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brits debate over urban music joss stone a 17-year-old soul singer from devon beat dizzee rascal jamelia lemar and the streets to win best british urban act at the brit awards. her victory has reignited the debate about what urban music is. i m not really comfortable with the word urban. it s a word that s been manufactured in this country and america to describe black music. the word urban seems to cover such a broad range of black music that it s wrong. how far are the brits removed from inner-city music and what people are doing it s so far removed that i don t expect them to get it bang on. the music industry isn t championing music from our particular genre very well anyway. people don t feel like that s anything to do with us. i don t feel like urban music s just been celebrated by [joss stone] winning or her being nominated or by the brits acknowledging that there s an urban music scene because it s all a kick in the teeth at the end of the day. it s not really relevant. if joss stone is the closest thing that they feel comfortable championing because of what she looks like and how she sounds and who she s signed to then so be it. it s got nothing to do with what s really going on. urban as a genre is very broad. if you look underneath urban there are a number of core elements that include hip-hop r&b garage and into that obviously comes soul. joss stone is a soul artist. her first album was called the soul sessions. so urban is a very broad brushstroke that is the umbrella over the top of sub-genres and there are offshoots of all of those. joss stone has had amazing success [in the us] given that she s a uk artist. what has really captured everybody s imagination is that here you have a 17-year-old from devon with a voice to die for and a bunch of really really good tunes and she looks good - i think that s what s done it. the award for best british urban act was voted for by viewers of mtv base. i don t think joss was not a worthy winner. she makes soul music and that definitely comes under the category of what we describe as urban. the fact that she s from devon is the interesting thing because most of the music we cover is made in large cities and she s literally rural. the great thing about urban music is that there s a big range. if there is some sort of root with black music or dance music in britain i think that s where you can call it urban - that s where this new sub-category or uber-category has come from. joss stone is certainly not old enough to have had some of the experiences of an older soul singer but you couldn t argue that she was being inauthentic with her emotions - it is coming from somewhere genuine. it has to come across as real. that s the only cut-off point we have here and that s the only way by which we judge people. what urban means to us as an organisation is the politically correct term to describe music which originated from a black background. music should become inclusive and if we are fighting for a multi-cultural britain then we should be fighting for inclusion rather than exclusion. if joss stone can be accepted within the urban music community i think acts from other ethnicities doing classical music and rock should be accepted too. race doesn t make a difference if everyone is included. out of all the awards dished out yesterday i m still trying to find out what people of other races received any sort of recognition or award. a type of music (especially street music) that originates from a city and typically reflects or is characteristic of urban life. she might not be urban but when did r&b become the hip hop tainted thing it is now r&b stands for rhythm and blues remember! that joss stone is rubbish is certain. if anyone deserves to win an award for urban music (i think probably should include hip-hop soul & funk at least but not rock or pop) this year its the streets although dizzee rascal stakes a good claim she definitely deserved to win a prize joss stone s albums are quite simply amazing easily better than anything else that was released last year. this whole debate about what is urban what isnt urban is completely pointless and probably fueled by urban artists who weren t nominated or didn t win. i cant see why people can t just congratulate her for the talent that she is. she did deserve it but i agree with the comments about urban music. its a stupid phrase and particularly british. in the states they tend to use hip hop and r&b if i say hip hop here a lot of people have no idea what i m talking about. very strange. what s in a name a rose by any other name etc... if people want to call it urban why not if we really analysed it the term dance music is misleading because it doesn t describe everything you can dance to. whilst i agree that the term urban is open to interpretation it strikes me as simply weird that joss stone has won. urban to me is what i hear being played in parties in the inner cities - i live in brixton and have never heard the soul sessions pumping out of of a bass heavy sound system in any parties i ve been to. good luck to joss stone let s celebrate her victory - let s also question why with artists so successful and talented as jamelia lemar kanye west dizzee rascal alicia keys and outkast - we didn t see a single black artist on stage collecting an award. so what you re saying is that any music that has black heritage is not allowed to be sung by anyone who isn t black. and if it is then they shouldn t be acknowledged for it even if they re pretty dam good at it she s 17 has an amazing voice and won. good on her. oh but she s not black well let s make her feel real bad about it then. how dare she! though hang on didn t the so-called public vote on this one this idea of pigeonholing whatever is popular at the time is no different than what was happening in the 1940s and 50s in relation to what jazz was. the media then called anything that had a swinging beat syncopated melody or soulful feeling jazz much to the chagrin of the artists. it would mean that blues would be put in the same mould as bebop cool and ragtime all very different styles at that time. jazz was and remains such a massively misunderstood term. and so what of urban music in truth it s a lazy term to categorise music that you don t really understand. soul and garage are worlds apart musically (marvin gaye v tuff jam ) but no doubt have their connections. if we just let the music speak for itself and not judge the success of an artist by the number of awards won then maybe we can enjoy the music for what it is rather than what it represents. i demand a prize for rural music! sucks to the cities- it s way better out here. we have hay for one thing. excluding her from what has become known as urban music would be as bad as excluding lenny kravitz or hendrix from rock music for being black surely i dont understand the point that ty is making. if lemar who makes music which is less soulful than joss work won he might have said nothing. (btw i m black too) how can she be urban if she spent most of her life in the devon countryside nonsense. i love joss to bits and don t care what her branding is - it s amazing music full stop. stop puting it all in brackets and let s just call it music and let s especially drop the black / urban tag - nearly all music came from black origin this just sets an example that it is ok to pigeonhole people and their music by their colour. surely the point of having an urban music category is simply to acknowledge artists that are making what is (historically) considered urban music irrelevent of the colour of their skin or where they originate from. joss stone is simply singing a certain type of music that can be considered urban in style just as someone from an inner city and indeed not from the usa could sing country music. if that person was good at it and authentic in sound would we criticise it being referred to as country music or the artist for representing that style the term urban in reference to a music genre in uk has developed in part from the controversy surrounding the branding of the mobo awards. the very term music of black origin has confused and offended many people. this is particularly strange given the existence of the asian music awards. it appears that the use of black or white in relation to music makes people feel uncomfortable. the term urban therefore has been invoked to sidestep the debate of which type of music came first black or white thereby rendering the issue colourblind. the result is now a redundant new debate as to what urban also means. perhaps we should have created a new term altogether to describe the various strains of soul/rnb and hip-hop one which does not also mean something else - as we have done with crunk . urban is just a word that s come about recently to describe black music that s become popular now. the word wasn t even in use or common use five of six years ago. it s just a way of the industry clumping it all together without having to call it black music because some people are oversensitive and might call them racist for it. i m in a band that has been called urban and i despise the label. i d hate to think i belonged to any neat marketing niche because that s all it is. ever since the music channels and record comapnies tried to fracture what they consider music of black origin these labels have been used to undermine the status of good music into a commodity. look at all the tv broadcasters unable to reach young people without condesending they simply play some urban music on the soundtrack as if its some dreadful cheap lift music. ignore the labels it is what it is just music. as a black man i think i agree with some of the statements at least the statements made by the key executives. black people should lead the music they invented . we should stop calling a genre meaningless northing is meaningless. the real question is would joss stone would have been that successful doing the music she was doing if she were black same thing with streets amy winehouse etc. who s ever heard of terri walker or rhian benson.. they are both 10 times better than joss stone and both of them have won urban music awards and i think mobos but why not brits so what if joss stone won the urban awards. her music is great soul and surely that is under the urban banner what if the streets had won would people be whining because mike skinner is white... it seems that a lot of the fuss is about race where the real issue should be music and nothing else. urban is pc version for saying black music. i m not doubting ms stone s talent but why didn t jamelia or lemar get a brit this reminds me of what happened to craig david and soul ii soul in the past getting nominations are easy to get but picking up a brit seems to be the hardest thing. refreshing to see people making reasonable intelligent comments on any topic these days. more power to you people! you have said it: there is music you like and music you don t like - who cares what label you put on it that entire category was a mess. how can you have people like dizzee rascal up against joss stone its like putting eminem against bob geldof. she should have been nominated for best british r & b act. joss stone deserved to win an award for her talents but i don t think it was very urban of her to sing angels with robbie williams. urban is a nonsense term - music of black origin well doesn t that include rock music made in the inner cities well almost all bands end up making music in london/manchester etc. and doesn t that make some weird implication that all black people live in cities it doesn t make any sense. why does music have to be put into a genre it s music you like it or you don t. simple as that. i play in a heavy metal band. we are urban music as far as i m concerned. we live in cities and spend our working life in an urban environment; it therefore directly shapes what we write musically. urban seems to be the new name for all styles of black music. why it needed a rebrand i don t know as the name is misleading. oasis originate from a city and characterise the urban life they know therefore more than fit the term urban yet as they re a white rock band they won t be described as such. joss stone has a fantastic voice and great timing and delivery - what other reason do they need to award her the brit all this urban and other such categorisation is just the red-tape of the music business and is best ignored. yeah she deserved it. she is talented. urban is a crap meaningless politically correct and probably actually racist marketing term though. there s only two kinds of music: good and bad.

douglas set for indian adventure actor michael douglas is to co-produce and star in an adventure film about a diamond robbery set in india. the new picture is expected to be similar to douglas s action films of the 1980s romancing the stone and the jewel of the nile. another hollywood star is being lined up to co-star while the rest of the cast will be indian. aishwarya rai star of bride and prejudice is the preferred choice of the indian studio involved in the film. on a visit to india the 60-year-old actor said he hoped to start shooting racing the monsoon next year. douglas added that it had been inspired by a wall street journal article about india s angadias who courier money and diamonds around india. the actor s own production company further films is working in partnership with two indian film-making concerns to bring the picture to the screen. shailendra singh the founder of india s percept films said there would be a lot of india in the movie - and that an indian train would play a big role. the train will be a crucial part of the film. the chase and most of the stunts will be on the train said mr singh. swashbuckling adventure film romancing the stone saw douglas s female co-star kathleen turner win a golden globe award for her performance in 1985.

tigers wary of farrell gamble leicester say they will not be rushed into making a bid for andy farrell should the great britain rugby league captain decide to switch codes. we and anybody else involved in the process are still some way away from going to the next stage tigers boss john wells told bbc radio leicester. at the moment there are still a lot of unknowns about andy farrell not least his medical situation. whoever does take him on is going to take a big big gamble. farrell who has had persistent knee problems had an operation on his knee five weeks ago and is expected to be out for another three months. leicester and saracens are believed to head the list of rugby union clubs interested in signing farrell if he decides to move to the 15-man game. if he does move across to union wells believes he would better off playing in the backs at least initially. i m sure he could make the step between league and union by being involved in the centre said wells. i think england would prefer him to progress to a position in the back row where they can make use of some of his rugby league skills within the forwards. the jury is out on whether he can cross that divide. at this club the balance will have to be struck between the cost of that gamble and the option of bringing in a ready-made replacement.

healthsouth ex-boss goes on trial the former head of us medical services firm healthsouth overstated earnings and assets to boost the company s share price it was claimed in court. richard scrushy 52 is accused of directing a $2.7bn (£1.4bn) accounting fraud at the company he co-founded in alabama in 1984. prosecutors said he was motivated by wealth - spending about $200m between 1996 and 2002 while earning much less. defence lawyers said mr scrushy had been deceived by other executives. several former healthsouth employees have already pleaded guilty to fraud and are expected to give evidence against mr scrushy. we will present evidence that richard scrushy knew about the conspiracy that he participated in the conspiracy and that he profited prosecutor alice martin told the court. mr scrushy is the first chief executive to be tried for breaching the sarbanes oxley act - a law introduced in the wake of the enron and worldcom frauds which obliges corporate bosses to vouch for the accuracy of their companies results. among the charges he faces are conspiracy to commit fraud filing false statements and money laundering. after federal agents raided healthsouth s offices in march 2003 the company said none of its past financial statements could be relied on. the firm has since reorganised its board and management team and currently operates about 1 400 health clinics.

