good health and sustainable communities. bbc political editor andrew marr said that mr brown s article was a warning shot to mr blair not to try and cut him out of the manifesto writing process. it was as always coded and careful... but entirely deliberate was mr marr s assessment. the prime minister was asked about mr brown s article and about his election role when he appeared on bbc radio 4 s today programme. mr blair said a decision had yet to be taken over how the election would be run but the chancellor s role would be central . mr blair argued that under new labour the country had changed for the better and that was in part because of mr brown s management of the economy. and he pledged childcare would be a centrepiece of labour s manifesto. he also predicted the next general election will be a tough tough fight for new labour. but the prime minister insisted he did not know what date the poll would take place despite speculation about 5 may. mr blair said he was taking nothing for granted ahead of the vote - warning that the tory strategy was to win power via the back door by hinting they were aiming to cut labour s majority instead of hoping for an outright win.

troubled marsh under sec scrutiny the us stock market regulator is investigating troubled insurance broker marsh & mclennan s shareholder transactions the firm has said. the securities and exchange commission has asked for information about transactions involving holders of 5% or more of the firm s shares. marsh has said it is co-operating fully with the sec investigation. marsh is also the focus of an inquiry the new york attorney-general into whether insurers rigged the market. since that inquiry was launched in october marsh has replaced its chief executive and held a boardroom shake-out to meet criticism by lessening the number of company executives on the board. prosecutors allege that marsh - the world s biggest insurance broker - and other us insurance firms may have fixed bids for corporate cover. this is the issue at the heart of the inquiry by new york s top law officer eliot spitzer and a separate prosecution of five insurers by the state of california. the sec s investigation into so-called related party transactions includes dealings in the trident funds managed by mmc capital the company s private equity firm. marsh s new chief executive michael cherkasky is trying to negotiate a settlement with mr spitzer. mr spitzer has built up a reputation as a fierce critic and campaigner against corporate america s misdeeds. the uncertainty unleashed by the scandal has prompted three credit rating agencies - standard & poor s moody s and fitch - to downgrade marsh in recent weeks. according to the financial times insurance analysts are now questioning whether marsh will be able to maintain its strong record of earning growth as they draw up forecasts for the first quarter of next year. doubts also exist over how much the company may have to pay regulators and lawyers to put the scandal behind.

csa could close says minister ministers would not rule out scrapping the child support agency if it failed to improve work and pensions secretary alan johnson has warned. but he said replacing the controversial csa would be the nuclear option . a report by the commons work and pensions committee called for the agency to be wound up unless it improved its service within weeks. chairman sir archy kirkwood said: if the agency cannot be rescued then it must be replaced. the committee reached its conclusions after it found that nearly 250 000 cases have yet to be processed. it warned that it could be five years before the csa was fit for purpose describing it as a failing organisation and in crisis with parents facing payment delays and inaccurate maintenance calculations. the report urged the csa to draw up contingency plans including the abandonment option to be presented to parliament by easter in case the cs2 computer system could not be made to work. and responding to calls for the agency to be scrapped mr johnson told bbc radio 4 s today programme: i certainly wouldn t rule out the nuclear option of moving to a completely new system. but i think the select committee would agree with me we would only do that when we were absolutely convinced that this system just isn t going to work. the mps launched their inquiry into the csa s performance after it became clear that despite the introduction of a simpler system of calculating maintenance payments for new cases in 2003 a backlog of claims was building up. the mps found the £456m system from american it giant eds was nowhere near being fully functional and the number of dissatisfied disenchanted and angry customers continues to escalate . faced with the committee s criticism the government has suspended its plan to cut the agency s staff by 25%. the csa has been surrounded in controversy since its introduction in 1993 to assess and enforce child support payments by absent parents. it is currently chasing outstanding payments of more than £720m while a further £947m has been designated as unrecoverable . michelle a mother of twins said she had not received a penny of the £57 a week she should be receiving from her ex-partner and had faced an on-going battle with the csa. her forms have twice been lost in the post she said. i don t receive correspondence i don t receive phone calls i have to chase them all the time she said. theresa may tory shadow work and pensions secretary said: we have got to find a way that s going to ensure those payments get through to the people who are due them. the agency s former chief executive doug smith quit last autumn claiming he was seriously disappointed with its performance. the committee said the national audit office should investigate why the eds system had gone so badly wrong. it blamed the agency s senior management for a multitude of problems within the agency including for an apparent lack of training of frontline staff.

us blogger fired by her airline a us airline attendant suspended over inappropriate images on her blog - web diary - says she has been fired. ellen simonetti known as queen of the sky wrote an anonymous semi-fictional account of her life in the sky. she was suspended by delta in september. in a statement she said she was initiating legal action against the airline for wrongful termination . a delta spokesperson confirmed on wednesday that ms simonetti was no longer an employee. delta has repeatedly declined to elaborate on what it calls internal employee matters . a spokesperson reiterated this position on wednesday confirming only that ms simonetti was no longer with the company. the spokesperson also confirmed that there were very clear rules attached to the unauthorised use of delta branding including uniforms. ms simonetti announced on her blog she had been fired on 1 november. she said in an official statement: as a result of my suspension and subsequent termination without cause by delta airlines i am moving forward with filing a discrimination complaint with the federal government eeoc [us equal employment opportunity commission]. she added she had also hired a texas-based law firm to initiate legal action for wrongful termination defamation of character and lost future wages. ms simonetti told the bbc news website she had received no warning or further explanation when she was suspended on 25 september. queen of the sky has received a lot of support and advice from the global blogging community since news of her suspension was brought to light on the bbc news website and others. her story has highlighted concerns amongst the growing blogging community about conflicts of interest employment law and free speech on personal websites. the blog which she started in january as a way of getting over her mother s death contains a mix of fictional and non-fictional accounts. queen of the sky developed over the months as a character in her own right according to ms simonetti. in the postings she made up fictional names for cities and other companies she mentioned to protect anonymity. but some postings contained images of herself in uniform. of the 10 or so images only one showed ms simonetti s flight wings . she removed them as soon as she was informed of her suspension. i never meant it as something to harm my company and don t understand how they think it did harm them ms simonetti said. a legal expert in the us speculated that delta might be concerned that the fictional content on the blog may be linked back to the airline after the images were posted. delta has been hit recently by pressures of rising fuel costs and fierce competition. it has said it needs to cut between 6 000 and 7 000 jobs and reduce costs by $5bn (£2.7bn) a year. analysts had warned recently that the airline might have to seek chapter 11 bankruptcy prevention. last week it struck a $1bn cost-cutting deal with its pilots which could save it from bankruptcy. the deal would see pilots accept a 32% pay cut in return for the right to buy 30 million delta shares unions said. and on monday it negotiated a deal to defer about $135m in debt which was due next year until 2007. the airline also said it had agreed the terms of a $600m loan from american express.

row brewing over peer-to-peer ads music download networks are proving popular not just with an audience of youngsters keen to take advantage of free music but with advertisers equally keen to reach out to a captive audience. the debate over the legitimacy of file-sharing networks rages on as the music industry continues its threats to close the services down for good. meanwhile the millions of downloaders are proving both an advertiser s dream come true and a branding nightmare. paul myers chief executive of wippit - a peer to peer service which provides paid-for music downloads - believes it is time advertisers stopped providing oxygen for companies that support illegal downloading. you may be surprised to know that current advertisers on the most popular peer to peer service edonkey who now steadfastly support copyright theft with real cash money include nat west vodafone o2 first direct ntl and renault he said in an open letter to the british phonographic industry last month. he urged people to follow his lead and dump brands associated with companies such as edonkey. the bpi is equally quick to condemn established brands becoming bedfellows with peer to peer networks. networks like edonkey kazaa and grokster facilitate illegal filesharing. the bpi strongly believes that any reputable company should look carefully at the support they are giving these networks through their advertising revenue it said in a statement. illegal file-sharers steal millions of pounds worth of music through these services. we are sure that the companies advertising on them would not put up with theft on such a scale from their own businesses it said. but the issue is often more complicated for advertisers said mark mulligan a music analyst with jupiter research. this has been a problem for a long time ever since the days of napster he told the bbc news website. the reality is that the millions of downloaders represent a very attractive audience. advertisers probably pay a lot less for putting ads here than on more respected sites and they are reaching the perfect target audience he said. if you put the legality issues aside not to advertise here would mean missing out on a valuable audience he added. meanwhile companies contacted by the bbc news website insist that they were not directly aware of where their ads have been appearing. onetel adverts were spotted on edonkey this week and its response was typical. we have investigated this matter and believe that one of our affiliate partners has placed this advert without our knowledge. it is not our policy to advertise through peer-to-peer networks read a statement from the discount phone firm. it has requested the advert be removed immediately said a spokeswoman. similarly telecommunications firm ntl blames its media buying agency which places adverts with third party networks featuring thousands of sites. since the matter was brought to its attention last month the agency has strict instructions to make sure ads do not appear on such sites a spokesman told the bbc news website. however mr mulligan was not entirely convinced by these explanations. while smaller brands might not necessarily be aware of where the money they allocate to online advertising actually ends this is no excuse for well-known brands he said. i would be surprised if these brands didn t have the know-how to prevent this happening he said. at the moment edonkey is enjoying the benefits of having some very well-known faces advert on its network. many big brands have leveraged the opportunity including perhaps two of the biggest brands in the world - senator john kerry and president george w. bush said chief executive sam yagan. there are some distinct advantages of advertising on such a network he thinks. peer-to-peer clients offer big brands a unique opportunity to engage with their customers where they re most comfortable: at their desks interacting with their favourite digital media he said.

boothroyd calls for lords speaker betty boothroyd has said the house of lords needs its own speaker and that peers should lead the way on reforming the upper chamber. baroness boothroyd who was the first woman to be commons speaker said she believed tony blair initiated reforms without a clear outcome in mind. now we have to take care of it ourselves and make the best of it she told the bbc s breakfast with frost. in 1999 labour removed all but 92 of the lords 750 hereditary peers. that was billed as the first stage of reform of the institution. the lord chancellor hinted further reforms could be unveiled in the next labour manifesto. i think we need to look very carefully at the relationship between the lords and the commons lord falconer told bbc1 s breakfast with frost. how it interacts with the commons is a very very important issue. we need to address the issue in the manifesto but you will have to wait for when the manifesto comes. the lord chancellor currently has the role of house of lords speaker. he is also head of the judiciary and a member of the cabinet as constitutional affairs secretary. lady boothroyd said she believed it was unacceptable for the lord chancellor to have the role of speaker. i would really like to see a speaker of the house of lords she said. i don t go for the idea of somebody - a lord chancellor - who is head of the judiciary a senior cabinet minister and speaker of the lords. i want somebody there who is going to look after that house and do a job there.

hantuchova in dubai last eight daniela hantuchova moved into the quarter-finals of the dubai open after beating elene likhotseva of russia 7-5 6-4 and now faces serena williams. australian open champion williams survived an early scare to beat russia s elena bovina 1-6 6-1 6-4. world number one lindsay davenport and anastasia myskina also progressed. davenport defeated china s jie zheng 6-2 7-5 while french open champion myskina sailed through after her opponent marion bartoli retired hurt. american davenport will now face fellow former wimbledon champion conchita martinez of spain who ousted seventh-seeded nathalie dechy of france 6-1 6-2. myskina will face eighth-seed patty schnyder from switzerland who defeated china s li na 6-3 7-6 (10-8). the other quarter final pits wild card sania mirza of india against jelena jankovic of serbia and montenegro who both won on tuesday. before her meeting with martinez davenport believes there is some room for improvement in her game. i started well and finished well but played some so-so games in the middle she said. williams was also far from content. i don t know what i was doing there she said. it was really windy and i hadn t played in the wind. all my shots were going out of here. but hantuchova is in upbeat mood ahead of her clash with the younger williams sister who was handed a first-round bye. i feel i have an advantage (over serena) because i have already played two matches on these courts she said. it is a difficult court to play on. very fast and sometimes you feel you have no control over the ball.

ireland surge past scots ireland maintained their six nations grand slam ambitions with an impressive victory over scotland at murrayfield. hugo southwell s try gave the scots an early 8-0 lead but scores from locks malcolm o kelly and paul o connell put the visitors in command by half-time. a third try from wing denis hickie and third penalty from ronan o gara who kicked 13 points extended the lead. jon petrie scored a second try for scotland but late scores from john hayes and gavin duffy sealed victory. after two hard-earned away victories eddie o sullivan side can now look forward to welcoming england to lansdowne road in a fortnight. scotland will try to give their coach matt williams a first six nations victory when italy come to edinburgh but they again struggled to turn pressure into points. the home side started with tremendous intensity and dominated territory and possession in the opening 10 minutes. a powerful charge from flanker jason white was carried on by ali hogg and when ireland conceded a penalty close to their own line scotland kicked it to touch. the irish defence foiled the home side on that occasion but a stray hand in a ruck allowed paterson to stroke over a penalty in the eighth minute. if that was a paltry reward for their early pressure scotland got the try they deserved when paterson s searing break and andy craig s pass sent southwell streaking to the right corner. paterson was off target with the conversion and fly-half dan parks then missed a presentable drop-goal attempt. ireland got themselves on the scoreboard with an o gara penalty and by the 24th minute the visitors were ahead. stuart grimes pulled down o kelly at a line-out ireland kicked the penalty to touch and from the set-piece the big lock was driven over by the rest of his pack. o gara added the conversion and a further penalty after shane horgan almost grabbed a second try from o gara s chip to the corner only for the ball to spill from his hand. but ireland still delivered a hammer blow to scotland s hopes just before the interval. o connell - skipper in the absence of brian o driscoll - powered through parks weak tackle after a free-kick from a scrummage to burrow over. scotland suffered a further blow on the resumption when ireland flanker johnny o connor won another vital turnover and o gara s basketball pass sent hickie over in the left corner. o gara converted and then thumped over a 40m penalty to give the visitors a commanding 28-8 advantage. scotland looked bereft of ideas but a half-break from paterson sparked them back to life just before the hour. stuart grimes won a line-out and a well-worked move saw petrie scuttle round the side of the ruck to dive over in the left corner. but it proved a false dawn and ireland reasserted their authority in the final 10 minutes. peter stringer and o kelly combined to put giant prop hayes over in the right corner before replacement gavin duffy scorched away on the left david humphreys adding the final flourish with a touchline conversion. : c paterson; s danielli a craig h southwell s lamont; d parks c cusiter; t smith g bulloch (capt) g kerr; s grimes s murray; j white a hogg j petrie. r russell b douglas n hines j dunbar m blair g ross b hinshelwood. g murphy; g dempsey s horgan k maggs d hickie r o gara p stringer; r corrigan s byrne j hayes m o kelly p o connell s easterby j o connor a foley. f sheahan m horan d o callaghan e miller g easterby d humphreys g duffy. joel jutge (france)

police probe bnp mosque leaflet police are investigating a british national party leaflet posted to homes in south wales opposing plans for a new mosque. anti-racism campaigners in swansea have handed copies to south wales police. swansea s muslim community is raising money to open a new mosque and community centre in the former st andrews united reform church. the building on george street has been derelict since the 1980s. taha idris director of the swansea bay race equality council said his organisation contacted police after receiving complaints from the public. i m quite shocked to see this sort of leaflet by the bnp in swansea he said. the bnp has tried in the past to get into swansea and this is another example of them trying again. i am in no doubt that the bnp are not needed and not wanted here. a south wales police spokeswoman confirmed that they were looking at the contents of the leaflet. according to the bnp s website they have been posted to homes in the castle ward. the bnp website carries a photograph of party leader nick griffin - who lives near welshpool mid wales - delivering the leaflet. the bnp has denied it is trying to stir up hatred of any race or religion but argues that they should be able to debate this without fear of arrest. swansea unite against fascism (uaf) is meeting this week to plan a campaign. following the death earlier this year of kalan kawa karim an iraqi kurd living in swansea it organised an anti-racism march in the city that was supported by more than 1 000 people. it is planning its own mail shot campaign and may launch a petition in support of the plans for the mosque. andy richards of swansea uaf said the leaflet was exactly what he had come to expect from the bnp. the people of swansea will not put up with this. swansea s muslim community bought the former church just across the road from the existing mosque on st helen s road in the late 1990s. mr idris said the community was now raising money to renovate the building. it is a landmark building in swansea and would otherwise just crumble he said. it is the ideal opportunity for the building to be restored and used in the proper manner. it will be a muslim community centre. it s a holistic place used for education weddings deaths and births. he said space was limited in the current mosque and on some occasions muslims had to travel to llanelli for cultural events.

bennett play takes theatre prizes the history boys by alan bennett has been named best new play in the critics circle theatre awards. set in a grammar school the play also earned a best actor prize for star richard griffiths as teacher hector. the producers was named best musical victoria hamilton was best actress for suddenly last summer and festen s rufus norris was named best director. the history boys also won the best new comedy title at the theatregoers choice awards. partly based upon alan bennett s experience as a teacher the history boys has been at london s national theatre since last may. the critics circle named rebecca lenkiewicz its most promising playwright for the night season and eddie redmayne most promising newcomer for the goat or who is sylvia paul rhys was its best shakespearean performer for measure for measure at the national theatre and christopher oram won the design award for suddenly last summer. both the critics circle and whatsonstage.com theatregoers choice award winners were announced on tuesday. chosen by more than 11 000 theatre fans the theatregoers choice awards named us actor christian slater best actor for one flew over the cuckoo s nest. diana rigg was best actress for suddenly last summer dame judi dench was best supporting actress for the rsc s all s well that ends well and the history boys samuel barnett was best supporting actor.

itunes now selling band aid song ipod owners can now download the band aid single from itunes after apple reached agreement with the charity. apple had been unwilling to raise the cost of the single in line with other download services said band aid. but the single is now on sale for 79p - the usual cost of a song from itunes - with apple donating a further 70p to the charity for each song downloaded. a copy of the original 1984 song is also available for download at 79p - with all proceeds going to the charity. more than 72 000 copies of the new band aid single were sold on its first day of release on monday according to sales figures. the track has become the fastest-selling single of the year so far shifting more copies than the rest of the top 30 combined hmv claimed. dido robbie williams and chris martin are among those featured on the new version of do they know it s christmas which is raising money to fight hunger in africa. if the track sold 500 000 copies more than £1m would be raised for charity. the cd is being sold for £3.99 with hmv virgin and woolworths all donating their profits.

a question of trust and technology a major government department is without e-mail for a week and technology analyst bill thompson wants to know what happened. a couple of weeks ago i wrote about how my girlfriend had suffered when her cable modem blew up and she was offline for several days. it seems that thousands of civil servants at the uk s department of work and pensions went through the same thing last week. it has emerged that the internal network crashed in a particularly horrible way depriving staff of e-mail and access to the application software they use to calculate people s benefit and pension entitlement or note changes in personal circumstances. senior consultants from eds the computer firm which manage the system and microsoft which supplied the software were running around trying to figure out what had to be done to fix it all while staff resorted to phone fax and probably carrier pigeon to get work done. fortunately the back-office systems which actually pay people their money were still working so only new claims and updates were affected done properly. this is bad enough for those affected but it does mean that the impact is not devastating for millions of pensioners. i am sure regular readers will be expecting one of my usual diatribes against poor software badly specified systems and inadequate disaster recovery plans. although the full story has not yet been told it seems that the problem started when a plan to upgrade some of the computers from windows 2000 to windows xp went wrong and xp code was inadvertently copied to thousands of machines across the network. this is certainly unfortunate but i have a lot of sympathy for the network managers and technology staff involved. today s computer networks are large complex and occasionally fragile. the interconnectedness that we all value also gives us a degree of instability and unpredictability that we cannot design out of the systems. it is the network equivalent of godel s theorem - any system sufficiently complex to be useful is also able to collapse catastrophically. so i will reserve judgment on the technology aspects until we all know what actually happened and whether it was a consequence of software failure or just bad luck. what is really disturbing and cannot be excused is the fact that it took four days for news of this systems failure to leak out into the technical press. it is without a doubt a major story and was the second or third lead item on bbc radio 4 s today programme throughout friday morning. so why did not the prime minister s official spokesman mention it at any lobby briefings before friday why was not the pensions minister in parliament to make an emergency statement on tuesday when it was clear that there was a serious problem if there had been an outbreak of legionnaire s disease in the air conditioning system we would have been told but it seems that major technology problems do not merit the same treatment. while eds and microsoft will no doubt be looking for technical lessons to learn from their week of pain we can learn some political lessons too. and the most important is that in this digital world technology failures are matters of public interest not something that can be ignored in the hope that nobody will notice care or understand. that means we need a full report on what went wrong and what was done to fix it. it would be unacceptable for any of the parties involved to hide behind commercial confidentiality or even parliamentary privilege. a major system has evidently collapsed and we need to know what went wrong and what is being done differently. anything less is a betrayal of public trust. bill thompson is a regular commentator on the bbc world service programme go digital.

no uk premiere for rings musical the producers behind the lord of the rings musical have abandoned plans to premiere the show in london because no suitable theatre was available. the £11.5m show will make its debut in toronto in march 2006 after it was found that all three west end theatres with sufficient capacity were booked. the musical is not expected in london before december 2006. producer kevin wallace said it would be worth waiting for . it will be like nothing they have ever seen before. i know there will be a lot of disappointed british tolkien fans who hoped to see the show in london but we couldn t get a london theatre in time added the british producer. the world premiere of the stage musical co-produced by canadian theatrical impresarios david and ed mirvish will take place at toronto s princess of wales theatre next year. toronto really wanted this premiere. the tolkien books and films are hugely popular in canada said mr wallace shortly after signing the deal in canada. we hope the anticipation and excitement over here will create an even bigger buzz by the time we open in london. auditions begin in canada on thursday but up to five british actors may join the cast under a deal struck with canadian actors equity. the music for the show is being written by bollywood composer ar rahman who was behind andrew lloyd webber s west end musical bollywood dreams and in conjuction with the finnish group varttina. there will be no singing and dancing hobbits. the music will be in a very traditional mould and draw on ethnic traditions assured mr wallace. the musical s british director is matthew warchus best known for staging the worldwide stage hit art. the production will be a hybrid of text physical theatre music and spectacle never previously seen on this scale he said. only in the theatre are we actually plunged into the events as they happen. the environment surrounds us and we are in middle earth. new zealander peter jackson took 10 years to bring jrr tolkien s fantasy trilogy to the big screen winning academy awards for best film and best director for the final film the return of the king in 2004.

prop jones ready for hard graft adam jones says the wales forwards are determined to set the perfect attacking platform for the backs by dominating the powerful france pack in paris. the prop said: if we get stuffed in the front five our backs have had it. the mentality of the french is scrum scrum scrum . we will see how good france are and the scrum is the key. i just hope [the backs] carry on where they left off against italy. it s just up to us in the forwards to win the ball and give them the opportunity. wales have won two of their last three visits to stade de france having secured back-to-back wins under graham henry in 1999 and 2001. and with the likes of shane williams and gavin henson finding top form at the right time mike ruddock s team is now one of international rugby s most potent attacking threats. gavin is ridiculously talented. he has been bouncing around the place this week so he is up for it warned jones. france have been criticised for their uncharacteristic one-dimensional play in their victories over scotland and france. captain fabien pelous has acknowledged his side needs to show more attacking flair but stressed the game with be won or lost up front. the lock believes the welsh forwards are not big enough to trouble his side in the scrum or line-out but jones insisted his fellow front-row colleagues have nothing to fear. gethin [jenkins] won t be intimidated tomorrow none of us will said jones who will be facing france for the first time. we will go out there and front up and hopefully get the ball out to the backs. me and gethin are quite young so it is good to have someone of mefin s experience in there. mefin is a good thinker who puts things across. but what is the saying if you are good enough you are old enough and gethin certainly is. he is a really good player and i imagine he will be on the lions tour [to new zealand this summer].

report attacks defence spending the ministry of defence has been criticised over the soaring spending costs and growing delays of its top equipment projects. a national audit office report on the 20 biggest projects says costs have risen by £1.7bn in the past year. it says there is little evidence the mod s performance had improved despite the introduction of a smart acquisition policy six years ago. a senior defence official told the bbc lessons were being learned. the nao s annual report showed the total cost of the 20 projects covered was expected to reach £50bn - 14% higher than originally planned. the total delays amounted to 62 months with average individual delays rising by three months. sir john bourn head of the nao said the problems showed the principles of the scheme known as smart acquisition had not been consistently applied. many problems can be traced to the fact that the mod has not spent enough time and resources in the assessment phase the report says. the nao found that projects launched since the start of the scheme were showing the same worrying tendencies as the older legacy projects such as the eurofighter. a senior defence official speaking to the bbc s defence correspondent paul adams said that although the figures were still not good enough the report reflected unrealistic expectations early on in the project cycle. this year s overspend was significantly less than last year s £3.1bn total and the defence procurement agency - which is responsible for buying defence equipment - was improving. lord bach minister for defence procurement said he was obviously still disappointed with the cost and time increases shown but insisted that the defence procurement agency had undertaken a huge amount of work to expose any underlying problems on projects . the latest findings follow a string of critical reports issued within the last 12 months and according to our correspondent contain few new surprises. turning around the defence procurement agency was a little like trying to turn around a super tanker - it takes a very long time indeed he said. our correspondent said it was the same projects including the joint strike fighter the nimrod and a400m aircraft and the type 45 destroyer which were resonsible for the bulk of the cost over-runs and delay. but he added some projects such as the c-17 heavy lift aircraft and successor identification friend or foe (siff) were showing good performances.

europe backs digital tv lifestyle how people receive their digital entertainment in the future could change following the launch of an ambitious european project. in nice last week the european commission announced its networked & electronic media (nem) initiative. its broad scope stretches from the way media is created through each of the stages of its distribution to its playback. the commission wants people to be able to locate the content they desire and have it delivered seamlessly when on the move at home or at work no matter who supplies the devices network content or content protection scheme. more than 120 experts were in nice to share the vision of interconnected future and hear pledges of support from companies such as nokia intel philips alcatel france telecom thomson and telefonica. it might initially appear to be surprising that companies in direct competition are keen to work together. but again and again speakers stated they could not see incompatible stand-alone solutions working. a long-term strategy for the evolution and convergence of technologies and services would be required. the european commission is being pragmatic in its approach. they have identified that many groups have defined the forms of digital media in the areas that nem encompasses. the nem approach is to take a serious look at what is available and what is in the pipeline pick out the best bring them together and identify where the gaps are. where it finds holes it will develop standards to fill them. what is significant is that such a large and powerful organisation has stated its desire for digital formats to be open to all and work on any gadget. this is bound to please if not surprise many individuals and user organisations who feel that the wishes of the holder of rights to content are normally considered over and above those of the consumer. many feel that the most difficult and challenging area for the commission will be to identify a solution for different digital rights management (drm) schemes. currently drm solutions are incompatible locking certain types of purchased content making them unplayable on all platforms. with the potential of having a percentage of every media transaction that takes place globally the prize for being the supplier of the world s dominant drm scheme is huge. although entertainment is an obvious first step it will encompass the remote provisions of healthcare energy efficiency and control of the smart home. the 10-year plan brings together the work of many currently running research projects that the ec has been funding for a number of years. simon perry is the editor of the digital lifestyles website which covers the impact of technology on media

rich pickings for hi-tech thieves viruses trojans and other malicious programs sent on to the net to catch you out are undergoing a subtle change. the shift is happening as tech savvy criminals turn to technology to help them con people out of cash steal valuable data or take over home pcs. viruses written to make headlines by infecting millions are getting rarer. instead programs are now crafted for directly criminal ends and firms are tightening up networks with defences to combat the new wave of malicious code. the growing criminal use of malware has meant the end of the neat categorisation of different sorts of viruses and malicious programs. before now it has been broadly possible to name and categorise viruses by the method they use to spread and how they infect machines. but many of the viruses written by criminals roll lots of technical tricks together into one nasty package. you cannot put them in to the neat little box that you used to said pete simpson head of the threat laboratory at security firm clearswift. now viruses are just as likely to spread by themselves like worms or to exploit loopholes in browsers or hide in e-mail message attachments. it s about outright criminality now said mr simpson explaining why this change has come about. he said many of the criminal programs came from eastern europe where cash-rich organised gangs can find a ready supply of technical experts that will crank out code to order. former virus writer marek strihavka aka benny from the 29a virus writing group recently quit the malware scene partly because it was being taken over by spyware writers phishing gangs and spammers who are more interested in money rather than the technology. no longer do virus writers produce programs to show off their technical prowess to rivals in the underground world of malware authors. not least said paul king principal security consultant at cisco because the defences against such attacks are so common. in many ways the least likely way to do it is e-mail because most of us have got anti-virus and firewalls now he said. few of the malicious programs written by hi-tech thieves are cleverly written many are much more pragmatic and use tried and tested techniques to infect machines or to trick users into installing a program or handing over important data. if you think of criminals they do not do clever said mr king they just do what works. as the tactics used by malicious programs change said mr king so many firms were changing the way they defend themselves. now many scan machines that connect to the corporate networks to ensure they have not been compromised while off the core network. many will not let a machine connect and a worker get on with their job before the latest patches and settings have been uploaded. as well as using different tactics criminals also use technology for reasons that are much more transparent. the main motivation now is money said gary stowell spokesman for st bernard software. mr stowell said organised crime gangs were turning to computer crime because the risks of being caught were low and the rates of return were very high. with almost any phishing or spyware attack criminals are guaranteed to catch some people out and have the contacts to exploit what they recover. so-called spyware was proving very popular with criminals because it allowed them to take over machines for their own ends to steal key data from users or to hijack web browsing sessions to point people at particular sites. in some cases spyware was being written that searched for rival malicious programs on pcs it infects and then trying to erase them so it has sole ownership of that machine.

newcastle to join morientes race newcastle have joined the race to sign real madrid striker fernando morientes and scupper liverpool s bid to snap up the player according to reports. liverpool were reported to have bid £3.5m for the 28-year-old spanish international this week. but the liverpool echo newspaper has said anfield boss rafa benitez will avoid a bidding war and instead turn his attentions to nicolas anelka. real are believed to still want £7m before selling morientes. monaco are also in the race for the player they had on loan last season. reports suggest liverpool will lift their offer to £5m - the highest they are willing to go before bowing out of any deal. on tuesday morientes had said: i like liverpool and i am pleased that a club of their stature want to buy me. i have told madrid that i want it to happen. madrid know my situation and they know they must do something about me. they must sort out the situation by being sensible. i am in a position where i want to play and i will have to look elsewhere to do that. if madrid do not want me then it s in the best interests of everyone that they are realistic. i haven t spoken to rafa benitez but i have always appreciated his work and i would like to play for him. but benitez could yet turn his attentions to the younger anelka should morientes be reluctant to pledge his future to liverpool. anelka previously played at anfield under gerard houllier before sealing his permanent switch to manchester city.

media seek jackson juror notes reporters covering singer michael jackson s trial in california have asked to see questionnaires completed by potential jurors. lawyers for news organisations said it was really vital for the responses of 250 potential jurors to be made public to serve as a check on the process . santa barbara county superior court is due to consider the request on monday. mr jackson denies child molestation. it is estimated his trial will cost santa barbara county up to $4m (£2.13m). meanwhile michael jackson s mother has said she is 100% certain her son did not commit the child abuse charges he faces. the court is currently selecting 12 jurors and eight stand-by jurors for the trial a process delayed until at least thursday after a member of the star s legal team was hit by family illness. defence lawyers argued against the bid by associated press and other news organisations to have potential jurors responses made public. the release of the completed jury questionnaires does not serve any purpose other than to add to the sensationalist coverage of this case a motion by mr jackson s lawyers stated. the estimated total costs of the trial expected to last five months range from $2.5m (£1.33m) to $4m (£2.13m) of local taxpayers money. those estimates do not include costs to the city of santa maria the superior court or for the investigation and prosecution of the case. the cost of security and other needs around the courthouse has been estimated at $40 000 (£21 000) per day said jason stilwell a special projects manager at the county administrator s office. mr jackson 46 denies plying a boy with alcohol and molesting him. his mother katherine jackson told us tv network fox news on sunday that her pop star son told her he was innocent. i believe that for one reason - i know his character she said. he loves children. you don t molest anything that you love. describing mr jackson as a good person the mother-of-nine said she feared he would not be given a fair trial. i can t sleep thinking about what these wicked people might try to do to him she said.

bortolami predicts dour contest italy skipper marco bortolami believes saturday s six nations contest against scotland will be a scrappy encounter. with both sides looking for their first win of the championship the third-round game at murrayfield has been billed as a wooden-spoon decider. and bortolami feels the edinburgh contest could end up being a bruising battle of the packs. it will not be a pretty game because both teams are desperate to gain their first win said the lock forward. italy have only recorded three wins since they joined the six nations in 2000 but two of those have come against scotland. this year italy opened up with a stubborn display against ireland but ended up losing 28-17. however they were thoroughly outplayed by an impressive welsh side in rome last time out. now the italians travel to edinburgh hoping to claim their first away win in the six nations. scotland played extremely well against france in paris but not so well when ireland came to edinburgh said bortolami. we are still very disappointed with our last game against wales in rome and we are thoroughly determined to right the wrongs. as a nation our quest is to be respected as a team worthy of a place in this tournament and we can only do this by winning games.