text message record smashed again uk mobile owners continue to break records with their text messaging with latest figures showing that 26 billion texts were sent in total in 2004. the figures collected by the mobile data association (mda) showed that 2.4 billion were fired off in december alone the highest monthly total ever. that was 26% more than in december 2003. the records even surpassed the mda s own predictions it said. every day 78 million messages are sent and there are no signs of a slow down. before december s bumper text record the previous highest monthly total was in october 2004 when 2.3 billion were sent. text messaging is set to smash more records in 2005 too said the mda with forecasts suggesting a total of 30 billion for the year. even though mobiles are becoming increasingly sophisticated with much more multimedia applications texting is still one of the most useful functions of mobiles. people are using sms to do much more too. booking cinema tickets text voting and news or sports text alerts are growing popular. mobile owners have also given the chance to donate to the disasters emergency committee s (dec) asian tsunami fund by texting donate to a simple short code number. looking further ahead in the year the mda s chairman mike short has predicted that more people will go online through their mobiles estimating 15 billion wap page impressions. handsets with gprs capability - an always on net connection - will rise to 75% while 3g mobile ownership growing to five million by the end of 2005. these third generation mobiles offer a high-speed connection which means more data like video can be received on the phone. globally mobile phone sales passed 167 million in the third quarter of 2004 according to a recent report from analysts gartner. that was 26% more than the previous year. it is predicted that there would be two billion handsets in use worldwide by the end of 2005.

sundance to honour foreign films international films will be given the same prominence as us films at next year s sundance film festival with movies dominated by the theme of war. the independent film festival will feature two new international cinema competitions during its 20-30 january season in utah. forty-two films will debut at sundance including the liberace of baghdad by british director sean mcallister. the prestigious festival was founded by actor robert redford in 1981. we have always had an international component but from next year they will enter a jury competition festival director geoffrey gilmore said. we wanted to give world cinema more emphasis and have now put it on par with the american dramatic and documentary competitions. twelve films competing in the new world cinema documentary category focus on countries and people under siege. the liberace of baghdad features an iraqi pianist hiding in a hotel as he waits for a visa while finnish film the three rooms of melancholia looks at the war in chechnya. shake hands with the devil: the journey of romeo dallaire tells of a un mission to rwanda during the 1994 genocide while french-israeli production wall looks at israel s controversial security wall separating it from the palestinian territories. the 16 films competing in the new world cinema dramatic category include works from germany south korea angola china denmark and australia. several hollywood stars feature in the festival s american independent drama category including keanu reeves and benjamin bratt. vince vaughn stars in quirky movie thumbsucker while 21 grams actress naomi watts plays a budding hollywood actress in ellie parker. the top grand jury prize at this year s festival went to low budget sci-fi thriller primer written and directed by shane carruth. morgan spurlock earned the directing award for super size me which became an international box office hit.

uk debut for kevin spacey movie hollywood stars kevin spacey and kate bosworth attended the british premiere of new film beyond the sea in london s leicester square on thursday. spacey 45 wrote directed and starred in the film inspired by the life of 1950s croooner bobby darin. this is my tribute to someone i think was a remarkable talent said spacey who as darin sings all 18 songs on the film soundtrack. bosworth 21 plays darin s wife - real life hollywood actress sandra dee. i knew absolutely nothing about bobby darin before this film but now i m a huge fan said bosworth who attended the premiere with british boyfriend orlando bloom. there is darkness and tragedy in the story and it was a dream for me to land this part. actress sandra dee continues to live in los angeles as a virtual recluse but has given her approval to the biopic. she called me last week and said she loved it said spacey who was joined at the premiere by members of the boy band westlife. spacey a double oscar-winner has long been fascinated by the story of singer bobby darin. the voice behind mack the knife dream lover and beyond the sea fought childhood illness to become one the biggest stars of the 1950s but died aged 37 from the heart condition that had troubled him all his life. bobby darin was one of the greatest entertainers the world has ever known and yet because he died young he s been kind of forgotten said spacey at the premiere. making this film was the most fun i ve ever had in my entire life. the movie also stars british actors bob hoskins and brenda blethyn as darin s mother.

protesters plan airport challenge campaigners against the expansion of britain s airports have begun challenging the government s plans in the high court. baa s expansion of stansted airport in essex by building an extra runway is one of the most fiercely opposed plans. opponents say the £2bn cost of the new runway could not be met unless cash from heathrow and gatwick was used. they said this is illegal under current rules and are trying to block the government from changing legislation. baa are also owners of the airports at heathrow and gatwick. they have said they cannot raise the money needed for the stansted upgrades from current landing charges. baa also says it has attempted to involve communities in any future airport plans. groups challenging the plans include stop stansted expansion heathrow anti-noise campaigners hacan clearskies and the london boroughs of hillingdon and wandsworth. their opponents are also likely to complain there was no public consultation before an extra runway was built at luton airport or when it changed take-off and landing procedures at heathrow. if the group wins the government s future aviation plans outlined in last year s transport white paper could be left in ruins. the campaigners will say the government did not adequately consider the building of new airports such as one planned for the isle of sheppey east of london. lord hanningfield leader of essex county council told bbc radio 4 s today programme: we are going to the high court because we want a judge to rule there should be a proper inquiry. we want a judge to say there has been inadequate preparation consultation and thought before the government came out with its green paper. then there could be a proper debate nationally about where this extra capacity should go. he added: politicians should not decide where runways should be. the stansted expansion apart from the building of the new runway would also need to include new terminal buildings to deal with the projected 50m passengers who will use it every year. the airport is the hub of many of the no-frills airlines operating in the uk. but baa has said it has attempted to involve communities in any future airport plans. at heathrow gatwick edinburgh and glasgow airports baa launched a series of consultations on blight to properties from the proposed expansion in september 2004 which will close next week. baa is also offering to buy noise-hit properties for an index-linked unblighted price. at heathrow baa said it was working closely with all interested parties to see how the strict environmental air quality and noise targets for a third runway can be met. at gatwick the company has written to homes and business likely to be affected by any extra runway.

indonesia declines debt freeze indonesia no longer needs the debt freeze offered by the paris club group of creditors economics minister aburizal bakrie has reportedly said. indonesia which originally accepted the debt moratorium offer owes the paris club about $48bn (£25.5bn). mr bakrie told the bisnis indonesia newspaper that a $1.7bn donors aid package meant that the debt moratorium was unnecessary. this aid comes on top of a previously-pledged $3.4bn package. most of this normal aid would be used to finance the country s budget deficit. the indonesian economics minister explained that the money - $1.2bn in grants and $500m in soft loans - was for the rebuilding of aceh province which was badly hit by the tsunami of 26 december. nevertheless one of mr bakrie s deputies mahendra siregar told afp news agency that indonesia was still considering the offer by the paris club of rich creditor nations to temporarily suspend its debt payments. what is true is that we are still discussing... the paris club decision to find out more details such as how much of our debt will be subject to a moratorium. that s how far we are at this stage said mr siregar. the 19 member countries of the paris club are owed about $5bn this year in debt repayments by nations affected by the indian ocean tsunami. indonesia sri lanka and the seychelles accepted the paris club offer which was criticised by some aid groups as being too little. thailand and india have however declined the offer with thailand prefering to keep up with its payments while india said it would prefer to rely on its own resources rather than on international aid. putting off payments may lower a country s rating among financial organisations making it more expensive and more difficult for them to borrow money in the future analysts said. separately the indonesian government has said it will announce monthly how much it has received in foreign donations and how it has spent the money. welfare minister alwi shihab told ap news agency that this announcement should allay suspicion of official corruption in relief operations.

queen recruit singer for new tour the remaining members of rock band queen are to go on tour next year with former free and bad company singer paul rodgers taking freddie mercury s place. guitarist brian may has said he expects to be on the road with rodgers and drummer roger taylor from april. may said: suddenly the queen phoenix is rising again from the ashes and will take precedence over... our lives. queen have played with many different singers since mercury s death in 1991 but have reportedly not toured. may performed with rodgers at a concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the fender stratocaster guitar in london in september. we were both so amazed at the chemistry that was going on in [free hit] all right now that suddenly it seems blindingly obvious that there was something happening here may wrote on his website. they teamed up again for a concert to mark their induction into the uk music hall of fame and were joined by taylor. the show went so incredibly well from our point of view and we got so many rave reactions from out there we decided almost then and there that we would look at a tour together may wrote. queen went to number one in 2000 with a version of we will rock you sung by boy band 5ive and they have also played with robbie williams will young and bob geldof. queen bassist john deacon has currently retired from the stage. rodgers was singer with early 1970s rockers free who had a global hit with all right now before forming bad company a successful supergroup with members of king crimson and mott the hoople. he has also been in the firm with led zeppelin s jimmy page and the law with the small faces and the who drummer kenny jones.

tarantino to make friday sequel director quentin tarantino is in talks to write and direct a new instalment in the friday the 13th horror franchise according to the hollywood reporter. the film-maker will reportedly meet executives from new line cinema this week to discuss the 12th film in the long-running stalk and slash series. the original film released in 1980 has spawned ten sequels based around mask-wearing murderer jason voorhees. the most recent freddy vs jason was released in summer 2003. that film saw jason battle freddy krueger star of the nightmare on elm street franchise. according to the industry newspaper new line had been trying to make another sequel involving ash the hero of the evil dead movies but was unable to agree terms with director sam raimi. tarantino is said to be intrigued by the prospect of building a new film around one of the horror genre s most recognised figures. first however he is scheduled to direct the season finale of us television series csi: crime scene investigation. filming is due to start in early april. tarantino s episode for which he also wrote the original story will be broadcast in the us on 19 may.

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.

sydney to host north v south game sydney will host a northern versus southern hemisphere charity match in june or july the australian rugby union (aru) said on wednesday. the match will include players from the lions tour of new zealand. the australian rugby union has thrown its support behind a proposed north-south match to raise funds for the tsunami appeals the aru said. the date is yet to be decided but the most likely venue is sydney s olympic stadium. aru chief executive gary flowers said the world cricket charity match in melbourne earlier this month had inspired the aru. we still need to discuss the options with the irb (international rugby board) the lions and our sanzar (south africa new zealand and australia rugby) partners but june or july is seen as a better option than march to ensure we have the cream of southern hemisphere rugby available he said. wallabies captain george gregan said the charity match was a great initiative . tri-nations rivals australia new zealand and south africa would feature prominently in a southern team against a northern side comprised of six nations teams france ireland england wales italy and scotland. coach clive woodward s lions squad will tour new zealand in june and july including tests on 25 june 2 and 9 july. almost 80 000 fans packed into melbourne cricket ground on 10 january for a charity match that raised £5.9m for victims of the asian tsunami.

henman & murray claim lta awards tim henman was named player of the year for 2004 by the lawn tennis association at wimbledon on monday. the briton was recognised for the best year of his career which saw him reach the semis at the french and us opens. scotland s andrew murray was named young player of the year after winning the us open juniors as well as a futures event in italy. and world number one peter norfolk won disabled player of the year after claiming his third us open crown. great britain s under 14 boys won the team of the year prize for their victory at the world junior tennis event in august. henman will start his 2005 campaign at the kooyong event on 12 january in a field that includes roger federer andy roddick and andre agassi. and the briton is optimistic of surpassing his best effort of a fourth-round place at the australian open which begins the following week. i ve often felt that the conditions suit my game in melbourne so i d love to be able to start next year by doing well at the australian open henman told his website. that s why i ve changed my schedule slightly by committing to play in the kooyong classic. i ll be able to acclimatise while practising before the event and then will be guaranteed matches against the best players in the world. i think that will give me the best possible chance of doing well at the australian open.

student fee factor played down a rise has been recorded in the number of students from south of the border applying to universities in scotland. however lifelong learning minister jim wallace said that this would not result in scottish students missing out. applications from england and wales rose by 17% between january 2005 and the previous year up 23 600 to 27 700. fears had been expressed that a flood of fee refugees would try to avoid top-up fees of up to £3 000 a year being introduced in england. in june last year mr wallace announced proposals to increase tuition fees for english students studying in scotland by £2 000 in an attempt to prevent a cross-border flood although no figure has yet been agreed. legislation to introduce the top-up fees in england is not due to take effect until autumn 2006 and students who start before then will not have to pay additional fees at all. the figures were made public on thursday by admissions service ucas. universities scotland which represents university principals claimed that an increase in applications did not amount to scottish students being squeezed out. director david caldwell said some students could be applying in an attempt to avoid the possible increase in annual fees at english universities but this was not a major factor. he told bbc radio scotland s good morning scotland programme: the reason people are opting for scottish universities is that they are perceived as being of very high quality they offer very attractive courses and scotland is seen as a very attractive place to study. they know that when they take up their studies in 2006 they will be hit by top-up fees if they are going to a university in england and that may be part of the reason why the numbers coming to scotland are so inflated. however it does not mean that we will see thousands of additional students from england studying here. mr wallace agreed and said the figures had to be looked at in context. he explained that when applications were translated into acceptances the number was not huge - an additional figure of about 200. also the picture was further blurred by the fact that applications from wales where there are no plans for top-up fees have also risen by 19%. mr wallace said: accepting students from all parts of the world does show the high regard in which scottish higher education is held not just in britain. we want to make sure that when students are making their choice they do so on the nature of the course and not because they are under some sort of financial pressure to go to scotland. we do not want to have a situation where it becomes impossible for scottish students to get places at scottish universities because we are seen as the cheap option. very often the quality of the university experience is enhanced by the fact there are students coming from a wide range of backgrounds so it would be wrong to go the other way and start excluding students.

iaaf will contest greek decision the international association of athletics federations will appeal against the acquittal of greek athletes kostas kenteris and katerina thanou. the high-profile duo were cleared of doping offences by the greek athletics federation (segas) last month. now the iaaf will lodge an appeal with the court of arbitration for sport (cas) and has suspended both athletes. an iaaf statement said: the doping review board concluded that the decision is erroneous. the statement continued: both athletes cases will be refered to arbitration before the cas. the decision in both cases will be final and binding. segas said the iaaf appeal was expected and understandable. now we are going to await the final result which we cannot prejudge said segas chairman vassilis sevastis. kenteris who won olympic 200m gold at the 2000 olympics and thanou were suspended by the iaaf last december after failing to take routine drugs tests before the athens games. however the independent tribunal overturned those bans clearing the sprinters of avoiding tests in tel aviv chicago and athens and failing to notify anti-doping officials of their whereabouts before the olympics. kenteris lawyer gregory ioannidis described the iaaf s decision as not unexpected but told bbc sport he did not expect the organisation to take action so quickly. the iaaf s timing is extremely surprising and it creates concerns and questions said ioannidis. the iaaf has not yet received the complete file of proceedings which include statements testimonies the closing speeches of defence counsel... and nine audio tapes. we have the evidence and it is time the world discovered the truth. kenteris and thanou dramatically withdrew from last summer s olympics after missing a drugs test at the olympic village on 12 august. the pair then spent four days in a hospital claiming they had been injured in a motorcycle crash. it was the international olympic committee who demanded the iaaf investigate the affair. thanou and kenteris still face a criminal trial later this year for allegedly avoiding the test and then faking a motorcycle accident

downloads enter us singles chart digital music downloads are being included in the main us singles chart for the first time. billboard s hot 100 chart now incorporates data from sales of music downloads previously only assigned to a separate download chart. green day s boulevard of broken dreams is currently number two in billboard s pop chart and tops its digital chart. download sales are due to be incorporated into the uk singles chart later this year. digital sales in the us are already used to compile billboard s hot digital sales chart. they will now be tallied with sales of physical singles and airplay information to make up its new hot 100 chart. its second new chart - the pop 100 - also combines airplay digital and physical sales but confines its airplay information to us radio stations which play chart music. in addition to green day other artists in the current us digital sales top 10 include kelly clarkson the game and the killers. sales of legally downloaded songs shot up more than tenfold in 2004 with 200 million track purchased online in the us and europe in 12 months the international federation of the phonographic industry (ifpi) reported last month. in the uk sales of song downloads overtook those for physical singles for the first time at the end of last year. the last week of december 2004 saw download sales of 312 000 compared with 282 000 physical singles according to the british phonographic industry. the uk s first official music download chart was launched last september compiling the most popular tracks downloaded from legal uk sites - including itunes od2 mycokemusic.com and napster. westlife s flying without wings - a 1999 track reissued for the occasion - was the first number one of the uk download chart. a spokesman for the british phonographic industry (bpi) said the first combined uk download and sales chart was due to be compiled within the first half of this year . work is going on across the music business right now to make sure the new chart works to plan he said. the bpi spokesman described the uk music download chart compiled by the official charts company as having been a great success since its launch. it has provided a focus for the industry and has really driven interest in downloads among music fans he said.

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.

x factor show gets second series tv talent show the x factor is to return for a second series after being recommissioned by itv. judges simon cowell louis walsh and sharon osbourne are in discussions to sign up for the new series. the final of the first series will take place on 11 december. last saturday s show was beaten in the ratings by the bbc s strictly come dancing. working on the x factor has been a blast... i predict series two will be even better said cowell. i think the production team have done an amazing job he added. the pop idol-style show votes off a group or contestant every week - the two that receive the lowest public vote have to perform a second time before the judges make a final decision. rowetta satchell steve brookstein tabby callaghan and group g4 are the remaining finalists. itv s controller of entertainment claudia rosencrantz said she had no hesitation in recommissioning the show. there s much more to come this series as we build towards the final next month and it s great to have secured this terrific format for our viewers for another series she said.

microsoft debuts security tools microsoft is releasing tools that clean up pcs harbouring viruses and spyware. the virus-fighting program will be updated monthly and is a precursor to microsoft releasing dedicated anti-virus software. also being released is a software utility that will help users find and remove any spyware on their home computer. although initially free it is thought that soon microsoft will be charging users for the anti-spyware tool. the anti-spyware tool is available now and the anti-virus utility is expected to be available later this month. microsoft s windows operating system has long been a favourite of people who write computer viruses because it is so ubiquitous and has many loopholes that can be exploited. it has proved such a tempting target that there are now thought to be more than 100 000 viruses and other malicious programs in existence. latest research suggests that new variants of viruses are being cranked out at a rate of up to 200 per week. spyware is surreptitious software that sneaks on to home computers often without users knowledge. in its most benign form it just bombards users with pop-up adverts or hijacks web browser settings. the most malicious forms steal confidential information or log every keystroke that users make. surveys have shown that most pcs are infested with spyware. research by technology firms earthlink and webroot revealed that 90% of windows machine have the malicious software on board and on average each one harbours 28 separate spyware programs. before now microsoft has left the market for pc security software to specialist firms such as symantec mcafee trend micro and many others. it said that its virus cleaning program would not stop machines being infected nor remove the need for other anti-virus programs. on spyware freely available programs such as ad-aware and spybot have become widely used by people keen to keep the latest variants at bay. microsoft s two security tools have emerged as a result of acquisitions the company has made over the last two years. in 2003 it bought romanian firm gecad software to get hold of its anti-virus technology. in december 2004 it bought new york-based anti-spyware firm giant company software. last year microsoft also released the sp2 upgrade for windows xp that closed many security loopholes in the software and made it easier for people to manage their anti-virus and firewall programs.

howl helps boost japan s cinemas japan s box office received a 3.8% boost last year with ticket sales worth 211bn yen (£1.08bn). the surge was led by animated movie howl s moving castle which took 20bn yen (£102m) to become the biggest film in japan in 2004. it is expected to match the 30.7bn yen (£157m) record of hayao miyazaki s previous film spirited away. japan motion picture producers figures showed that 170 million cinema admissions were made in japan in 2004. the last samurai starring tom cruise was the biggest foreign movie hit in japan last year taking 13.8bn yen (£70.7m). it was followed by harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban finding nemo and the lord of the rings: the return of the king. the second highest-grossing japanese film was romantic drama crying out love in the centre of the world followed by be with you and pocket monsters advanced generation. japanese films accounted for 37.5% of japan s box office total last year with foreign films taking the remaining 62.5%. this represented a 4.5% gain for the proportion of japanese films in 2004 compared to 2003. the number of japanese films released rose to 310 in 2004 from 287 the previous year. sales of movies on dvd and video amounted to 497bn yen (£2.54bn) for the year.

jugnot tops french actor league actor gerard jugnot - star of the oscar-nominated film the chorus - has beaten gerard depardieu to become france s best-paid actor of 2004. jugnot made 5.45m euros (£3.77m) last year according to a table drawn up by france s le figaro newspaper. in the chorus (les choristes) jugnot plays an inspiring music teacher at a school for troubled boys in 1949. despite starring in five films in 2004 depardieu made 3.35m euros (£2.31m) putting him third place in the chart. his name [depardieu] is no longer sufficient to guarantee the success of a film said le figaro newspaper. the chorus which jugnot also co-produced has drawn an audience of nearly nine million people since its release last year. godzilla star jean reno was france s second best-paid actor in 2004 earning 3.55m euros (£2.45m) . his roles include a recent uncredited cameo in the oscar-nominated hotel rwanda. the highest-ranking woman on le figaro s list was audrey tautou in 10th place earning 885 000 euros (£611 000). she starred in jean-pierre jeunet s a very long engagement (un long dimanche de fiancailles) and is also lined up to co-star with tom hanks in ron howard s the da vinci code. the chorus is nominated for best foreign film at sunday s oscar ceremony. on saturday it will compete for the title of best film against fellow nominee a very long engagement in france s cesar film awards.

dollar slides ahead of new year the us dollar has hit a new record low against the euro and analysts predict that more declines are likely in 2005. disappointing economic reports dented the currency which had been rallying after european policy makers said they were worried about the euro s strength. earlier on thursday the japanese yen touched its lowest versus the euro on concerns about economic growth in asia. currency markets have been volatile over the past week because of technical and automated trading and light demand. this has amplified reactions analysts said adding that they expect markets to become less jumpy in january. people want to go into the weekend and the new year positioned for a weaker buck said tim mazanec director of foreign exchange at investors bank and trust. the dollar slid to a record $1.3666 versus the euro on thursday before bouncing back to $1.3636. against the yen the dollar was trading down at $103.05. the yen meanwhile dropped to 141.60 per euro in afternoon trading. it later strengthened to 140.55. investors are concerned about the size of the us trade and budget deficits and are betting that george w bush s administration will allow the dollar to weaken despite saying they favour a strong currency. also playing on investors minds are mixed reports about the state of the us economy. on thursday disappointing business figures from chicago brought a sudden end to a rally in the value of the dollar. the national association of purchasing management-chicago said its index dropped to 61.2 more than analysts had expected. german chancellor gerhard schroeder and italian prime minister silvio berlusconi voiced concerns about the strength of the euro. mr berlusconi said the euro s strength was absolutely worrying for italian exports. mr schroeder said in a newspaper article that stability in foreign exchange markets required a correction of global economic imbalances.

yukos seeks court action on sale yukos will return to a us court on wednesday to seek sanctions against baikal finance group the little-known firm which has bought its main asset. yukos has said it will sue baikal and others involved in the sale of yuganskneftegas for $20bn in damages. yukos us lawyers will attempt to have baikal assets frozen after the russian government ignored a us court order last week blocking the sale. baikal s background and its motives for buying the unit are still unclear. russian newspapers have claimed that baikal - which bought the yuganskneftegas production unit for $9.4bn (261bn roubles £4.8bn) on sunday at a state provoked auction - has strong links with surgutneftegas russia s fourth-biggest oil producer. many observers believe that the unit which produces 60% of yukos oil output could ultimately fall into the hands of surgutneftegas or even gazprom the state gas firm which opted out of the auction. the russian government forced the sale of yukos most lucrative asset as part of its action to enforce a $27bn back tax bill it says the company owes. yukos us lawyers claim the auction was illegal because the firm had filed for bankruptcy and therefore its assets were now under the protection of us bankruptcy law which has worldwide jurisdiction. on wednesday yukos will also seek further legal remedies to prevent the break-up of the group. we believe the auction was illegal and we intend to pursue all legal recourses available to us yukos spokesman mike lake told agence france press. if it exports that oil it will be marketing a stolen product he added. the future ownership of yuganksneftegas remains unclear amid widespread suggestions that baikal was established as a front for other interests. speaking on tuesday president putin said baikal was owned by individual investors who planned to build relationships with other russian energy firms interested in the development of yuganskneftegas. president putin also suggested that china s national petroleum corporation could play a role in the unit s future after signing a commercial agreement with gazprom to work on joint energy projects. yukos has claimed that the sale of its main asset will lead to the collapse of the company. commentators and yukos itself claim the firm is the target of a government campaign to destroy it because of the political ambitions of its founder mikhail khodorkovsky.