supercomputer breaks speed record the us is poised to push japan off the top of the supercomputing chart with ibm s prototype blue gene/l machine. it is being assembled for the lawrence livermore national laboratory a us department of energy (doe) lab. doe test results show that blue gene/l has managed speeds of 70.72 teraflops. the current top machine japan s nec earth simulator clocks up 35.86. due next week the top 500 list officially charts the fastest computers in the world. it is announced every six months and is worked out using an officially recognised mathematical speed test called linpack which measures calculations per second. the speeds will most likely make it the fastest computer system on the planet yet the chip technology powering the machine is the kind which can be found in familiar devices such as games consoles. the us secretary of energy spencer abraham confirmed that the machine had reached the breakneck speed according to the linpack benchmark. until the official list is published however blue gene/l s position will not be confirmed and there are expected to be some other new entries. but the test results raise the bar of supercomputing enormously and signal a remarkable achievement. surpassing the 40 trillion calculations per second (teraflop) mark has been considered a landmark for some time. the ibm blue gene/l is only a prototype and is one 5th the speed of the full version due to be completed for the livermore labs in 2005. its peak theoretical performance is expected to be 360 teraflops and will fit into 64 full racks. it will also cut down on the amount of heat generated by the massive power a big problem for supercomputers. the final machine will help scientists work out the safety security and reliability requirements for the us s nuclear weapons stockpile without the need for underground nuclear testing. the earth simulator has held on to the top spot since june 2002. it is dedicated to climate modelling and simulating seismic activity. but in september ibm said that another blue gene/l machine clocked up 36.01 teraflops marginally surpassing the earth simulator s performance. this was achieved during internal testing at ibm s production facility in rochester minnesota though so was not an official record. another giant to enter the fray is silicon graphics columbia supercomputer based at nasa s ames research center in california. it would be used to model flight missions climate research and aerospace engineering. the linux-based machine was reported to have reached a top speed of 42.7 teraflops in october. supercomputers are hugely important for working out very complex problems across science and society. their massive simulation and processing power means they can improve the accuracy of weather forecasts help design better cars and improve disease diagnosis. ibm s senior vice president of technology and manufacturing nick donofrio believes that by 2006 blue gene will be capable of petaflop computing. this means it would be capable of doing 1 000 trillion operations a second. when you get a computer as large as a petaflop you can start to think of simulations that might complement the physical world mr donofrio recently told the bbc news website. you can start to be more proactive more interactive and more innovative. one area where mr donofrio sees supercomputing - and blue gene machines in particular - as crucial is health. he believes the machines can help scientists understand one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century: protein folding. health is one of the most important problems not just mapping the human genome but also protein structures. we are a great believer in simulation. it gives you another tool he said. once the structures of proteins are understood fully then drugs can be tailor-made to fight diseases more effectively. compared with the current fastest supercomputers blue gene is designed to consume one 15th the power and be 10 times more compact. since the first supercomputer the cray-1 was installed at los alamos national laboratory in 1976 computational speed has leaped 500 000 times. the cray-1 was capable of 80 megaflops (80 million operations a second). the blue gene/l machine that will be completed next year will be five million times faster. started in 1993 the top 500 list is decided by a group of computer science academics from around the world. it is presented at the international supercomputer conference in pittsburgh.

euronext poised to make lse bid pan-european group euronext is poised to launch a bid for the london stock exchange uk media reports say. last week the lse rejected a takeover proposal from german rival deutsche boerse - the 530 pence-a-share offer valued the exchange at about £1.35bn. the lse which saw its shares rise 25% said the bid undervalued the business. euronext - formed after the brussels paris and amsterdam exchanges merged - is reportedly working with three investment banks on a possible offer. the lse europe s biggest stock market is a key prize listing stocks with a total capitalisation of £1.4 trillion. euronext already has a presence in london due to its 2001 acquisition of london-based options and futures exchange liffe. trades on the lse are cleared via clearnet in which euronext has a quarter stake. euronext which also operates an exchange in lisbon last week appointed ubs and abn amro as additional advisors. it is also working with morgan stanley. despite the rejection of the deutsche boerse bid last week werner seifert chief executive of the frankfurt-based exchange may well come back with an improved offer. it has long wanted to link up with london and the two tried and failed to seal a merger in 2000. responding to the lse s rebuff deutsche boerse - whose market capitalisation is more than £3bn - said it believed it could show its proposal offered benefits and that it still hoped to make a cash bid. last week the lse said not only was the bid undervalued but that it had been advised that there can be no assurance that any transaction could be successfully implemented . however it has indicated it is open for further talks. meanwhile german magazine der spiegel said part of mr seifert s negotiations with the lse were about where to base the future board of any merged exchange. while mr seifert has suggested a merged company would be run out of london the mayor of frankfurt has raised concerns that such a move could cost german jobs. many analysts believe german boerse has more financial firepower than euronext if it came to a bidding war.

lib dems demand new inquiry a judge should look into the david blunkett controversy as key questions remain unanswered the lib dems say. sir alan budd s inquiry linked the ex-home secretary to the speeding up of a visa claim by his ex-lover s nanny. but he could not say whether mr blunkett had treated the nanny as a special case or had used her as an example of immigration problems. lib dem spokesman mark oaten said the number of officials who had forgotten what happened was worrying. he told bbc news: i m extremely concerned that 20 individuals appear to have forgotten what happened or more suspiciously are not prepared to say what happened. that must be bad for government it must be bad for public confidence in the system. mr oaten said people would be mystified why sir alan s inquiry failed to uncover why processing of the visa application was speeded up. he said: there is a strong case for a judge-led judicial review of this because of course next time it happens it may not be about a nanny and their visa. it may be about something even more important than that. so we do need to understand what took place and who was involved. the tories criticised the lib dem stance saying mr oaten had initially said he accepted mr blunkett s word unless further evidence emerged. but lib dem officials say mr oaten was speaking when an inquiry was under way and was avoiding rushing to judgement.

mcdonald s to sponsor mtv show mcdonald s the world s largest restaurant chain is to sponsor a programme on music channel mtv as part of its latest youth market promotion. the show advance warning highlights new talent and mtv reckons it will give mcdonald s access to nearly 400 million homes in 162 countries. mcdonald s golden arches name and i m loving it catchphrase will be used throughout the half-hour programme. the move comes amid growing concerns about obesity in europe and the us. the european union has called on the food industry to reduce the number of adverts aimed at young children warning that legislation would be introduced. unless voluntary steps were taken. in the us food group kraft is among firms that already have cut back on promoting sugar and fattening products to the young. mcdonalds has also been taking steps to improve its junk food reputation revamping its menu and providing clients with health-related products such as pedometers. as well as burgers like the big mac and quarter pounder with cheese the company now sells healthier options such as salads and fresh fruit. chief executive jim skinner attributed an 8.3% increase in january worldwide sales to the vitality of our menu among other things. hooking up with mtv is expected to add extra momentum to mcdonald s recent revival. mtv which played a key role in the emergence of the music video is to show advance warning on all 25 of its channels across the world. the programme can at present only been seen in the us where it has featured artists like british stars joss stone and franz ferdinand. mcdonald s has targeted the youth market in the past with its advertisements signing up stars like jelly-legged dancer justin timberlake and all-woman singing group destiny s child.

butler launches attack on blair former civil service chief lord butler has criticised the way tony blair s government operates accusing it of being obsessed with headlines. he also attacked the way the iraq war was sold to the public with important warnings on the strength of the intelligence left out. tory leader michael howard said lord butler had given the most damaging testimony he could remember. but downing street said mr blair should be judged by results not his style. lord butler said mr blair bypassed the cabinet and relied instead on small informal groups of advisers to help him make decisions. the prime minister s official spokesman said the cabinet was still used to achieve a consensus on important issues. but he added: you cannot in a modern government take every decision in cabinet. it s just not possible. lord butler said the government had too much freedom to bring in bad bills and to do whatever it likes and it relied too much on the advice of political appointees. the former cabinet secretary said in an interview with the spectator magazine: i would be critical of the present government in that there is too much emphasis on selling there is too much central control and there is too little of what i would describe as reasoned deliberation which brings in all the arguments. mr howard described lord butler s intervention as very important . this is from someone who was an insider at the very heart of the blair government. it is certainly the most damaging testimony i can ever remember from someone in such an eminent position. lord butler s report earlier this year into iraq intelligence said the government s september 2002 weapons dossier did not make clear intelligence about claims that saddam hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons was very thin . the reason for this is that it would have weakened ministers case for war lord butler said in his spectator interview which was conducted by the magazine s editor conservative mp boris johnson. he said: when civil servants give material to ministers they say these are the conclusions we ve drawn but we ve got to tell you the evidence we ve got is pretty thin. similarly if you are giving something to the united nations and the country you should warn them. asked why he thought the warnings were not there lord butler said: one has got to remember what the purpose of the dossier was. the purpose of the dossier was to persuade the british why the government thought iraq was a very serious threat. when asked whether he thought the country was well-governed on the whole he replied: well. i think we are a country where we suffer very badly from parliament not having sufficient control over the executive and that is a very grave flaw. we should be breaking away from the party whip. the executive is much too free to bring in a huge number of extremely bad bills a huge amount of regulation and to do whatever it likes - and whatever it likes is what will get the best headlines tomorrow. all that is part of what is bad government in this country. lord butler s assessment was backed by his predecessor as cabinet secretary lord armstrong. lord armstrong told bbc two s newsnight: i agree ... there doesn t appear to be the sort of informed collective political judgement brought to bear on decision-making that those affected by decisions are entitled to expect. liberal democrat deputy leader menzies campbell said he thought lord butler s comments were well justified and mr blair s style of leadership was corrosive of the whole system of government . but labour former minister jack cunningham accused lord butler of basing his comments on the first eight months of the incoming labour administration when he was cabinet secretary. mr cunningham told bbc radio 4 s today programme: taken together robin butler s comments are partial inaccurate and cannot be taken as anything other than politically biased against the labour government.

broadband set to revolutionise tv bt is starting its push into television with plans to offer tv over broadband. as a telecoms company bt is moving to a content distribution strategy andrew burke chief of bt s new entertainment unit told the iptv world forum. we want to be an entertainment facilitator he said on the opening day of the london conference. the bbc is also trialling a service to play programmes over the net and has not ruled out offering it to non-licence fee payers overseas. the corporation s interactive media player (imp) is its first foray into broadband tv - known as iptv (internet protocol tv). we see several opportunities for delivering the type of content that normally broadcasters find it difficult to get to viewers said bt s andrew burke. with more people on broadband and connection speeds increasing telcos around the world are looking for new ways to make money from it. increased competition between net service providers encouraged by ofcom has eroded bt s position in the market. it is looking for a good return on its investment in the technology which has made broadband over adsl a reality. it also sees delivering tv over broadband as a way of getting high-definition (hd) content to people sooner than they will be able to get it through conventional regular broadcasts. the bbc s imp has just finished successful technical trials and is set for much larger consumer trials later in 2005. before it officially launches the bbc must show the government how it offers value for money. delivering programmes over broadband offers clear public value says the bbc because it gives people more control and more choice. iptv is a similar idea to voip services like skype. both use broadband net connections to carry information like video and voice in packets of data instead of conventional means. since it uses internet technology iptv could mean more choice of programmes more more interactivity tailored programming and more localised content outside of conventional satellite digital cable and terrestrial broadcasts. it is all part of the larger changing tv technology landscape and like personal digital video recorders (pvrs) gives people much more control over tv. broadcasters see iptv and pvrs as both as a threat and an opportunity. the bbc recognises that tv over broadband is a reality and aims to innovate with it said rahul chakkara controller of bbci s 24/7 interactive tv services. the imp is based on peer-to-peer technology and lets people download programmes the bbc owns the rights to for up to seven days after broadcast. iptv enables us to take back that programme to our audience at different times said mr chakkara. so we can tell our audience that that programme they paid for [via the licence fee] they can access it any time they want. it helps said mr burke that people are more au fait with terms like digital interactive now that digital tv reaches more than 56% of uk homes. according to benoit joly from broadband telecoms firm thales 30% of europe cannot get satellite tv or digital tv. they could get iptv though. analysts say that iptv will account for 10% of the digital tv market in europe alone by the end of the decade. what needs to happen now agree analysts is for connection speeds to be bumped up to handle the service; 20mbps connections would be ideal. bt does not see itself as a broadcaster of iptv services rather as an enabler said mr burke. its strategy is a hybrid approach he explained where over-the-air conventional broadcasts are supplemented with content over broadband. initially appealing to niche markets like sports fans it will widen out. but iptv could be used for home-monitoring pet cams localised news services and local authority tv too says bt. it even suggests that it could target those households in the uk that do not own a computer 40% of the country. broadband to them would not be about data and the net - that could come later for them - but about cheap phone calls and more choice of tv programmes. home choice already offers 10 000 hours of shows and channels delivered over broadband to homes in london. with a broadband net subscription you can also get your tv and phone service. through content deals and partnerships it offers satellite as well as terrestrial channels and bespoke channels based on what viewers pick and choose from its catalogues. it aims to expand nationally but is seeing a lot of success with what it offers its 15 000 subscribers now and aims to double uptake as well as reach by the summer. although still at a very early stage iptv is another application for broadband that underlines its growing prominence as a backbone network - another utility like electricity.

fry set for role in hitchhiker s actor stephen fry is joining the cast of the forthcoming film adaptation of the hitchhiker s guide to the galaxy. fry will provide the voice of the guide an electronic book which accompanies the story s hero arthur dent on his travels around the galaxy. martin freeman john malkovich bill nighy and alan rickman are co-starring in the film due for release in may. the late douglas adams original 1977 scripts have also been turned into a series of successful books. being asked to do the voice of the guide is like having your birthday on christmas day discovering a winning lottery ticket in your stocking and having chocolate poured all over you said fry a self-confessed fan of the book. the film s executive producer robbie stamp said that adams who died in 2001 would have been delighted with the choice of fry for the role. his humour and intelligence are perfect for the voice of the guide added mr stamp. adams wrote the screenplay based on his book before his premature death while a new radio series was aired 26 years after the first broadcast and included many of the original cast members. hollywood star malkovich will play religious cult leader humma kavula which was especially created by adams for the new film. freeman who starred in hit bbc comedy the office will play the role of arthur dent who begins his intergalactic voyage following the destruction of the earth.

levy takes whitbread novel prize orange prize winner andrea levy has seen her book small island win the whitbread novel of the year award. she is now favourite to win the overall prize after beating booker winner alan hollinghurst s the line of beauty. geraldine mccaughrean has picked up the children s fiction award for the third time for not the end of the world. all the category winners go through to compete for the whitbread book of the year title which carries with it a £25 000 prize. a panel of judges including sir trevor mcdonald actor hugh grant and writer joanne harris will meet up on 25 january to decide the overall winner with the announcement being made later that evening. bookmaker william hill has placed london-based levy s novel as the 6/4 favourite to win. small island levy s fourth novel is set in post-war england and centres on a landlady and her lodgers. one is a jamaican who joined british troops to fight hitler but finds life difficult out of uniform when he settles in london. the judges who included authors jenny colgan and amanda craig were full of praise for her writing. what could have been a didactic or preachy prospect turns out to hilarious moving humane and eye-popping. it s hard to think of anybody not enjoying it wrote the judges. the first novel section was won by susan fletcher for eve green beating the favourite jonathan strange and mr norrell by susanna clarke. fletcher has recently graduated from graduated from the university of east anglia creative writing course. waterstone s fiction writer buyer suzie doore said: it is great to see susan fletcher win in the first novel category. as a relatively unknown author this award will give her exposure to a wider and mass audience that she may not have reached and is a perfect example of the influence of the whitbread. fresh out of university she is certainly one to watch. in the biography category it was john guy s the life of mary queen of scots that was picked as winner. the judges called it an impressive and readable piece of scholarship which cannot fail but leave the reader moved and intrigued by this most tragic and likeable of queens . guy has published many histories including tudor england. he is a fellow at clare college cambridge and became a honorary research professor of the university of st andrews in 2003. michael symmons roberts fourth collection of poems scooped the poetry award. his works mixes mysticism erotica and philosophy through life death and resurrection. as well as writing poetry symmons roberts also makes documentary films. children s winner mccaughrean who went into magazine publishing after studying teaching previously won the whitbread prize in 1987 with a little lower than angels and in 1994 with gold dust. she has previously been the winner of the blue peter book of the year.

rapper 50 cent ends protege feud rapper 50 cent has ended his public feud with his protege the game as the pair said they wanted to be good role models for their communities. the row blew up when 50 cent threw the game out of his g-unit crew and accused him of being disloyal. a member of the game s entourage was reportedly shot outside a radio station where 50 cent was being interviewed. but the pair shook hands as they handed over money to music projects for new york s deprived areas on wednesday. the game whose real name is jayceon taylor told a news conference: i want to apologise. i m almost ashamed to have participated in the things that went on over the last few weeks. chart-topper 50 cent real name curtis jackson said the truce came on the anniversary of the death of the notorious big in 1997 who was part of a volatile feud between the east and west coast rap scenes. we re here today to show that people can rise above the most difficult circumstances and together we can put negativity behind us 50 cent said. a lot of people don t want to see it happen but we re responding to the two most important groups - our family and our fans. the boys choir of harlem got a cheque for $150 000 (£77 800) from 50 cent while the game handed over $103 500 (£53 400). the game also made a contribution to the compton schools music programme. 50 cent announced he has launched the g-unity foundation to help people overcome obstacles and make a chance for the better in their lives . i realised that if i m going to be effective at that i have to overcome some of my own he said. game and i need to set an example in the community. 50 cent is no stranger to feuds with rapper ja rule among the targets for ridicule in his songs. on his latest album released earlier this month he turned his attentions to fat joe and nas who have both worked with ja rule. both he and the game have admitted drug dealing in the past and have both been shot.

worldcom director ends evidence the former chief financial officer at us telecoms firm worldcom has finished giving evidence at the trial of his ex-boss bernie ebbers. scott sullivan admitted to jurors he was willing to commit fraud to meet wall street earnings projections. mr ebbers is on trial for fraud and conspiracy in relation to worldcom s collapse in 2002. he pleads not guilty. mr sullivan has spent two days being cross-examined by lawyers for former worldcom chief executive mr ebbers. attorney reid weingarten has attempted to portray mr sullivan as a liar and on thursday quizzed him about his decision to commit fraud to meet analysts profit estimates. at that point in time mr sullivan said referring to the first false entries in late 2000 i knew it was wrong and i knew it was against the law but i thought we would get through it in the short term. mr sullivan 42 has already pleaded guilty to fraud and will be sentenced following mr ebbers trial where he is appearing as a prosecution witness. mr ebbers 63 has always insisted that he was unaware of any hidden shortfalls in worldcom s finances. the former finance officer said mr ebbers knew about the improper accounting entries that were made between 2000 and 2002 to conceal soaring expenses and inflate revenue. mr ebbers could face a sentence of 85 years if convicted of all the charges he is facing. worldcom s problems appear to have begun with the collapse of the dotcom boom which cut its business from internet companies. prosecutors allege that the company s top executives responded by orchestrating massive fraud over a two-year period. worldcom emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2004 and is now known as mci. on monday mci agreed to a buyout by verizon communications in a deal valued at $6.75bn.

labour battle plan hides blair the tories have accused tony blair of being terrified of scrutiny after labour unveiled details of how it will fight the next general election. in a break with tradition the party will ditch the leader s battle bus and daily press briefings in westminster. instead mr blair will travel to key cities and marginal seats to deliver the party s message. labour election chief alan milburn denied the party was trying to hide the prime minister. he promised the most positive and upbeat election campaign labour has ever run . but tory co-chairman liam fox said labour s plans showed mr blair was terrified of facing proper scrutiny . at a time when the british people are looking for more accountability and openness this government turns its back on them; abandoning plans to tour the country and scared to face journalists in a press conference - it does rather beg the question what have they got to hide the general election is widely expected next may and all the parties are stepping up their campaign preparations. mr milburn said the economy would take centre stage in labour s campaign in what would be a watershed election and the last stand of the thatcherites . mr milburn said labour s slogan would be britain is working - don t let the tories wreck it. the tone of the campaign said mr milburn would be more conversational than rhetorical; more spontaneous less scripted; less national more local and less based on issues and more concentrated on people. the approach is particularly designed to appeal to women voters he said. mr milburn brushed aside questions over why the chancellor was not present at the cabinet meeting to discuss election strategy particularly since such importance was being given to the economy. i m not privy to everybody s diary he said. mr brown has headed labour s preparations for previous polls but mr milburn is taking that role this time. in a break with the past labour will not hold a daily news conference in london. it will not be a battle bus style campaign either he said. in previous elections each party leader has had their own battle bus transporting national newspaper television and radio reporters to staged campaign events around the country. mr milburn said labour s media effort this time would focus more on local newspapers and broadcasters with every local radio station given the chance to interview the prime minister. mr milburn said there would also be a greater effort to set up face-to-face meetings between ministers and the electorate. former downing street media chief alastair campbell is also returning to advise labour on media strategy and campaigning. mr milburn said no decision had been taken yet over whether david blunkett would have a prominent role in the election. liberal democrat chief executive lord rennard suggested labour was avoiding news conferences in london because it wanted less scrutiny of its record and proposals. tony blair seems to have disappeared from labour leaflets and broadcasts he said. in contrast charles kennedy will feature prominently in the liberal democrat campaign right across the country.

iraq advice claim sparks new row the tories say ministers must respond in parliament to claims that the legal advice used to justify the iraq war was drawn up at number 10. downing street has denied the claims made in a new book about the attorney general lord goldsmith s advice. lord goldsmith also denied them saying he was not leaned on in any way. but the conservatives and liberal democrats say they want the publication of the full legal advice given by the attorney general. the government has consistently refused to publish lord goldsmith s advice on the legality of the war - saying such papers have always been kept confidential. but a short statement about lord goldsmith s position was presented in a written parliamentary answer on 17 march 2003 - just before a crucial commons vote on the military action. it said it was plain iraq continued to be in material breach of un resolution 1441. in his new book lawless world philippe sands a qc and international law professor suggests the parliamentary answer was written in downing street. according to mr sands lord goldsmith had warned tony blair in a document on 7 march 2003 that the use of force against iraq could be illegal and that it would have been safer to seek a second un resolution sanctioning military action. mr sands told newsnight the government had prepared a legal team to be able to defend its case in case legal action was taken against the uk over the war. on 10 march military chiefs reportedly asked for an unequivocal statement about the legality of the war to make sure troops could be defended in a court of law. the book being serialised in the guardian newspaper says on 13 march lord goldsmith met then home office minister lord falconer and downing street adviser baroness morgan. after that downing street proceeded to set out his [lord goldsmith s] view in a parliamentary answer which was then published on 17 march said mr sands. tory leader michael howard reiterated calls for the publication of the full legal advice given by the attorney general warning: this issue will not go away. these revelations throw an intensive spotlight on to the cavalier way in which this government operates - even on an issue as important as peace and war. the government needs to act to restore public confidence and trust. liberal democrat foreign affairs spokesman menzies campbell repeated his party s calls for lord goldsmith s first piece of legal advice to be made public. the public interest which the government claims justifies non-publication of the whole of the advice can only be served now by the fullest disclosure. in a statement to newsnight lord goldsmith said: in my parliamentary answer on march 17 2003 i explained my genuinely held independent view that military action was lawful under the existing security council resolutions. it was certainly not a view that i expressed as a result of being leaned on in any way nor as i have already made clear was it written by or at number 10. the prime minister s official spokesman also rejected the claims saying: the attorney general made it clear the words and the judgement were his. but ex-foreign secretary robin cook says all the advice should now be published. he said the claims suggested parliament had only received a précis of lord goldsmith s second opinion - and that it was actually drafted in no 10. this would be wrong even if lord goldsmith had signed the statement mr cook said because the attorney general s advice should be an independent legal opinion not subject to political negotiation of this kind .

roddick splits from coach gilbert andy roddick has ended an 18-month association with coach brad gilbert which yielded the us open title and saw the american become world number one. roddick released a statement through the sfx sports group with the news but did not give a reason for the split. the decision to not re-hire brad gilbert for the 2005 season is based on what i think is best for my game at this time said roddick. any more on this situation s a private matter between coach and player. roddick won 121 of his 147 matches while working with gilbert and said he had enjoyed their time together. he won his first grand slam event at flushing meadows last year and finished 2003 on top of the atp tour rankings. but roddick slipped to second this year behind roger federer who became the first man since 1988 to win three majors in a season. federer who has not had a coach since he split from peter lundgren at the end of last year beat roddick to win the wimbledon title and in two other tournament finals. roddick hired gilbert after deciding to part from coach tarik benhabiles in the wake of his first-round exit at the 2003 french open. he went on to win the us open and four other titles for the year. he has won four events this season. i have enjoyed all of my time with andy gilbert said on his personal website. he has been a great student of the game during the time that we worked together and i am very proud of the results that were achieved. while i believe that there is still a great deal of work to be done andy clearly does not feel that way.

tautou to star in da vinci film french actress audrey tautou star of hit film amelie will play the female lead in the film adaptation of the da vinci code it has been reported. the movie version of dan brown s best-selling novel is being directed by ron howard and also stars tom hanks. tautou will play hanks code-cracking partner according to various newspapers. she is currently starring in a very long engagement directed by jean-pierre jeunet. jeunet was also responsible for directing tautou in amelie in 2001 which launched the actress into the mainstream. she also starred as the lead role in critically-acclaimed film dirty pretty things in 2002. oscar-winning director ron howard chose tautou for the part preferring a french actress to a big name hollywood star. uk actress kate beckinsale had been widely tipped as a possibility for the role alongside vanessa paradis and juliette binoche. the thriller upon which the movie is based has sold more than 17 million copies and is centred on a global conspiracy surrounding the holy grail mythology. the louvre museum scene of the gruesome murder at the beginning of the novel recently gave permission for filming to take place there showbusiness newspaper variety reported. the $100m movie will be produced by columbia/sony pictures and is due for release on may 19 2006 in the united states and france.

asia quake increases poverty risk nearly two million people across asia could be thrown into poverty because of the indian ocean tsunami the asian development bank (adb) has said. in its first overview of the disaster the adb said the impact on economic growth would be slight because major cities and factories escaped damage. but the blow to many low-income people could be enormous . the paris club of rich creditor nations on wednesday offered to freeze debts owed by tsunami-hit countries. the move was aimed at helping south asian governments find budgets to rebuild devastated coastal areas though so far only sri lanka indonesia and the seychelles have indicated that they will take it up. other countries believe their economies are strong enough to cope or wish to avoid being viewed as credit risks. poverty is potentially the most important impact of this natural disaster said adb chief economist ifzal ali. donor nations have promised to give $717m (£379m) in disaster relief over the next six months according to the united nations. mr ali added his voice to those warning that aid pledges must be promptly delivered saying the number of people at risk of poverty hinged on concerns over sanitation and health conditions and other basic needs being properly and quickly addressed . there are 1.9 billion people in asia living on less than $2 a day. the adb fears that 1 million indonesians could join them while in india just over half a million people - 645 000 - are at risk of falling into poverty. a quarter of a million sri lankans and 23 500 people in the maldives are also facing poverty. in the maldives where 43% of the population already lives on less than $2 a day this could rise to half. sri lanka and the maldives are the two countries the adb fears are most at risk of suffering lasting economic damage from the tsunami. sri lanka s government has estimated reconstruction costs at nearly $3bn. a government task force held meetings to discuss an emergency rebuilding plan with the adb world bank and japanese aid agencies on wednesday and promised to publish the plan within 10 days. indonesia malaysia thailand and india have enjoyed strong economic growth in recent years which should cushion them against reconstruction costs. although indonesia s northern province of aceh suffered the worst death toll the region s oil and natural gas production facilities have survived intact the report said. however it remains too soon to asses the damage to poor people s livelihoods in aceh because it would depend on how much farm land had been flooded by seawater. this is a profoundly tragic event for the region and for the millions who are suffering. but the economies of the affected countries except sri lanka and the maldives should emerge with minimal damage the adb report said. some businesses may even gain from the reconstruction efforts thereby creating jobs. at a meeting in thailand abd president thadao chino said he was confident of the country s own capabilities to restore normalcy to the affected areas and meet the rehabilitation requirements . thailand has said it does not wish to opt for a debt repayment freeze while india has also rejected international aid saying it can cope on its own resources. debt repayment holidays carry the risk of credit ratings downgrades making it more expensive to borrow money in future. indonesia however is pressing for greater help with its debts than the current freeze would bring. it is one of the world s most indebted countries.

cairn energy in indian gas find shares in cairn energy rose 3.8% to 1 088 pence on tuesday after the uk firm announced a fresh gas discovery in northern india. the firm which last year made a number of other new finds in the rajasthan area said the latest discovery could lead to large gas volumes. however chief executive bill gammell cautioned that additional evalution was first needed at the site. cairn has also been granted approval to extend its rajasthan exploration area. this approval has come from the indian government. a spokesman said the company s decision to carry out further investigations at the new find showed that it believed there was significant gas. but he added: it s still too early to say what the extent of it is. cairn s string of finds in rajasthan last year saw it elevated to the ftse 100 index of the uk s leading listed companies. the company had bought the rights to explore in the area from oil giant shell. mr gammell is a former scottish international rugby player.

labour mp praises tory campaign the conservatives have been a lot smarter in the way they have conducted the general election campaign a labour backbencher has said. derek wyatt said having a five month campaign turned off voters and suggested people were already rather bored of the thing . he wants a greater campaigning role for chancellor gordon brown. labour said the economy was at the heart of the campaign and mr brown therefore had a prominent role. but mr wyatt argued: by some way he is currently the figure in all of the polls that people trust and see that has delivered over eight years an economy unmatched anywhere in the world. so it would be a tad foolish of the labour party if we did not use him as we have done over the past three elections. labour s election chief alan milburn denied there was an attempt to sideline mr brown after facing criticism for letting the tories set the agenda. however mr wyatt predicted the campaign would get under way properly once the chancellor delivered his budget. the mp for sittingbourne and sheppey said prime minister tony blair had been trying very hard to improve his own standing with the electorate through a sort of campaign of trust . but mr blair had been hurt by the iraq controversy he added. a labour party spokesman played down differences with mr wyatt and said mr brown already had a prominent campaign role. this election is a choice between labour taking britain forward and the conservatives taking us back.

show over for mtv s the osbournes rock star ozzy osbourne has said his family will not make any more episodes of reality tv show the osbournes. at the end of it i didn t like having cameras around the house all the time the black sabbath singer told reporters at the mtv europe awards in rome. his wife sharon who also appears in the popular mtv show based on the osbournes family life agreed. now everybody s doing reality shows. he s done it he s been there he s got to do something else she said. ozzy osbourne said he had had enough of the work involved in making the series. when you watch a 25-minute episode i ve been filming all day he said. sharon osbourne is currently appearing as a judge and mentor in itv1 talent show the x-factor alongside simon cowell and louis walsh. earlier this year she topped a poll of the most important people in rock for her part in guiding the career of husband ozzy and her family. she was the driving force behind the osbournes which ran for three series earning the family a reported $85m (£46m). the renewed popularity for ozzy has seen sales of his merchandise hit the $50m (£27.2m) mark a record for a heavy metal artist. sales of t-shirts accessories and action figures have rocketed since the osbournes hit screens. at its peak the osbournes had a regular audience of eight million with america s tv guide magazine describing the series as a cross between the simpsons and this is spinal tap . osbourne himself was at a loss to explain its popularity: i suppose americans get a kick out of watching a crazy brit family like us make complete fools of ourselves every week.

media gadgets get moving pocket-sized devices that let people carry around video and images are set to have a big year in 2005 according to industry experts. last year saw the emergence of portable media players such as the windows-based creative zen portable media player the samsung yepp the iriver pmc-100 and the archos av400 series among others. but this year they are set to get smarter and more connected to allow people to find more video to watch on them. archos launched its latest range of its linux-based portable media devices at the consumer electronics show in las vegas on friday. dubbed the pocket media assistant pma430 it crucially has wi-fi capability built-in for the first time. consumers are showing a great thirst for devices that store all their media in one place for anywhere access said henri crohas chief of archos. and now those consumers can stay connected and productive at the same time. archos said the focus for the device is to be the second gadget in people s pockets after the mobile. unlike windows-based players the archos av400 series devices have always been able to record from any video source such as tvs as well as playback. the content put onto the devices is copy protected so cannot then be swapped to another device. recording is perhaps a crucial functionality for those who have not seen the point of portable video if there is not a lot of video to watch on it. and wi-fi connectivity opens up the possibility of content delivery via a high-speed wireless link. archos also announced that it would open up the software development kit to linux developers so that more applications could be created for the device. microsoft also made some announcements in the portable media arena at ces primarily for us consumers though. it has agreed a content deal with personal video recorder company tivo which bill gates also showcased in his keynote speech at ces. the tivo to go service means that us consumers will be able to take any programmes they record on their tivos and transfer it for free to watch on any of the windows-based portable media players or smartphones. it also said it had launched a service with mtv to let people watch comedy central vh1 and country music tv on its devices. and a service is launching with msn to provide people with shortened versions of news entertainment and other video on a subscription basis for download via the pc onto the portable devices. but the ability to record directly from tv vcr and digital cable and satellite boxes which windows-based devices do not offer certainly gives people more content to watch on the go too. the increased capability of these devices and the content deals that are being done may go some way to persuading people to use them. recent research by jupiter suggested that people would prefer a device that was dedicated to music. only 13% of europeans wanted to watch video while on the move. more seemed interested in spending their cash on music-only devices. this year we are ready for an explosion of portable media microsoft s mike coleman told the bbc news website. we are very bullish about it. the fact that i can put photos on here too and share them is super-cool to the consumer he added. the fact that europeans are far larger public transport users than americans is one reason why portable media will take off in the coming year too. there is a burgeoning market there for commuters to watch news and other programmes on their way to work. although microsoft s content distribution deals are for the us market at the moment talks were always on-going with european content suppliers to offer similar services. various rights management issues have to be ironed out first however. but that does not prevent people from finding ways to create their own content to share online and swap on portable devices particularly via those which are wi-fi enabled. the possibility is open for non-professional makers of video and audio to take advantage of the growing portable media market to distribute their work. ces which runs from 6 to 9 january showcases more than 50 000 new gadgets that will be hitting the shelves in 2005.