cardinal criticises iraq war cost billions of pounds spent on conflict in iraq and in the middle east should have been used to reduce poverty cardinal cormac murphy-o connor has said. the head of the catholic church in england and wales made the comments on bbc radio 4 and will re-iterate his stance in his christmas midnight mass. the cardinal used a christmas message to denounce the war in iraq as a terrible waste of money. he and the archbishop of canterbury have both spoken out about the war. speaking on bbc radio 4 s thought for the day slot he criticised the fact that billions have been spent on war instead of being used to bring people out of dire poverty and malnourishment and disease . the cardinal said 2005 should be the year for campaigning to make history poverty . he added: if the governments of the rich countries were as ready to devote to peace the resources they are willing to commit to war that would be to see with new eyes and speak with a new voice and perhaps then others would listen to us with new ears. the cardinal will touch on this theme again on friday night when he will tell the congregation of 2 000 at westminster cathedral that peace is worth always striving for . how is it that peace has not arrived the cardinal will ask. how is it that there is war in iraq violence in the holy land and the horror of pain and death amongst the poor and deprived who suffer from injustice and thus do not find peace how can one wish a happy christmas for our fellow christians in iraq or in the holy land or those who suffer in africa unless you and i in whatever way is open to us say and do what makes for peace both the cardinal and archbishop of canterbury dr rowan williams appealed for the weapons inspectors to be given more time in iraq before the war started. dr williams has since criticised the government over its case for war saying the failure to find weapons of mass destruction had damaged faith in the political system. on friday the cardinal will ask the congregation to search for peace. it is possible it is real it is worth always striving for because of the promise of our saviour he will say. i also wish you peace in your homes because peace in your home is the beginning of peace in the homes of the community. a spokesman said downing street had no comment to make. but prime minister tony blair has said he will put africa at the top of the agenda when britain chairs the g8 summit next year.

china continues breakneck growth china s economy has expanded by a breakneck 9.5% during 2004 faster than predicted and well above 2003 s 9.1%. the news may mean more limits on investment and lending as beijing tries to take the economy off the boil. china has sucked in raw materials and energy to feed its expansion which could have knock-on effects on the rest of the world if it overheats. but officials pointed out that industrial growth had slowed with services providing much of the impetus. growth in industrial output - the main target of government efforts to impose curbs on credit and investments - was 11.5% in 2004 down from 17% the previous year. still consumer prices - at 2.4% - rose faster than in 2004 adding to concern that a sharp rise in producer prices of 7.1% could stoke inflation. and overall investment in fixed assets was still high up 21.3% from the previous year - although some way off the peak of 43% seen in the first quarter of 2004. the result could be higher interest rates. china raised rates by 0.27 percentage points to 5.8% - its first hike in nine years - in october 2004. despite the apparent rebalancing of the economy the overall growth picture remains strong economists said. there is no sign of a slowdown in 2005 said tim congdon economist at ing barings. china s economy is not only gathering speed thanks to domestic demand but also from soaring sales overseas. figures released earlier this year showed exports at a six-year high in 2004 up 35%. part of the impetus comes from the relative cheapness of the yuan china s currency. the government keeps it pegged close to a rate of 8.28 to the us dollar - much to the chagrin of many us lawmakers who blame china for lost jobs and competitiveness. despite urging to ease the peg officials insist they are a long way from ready to make a shift to a more market-set rate. we need a good and feasible plan and formulating such a plan also needs time national bureau of statistics chief li deshui told reuters. those who hope to make a fortune by speculating on a renminbi revaluation will not succeed in making a profit.

stars pay tribute to actor davis hollywood stars including spike lee burt reynolds and oscar nominee alan alda have paid tribute to actor ossie davis at a funeral in new york. veteran star ossie davis a well-known civil rights activist died in miami at the age of 87 on 4 february 2005. friends and family including actress ruby dee his wife of 56 years gathered at the riverside church on saturday. also present at the service was former us president bill clinton and singer harry belafonte who gave the eulogy. he would have been a very good president of the united states said mr clinton. like most of you here he gave more to me than i gave to him. the 87-year-old was found dead last weekend in his hotel room in florida where he was making a film. police said that he appeared to have died of natural causes. davis made his acting debut in 1950 in no way out starring sidney poiter. he frequently collaborated with director spike lee starring in seven lee films including jungle fever do the right thing and malcolm x. attallah shabazz the daughter of activist malcolm x recalled the famous eulogy delivered by davis at her father s funeral. harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its finest hopes she said quoting the man she knew as uncle ossie. ditto. ossie was my hero and he still is said aviator star alan alda a family friend for over forty years. ossie was a thing of beauty. i want so badly someday to have his dignity - a little of it anyway added burt reynolds davis s co-star in the 90s tv comedy evening shade. before the midday funeral scores of harlem residents formed a queue outside the church to pay their respects to davis. it is hard to fathom that we will no longer be able to call on his wisdom his humour his loyalty and his moral strength to guide us in the choices that are yet to be made and the battles that are yet to be fought said belafonte himself an ardent civil rights activist who had been friends with davis for over 60 years. but how fortunate we were to have him as long as we did.

speak easy plan for media players music and film fans will be able to control their digital media players just by speaking to them under plans in development by two us firms. scansoft and gracenote are developing technology to give people access to their film and music libraries simply by voice control. they want to give people hands-free access to digital music and films in the car or at home or on the move. huge media libraries on some players can make finding single songs hard. voice command-and-control unlocks the potential of devices that can store large digital music collections said ross blanchard vice president of business development for gracenote. these applications will radically change the car entertainment experience allowing drivers to enjoy their entire music collections without ever taking their hands off the steering wheel he added. gracenote provides music library information for millions of different albums for jukeboxes such as apple s itunes. the new technology will be designed so that people can play any individual song or movie out of a collection just by saying its name. users will also be able to request music that fits a mood or an occasion or a film just by saying the actor s name. speech is a natural fit for today s consumer devices particularly in mobile environments said alan schwartz vice president of speechworks a division of scansoft. pairing our voice technologies with gracenote s vast music database will bring the benefits of speech technologies to a host of consumer devices and enable people to access their media in ways they ve never imagined. the two firms did not say if they were developing the technology for languages other than english. users will also be able to get more information on a favourite song they have been listening to by asking: what is this portable players are becoming popular in cars and a number of auto firms are working with apple to device interfaces to control the firm s ipod music player. but with tens of thousands of songs able to be stored on one player voice control would make finding that elusive track by elvis presley much easier. the firms gave no indication about whether the ipod or any other media player were in mind for the use of the voice control technology. the companies estimate that the technology will be available in the fourth quarter of 2005.

sales fail to boost high street the january sales have failed to help the uk high street recover from a poor christmas season a survey has found. stores received a boost from bargain hunters but trading then reverted to december levels the british retail consortium and accountants kpmg said. sales in what is traditionally a strong month rose by 0.5% on a like-for-like basis compared with a year earlier. consumers remain cautious over buying big-ticket items like furniture said brc director general kevin hawkins. higher interest rates and uncertainty over the housing market continue to take their toll on the retail sector the brc said. but clothing and footwear sales were said to be generally better than december while department stores also had a good month. in the three-months to january like-for-like sales showed a growth rate of -0.1% the same as in the three months to december the brc said. following a relatively strong new year s bank holiday trading then took a downward turn said mr hawkins. even extending some promotions and discounts and the pay-day boost later in the month could not tempt customers. the previous brc survey found christmas 2004 was the worst for 10 years for retailers. and according to office for national statistics data sales in december failed to meet expectations and by some counts were the worst since 1981.

hodgson relishes european clashes former blackburn boss roy hodgson says the premiership should follow the rest of europe and have a winter break - but insists that a gruelling domestic schedule will not damage the english elite s bid for champions league glory. hodgson - now in charge at viking stavanger - was at liverpool s clash with bayer leverkusen at anfield on tuesday as a member of uefa s technical committee. hodgson is a fierce advocate of the winter break employed throughout europe although not in england - where the champions league contenders have ploughed through a heavy fixture list. but hodgson told bbc sport that while he believes the premiership should embrace the idea he does not expect it to cost the english representatives in the last 16 of the champions league. i just feel it is very difficult to say with certainty that teams who have had the break will have a definite edge. i am a fervent supporter of the break. it gives players the chance to recharge their batteries midway through the season which some suggest will give teams an advantage in the champions league. the other school of thought suggests having a break then coming back to it puts you at a disadvantage. the bigger discussions around the winter break should be to do with the nature of football today the needs of football players and the way the premiership has developed rather than one or two matches in the champions league in february. hodgson believes a winter break carries many advantages explaining: as i said it is the perfect chance to recharge batteries. and certainly if i was still a manager in england i would be supporting any calls for its introduction. in pre-season you get a lot of enthusiasm and energy but by the time you get towards christmas many players having also played plenty of international matches for club and country and travelled a lot find themselves getting very jaded. the break gives them a chance to recover that energy and enthusiasm and perhaps more importantly recover their mental strength during the break and get ready for the games ahead. the mental side is by far the most important thing. hodgson added: the length of breaks can vary. in italy the break was very short. you just took christmas and new year. it was so short you didn t do anything. you gave the players a week or 10 days off then you were training for a week or 10 days and then went into a game. if it is longer it is important those responsible for physical fitness give the players a programme to follow to ensure the physical strength they have accumulated stays with them. and hodgson believes a winter break would be a positive step in the premiership. he said: if we talk about football at elite level which the premiership is then i would support a winter break. if you examine the demands of the premier league and in particular on players who play international football for their club and country then a break would do them the world of good - physically and mentally.

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.

commons hunt protest charges eight protesters who stormed the house of commons chamber during a debate on the hunting bill have been charged with disorderly conduct. the men were arrested in september after bursting into the chamber causing a hunting ban debate to be halted. those charged included otis ferry the 22-year-old son of rock star bryan ferry and luke tomlinson 27 a close friend of princes william and harry. they were charged under section 5 of the public order act police said. five of the eight men held an impromptu news conference outside charing cross police station on monday evening after the charges were formerly put to them. the men s solicitor matthew knight said that at no time had it occurred to the men that they were committing a criminal offence. there is no offence of trespassing in the house of commons - it is not a criminal offence he said. if parliament wanted to make entering the house of commons chamber on foot a criminal offence it should have done so but it can t do so retrospectively. we are not prosecuted for that. we are prosecuted for a public order act offence. we are not guilty of it. they will appear at bow street magistrates court on 21 december a police spokesman said. otis ferry a former eton pupil and joint leader of the south shropshire hunt said: i have no regrets. we have done nothing wrong beyond the obvious which was to stand up for our rights and not act like a sheep like the rest of the country. one of the men david redvers 34 from hartpury gloucestershire said he and the other seven protesters would plead not guilty to the charges. the other protesters are john holliday 37 a huntsman from ledbury herefordshire robert thame 34 who plays polo with princes charles in team highgrove auctioneer andrew elliot 42 from bromesberrow near ledbury point-to-point jockey richard wakeham 34 from york and former royal chef nick wood 41. the 15 september protest came on the same day as a huge pro-hunting demonstration in parliament square. four of the men ran out from behind the speaker s chair while another wrestled past a doorkeeper from a different entrance. the five tried to confront mps before they were bundled out of the chamber and later led away handcuffed by police. three others had been intercepted by security staff as they tried to join the five in the chamber. speaker michael martin later said the men had used a forged letter to gain access to the house of commons and had been helped to get close to the chamber by a parliamentary pass holder. in november the use of the parliament act meant a total ban on hunting with dogs in england and wales. however many pro-hunt activists remained defiant after the law was passed saying they would ignore the ban and continue to hunt. last week the countryside alliance said more than 250 hunts would meet legally the day after the ban on hunting with dogs comes into force. the alliance said the 19 february meets would show the new law was impossibly difficult to determine and open to different interpretations.

britons fed up with net service a survey conducted by pc pro magazine has revealed that many britons are unhappy with their internet service. they are fed up with slow speeds high prices and the level of customer service they receive. 17% of readers have switched suppliers and a further 16% are considering changing in the near future. it is particularly bad news for bt the uk s biggest internet supplier with almost three times as many people trying to leave as joining. a third of the 2 000 broadband users interviewed were fed up with their current providers but this could be just the tip of the iceberg thinks tim danton editor of pc pro magazine. we expect these figures to leap in 2005. every month the prices drop and more and more people are trying to switch he said. the survey found that bt and tiscali have been actively dissuading customers from leaving by offering them a lower price when they phone up to cancel their subscription. some readers were offered a price drop just 25p more expensive than that offered by an alternative operator making it hardly worth while swapping. other found themselves tied into 12-month contracts. broadband has become hugely competitive and providers are desperate to hold on to customers. 12% of those surveyed found themselves unable to swap at all. we discovered a huge variety of problems but one of the biggest issues is the current supplier withholding the information that people need to give to their new supplier said tim danton editor of pc pro. this breaks the code of practice but because that code is voluntary there s nothing we or ofcom can do to help he said. there is a vast choice of internet service providers in the uk now and an often bewildering array of broadband packages. with prices set to drop even further in coming months mr danton advises everyone to shop around carefully. if you just stick with your current connection then there s every chance you re being ripped off he warned.