dvd review: harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban this third harry potter film brought a change of director and a dramatic visual shake-up that really shines on dvd. gone are the warm bright colours found in the two earlier films alfonso cuaron brings in a bleak and cold feel that is simply gorgeous - and looks even better here than in the cinema. it is all part of the progression of harry s story into darker areas but you ll spend time just marvelling at the beautiful hogwarts landscape. this is the first potter film where you get so lost in the screen adaptation that you forget the book. it is the third year at hogwarts and studies are interrupted as they always are by a calamity that only harry ron and hermione can put right. it sounds corny. but harry is no longer the winsome hero he is a moody teenager and daniel radcliffe pulls it off very well. emma watson is ever better as hermione and the young stars are joined by the usual myriad famous actors including gary oldman and emma thompson. the film itself is the reason to buy this dvd. but it is laden with behind-the-scenes extras including funny if shallow interviews with all the main cast. but what seems like a long list of features can be swiftly whittled down to the few that you are going to watch. younger viewers will go for the games which include a magic you may have missed memory test and crookshanks chasing off after scabbers. adult viewers will ignore those and go straight to the deleted scenes. you will understand why they were deleted but it is fun to see more footage - and not have to hunt through endless menus to find it as we did on the first harry potter dvd. the most interesting pieces are an interview with jk rowling in creating the vision and conjuring a scene a short featurette about the making of the film s big moments.

man utd through after exeter test manchester united avoided an fa cup upset by edging past exeter city in their third round replay. cristiano ronaldo scored the opener slipping the ball between paul jones legs after just nine minutes. united wasted a host of chances to make it safe as jones made some great saves but wayne rooney put the tie beyond doubt late on with a cool finish. exeter had chances of their own sean devine twice volleying wide and andrew taylor forcing tim howard to save. united boss sir alex ferguson was taking few chances after their 0-0 draw in the first game and he handed starts to paul scholes and ryan as well as ronaldo and rooney. exeter began brightly with devine and steve flack seeing plenty of the ball but it did not take united long to assert their authority and the hosts soon found themselves a goal down. scholes played a lovely pass in to ronaldo on the left-hand side of the six-yard box and the portuguese winger slid the ball between the legs of jones to open the scoring. united sensed a chance to finish the tie as a contest early on and ronaldo blazed over before jones saved well from scholes and then rooney. the visitors pressure by now was incessant and rooney had another shot blocked while ronaldo slammed well over the bar again from a good position. just before the break giggs had a golden chance to double the advantage but the welshman dragged a left-foot effort badly wide from 10 yards. in stoppage time exeter created their best chance as alex jeannin swung in a cross from the left that devine managed to flick goalwards but the ball flew wide of howard s goal. the grecians came out after the break in determined fashion and howard had to show safe hands to collect two searching crosses into the united box. rooney looked like he might have sealed the result with a turn and shot but the ball stuck in the st james park mud and jones raced back to gather on the goalline. moments later devine had the chance to make himself a hero but he could only volley jeannin s brilliant cross wide of howard s goal after being left unmarked six yards out. after rooney had completely messed up a free-kick 20 yards out taylor showed him how it should be done his stunning drive from distance forcing a flying stop from howard. the home crowd were baying for a goal and they did get the ball into the net only for devine s low effort to be ruled out for an obvious offside. the persistent rooney eventually rounded jones with three minutes to go and slotted into an empty net to book a home tie with middlesbrough in the fourth round. jones hiley sawyer gaia jeannin moxey taylor (martin 89) ampadu (afful 69) clay flack (edwards 74) devine. subs not used: rice todd. ampadu clay. howard phil neville gary neville o shea fortune giggs (saha 70) miller (fletcher 66) scholes djemba-djemba (silvestre 80) ronaldo rooney. subs not used: ricardo bellion. ronaldo 9 rooney 87. 9 033. p dowd (staffordshire).

musical treatment for capra film the classic film it s a wonderful life is to be turned into a musical by the producer of the controversial hit show jerry springer - the opera. frank capra s 1946 movie starring james stewart is being turned into a £7m musical by producer jon thoday. he is working with steve brown who wrote the award-winning musical spend spend spend. a spokeswoman said the plans were in the very early stages with no cast opening date or theatre announced. a series of workshops have been held in london and on wednesday a cast of singers unveiled the musical to a select group of potential investors. mr thoday said the idea of turning the film into a musical had been an ambition of his for almost 20 years. it s a wonderful life was based on a short story the greatest gift by philip van doren stern. mr thoday managed to buy the rights to the story from van doren stern s family in 1999 following mr brown s success with spend spend spend. he later secured the film rights from paramount enabling them to use the title it s a wonderful life.

wenger handed summer war chest arsenal boss arsene wenger has been guaranteed transfer funds to boost his squad the summer. the club s managing director keith edelman stressed that the development of their new £350m stadium had no affect on wenger s spending power. the money is there. don t worry we ve got it edelman told bbc sport. hopefully we ll spend it this summer and in the coming years. arsene attends all our board meetings and he knows our finances are very strong. edelman added that it was pointless having a brand new stadium if the team did not match the surroundings. its great to have nice new surroundings but if the team aren t performing on the pitch then there isn t great respect in having a fabulous stadium he said. it s important that we had sufficient funds for our team in place before we began on the stadium.

slovakia seal hopman cup success slovakia clinched the hopman cup for the second time by beating argentina 3-0 in saturday s final in perth. daniela hantuchova put the third seeds ahead recovering from a terrible start to beat gisela dulko 1-6 6-4 6-4. dominik hrbaty who had not lost a set in his three singles matches in the group stages then upset world number seven guillermo coria 6-4 6-1. hantuchova and hrbaty then won the mixed doubles after coria was forced to withdraw because of a sore back. slovakia s win made up for last year s final defeat to the united states. i would like to congratulate daniela hrbaty said. i was so nervous watching her today i almost had a heart attack. i also feel a little sorry for guillermo because i get very excited whenever i play for my country. i show lots of emotions and played such good tennis. world number 31 hantuchova ranked two places above dulko looked nervous as she dropped the first four games of the match. dulko who had lost all three of her singles matches in the group stages grew in confidence and took the opening set in just 27 minutes. but hantuchova hit back to take the next two and the match. i was so nervous because i really wanted to win for the team and for dominik as he played so well all week she said. i didn t think i was playing my best but i just tried to hang in there and fight hard for every point for my country. slovakia won the cup on their first appearance in 1998 when karol kucera and karina habsudova beat france.

davenport dismantles young rival top seed lindsay davenport booked her place in the last 16 of the australian open with a convincing 6-2 6-4 win over nicole vaidisova of the czech republic. the american had too much power for her 15-year-old opponent breaking twice in the first set and once in the second. the german-born vaidisova rallied well at times but was unable to find a way back after falling behind 3-2 in the opening set. davenport who closed out with an ace plays karolina sprem in the next round. i was fully expecting a tough opponent and was able to play well enough to get through it said davenport. i think she hits some great shots. she made some errors but probably some inexperience played a role in that. but she s so young and obviously has a big game and has many many years to improve on that. sprem the croatian 13th seed saw off russia s elena likhovtseva 6-3 6-2. former world number one powered her way into the fourth round with a straight sets win over anna smashnova. the 27th seed from israel stuck with williams until 3-3 in the first set before it became one-way traffic. the american made 26 unforced errors but was still good enough to romp through the contest in exactly an hour. she reeled off nine straight games to finish a 6-3 6-0 winner. remains on course to become the first australian to win her home title since chris o neil in 1978. the 10th seed equalled her best performance at a grand slam event when she beat unseeded russian nadia petrova 6-3 6-2 to reach the fourth round. after a tough first set molik grew in confidence and won in just 56 minutes. she will now meet venus williams. bring it on said the 23-year-old. i played pretty well and it was nice to get through in straight sets. we were destined to meet i guess williams said referring to her match with molik. it will be a huge match for her in australia. i can tell she s probably very motivated by that so i need to get out there and play well. beat slovakia s daniela hantuchova in a rollercoaster match. dementieva came through 7-5 5-7 6-4 becoming the seventh russian woman to reach the last 16 in melbourne. the match lasted almost three hours and featured 13 service breaks including three in the final set when dementieva held her nerve to seal the win. she now faces after the swiss 12th seed beat american abigail spears 7-6 6-3. french open champion received a free ride into the last 16 after lisa raymond was forced to withdraw. raymond the 25th seeded american was ruled out after sustaining a left abdominal muscle tear in the doubles. myskina the third seed now plays france s who beat francesca schiavone of italy 6-3 6-3. i m extremely disappointed because i couldn t have asked to play better in my first two matches raymond said.

bortolami predicts dour contest italy skipper marco bortolami believes saturday s six nations contest against scotland will be a scrappy encounter. with both sides looking for their first win of the championship the third-round game at murrayfield has been billed as a wooden-spoon decider. and bortolami feels the edinburgh contest could end up being a bruising battle of the packs. it will not be a pretty game because both teams are desperate to gain their first win said the lock forward. italy have only recorded three wins since they joined the six nations in 2000 but two of those have come against scotland. this year italy opened up with a stubborn display against ireland but ended up losing 28-17. however they were thoroughly outplayed by an impressive welsh side in rome last time out. now the italians travel to edinburgh hoping to claim their first away win in the six nations. scotland played extremely well against france in paris but not so well when ireland came to edinburgh said bortolami. we are still very disappointed with our last game against wales in rome and we are thoroughly determined to right the wrongs. as a nation our quest is to be respected as a team worthy of a place in this tournament and we can only do this by winning games.

train strike grips buenos aires a strike on the buenos aires underground has caused traffic chaos and large queues at bus stops in the argentine capital. tube workers walked out last week demanding a 53% pay rise and in protest against the installation of automatic ticket machines. metrovias the private firm which runs the five tube lines in the city has offered an 8% increase in wages. the firm promised no jobs would be lost as a result of new ticket machines. it said it would put this commitment on paper. underground staff have warned they will continue with the protests until the management put an acceptable offer on the table. the argentine work ministry has been mediating in the conflict and it could call an obligatory conciliation which would force both sides to find a solution and put an end to the conflict. some tube commuters have not hidden their frustration at the ongoing strike and have broken the windows of the underground trains according to the local press. we are taken as hostages. i don t know who is right but the harm ones are us said accountant jose lopez.

firefox browser takes on microsoft microsoft s internet explorer has a serious rival in the long-awaited firefox 1.0 web browser which has just been released. few people get excited when some new software is released especially when the program is not a game or a music or movie player. but the release of the first full version of firefox has managed to drum up a respectable amount of pre-launch fervour. fans of the software have banded together to raise cash to pay for an advert in the new york times announcing that version 1.0 of the browser is available. the release of firefox 1.0 on 9 november might even cause a few heads to turn at microsoft because the program is steadily winning people away from the software giant s internet explorer browser. firefox has been created by the mozilla foundation which was started by former browser maker netscape back in 1998. much of the development work done since then has gone into firefox which made its first appearance under this name in february. earlier incarnations but which had the same core technology were called phoenix and firebird. since then the software has been gaining praise and converts not least because of the large number of security problems that have come to light in microsoft s internet explorer. rivals to ie got a boost in late june when two us computer security organisations warned people to avoid the microsoft program to avoid falling victim to a serious vulnerability. internet monitoring firm websidestory has charted the growing population of people using the firefox browser and says it is responsible for slowly eroding the stranglehold of ie. before july this year according to websidestory internet explorer was used by about 95% of web surfers. that figure had remained static for years. in july the ie using population dropped to 94.7% and by the end of october stood at 92.9%. the mozilla foundation claims that firefox has been downloaded almost eight million times and has publicly said it would be happy to garner 10% of the windows- using net-browsing population. firefox is proving popular because at the moment it has far fewer security holes than internet explorer and has some innovations lacking in microsoft s program. for instance firefox allows the pages of different websites to be arranged as tabs so users can switch easily between them. it blocks pop-ups has a neat way of finding text on a page and lets you search through the pages you have browsed. one of the most powerful features of firefox is the many hundreds of extras or extensions produced for it. the mozilla foundation is an open source organisation which means that the creators of the browser are happy for others to play around with the core code for the program. this has resulted in many different add-ons or extensions for the browser which now include everything from a version of the familiar google toolbar to a homeland security monitor that keep users aware of current threat levels. firefox which used to be called firebird and before that phoenix also has a growing number of vocal net-based fans. a campaign co-ordinated by the spread firefox website attempted to raise the $50 000 needed for a full page advert in the new york times. the campaign set itself a target of recruiting 2500 volunteers. ten days in to the campaign 10 000 people had signed up and now about $250 000 has been raised. the ad is due to run sometime in a three-week period in late november/early december. the surplus cash will be used to help keep the mozilla foundation running. microsoft is facing a growing challenge to ie s hold on the web using population. from alternative browsers such as opera safari amaya and even netscape.

us ahold suppliers face charges us prosecutors have charged nine food suppliers with helping dutch retailer ahold inflate earnings by more than $800m (£428m). the charges have been brought against individuals as well as companies alleging they created false accounts. ahold hit the headlines in february 2003 after it emerged that there were accounting irregularities at its us subsidiary foodservice. three former ahold top executives last year agreed to settle fraud charges. ahold has admitted that it fraudulently inflated promotional allowances at foodservice improperly consolidated joint ventures and also committed other accounting errors and irregularities. the nine now charged who worked as suppliers to ahold are accused of signing false documents relating to the amount of money they paid the retailer for promoting their products in its stores. food companies pay supermarkets and retailers for prime shelf space. the suppliers in question are said to have inflated the amount of money they paid providing auditors with signed letters that allowed ahold to inflate its earnings. us attorney david kelley said he expects the nine vendors will plead guilty to the charges. he added that there may be more court actions in the future. i don t want to leave you with the impression that these were the only ones involved he said. among those facing charges are john nettle a former employee of general mills; mark bailin of rymer international seafood; tim daly of michael foods and kenneth bowman who worked as an independent contractor for total foods. others include michael hannigan of sugar foods; peter marion of maritime seafood processors and first choice foods; gordon redgate of commodity manager and private label distribution; bruce robinson of basic american foods and michael rogers formerly of tyson foods. pasquale d amuro of the fbi called the nine vendors the key ingredients in the process of cooking the books at ahold. at the time of the scandal ahold was seen by many as europe s enron. ahold shares tumbled on the news and many market observers predicted that the fall out could damage investor confidence across europe. it was less severe than many had envisaged however and since then ahold has worked hard at rebuilding its reputation and investor confidence. ahold is the world s fourth-largest supermarket chain. its other us businesses include stop & shop and giant food.

eminem beats elvis to number one rapper eminem has denied elvis his fourth number one of the year after his song like toy soldiers stormed to the top of the singles charts. the track claimed the top spot ahead of the king s latest re-release are you lonesome tonight. it is the fifth in a series of 18 reissues to mark the 70th anniversary of presley s birth. almost here the duet from former westlife star brian mcfadden and delta goodrem went in at number three. like toy soldiers from eminem s encore album is sampled from martika s 1980s hit toy soldiers. it takes a swipe at hip-hop feuds and follows the success of just lose it. last week s number one elvis s it s now or never slipped 13 places to number 14 but all five of his re-released songs are in the top 40. one world project tsunami fundraiser grief never grows old slipped four places to number eight. featuring cliff richard and boy george the song was written by former dj mike read. in the album charts athlete s latest offering tourist claimed the top spot toppling the chemical brother s push the button down which fell to number six.

chris evans back on the market broadcaster chris evans has begun selling thousands of his possessions from a stall in camden market london. evans perched on a stool as shoppers wandered around the open-fronted shop packed with his furniture. among the items from his homes in los angeles and london were countless sofas chairs pictures beds and memorabilia from his past tv shows. asked the reason for the sale evans said: i just want to get rid of it all it s just a headache. he added: it feels good to be selling this stuff it s a weight off my mind. look at it all there s so much clutter. i ve enjoyed every bit of furniture and every poster but it s not important anymore. the normally gregarious evans cut a peculiarly unshowbusiness-like figure as he sipped coffee and smoked cigarettes wrapped in a big coat and scarf in front of his aladdin s cave. however the ostentation of some of the items on sale painted a picture of the eccentricity that endeared him to the british public in shows such as channel 4 s gameshow don t forget your toothbrush. the most striking thing about many of the pieces was their sheer size. sofas looked like they could seat a small party and a bed seemed big enough for four. the elaborate nature of the pieces many custom-made had to be admired particularly a huge red and gold upholstered throne and a stripy deckchair from the queen mary liner. to help people in their browsing evans had given the pieces labels with not only the price but a helpful often comic aside. isn t it great was the comment on the £1 950 throne and bob dylan s old sofa - honest was written on a dark wood couch priced £4 250. the prices were steep by a lot of people s standards but evans said it was not deterring shoppers. i ve sold quite a lot already. everything here is on sale for less than i bought it for but it s not really about the money. it s about getting rid of it all. we ve all been bartering that s what it s all about. he added that he was not going to reveal what he was going to do with the money he was making. vintage tv and film posters also lined the walls including a rare portrait of raquel welch and an original advertising print from the benny hill show. and almost hidden at the back of the lock-up were the two giant toothbrushes from his former channel 4 show although these were not for sale. despite the sheer curiosity value of the sale there was a healthy trickle of interest from the public rather than the perhaps expected crowds. some wandered in just to browse as they would any of the other stalls not knowing that it belonged to evans. paul burgess said: i didn t realise. i thought it was just a load of junk. i should go back and have a better look. but local resident francesca detakats came specially to the stall and left happy with her purchase of an original 1960s photograph of the who by david wedgburg. ms detakats said she was a collector and did not mind paying £350 for the print. if you like something you don t really count it like that she said. martin hellewell who had also made a point of visiting evans shop said he thought it was a great idea. why not if you ve got stuff to get rid of it s a good place to do it said mr hellewell. evans has taken out the stall with business partner pete winterbottom. they plan to open every day if possible although evans did not know how often he would be there. we ll stay definitely until christmas and then maybe a week after that said evans.

eminem secret gig venue revealed rapper eminem is to play an intimate gig in london on saturday following a show on the river thames on friday. the us star will play just two songs at a night showcasing his label shady records at the islington academy. eminem performed on hms belfast on friday which is docked on the river thames where he filmed two songs for bbc one s top of the pops. he arrived in the uk on friday following his appearance at the mtv europe music awards in rome. other rap acts who may appear at the islington gig include stat quo proof dj green lantern swift and obie trice. eminem s latest album soared to the top of the us chart after just three days on sale in record shops. encore is now a chart-topper on both sides of the atlantic following its debut at number one in the uk. the fourth album from the rap star was on sale for two days before it outsold all of its rivals. the album was released early in an effort to combat both physical and online piracy. eminem s album includes the track mosh which is a tirade against us president bush and the presence of us troops in iraq. the rapper was criticised earlier this year after a performance on bbc one s top of the pops in april led 12 viewers to complain he was lewd and offensive . the complaints about the star grabbing his crotch were upheld by the bbc. the performer had been asked to tone his act down after rehearsal but ignored this request during the live broadcast a bbc statement read. although his gestures were part of the rap culture they had gone beyond what is expected.

gamers could drive high-definition tv films and games have been gearing up for some time now for the next revolution to transform the quality of what is on our screens. it is called high-definition - hd for short - and it is already hugely popular in japan and the us. it is set according to analysts to do for images what cds did for sound. different equipment able to receive hd signals is needed though and is expensive. but europe s gamers may be the early adopters to drive demand. europeans will have to wait until at least 2006 until they see mainstream hdtv. to view it it needs to be transmitted in hd format and people need special receivers and displays that can handle the high-quality resolution. the next generation of consoles however are expected to start appearing at the end of 2005 start of 2006. and most new computer displays and plasma sets are already capable of handling such high-resolution pictures. in the next generation [of consoles] hd support is mandatory dr mark tuffy games systems director at digital content firm thx told the bbc news website. every game is going to be playable in hd. so consumers who have gone out and spent all this money on hdtvs and who have no content to watch are going to be blown away by these really high-detail pictures. it s going to change really the way they look at gaming. at the end of last year chris deering sony s european president made a prediction that 20 million european households would have hdtv sets by 2008. a previous prediction from analysts datamonitor put the figure at 4.6 million by 2008 an increase from an estimated 50 000 sets at the end of 2003. but those in europe may see little point in buying what is quite an expensive bit of technology - about £2 000 - if there are few programmes or films to watch on them. satellite broadcaster bskyb is planning hdtv services in 2006 and the bbc intends to produce all of its content in hd by 2010. until broadcast rights format standards - and the practicalities of updating equipment - are agreed tv content will be limited. all tv images are made up of pixels which go across the screen and scan lines which go down the screen. most standard uk tv pictures are made up of 625 lines and about 700 pixels. hd offers up to 1 080 active lines with each line made up of 1 920 pixels. this means the picture is up to six times as sharp as standard tv. probably in the uk [gaming] is going to be the only thing you are going to really be able to show off as in look what this tv can do until hd is really adopted by broadcasters explains dr tuffy. but gamers are also the ideal target audience for hd because they always crave better quality graphics and more immersive gaming experiences. they are used to spending money on hardware to match a game s requirements. demographics have changed too and the sweet spot for the games industry is the gamer in his or her late 20s. this means they are likely to have higher disposable incomes and can afford the price of big-screen high-definition display technologies and hd projectors earlier than others. higher capacity storage discs such as hd-dvd and blue-ray are set to be standard in the next round of games consoles - allowing developers more room for detailed graphics. for console developers though hd offers some production changes. it could make games production slightly more expensive thinks dr tuffy. but we may see the cross-platform development of games becoming more common because they will more easily be able to take a pc game and apply it to a console he says. you are literally going to get to the point with a lord of the rings game for example is going to be closer and closer to the actual film especially the cgi stuff from the dvd. and the transition when they move from a cut scene to the game just now they have almost got it seamless. with hd he says the transition will be completely seamless and the same quality as the big-screen cinema release. this could herald an increasing convergence between the film and gaming industry. but it may not be until the generation after the next games consoles where the two industries really collide. at that point says dr tuffy games could become more or less interactive movies.

pandas benefit from wireless net the world s dwindling panda population is getting a helping hand from a wireless internet network. the wolong nature reserve in the sichuan province of southwest china is home to 20% of the remaining 1 500 giant pandas in the world. a broadband and wireless network installed on the reserve has allowed staff to chronicle the pandas daily activities. the data and images can be shared with colleagues around the world. the reserve conducts vital research on both panda breeding and bamboo ecology. using the network vets have been able to observe how infant pandas feed and suggest changes to improve the tiny cubs chances of survival. digital technology has transformed the way we communicate and share information inside wolong and with the rest of the world said zhang hemin director of the wolong nature reserve. our researchers now have state-of-the-art digital technology to help foster the panda population and manage our precious surroundings. the network has been developed by intel working closely with the staff at wolong. it includes a 802.11b wireless network and a video monitoring system using five cameras to observe pandas around the clock. before the new infrastructure arrived at the panda park staff walked or drove to deliver floppy disks across the reserve. infant panda health was recorded on paper notebooks and research teams in the field had little access to the data. to foster cultural links across the globe a children s learning lab has been incorporated in the network in collaboration with globio (federation for global biodiversity education for children) an international non-profit organisation. it will enable children at local primary schools to hook up with their peers in portland oregon in the us. digital technology brings this story to life by enabling a global dialogue to help bridge cultures around the world said globio founder gerry ellis.

disappointed scott in solid start allan scott is confident of winning a medal at next week s european indoor championships after a solid debut on the international circuit. the 22-year-old scot finished fourth in the 60m hurdles at the jose m cagigal memorial meeting in madrid. it was definitely a learning curve and i certainly haven t ruled out challenging for a medal next week said the east kilbride athlete. the race was won by felipe vivancos who equalled the spanish record. sweden s robert kronberg was second with haiti s dudley dorival in third. scott was slightly disappointed with his run in the final. he won his heat in 7.64secs but ran 0.04secs slower in his first iaaf indoor grand prix circuit final. i should have done better than that he said. i felt i could have won it. i got a poor start - but i still felt i should have ran faster. vivancos slashed his personal best to equal the spanish record with a time of 7.60secs while kronberg and dorival clocked 7.62secs and 7.63secs respectively.

injury doubts beset wales squad wales have a clutch of injury worries before wednesday s international friendly against hungary in cardiff. west ham s gavin williams (ankle) looks certain to be out so uncapped wrexham defender stephen roberts is drafted in. defenders danny gabbidon and gareth roberts plus ryan giggs have hamstring concerns while there are also doubts over robbie savage (groin). however manchester united winger giggs is expected to recover in time to earn his 50th cap at the millennium stadium. there were also doubts over gabbidon s fellow cardiff defender rhys weston but the full-back appears to have shrugged off the knock he picked up in the bluebirds 1-0 loss to west ham on sunday. the news leaves wales boss john toshack short in defence for his first game in charge with aston villa s mark delaney injured and james collins with the under-21s. that could clear the way for new faces danny collins and dave partridge to make their wales debuts. coyne (burnley) jones (wolves) roberts (wrexham) collins (sunderland) edwards (wolves) gabbidon (cardiff) page (cardiff) partridge (motherwell) ricketts (swansea) roberts (tranmere) weston (cardiff) davies (tottenham) fletcher (west ham) giggs (man utd) koumas (west brom) robinson (sunderland) savage (blackburn) williams (west ham) bellamy (newcastle) earnshaw (west brom) hartson (celtic).

brazil buy boosts belgium s inbev belgian brewing giant inbev has seen its profits soar thanks to its acquisition of brazil s biggest beer firm ambev last year. inbev which makes stella artois said pre-tax profits for 2004 rose 56% to 1.16bn euros ($1.5bn; £800m) and said it expected solid growth in 2005. the performance comes on sales up 21% at 8.6bn euros. the firm formerly interbrew became the world s biggest brewer by volume when it bought ambev in august 2004. the acquisition meant its sales by volume grew 57% in 2004 with four months of ambev sales accounting for almost all of the increase. us beermaker anheuser-busch sells less beer by volume than inbev but is bigger in terms of the value of its sales. continuing demand for inbev s products in the south american markets where its brazilian arm is most popular means it expects to keep boosting its turnover. it s the brazil business that s doing it said ing analyst gerard rijk of inbev s strong performance. ambev boosted its share of brazil s beer market from 62% at the end of 2003 to more than 68% by december 2004 inbev reported. in contrast inbev s european business saw volume sales fall 2.5% although central and eastern european sales rose 12%. overall net profits were up 42% to 719m euros.

da vinci code is lousy history the plot of an international bestseller that thousands of readers are likely to receive as a christmas present is laughable a clergyman has said. the da vinci code claims jesus was not crucified but married mary magdalene and died a normal death. it claims this was later covered up by the church. the bishop of durham the rt rev dr tom wright described the novel as a great thriller but lousy history . the book has sold more than seven million copies worldwide. despite enjoying dan brown s conspiracy theory the bishop said there was a lack of evidence to back up its claims. writing his christmas message in the northern echo the bishop said: conspiracy theories are always fun - fun to invent fun to read fun to fantasise about. dan brown is the best writer i ve come across in the genre but anyone who knows anything about 1st century history will see that this underlying material is laughable. a great deal of credible evidence proves the biblical version of jesus life was true according to the bishop. the evidence for jesus and the origins of christianity is astonishingly good he said. we have literally a hundred times more early manuscripts for the gospels and letters in the new testament than we have for the main classical authors like cicero virgil and tacitus. historical research shows that they present a coherent and thoroughly credible picture of jesus with all sorts of incidental details that fit the time when he lived and don t fit the world of later legend. brown s book has become a publishing phenomenon consistently topping book charts in the uk and us. the da vinci code has been translated into 42 languages and has spawned its own cottage industry of publications including guides on to how to read the book rebuttals and counter claims. the book which has become an international best-seller in little over two years is set to be made into a film starring tom hanks.

emi shares hit by profit warning shares in music giant emi have sunk by more than 16% after the firm issued a profit warning following disappointing sales and delays to two album releases. emi said music sales for the year to march will fall 8-9% from the year before with profits set to be 15% lower than analysts had expected. it blamed poor sales since christmas and delays to the releases of new albums by coldplay and gorillaz. by 1200 gmt on monday emi shares were down 16.2% at 235.75 pence. emi said two major albums scheduled for release before the end of the financial year in march - one by coldplay and one by gorillaz - have now had their release dates put back. emi music s sales particularly re-orders in january have also been lower than anticipated and this is expected to continue through february and march the company added. therefore for the full year at constant currency emi music s sales are now expected to be 8% to 9% lower than the prior year. the company said it expected profits to be about £138m ($259.8m). alain levy chairman and chief executive of emi music described the performance as disappointing but added that he remained optimistic over future trends in the industry. the physical music market is showing signs of stabilisation in many parts of the world and digital music in all its forms continues to develop at a rapid pace he said. commenting on the delay to the release of the coldplay and gorillaz albums mr levy said that creating and marketing music is not an exact science and cannot always coincide with our reporting periods . while this rescheduling and recent softness is disappointing it does not change my views of the improving health of the global recorded music industry he added. paul richards an analyst at numis securities said the market would be focusing on the slump in music sales rather than the timing of the two albums. it s unusual to see this much of a downgrade just because of phasing he said.

mandelson warns bbc on campbell the bbc should steer away from demonising ex-downing street media chief alastair campbell peter mandelson has said. the european commissioner and former labour minister was speaking amid claims that mr campbell is part of a labour dirty tricks campaign. that charge was denied by mr mandelson who said the tories were afraid of mr campbell s campaigning skills. he warned the bbc that attacking mr campbell had brought it trouble before. that was a reference to the hutton inquiry following a bbc story claiming downing street sexed up iraq s weapons of mass destruction dossier. the affair prompted the resignation of bbc chairman gavyn davies director-general greg dyke and reporter andrew gilligan. labour has attracted media criticism for using new freedom of information laws to dig up information about tory leader michael howard s past. mr mandelson a former labour communications director told bbc radio 4 s today programme: i understand why the tories will be gunning for alastair campbell because they fear his campaigning skills. what i understand less is why the bbc should be joining with the tories in driving that agenda. in my experience of these things parties which shout about dirty tricks and the like tend to do so because they fear a direct hit in some vulnerable part of their political anatomy. i suggest the bbc concentrates on the issues and helps the public to understand the policies and the choices that are at stake in the election rather than engages in the process politics the trivialisation of the campaign. i think the bbc would be much better advised to leave all this stuff well alone concentrate on the issues as i say not resume their demonisation of alastair campbell - we all know where that led before. mr campbell is acting as an adviser for labour which denies engaging in personal campaigning. conservative co-chairman liam fox said mr campbell s return and labour poster plans attacking mr howard - recently withdrawn from the party s website - were a sign of abusive politics . the government despite the fact that they would say want to go forward not back seem intent on talking about history rather than their own record or even more importantly about the future he said on sunday. labour peer baroness kennedy who is chairing the power inquiry into political disengagement said people already thought politicians engaged in dirty tricks. this feeling of distrust is going to be enlarged if this campaigning on all sides is conducted in the way that it looks as if it just might she said.

anti-spam laws bite spammer hard the net s self-declared spam king is seeking bankruptcy protection. scott richter the man behind optinrealbig.com and billions of junk mail messages said lawsuits had forced the company into chapter 11. optinrealbig was fighting several legal battles most notably against microsoft which is pushing for millions of dollars in damages. the company said filing for chapter 11 would help it try to resolve its legal problems but still keep trading. listed as the third biggest spammer in the world by junk mail watchdog spamhaus optinrealbig was sued in december 2003 for sending mail messages that violated anti-spam laws. the lawsuit was brought by microsoft and new york attorney general eliot spitzer who alleged that mr richter and his accomplices sent billions of spam messages through 514 compromised net addresses in 35 countries. according to microsoft the messages were sent via net addresses owned by the kuwait ministries of communication and finance several korean schools the seoul municipal boramae hospital and the virginia community college system. mr richter settled the attorney general case in july 2004 but the legal fight with microsoft is continuing. microsoft is seeking millions in dollars in damages from optinrealbig under anti-spam laws that impose penalties for every violation. in a statement announcing the desire to seek bankruptcy protection the company said it: could not continue to contend with legal maneuvers (sic) by a number of companies across the country including microsoft and still run a viable business. in its chapter 11 filing optinrealbig claimed it had assets of less than $10m (£5.29m) but debts of more than $50m which included the $46m that microsoft is seeking via its lawsuit. the litigation has been a relentless distraction with which to contend said steven richter legal counsel for optinrealbig. but make no mistake we do expect to prevail. for its part optinrealbig describes itself as a premier internet marketing company and said the move to seek chapter 11 was necessary to let it keep trading while sorting out its legal battles.