blair buys copies of new band aid prime minister tony blair purchased two copies of the charity single band aid 20 in edinburgh on friday. staff were surprised when the prime minister walked into hmv at 0900 gmt accompanied by aides and local police. when mr blair came in unannounced we were all pretty gobsmacked said hmv manager clive smith. our customer helper approached him... it was only then we realised he wanted to buy copies of the band aid single rather than the latest eminem album. predicted chart-topper do they know it s christmas is expected to sell at least 300 000 copies by the time the new chart is announced on sunday. however the new version of the 1984 single is not going to be released in the us despite being sold in many countries around the world. us record shops are stocking an import version of do they know it s christmas which is said to be selling very well in los angeles and new york. the original track was released in the us and reached number 13 in the singles chart. british stars who appear on the current recording such as dido and coldplay s chris martin are well-known to music fans across the atlantic along with u2 frontman bono. record company universal is responsible for the global distribution of the single which will be available across europe asia south america and canada. but music fans in the us are still able to access the song and download it on band aid 20 s official website. in 1985 a group of high-profile american stars known as usa for africa came together to record their own fund-raising single we are the world. the song was written by lionel richie and michael jackson with quincy jones as producer. it topped the us charts for three weeks and went on win grammy awards for best record and song. dionne warwick diana ross and tina turner were among the line-up of performers. it is predicted that the band aid 20 song will sell 300 000 copies in the uk by the time the new chart is announced on sunday. the record is also tipped to become this year s christmas number one as the original version did in 1984. proceeds from the sales are going towards relief for the darfur region of sudan and to combat hiv and aids across africa.

freeze on anti-spam campaign a campaign by lycos europe to target spam-related websites appears to have been put on hold. earlier this week the company released a screensaver that bombarded the sites with data to try to bump up the running costs of the websites. but the site hosting the screensaver now displays a pink graphic and the words stay tuned . no one at lycos was available for comment on latest developments in its controversial anti-spam campaign. lycos europe s make love not spam campaign was intended as a way for users to fight back against the mountain of junk mail flooding inboxes. people were encouraged to download the screensaver which when their pc was idle would then send lots of data to sites that peddle the goods and services mentioned in spam messages. lycos said the idea was to get the spam sites running at 95% capacity and generate big bandwidth bills for the spammers behind the sites. but the plan has proved controversial. monitoring firm netcraft analysed response times for some of the sites targeted by the screensaver and found that a number were completely knocked offline. the downing of the sites could dent lycos claims that what it is doing does not amount to a distributed denial of service attack. in such attacks thousands of computers bombard sites with data in an attempt to overwhelm them. laws in many countries do not explicitly outlaw such attacks but many nations are re-drafting computer use laws to make them specific offences. lycos europe now appears to have put the plan on hold. the site hosting the screensaver currently shows a holding page with the words stay tuned . the numerical internet address of the site has also changed. this is likely to be in response to spammers who have reportedly redirected traffic from their sites back to the lycos screensaver site. the campaign has come under fire from some corners of the web. many discussion groups have said that it set a dangerous precedent and could incite vigilantism. attacking a spammer s website is like poking a grizzly bear sleeping in your back garden with a pointy stick said graham cluley senior technology consultant for sophos. not only is this screensaver similar in its approach to a potentially illegal distributed denial of service attack but it also is in danger of turning innocent computer users into vigilantes who may not be prepared for whatever retaliation the spammers care to dream up.

boro suffer morrison injury blow middlesbrough midfielder james morrison has been ruled out for up to eight weeks after an operation on tuesday. the 18-year-old who has played in 13 of the club s last 14 games had surgery to repair a double hernia. a club spokesman confirmed: it is a bilateral sportsman s hernia which was operated on yesterday. morrison was sent for scans after being substituted at half-time during boro s 2-1 uefa cup win over graz ak in which he scored the equaliser. his injury is the latest blow for the teessiders who have been without gaizka mendieta george boateng and mark viduka for extended periods. meanwhile the kick-off time for boro s uefa cup match at sporting lisbon on 17 march has been brought forward from 2115 gmt to 1945 gmt.

france starts digital terrestrial france has become the last big european country to launch a digital terrestrial tv (dtt) service. initially more than a third of the population will be able to receive 14 free-to-air channels. despite the long wait for a french dtt roll-out the new platform s backers hope to emulate the success of its uk free-to-air counterpart freeview. recent figures from the uk s regulator ofcom showed freeview was more popular than the sky digital satellite service. in the three months to september 2004 almost five times as many people signed up to the uk s free-to-air dtt service compared with sky. almost 60% of uk households have gone digital on at least one television set through cable satellite or freeview. the french dtt platform is known as tnt which stands for tv numerique terrestre or digital terrestrial television. but it is being branded as television numerique pour tous or digital television for all . tnt is a joint venture between public broadcaster france televisions and a handful of cable and satellite operators. digital terrestrial tv will launch as a free-to-air platform to start with adding pay-tv channels later. thirty-five contenders have bid for an additional eight frequencies on top of the 14 already allocated. a couple of years ago dtt had a bad image said olivier gerolami chief operating officer of tnt. but everyone s impressed with dtt in the uk italy and germany and they realise it is a very good idea. france is the poorest market in europe in terms of free-to-air national channels so it has the potential to be one of the biggest dtt markets mr gerolami added in remarks quoted by the us entertainment industry paper variety. tnt aims to reach 35% of france s population at launch from 17 transmission sites. the transmission area will initially include paris lille lyon and toulouse. eventually there will be 115 sites reaching over 80% of homes. digital terrestrial set-top boxes are available from as little as 70 euros (£50). a recent survey by mediametrie found that 70% of people interviewed were aware of dtt and 25% were planning to buy a digital receiver. consumer electronics companies such as nokia sagem sony and thomson are gearing up for production. the conseil superieur de l audiovisuel (csa) the french broadcasting regulator said: following the recent success of freeview in the uk some manufacturers are optimistic about sales prospects . media analysts believe that initially the majority of viewers will buy inexpensive set-top boxes that are unable to support interactive services. the csa said the current aim of reaching 85% of the population by 2007 was achievable but the future of the remaining tv viewers required action by the public sector. for the most part they are people living in mountainous or border areas which will remain beyond the reach of digital terrestrial tv for years. up to 15 pay-tv channels will launch on dtt between september 2005 and march 2006. leading pay-tv operators canal plus and tps have submitted bids to market bouquets of channels. free-to-air services will be broadcast in mpeg-2 format. but pay-tv operators will be allowed to broadcast in mpeg-4 - a much better compression technology - which will potentially allow for high-definition (hd) subscription services in the future. tnt expects between 700 000 and one million dtt set-top boxes to be sold in 2005. it is difficult to tell how quickly it will take off said mr gerolami but we re optimistic that it will revolutionise television in france. other analysts were less optimistic predicting consumers would now be less likely to sign up for pay-tv subscriptions. we think free dtt could put brakes on the underlying growth of pay-tv in france said henri de bodinat vice-president of the arthur d. little consultancy.

palestinian economy in decline despite a short-lived increase in palestinian jobs in 2003 the economy is performing well below its potential said a world bank report. unemployment stood at 25% compared with 10% before the uprising against israeli occupation four years ago. young people are particularly hard hit with 37% out of work compared with 14% four years ago. but 104 000 new jobs were created last year during a brief easing of violence and closures. however during the first half of this year the palestinian economy lost more than 22 000 jobs. last year s growth rate of 6% can also be attributed to this temporary gap in violence the report said. according to the report intifada closures and palestinian economic crisis: an assessment there is a close link between the number of closures - both border closures and internal closures between cities - and palestinian economic problems. the closures arranged by israel restrict the movement of palestinian people and goods slowing down trade. closures are a key factor behind today s economic crisis in the west bank said nigel roberts world bank country director for the west bank and gaza. nearly half of all palestinians - some 47% - live below the poverty line and are particularly vulnerable to economic shocks. the report said even more would be on the poverty line without an average of $950m a year from international donors some of which goes towards job creation. it also called on the palestinian authority to revive its reform programme and maintain financial discipline to create an investment-friendly climate. this week colin powell us secretary of state was visiting the west bank to stress us support for a smooth palestinian election in january.

india opens skies to competition india will allow domestic commercial airlines to fly long haul international routes a move it hopes will stoke competition and drive down prices. however only state controlled carriers will be able to fly the lucrative gulf routes to countries such as kuwait and saudi arabia for at least three years. jet airways and air sahara are the two companies that will benefit initially. india is looking to develop its airline industry as booming economic growth drives demand for travel. monica chadha bbc delhi reporter said air travel in india had increased by almost 20% from the previous year and was expected to rise even further. infrastructure development is lagging demand however and will have to improve. most international airports in the country are shabby and ill-equipped to handle heavy air traffic ms chada said adding that while the civil aviation minister has promised to modernise and privatise airports little progress has been made. steps have been take to move things forward and the government recently changed legislation that limited foreign investment in domestic airlines. it raised the maximum stake holding allowed to 49% from 40%. local press meanwhile have reported that the us and india will start negotiations about adding more routes in january. jet airways is india s premier private domestic carrier; air sahara is ranked third in the category.

dollar gains on greenspan speech the dollar has hit its highest level against the euro in almost three months after the federal reserve head said the us trade deficit is set to stabilise. and alan greenspan highlighted the us government s willingness to curb spending and rising household savings as factors which may help to reduce it. in late trading in new york the dollar reached $1.2871 against the euro from $1.2974 on thursday. market concerns about the deficit has hit the greenback in recent months. on friday federal reserve chairman mr greenspan s speech in london ahead of the meeting of g7 finance ministers sent the dollar higher after it had earlier tumbled on the back of worse-than-expected us jobs data. i think the chairman s taking a much more sanguine view on the current account deficit than he s taken for some time said robert sinche head of currency strategy at bank of america in new york. he s taking a longer-term view laying out a set of conditions under which the current account deficit can improve this year and next. worries about the deficit concerns about china do however remain. china s currency remains pegged to the dollar and the us currency s sharp falls in recent months have therefore made chinese export prices highly competitive. but calls for a shift in beijing s policy have fallen on deaf ears despite recent comments in a major chinese newspaper that the time is ripe for a loosening of the peg. the g7 meeting is thought unlikely to produce any meaningful movement in chinese policy. in the meantime the us federal reserve s decision on 2 february to boost interest rates by a quarter of a point - the sixth such move in as many months - has opened up a differential with european rates. the half-point window some believe could be enough to keep us assets looking more attractive and could help prop up the dollar. the recent falls have partly been the result of big budget deficits as well as the us s yawning current account gap both of which need to be funded by the buying of us bonds and assets by foreign firms and governments. the white house will announce its budget on monday and many commentators believe the deficit will remain at close to half a trillion dollars.

ferguson fears milan cutting edge manchester united manager sir alex ferguson said his side s task against ac milan would not be made any easier by the absence of andriy shevchenko. milan s talismanic european footballer of the year misses wednesday s champions league first-leg tie after fracturing his cheekbone. it s a loss (to milan) but it could be worse if they didn t have such quality to bring in ferguson said. how much they miss him i think they ll know tomorrow night. ferguson said milan s front line would still represent a formidable challenge for his defenders. they can play rui costa and play kaka forward. they can bring serginho in and they can play (jon dahl) tomasson he said. ferguson s own goalscoring talisman ruud van nistelrooy is fit again but the scot admitted he was unsure whether to start the dutchman who has not played for three months. ruud is the best striker in europe. what i have to judge is whether he will struggle with the early pace after being out for so long he said. his ability puts him in with a big shout but it is a major decision. ferguson though is confident his young players particularly wayne rooney and cristiano ronaldo are up to the task. we have an opportunity to win this cup this year no question about that he declared. with the maturity we see every week in ronaldo and rooney the return of van nistelrooy and the form of roy keane paul scholes and ryan giggs we must have a fantastic chance. it is a view shared by rooney who believes if we can get past milan we have a great chance . as soon as i knew we were playing milan i got excited. looking at the draw it is anyone s trophy but we have every chance. hopefully we can get to that final in turkey and bring the cup back to manchester. milan coach carlo ancelotti said his team were looking forward to returning to the venue where they lifted europe s most prestigious club title two seasons ago. milan beat juventus in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 tie at old trafford and ancelotti said: we are all very happy to return (to old trafford) to play in the champions league and this will give us great motivation. ancelotti said he was aware of the threat united posed to his hopes of champions league glory. it s fundamental that we don t allow them to take control of the game. our intention is not to adapt to their play but to play our game he said. they have great quality in attack they use the wings a lot and we will have to make sure we stop them.

iranian misses israel match iranian striker vahid hashemian will not travel to israel for bayern munich s champions league match against maccabi tel aviv on wednesday. the german club said the player had pulled out because of a back injury. iran refuses to recognise israel s right to exist and does not allow its citizens to travel to the country. a bayern spokesman said on monday that the decision not to take hashemian to israel had been motivated only by his physical condition. he s got back pain and he couldn t train the spokesman said. it would have made no sense for him to go. iran gave judo world champion arash miresmaeili a $125 000 reward when he refused to fight an israeli at the athens olympics. the international judo federation considered taking action against miresmaeili but concluded he had been overweight for the fight and could not have taken part.

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.

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.

eu china arms ban to be lifted the eu embargo on arms exports to china is likely to be lifted in the next six months despite us objections uk foreign secretary jack straw has said. the 15-year-old ban was imposed in the aftermath of china s crackdown on protesters in tiananmen square. mr straw told a commons select committee human rights concerns over china remained. but he said it was wrong to put china under the same embargo as countries such as zimbabwe and burma. in december the eu pledged to work towards lifting the ban but said it was not ready to do so yet. the eu s move was welcomed at the time by beijing which described the embargo as a product of the cold war . german chancellor gerhard schroeder and french president jacques chirac have repeatedly called for the embargo to be lifted. britain has been more cautious on the issue but on wednesday mr straw said he also wanted it to end. i have long understood china s argument that to lump them in with say burma and zimbabwe is not appropriate and i don t think it is he told the joint committee on strategic export controls. he said it is more likely than not that the ban would be lifted before britain takes over the presidency of the eu from luxembourg in july. but he said an eu code of conduct would prevent an increase in the number of arms being exported to the country. if it is lifted we will end up with as effective arms controls in relation to china as we have now. mr straw said the us government was suspicious of the motives of some other countries within the eu in wanting the ban lifted. but he said many of washington s objections were based on a lack of information and understanding of how export control guidelines worked in eu countries. and intense discussions were taking place with us officials to convince them it was the right thing to do. washington is thought to fear it would lead to a buying spree for arms that could be used by china to threaten its diplomatic rival taiwan. us officials say they are not satisfied the mechanisms in the eu code of conduct are robust enough to prevent abuses. us undersecretary of state john bolton is meeting british officials this week to press the case for keeping the embargo.

man utd to open books to glazer manchester united s board has agreed to give us tycoon malcolm glazer access to its books. earlier this month mr glazer presented the board with detailed proposals on an offer to buy the football club. in a statement the club said it would allow mr glazer limited due diligence to give him the opportunity to take the proposal on to a formal bid. but it said it continued to oppose mr glazer s plans calling his assumptions aggressive and his plan damaging . many of manchester united s supporters own shares in the club and the fan-based group shareholders united is strongly opposed to any takeover by mr glazer. about 300 fans protested outside the old trafford ground two days ago. rival local club manchester city has pleaded with visiting fans not to protest inside its ground when the two teams play a televised match on sunday. manchester united s response comes as little surprise as the board made clear. any board has a responsibility to consider a bona fide offer proposal the club said in its statement. should it become a firm offer it should be at a price that the board is likely to regard as fair and on terms which may be deliverable . but it also stressed that it stayed opposed to mr glazer s proposal. the board continues to believe that mr glazer s business plan assumptions are aggressive the statement said and the direct and indirect financial strain on the business could be damaging. whether or not the bid is attractive in monetary terms in the case of manchester united many investors hold the stock for sentimental rather than financial reasons. at present mr glazer and his family hold a 28.1% stake making them manchester united s second biggest shareholders. they own the successful tampa bay buccaneers american football team based in florida. if the family makes a formal offer they will need the support of the club s biggest shareholders. irish horse racing millionaires jp mcmanus and john magnier own 29% of united through their investment vehicle cubic expression and have yet to express a view on the bid approach. a group of five mps are calling on the department of trade and industry to block any takeover of the club by the us football magnate on public interest grounds. they have signed a house of commons motion and tony lloyd the manchester central mp whose constituency includes the club s old trafford ground has pledged to take the matter to tony blair if necessary . the commons motion says any takeover designed to transform the club into a private company would be against the interests of those supporters and football . however the dti has dismissed the proposal. a spokesman said the department did not believe there was a case for changing the enterprise act so that takeovers of football clubs could be looked at on non-competition grounds. mr glazer s offer values the club at £800m ($1.5bn). pitched at 300p per share it also relies less on debt to finance it than an earlier approach from the us tycoon which was rejected out of hand. manchester united shares closed at 270.25p on friday down 3.75p on the day.

henman hopes ended in dubai third seed tim henman slumped to a straight sets defeat in his rain-interrupted dubai open quarter-final against ivan ljubicic. the croatian eighth seed booked his place in the last four with a 7-5 6-4 victory over the british number one. henman had looked on course to level the match after going 2-0 up in the second set but his progress was halted as the rain intervened again. ljubicic hit back after the break to seal a fourth straight win over henman. earlier in the day spanish fifth seed tommy robredo secured his semi-final place when he beat nicolas kiefer of germany 6-4 6-4. afterwards henman was left cursing the weather and the umpire after seven breaks for rain during the match. it was incredibly frustrating henman said. it s raining and the umpire doesn t take control. he kept telling us to play till the end of the game. but if it s raining you come off - the score s irrelevant. it couldn t be more frustrating as i was very happy with my form until now. you don t expect this in the desert.

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.

mps tout lords replacement plan a group of mps has tried to raise the pressure on tony blair over reform to the house of lords by publishing a detailed blueprint for change. the cross-party group has unveiled a draft bill proposing a smaller second chamber in which 70% of members would be elected. mps and peers have failed to agree on reform since 1999 when 600 hereditaries lost their seats. the group says it can win support for removing the last 92 hereditaries. the government postponed plans to remove the remaining hereditary peers because they said they were unlikely to succeed after opposition in the lords. tony blair has argued. there needs to be consensus on reforms. there have been suggestions there will be proposals for changing at least the powers of the lords in labour s manifesto. but the all-party group including tories ken clarke and sir george young labour s robin cook and tony wright and liberal democrat paul tyler is confident its plan would win support from a large majority . and they list former conservative leader william hague and former labour leader neil kinnock as supporters of the plans. the group says the british public and a clear majority of mps support replacing the lords with a largely-elected second chamber. their plan would see the house of lords being renamed the second chamber of parliament and its members would be known as mscps. there would be 385 mscps including 270 elected members 87 appointed members and 16 bishops. they would serve for between 12 and 14 years. mr cook said holding elections for mscps on the same day as those for mps might help motivate the electorate and increase voter turnout. he added: over the last year i have seen many statements from senior figures of this government insisting the public must have the right of choice. what could be more important than a choice of the people who sit in our parliament the group believes pressure is growing for change and the government s current position is unsustainable. it wants all three main parties to include a commitment to a largely democratic second chamber in their manifestos. mr clarke said the issue went to the heart of reforming the health of the british political system . and mr tyler said the prime minister s view that there was no agreement on the shape of the future of the lords was flawed. the problem i think in the prime minister s mind is there doesn t appear to be a consensus that includes him he said. we are providing a consensus . the elect the lords campaign said the draft bill was an important contribution to the debate. we believe this draft bill is detailed enough to form the basis of closer parliamentary scrutiny said co-ordinator peter facey. in lieu of any other such clear proposals the government must permit that to happen.

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).

parties warned over grey vote political parties cannot afford to take older uk voters for granted in the coming election says age concern. a survey for the charity suggests 69% of over-55s say they always vote in a general election compared with just 17% of 18 to 24 year olds. charity boss gordon lishman said if a decisive blow was struck at the election it would be by older voters who could be relied on to turn out. a total of 3 028 adults aged 18 or over were interviewed for the study. mr lishman urged the next government to boost state pension. he also called for measures to combat ageism and build effective public services to support us all in an ageing society . older people want to see manifesto commitments that will make a difference to their lives mr lishman said. political parties must wake up to the fact that unless they address the demands and concerns of older people they will not keep or attract their vote. in the survey carried out by icm research 14% of people aged between 18 and 34 said they never voted in general elections. among the over-65s 70% said they would be certain to vote in an immediate election compared with 39% of people under 55. age concern says the over-55s are united around key areas of policy they want the government to focus on. for 57% pensions and the nhs were key issues while the economy was important for a third and tax was a crucial area for 25%.

ministers naive over phone-taps the government is being naive by refusing to allow phone-tap evidence in court a senior eu politician says. javier solana eu foreign policy chief says phone-tap evidence works in the courts of other european countries. human rights groups top police officers and many mps say allowing the evidence would remove the need to detain terror suspects without charge. but home secretary charles clarke says the evidence would not make much difference to these cases. mr solana told itv1 s jonathan dimbleby programme: [phone-tap evidence in court] works it is normal that it is done it would be naive not to do it. it would be naive not to use this technological thing that we have at our disposal. mr solana s comments come the day after sir ian blair the newly-appointed metropolitan police commissioner said he was in favour of phone-tap evidence. under the anti-terrorism crimes and security act 2001 foreign terror suspects can be detained in british jails without trial or charge. several suspects have been detained under these powers because evidence against them was deemed too sensitive to be heard in court. some of this evidence is believed to be telephone intercepts. human rights group liberty has argued that if intercept evidence could be heard these detainees could be brought to trial. but critics of phone-tap trials say the evidence is often weak and can expose the methods of the security services. the home secretary says intercepts would not make much difference because cases against terror suspects frequently rely on other kinds of surveillance. but mr clarke has been forced to change the regime of detention without trial after law lords ruled it illegal. he has opted for a system of control orders whereby suspects both british and foreign can be held under house arrest or surveillance. these orders will again involve a uk opt-out of parts of the european convention on human rights. while accepting that people have to be prepared for a possible terrorist attack mr solana said he had qualms about the home secretary s new plans. we have to fight terrorism with all our means but not so far as to change our way of life he said.

parmar ruled out of davis cup tie a knee injury has forced arvind parmar out of great britain s davis cup tie in israel and left alex bogdanovic in line to take the second singles place. parmar picked up the injury last week and has failed to recover in time for the europe/africa zone i tie which begins in tel aviv on friday. bogdanovic looks set to take the second singles place alongside greg rusedski. gb captain jeremy bates could use 17-year-old andrew murray and david sherwood in the doubles rubber. bogdanovic and murray both pulled out of tournaments last week through injury but are expected to be fit. jamie delgado and lee childs have been called into the squad in tel aviv as designated hitters for team practice but bates has no plans to call either of them into his squad at present. the unheralded sherwood was the surprise inclusion when the squad was announced last week and bates said: david has earned his place in this squad on the merit of his form and results over the last 12 months. the 6ft 4in sherwood is ranked 264th in the world and the lta have high hopes for him after futures tournament wins in wrexham and edinburgh. the sheffield-born right-hander aged 24 also reached another final in plaisir france a week after making the semi-final in mulhouse. bates is glad to have rusedski available after tim henman s retirement from davis cup tennis. his wealth of experience is invaluable particularly to the younger players and i know he will lead by example bates said. we are looking forward to the tie. the squad are all in excellent form.