housewives lift channel 4 ratings the debut of us television hit desperate housewives has helped lift channel 4 s january audience share by 12% compared to last year. other successes such as celebrity big brother and the simpsons have enabled the broadcaster to surpass bbc2 for the first month since last july. however the channel s share of the audience fell from 11.2% to 9.6% last month in comparison with january 2004. celebrity big brother attracted less viewers than its 2002 series. comedy drama desperate housewives managed to pull in five million viewers at one point during its run to date attracting a quarter of the television audience. the two main television channels bbc1 and itv1 have both seen their monthly audience share decline in a year on year comparison for january while five s proportion remained the same at a slender 6.3%. digital multi-channel tv is continuing to be the strongest area of growth with the bbc reporting freeview box ownership of five million including one million sales in the last portion of 2004. its share of the audience soared by 20% in january 2005 compared with last year and currently stands at an average of 28.6%.

ink helps drive democracy in asia the kyrgyz republic a small mountainous state of the former soviet republic is using invisible ink and ultraviolet readers in the country s elections as part of a drive to prevent multiple voting. this new technology is causing both worries and guarded optimism among different sectors of the population. in an effort to live up to its reputation in the 1990s as an island of democracy the kyrgyz president askar akaev pushed through the law requiring the use of ink during the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. the us government agreed to fund all expenses associated with this decision. the kyrgyz republic is seen by many experts as backsliding from the high point it reached in the mid-1990s with a hastily pushed through referendum in 2003 reducing the legislative branch to one chamber with 75 deputies. the use of ink is only one part of a general effort to show commitment towards more open elections - the german embassy the soros foundation and the kyrgyz government have all contributed to purchase transparent ballot boxes. the actual technology behind the ink is not that complicated. the ink is sprayed on a person s left thumb. it dries and is not visible under normal light. however the presence of ultraviolet light (of the kind used to verify money) causes the ink to glow with a neon yellow light. at the entrance to each polling station one election official will scan voter s fingers with uv lamp before allowing them to enter and every voter will have his/her left thumb sprayed with ink before receiving the ballot. if the ink shows under the uv light the voter will not be allowed to enter the polling station. likewise any voter who refuses to be inked will not receive the ballot. these elections are assuming even greater significance because of two large factors - the upcoming parliamentary elections are a prelude to a potentially regime changing presidential election in the autumn as well as the echo of recent elections in other former soviet republics notably ukraine and georgia. the use of ink has been controversial - especially among groups perceived to be pro-government. widely circulated articles compared the use of ink to the rural practice of marking sheep - a still common metaphor in this primarily agricultural society. the author of one such article began a petition drive against the use of the ink. the greatest part of the opposition to ink has often been sheer ignorance. local newspapers have carried stories that the ink is harmful radioactive or even that the ultraviolet readers may cause health problems. others such as the aggressively middle of the road coalition of non-governmental organizations have lauded the move as an important step forward. this type of ink has been used in many elections in the world in countries as varied as serbia south africa indonesia and turkey. the other common type of ink in elections is indelible visible ink - but as the elections in afghanistan showed improper use of this type of ink can cause additional problems. the use of invisible ink is not without its own problems. in most elections numerous rumors have spread about it. in serbia for example both christian and islamic leaders assured their populations that its use was not contrary to religion. other rumours are associated with how to remove the ink - various soft drinks solvents and cleaning products are put forward. however in reality the ink is very effective at getting under the cuticle of the thumb and difficult to wash off. the ink stays on the finger for at least 72 hours and for up to a week. the use of ink and readers by itself is not a panacea for election ills. the passage of the inking law is nevertheless a clear step forward towards free and fair elections. the country s widely watched parliamentary elections are scheduled for 27 february. david mikosz works for the ifes an international non-profit organisation that supports the building of democratic societies.

mobile gaming takes off in india gaming on the move is one of the fastest-growing activities among the tech-savvy in india says a report. the indian mobile gaming market is expected to generate about $26m (£13.8m) by the end of 2004 according to market analysts in-stat/mdr. in october mobile phone users grew by 1.4 million to 44.9 million overtaking the number of landlines said the telecom regulatory authority of india. analysts say cheap rates and a huge youth market is driving the market. india has a large population of under-25s and many in urban areas are fast adopting mobiles as must-have gadgets. india s mobile gaming market will bring in about $336m (£178m) by 2009 according to the report. mobile gaming is expected to explode globally over the next few years. analysts predict that 220 million people will be playing games on phones by 2009 generating billions for mobile companies. services other than just voice calls which are offered by mobile operators in india have as a result of the huge rise in subscribers grown significantly and rapidly. the growth of this market sector has attracted publishers developers animators musicians and content providers and is also stimulating the development of innovative business models said clint wheelock director of in-stat/mdr s wireless research group. mobile gaming is not just about fun; it also represents one key element of a rich mobile entertainment experience for consumers and a lucrative market opportunity for industry players. currently india has six big games developers and four mobile operators that offer games to their subscribers said the report. according to in-stat/mdr it is tipped to make up one of the most important markets in the next wave of mobile multimedia growth. in january 2003 there were only 10 million mobile subscribers in india. many choose mobiles in rural areas in order to bypass poorer telecoms infrastructure. despite this the penetration rate is still much lower that other countries. less than 20% of india s total population own a mobile in india compared to well over 50% in most european countries. the trend echoes the uptake of mobiles in many developing economies which continues to grow as people opt to leapfrog slower and more expensive state-run fixed-line operators.

lse sets date for takeover deal the london stock exchange (lse) is planning to announce a preferred takeover by the end of the month newspaper reports claim. the sunday telegraph said the lse s plan was further evidence it wants to retain tight control over its destiny. both deutsche boerse and rival euronext held talks with the london market last week over a possible offer. a £1.3bn offer from deutsche boerse has already been rejected while euronext has said it will make an all cash bid. speculation suggests that paris-based euronext has the facilities in place to make a bid of £1.4bn while its german rival may up its bid to the £1.5bn mark. neither has yet tabled a formal bid but the lse is expected to hold further talks with the two parties later this week. however the sunday telegraph report added that there are signs that deutsche boerse chief executive werner seifert is becoming increasingly impatient with the lse s managed bid process. despite insisting he wants to agree a recommended deal with the lse s board the newspaper suggested he may pull out of the process and put an offer directly to shareholders instead. the newspaper also claimed mr seifert was becoming increasingly frustrated with the pace of negotiations since deutsche boerse s £1.3bn offer was rejected in mid-december in particular the lse s decision to suspend talks over the christmas period. meanwhile the german exchange s offer has come under fire recently. unions for deutsche boerse staff in frankfurt have reportedly expressed fears that up to 300 jobs would be moved to london if the takeover is successful. others claim it will weaken the city s status as europe s financial centre while german politicians are also said to be angry over the market operator s promise to move its headquarters to london if a bid is successful. a further stumbling block is deutsche boerse s control over its clearstream unit the clearing house that processes securities transactions. lse shareholders fear it would create a monopoly situation weakening the position of shareholders when negotiating lower transaction fees for share dealings. lse and euronext do not have control over their clearing and settlement operations a situation which critics say is more transparent and competitive.

film row over pirates cannibals plans to portray dominica s carib indians as cannibals in the sequel to hit film pirates of the caribbean have been criticised by the group s chief. carib chief charles williams said talks with disney s producers revealed there was a strong element of cannibalism in the script which cannot be removed . the caribbean island s government said disney planned to film in dominica. the caribs have long denied their ancestors practised cannibalism. disney was unavailable for comment. our ancestors stood up against early european conquerors and because they stood up...we were labelled savages and cannibals up to today said mr williams. this cannot be perpetuated in movies. shooting on the sequel is expected to begin in april with hundreds of dominicans applying to be extras in the movie. about 3 000 caribs live on the island of dominica which has a population of 70 000. many caribs were killed by disease and war during colonisation up to the 1600s. mr williams said he had received support from indigenous groups around the world in his efforts to have cannibalism references removed from the film. but he admitted there were some members of the carib council who did not support the campaign. he said some did not understand our history they are weak and are not committed to the cause of the carib people . the first pirates of the caribbean film took $305m (£162m) at the box office in the us alone. the cast and crew are to work on two sequels back-to-back with the first to be released in 2006.

ray dvd beats box office takings oscar-nominated film biopic ray has surpassed its us box office takings with a combined tally of $80m (£43m) from dvd and video sales and rentals. ray s success on dvd outstripped its $74m (£40m) us box office total earning more than $40m (£22m) on the first day of the dvd s release alone. ray has been nominated in six oscar categories including best film and best actor for jamie foxx. the film recounts the life of blues singer ray charles who died in 2004. in its first week on home entertainment release the film was the number one selling dvd with the limited edition version coming in at number 11. sony horror film the grudge starring michelle gellar was the us second best-selling dvd with jennifer lopez and richard gere s romantic comedy shall we dance at number three. foxx s critically acclaimed performance as ray has already earned him a screen actors guild award for best actor as well as a prestigious golden globe. ray director taylor hackford responsible for the classic 1982 film an officer and a gentleman has also received an oscar nomination in the best director category. the film s three other oscar nominations are for costume film editing and sound mixing.

the future in your pocket if you are a geek or gadget fan the next 12 months look like they are going to be a lot of fun. the relentless pace of development in the hi-tech world and rampant competition in many of its sectors particularly among mobile phone firms all suggests that 2005 is going to be a very good year. to begin with 2005 will be the year that third-generation (3g) mobile phones become inescapable. the 3 network launched in 2003 vodafone launched its consumer service in november orange followed in early december and t-mobile and o2 are due to launch in 2005. the main result of these launches will likely be a slew of good deals for consumers as operators try to poach new customers from rivals and convince existing users to trade up. already the extra capacity in 3g networks lets 3 offer good deals on voice calls at rates that will probably have to be matched by the other operators. but the shift in technology and low cost of voice calls means that operators lose a significant chunk of their revenue. show me an operator that believes their voice business can sustain them and i ll write their obituary said niel ransom chief technology officer at alcatel. instead operators are likely to push all other things that 3g phones can do such as video messaging and other multimedia capabilities. already camera phones look set to challenge digital cameras and are likely to win more fans as multi-megapixel devices go on sale. but 3g will not have everything its own way. it will face competition from emerging technologies such as wimax. this wireless technology can boost data transmission speeds up to 75 megabits per second and works over distances of up to 30 miles. kent is likely to be the site of the uk s first wimax network which is due to go live in 2005 and it could be the way that rural areas get high-speed net access. analyst firm telecom view predicts that wimax will steal a lot of market share from 3g and will be a clear winner. bob larribeau principal analyst at telecom view said the better return on investment offered by technologies such as wimax could dent the possible returns of 3g networks. and the growing ubiquity of wi-fi must not be forgotten either. the technology is popping up in more places than ever and its wider use is only held back by the price differences across countries and suppliers. moves to unite mobile and fixed phones look set to get more emphasis in 2005 too. for a start bt looks set to roll out its bluephone project during the next 12 months. the service revolves around a hybrid device that uses the mobile networks when you are out and about but switches back to the fixed line when you are at home. fixed line phones will also start to get much more serious competition from a technology that has the formidable name of voice over ip (voip). voip routes calls via the net instead of the fixed line phone network. anyone with a broadband connection which is now more than 50% of the uk s net using population can use voip and could slash their monthly phone bills if they used it. telecommunications regulator ofcom has declared 056 to be the area code for voip calls and 2005 is likely to see a lot more consumer-focused voip call services starting up. home broadband services will also start to increase in speed as dwindling numbers of new users signing force the pace of competition. if 2004 has been the year of the portable music player they 2005 looks like it will be the year of the portable media player. motorola has just announced a deal with apple to produce a phone that works with the itunes service and other hybrid gadgets that sport a big memory and lots of other functions will become commonplace. the pace of advancement in storage media will continue mean that the cost per megabyte of memory will plummet. some of those devices will sport huge hard drives letting you store more data than you ever wanted or knew you had. convergence could mean that single-function devices start to dwindle in number. instead every gadget will be able to do almost anything and communicate almost any way you want. the only downside is that consumers will face a series of tough choices as they are confronted by a bewildering array of gadgets each with an enormous numbers of features and vast data holding capacities. but that is the kind of problem most gadget fans can live with.

honda wins china copyright ruling japan s honda has won a copyright case in beijing further evidence that china is taking a tougher line on protecting intellectual property rights. a court ruled that chongqing lifan industry group must stop selling honda brand motorbikes and said it must pay 1.47m yuan ($177 600) in compensation. internationally recognized regulation is now a key part of china s plans for developing its economy analysts said. beijing also has been threatened with sanctions if it fails to clamp down. chinese firms copy products ranging from computer software and spark plugs to baby milk and compact discs. despite the fact that product piracy is a major problem foreign companies have only occasionally won cases and the compensation awarded has usually been small. still recent rulings and announcements will have boosted optimism that attitudes are changing. earlier this week china said that in future it will punish violators of intellectual property rights with up to seven years in jail. and on tuesday paws incorporated - the owner of the rights to garfield the cat - won a court battle against a publishing house that violated its copyright. other firms that have taken legal action in china with varying degrees of success include yamaha general motors and toyota. the problem of piracy is not limited to china however and the potential for profit is huge. the european union estimates that the global trade in pirated wares is worth more than 200bn euros a year (£140bn; $258bn) or about 5% of total world trade. and it is growing. between 1998 and 2002 the number of counterfeit or pirated goods intercepted at the eu s external borders increased by more than 800% it said. last month the eu said it will start monitoring china ukraine and russia to ensure they are going after pirated goods. other countries on the eu s hit list include thailand brazil south korea and indonesia. any countries that are not making enough of an effort could be dragged to the world trade organisation (wto) a step that could trigger economic sanctions the eu warned.

farrell due to make us tv debut actor colin farrell is to make his debut on us television in medical sitcom scrubs according to hollywood newspaper daily variety. the film star who recently played the title role in historical blockbuster alexander will make a cameo appearance as an unruly irishman. the episode featuring the 28-year-old will be screened on 25 january. farrell s appearance is said to be a result of his friendship with zach braff who stars in the programme. it will be the actor s first appearance on the small screen since he appeared in bbc series ballykissangel in 1999. the gentle sunday night drama came to an end in 2001. he has since become one of hollywood s fastest-rising stars with a string roles in major league films such as minority report phone booth and daredevil. farrell is pencilled in to play the role of crockett in a film version of 1980s police drama miami vice. scrubs which appears on the nbc network in the us and has been shown on channel 4 on british television is an off-beat comedy about a group of hospital doctors. other film stars to have appeared in scrubs include heather graham while friends actor matthew perry has guest-starred and directed an episode of the show. its leading star zach braff has recently been seen on the big screen in garden state which he also directed.

wasps 31-37 leicester leicester withstood a stunning wasps comeback to win a pulsating heineken cup encounter at the causeway stadium. the tigers stormed 22-6 ahead within 18 minutes through tries from lewis moody geordan murphy and martin corry. european champions wasps fought back through a josh lewsey try and mark van gisbergen s boot and they were level at 31-31 with five minutes remaining. but it was the visitors who kept their cool as andy goode kicked the tigers to victory with a penalty and a drop goal. the closing moments saw desperate defence from leicester as wasps turned down several penalties to go for the try they needed. wasps pounded the line and a penalty try looked likely before referee nigel williams controversially blew for full-time. fly-half goode was the tigers hero kicking 22 points in total while leicester s overwhelming domination in the scrums ultimately told. even their lack of discipline in defence - which presented the admirable van ginsberg with 26 points - could not undo them as they held out for a famous win. lawrence dallaglio s team have now got it all to do in the quest for a quarter-final place given that two of their last three games are away - against leicester and biarritz. however wasps rugby director warren gatland warned his side will will not relinquish their european title without a fight. if we lose next week then we are struggling said gatland. but we don t want to give this trophy away. we worked so hard to win it last season we will go down fighting. we have got to get our scrum right next week it is the biggest cause for concern. leicester coach john wells saluted the outstanding work of graham rowntree and julian white who were magnificent up front. they were the backbone of our performance today said wells. and to score three tries against the european champions at home was also something i am pleased about. van gisbergen; lewsey erinle abbott voyce; king dawson; dowd greening green; shaw birkett; worsley o connor dallaglio (capt). replacements: gotting mckenzie lock hart biljon brooks hoadley. murphy; rabeni smith gibson healey; goode ellis; rowntree chuter white m johnson (capt) l deacon; moody back corry. replacements (from): buckland/cockerill morris kay w johnson/b deacon h tuilagi bemand a tuiliagi lloyd vesty.

roundabout continues nostalgia trip the new big-screen version of the magic roundabout released in the uk on friday is the latest attempt to turn children s television into box-office gold. recent years have seen a less-than-successful adaptation of the 1960s puppet show thunderbirds and a moderately successful version of e nesbit s five children and it previously filmed by the bbc in 1991. he-man and transformers which were cartoon favourites in the 1980s will soon receive their own costly makeovers. with screen versions of the a-team the dukes of hazzard and even blake s seven on the cards nostalgia is clearly big business. but some critics complain that these expensive takes on iconic series of yesteryear do not match up to our fond memories of the originals. the new version of the magic roundabout which will be released as sprung! in the us replaces the stop-motion models of the 1960s tv show with polished computer-generated animation. in a similar fashion the 2004 thunderbirds used human actors and special effects in place of the original s puppets and models. the films are squarely pitched at younger audiences. pop stars robbie williams and kylie minogue provide voices in the magic roundabout while the now-defunct boy band busted performed the thunderbirds theme song. but while some reviewers have been won over there has nonetheless been a significant backlash. this cg-animated adventure airbrushes the sly charm and trippy otherworldliness which made the 60s stop-motion roundabout a cult hit writes stella papamichael on the bbc movies site. and the recent puppet comedy team america: world police was in part provoked by its directors outrage that gerry anderson s thunderbirds was remade without its signature mannequins. dan jolin reviews editor of empire magazine says classic children s tv shows have a built-in audience that make them ideal for reinvention. i can understand why people are taking these intellectual properties and repackaging them for the kids of today. but i think it s backfiring. what s next - the clangers on some distant planet with some giant cgi soup dragons chasing after them despite thunderbirds disappointing global box-office performance - the film cost $42m (£22m) but only recouped $21m (£11m) - the nostalgia craze shows no signs of abating. it can therefore be only a matter of time before some other tv favourites receive the hollywood treatment. after the success of garfield: the movie britain s shabby tabby surely deserves his own film vehicle. with only 13 episodes made of the 1974 series there is plenty of room to explore the lives of the pink cat professor yaffle and the mice of the marvellous mechanical mouse organ. furry recyclers have already had one big-screen outing - 1977 s wombling free. but with environmental issues still occupying our thoughts it is high time they made a comeback. advances in special effects technology could do wonders for the bbc s supernatural comedy . and the success of pirates of the caribbean must surely herald a comeback for tv s most popular cartoon buccaneer . it might also remind viewers the lewd character names often associated with the show never actually existed. the magic roundabout is out in the uk on 11 february. how about bringing catweazle to the big screen he could give gandalf a run for his money! thundercats!! i loved it. should be fun to see on the big screen if some effort is put in! it will bring my youth back! get your hands off the clangers! is nothing sacred make a movie version of the banana splits! what about keanu reeves and richard gere in a remake of the wooden tops or perhaps robbie williams could get his much mooted acting career off the ground by taking on the role of andy pandy. you forgot to mention the grearest of them all danger mouse! but then again it couldn t be better than the original series could it it s always nice to see these old toons re-released but after the abysmal thunderbirds movie (and the song!) i think i ve been completely put off. just leave these classics alone as good memories. i think remakes are a good idea. as the world moves on people tend to look more and more into the past to things that make them feel safe. i believe this is the whole reason retro has become so popular. as long as a remake does justice to the original then all it can do is create a wider audience and possibly entice a new generation of persons to enjoy and revive and old series. personally i d like to see cartoons such as transformers thundercats and m.a.s.k. get full hollywood remakes. leave them alone why ruin something that we all have very fond memories of in the first place the thunderbirds film was apalling not a patch on the puppet series i grew up with and the magic roundabout will never be the same without the voice of eric thompson. love to see transformers with real actors and cgi. and make it at least a 15 rating. part of the reason for the success of such classics as the magic roundabout was that the characters were not the sweet and cuddly creatures that you would expect. they were moody sarcastic and rather human. just looking at the pictures of the animations for the new film show that these characteristics have not been preserved. dougal never smiled like that! films of this sort have an unfortunate habit of disneyfying everthing and they just lose the real magic that made the show special in the first place. i have fond memories of bod (not least of which because i look like him) and would like to see someone attempt to make it into a film. it s got all the right material for an american blockbuster - no plot and no story. bod would likely be played by tom cruise and would undoubtedly have a girlfriend or two. it s all very well and good remaking these classic tv shows and films with all the latest technology for a new audience but for me a lot of the original charm is lost when they do this and seems more like a money making exercise to cash in on the original success of the programme than reinventing or improving it. it maybe that to an audience who have never seen the originals they can watch them without prejudice but to people who have grown up with all these shows such as thunderbirds and magic roundabout which are part of our childhood they are never going to live up to expectation. it does pose the question though that with all the long line of remakes being made are film-makers running out of original ideas all i can say is bring back danger mouse probably the greatest kids show ever. i recently re-watched some episodes and realised that there was a level of humour shown in danger mouse that was completely lost on me when i was a child. there was a new captain pugwash cartoon made a couple of years back. again like so many of these nostalgia programmes the animation - this time computer created flat-cell like animation - failed to match the original s cut out paper technique for inventiveness and was woefully inadequate. we live in a sampling world - the music industry has been pludering past decades for inspiration clipping sounds from 20 years ago is much cheaper and easier that doing something new. seems that the film and tv is doing the same now - it s just cheaper to take ideas from the past and rework them rather than being daring and trying something new. it got to be mr.benn. the story line about a man who changes in a fancy dress shop steps into a door way and appears in another time and place would be amazing! if they got a decent producer and writer the story line could be great. and who to play the lead role well if it was a comedy then it would have to be someone like steve martin. if its going to be an adventure then johnny depp playing a role similar to the pirates of the caribbean character. muffin the mule perhaps after all grannies and grandpas go to the cinema as well you know! why can t the british film industry try making gerry anderson s ufo or captain scarlet or saphire and steel or the tomorrow people. in today s media it seems the past is the future. tv shows such as battlestar galactica have new remakes dj s are sampling or re-working 70 s and 80 s music. even computer games from 10-15 years ago are getting modern re-workings. personally i think it shows that no one has any originality any more! why not just leave our misty-eyed nostalgia alone. mary mungo and midge. but of course for most of the episodes the lift would be out of order and they would have to use the stairs. plus would mary be more of a vicky pollard character as she lives in a high rise council block yeah but no but i wasn t even there! i d like to see mr. benn with brad pitt in the title role. sean connery could play the mysterious costume shop owner. it demonstrates a profound lack of imagination in today s film-makers that they continually try to remake and remodel the past in an effort to cash in on nostalgia. there are plany of modern children s book that would make excellent films or tv programmes why not use them instead of rehashing the past mr. benn with rowan atkinson as the lead. would have loved to see dungeons & dragons made but unfortunately the film that it was made into didn t come up to scratch. the only one that isn t to be remade as yet is thundercats which i d like to see. i m an expat living in norway and i recently went through a period of buying the dvds of many of my favourite children s programs for my 2 daughters. my dearest wish however is to see a feature length version of noggin the nog appear on the big screen!! very scandinavian... rainbow! i believe that childrens classics should be left well alone and i will not be surprised if the magic roundabout does not do well at the box office especially since it will be going up against the spongebob squarepants movie popular among children because it s original witty and modern. the magic roundabout will never appeal to the children of today as it did all those many years ago. how about classics like chorlton and the wheelies rentaghost terrahawks bod.....oh the list could go on and on!!! if a transformers movie is indeed on the cards then i ll be the first one on amazon buying a copy eagerly waiting at the front door with a frothy mouth and a nervous twitch. repackage my childhood and sell it to me at an extortionate price! i don t care! till then i ll have to make do with the citreon c4 advert. i d luv to see willow the wisp on the big screen but sadly without the late kenneth williams doing the voices it wouldnt be the same. and who remembers trap door voiced by the late willie rushden superb children s programme. could morph hold his own in a big screen movie or even jamie and the magic torch....hmmmmm i could go on and on. danger mouse at 34 i m showing my age. :-) noggin the nog was one of the best children s programs. the problem with bringing it to the big screen is that no-one could approach oliver postgate s wonderful voices. so in general leave well alone. the originals are good because they are of their time and the methods used are an integral part of the story. just imagine what could be achieved by using cgi in a remake of fingerbobs... the already disturbing hand antics of the bearded hippy yoffi could take on a whole new level with a more life-like fingermouse bob the builder postman pat and fireman sam together in an epic adventure of fire post and bricks. in the ultimate struggle to save the women they love from the evil clowns krusty and gobo. will they triumph or will they fail miserably find out this fall. one puppet show that i personally would love to see made into a live action movie is joe 90. it would be worth the price of admission alone to see the large screen version of joe s car. of course gerry anderson s supermarionation is a rich seam of material worthy of big-screen big-budget action. it was only that thunderbirds the movie was targetted as a children t movie that really let it down. after all the children that remember those shows with such affection are now the parents of children themselves. it s only because the people who were children when these programmes were first shown have grown up and are plundering their childhoods isn t it i d hate to see bagpuss with perfect animation - i love that done in a shed clunkiness and you couldn t recreate the magic. perhaps if the remakes were done in a look around you mock-authentic style i might be interested ... chorton and the wheelies or jamie and his magic torch; that would be mega! this re-gurgitation of old films and tv shows makes me angry - it is corporate laziness resting on the safety of other people s ideas because it guarantees to bring in the $$$. the same can be said of modern day pop bands who release other peoples material will young etc. the sad fact is nostalgia sells big bucks in the short-term. the fact that they will be forgotten in 6 months time is irrelevant (e.g. starsky & hutch) hence the market is saturated with this mindless drivel but it can only be stopped if people stop buying it! i pray they never do a remake of chorlton and the wheelies. i m only 27 and don t remember the series from when it was on tv but have the set on dvd and it s a classic. the fact it s so great comes from the fact that there were very few special effects involved and compared to today s stuff it looks amateurish. thats the appeal though it s so innocent (like chorlton himself) and it would be a real shame if they did remake it.

patti smith to host arts festival rock star patti smith has been made artistic director of this year s meltdown festival to be held at london s south bank centre in june. the punk pioneer follows morrissey david bowie and nick cave in directing 15 days of concerts and events. smith has yet to decide the line-up for meltdown which begins on 11 june. i want to touch on all aspects of our culture perhaps with readings from genet and i have an idea for jeremy irons to read proust she said. the 58-year-old us singer of because the night told the observer newspaper that the festival would be her response to these material exploitative and greedy times . it is important we explore the new but we should also salute the best art there is aesthetically and spiritually she said. last year s meltdown festival directed by the ex-smiths star morrissey included appearances by singer jane birkin nancy sinatra and playwright alan bennett. he also persuaded punk band the new york dolls to reform for a reunion show.

amnesty chief laments war failure the lack of public outrage about the war on terror is a powerful indictment of the failure of human rights groups amnesty international s chief has said. in a lecture at the london school of economics irene khan said human rights had been flouted in the name of security since 11 september 2001. she said the human rights movement had to use simpler language both to prevent scepticism and spread a moral message. and it had to fight poverty not just focus on political rights for elites. ms khan highlighted detentions without trial including those at the us camp at guantanamo bay in cuba and the abuse of prisoners as evidence of increasing human rights problems. what s a new challenge is the way in which this age-old debate on security and human rights has been translated into the language of war she said. by using the language of war human rights are being sidelined because we know human rights do not apply in times of war. ms khan said such breaches were infectious and were now seen in almost very major country in the world. the human rights movement faces a crisis of faith in the value of human rights she said. that was accompanied by a crisis of governance where the united nations system did not seem able to hold countries to account. the amnesty secretary-general said a growing gap between the perceived influence of human rights group and what they could actually achieve was fuelling scepticism. public passivity on the war against terror is the single most powerful indictment on the failures of human rights groups she said. ms khan said the movement had failed to mobilise public outrage about what was happening to the human rights system. there needed to be a drive to use simpler language talking about the basic morality of the issues rather than the complexity of legal processes. such efforts could make the issues more relevant to people across the world she said. the human rights groups also had to recognise there were new groups which had to be tackled in new ways as power dripped away from state governments. al-qaeda for example was not going to be impressed by a traditional amnesty letter writing campaign. more also needed to be done to develop a human rights framework for international business corporations. amnesty international members voted in 2001 to extend the organisation s work from political and civil rights to cover social and economic rights too. ms khan said the human rights movement would make itself irrelevant if it turned away from the suffering caused by economic strife. we would be an elitist bunch working for the elites for those who cannot read the newspaper of their choice rather than those who cannot read she said. despite her concerns ms khan dubbed herself a hope-monger saying she was confident the passions of the human rights movement could overcome the new challenges.

wolves appoint hoddle as manager glenn hoddle has been unveiled as the new wolves manager. the ex-england coach has been given a six-month contract to succeed dave jones who was sacked after the club s poor start to the season. wolves chairman rick hayward said: we re delighted glenn is here. he has a six-month contract so we can test each other out and see if it works. hoddle who will work alongside stuart gray has been out of the game since he was sacked by spurs in 2003. gray who has been caretaker manager was assistant boss when hoddle was manager at southampton. i m delighted to be here said hoddle. i saw the massive potential that wolves have got and their desire and amibition to get back into the premiership parallels my ambitions. stuart gray has done a fantastic job as caretaker manager. we ve worked together at southampton and i m delighted to be back with him. wolves chief executive jez moxey defended the decision to give hoddle a short-term contract. we hope it will work out for both parties and we extend it for the long term he said. most managers want a four-year contract and then expect it to be paid off if it doesn t work out. for somebody of glenn s calibre to come in on a short-term contract and put his reputation on the line it demonstrates his commitment and self-belief and the potential he thinks is here. hayward revealed that hoddle was one of the first to be approached after jones departure. he was not available at the time because he was looking at various other things he explained. five weeks later we re back on track and this a tremendous opportunity for wolves. hoddle began his managerial career as player-boss with swindon before moving on to chelsea and then taking up the england job. his spell in charge of the national side came to an end after the 1998 world cup when he made controversial remarks about the disabled in a newspaper interview. the 47-year-old later returned to management with southampton where he again succeeded jones - as he has now done at wolves. he engineered an upturn in saints fortunes before being lured to white hart lane by tottenham - the club where he made his name as a player. that relationship turned sour at the start of the last campaign and he left the london club early last season. since then he has applied unsuccessfully for the post of france manager and had also been linked with a return to southampton. wolves are currently 17th in the championship and have a home game against millwall on tuesday.

no more concessions on terror charles clarke says he has no desire to offer more concessions on his controversial anti-terror plans to get them on to the statute book. mps voted in favour of the prevention of terrorism bill after mr clarke agreed to key changes - but labour s majority was reduced to 14. the bill now faces opposition from peers angry at house arrest proposals. lord strathclyde tory leader in the lords said ministers should expect it to be substantially re-written . the bill proposes control orders which as well as house arrest could impose curfews tagging or bans on telephone and internet use. they would replace current powers to detain foreign terror suspects without trial which the law lords have ruled against. on monday mps voted 272-219 in favour of the bill after key concessions from mr clarke. the government earlier saw its 161-strong majority cut to just 14 as a cross-party amendment was narrowly rejected by the commons despite the support of 62 labour rebels. mr clarke won over critics by announcing he would introduce an amendment in the lords to ensure the most controversial control order amounting to house arrest would be imposed by judges and not politicians. lord strathclyde warned ministers that they should prepare themselves for substantial rewriting of various aspects of the bill . they should consider far more seriously the use of intercept evidence in any trial and i think they should drop the most objectionable proposals which are for house arrest. but mr clarke told bbc radio 4 s today programme he believed the changes he had made to the bill to win over critics in the commons should be sufficient to satisfy colleagues in the lords. no bill goes through parliament without detailed consideration being made but i believe that what i announced yesterday will be sufficient to secure the agreement of the house of lords he said. i have no desire to make further so-called concessions on the bill. mr clarke s proposed amendment will be debated by the lords on tuesday without having been considered by mps. the debate is unlikely to result in a vote. speaking after the commons debate shadow home secretary david davies said the bill had been clearly very badly drawn-up and that the government was trying to rush it through too quickly. he said it would be possible to rescue the government and make the law tolerable by amending it in the lords. the scope for miscarriages of justice is enormous he told bbc news. mark oaten for the liberal democrats said monday night s vote showed the government had lost the confidence of all sides of the house . he said: they need to rethink the bill and extend the power of a judge to decide on all control orders build safeguards on evidence and create charges against suspects. unless there is a major movement this bill is doomed to fail. bbc news political editor andrew marr said: i think that this is a bill in deep trouble. it s been unravelling in the house of commons - it may unravel further. the government wants the new bill to pass into law by 14 march when the current powers expire.

bank payout to pinochet victims a us bank has said it will donate more than $8m to victims of former chilean military ruler augusto pinochet s regime under a madrid court settlement. riggs bank will put money in a special fund to be managed by a madrid-based charity the salvador allende foundation which helps abused victims. the bank had been accused of illegally concealing gen pinochet s assets. more than 3 000 people were killed for political reasons under gen pinochet s regime an official report says. last month in a us court riggs bank pleaded guilty to failing to report suspicious activity relating to accounts held by gen pinochet and the government of equatorial guinea. on that occasion it was ordered to pay a fine of $16m. gen pinochet himself has never been put on trial for human rights violations under his 1973-90 rule despite several high-profile cases against him. he is now facing charges relating to the murder of one chilean and the disappearance of nine others. he is also being investigated for tax evasion tax fraud and embezzlement of state funds. the general s opponents rejoiced at the settlement which was agreed in a court in the spanish capital madrid. a lawyer for the victims eduardo contreras told reuters news agency: this demonstrates that the horrors of the pinochet dictatorship are not a mystery to anyone and that the whole world knows his victims deserve reparations. riggs spokesman mark hendrix said the settlement details of which will be announced next week was an opportunity to move on. this enables the institution to put the matter behind us he told reuters. the settlement follows a legal complaint filed against the bank by spanish judge baltasar garzon alleging that it had illegally concealed assets. the bank agreed to create a fund for the victims but the charges were dropped.

bond game fails to shake or stir for gaming fans the word goldeneye evokes excited memories not only of the james bond revival flick of 1995 but also the classic shoot-em-up that accompanied it and left n64 owners glued to their consoles for many an hour. adopting that hallowed title somewhat backfires on this new game for it fails to deliver on the promise of its name and struggles to generate the original s massive sense of fun. this however is not a sequel nor does it relate to the goldeneye film. you are the eponymous renegade spy an agent who deserts to the bond world s extensive ranks of criminal masterminds after being deemed too brutal for mi6. your new commander-in-chief is the portly auric goldfinger last seen in 1964 but happily running around bent on world domination. with a determination to justify its name which is even less convincing than that of tina turner s similarly-titled theme song the game literally gives the player a golden eye following an injury which enables a degree of x-ray vision. rogue agent signals its intentions by featuring james bond initially and proceeding to kill him off within moments squashed by a plummeting helicopter. the notion is of course to add a novel dark edge to a 007 game but the premise simply does not get the juices flowing like it needs to. recent bond games like nightfire and everything or nothing were very competent and did a fine job of capturing the sense of flair invention and glamour of the film franchise. this title lacks that aura and when the bond magic shines through it feels like a lucky accident. the central problem is that the gameplay just is not good enough. quite aside from the bizarre inability to jump the even more bizarre glaring graphical bugs and dubious enemy ai the levels simply are not put together with much style or imagination. admittedly the competition has been tough even in recent weeks with the likes of halo 2 and half life 2 triumphing in virtually every department. what the game is good at is enveloping you in noisy dynamic scenes of violent chaos. as is the trend of late you are made to feel like you are in the midst of a really messy and fraught encounter. sadly that sense of action is outweighed by the difficulty of navigating and battling within the chaos meaning that frustration is often the outcome. and irregular save points mean you have to backtrack each time you are killed. a minute red dot passes for a crosshair although the collision-detection is so suspect that the difficulties of aiming weapons are compensated for. shooting enemies from a distance can be tricky and you will not always know you have picked them off since dead enemies vanish literally before they have fully hit the floor and they do so in some woefully uninspiring death animations. it is perhaps indicative of a lack of confidence that the game maker s allow you several different weapons almost immediately and throw you quickly into raging firefights - no time is risked with a measured build-up. by far the most satisfying element of the game is seeing old favourites like dr no goldfinger hat-fiend oddjob and crazed russian sex beast xenia onatopp resurrected after all these years and with their faces rendered in an impressively recognisable fashion. there is a real thrill from doing battle with these legendary villains and it is a testament to the power of the bond universe that they can cut such a dash. but the in-game niggles combined with a story and presentation that just do not feel sufficiently well thought-through will make this a disappointment for most. diehard fans of bond will probably find enough here to make it a worthwhile purchase and try to ignore the failings. the game is weak not completely unplayable. then again 007 fanatics may also take umbrage at the cavalier blending of characters from different eras. given james bond s healthy pedigree in past games there is every reason to hope that this is just a blip a commendable idea that just has not worked that will be rectified when the character inevitably makes his return. goldeneye: rogue agent is out now

media gadgets get moving pocket-sized devices that let people carry around video and images are set to have a big year in 2005 according to industry experts. last year saw the emergence of portable media players such as the windows-based creative zen portable media player the samsung yepp the iriver pmc-100 and the archos av400 series among others. but this year they are set to get smarter and more connected to allow people to find more video to watch on them. archos launched its latest range of its linux-based portable media devices at the consumer electronics show in las vegas on friday. dubbed the pocket media assistant pma430 it crucially has wi-fi capability built-in for the first time. consumers are showing a great thirst for devices that store all their media in one place for anywhere access said henri crohas chief of archos. and now those consumers can stay connected and productive at the same time. archos said the focus for the device is to be the second gadget in people s pockets after the mobile. unlike windows-based players the archos av400 series devices have always been able to record from any video source such as tvs as well as playback. the content put onto the devices is copy protected so cannot then be swapped to another device. recording is perhaps a crucial functionality for those who have not seen the point of portable video if there is not a lot of video to watch on it. and wi-fi connectivity opens up the possibility of content delivery via a high-speed wireless link. archos also announced that it would open up the software development kit to linux developers so that more applications could be created for the device. microsoft also made some announcements in the portable media arena at ces primarily for us consumers though. it has agreed a content deal with personal video recorder company tivo which bill gates also showcased in his keynote speech at ces. the tivo to go service means that us consumers will be able to take any programmes they record on their tivos and transfer it for free to watch on any of the windows-based portable media players or smartphones. it also said it had launched a service with mtv to let people watch comedy central vh1 and country music tv on its devices. and a service is launching with msn to provide people with shortened versions of news entertainment and other video on a subscription basis for download via the pc onto the portable devices. but the ability to record directly from tv vcr and digital cable and satellite boxes which windows-based devices do not offer certainly gives people more content to watch on the go too. the increased capability of these devices and the content deals that are being done may go some way to persuading people to use them. recent research by jupiter suggested that people would prefer a device that was dedicated to music. only 13% of europeans wanted to watch video while on the move. more seemed interested in spending their cash on music-only devices. this year we are ready for an explosion of portable media microsoft s mike coleman told the bbc news website. we are very bullish about it. the fact that i can put photos on here too and share them is super-cool to the consumer he added. the fact that europeans are far larger public transport users than americans is one reason why portable media will take off in the coming year too. there is a burgeoning market there for commuters to watch news and other programmes on their way to work. although microsoft s content distribution deals are for the us market at the moment talks were always on-going with european content suppliers to offer similar services. various rights management issues have to be ironed out first however. but that does not prevent people from finding ways to create their own content to share online and swap on portable devices particularly via those which are wi-fi enabled. the possibility is open for non-professional makers of video and audio to take advantage of the growing portable media market to distribute their work. ces which runs from 6 to 9 january showcases more than 50 000 new gadgets that will be hitting the shelves in 2005.

fresh hope after argentine crisis three years after argentina was hit by a deadly economic crisis there is fresh hope. the country s economy is set to grow about 8% this year after seeing 9% growth last year a sharp turnaround from 2002 when output fell 11%. the unemployment rate is improving too: it is set to slip below 13% by the end of the year down from 20% in may 2002. true problems remain but the overall picture is one of vast improvement. even the international monetary fund (imf) admits this. the argentine authorities are proud should be proud of the strong performance of the economy thomas dawson an imf director said earlier this month. argentina has made a remarkable recovery from a hideous and lengthy recession which in 2001 culminated in the government halting debt repayments to its private creditors. the debt default sparked a deep and prolonged economic crisis which at least initially was made worse by the government s decisions. pension payments were halted and bank accounts frozen as part of austerity measures introduced by the government to deal with the country s massive debts. in response angry crowds of ordinary argentines took to the streets where dozens of lives were lost in clashes with the police. two presidents and at least three finance minister resigned in less than a month. argentina was on the brink of collapse. the fix was found in the currency markets with the abandonment of the peso s decade-long peg to the us dollar in february 2002. the subsequent devaluation saw thousands of people s life savings disappear. scathes of companies went bust. three years ago every sector [of the economy] was hit by the crisis said entrepreneur drayton valentine. it really was dire. but since then the general mood on the ground has improved dramatically in part because the devaluation helped attract fresh direct investment from abroad and stimulate business within brazil. agriculture and tourism are helping said entrepreneur drayton valentine. mr valentine who was born in the united states but grew up in argentina was fortunate: at the time of the crisis his savings were held in dollar accounts abroad. but now he is using his money to help with the start-up a trading company. he explained that initially his firm is going to export building materials to spain and united states. then he would like to diversify to other areas depending on the market. locally there is a sense of recovery many companies are exporting now he said noting that a lot of firms which were closed during the crisis are re-opening. but not all that shines is gold. argentina is still burdened by its failure to pay private creditors at the end of 2001. president nestor kirchner s administration is still trying to hammer out an agreement with the creditors but with the debts nominal value standing at around $100bn it is not proving easy. debt defaults make further lending agreements both difficult and expensive to negotiate. argentina s current offer implies that the creditors would get just 25 cents for each dollar they are owed according to the creditors. understandably they want more and until they do both they and others are loath to continue lending. for president kirchner this proves a hopeless challenge. real losses have been suffered and somebody has to pay observed jack boorman adviser to imf s managing director rodrigo rato. everyone needs to keep in mind the enormous cost on the part of both creditors and the argentine society and people that will have been endured by the time a settlement is reached he said. the cost is enormous and continues to be paid and will not be reversed by any restructuring. with the international negotiations being troubled it is of little help to president kirchner that the domestic situation remains strained as well. this is partly because there are still bank account holders who are waiting to recover some of their deposits. the situation is bad for those who had previously chosen to save in argentina said carlos baez silva president of aara an association that represents bank account and bond holders. few people have recovered more than about half their savings mr baez silva estimated pointing out that many of the savers who have lost out are pensioners or others who once trusted the government people who set aside money for the future in the belief that their investment would be safe. a lot of them invested in good faith he said. the argentine state responded by taking most of their investments. the affair has made mr baez silva disillusioned with the country s legal system. on occasion the supreme court has ruled against the interests of the people he represents he says insisting that the system cannot be trusted. people have to deposit their money in the banks not necessarily because they trust them but because crime is so high that people cannot have their money in their homes beneath their mattresses. mr valentine who was born in the united states but grew up in argentina agreed. if i have to save pesos [the local currency] there is not much problem but i will think twice before i deposit dollars in a bank .

kenyan school turns to handhelds at the mbita point primary school in western kenya students click away at a handheld computer with a stylus. they are doing exercises in their school textbooks which have been digitised. it is a pilot project run by eduvision which is looking at ways to use low cost computer systems to get up-to-date information to students who are currently stuck with ancient textbooks. matthew herren from eduvision told the bbc programme go digital how the non-governmental organisation uses a combination of satellite radio and handheld computers called e-slates. the e-slates connect via a wireless connection to a base station in the school. this in turn is connected to a satellite radio receiver. the data is transmitted alongside audio signals. the base station processes the information from the satellite transmission and turns it into a form that can be read by the handheld e-slates. it downloads from the satellite and every day processes the stream sorts through content for the material destined for the users connected to it. it also stores this on its hard disc. the system is cheaper than installing and maintaining an internet connection and conventional computer network. but mr herren says there are both pros and cons to the project. it s very simple to set up just a satellite antenna on the roof of the school but it s also a one-way connection so getting feedback or specific requests from end users is difficult. the project is still at the pilot stage and eduvision staff are on the ground to attend to teething problems with the linux-based system. the content is divided into visual information textual information and questions. users can scroll through these sections independently of each other. eduvision is planning to include audio and video files as the system develops and add more content. mr herren says this would vastly increase the opportunities available to the students. he is currently in negotiations to take advantage of a project being organised by search site google to digitise some of the world s largest university libraries. all books in the public domain something like 15 million could be put on the base stations as we manufacture them. then every rural school in africa would have access to the same libraries as the students in oxford and harvard currently the project is operating in an area where there is mains electricity. but mr herren says eduvision already has plans to extend it to more remote regions. we plan to put a solar panel at the school with the base station have the e-slates charge during the day when the children are in school then they can take them home at night and continue working. maciej sundra who designed the user interface for the e-slates says the project s ultimate goal is levelling access to knowledge around the world. why in this age when most people do most research using the internet are students still using textbooks the fact that we are doing this in a rural developing country is very exciting - as they need it most.

greek sprinters suspended by iaaf greek sprinters kostas kenteris and katerina thanou have been suspended after failing to take drugs tests before the athens olympics. athletics ruling body the iaaf said explanations from the pair and their former coach as to why they missed the tests were unacceptable . it added that kenteris and thanou had been provisionally suspended pending the resolution of their cases . they face two-year bans if found guilty by the greek athletics federation. the suspension also covers the athletes controversial coach christos tzekos. kenteris the 2000 olympic 200m champion and thanou the women s 100m silver medallist from the same games in sydney also face a criminal hearing in greece over the missed tests. they failed to appear to give samples in chicago and tel aviv shortly before the athens games and again in athens on 12 august the eve of the opening ceremony. greek prosecutors have also charged them with faking a midnight motorcycle crash which led to them spending four days in hospital. some medical staff have been charged with writing false medical reports. wednesday s statement said the greek federation (segas) would convene a disciplinary hearing for the trio to determine whether there had been doping violations. there will be a final right of appeal from the decision of the greek federation to the court of arbitration for sport the iaaf said. tzekos insisted he and the runners had nothing to hide. the iaaf s decision means nothing he said. we ll be presenting all our arguments to segas - we re innocent.

london hope over chepkemei london marathon organisers are hoping that banned athlete susan chepkemei will still take part in this year s race on 17 april. chepkemei was suspended from all competition until the end of the year by athletics kenya after failing to report to a national training camp. we are watching it closely said london race director david bedford. there is a long way to go before the race and we are hoping the situation will be satisfactorily resolved. the camp in embu was to prepare for the iaaf world cross country championships later this month. chepkemei however took part and finished third in last sunday s world best 10k race in puerto rico. the 29-year-old has finished second to paula radcliffe in the 2002 and 2003 london races as well as in november s new york city marathon.

chelsea hold arsenal a gripping game between arsenal and chelsea ended with the honours finishing even at highbury. thierry henry produced a sublime strike to put arsenal ahead but john terry levelled with a powerful header. henry s quickly-taken free-kick put arsenal back in front but eidur gudjohnsen equalised with a header from william gallas knockback. henry missed a golden chance when he blazed a shot high late on and arsenal also had a penalty appeal rejected. henry s opener had given arsenal the perfect start and set up an enthralling affair. the french striker headed a long cesc faregas ball back to jose antonio reyes from the edge of the chelsea area and immediately saw it headed back into his path from the spaniard. and with his back to goal henry finished with aplomb when he took one touch turned and struck an angled strike past the despairing dive of keeper petr cech. henry epitomised a determination about the arsenal side but chelsea appeared unruffled and equalised after 16 minutes. gunners keeper manuel almunia who got the nod ahead of jens lehmann did well to save a well-struck frank lampard shot. but he could not keep out terry s powered header from the resultant corner as arsenal s weakness at set-pieces was again exposed. almost immediately henry went close and chelsea gathered the loose ball before going straight up the other end where gudjohnsen fluffed an effort. gudjohnsen did not make the same error minutes later when he struck a sweet shot only for almunia to be equal to the task and save. the homes side regained the lead in controversial fashion when robert pires won a dubious free-kick. and given the option to take the 25-yard set-piece quickly henry curled in a shot with cech still organising his wall. this time arsenal did not allow chelsea to level so soon as they went into the break ahead. chelsea brought striker didier drogba on to partner gudjohnsen up front after the interval and the move reaped immediate reward. lampard swung in a cross which gallas knocked back across goal and a deft header from gudjohnsen levelled matters again. chelsea s main threat was coming from crosses and lampard missed a great opportunity as he headed wide when left unmarked at the far post. the second half failed to live up to the thrilling pace of the opening period but there were flashes of brilliance. one of them came from the enigmatic robben when he jinked his way through two arsenal defenders only to see his poked shot saved by almunia. arsenal ended the match the stronger and worked a excellent chance for henry who put a left-foot shot high from eight yards. subtitute robin van persie could also have nicked a win for the highbury outfit but frustratingly sidefooted just wide. matthieu flamini had a late penal appeal waved away before the final whistle which maintained chelsea five-point premiership lead over arsenal. almunia lauren toure campbell cole pires flamini fabregas reyes (clichy 82) bergkamp (van persie 82) henry. subs not used: senderos hoyte lehmann. cole. henry 2 29. cech paulo ferreira ricardo carvalho (drogba 45) terry gallas duff tiago (bridge 45) makelele lampard robben gudjohnsen (parker 77). subs not used: kezman cudicini. robben drogba lampard. terry 17 gudjohnsen 46. 38 153 g poll (hertfordshire).

duff ruled out of barcelona clash chelsea s damien duff has been ruled out of wednesday s champions league clash with barcelona at the nou camp. duff sustained a knee injury in the fa cup defeat at newcastle and manager jose mourinho said: he cannot run. his injury is very painful so he is out. but mourinho has revealed defender willian gallas and striker didier drogba will be in the starting line-up. the blues boss took the unusual step of naming his side a day before the match with jole cole named in midfield. mourinho said: we have one more session but i think drogba will play and gallas will play. drogba trained on monday with no problems and will do the same on tuesday. gallas feels he can play and wants to play. we are protecting him still but he will be okay to play. drogba chelsea s £24m striker has missed the last three weeks through injury. cech ferreira carvalho terry gallas tiago makelele lampard cole drogba gudjohnsen.

spam e-mails tempt net shoppers computer users across the world continue to ignore security warnings about spam e-mails and are being lured into buying goods a report suggests. more than a quarter have bought software through spam e-mails and 24% have bought clothes or jewellery. as well as profiting from selling goods or services and driving advertising traffic organised crime rings can use spam to glean personal information. the business software alliance (bsa) warned that people should stay alert . many online consumers don t consider the true motives of spammers said mike newton a spokesperson for the bsa which commissioned the survey. by selling software that appears to be legitimate in genuine looking packaging or through sophisticated websites spammers are hiding spyware without consumers knowledge. once the software is installed on pcs and networks information that is given over the internet can be obtained and abused. the results also showed that the proportion of people reading - or admitting to reading - and taking advantage of adult entertainment spam e-mails is low at one in 10. the research which covered 6 000 people in six countries and their attitudes towards junk e-mails revealed that brazilians were the most likely to read spam. a third of them read unsolicited junk e-mail and 66% buy goods or services after receiving spam. the french were the second most likely to buy something (48%) with 44% of britons taking advantage of products and services. this was despite 38% of people in all countries being worried about their net security because of the amount of spam they get. more than a third of respondents said they were concerned that spam e-mails contained viruses or programs that attempted to collect personal information. both industry and the media have helped to raise awareness of the issues that surround illegitimate e-mail helping to reduce the potential financial damage and nuisance from phishing attacks and spoof websites said william plante director of corporate security and fraud protection at security firm symantec. at the same time consumers need to continue exercising caution and protect themselves from harm with a mixture of spam filters spyware detection software and sound judgement.

bid to cut court witness stress new targets to reduce the stress to victims and witnesses giving evidence in courts in england and wales have been announced by the lord chancellor. lord falconer wants all crown courts and 90% of magistrates courts to have facilities to keep witnesses separate from defendants within four years. more video links will also be made available so that witnesses do not have to enter courtrooms. it is part of a five-year plan to help build confidence in the justice system. ministers say the strategy is aimed at re-balancing the court system towards victims and increasing the number of offenders brought to justice. launching the department for constitutional affairs plan lord falconer said: one of the top priorities will be a better deal for victims. the needs and safety of victims will be at the heart of the way trials are managed. courts judges magistrates prosecutors police and victim support - all working together to ensure the rights of victims are put first without compromising the rights of the defendant. he went on: giving evidence is a nerve-wracking experience especially when you re a victim. yet with a will and with support it can be done. lord falconer told bbc radio 4 s today programme it was impossible for some elderly people to go to court to give evidence. other witnesses could be intimidated by sitting alongside defendants outside courts. you are never going to get rid of some element of the trauma of giving evidence he said. but you can make people believe that the courts understand the problem it s not some kind of alien place where they go where they are not thinking about them. the plan comes as the lord chancellor also considers allowing cameras into courts for the first time since 1925 as long as they were used for cases that did not involve witnesses. another feature of the strategy is constitutional reform with a government bill to set up a supreme court and a judicial appointments commission returning to the house of lords on tuesday. ministers had proposed getting rid of the title of lord chancellor but the lords have over-ruled this. lord falconer said it was right for the highest court to be completely distinct from parliament. the person in charge of the court system should not also be speaker of the house of lords he said and should be the best person chosen from either house of parliament. what they did not what they were called was the critical issue he added.

tories attack burglar u-turns tory leader michael howard has accused tony blair of performing u-turns over rules on using force against burglars. the government has ruled out amending the present law which allows reasonable force in self defence. mr howard branded the decision unacceptable saying: it is not householders who should be frightened it s the burglars. home secretary charles clarke said ministers had kept to their pledge to review the law. metropolitan police commissioner sir john stevens last month backed a tory attempt to change the law so only householders using grossly disproportionate force could be prosecuted. the pressure prompted the prime minister to say the police and crown prosecution service would be consulted as part of a review of the law. he told mps: if we get the right response from those people we will of course support a change in the law. instead the government has decided no change is needed but there will be a publicity campaign so people are clear they are entitled to defend themselves. on thursday mr howard told bbc radio 4 s today programme mr blair had initially refused the law change then had come round to the idea and was now backtracking again. he said: we ve had three policy positions in three months and two u-turns. it s not surprising gordon brown told him: there s nothing you could say to me now that i could ever believe. mr howard said the grossly disproportionate test matched the hurdle ministers had introduced for civil cases where burglars where claimed compensation from householders. the issue entered the public spotlight when norfolk farmer tony martin was jailed for shooting dead a 16-year-old burglar in 1999 as he ran away from the farm. but the home secretary said mr howard was wrong to say the law was biased in favour of burglars. the barrister who had represented mr martin had said the rules were weighted overwhelmingly in favour of the householder said mr clarke. he said: the problem is there has not been enough understanding of it - that was the point sir john stevens was making and the prime minister was making. the new guidance would help ensure clarity on the issue added mr clarke. the director of public prosecutions ken macdonald says only 11 householders or occupiers of business premises have been prosecuted in the last 15 years. those cases included a warehouse manager who had waited for a burglar tied him up beat him and set him alight he said. tory mp patrick mercer s private member s bill to change the law received a first reading in parliament on wednesday and goes to a full debate next month.

tories pledge free sports lessons children would be offered two hours free sports training a week by a future tory government the party has said. the club2school policy would provide up to £250m yearly for local sports clubs in the uk to deliver after-school sport. the extra coaching would be funded by the national lottery and would come on top of the two hours of sport a week children are supposed to get in school. shadow home secretary david davis said five million children were being denied adequate sporting opportunities. the plans would help tackle the fastest growing rate of obesity in the developed world he said. shadow sports minister lord moynihan said the policy would empower local clubs and create a lasting legacy. we aim to shift the emphasis on after-school sport provision away from our overstretched teachers and schools directly in to the 151 000 sports clubs in the uk. the tories say labour s plans to give all children two hours of sports lessons a week in schools have failed. government figures show that in england in 2002 only a third of schools at key stages 1 3 and 4 and two-fifths of schools at key stage 2 met that target. the tories also claim that of the £750m the prime minister pledged in 2000 to invest on school sports facilities only £41m had been spent. but the big lottery fund has said that complex capital projects are involved - and it was confident the money would all be allocated by next year as intended.

text messages aid disaster recovery text messaging technology was a valuable communication tool in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster in asia. the messages can get through even when the cell phone signal is too weak to sustain a spoken conversation. now some are studying how the technology behind sms could be better used during an emergency. sanjaya senanayake works for sri lankan television. the blogging world though might know him better by his online name morquendi. he was one of the first on the scene after the tsunami destroyed much of the sri lankan coast. cell phone signals were weak. land lines were unreliable. so mr senanayake started sending out text messages. the messages were not just the latest news they were also an on-the-ground assessment of who needs what and where . blogging friends in india took mr senanayake s text messages and posted them on a weblog called dogs without borders. thousands around the world followed the story that unfolded in the text messages that he sent. and that s when mr senanayake started to wonder if sms might be put to more practical use. sms networks can handle so much more traffic than the standard mobile phone call or the land line call he says. in every rural community there s at least one person who has access to a mobile phone or has a mobile phone and can receive messages. half a world away in the caribbean nation of trinidad and tobago taran rampersad read morquendi s messages. mr rampersad who used to work in the military knew how important on the ground communication can be in times of disaster. he wondered if there might be a way to automatically centralise text messages and then redistribute them to agencies and people who might be able to help. mr rampersad said: imagine if an aid worker in the field spotted a need for water purification tablets and had a central place to send a text message to that effect. he can message the server so the server can send out an e-mail message and human or machine moderators can e-mail aid agencies and get it out in the field. he added: or send it at the same time to other people who are using sms in the region and they might have an excess of it and be able to shift supplies to the right places. mr rampersad and others had actually been thinking about such a system since hurricane ivan ravaged the caribbean and the southern united states last september. last week he sent out e-mail messages asking for help in creating such a system for asia. in only 72 hours he found dan lane a text message guru living in britain. the pair along with a group of dedicated techies are creating what they call the alert retrieval cache. the idea is to use open-source software - software can be used by anyone without commercial restraint - and a far-flung network of talent to create a system that links those in need with those who can help. this is a classic smart mobs situation where you have people self-organizing into a larger enterprise to do things that benefit other people says paul saffo a director at the california-based institute for the future. you may be halfway around the world from someone but in cyberspace you re just one click or one e-mail away he said that s put a whole new dimension on disaster relief and recovery where often people halfway around the world can be more effective in making something happen precisely because they re not right on top of the tragedy. it is still very early days for the project though. in an e-mail dan lane calls it an early proof of concept. right now the alert retrieval cache can only take a text message and automatically upload it to a web-page or distribute it to an e-mail list. in the near future the group says it hopes to take in messages from people in affected areas and use human moderators to take actions based on the content of those messages. but there s still another challenge. you have to get people to know that the system is there for them to use. it s amazing how difficult it is to find someone to pass it along to and say look this is what we re trying to do and everything like that says mr rampersad. so the big problem right now is the same problem we re trying to solve - human communication. he is optimistic however. he thinks that the alert retrieval cache is an idea whose time has come and he hopes governments too will sit up and take notice. and he stands by his motto courtesy of michelangelo: criticise by creating. clark boyd is technology correspondent for the world a bbc world service and wgbh-boston co-production.

chancellor rallies labour voters gordon brown has issued a rallying cry to supporters warning the stakes are too high to stay at home or protest vote in the next general election. the chancellor said the poll - expected to fall on 5 may - would give a clear and fundamental choice between labour investment and tory cuts. he told his party s spring conference the tories must not be allowed to win. the conservatives and lib dems insisted that voters faced higher taxes and means-testing under labour. to a packed audience at gateshead s sage centre mr brown accused shadow chancellor oliver letwin of plotting cuts that were the equivalent of sacking every teacher gp and nurse in the country. laying into the conservative s record in government he said: i give you this promise - with labour britain will never return to the mistakes of erm and 10% inflation 15% interest rates £3bn in lost reserves 250 000 repossessed one million in negative equity and three million unemployed. never again tory boom and bust. this will be the central dividing line at the election between a conservative party taking britain back and planning deep cuts of £35bn in our services and a labour government taking britain forward which on a platform of stability will reform and renew our hospitals schools and public services and i am proud to say spend by 2008 £60bn more. turning to the economy the chancellor promised to continue economic stability and growth in a third term in power. he also pledged to continue the fight against child and pensioner poverty. and he promised help to get young people on the property ladder. my message to the thousands of young couples waiting to obtain their first home is that housing is rightly now at the centre of our coming manifesto he said. and the next labour government will match our low mortgage rates with a new first-time buyers initiative. in the speech which prompted a standing ovation he also promised to end teenage unemployment within the next five years. he also highlighted plans for 100% debt relief for the world s poorest countries a national minimum wage for 16 and 17-year-olds the creation of a network of children s centres and flexibility in maternity leave. responding to the speech shadow chief secretary to the treasury george osborne said: this was more talk from gordon brown. we ve heard it all before. instead of talking about the future he kept on talking about the past. he completely failed to say which taxes he would put up to fill the black hole in his spending plans. there will be a simple choice at the election - value for money and lower taxes with the conservatives or more waste and higher taxes under tony blair and gordon brown. liberal democrat shadow chancellor vince cable warned the picture was not as rosy as mr brown would like to portray it. for all his trumpeting of labour s management of the economy gordon brown s record is very mixed he said. gordon brown has created a system of massive centralisation and bureaucracy a system which subjects millions of people to means testing and a system of taxation which is extremely complex. for all his positive words gordon brown is faced with economic problems looming on the horizon not least the unprecedented levels of personal debt facing the nation. also in gateshead the prime minister took questions sent in by e-mail text message and telephone as part of labour s attempt to engage the public in their campaign. mr blair told the audience he believed the iraq war would have made britain a safer place if its emerging democracy succeeded and that he wanted to bring troops home as soon as possible but not before the job was done. he also said he wanted to carry on as pm because i still think that there are big changes our country needs .

bening makes awards breakthrough film actress annette bening is up for an oscar for her starring role in the award-winning film being julia. bening who was born in texas in 1958 has gained prominence for a string of key roles. although an oscar has so far eluded her her status as one of hollywood s favourite actresses remains solid. one of the biggest oscars buzzes in recent years was for bening s role as troubled carolyn burnham in 1999 s american beauty. but her deliciously neurotic portrayal of surburban life turning sour was overlooked in favour of hilary swank s leading role in boys don t cry. after opening her career in the theatre - and gaining a tony award nomination in 1986 - bening had a low-key spell in television. she then made her film debut as a sex-starved wife in 1988 s the great outdoors opposite comics dan akroyd and john candy. following a cameo in postcards from the edge bening s breakthrough role came in 1990 playing seductive con artist myra langtry in the grifters - a role that won her an oscar nomination. despite some rave reviews bening did not win the best supporting actress academy award. however the high-profile performance enabled bening to capture roles in a number of big budget hollywood productions co-starring with some of hollywood s greatest players including robert de niro and harrison ford. but it was her role opposite warren beatty in 1991 gangster flick bugsy which had the greatest impact. bening played virginia hill another role which won her high critical acclaim but the film only picked up two of a staggering 12 oscar nominations. bugsy was the start of a very significant liaison for bening - she married beatty with whom she had a child as the couple promoted the film in europe. the couple now have four children together. a pair of contrasting yet successful performances peppered bening s career in the mid-1990s. she played michael douglas opposite number in romantic comedy the american president and as a fiery queen elizabeth i in a contemporary adaptation of shakespeare s richard iii. bening was the first choice to play the female lead in american beauty director sam mendes film debut which was a critical and commercial success - but the actress had to be content with a bafta award for her strong performance. but current film being julia has made bening an award-winning actress rather than the perennial nominee with success at the golden globes. the witty tale of revenge and love set in 1930s london sees the eponymous theatrical diva - played by bening - grow tired of her success and fall for a young american - and could be the role which finally wins her the coveted academy award.

uk directors guild nominees named martin scorsese and clint eastwood are among the nominees for the top prize at the directors guild of great britain awards now in their second year. the oscar rivals will compete for the international film prize at the ceremony to be held at the curzon mayfair cinema in london on 20 march. other nominees include bill condon for kinsey and michel gondry for eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. mike leigh s vera drake is among the nominees for best british film. the awards will see eastwood and scorsese once again competing for the directing prize following last weekend s oscars. clint eastwood won best director for million dollar baby beating scorsese who was nominated for a fifth time for the howard hughes biopic the aviator. mike leigh will compete for the british film prize with shane meadows for dead man s shoes roger michell for enduring love and my summer of love director pawel pawlikowski. nominees for best foreign film include spain s pedro almodovar for bad education and hong kong director wong kar-wai for 2046. in the tv categories comedy series early doors and the alan clark diaries will compete for the best directing award for a 30-minute television show while the directors of shameless hustle and bodies are all nominated for the 60-minute television prize. the directors of omagh and sex traffic are among the nominees for a television movie or mini-series. american beauty s sam mendes will receive a lifetime achievement award for his work in film and theatre while theatre director simon mcburney will be given an award for outstanding directorial achievement.

howard attacks pay later budget tory leader michael howard has dismissed gordon brown s budget as vote now pay later spending plans. the simple fact was that under a new labour government taxes would go up after the election to plug a financial black hole mr howard said. everyone could see the chancellor s sweeteners but these hid tax rises for hard working families he said. labour s faltering election campaign would not be helped by the package of measures mr howard added. mr brown s budget was not about what was good for the country but all about the interests of the labour party the tory leader said after mockingly welcoming the chancellor back to the election campaign. he went on to accuse mr brown of giving with one hand while taking away with the other. he urged the chancellor to admit he had been responsible for dragging millions of people in to the net to pay stamp duty and inheritance tax. we can all see the sweeteners but they hide the crippling tax rises for hard-working families that are inevitable if labour wins. he also accused the government and the chancellor of running out of solutions to the problems britain faced. their only answer is to tax to spend and to waste - to get people to vote now and pay later. mr brown liked to rattle off magical balances conjured out of thin air in a bid to convince people there was no black hole in the nation s finances the tory leader said. this dodgy government that brought us the dodgy dossier is now publishing a dodgy budget based on dodgy numbers he said. you now propose to borrow over the next six years no less than £168 billion; so much for prudence. the chancellor s forecasts of surpluses are no better than the prime minister s forecasts of weapons of mass destruction. mr brown s council tax rebate for pensioners was £300 less than what the tories were offering mr howard said. there was nothing in the budget that would put more police on the streets make hospitals cleaner or give parents and teachers the discipline and skills they wanted in schools. people would face a clear choice at the election either more waste and higher taxes under labour or lower taxes and value for money with the conservatives he said. that s the battleground of this election. that s what this election is going to be all about and i say bring it on he concluded to loud tory cheering.