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.

s korea spending boost to economy south korea will boost state spending next year in an effort to create jobs and kick start its sputtering economy. it has earmarked 100 trillion won ($96bn) for the first six months of 2005 60% of its total annual budget. the government s main problems are slumping consumption and a contraction in the construction industry . it aims to create 400 000 jobs and will focus on infrastructure and home building as well as providing public firms with money to hire new workers. the government has set an economic growth rate target of 5% for next year and hinted that would be in danger unless it took action. internal and external economic conditions are likely to remain unfavourable in 2005 the finance and economy ministry said in a statement. it blamed continuing uncertainties such as fluctuating oil prices and foreign exchange rates and stagnant domestic demand that has shown few signs of a quick rebound . in 2004 growth will be between 4.7% and 4.8% the ministry said. not everyone is convinced the plan will work. our primary worry centres on the what we believe is the government s overly optimistic view that its front loading of the budget will be enough to turn the economy around consultancy 4cast said in a report. the problem facing south korea is that many consumers are reeling from the effects of a credit bubble that only recently burst. millions of south koreans are defaulting on their credit card bills and the country s biggest card lender has been hovering on the verge of bankruptcy for months. as part of its spending plans the government said it will ask firms to roll over mortgage loans that come due in the first half of 2005 . it also pledged to look at ways of helping families on low incomes. the government voiced concern about the effect of redundancies in the building trade. given the economic spill over and employment effect in the construction sector a sharp downturn in the construction industry could have other adverse effects the ministry said. as a result south korea will give private companies also will be given the chance to build schools hospitals houses and other public buildings. it also will look at real estate tax system. other plans on the table include promoting new industries such as bio-technology and nano-technology as well as offering increased support to small and medium sized businesses. the focus will be on job creation and economic recovery given that unfavourable domestic and global conditions are likely to dog the korean economy in 2005 the ministry said.

strachan turns down pompey former southampton manager gordon strachan has rejected the chance to become portsmouth s new boss. the scot was pompey chairman milan mandaric s first choice to replace harry redknapp who left fratton park for rivals saints earlier in december. i think it s a fantastic job for anybody apart from somebody who has just been the southampton manager strachan told the bbc. club director terry brady held initial talks with strachan on saturday. the former scotland international added that joining southampton s local rivals would not be a wise move. it s got everything going for it but i ve got too many memories of the other side and i don t want to sour those memories he said. everything s right - it s 10 minutes away there are good players there a good set-up a good atmosphere at the ground. there s lots to do but it s not right for somebody who has just been the southampton manager. since redknapp s departure executive director velimir zajec and coach joe jordan have overseen first-team affairs. the duo had gone five matches unbeaten until sunday s 1-0 defeat at home to champions arsenal but the club are still in a respectable 12th place in the premiership table. strachan left st mary s in february after earlier announcing his intention to take a break from the game at the end of the 2003-04 season. his previous managerial experience came at coventry whom he led for five years from 1996 to 2001.

gazprom in $36m back-tax claim the nuclear unit of russian energy giant gazprom is reportedly facing a 1bn rouble ($35.7m; £19.1m) back-tax claim for the 2001-2003 period. vedomosti newspaper reported that russian authorities made the demand at the end of last year. the paper added that most of the taxes claimed are linked to the company s export activity. gazprom the biggest gas company in the world took over nuclear fuel giant atomstroieksport in october 2004. the main project of atomstroieksport is the building of a nuclear plant in iran which has been a source of tension between russia and the us. gazprom is one of the key players in the complex russian energy market where the government of vladimir putin has made moves to regain state influence over the sector. gazprom is set to merge with state oil firm rosneft the company that eventually acquired yuganskneftegas the main unit of embattled oil giant yukos. claims for back-taxes was a tool used against yukos and led to the enforced sale yuganskneftegas. some analysts fear the kremlin will continue to use these sort of moves to boost the efforts of the state to regain control over strategically important sectors such as oil.

fit-again betsen in france squad france have brought flanker serge betsen back into their squad to face england at twickenham on sunday. but the player who missed the victory over scotland through injury must attend a disciplinary hearing on wednesday after being cited by wasps. serge has a good case so we are confident he will play said france coach bernard laporte. the inexperienced nicolas mas jimmy marlu and jean-philippe grandclaude are also included in a 22-man squad. the trio have been called up after pieter de villiers ludovic valbon and aurelien rougerie all picked up injuries in france s 16-9 win on saturday. laporte said he was confident that betsen would be cleared by the panel investigating his alleged trip that broke wasps centre stuart abbott s leg. if he was to be suspended we would call up imanol harinordoquy or thomas lievremont said laporte who has dropped patrick tabacco. we missed serge badly against scotland. he has now recovered from his thigh injury and played on saturday with biarritz. france s regular back-row combination of betsen harinordoquy and olivier magne were all missing from france s side at the weekend because of injury. laporte is expected to announce france s starting line-up on wednesday. forwards: nicolas mas sylvain marconnet olivier milloud william servat sebastien bruno fabien pelous jerome thion gregory lamboley serge betsen julien bonnaire sebastien chabal yannick nyanga. backs: dimitri yachvili pierre mignoni frederic michalak yann delaigue damien traille brian liebenberg jean-philippe grandclaude christophe dominici jimmy marlu pepito elhorga.

m&s cuts prices by average of 24% marks & spencer has cut prices in london and the regions by an average of 24% according to research from a city investment bank. dresdner kleinwort wasserstein said: in spite of the snow in the uk it still feels very early to be cutting prices of spring merchandise. stuart rose head of m&s said last year its prices were too high. we are bringing in ranges at new price points to compete against mid-market retailers like next said m&s. next is one of m&s s biggest competitors and the move may force it to lower prices. drkw said the cuts are either to clear stock or could indicate a longer term step change in pricing in certain areas at m&s. either way this cannot be good news for m&s margin it added. we have brought in quite a lot of new clothing at new price points as part of stuart rose s strategy of quality style -and price said the m&s spokesman. many analysts believe february is proving to be a difficult month for retailers and british retail consortium figures due in a few weeks are expected to reflect the tough trading environment. separately investment bank goldman sachs produced reseach showing that a basket of 35 m&s goods is now 11% above the high-street average compared with 43% higher last year. it has been a strange week for m&s which on tuesday received a statement from philip green the billionaire bhs owner confirming he was not rebidding for the company. this was followed the same day by mark paulsmeier a south african financier issuing a press release saying his paulsmeier group was interested in m&s. a sudden spike in m&s s share price followed. however an m&s spokesman said on sunday it had no evidence that mr paulsmeier had lined up sufficient finance for a bid. he also said the takeover panel and the uk s financial watchdog the financial services authority had been in touch with m&s at the beginning of the week to find out what it knew about the paulsmeier developments.

plan to give elderly care control elderly and disabled people would choose how their own budget for personal care was spent and organised under government plans. ministers say elderly and disabled people themselves not social workers should be able to decide on their care and stay in their own homes. they also plan a supremo for adult services in each english area to get different agencies working together. but the government shunned opponents calls for free long-term care. there are 1.7m people needing care in england and ministers suggest the number could quadruple by 2050. monday s consultation paper on social care for adults in england is aimed at ending a system which generates dependency. health minister stephen ladyman said: this document is the antithesis of the nanny state. it s about taking power away from the state and giving it to individuals and saying that we will help you make these decisions but we are not going to make them for you any more. the government has already allowed local councils to give people money so they can pay for their services directly but take-up of the scheme has been disappointing . ministers say the new plans would make direct payments simpler and try to counter reluctance in some local councils to use the payments. they also want to set up a new half-way house where social workers tell people how much money is available for their care and help them choose how to spend that individual budget . the scheme will be funded on existing budgets set until 2008. but mr ladyman said the plans could deliver savings in some areas such as freeing up nhs beds and preventing illnesses. he ruled out free personal care in england - which is on offer in scotland and wales saying it was unsustainable . david rogers from the local government association said agencies were working together on the kind of innovation proposed by the government. and tony hunter president of the association of directors of social services said the plans could improve dignity and well-being for thousands of people. but age concern argued social care was chronically under-funded and older people were being offered choice in principle but not in practice. its director general gordon lishman said: direct payments will not work if there are no services for people to choose from locally. the tories say people who pay for three years long-term care directly or through insurance should be guaranteed free care for the rest of their lives. tory spokesman simon burns said more than 80 000 long term care places had been lost since 1997. after eight years of persistent change dogmatic enforcement of regulation and overbearing government initiatives - we need action not a vision said mr burns. the lib dems say they would fund free personal care by a new 50% tax rate on incomes over £100 000. health spokesman paul burstow said: promoting independence sounds good and helping people to live in their own homes is a goal we share. but the risk is that independence can turn into isolation if the right support and care is not available.

france starts digital terrestrial france has become the last big european country to launch a digital terrestrial tv (dtt) service. initially more than a third of the population will be able to receive 14 free-to-air channels. despite the long wait for a french dtt roll-out the new platform s backers hope to emulate the success of its uk free-to-air counterpart freeview. recent figures from the uk s regulator ofcom showed freeview was more popular than the sky digital satellite service. in the three months to september 2004 almost five times as many people signed up to the uk s free-to-air dtt service compared with sky. almost 60% of uk households have gone digital on at least one television set through cable satellite or freeview. the french dtt platform is known as tnt which stands for tv numerique terrestre or digital terrestrial television. but it is being branded as television numerique pour tous or digital television for all . tnt is a joint venture between public broadcaster france televisions and a handful of cable and satellite operators. digital terrestrial tv will launch as a free-to-air platform to start with adding pay-tv channels later. thirty-five contenders have bid for an additional eight frequencies on top of the 14 already allocated. a couple of years ago dtt had a bad image said olivier gerolami chief operating officer of tnt. but everyone s impressed with dtt in the uk italy and germany and they realise it is a very good idea. france is the poorest market in europe in terms of free-to-air national channels so it has the potential to be one of the biggest dtt markets mr gerolami added in remarks quoted by the us entertainment industry paper variety. tnt aims to reach 35% of france s population at launch from 17 transmission sites. the transmission area will initially include paris lille lyon and toulouse. eventually there will be 115 sites reaching over 80% of homes. digital terrestrial set-top boxes are available from as little as 70 euros (£50). a recent survey by mediametrie found that 70% of people interviewed were aware of dtt and 25% were planning to buy a digital receiver. consumer electronics companies such as nokia sagem sony and thomson are gearing up for production. the conseil superieur de l audiovisuel (csa) the french broadcasting regulator said: following the recent success of freeview in the uk some manufacturers are optimistic about sales prospects . media analysts believe that initially the majority of viewers will buy inexpensive set-top boxes that are unable to support interactive services. the csa said the current aim of reaching 85% of the population by 2007 was achievable but the future of the remaining tv viewers required action by the public sector. for the most part they are people living in mountainous or border areas which will remain beyond the reach of digital terrestrial tv for years. up to 15 pay-tv channels will launch on dtt between september 2005 and march 2006. leading pay-tv operators canal plus and tps have submitted bids to market bouquets of channels. free-to-air services will be broadcast in mpeg-2 format. but pay-tv operators will be allowed to broadcast in mpeg-4 - a much better compression technology - which will potentially allow for high-definition (hd) subscription services in the future. tnt expects between 700 000 and one million dtt set-top boxes to be sold in 2005. it is difficult to tell how quickly it will take off said mr gerolami but we re optimistic that it will revolutionise television in france. other analysts were less optimistic predicting consumers would now be less likely to sign up for pay-tv subscriptions. we think free dtt could put brakes on the underlying growth of pay-tv in france said henri de bodinat vice-president of the arthur d. little consultancy.

pension hitch for long-living men male life expectancy is much higher than originally estimated leading pension researchers have said. the pensions policy institute (ppi) said life expectancy for unskilled and professional men has been understated. life expectancy at birth is 71 years for a manual worker and 79 years for a professional - a gap of eight years. but if measured at age 65 instead the ppi said a manual worker will live to 81 years and a professional worker to 86 years - a gap of just five years. the ppi s estimate is higher because it excludes people who have died before they reach 65 years of age and also takes into account ongoing improvements in life expectancy. the government has ruled out raising the state pension age because it says it would penalise lower-skilled workers who generally have lower life expectancies. chris curry ppi research director said its calculations suggested there could be more pressure on state pension spending than originally envisaged. even people in social class v [unskilled manual workers] who are widely likely to have the lowest life expectancy can still expect to live 16 years after state pension age he said. researchers have not updated life expectancy projections for women who on average live longer than men.

lawyer attacks anti-terror laws a senior barrister who has resigned in protest over the government s anti-terror laws says the current system is giving britain a bad name. ian macdonald qc quit when the government failed to recognise a house of lords ruling that detaining terror suspects indefinitely is unlawful. he was part of a 19-strong panel who have special security clearance to act for suspected terrorists. five more barristers are now reported to be threatening to resign. mr macdonald told bbc news: the reason why i am resigning is because i fundamentally disagree with locking people up without any trial for an indefinite period on reasonable suspicion. the current legal system is certainly having a very adverse effect on the muslim community in britain and the whole asian community. i think it is giving britain a bad name internationally . under the anti-terrorism crime and security act introduced by the government in 2001 in response to the 11 september attacks foreign nationals suspected of involvement in terrorism who cannot be deported can be held indefinitely without trial. but mr macdonald believes that detainees currently being held should be entitled to a trial by jury. my own view is we need to have a full return to trial by jury a proper criminal trial with proper accusations. as far as i m concerned the government have to start all over again and rethink their whole strategy for dealing with this. he added. the attorney general lord goldsmith will receive a letter of resignation from mr macdonald on monday. according to the independent his resignation is expected to be followed by those of five other barristers - nicholas blake qc andrew nicol qc manjit singh gill qc rick scannell and tom de la mare. they are all believed to be carefully considering their positions on the panel of special advocates who represent detainees before the special immigration appeals commission (siac) - a secure court without a jury which tries terror suspects. mr macdonald said he had no idea whether further resignations would follow. but barry hugill a spokesman for the campaign group liberty told radio 4 s today programme that more lawyers may go. i can assure that there is a distinct possibilty that more lawyers may be resigning he said. they are now in a situation where everything they have been trained to believe in the right to trial by jury has been abandoned and that is what gives some of them sleepless nights. helena kennedy a labour peer and a human rights lawyer said the special advocates main concern was that once they had seen any special intelligence they were not allowed to speak to the detainees. when this whole procedure was being considered immediately after 11 september there was a great deal of argument particularly in the house of lords about whether there really was a process that could be considered a judicial review she said. without that you are having detention with no habeus corpus and really a blot as ian mcdonald has said on our legal landscape something really quite shocking with regard to the rule of the law.