straw attacked on china arms moves to lift the european union s ban on arms exports to china have been condemned by human rights groups and the conservatives. the 15 year embargo was imposed in the aftermath of china s crackdown on protesters in tiananmen square in 1989. uk foreign secretary jack straw who will hold talks in beijing on thursday said an eu arms code was more effective than the current ban. but human rights watch says the eu is putting commerce above abuse concerns. in december the eu pledged to work towards lifting the ban but said it was not ready to do so yet. germany and france have repeatedly called for the embargo to be lifted. britain has been more cautious but mr straw last week said he also wanted it to end despite us objections. he expects it to be lifted over the next six months a prediction which has alarmed critics. brad adams from human rights watch said: this is a huge political signal from europe that they are willing to forget about tiananmen square. there are still thousands of people who are unaccounted for. mr straw said it was wrong to put china under the same embargo as countries such as zimbabwe and burma. the scope of the embargo was very narrow and did not have any force of law behind it he told bbc radio 4 s world at one. in the uk more export licences were refused under the existing european union arms code than under the embargo he said. and only two of the licences denied under the embargo would have been granted under the code. the code of conduct is much more effective it s a more powerful tool of and we intend to strengthen it as a pre-condition of lifting the embargo with china he said. mr straw denied the decision would suggest to china that tiananmen square had been forgotten. the level of human rights was a key criteria under the eu arms exports code he said. human rights groups say the code of conduct is not legally binding - but mr straw said it would be given legal force by the laws of many eu countries. conservative shadow foreign secretary michael ancram said the move would be profoundly wrong . the decision could undermine nato as it severely damaged relations with the us which is opposed to ending the ban. mr ancram argued: what the british government is doing is giving in to french and german pressure especially the french who see vast contracts available to them if the embargo is lifted... it gives the wrong signals to china who are simply not prepared to accept that what happened at tiananmen square was wrong. mr straw s china trip is part of regular high-level meetings with beijing ministers. he will meet chinese counterpart minister li zhaoxing to discuss developing relations between their two countries hong kong and china s part in the talks on north korea.

keegan hails comeback king fowler manchester city boss kevin keegan has praised striker robbie fowler for his landmark return to form. the 29-year-old out of favour at city earlier this season took his premiership goal tally past 150 with a brace in monday s 3-2 win at norwich. he is still a quality player and knows where the net is - we have just got to supply him with ammunition and in the end we did keegan said. he has worked hard to get back to where he is now. the former liverpool striker who moved to city in 2003 after a poor stint at leeds has battled back into first-team contention after struggling with fitness at the start of the season. fowler overtook les ferdinand on tuesday evening to become the third highest scorer of all time in the premiership with 151 goals and he only trails alan shearer (250) and andy cole (173). and keegan believes there is still more to come from the former england forward. he can get better if we can supply him better added keegan. people want to write him off but if he has kept the articles of those people who have written him off he could throw them back at them and they would be left with a bit of egg on their face. fowler s double strike helped city come back from two goals down to clinch a dramatic win at carrow road and keegan sympathised with norwich boss nigel worthington afterwards. i feel a bit for nigel worthington he said. his team have got great character they have a lot of drive and enthusiasm. i know it is a killer blow for norwich but i really think they have brought something to the premiership. the stadium and the atmosphere is great it is just a tough league to stay in - as they are finding out and as we know.

google s toolbar sparks concern search engine firm google has released a trial tool which is concerning some net users because it directs people to pre-selected commercial websites. the autolink feature comes with google s latest toolbar and provides links in a webpage to amazon.com if it finds a book s isbn number on the site. it also links to google s map service if there is an address or to car firm carfax if there is a licence plate. google said the feature available only in the us adds useful links . but some users are concerned that google s dominant position in the search engine market place could mean it would be giving a competitive edge to firms like amazon. autolink works by creating a link to a website based on information contained in a webpage - even if there is no link specified and whether or not the publisher of the page has given permission. if a user clicks the autolink feature in the google toolbar then a webpage with a book s unique isbn number would link directly to amazon s website. it could mean online libraries that list isbn book numbers find they are directing users to amazon.com whether they like it or not. websites which have paid for advertising on their pages may also be directing people to rival services. dan gillmor founder of grassroots media which supports citizen-based media said the tool was a bad idea and an unfortunate move by a company that is looking to continue its hypergrowth . in a statement google said the feature was still only in beta ie trial stage and that the company welcomed feedback from users. it said: the user can choose never to click on the autolink button and web pages she views will never be modified. in addition the user can choose to disable the autolink feature entirely at any time. the new tool has been compared to the smart tags feature from microsoft by some users. it was widely criticised by net users and later dropped by microsoft after concerns over trademark use were raised. smart tags allowed microsoft to link any word on a web page to another site chosen by the company. google said none of the companies which received autolinks had paid for the service. some users said autolink would only be fair if websites had to sign up to allow the feature to work on their pages or if they received revenue for any click through to a commercial site. cory doctorow european outreach coordinator for digital civil liberties group electronic fronter foundation said that google should not be penalised for its market dominance. of course google should be allowed to direct people to whatever proxies it chooses. but as an end user i would want to know - can i choose to use this service how much is google being paid can i substitute my own companies for the ones chosen by google . mr doctorow said the only objection would be if users were forced into using autolink or tricked into using the service .

profits slide at india s dr reddy profits at indian drugmaker dr reddy s fell 93% as research costs rose and sales flagged. the firm said its profits were 40m rupees ($915 000; £486 000) for the three months to december on sales which fell 8% to 4.7bn rupees. dr reddy s has built its reputation on producing generic versions of big-name pharmaceutical products. but competition has intensified and the firm and the company is short on new product launches. the most recent was the annoucement in december 2000 that it had won exclusive marketing rights for a generic version of the famous anti-depressant prozac from its maker eli lilly. it also lost a key court case in march 2004 banning it from selling a version of pfizer s popular hypertension drug norvasc in the us. research and development of new drugs is continuing apace with r&d spending rising 37% to 705m rupees - a key cause of the decrease in profits alongside the fall in sales. patents on a number of well-known products are due to run out in the near future representing an opportunity for dr reddy whose shares are listed in new york and other indian generics manufacturers. sales in dr reddy s generics business fell 8.6% to 966m rupees. another staple of the the firm s business the sale of ingredients for drugs also performed poorly. sales were down more than 25% from the previous year to 1.4bn rupees in the face of strong competition both at home and in the us and europe. dr reddy s indian competitors are gathering strength although they too face heavy competitive pressures.

alfa romeos to get gm engines fiat is to stop making six-cylinder petrol engines for its sporty alfa romeo subsidiary unions at the italian carmaker have said. the unions claim fiat is to close the fiat powertrain plant at arese near milan and instead source six-cylinder engines from general motors. fiat has yet to comment on the matter but the unions say the new engines will be made by gm in australia. the news comes a week after gm pulled out of an agreement to buy fiat. gm had to pay former partner fiat 1.55bn euros ($2bn; £1.1bn) to get out of a deal which could have forced it to buy the italian carmaker outright. fiat and gm also ended their five-year alliance and two joint ventures in engines and purchasing but did agree to continue buying each other s engines. powertrain told us today that alfa romeo engines will no longer be made in arese said union leader vincenzo lilliu as reported by the reuters news agency. the assembly line will be dismantled and the six-cylinder alfa romeo motor will be replaced with an engine gm produces in australia. reuters also said that mr lilliu and other union bosses shouted insults at fiat chairman luca di montezemolo following a meeting on tuesday regarding the future of the arese plant. the unions said the end of engine production at the facility would mean the loss of 800 jobs. all alfa romeo models can be bought with a six-cylinder engine - the 147 156 156 sportwagon 166 gtv gt and spider.

jones medals must go if guilty world anti-doping agency (wada) chief dick pound says marion jones should be stripped of all her medals if found guilty of taking banned substances. victor conte of balco laboratories claims the american sprinter regularly used drugs to enhance her performance. if she is found guilty she should be stripped of all her medals and banned for two years said pound. asked if there was a timescale as to what medals could be taken pound said: that is not an issue at all. however under international olympic committee (ioc) rules athletes can only be stripped of their medals if caught within three years of the event. jones who won five medals at the 2000 olympics denies using drugs and says she will take legal action over conte s allegations. balco laboratories is the firm at the centre of a wide-reaching investigation into doping in the us. pound continued: if she has indeed taken drugs it is going to be a big disappointment for a lot of people.

berlin celebrates european cinema organisers say this year s berlin film festival which opens on thursday with period epic man to man will celebrate a revitalised european cinema. of the 21 films in competition for the golden and silver bear awards more than half are from europe with france particularly well represented. festival director dieter kosslick says this strong showing signals a new consciousness for european films . they re on an incredible winning streak he told the reuters agency. this isn t to say there aren t any good american films he continued. it s just that there are more good european films. however mr kosslick refused to accept that widespread opposition to the iraq war had turned audiences against hollywood imports. there is no anti-american mood he said. some 350 films will be screened at this year s festival with a further 300 shown at the european film market that runs alongside it. more than a dozen celebrities are scheduled to attend among them will smith kevin spacey and keanu reeves. but mr kosslick says more would be coming had the academy awards not been brought forward to 27 february. i m not worried that we won t be able to fill the red carpet with stars he said though he admitted the festival may be moved to january next year to avoid a similar clash. the 10-day berlinale runs until 20 february.

lib dems target first-time buyers the liberal democrats have unveiled plans to build 100 000 new affordable homes on publicly owned land. the party s scheme would allow people to buy a share in a home through a mutual home ownership trust as a way of getting onto the housing ladder. the lib dems would also encourage the conversion of existing buildings in an effort to protect greenfield sites. labour has already announced plans to help first-time buyers and the tories would extend right-to-buy schemes. all the major parties are focusing on the issue in the run-up to the election after a survey suggested first-time buyers could not afford a home in 92% of uk towns. the lib dems say their mutual homes would let people buy a share of a property usually worth about 5% of the building costs. party leader charles kennedy said the homes would be affordable because they would be built on surplus public sector land donated by central or local government. people would also only have to pay for the cost of the building and not the land he added. they would spend about 30% of their monthly salary on rent and buying extra shares in the property. when they moved house they would be able to cash in on any rise in property prices by selling their share. it would also allow councils to vary discounts to tenants given the right to buy their council homes so local needs were taken into account. mr kennedy said: mutual homes will offer people the opportunity to build up an equity stake in a home gradually investing only as much as they can afford. there are also plans to prevent high house prices forcing people out of their local communities. the kind of golden share used by the lib dems in south shropshire could be rolled out more widely. under the plan councils secure deals with developers where they keep a 1% share in a property scheme so properties cannot be sold on the open market. instead they are sold at build cost to people who the local council decides have local needs. the party says its help for first-time buyers can be funded at no extra cost to the taxpayer. but the plans involve changing the vat system which the party says often makes it too expensive to renovate existing buildings. the conservatives claimed the plans would amount to an extra tax of up to £11 000 on every new house. this is typical of lib dem hypocrisy said tory shadow local government secretary caroline spelman. they claim that they want to help people on to the property ladder but the small print of their policies reveal how they intend to price even more people out of the housing market. the flagship tory proposal on housing policy is to give a million more housing association tenants the right to buy their homes. labour has said it will allow 300 000 council and housing association tenants to buy a share in their homes. housing minister keith hill said much of the lib dem plans mimicked the government s strategy. however as usual the lib dems proposals are completely uncosted he said. mr hill said he also asked whether the lib dems would match labour s promise to spend £42bn on making refurbishing and repair council homes by 2010.

charvis set to lose fitness bid flanker colin charvis is unlikely to play any part in wales final two games of the six nations. charvis has missed all three of wales victories with an ankle injury and his recovery has been slower than expected. he will not figure in the scotland game and is now thought unlikely to be ready for the final game said wales physio mark davies. sonny parker is continuing to struggle with a neck injury but hal luscombe should be fit for the murrayfield trip. centre parker has only a slim chance of being involved against the scots on 13 march so luscombe s return to fitness after missing the france match with hamstring trouble is a timely boost. said wales assistant coach scott johnson: we re positive about hal and hope he ll be raring to go. he comes back into the mix again adds to the depth and gives us other options. replacement hooker robin mcbryde remains a doubt after picking up knee ligament damage in paris last saturday. we re getting that reviewed and we should know more by the end of the week how robin s looking added johnson. we re hopeful but it s too early to say at this stage. steve jones from the dragons is likely to be drafted in if mcbryde fails to recover.

fockers keeps us box office lead film comedy meet the fockers sequel to meet the parents has topped the us box office for a third week. the movie which stars ben stiller robert de niro dustin hoffman and barbra streisand took $28.5m (£15.2m) making a total of 204.3m (£109m). michael keaton thriller white noise was second with $24m (£12.8m) despite negative reviews. martin scorsese s howard hughes biopic the aviator came third with $7.6m (£4m) and a total of $42.9m (£22.8m). children s adventure lemony snicket s a series of unfortunate events starring jim carrey and meryl streep fell two places to fourth position with $7.4m (£3.9m). it is also the ninth jim carrey film to hit the $100m (£53.2m) mark according to exhibitor relations. and fat albert a live-action adaptation of bill cosby s tv cartoon fell one place to number five with takings over the three days beginning on friday of $5m (£2.6m). ocean s twelve took sixth place in the us chart with $5.4m (£2.8m) but it led the non-us chart at the weekend according to hollywood reporter with an estimated $17.7m (£9.4m) and total takings of $137m (£73m). the incredibles took $300m (£160m) outside the us while meet the fockers topped box office charts in australia and mexico with non-us takings of $19.35m (£10.2m).

yukos heading back to us courts russian oil and gas company yukos is due in a us court on thursday as it continues to fight for its survival. the firm is in the process of being broken up by russian authorities in order to pay a $27bn (£14bn) tax bill. yukos filed for bankruptcy in the us hoping to use international business law to halt the forced sale of its key oil production unit yuganskneftegas. the unit was however sold for $9.4bn to state oil firm rosneft but only after the state auction had been disrupted. yukos lawyers now say the auction violated us bankruptcy law. the company and its main shareholders have vowed to go after any company that buys its assets using all and every legal means. the company wants damages of $20bn claiming yuganskneftegas was sold at less than market value. judge letitia clark will hear different motions including one from deutsche bank to throw out the chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. the german lender is one of six banks that were barred from providing financing to gazprom the russian state-owned company that was expected to win the auction for yuganskneftegas. deutsche bank which is also an advisor to gazprom has called on the us court to overturn its decision to provide yukos with bankruptcy protection. lifting the injunction would remove the uncertainty that surrounds the court case and clarify deutsche bank s business position analysts said. analysts are not optimistic about yukos chances in court. russian president vladimir putin and the country s legal authorities have repeatedly said that the us has no jurisdiction over yukos and its legal wranglings. on top of that the firm only has limited assets in the us. yukos has won small victories however and is bullish about its chances in court. do we have an ability to influence what happens we think we do said mike lake a yukos spokesman. the litigation risks are real said credit suisse first boston analyst vadim mitroshin the dispute with the russian authorities is partly driven by president putin s clampdown on the political ambitions of ex-yukos boss mikhail khodorkovsky. mr khodorkovsky is in jail on charges of fraud and tax evasion.

dent continues adelaide progress american taylor dent reached the final of the australian hardcourt event in adelaide with a crushing 6-1 6-1 win over argentine juan ignacio chela. dent will meet swede joachim johansson on sunday after the second seed survived a tense tie-break to defeat belgium s olivier rochus 6-1 7-6 (7/5). johansson the boyfriend of lleyton hewitt s sister jaslyn received strong crowd support on saturday. it feels like home for me because jaslyn lives here said johansson. rochus was leading 5-4 in the second set tiebreak but his concentration was ruffled by a disputed line call and the match slipped away. it was so close - one mistake like this and the match is over it s tough. for me it was clearly out rochus said.

lords wrong on detainees - straw jack straw has attacked the decision by britain s highest court that detaining foreign terrorist suspects without trial breaks human rights laws. the foreign secretary said the right to life was the most important liberty and the government had a duty to protect people from terrorism. law lords were simply wrong to imply the men were being held arbitrarily. new home secretary charles clarke vowed the nine men would remain in prison while the law was being reviewed. the house of lords ruled by an eight to one majority in favour of appeals by the men - dealing a major blow to the government s anti-terror policy. but mr straw denied it amounted to a constitutional crisis . he said those held had a right of appeal to the special immigration appeal tribunal and the decision to hold the suspects was upheld by that court. the law lords are simply wrong to imply that this is a decision to detain these people on the whim or the certificate of the home secretary he told bbc radio 4 s today programme. the foreign secretary insisted it was for parliament and not judges to decide how best britain could be defended against the threat of terrorism. but liberal democrat peer lord carlile the government s independent reviewer of anti-terrorism laws said it was possible some of the detainees could now be released. he said the law lords ruling was an embarrassment for the government and major changes were needed to the law. the ruling came on charles clarke s first day as home secretary following david blunkett s resignation. in a statement to mps mr clarke said: i will be asking parliament to renew this legislation in the new year. in the meantime we will be studying the judgment carefully to see whether it is possible to modify our legislation to address the concerns raised by the house of lords. the detainees took their case to the house of lords after the court of appeal backed the home office s powers to hold them without limit or charge. the government opted out of part of the european convention on human rights concerning the right to a fair trial in order to bring in anti-terrorism legislation in response to the 11 september attacks in the us. any foreign national suspected of links with terrorism can be detained or can opt to be deported. but those detained cannot be deported if this would mean persecution in their homeland. on thursday lord bingham - a senior law lord - said the rules were incompatible with the european convention on human rights as they allowed detentions in a way that discriminates on the ground of nationality or immigration status by justifying detention without trial for foreign suspects but not britons. lord nicholls of birkenhead in his ruling said: indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial is anathema in any country which observes the rule of law. in a statement detainee a in woodhill prison said: i hope now that the government will act upon this decision scrap this illegal law and release me and the other internees to return to our families and loved ones. the case was heard by a panel of nine law lords rather than the usual five because of the constitutional importance of the case. solicitor gareth pierce who represents eight of the detainees claimed the detention had driven four of the detainees to madness saying two were being held in broadmoor hospital.

tough schedule delays elliot show preview performances of the £3m musical billy elliot have been delayed to give the child actors a less arduous rehearsal schedule. director stephen daldry made the decision to re-schedule the previews to protect the young stars. three boys will rotate the demanding role of ballet dancer billy which requires them to sing dance and act. the show s opening night on 12 may at the victoria palace theatre in london remains unaffected by the changes. preview performances will now be held on 14 20 and 27 april. this is one of the most ambitious projects i have been involved with said daldry. the decision has been made to push back our preview performances in order to give our company with a cast including 45 children a little extra time so they are as fully prepared as possible. he added: the young billy elliots in particular making their professional stage debuts in the west end will benefit from a little extra time to familiarise themselves with all aspects of the production. the three boys playing billy are james lomas 15 george maguire 14 and liam mower 12. the other major child parts will also be rotated between young actors. such are the demands of the show that producers set up a stage school in newcastle to train potential stars for the show. child labour laws also mean the young actors can only work for a limited period each week. adult actors in the show include tim healy as billy s father and haydn gwnne as his dance teacher mrs wilkinson. sir elton john has composed the music. daldry directed the successful film version of billy elliot adapted from lee hall s script. both were nominated for oscars alongside julie walters who played billy s teacher.

tsunami debt deal to be announced chancellor gordon brown has said he hopes to announce a deal to suspend debt interest repayments by tsunami-hit nations later on friday. the agreement by the g8 group of wealthy nations would save affected countries £3bn pounds a year he said. the deal is thought to have been hammered out on thursday night after japan one of the biggest creditor nations finally signed up to it. mr brown first proposed the idea earlier this week. g8 ministers are also believed to have agreed to instruct the world bank and the international monetary fund to complete a country by country analysis of the reconstruction problems faced by all states hit by the disaster. mr brown has been locked in talks with finance ministers of the g8 which britain now chairs. germany also proposed a freeze and canada has begun its own moratorium. the expected deal comes as foreign secretary jack straw said the number of britons dead or missing in the disaster have reached 440.

anelka eyes man city departure striker nicolas anelka reportedly wants to leave manchester city in search of champions league football. anelka 25 is in talks over a contract extension beyond 2007 with city but is believed to fear his career will go stale if he stays at the club. the news of the world reports that anelka told a french magazine: i either decide to win titles or to have an easy life. i think i will always choose football if a great club makes me an offer. he added: to win titles you need players who have the capability of doing so. if we stagnate between eighth and 15th place it s impossible to progress. if i am going to score goals and not win there is a risk it is going to create a feeling of being fed up. anelka has earned a reputation for being a difficult character to handle after spells at arsenal real madrid and paris st germain and he feels that is now coming back to haunt him. i am in talks to sign an extension to my contract he said. i am well here but the sporting aspect also comes into account. playing for eighth place is good but i miss the champions league. i won it with real madrid in 2000 and i need to be playing in it - and i should be playing in it. i m not in it because of things that have happened in the past and had nothing to do with football. but i don t blame anyone. it s a bit my fault.

cebit fever takes over hanover thousands of products and tens of thousands of visitors make cebit the place to be for technology lovers. welcome to cebit 2005 was the message from the pilot as we landed the message on flyers at the airport and the message on just about every billboard in town. cebit fever has taken over hanover. hotels have been booked out for months; local people are letting out rooms in their homes to the hoards of exhibitors visitors and journalists. cebit itself is huge the exhibition site could almost be classified as a town in its own right. there are restaurants shops and a bus service between the halls - of which there are 27. there are more than 6 000 companies here showing their latest products. the list of them that i was given when i came in is the size and weight of a phone book. one of the mains themes this year is the digital home and one of the key buzzwords is convergence. the entertainment pc is being billed as the replacement for dvd players stereos telephones and computers - offering a one-box solution wirelessly connected throughout a house. to show them off one display has been modelled as a prototype digital lifestyle home by german magazine computer reseller news. we wanted to show how this fits into a living room or workplace to give people a feeling how it would work in their homes said claudia neulling from the magazine. the house has webcams for security in each room which can be called up on the high definition tv connected to the pc in the living room. that pc provides home entertainment movies or music. it can also be linked to the car parked outside which is kitted out with a processor of its own along with a dvd player and cordless headphones for the kids in the back. convergence for me is about how technology the transfer of data can do things that make it easier and more convenient for me as a consumer said mark brailey director of corporate marketing for intel. the real challenge is to show people it s easier than they think and fun. he firmly believes that entertainment pcs are the future but says they have to get past people s fears of frequent crashes and incompatibilities. that is something microsoft is trying to do too - its stand has computers running windows xp media centre edition 2005 for people to try out. mobile phones do not escape the convergence theme. samsung is showing off its sgh-i300 a handset with a three gigabyte hard drive that can be used to watch compressed video or as an mp3 player. and if you would rather watch live tv than a downloaded movie nec is showing a phone on sale in china which can show analogue tv on its colour screen. i think the most probable application is at somewhere like the train station - if you want to check the status of the soccer game for example said koji umemoto manager of mobile terminals marketing for nec. he admitted that the signal quality is not very good if you are on the move and they do not have plans to launch it in europe at the moment. nokia was happy to demonstrate its 6230i an upgrade to the very popular 6230. it now has a 1.3 megapixel camera and a music player that can handle multiple formats rather than just mp3s. it is also compatible with nokia s new visual radio technology. the handset can receive fm broadcasts and the user can interact with compatible broadcasts using a gprs connection to take part in competitions or get extra information such as the name of the song playing. most companies are reluctant to show prototypes preferring to display products that are already on sale or just about to hit the market. portable media player firm creative showed off a new wireless technology based on magnetic inductance rather than radio - a system some hearing aids use. the benefits over conventional bluetooth are the lack of interference and longer battery life said riccardo de rinaldini creative s european marketing manager. the firm has a prototype headset linked up to a zen micro player. the transmitter on the player creates a private magnetic bubble around the user which is picked up by the headset. the range is only about one metre so it is only suitable for personal use. a single aaa battery is said to last up to 30 hours. creative expects it to hit the market in its final form later this year. even clothing is likely to be part of the convergence trend. adidas has a trainer which according to susanne risse from the company can sense understand and adapt to your running style . it has a battery processor and motor embedded in the sole. buttons on the side allow you to set the amount of cushioning you would like by adjusting the tension on a cable running through the heel. the processor then monitors the surface you are running on and adjusts the tension accordingly. it is being billed as the world s first intelligent shoe .

aviator creator in oscars snub the man who said he got oscar-nominated movie the aviator off the ground and signed up leonardo dicaprio has been shut out of the academy awards race. charles evans jr battled over his role with the people who eventually made the film and won a producer s credit. but he is not on the list of producers who can win a best film oscar due to a limit on the number of nominees. the oscars organisers have picked two of the aviator s four producers to be nominated for best film. up to three producers can be named per film but the studios behind the aviator and million dollar baby failed to trim their credits - so the academy of motion pictures arts and sciences (ampas) has done it for them. the aviator s nominated producers are michael mann and graham king - with mr evans and sandy climan mr mann s former deputy left off. mr evans sued mr mann in 2001 claiming he came up with the idea spent years developing it and persuaded dicaprio to play hughes - but said he was later excluded from the project. the two sides settled out of court in a deal that has remained secret apart from the fact mr evans name has appeared as a producer when the film s credits roll. at the golden globes mr evans - who was named among the winners when the film won best drama film - evaded a security guard to have his photo taken with dicaprio director martin scorsese mr mann and mr king. ampas decided to limit the number of producers who could be nominated after shakespeare in love s victory in 1999 saw five producers collect awards. the eligible names for the aviator and million dollar baby were decided by ampas producers branch executive committee on wednesday. the decision also saw clint eastwood get his third personal nomination for million dollar baby. he is now named in the best film category as well as being nominated for best director and best lead actor. the academy awards ceremony will be held in hollywood on 27 february. chinese actress ziyi zhang star of crouching tiger hidden dragon hero and house of flying daggers is the latest name to be added to the list of presenters on the night.

february poll claim speculation reports that tony blair is planning a snap general election for february 2005 have been described as idle speculation by downing street. a spokesman said he had no idea where the reports in the sunday times and sunday telegraph had come from. the papers suggest ministers believe the government could benefit from a baghdad bounce following successful iraq elections in january. a british general election was last held in february in 1974. in that election edward heath lost and failed to build a coalition with the liberals. harold wilson took over and increased his majority later in the year in a second election the latest speculation suggests the prime minister favours a february poll in order to exploit his current opinion poll lead over conservative leader michael howard. but that strategy could prompt criticism he was seeking to cut and run after less then four years of a parliamentary term. the papers report that alan milburn labour s head of elections strategy has played a key role in the plan for a february election which would include a new year advertising blitz. new labour s campaign both newspapers said would be centred around the slogan britain is working . a labour party spokesman said the election date was ultimately a matter for mr blair but he was unaware of anything to suggest it would be in february. most commentators have been expecting an election on 5 may. the last election was in june 2001.

india s reliance family feud heats up the ongoing public spat between the two heirs of india s biggest conglomerate reliance group has spilled over to the board meeting of a leading company within the group. anil ambani vice-chairman of india petrochemicals limited (ipcl) stayed away from a gathering of senior managers on thursday. the move follows a decision earlier this month by anil - the younger brother of reliance group president mukesh ambani - to resign from his post. his resignation was not accepted by his brother who is also the boss of ipcl. the ipcl board met in mumbai to discuss the company s results for the october-to-december quarter. it is understood that the board also considered anil s resignation and asked him to reconsider his decision. however anil s demand that anand jain - another ipcl board member accused by anil of creating a rift in the ambani family - be thrown out was not met. anil has accused anand jain a confidant of his brother mukesh of playing a negative role in the ambani family and being responsible for the trouble between the brothers. on wednesday the board of reliance energy another reliance group company reaffirmed its faith in anil who is the company s chief. reliance group acquired the government s 26% stake in ipcl - india s second-largest petrochemicals company - in 2002 as part of the privatisation drive. meanwhile the group s flagship company reliance industries has its board meeting on friday to consider its financial results. mukesh is the company s chairman and anil its deputy and it is expected that both brothers will come face to face in the meeting. the ambani family controls 48% of the group which is worth $17bn (£9.1bn; 745bn indian rupees). it was founded by their father dhiru bhai ambani who died two years ago.

youssou n dour wins music prize senegalese musician youssou n dour has been named a winner of a bbc radio 3 world music award. his album egypt won the critics award for album of the year while the best newcomer accolade went to argentine chango spasiuk. winners were chosen from ten categories to reflect different continents. a special poll winners concert hosted by eliza carthy and benjamin zephaniah will take place at the sage in gateshead on 5 march. the concert will be broadcast on radio 3 s world music day the following evening and will feature performances by many of the award winners. it will also include the announcement of the audience award chosen by radio 3 and bbc world service listeners alongside bbc four viewers. winner in the africa category was malian desert blues band tinariwen formed from the nomadic people of the southern sahara. cuban pianist bebo valdes and flamenco singer diego el cigala responsible for critically acclaimed album lagrimas negrasmusic won an award in the boundary crossing category. each winner will receive a specially commissioned sculpture entitled planet by anita sulimanovic who won a competition to design the award. highlights of the poll winners concert to be held at the sage gateshead will be televised on bbc four on 11 march.

ex-boeing director gets jail term an ex-chief financial officer at boeing has received a four-month jail sentence and a fine of $250 000 (£131 961) for illegally hiring a top air force aide. michael sears admitted his guilt in breaking conflict of interest laws by recruiting darleen druyun while she still handled military contracts. ms druyun is currently serving a nine month sentence for favouring boeing when awarding lucrative contracts. boeing lost a $23bn government contract after a pentagon inquiry into the case. the contract to provide refuelling tankers for the us air force was cancelled last year. the pentagon revealed earlier this week that it would examine eight other contracts worth $3bn which it believes may have been tainted by ms druyun s role in the procurement process. boeing sacked mr sears and ms druyun in november 2003 after allegations that they had violated company recruitment policy. ms druyun had talks with mr sears in october 2002 about working for boeing while she was still a top procurement official within the pentagon. she subsequently joined the company in january 2003. ms druyun admitted that she had steered multi-billion dollar contracts to boeing and other favoured companies. in documents filed in a virginia court ahead of mr sears sentencing prosecutors blamed boeing s senior management for failing to ask key questions about the legal and ethical issues surrounding ms druyun s appointment. mr sears told prosecutors that no other boeing officials were aware that ms druyun was still responsible for major procurement decisions at the time she was discussing a job with boeing. however analysts believe boeing may yet face civil charges arising from the scandal. the pentagon has investigated 400 contracts dating back to 1993 since the allegations against ms druyun came to light. boeing s corporate ethics have come under scrutiny on several occasions in recent years. boeing was sued by lockheed martin after its rival accused it of industrial espionage during a 1998 contract competition. boeing apologised publicly for the affair - although it claimed it did not gain any unfair advantage - and pledged to improve its procedures. the pentagon subsequently revoked $1bn worth of contracts assigned to boeing and prohibited the seattle-based company from future rocket work.

pakistani women must not hide hiding women away in the home hidden behind veils is a backward view of islam president musharraf of pakistan has said during a visit to britain. he was speaking to the bbc s newsnight programme a few hours before visiting the pakistani community in manchester. my wife is travelling around. she is very religious but she is very moderate said general musharraf. it comes after pakistan s high commissioner to britain said some pakistanis should integrate more. dr maleeha lodhi said people could not expect others to listen to their grievances if they isolated themselves. gen musharraf told the bbc: some people think that the women should be confined to their houses and put veils on and all that and they should not move out - absolutely wrong. the pakistani president was also asked whether he thought the war on terror had made the world less safe. yes absolutely. and i would add that unfortunately we are not addressing the core problems so therefore we can never address it in its totality he said. we are fighting it in its immediate context but we are not fighting it in its strategic long-term context. it is the political disputes and we need to resolve them and also the issue of illiteracy and poverty. this combined are breeding grounds of extremism and terrorism. on monday the pakistani president met prime minister tony blair at 10 downing street on his first official visit to london. he is due to visit the pakistani community in manchester on tuesday afternoon. the mirror newspaper said on tuesday it had been handed a sensitive dossier outling the details of gen musharraf s visit to britain. the paper said the document had been found in a london street by a member of the public. it said the dossier contained details about his movements and also confidential police radio channels call signs and codes. speaking in london on monday gen musharraf said al-qaeda was on the run in pakistan. but standing next to mr blair he added that it was crucial to tackle the core of what creates terrorists what creates an extremist militant environment which then leads on to terrorism . that is the resolution of political disputes. mr blair said the two leaders had talked about afghanistan the wider war on terror the situation in the middle east and the ongoing dispute over kashmir. we agreed that in afghanistan there is some cause for optimism about the progress that has been made there said mr blair. in respect of iraq we agreed that whatever the issues of the past the important thing now is to see the strategy through and ensure that iraq is capable of becoming a stable and democratic state.

boateng to step down at election paul boateng chief secretary to the treasury is to step down as a labour mp at the forthcoming general election. mr boateng 53 is to become the uk s high commissioner to south africa. he was the uk s first black cabinet minister when appointed to his post in 2002 promoted from the home office where he had been prisons minister. mr boateng served on the greater london council before being elected to parliament in 1987 declaring today brent south tomorrow soweto . he will succeed the previous high commissioner ann grant shortly after the next election which is widely expected to be held on 5 may. the appointment is dependent on labour s re-election. prime minister tony blair said: paul has been both a valued colleague and a trusted friend for many years. he has made an immense contribution to public life in britain and i am delighted that he has agreed to continue that service to the people of britain by acting as their representative in south africa. chancellor gordon brown said: over the past eight years paul s contribution to the treasury and the government has been exceptional - and it has been my privilege to have worked closely with him closely at the treasury. i congratulate paul on his new appointment. he has displayed huge dedication to the cause of african development for many years and it is fitting that in this year of challenge and opportunity for the african continent paul has been given such a pivotal role in our fight against poverty and injustice. i look forward to continuing to work with paul on this vital agenda. mr boateng said: i am honoured to be asked to take on this role especially as it comes at such an integral time for our relationship with south africa and the african continent. there shall be many new challenges and opportunities ahead and i look forward to embracing them with great anticipation. asked if he was appointed as the result of a fair and open competition he replied: i have been appointed as a result of a process that s been used before by labour and conservative governments to appoint people of all parties who have relevant experience. mr boateng also laughed off suggestions that his re-election in brent south seat had been in danger saying it was one of the safest labour seats in the country . shadow foreign secretary michael ancram said that if in government he would refuse to approve either mr boateng s appointment or that of ex-cabinet minister helen liddell as high commissioner to australia. mr blair s appointment of paul boateng is the latest example of a worrying trend of failed tony s cronies being appointed to senior diplomatic posts he said.

melzer shocks agassi second seed andre agassi suffered a comprehensive defeat by jurgen melzer in the quarter-finals of the sap open. agassi was often bamboozled by the austrian s drop shots in san jose losing 6-3 6-1. defending champion and top seed andy roddick rallied to beat sweden s thomas enqvist 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 7-5. but unseeded cyril saulnier beat the fourth seed vincent spadea 6-2 6-4 and tommy haas overcame eighth seed max mirnyi 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2. melzer has now beaten agassi in two of their three meetings. i had a good game plan and i executed it perfectly he said. it s always tough to come out to play andre. i didn t want him to play his game. he makes you run like a dog all over the court. and agassi who was more than matched for power by his opponent s two-handed backhand said melzer was an example of several players on the tour willing to take their chances against him. a lot more guys are capable of it now said the american. he played much better than me. that s what he did both times. i had opportunities to loosen myself up agassi added. but i didn t convert on the big points.

da vinci code is lousy history the plot of an international bestseller that thousands of readers are likely to receive as a christmas present is laughable a clergyman has said. the da vinci code claims jesus was not crucified but married mary magdalene and died a normal death. it claims this was later covered up by the church. the bishop of durham the rt rev dr tom wright described the novel as a great thriller but lousy history . the book has sold more than seven million copies worldwide. despite enjoying dan brown s conspiracy theory the bishop said there was a lack of evidence to back up its claims. writing his christmas message in the northern echo the bishop said: conspiracy theories are always fun - fun to invent fun to read fun to fantasise about. dan brown is the best writer i ve come across in the genre but anyone who knows anything about 1st century history will see that this underlying material is laughable. a great deal of credible evidence proves the biblical version of jesus life was true according to the bishop. the evidence for jesus and the origins of christianity is astonishingly good he said. we have literally a hundred times more early manuscripts for the gospels and letters in the new testament than we have for the main classical authors like cicero virgil and tacitus. historical research shows that they present a coherent and thoroughly credible picture of jesus with all sorts of incidental details that fit the time when he lived and don t fit the world of later legend. brown s book has become a publishing phenomenon consistently topping book charts in the uk and us. the da vinci code has been translated into 42 languages and has spawned its own cottage industry of publications including guides on to how to read the book rebuttals and counter claims. the book which has become an international best-seller in little over two years is set to be made into a film starring tom hanks.

what the election should really be about a general election is the best chance most pressure groups get to make a real impact on government policy. here is how six leading lobbies plan to make sure their cause is being debated ahead of an expected spring poll. we ve called for the state pension to be increased from £79.60 to the pensioner credit guarantee level of £105.45. that s what we re calling for. many pensioners are disadvantaged by the current system. if we ve got one in five pensioners below the poverty line we ve got to make it more generous or have these people living in poverty. we ve drawn up a pensioners manifesto. this will be sent to each of the candidates in the 659 constituencies. they will be asked which of the top five issues including the pension issue they would support. once we ve got their responses we will publish the results within the constituencies and nationally as well. it s our way of putting the politicians on notice. we are trying to get across the fact that there are 11m voters over 60 in the country they are more likely to vote than other sections of society and thirdly they are true swing voters. before 1997 most pensioners voted conservative. in 1997 and 2001 they voted labour. but there is no guarantee they will vote for a labour government this time around. they cannot take that vote for granted. pensions generally will certainly be a big election issue even though the government has postponed the publication of adair turner s full report into the issue. he said the uk had one of the least generous pensions systems in the developed world. that the government takes seriously the impact of aviation on the environment. we haven t worked out specific plans but i imagine we will lobby political parties and incumbent mps. various local groups will do that in their particular areas and we will provide a national briefing. we don t have any large demonstrations planned but they can t be ruled out. it is hard to say whether we will be successful. we have got the issue in the public consciousness to an extent but it is difficult to say whether an election will raise its importance in the public mind or whether it will be pushed out by big issues like iraq. repealing the hunting bill. we are challenging the use of the parliament act 1949 in a high court action. we are hoping to hear in the new year. whichever way the court rules the other side will appeal so we expect it to fall plumb in electioneering time. when the ban comes into force on 18 february we will be going to the european court because no compensation is being paid. so there s a lot of legal territory to go. we are trying to engage with the ministers by demonstrating and talking. whatever intelligence we get we will try to turn up and speak to whoever it is. (rural affairs minister) alun michael has avoided us and cancelled engagements so that makes it difficult. it is not intimidatory - on the whole it is groups of angry housewives. of course there is an element of shouting because people are angry but there is no violence because that does not achieve anything. it will fall plumb in the run up to the most important general election tony blair will ever face. it s exactly what the prime minister did not want. he wanted the issue off the table until after the election. people using live animals as targets for sport both here and abroad. the reason for including abroad is because of trophy hunting. it is another sort of form of shooting for sport. the principle is the same whether it s a tiger or a pheasant. we will widely publicise what s happening in relation to trophy hunting. we will publicise the darker aspects of the target animal industry the uk. we will seek to get pledges from individual mps and would-be mps saying that they are against the use of animals as targets for sports. we would like the support of political parties but i think a general election is very much to do with pledges mps make to their electors. with hunting we had many mps who were happy to say they were against it. i think what we will get is a very real climbing up the agenda. whether or not we will get a ban i am not sure. but it will mobilise public opinion. everything we do will reduce animal suffering and in time that will lead to a ban. the issue that we think is the most important for this election is choice. the language of consumerism is very commonplace in government and across the political spectrum. choice as an ideology is beginning to be the privatisation of this decade. it s become an issue in itself but what s really missing from the debate is the consumer s choice in that. choice is not choice at all if all you have to choose from is two failing schools. we have seen so many pensions mis-selling scandals and in the pensions industry there s a maximum of choice but a minimum quality in that. we want choice on the consumer s terms - that means clear and accessible information to operate that choice. firstly we have our website. it features our campaigns and changes every day. secondly through our 700 000 members who communicate with us. thirdly through the media and also what we will be doing is holding a pre-election conference. we will invite the opinion formers mps journalists and others. the idea is that we open up communications between members of the public and the politicians. i think we will be successful. it s very much the language being used by the main political parties. politicians on all sides are very sensitive to this issue they want to be seen to be responding to this issue. fuel duty is a large part of operational costs for road haulage workers. we have been hearing about this proposed increase of 1.92p per litre that gordon brown has been postponing and postponing. tuppence does not sound like a great deal but every year if you operate one vehicle that s an increase of about £750. if you re running 10 vehicles it s obviously 10 times that. if fuel duty does rise we will be absolutely horrified. there will be a huge effect throughout the industry and i would not be surprised if you see widespread demonstrations. what it will mean is there will be a number of firms going out of business. we will continue to do what we have always done we keep the issue in the trade press. regrettably it s one of those stories that it is getting harder to get into the national press. whatever we do the public don t like lorries - they see us as a complaining minority. but they don t realise that when you see a car on the road it is probably going to work when you see a lorry it s already at work.

howard attacks cost of asylum michael howard has launched an attack on the cost of britain s chaotic asylum system under tony blair. the tory leader said english local authorities have spent more than £3bn - or £140 per household - on asylum since labour won power in 1997. mr howard is expected to tell activists in kent that voters tolerance and desire to help others are being abused. other parties and refugee agencies have already attacked tory plans for annual limits on numbers. mr howard said britain should take its fair share of the world s genuine refugees . the anniversary of the liberation of auschwitz - where my grandmother was murdered along with over a million others - has reminded all of us that we have a moral responsibility to those fleeing persecution he was due to say. but if we are to fulfil responsibility we have to get a grip of the system. fair play matters. people want a government that upholds the rules - not one that turns a blind eye when they are bent and abused he said. and let s be clear. our asylum system is being abused - and with it britain s generosity. earlier this week mr howard said his party s plans to cut immigration were not racist arguing they would make the asylum system fairer for genuine refugees. if elected his party would institute an annual limit on asylum and all claims would be processed overseas. that prompted some charities to say the plans would put refugees lives at risk if they were turned away once quotas were filled. if we have a moral responsibility towards people fleeing persecution then these policies will not provide a safe haven said hannah ward of the refugee council. if people turn up in the uk asking for help they will be turned away. michael howard s policy effectively means there is no safe haven in the uk. when it comes to costs then perhaps we should start with how decisions are made on asylum seekers. so many of them are shown to be wrong - one in five decisions that are appealed are successfully overturned rising to half for some nationalities. we need good quality decision-making on asylum applications because it is delays in the system which cost so much. tony blair said labour would set out workable plans for tackling immigration abuse in the next few weeks and attacked the tory plans. by cutting the number of front-line immigration staff at our borders they will actually make the problem worse said mr blair. liberal democrat chairman matthew taylor said there needed to be a quick fair and firm asylum system. but he said it was absolutely disgusting to propose a system which could turn away genuine refugees. the conservatives say there is little risk of this happening as demand for asylum will be considered when quotas are set. on monday mr howard said: it s not racist as some people to claim to talk about controlling immigration far from it.

correction agency plans dropped plans to create a single correctional agency for scotland have been scrapped. the scottish executive will not now merge the scottish prison service with local authority social work criminal justice departments. the national correctional agency would have provided a one-stop justice system but has been abandoned in the wake of stiff opposition. instead scottish councils and the prison service will be compelled to work more closely to cut reoffending. the plan was to ensure offenders were monitored by the same body during and after prison preventing many from being lost in the system and helping more of them to stop reoffending. scotland s reoffending rate is high with more than 60% of prisoners reconvicted within two years of release from jail. this is leading to an ever-expanding prison population and the executive wants to tackle the problem. ministers thought merging the prison service with the council-controlled criminal justice social work departments which provide community sentences might have provided an answer. however following a consultation on the idea justice minister cathy jamieson has decided to drop the plans. instead ms jamieson will change the law to help produce a closer working relationship between both elements of the justice system. she will announce the move in her criminal justice plan on monday aiming to break down the barriers between what happens in prison and what happens in the community . the new measures will place a new statutory duty on the sps to work with local authorities and others in area partnerships. a national advisory board on offender management will also be created to advise ms jamieson on the sps s role and performance in reducing reoffending. the minister said: better joint working will help prisons play a much stronger role in ending reoffending behaviour and in particular help address the revolving door of reoffending that sees offenders entering prison for short periods during which little is done to address the behaviour that brought them there. communities who are paying the price for this reoffending - both in terms of crime and in terms of prison costs - expect better. it costs the taxpayer £35 000 a year to provide each prison place and that cost is increasing. taxpayers who suffer the consequences of crime also end up paying for keeping those people in prison. therefore as we continue to invest in the service it is only right that we seek to ensure that that service becomes more accountable to the public it serves to ministers and to parliament.

wilkinson to lead england fly-half jonny wilkinson has been named as england s new rugby union captain for the three november tests. the 25-year-old newcastle star takes over from lawrence dallaglio who retired from internationals in august. england s acting head coach andy robinson said: he is a natural leader holds the respect of the squad and is a formidable talent on the pitch. and he consistently demonstrates the energy and commitment i feel is essential to be captain of england. robinson added: there are several players in the squad i would feel comfortable in calling upon to be england captain but for me jonny is in every way the right player to take on this challenge. captaincy offers a challenging environment for any player especially following in the footsteps of lawrence dallaglio and before him the world cup captain martin johnson. but i am confident jonny has what it takes to do an outstanding job as we look ahead towards the next rugby world cup in france and i look forward to working with him. wilkinson who has scored 817 points in 52 internationals kicked the winning drop-goal in the final seconds of extra-time in england s 2003 rugby world cup triumph against australia. but he then missed the entire 2004 six nations campaign while recuperating from shoulder surgery before making his comeback for newcastle in the zurich premiership in august. it s the ambition of so many players to one day be captain of england and today i have realised a dream he said. i m honoured andy wants me to be his captain and to follow lawrence and martin means a lot to me as they are inspirational men who have given so much to england rugby over many years. getting my first england cap against ireland six years ago was something i ll never forget because to play for your country is very special. taking on the captaincy is another important step in my career and i do so with immense pride. wilkinson made his international debut in the 1998 six nations championship against ireland when he came off the bench to replace paul grayson. he has been a regular in the england starting line-up ever since played in all three lions tests in 2001 and all but one of england s games in the 2003 world cup. he becomes the 117th captain of england since fred stokes held the position in 1871. england s first autumn test is against canada on 13 november followed by the visit of tri-nations champions south africa a week later and then a world cup re-match with australia.

ex-boeing director gets jail term an ex-chief financial officer at boeing has received a four-month jail sentence and a fine of $250 000 (£131 961) for illegally hiring a top air force aide. michael sears admitted his guilt in breaking conflict of interest laws by recruiting darleen druyun while she still handled military contracts. ms druyun is currently serving a nine month sentence for favouring boeing when awarding lucrative contracts. boeing lost a $23bn government contract after a pentagon inquiry into the case. the contract to provide refuelling tankers for the us air force was cancelled last year. the pentagon revealed earlier this week that it would examine eight other contracts worth $3bn which it believes may have been tainted by ms druyun s role in the procurement process. boeing sacked mr sears and ms druyun in november 2003 after allegations that they had violated company recruitment policy. ms druyun had talks with mr sears in october 2002 about working for boeing while she was still a top procurement official within the pentagon. she subsequently joined the company in january 2003. ms druyun admitted that she had steered multi-billion dollar contracts to boeing and other favoured companies. in documents filed in a virginia court ahead of mr sears sentencing prosecutors blamed boeing s senior management for failing to ask key questions about the legal and ethical issues surrounding ms druyun s appointment. mr sears told prosecutors that no other boeing officials were aware that ms druyun was still responsible for major procurement decisions at the time she was discussing a job with boeing. however analysts believe boeing may yet face civil charges arising from the scandal. the pentagon has investigated 400 contracts dating back to 1993 since the allegations against ms druyun came to light. boeing s corporate ethics have come under scrutiny on several occasions in recent years. boeing was sued by lockheed martin after its rival accused it of industrial espionage during a 1998 contract competition. boeing apologised publicly for the affair - although it claimed it did not gain any unfair advantage - and pledged to improve its procedures. the pentagon subsequently revoked $1bn worth of contracts assigned to boeing and prohibited the seattle-based company from future rocket work.

federer claims dubai crown world number one roger federer added the dubai championship trophy to his long list of successes - but not before he was given a test by ivan ljubicic. top seed federer looked to be on course for a easy victory when he thumped the eighth seed 6-1 in the first set. but ljubicic who beat tim henman in the last eight dug deep to secure the second set after a tense tiebreak. swiss star federer was not about to lose his cool though turning on the style to win the deciding set 6-3. the match was a re-run of last week s final at the world indoor tournament in rotterdam where federer triumphed but not until ljubicic had stretched him for five sets. i really wanted to get off to a good start this time and i did and i could really play with confidence while he still looking for his rhythm federer said. that took me all the way through to 6-1 3-1 0-30 on his serve and i almost ran away with it. but he came back and that was a good effort on his side. ljubicic was at a loss to explain his poor showing in the first set. i didn t start badly but then suddenly i felt like my racket was loose and the balls were flying a little bit too much. and with roger if you relax for a second it just goes very quick he said. after those first three games it was no match at all. i don t know it was really weird. i was playing really well the whole year and then suddenly i found myself in trouble just to put the ball in the court. but despite his defeat the world number 14 was pleased with his overall performance. i had a chance in the third and for me it s really positive to twice in two weeks have a chance against roger to win the match. it s an absolutely great boost to my confidence that i m up there and belong with top-class players.

games enter the classroom video games could soon be transplanted from their natural habitat to the more academic atmosphere of the classroom. with violent titles continuing to top the charts gaming and learning have not always sat well together but the tide could be beginning to turn. recent research by the london institute of education concluded that games have a valid place in the classroom. games teach life skills such as decision making problem solving said martin owen at futurelab. mr owen said games could also help children make quick assessments of situations and learning by trial and error. futurelab is a non-profit organisation looking at ways of using technology for innovative learning. most game firms are too busy turning a profit in the lucrative commercial market to consider developing games for use in schools but liverpool-based games firm lateral visions saw a gap in the market. learning games were somewhat old-fashioned and we didn t see anyone else doing what we wanted to do said dr carl gavin managing director of lateral visions. the company set out to write something that had all the look and feel of a commercial game but with an educational and learning element. the result is racing academy a massively multiplayer car racing game which requires not only a thirst for speed but a working knowledge of physics and engineering as well. it is being used by futurelab to test the viability of using gaming in the classroom. we are keen to find out whether alongside learning a game we can also learn something that the rest of the world can understand as being educational said mr owen. players will have to understand how a car works in order to win races and the knowledge of physics and engineering that they gather along the way will be done in a way that no text book can teach. the game requires users to build and maintain their vehicles and to monitor and analyse performance using data from a variety of outputs before and after racing. teamwork is essential and a chat area allows students to exchange information and data work collaboratively and review their own performances. this fusion of chatrooms and gaming is of special interest to futurelab as it is through talking to others that much of the learning can be achieved thinks mr owen. the game has been trialled in two secondary schools in bristol and feedback from students has been positive. pupils used the statistics to work out the best way to build their cars and the online message board to share ideas and support each other said ben williamson a researcher at futurelab charged with testing the game in real schools. dr gavin thinks the game satisfies both teachers need for learning outcomes and the children s desire to rise to a challenge. games in the classroom need to support the teacher. it is not about giving children free rein to play game but recognising that games attract attention and offer a challenge he said. professor angela macfarlane based at bristol university has spent several years researching how games can be incorporated into classrooms. use of games in schools has been patchy she found with sim city proving the most popular. traditionally schools have eschewed mainstream games in favour of used so-called edu-tainment software in a belief that such packages help to make learning fun she found in her research. it is perhaps in a compromise between edutainment and mainstream games that the greatest potential for classroom useable games lies she wrote in a paper entitled games and learning. lite versions of existing games could be the way forward and would overcome one of the biggest hurdles - persuading developers to write for the educational market. this would appeal to developers because of the low costs involved in adapting them as well as offering a new opportunity for marketing. already there are games on the market such as civilisation and age of empire that have educational elements said mr owen. even in grand theft auto it is not just the violence that engages people he said. it could be some time until that particular game makes it into the classroom though.

web helps collect aid donations the web is helping aid agencies gather resources to help cope with the aftermath of the tsunami disaster. many people are making donations via websites or going online to see how they can get involved with aid efforts. high-profile web portals such as google yahoo ebay and amazon are gathering links that lead people to aid and relief organisations. so many were visiting some aid-related sites that some webpages were struggling to cope with the traffic. an umbrella organisation called the disasters emergency committee (dec) has been set up by a coalition of 12 charities and has been taking many donations via its specially created website. it urged people to go online where possible to help because donations could be processed more quickly than cash donated in other ways meaning aid could be delivered as quickly as possible. the site has so far received almost £8 million with more than 11 000 donations being made online every hour. telco bt stepped in to take over the secure payments on the dec site and provided extra logistical support for phone and online appeals after it was initially crippled with online donations. it has also provided space in london s bt tower for one of the call centres dealing with donations. some of the web s biggest firms are also helping to channel help by modifying their homepages to include links to aid agencies and organisations collecting resources. on its famously sparse homepage google has placed a link that leads users to a list of sites where donations can be made. among the 17 organisations listed are oxfam medecins sans frontieres (doctors without borders) and network for good. many of the sites that google lists are also taking online donations. online retailer amazon has put a large message on its start page that lets people donate money directly to the american red cross that will be used with relief efforts. auction site ebay is giving a list of sites that people can either donate directly to divert a portion of their profits from anything they sell on ebay to the listed organisations or simply buy items that direct cash to those in the list. yahoo is proving links direct to charities for those that want to donate. the auction drop website is asking people to donate old digital cameras computers and other gadgets they no longer want that can be auction to raise cash for the aid effort. sadly the outpouring of goodwill has also encouraged some conmen to try to cash in. anti-fraud organisations are warning about e-mails that are starting to circulate which try to convince people to send money directly to them rather than make donations via aid agencies. those wanting to give cash were urged to use legitimate websites of charities and aid agencies.

broadband challenges tv viewing the number of europeans with broadband has exploded over the past 12 months with the web eating into tv viewing habits research suggests. just over 54 million people are hooked up to the net via broadband up from 34 million a year ago according to market analysts nielsen/netratings. the total number of people online in europe has broken the 100 million mark. the popularity of the net has meant that many are turning away from tv say analysts jupiter research. it found that a quarter of web users said they spent less time watching tv in favour of the net the report by nielsen/netratings found that the number of people with fast internet access had risen by 60% over the past year. the biggest jump was in italy where it rose by 120%. britain was close behind with broadband users almost doubling in a year. the growth has been fuelled by lower prices and a wider choice of always-on fast-net subscription plans. twelve months ago high speed internet users made up just over one third of the audience in europe; now they are more than 50% and we expect this number to keep growing said gabrielle prior nielsen/netratings analyst. as the number of high-speed surfers grows websites will need to adapt update and enhance their content to retain their visitors and encourage new ones. the total number of europeans online rose by 12% to 100 million over the past year the report showed with the biggest rise in france italy britain and germany. the ability to browse web pages at high speed download files such as music or films and play online games is changing what people do in their spare time. a study by analysts jupiter research suggested that broadband was challenging television viewing habits. in homes with broadband 40% said they were spending less time watching tv. the threat to tv was greatest in countries where broadband was on the up in particular the uk france and spain said the report. it said tv companies faced a major long-term threat over the next five years with broadband predicted to grow from 19% to 37% of households by 2009. year-on-year we are continuing to see a seismic shift in where when and how europe s population consume media for information and entertainment and this has big implications for tv newspaper and radio said jupiter research analyst olivier beauvillian.

parker s saxophone heads auction a saxophone belonging to legendary jazz musician charlie parker is expected to fetch up to $1m (£535 000) at an auction of jazz memorabilia next month. the sale at guernsey s auction house in new york will feature instruments from other musicians including john coltrane and benny goodman. other items will include an evening gown belonging to ella fitzgerald. organisers said the auction was the first in the us to be devoted to items belonging to jazz musicians. other items that will be auctioned include unreleased tape recordings of music by parker as well as handwritten sheet music by jazz composers john coltrane and theolonius monk. among the instruments in the sale will be a trumpet which belonged to dizzy gillespie which is expected to fetch around $500 000 (£267 000) as well as jj johnson s trombone and a vibraphone which beloned to lionel hampton. works of art by musicians including miles davis and bruni sablan will also be featured. the proceeds from the auction which will take place on 20 february will go towards several organisations including the john coltrane foundation a foundation set up in memory of benny goodman and the red cross.

us afflicted with awards fatigue the film world and media may be wild about the oscars but cinema-goers and the tv-viewing public are sick of watching award ceremonies according to some la film critics. bob strauss from the la daily news thinks there are just too many televised gatherings of stars showering praise on each other. he came up with a colourful but unprintable description for these glitzy events which roughly translates a celebrity love-in . this echoed the views of oscars host and comedian chris rock who whipped up a media storm for saying he rarely watched them calling award shows idiotic . as chris rock accurately said they re about celebrity and fashion mr strauss said. the recent grammy music awards proved to be a ratings loser and it seems oscars organisers are determined not to go the same way. recently announced changes to the ceremony include lining up all five nominees on stage before announcing the winner. unsurprisingly this prompted press speculation that the changes were aimed at boosting flagging advertising revenue. but entertainment weekly s dave karger maintained the oscars only generated excitement outside the industry when a blockbuster such as titanic or lord of the rings was nominated. the near constant flow of us film awards representing directors actors and producers guilds also means few surprises are left by the time the oscar ceremony is upon us he said. a quick scan of the los angeles times and los angeles daily news bears this out - speculation about who will win seems to have ground to a halt. on thursday the times simply printed a picture of the plastic tents going up outside the kodak theatre to protect the red carpet from rain. variety and the hollywood reporter have also kept their focus firmly on industry-related news while in the uk bets have closed on the best actor category with ray star jamie foxx a dead cert to win. screen international s us editor mike goodridge thinks 2004 s films have simply not grabbed the public s imagination. film-makers haven t produced films that people adore this year he said. they adored saving private ryan for example - people loved it and it made a ton of money. 2004 s films could be a reaction to 9/11 - there was a realisation in america that things might not be so rosy after all. audiences don t necessarily want to see darker films such as million dollar baby aviator and finding neverland which end with casualty. as to whether rock could pep up the awards the critics were not hopeful. mr strauss doubted whether rock would make an impact but added: i m all for lower ratings though - there are far more important things going on than the oscars. mr karger said the comic might boost younger viewers but mike goodridge thought rock s humour could prompt america s conservative states to switch off. so despite all this did the critics have any views on who would win clint eastwood s million dollar baby affected people emotionally which is why it will beat aviator which was about technical artistry not feelings mr karger said. eastwood has it in the bag added mr strauss. oscar voters often vote with their hearts not their heads. and mr goodridge said best film and director were between martin scorsese s aviator and million dollar baby. mr karger whose favourite film of the year was mike leigh s abortion drama vera drake stayed upbeat about the awards despite his other comments. i hope this is the year for small films to triumph he said. after all it s still one of the biggest tv events of the year.

fao warns on impact of subsidies billions of farmers livelihoods are at risk from falling commodity prices and protectionism the un s food & agriculture organisation has warned. trade barriers and subsidies severely distort the market the fao report on the state of agricultural commodity markets 2004 said. as a result the 2.5 billion people in the developing world who rely on farming face food insecurity. the most endangered are those who live in the least-developed countries. the fao report said that support for farmers in industrialised nations was equivalent to 30 times the amount provided as aid for agricultural development in poor countries. the fao has urged the world trade organisation to swiftly conclude negotiations to liberalise trade easing developing countries access to the world market. it also criticised the high tariffs imposed by both developed and developing nations. it recommends that developing countries reduce their own tariffs to encourage trade and take advantage of market liberalisation. according to the organisation subsidies and high tariffs have a strong impact on the trade of products such as cotton and rice. global exports of these products are mainly in the hands of the european union and the us who - thanks to subsidies - sell them at very low prices. in fact almost 30 wealthy nations spend more than $300bn (£158.8bn; 230.9bn euros) in agricultural subsidies. the market situation has divided developing nations in two groups the fao said. the first group have a reasonably diverse range of agricultural products while in the second group agriculture lies largely in the hands of small-scale producers. for 43 developing countries more than 20% of their export incomes come from the sale of just one product. these countries are mainly situated in sub-saharan africa latin america and the caribbean.

movie body hits peer-to-peer nets the movie industry has struck out at file-sharing networks with another round of lawsuits in the us. the motion picture association of america (mpaa) also said it had succeeded in getting a network called lokitorrent closed down. it is the latest network which uses the peer-to-peer system called bittorrent to be hit by the mpaa. the mpaa began its legal campaign against operators of similar networks across four continents in december. a dallas court agreed that hollywood lawyers would be allowed access to lokitorrent s server records which could let them single out those who were sharing files illegally. in october 2004 the site had provided links to more than 30 000 files. the action came after the operators of lokitorrent agreed a settlement with the mpaa. a stark message has appeared on the site from the mpaa warning you can click but you can t hide . in bittorrent systems server sites do not host the files being shared. they host links called trackers that direct people to others that have it instead. as well as filing an unspecified number of file suits across the us the mpaa said it had given operators that host edonkey servers take down notices. hollywood studios are aggressively clamping down on file-sharers who it says infringe copyright laws by copying films and tv programmes then share the files online. but it is now targeting the operators of bittorrent networks themselves. it has filed 100 lawsuits against operators of bittorrent server sites since december. the strategy of hitting those who run the servers which link to copyrighted material is intended to stunt file-sharers ability to swap content using bittorrent systems. the film industry says the black market for illegally copied videos and dvds already costs them billions every year and it is worried that illegal file-sharing is adding to their losses. in december the legal action claimed its most high-profile victim. the popular suprnova.org website was forced to close and others like phoenix torrent followed soon after.

stars gear up for bafta ceremony film stars from across the globe are preparing to walk the red carpet at this year s bafta award ceremony. the 2005 orange british academy film awards are being held at the odeon in london s leicester square. a host of hollywood stars including cate blanchett leonardo dicaprio keanu reeves and richard gere are expected to attend saturday s ceremony. hosted by stephen fry the glittering ceremony will be broadcast on bbc one at 2010 gmt. other actors expected to add to the glamour of the biggest night in uk film are gael garcia bernal imelda staunton diane kruger christian slater anjelica huston helen mirren and former james bond star pierce brosnan. hollywood blockbuster the aviator starring dicaprio leads the field with 14 nominations including best film. it is up against eternal sunshine of the spotless mind finding neverland the motorcycle diaries and british film vera drake which has 11 nominations. british hope imelda staunton is one of the favourites to land the best actress award for her gritty role as a backstreet abortionist in the small-budget film. other nominees in the best actress category include charlize theron for monster ziyi zhang for house of flying daggers and uk star kate winslet who has two nods for her roles in eternal sunshine of the spotless mind and finding neverland. dicaprio faces competition from bernal jamie foxx jim carrey and johnny depp in the best actor category. and british actor clive owen is hoping to repeat his golden globe success with a best supporting actor award for his role in closer. his co-star natalie portman is up against blanchett heather craney julie cristie and meryl streep in the best supporting actress category. mike leigh is up for the best director award for vera drake alongside martin scorsese for the aviator michael mann for collateral michel gondry for eternal sunshine of the spotless mind and marc forster for finding neverland.

uk helps raped rwandan women britain is to give a £4m grant to help women survivors of the rwandan genocide who were raped and often deliberately infected with hiv/aids. an estimated 25 000 girls and women were raped during the 1994 genocide. about 800 000 tutsis and moderate hutus were killed by hutu militias after the assassination of an ethnic hutu leader. the five-year department for international development funding will enable more survivors to have access to anti-retroviral treatment. the plight of the infected women was overshadowed for a long time. it was overshadowed by rwanda s emergence from the 100 days of slaughter during which time the mass killings took place and the women s fate was largely a taboo subject. but many of the women were widowed and they now not only have their own children to care for but in many cases orphans too. as the women die the number of rwanda s orphans rises. until recently very few of the women have had access to anti-retroviral treatment. that is now starting to change. this funding is intended to make anti-retrovirals and other care available for some 2 500 women. mary kayitesi blewitt founder of the survivors fund (surf) one of the organisations through which the funds are being channelled said it was a recognition before it was too late that the survivors should be a priority for help.

venezuela identifies idle farms venezuelan authorities have identified more than 500 farms including 56 large estates as idle as it continues with its controversial land reform policy. under a 2001 land law the government can tax or seize unused farm sites. a further 40 000 farms are yet to be inspected the state s national land institute has told associated press. vice president jose vicente rangel has said farmers and ranchers with their titles in order and their lands productive have nothing to fear. critics of the land reform policy claim president hugo chavez is trying to enforce a communist-style economic programme that ignores property rights and will damage the country. land owners claim the national land institute has made mistakes in classifying lands as public or private. but the government - venezuela s largest land owner - say they are proceeding cautiously to prevent conflicts. in a statement mr rangel said the land reform is not against the constitution which permits private property while stressing the efforts are to vindicate social and economically years of inequality in the country. one property in conflict with the government is the el charcote cattle ranch run by agroflora a subsidiary of the uk food group vestey. agriculture minister arnoldo marquez told reuters news agency the site s documents do not guarantee that this is a private land . administrators of the ranch however have complained that pro-chavez squatters have taken over 80% of the property in the last four years and the uk government has asked venezuelan authorities to resolve the conflict. you should ask the company when they are going to put their papers in order and hand over the land that is not theirs said mr marquez.

uk economy ends year with spurt the uk economy grew by an estimated 3.1% in 2004 after accelerating in the last quarter of the year says the office for national statistics (ons). the figure is in line with treasury and bank of england forecasts. the ons says gross domestic product (gdp) rose by a strong 0.7% in the three months to 31 december compared with 0.5% in the previous quarter. the rise came despite a further decline in production output and the worst christmas for retailers in decades. the annual figure marked out the best year since 2000 and was also well ahead of the 2.2% recorded in 2003. growth in the final three months of 2004 marked the 50th consecutive quarter of expansion. on the basis of the latest information the uk has entered 2005 on course to continue its record period of growth said paul boateng chief secretary to the treasury in a statement. the ons said the services sector which accounts for nearly three-quarters of the uk economy grew 1.0% in the quarter. the strong services figure was welcomed by analysts given lacklustre retail sales in december and across the christmas holiday period. the fact that other services components are doing so well suggests to me that we are back to trend (growth) and i am not particularly concerned about any further slowdown said ross walker uk economist at rbs financial markets. however output in the production sector contracted 0.5% the second quarterly fall in row and a state of affairs that some economists classify as a recession. however the ons would not comment on the definition of a recession and whether the manufacturing recovery was over. but steve radley chief economist at the manufacturers organisation eef said: these figures remain at odds with what is actually happening on the ground. whilst companies may be experiencing tougher conditions this year recession is not a word that manufacturers would currently recognise. the ons said a sharp fall in mining and quarrying which was driven by oil and gas extraction was primarily responsible for the overall contraction in manufacturing production figures. simon rubinsohn chief economist at gerrard said: this outturn (of 0.7%) was well ahead of the market expectations and cast doubt on the scare stories doing the rounds surrounding the current state of the uk economy. and he said the gdp figures may help to push interest rate expectations a little higher along the curve . the suggestion from the money markets is that the next move is now more likely to be in an upward rather than a downward direction. this is consistent with our own thinking said mr rubinsohn. the bank of england s nine-strong rate-setting committee voted unanimously earlier this month to keep interest rates steady at 4.75% minutes of the meeting showed on wednesday.

wilkinson to lead england fly-half jonny wilkinson has been named as england s new rugby union captain for the three november tests. the 25-year-old newcastle star takes over from lawrence dallaglio who retired from internationals in august. england s acting head coach andy robinson said: he is a natural leader holds the respect of the squad and is a formidable talent on the pitch. and he consistently demonstrates the energy and commitment i feel is essential to be captain of england. robinson added: there are several players in the squad i would feel comfortable in calling upon to be england captain but for me jonny is in every way the right player to take on this challenge. captaincy offers a challenging environment for any player especially following in the footsteps of lawrence dallaglio and before him the world cup captain martin johnson. but i am confident jonny has what it takes to do an outstanding job as we look ahead towards the next rugby world cup in france and i look forward to working with him. wilkinson who has scored 817 points in 52 internationals kicked the winning drop-goal in the final seconds of extra-time in england s 2003 rugby world cup triumph against australia. but he then missed the entire 2004 six nations campaign while recuperating from shoulder surgery before making his comeback for newcastle in the zurich premiership in august. it s the ambition of so many players to one day be captain of england and today i have realised a dream he said. i m honoured andy wants me to be his captain and to follow lawrence and martin means a lot to me as they are inspirational men who have given so much to england rugby over many years. getting my first england cap against ireland six years ago was something i ll never forget because to play for your country is very special. taking on the captaincy is another important step in my career and i do so with immense pride. wilkinson made his international debut in the 1998 six nations championship against ireland when he came off the bench to replace paul grayson. he has been a regular in the england starting line-up ever since played in all three lions tests in 2001 and all but one of england s games in the 2003 world cup. he becomes the 117th captain of england since fred stokes held the position in 1871. england s first autumn test is against canada on 13 november followed by the visit of tri-nations champions south africa a week later and then a world cup re-match with australia.

building giant in asbestos payout australian building products group james hardie has agreed to pay $1.1bn (£568m) to victims of asbestos-related diseases. the landmark deal could see thousands of people suffering from lung diseases - caused by asbestos the company once made - receive compensation. the move follows angry protests after the firm said a previous compensation fund was running out of money. a subsequent new south wales state inquiry criticised hardie s actions. in september the inquiry found that the company had misled the public about the amount of money set aside to cover its asbestos-related liabilities sparking the resignation of its then chief executive peter macdonald. campaigners welcomed news of the preliminary agreement. this is a momentous day in the fight for victims and their families said asbestosis sufferer bernie banton who leads a victims association. there is still a long way to go but we are getting there. james hardie chairwoman meredith hellicar said the deal provided for a funding arrangement that is affordable sensible and workable . at the end of the day we are dealing with compensation for people who are terminally ill. we don t know exactly how many of them there will be we don t know over what exact period they will fall ill she said. however the deal still has to receive the approval of hardie s shareholders. hardie which currently makes more than 80% of its revenues in the us was once australia s biggest supplier of asbestos building materials. in 2001 the company set up a fund to compensate asbestos victims but it later admitted the fund was running short of money. a decision by hardie to move its headquarters to the netherlands - while remaining a listed company in australia - provoked a damaging public outcry. victims groups accusing it of trying to escape its responsibilities by moving abroad a charge the company denies. australia s securities watchdog is currently investigating hardie s former chief executive and former chief financial officer over allegations of misleading investors and the general public.

liberian economy starts to grow the liberian economy started to grow in 2004 but sustained and deep reform efforts are needed to ensure long term growth the international monetary fund (imf) has said. an imf mission made the comments in a report published following 10 days of talks with the transition government. the imf said that according to data provided by the liberians the country s gdp rose by 2% in 2004 after a 31% decline in 2003. liberia is recovering from a 14-year civil war that came to an end in 2003. the power-sharing national transition government of liberia will remain in place until elections on 11 october the first presidential and parliamentary ballots since the conflict ended. the imf said liberia s economy started to grow last year thanks to a continued strong recovery in rubber production domestic manufacturing and local services including post-conflict reconstruction . the imf however remains cautious about what it sees as a lack of transparency in government actions. in particular it pointed to mystery surrounding the sale of iron ore stockpiles and the alleged disappearance of some import and export permits. these matters are now being investigated by the liberian authorities and the imf has called for their findings to be made public. the imf also said it was crucial that the central bank of liberia be strengthened the national budget be effectively managed and a sound economic basis built to allow the country s large external debt to be addressed. the imf team stands ready to assist the (liberian) authorities in strengthening the areas mentioned said the report. the team agreed with the (liberian) authorities that the period until elections and the inauguration of a new government will pose exceptional challenges to fiscal management and expresses its willingness to provide...continued support.

o leary agrees new villa contract aston villa boss david o leary signed a three-and-a-half year contract extension on thursday securing his future at the club until summer 2008. o leary s future was in question but villa chairman doug ellis said he was happy to secure the deal. david s record since his arrival in 2003 is excellent and he shares the board s amibitions in taking this club forward he told villa s website. for this reason it was important we got this right. o leary put pen to paper after deals were sorted for his right-hand men roy aitken and steve mcgregor. it was important to me roy and steve an integral part of my team should stay for the same time o leary said on thursday ahead of signing his new deal. someone has to try and put aston villa back where they should belong and i m up for the challenge. earlier in december there were rumours o leary would quit if he is not offered a new deal before the end of the season. but he denied that saying he was happy to take on the challenge of improving villa s fortunes in the long term. i want to make sure by the end of the five years i would have been in charge that villa are achieving top six finishes in the premiership on a regular basis said o leary who took over at villa park in may 2003. but to achieve that and take the next step forward we do need to bring in quality players. i would like a couple next month if at all possible to set us on the way. meanwhile o leary has rapped skipper olof mellberg for his comments before sunday s derby with birmingham. mellberg spoke of his dislike of villa s rivals ahead of the match which steve bruce s side won 2-1. i ve had more than a quiet word with olof. it s been said within the whole group not as a one-to-one he told villa s website. you shouldn t leave yourself open to be shot down. you shouldn t give people the chance to take cheap shots at you and he set himself up for that.

zambia confident and cautious zambia s technical director kalusha bwalya is confident and cautious ahead of the cosafa cup final against angola on saturday in lusaka. bwalya said: nothing short of victory will do. however bwalya warned his side not to be too complacent. i don t want my team to be too comfortable or too sure of victory as it is going to be a difficult game. for me the main aim of the game is to enjoy and to win. zambia have shown their determination to win this final by recalling nine of their foreign-based players. however the 41 year-old bwalya who became the oldest player to appear in the competition when he played and scored against mauritius is uncertain whether he will take to the field or not. the chipolopolo fans however are not being so cautious with a victory concert already scheduled for after the match featuring some of the country s top musicians. both sides are hoping to win the competition for a record third time and so keep the trophy for good. the chipolopolo won the first two editions of the regional tournament for southern african nations in 1997 and 1998. they were prevented from a third straight win by angola who knocked out the zambians at the semi-final stage in 1999. that victory for angola also marked a first defeat in 14 years for zambia at lusaka s independence stadium where saturday s game is being played. angola named just four overseas-based players in their preliminary squad. the palancas negras have been unable to secure the release of many of their portugal-based players.

enron bosses in $168m payout eighteen former enron directors have agreed a $168m (£89m) settlement deal in a shareholder lawsuit over the collapse of the energy firm. leading plaintiff the university of california announced the news adding that 10 of the former directors will pay $13m from their own pockets. the settlement will be put to the courts for approval next week. enron went bankrupt in 2001 after it emerged it had hidden hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. before its collapse the firm was the seventh biggest public us company by revenue. its demise sent shockwaves through financial markets and dented investor confidence in corporate america. the settlement is very significant in holding these outside directors at least partially personally responsible william lerach the lawyer leading the class action suit against enron said. hopefully this will help send a message to corporate boardrooms of the importance of directors performing their legal duties he added. under the terms of the $168m settlement - $155m of which will be covered by insurance - none of the 18 former directors will admit any wrongdoing. the deal is the fourth major settlement negotiated by lawyers who filed a class action on behalf of enron s shareholders almost three years ago. so far including the latest deal just under $500m (£378.8m) has been retrieved for investors. however the latest deal does not include former enron chief executives ken lay and jeff skilling. both men are facing criminal charges for their alleged misconduct in the run up to the firm s collapse. neither does it cover andrew fastow who has pleaded guilty to taking part in an illegal conspiracy while he was chief financial officer at the group. enron s shareholders are still seeking damages from a long list of other big name defendants including the financial institutions jp morgan chase citigroup merrill lynch and credit suisse first boston. the university of california said the trial in the case is scheduled to begin in october 2006. it joined the lawsuit in december 2001alleging massive insider trading and fraud claiming it had lost $145m on its investments in the company.

nat insurance to rise say tories national insurance will be raised if labour wins the next election tory leader michael howard has claimed. tony blair has said he does not want higher tax rates for top earners but on wednesday said other tax promises would be left to labour s manifesto. prime minister s questions also saw mr blair predict that new plans would probably cut net immigration. he attacked tory plans to process asylum claims abroad - but mr howard said labour had proposed the idea too. the commons questions session again saw the leaders of the two biggest parties shape up for the forthcoming election campaign. the tories have promised £4bn in tax cuts but have yet to say where they will fall. mr howard pointed to the institute for fiscal studies predictions that labour will need to increase taxes to cover an £11bn gap in its spending plans. he accused ministers of wasting money on unsuccessful attempts to curb bad behaviour and truancy in schools and on slow asylum processing. it was no good mr blair claiming tax pledges were being left to the manifesto as he had given one to mps on tuesday about the top rate of income tax argued mr howard. pointing to national insurance he added: everyone knows tax will go up under labour: isn t it now clear which tax it would be mr blair instead hailed labour s achievement in using a strong economy to invest in public services. when we have money not only going into extra teachers and nurses but equipment in schools and hospitals that money is not wasted he said. on the tax questions he added: we will make commitments on tax at the time of the manifesto. home secretary charles clarke this week published plans for a new points system for economic migrants with only high-skilled workers allowed into the uk from outside the european union. mr blair said abuses would be weeded out and chain migration where families automatically get the right to settle with immigrant workers would end. that would probably create a fall in the migrant numbers he said. the prime minister ridiculed the tory plans for asylum quotas and for processing all asylum claims overseas. he challenged the tories on which country would house their processing centres - what he called a fantasy island . mr howard read from a letter about the government s own plans at the european council of ministers for processing asylum seekers outside the eu. but mr blair said: all the other countries could not agree on the way forward nor could the un.

baghdad blogger on big screen a film based on the internet musings of the baghdad blogger has been shown at the rotterdam film festival. the film has been directed by the man who calls himself salam pax the author of the weblog about iraqi life during and after the war. the movie version comes in the form of a series of shorts made by pax on a hand-held camera. baghdad blogger is among a number of films about iraq showcased at the dutch festival which runs until sunday. following the fascination with the writing of salam pax - not his real name - he began a regular column in the guardian newspaper and was given a crash course in documentary film-making. for the film he travelled iraq to document the changing landscape of the country and the problems it has faced since the invasion speaking to ordinary iraqis about their experiences. the festival will also see the screening of underexposure one of iraq s first features to emerge since the toppling of saddam hussein. director oday rasheed made the film on discarded 1980s kodak film taken from the remains for the former ministry of culture building. it centres on the lives of families and strangers going about their everyday business as baghdad is under siege. rasheed said the title was refers to the isolation felt by iraqis under saddam s regime and the difficult time the country is now experiencing. saddam s regime was hell but now i think the hell has doubled rasheed said. the festival was also due to screen murdered dutch film-maker theo van gogh s film about the treatment of woman under islam but it was withdrawn due to safety fears. van gogh was shot and stabbed in november 2004 following death threats he received about his film submission.

mps assess scots fishing industry a group of mps are on a two-day fact-finding mission to scotland to gather evidence for a report into the uk s fishing industry. members of westminster s environment food and rural affairs committee will be touring fish markets and talking to fish processors. they will also talk to fisheries minister ross finnie and scientists. mps are deciding whether to recommend a new system of community quotas to conserve fish stocks. the aim is that fishing ports like peterhead or fraserburgh would be allocated a quota and local people would decide how to fish it. the scheme is a variation on the local management committees already being established by the european union. details are contained in a royal commission report for the uk government along with the more controversial idea of closing some mixed fishing grounds completely. six members of the committee will be in scotland to seek views from fishermen and processors in aberdeen and peterhead. they will also speak to mr finnie representatives of the royal society and the sea fish industry authority. committee chairman austin mitchell said some way has to be found of harvesting mixed fisheries without wasting stocks.

£1.8m indecency fine for viacom media giant viacom has paid out $3.5m (£1.8m) to end investigations into indecency in its us radio and tv shows. the settlement to the federal communications commission (fcc) ends a long-running saga dating back to 2001. the fcc was looking into 50 shows including those by shock jock howard stern and two new york djs. stern recently announced he was leaving viacom while the two djs were sacked after their show featured a couple purporting to have sex in a church. after the church incident two years ago viacom agreed to install audio delay equipment at its radio stations that broadcast live programming. it also agreed to train its broadcasters and employees about indecency laws. the agreement cancels investigations into about 50 radio and television shows said richard diamond fcc deputy secretary of communications. the shows were broadcast by viacom-owned stations across the united states. viacom has five days to pay the $3.5m fine according to the agreement. the payment is not related to the fcc s $550 000 (£293 000) fine levied against viacom after the exposure of singer janet jackson s breast during the cbs super bowl halftime show in january. viacom is contesting that fine. it is not the first time that viacom has paid out over indecency charges. infinity broadcasting which is owned by viacom paid cumulative fines totalling $1.7m (£907 000) in 1995 to settle fcc violations by stern.

electrolux to export europe jobs electrolux saw its shares rise 14% on tuesday after it said it would be shifting more of its manufacturing to low-cost countries. the swedish firm the world s largest maker of home appliances said it is to relocate about 10 of its 27 plants in western europe and north america. it did not say which facilities would be affected but intends moving them to asia eastern europe and mexico. the company has two manufacturing sites in county durham. it makes lawn and garden products in newton aycliffe and cookers and ovens in spennymoor. the newton aycliffe plant could also be affected by electrolux s separate announcement that it is to spin-off its outdoor products unit into a new separate company. electrolux s subsidiary brands include aeg zanussi and frigidaire. the company said it was speeding up its restructuring programme which aims to save between £190m and £265m annually from 2009. we see that about half the plants in high-cost countries - that is around 10 - are at risk said electrolux chief executive hans straberg. it looks pretty grim said swedish trades union official ulf carlsson. what are we going to end up producing in sweden

mourinho defiant on chelsea form chelsea boss jose mourinho has insisted that sir alex ferguson and arsene wenger would swap places with him. mourinho s side were knocked out of the fa cup by newcastle last sunday before seeing barcelona secure a 2-1 champions league first-leg lead in the nou camp. but he denied his club was suffering a dip in form which league rivals arsenal and manchester united could exploit. they cannot speak to us about blips because they re not in a better position than us mourinho said. do they want to change positions with us we are top of the league by nine points and in the carling cup final. the only thing they can say they are in a better position than us in is the fa cup. in the champions league all three teams can either go through or go out but the one team that is in the best position is still chelsea. mourinho said it was important to keep his team s results in perspective. don t try to put pressure on me because i am never under pressure he warned. we have lost one important game this week - at newcastle - and we re out of the fa cup but i don t think a defeat in a first-leg tie is a real defeat. we are just 2-1 down at half-time. asked if his chelsea honeymoon was now over mourinho replied: i have had 20 years of honeymoons with my wife. the day that this club is not happy with me is the day that i go.

labour attacked on howard poster labour has been accused of using anti-semitic images in posters which critics claim depict tory leader michael howard as fagin. the poster shows mr howard hypnotising people with a pocket watch saying: i can spend the same money twice. the image prompted concern from the editor of the jewish chronicle but labour insists it is simply anti-tory. labour later took the image off its website saying an alternative idea had proved more popular with party members. the party will now use focus groups to test a poster showing mr howard and shadow chancellor oliver letwin with a blackboard reading: 2+2=5 . the hypnotism poster has been compared to the portrayal of the dickens character fagin in the stage version of the musical oliver! there was controversy over another poster choice offered to labour members. it showed mr howard and mr letwin - who are both jewish - as flying pigs. mr howard did not comment on the anti-semitism claims when asked about the poster on monday. instead he pointed to how tony blair had in 1997 complained about personalised abusive campaigning . mr howard told greater manchester radio: it is such a pity that mr blair doesn t practise what he preaches. jewish chronicle editor ned temko said there had been a mixed reaction to the first poster but e-mails from jewish chronicle readers showed deeper concern about the hypnotism image. shylock and fagin are inextricably linked to notions of centuries-old prejudice he told bbc radio 4 s world at one. whatever the idea is i think it s a difficult exercise to use images like that and to argue that you can divorce them from their historical context or meaning. mr temko said he blamed cock-up not conspiracy saying he did not detect inherent anti-semitism in any of the parties election campaigns. the poster is among one of a series of ideas shown to labour members who have been asked to choose which one should be used ahead of the election. labour mp louise ellman said the hypnotism image was insensitive but urged people not to rush to call things anti-semitic when they only challenged tory economic policies. labour campaign spokesman fraser kemp said the poster had been misunderstood. the image simply portrayed mr howard as a hypnotist he argued. concern has been expressed and clearly we have to take those views on board but i would emphasise that if you see the posters the common theme... is that the tories are trying to con you. a labour spokesman later said the timing of removing the controversial image from the party s website was not affected by the row. this has been up on the website for two weeks and there has only been a fuss in the last four days so a substantial number of people voted before there was any fuss he said. but a conservative spokeswoman said: this poster campaign - which was offensive to many people - was a big misjudgement by labour s campaign team.

radcliffe tackles marathon tasks paula radcliffe faces arguably the biggest test of her career in the new york city marathon on sunday. back under the spotlight of public scrutiny she will attempt to erase the double disappointment of the athens olympics where she failed to finish the marathon and then the 10 000m. bbc sport examines the challenges facing radcliffe ahead of the big race. the ability to run a gruelling 26.2 miles relies largely upon an athlete s belief that they can do it. every runner will hit the wall at some stage and see written on it are you strong enough to finish the question could hit radcliffe hard after she was unable to complete her last two races in high-profile and emotional circumstances. sports psychologist hugh richards says the 30-year-old must draw on her past achievements to conquer a potential crisis of confidence. there is an old adage get straight back on the horse that threw you richards told bbc sport. paula has got all those great runs in her history as well as the two upsets in athens. she must not lose faith in what has already been proven is a very effective strategy for distance running. if she were to change her preparation and tactics that would be madness. she wants to start rebuilding her confidence through performance accomplishment. for much of the watching media and public there can only be two possible outcomes in new york - win or lose. if radcliffe crosses the line first she will have proved her critics wrong. but if she fails to triumph she risks being labelled a has-been and her profile will suffer. and for any athlete that can have repercussions in terms of sponsorship appearance fees as well as further self esteem issues. athletes need to try and stay focused on their internal controls and ignore external questions explains richards who has worked with past olympians. she must not get caught up in someone else s agenda. radcliffe s best friend and fellow distance runner liz yelling revealed the 30-year-old is already aware she will be exposing herself to more public scrutiny in new york. she just thought well they can t think any worse of me now yelling told bbc sport. she s just doing what she wants to do and not thinking about the consequences of it. radcliffe described her decision to enter the new york marathon as impulsive but she is certain to have a tick-list of personal goals. her aims could be as simple as completing a race and making sure she is still enjoying running but richards says she must avoid more emotional targets such as redemption. you can t change history warned richards. only one person can win the marathon but lots of people can be successful. paula has to figure out what sort of things will she feel satisfied achieving by the end of the race. the course from staten island to central park is renowned as one of the toughest in the world. it is also not the kind of fast course that tends to suit radcliffe better with the undulating finish through the park testing the legs final reserves. radcliffe has never raced there before and will enter the unknown just 77 days after the athens marathon. it s suggested after a major marathon you take a full month off and start building up again said yelling herself a marathon runner. but that is only for long-term health and fitness. when you finish a marathon you are still very fit and can recover quickly. so physically it is possible for paula. richards also points out conditions in new york will be more conducive to a strong physical display from radcliffe. the heat stress was the primary factor that tripped her up in athens he said. and that just isn t going to be there in new york that s been taken out of the equation. radcliffe concedes she will probably learn a lot from her bad experiences in athens in time. and richards and yelling agree she could turn the trauma to her advantage starting in new york. how you respond to adversity is what marks you out as elite or not argues richards. one of the challenges of massive set backs is how you turn them into opportunities. and yelling says: i think this will probably make paula. i think it will drive her on and she ll come out of it a better athlete.

losing yourself in online gaming online role playing games are time-consuming but enthralling flights from reality. but are some people taking their fantasy lives too seriously when video game world of warcraft hit the shops in europe last week fans wrote in to the bbc website to express their delight - and to offer a warning. an addiction to a game like this is far more costly in time than any substance could impair - keep track of time wrote travis anderson in texas. some of the comments were humorous: this game is so good i m not going to get it there s no way i could limit the hours i d spend playing it wrote charles macintyre from england. but some struck a more worrying tone about the massively multiplayer online role playing game (mmorpg): you need to get out more could be the motto of any mmorpg. shame they are getting more popular as you know this problem is just going to mushroom wrote stuart stanton-davies in huddersfield. scare-mongering articles about addictive video games have existed since the days the first game of pong stopped everyone from working at the atari offices. gaming is like any other pastime - it can quickly become an unhealthy obsession whether it is spending too much time in the gym in front of the television or reading poetry. unfortunately gaming and addiction is a far too easy association to make. however stories about gamers spending 10 to 15 hours a day in front of some video games are becoming more frequent. and the impact that is having on their families is quite distressing for some. massively multiplayer online role playing games - mmorpgs - allow thousands of gamers to share a common experience of sharing fantasy or science fiction worlds. the scope of these games - like warcraft everquest ultima among others - is epic and exploration and adventure is almost infinite. part of the problem is grinding - by which gamers have to perform long-winded mindless tasks to bring up their levels and gain access to more adventure. such open-endedness brings with it a desire to keep playing; not for no reason is everquest (eq) nicknamed evercrack. e hayot writing in the culture blogzine print culture said recently: i used to play the online role-playing game everquest a lot. by a lot i mean probably 15 to 20 hours a week on average and on weeks where i didn t have to work as many as 30 or 40 hours. he says that in the world of online gaming such behaviour wasn t that unusual; lots of people i knew in the game played eq that much . you lie; you don t go into work because you had stuff to do at home ; you cancel or refuse invitations to dinner you spend much less time watching tv (a good thing presumably) he wrote explaining how everquest took over his time. he quit the game he says because he realised life was more fun than everquest. let us be clear - such obsession is rare. but the huge growth in online gaming means a growth in the numbers of people who take their passion for a hobby too far. almost 400 000 people bought a copy of world of warcraft in the first two days on sale earlier this month. only a fraction will descend into obsessives. the thoughts of families and friends of gamers who have been affected by everquest can be found on one blog everquest daily grind. jane who runs the website compiles a chronicle of heart-rending stories. i am actually convinced at this point that there are more than some people who spend more times in mmoprgs than in reality she said. one unnamed correspondent - all are anonymous - wrote: on the rare nights when my husband does come to bed at the same time as i do i find that i am so used to sleeping by myself that it is difficult to get to sleep with another body laying next to me. i can t talk to him while he is playing. there is absolutely no point as he doesn t hear me or is so distracted that i get a ummm... ya a few minutes after i ask him a question. gaming widows has become a comedic term for women who have been shut out by male gamers. but for some it is not in the least funny. another correspondent wrote: i believe that he is addicted to the online gaming and that is the cause of his depression and restlessness. and some of them are even sadder: today our son was five days old. the sad truth is my husband spent 11 hours today playing his warcraft game. he did not interact with our sweet tiny baby because there were important quests waiting online. video game fans often complain that their hobby is misunderstood or marginalised. but as gaming becomes ever more mainstream and games ever more immersive there will be no hiding place for social problems. i wish 30-40 hours a week was unusual but i think it probably isn t. an 11 hour stretch isn t that surprising - i ve known people to play 15+ hours at a stretch. i know of people who are spending their week s holiday from work playing warcraft. i know of people who would play ever[crack] in shifts...waking at 3am to take over from their friends and resume waiting for an item they needed to appear. i understand that the key sign of an addiction is if you alter your life around it rather than fit it into your life. by all standards many of us are addicts. so is the solution to force ourselves to stop playing..or do we just need to make real life a bit more interesting sadly with all the talk of people becoming obsessed with gaming i find myself longing to have the time to join them. i have been in a long term relationship for over 4 years - since that began games have become more and more complex. and more and more so i find i have less and less time to play them with and marriage and work being the main drag on my time. i think the line between playing a game a lot and a gaming addiction is really quite distinct. i play games a lot definately over 20 hours a week but i don t go missing work or other commitments in order to play games. i have about a year ago deleted every game on my computer. rpgs are the worst - the real world fades and all your worries sorround a new magic staff or mighty sword. unlike books or perhaps even tv you gain absolutely nothing. when you stop playing you re at the same point as when you started; all the achievements of your 10 hour session are irretrievably locked in the game and since you ve gained nothing in the real world you may as well pile on more achievement in the fake one. despite having little monetary value the rewards and encouragement offered by these mmorpgs is enough to hook games for hours daily. if only business could learn to leverage that very simply human need for easily measurable progress and recognition. perhaps the unhealthily obsessed simply need more recognition for their achievements in reality my advice to gaming widows is if you can t beat em join em . that is try playing it yourself. if he wants to play as well well at least you ll be together somewhere... i was an addict and it cost me my relationship. i still play now but without the guilt hehe how long have i played in one sitting from morning till the early hours of the next day the birds were singing out side and i had to hobble to the bath room cos my bladder was so full i was in pain i would hardly eat perhaps some toast smoke endlessly and drink. now thankfully the fascination has worn off and i have a girlfriend but still no job. for the most part online gaming give me an adiction to illusory achievement and as there is no end in sight you keep going for the mirage of the ultimate. obsessive behaviour is of course always cause for concern but it always bothers me when articles about gaming talk in terms of reality . obviously somebody who spends thirty hours a week playing everquest has a problem. this problem however has nothing to do with a dysfunctional sense of reality. an obsessive eq player does not consider the game to be real any more than - for example - an obsessive automotive tinkerer considers their car to be human. if mmorpgs have a unique danger in terms of encouraging obsessive behaviour it is not that they create an absorbing virtual world but rather that they can be easily accessed 24/7. the problem here does not lie with the nature of gaming but with the nature of modern 24 hour culture. the problem with these so called mmorpgs is that you can never really complete them there s always another quest to do. a few of my friends have only had about 10 hours sleep since it was released friday... championship manager consumed my life for years. one particular session started at about 2pm on a sunday paused for a brief sleep at 5am on the monday and after visit to university for classes restarted at about midday for another 10 hour session. the people who tend to hark on about about the problems of hardcore gaming seem to be those who have rarely allowed themselves to become immersed in a game. i would expect their perspective to change if they were to do that. i used to be an everquest addict while i was in college. it came to the point where the gaming world felt more real than the real one. i failed alot of my courses and was able to barely graduate. i was lucky that i came to my senses when i did others were less fortunate and dropped out of college. now that i am holding a job i avoid online rpgs like the plague. when i was made redundant i told my partner i had a new job for three months whilst every day i played everquest from 7:30am till 5:pm. when she came home i pretended i had just got in as well hence justifying playing it all evening. i have since quit playing mmorpg and have a good job. when i got to the point where i was eating my dinner in front of the pc i realised things were getting silly so i m trying not to spend so much time on there. it s not easy. i feel as if i ve got a real addiction going on here. for me the problem is that i love to complete a goal. once it is completed that is it i am finished time to move on. i become obsessed to complete the goal so from that standpoint it is an addiction. in a game where you will never complete an ultimate goal well it would be like falling into a black pit. it is easier to escape into a controlled fantasy world than face reality at times - in other words the goal offered in the pc game are easier and more fun than the real world. pretty scary implications if you think about it. i can t buy world of warcraft as it would destroy my marrage i just know it!! i played star wars galaxies for about a year and can attest to the addictiveness of these games. they are all engineered in such a way that early on in the game you progress quickly but this progress becomes exponentially slower requiring more and more time to reach the next level. i m sad to say that at the peak of my addiction i was spending entire weekends in front of my monitor slowly building up my character stopping only for food and toilet breaks. thankfully i made a clean break and actually managed to sell my jedi account for £800 - which is my only sanity check in an otherwise completely unproductive time vacuum. seven years ago i began playing ultima online. this game dominated 2 years of my life. they were 2 wonderful years and i still have vivid memories of the experiences and friends i had. online gaming can be a world of escapism where you can be yourself without fear of the thoughts of others. something that cannot always be achieved in the day to day running of a normal life. whilst i would warn against people giving to much of there life to these games i believe they are a better way to spend your time than say watching tv. gaming is addictive and should be made a recognised addiction. when i was single i used to play upto eight hours a night after work every night for about a year building up my stats completing evermore quests and battling ogres. but somehow i found time to get out even met someone and got married! has my life changed hell no! i still cast spells and battle till the early hours of the morning. on with the fun! online gaming should be enjoyed just as much as you would enjoy watching television or going to the cinema or the pub with your mates. many people use recreational drugs on an occasional basis and are able to lead succesfull lives with families relationships and good careers. a minority allow drugs to take over and destroy their lives and become addicted. according to this article the same is true of mmorpgs. the message to the government is clear either legalise drugs or outlaw online gaming!! sounds like there are some sad stories here - and i can believe them all. i play alot of warcraft myself and know full well how addictive it is. i am resolute that it will not take over my life. it certainly gets in the way though. i think that some people simply do not know how to draw this line or lack the willpower to stop themselves stepping over it. i think i m obsessed with gaming in general i spend far too much time playing games like everquest 2 and football manager rather than going out and interacting with real people and when i do try to i m always thinking in the back if my mind that i d rather be in front of the computer winning the league with cambridge united. i am obsessed with online role playing games. it s not so much quests but it has the adrenaline of a real life situation - goals to achieve etc. i spend about five hours per day online playing it and i rarely get more than four to five hours sleep before getting up for work the next morning... as many of the players spend their time in mmorpgs rather than in front of the tv i fail to see how it will affect players social lives negatively. furthermore these types of games contain a huge social aspect whereas other games and some other pursuits (such as being a couch potato) the players could be indulging in are solitary by nature. these games are like most things -- too much of anything is a bad thing but as long as you can walk away from the computer to do other things too they can be great fun. living in korea at the moment they have lots pc bangs (internet cafes). nearly most of south koreans are addicted to online games and one korean died because of the lack of food and water he had through playing online games. i play xbox live every day. i find my self lying and rescheduling everything around my gaming fix. the longest i played was a 24 hour straight session. i know i play for to long but it s an obsession that i can t control. can you reccomend a counsellor - this is not a wind up... but something i m increasingly concerned with... me and my mate play online for an hour or two a day we re both aware of how much time can disappear by sitting in front of a tv trying to frag some individual. it s getting the balance between getting home and relasing the stress of a day by an hour or so gaming and enjoying real life... i bought the us version of world of warcraft when it came out. the longest period i played was 23 hrs straight. i gave up the game after a month because it was so addictive but have subsequently just bought the european version (couldn t help myself). in future i m going to regulate my time far more strictly. great game! having played mmorpg games for some years i agree that these type of games can be life sucking. but my concern is for the younger generation of gamers that play for hours on end in an adult enviroment. most mmorpg games you need a credit card to play but i dont think parents know just what they are letting there children into. unless there is undeniable medical proof that staring at a computer screens for hours at a time can damage a person¿s health you can expect this not to decline but to get worse. these people are pathetic. they need to get off their machines and notice that our world is being swiftly overcome by issues and troubles that make the trifling worries of and online universe absolutely meaningless. 24hours when i was a kid at school and i was on half term ultima online was the game ahhhh them was the days ! lol