when invention turns to innovation it is unlikely that future technological inventions are going to have the same kind of transformative impact that they did in the past. when history takes a look back at great inventions like the car and transistor they were defining technologies which ultimately changed people s lives substantially. but says nick donofrio senior vice-president of technology and manufacturing at ibm it was not the thing itself that actually improved people s lives. it was all the social and cultural changes that the discovery or invention brought with it. the car brought about a crucial change to how people lived in cities giving them the ability to move out into the suburbs whilst having mobility and access. when we talk about innovation and creating real value in the 21st century we have to think more like this but faster mr donofrio told the bbc news website after giving the royal academy of engineering 2004 hinton lecture. the invention discovery is likely not to have the same value as the transistor had or the automobile had. the equivalent of those things will be invented or discovered but by themselves they are just not going to able to generate real business value or wealth as these things did. these are not altogether new ideas and academics have been exploring how technologies impact wider society for years. but what it means for technology companies is that a new idea method or device will have to have a different kind thinking behind it so that people see the value that innovative technology has for them. we are in a different phase now when it comes to technology argues mr donofrio industry week s 2003 technology leader of the year. the hype and over-promise is over and now technology leaders have to demonstrate that things work make sense make a difference and life gets better as a result. in the dotcom era there was something that was jumping up in your face every five minutes. somebody had a new thing that would awe you. you weren t quite sure that it did anything you weren t quite sure if you needed it you weren t quite sure if it had value for it but it was cool. but change and innovation in technology that people will see affecting their daily lives he says will come about slowly subtlety and in ways that will no longer be in your face . it will creep in pervasively. nanotechnologies will play a key part in this kind of pervasive environment in all sorts of ways through new superconducting materials to coatings power and memory storage. i am a very big believer in the evolution of this industry into a pervasive environment in an incredible network infrastructure says mr donofrio. pervasive computing is where wireless computing rules and where jewellery clothes and everyday objects become the interfaces instead of bulky wires screens and keyboards. the net becomes a true network that is taken for granted and just there like air. people will not have to do anything to stay connected. people will know their lives are just better says mr donofrio. trillions of devices will be connected to the net in ways people will not know. natural interfaces will develop devices will shape your persona and our technologically underused voices could be telling our jewellery to sort out the finances. ultimately there will be says mr donofrio no value in being computer illiterate . to some it sounds like a technological world gone mad. to mr donofrio it is a vision innovation that will happen. behind this vision should be a rich robust network capability and deep computing says mr donofrio. deep computing is the ability to perform lots of complex calculations on massive amounts of data and integral to this concept is supercomputing. it has value according to ibm because it helps humans work out extremely complex problems to come up with valuable solutions like how to refine millions of net search results finding cures for diseases or understanding of exactly how a gene or protein operates. but pervasive computing presumably means having technologies that are aware of diversity of contexts commands and requirements of a diverse world. as computing and technologies become part of the environment part of furniture walls and clothing physical space becomes a more important consideration. this is going to need a much broader range of skills and experience. i am confident that the set [science engineering and technology] industry is going to be short on skills he says. if i am right about what innovation is you need to be multidisciplinary and collaborative. women tend to have those traits a lot better than men. eventually women could win out in both life and physical sciences he says. in the uk a dti-funded resource centre for women has set a target to have 40% representation on set industry boards. ibm according to mr donofrio has 30%. our goal is for our research team to become the preferred organisation for women in science and technology to begin their career. the whole issue of global diversity is as much a business matter as it is a moral and social concern to mr donofrio. we believe in the whole issue of global diversity he says. our customers are diverse our clients are diverse. they expect us to look like them. as more and more women or underrepresented minorities succeed into leadership positions it becomes and imperative for us to constantly look like them.

millions to miss out on the net by 2025 40% of the uk s population will still be without internet access at home says a study. around 23 million britons will miss out on a wide range of essential services such as education and medical information predicts the report by telecoms giant bt. it compares to 27 million or 50% of the uk who are not currently online. the idea that the digital divide will evaporate with time is wishful thinking the report concludes. the study calls on the government and telecoms industry to come up with new ways to lure those that have been bypassed by the digital revolution. although the percentage of britons without home access will have fallen slightly those that remain digital refuseniks will miss out on more the report suggests. as more and more everyday tasks move online and offline services become less comprehensive the divide will become more obvious and more burdensome for those that have not got net access it predicts. the gap between have-nets and have-nots has been much talked about but predictions about how such a divide will affect future generations has been less discussed. bt set out to predict future patterns based on current information and taking account of the way technology is changing. optimists who predict that convergence and the emergence of more user-friendly technology will bridge the digital divide could be way off mark the report suggests. internet access on other devices tends to be something taken up by those who already have it said adrian hosford director of corporate responsibility at bt. costs of internet access have fallen dramatically and coverage in remote areas have vastly improved over the last year but the real barrier remains psychological. there is a hard rump of have-nots who are not engaging with the net. they don t have the motivation or skills or perceive the benefits said mr hosford. as now the most disadvantaged groups are likely to remain among low income families the older generation and the disabled. those on low incomes will account for a quarter of the digital have-nots the disabled will make up 16% and the elderly nearly a third by 2025 the report forecasts. organisations such as bt have a responsibility to help tackle the problem said mr hosford. the telco has seen positive results with its everybody online project which offers internet access to people in eight deprived communities around britain. in one area of cornwall with high levels of unemployment online training helped people rewrite cvs and learn skills to get new jobs explained mr hosford. such grassroot activity addressing the specific needs of individual communities is essential is the problem of the digital divide is to be overcome he said. if we don t address this problem now it will get a lot worse and people will find it more difficult to find jobs education opportunities will be limited and they ll simply not be able to keep up with society he said. the alliance for digital inclusion an independent body with members drawn from government industry and the voluntary sector has recently been set up to tackle some of the issues faced by the digital refuseniks.

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.

safin slumps to shock dubai loss marat safin suffered a shock loss to unseeded nicolas kiefer in round one of the dubai tennis championships. playing his first match since winning the australian open safin showed some good touches but was beaten 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 by the in-form kiefer. the german got on top in the first-set tie-break striking a sweet forehand to win the first point against serve. and he maintained the momentum early in the second set breaking the russian with the help of an inspired volley. spain s feliciano lopez lined up a second round clash with andre agassi by beating thailand s paradorn srichaphan. lopez who lost in three sets to roger federer in last year s final won 6-2 3-6 6-3. former champion fabrice santoro of france was beaten 6-3 6-0 by sixth seeded russian nikolay davydenko. there were also wins for two other russians igor andreev and seventh seed mikhail youzhny.

terror powers expose tyranny the lord chancellor has defended government plans to introduce control orders to keep foreign and british terrorist suspects under house arrest where there isn t enough evidence to put them on trial. lord falconer insists that the proposals do not equate to a police state and strike a balance between protecting the public against the threat of terrorism and upholding civil liberties. but thriller writer frederick forsyth tells bbc news of his personal response to the move. there is a mortal danger aimed at the heart of britain. or so says home secretary charles clarke. my reaction so what it is not that i am cynical or just do not care. i care about this country very much. but in the 66 years that i have been alive there has not been one hour of one day of one month of one year when there has not been a threat aimed at us. my point is the british have always coped without becoming a dictatorship. we have coped with fear without becoming a state based on fear; we have coped with threat without turning our country into a land of state threat. but that is what the blair government now seeks to do - create a tyranny to defend us from the al-qaeda tyranny. i was born on 25 august 1938. the mortal threat back then was a scruffy little austrian called adolf hitler. a week after my first birthday the threat had become reality. we were at war. my father wore a uniform for five years. after 1945 we yearned for peace at last. but in 1946 winston churchill told us - from the baltic to the adriatic an iron curtain has descended across europe. behind the iron curtain another genocidal psychopath another threat. josef stalin triggered the cold war with the berlin blockade in 1948. my whole generation was blighted by it. we were threatened by the nuclear holocaust the nuclear wind the nuclear winter. we built shelters that would have sheltered nothing. we spent our treasure on weapons instead of hospitals. we took silly precautions. some fought it; some marched futilely against it. some pretended it was not there. the cold war lasted 43 years but we remained a parliamentary democracy. by the early seventies it was terrorism as well. al fatah black september red brigades but most of all for us the ira and the inla. thirty more years; 300 policemen and women over 600 soldiers more than 3 000 civilians dead but we won because even ira bombs could not force us to become a tyranny. that was why the tyrants lost. civil rights were infringed as little as humanly possible. evidence had to be taken in secret to protect covert sources; yes and one judge no-jury courts had to be instituted when juries were terrorised. informants had to be given immunity from their own crimes to win the bigger battle. but habeas corpus did not die; right of appeal was not abolished. now the threat is islamic fundamentalism. its leaders want to destroy our society; so did the ira. it is based and funded abroad; so was the ira. it has sleeper fanatics inside our society; so did the ira. it is extremely hard to penetrate with our agents; so was the ira. the prime movers are not easy to bring to trial; neither were the ira. but we did. and without becoming a tyranny. now the blair government proposes the law system of fascism and communism. the citizen can be arrested and held without charge or trial not even on the careful consideration of an experienced judge but the whim of a political activist called a government minister. to be protected from terror the government says we must become a tyranny. but a tyranny is based on the citizen s terror. this is not victory; this is defeat before a shot is fired. an interesting article - its good to see widening participation in the debate - but i suggest we move one step further. our own bombs and bullets will can only shatter peace because invading foreign nations imprisoning the innocent and hunting in the shadows cannot destroy an evil of the mind and hatred within the heart. rather than focusing upon effect we should consider the cause because terrorism does not begin with bombs. why not try a foreign policy of compassion it can only enhance our democracy and share our freedom. i agree with frederick forsyth. we really can t deal with terrorism by turning britain into a fascist state. what we really need is more honesty from our security services and our politicians. if they do not have evidence to bring these people to trial there probably isn t any. our security services behave like the detective who having decided that a certain person is guilty rakes over all kinds of obscure and flimsy evidence to try and prove it while the real villain gets away. remember there were no wmd in iraq. just because a person may have made some stupid and naive decisions in life does not make them a terrorist. in this overly politically correct society it is good to see someone like mr. forsyth speak out. yes there has been oppression by the british government in the past and overstepping the mark in places like ireland but yes we are still a democracy where it is rare to be arrested without charge/trial etc. (apart from a number of prisoners in belmarsh goal for example).this country signs up to human rights and then pretends that they only apply to the people with nothing to fear the innocent people (defined by whom ). when id cards become mandatory the data collected will not be protected by the data protection act and will be readily available to people like gchq with no control by the person whose id is being checked. the threat now is new. you cannot compare the threats of past years with now. forsyth says 3000 died over 30 years or terrorism; 3000 people died in one morning in ny on september 11th 2001. the threat today is that terrorists will acquire nuclear or biological technology. a kilo of semtex will flatten a building a kilo of plutonium will flatten a city. you now have a combination of people who will perform terrorist acts with technology that is rapidly becoming accessible. i agree the government is probably encouraging a degree of mass-hysteria and talking up the threat; but talking-down the threat and doing nothing is unacceptable too. the problem with this issue is not that it isn t important but the fact that in general we brits can be so politically apathetic some times that we will just let this go without telling the government no. however as the nation that gave the world the common law and a true sense of the rights of individual liberty i hope this will prove to be one step too far. as somebody of chinese origin i can say that this country used to be a good place to migrate and start a new life. whilst life wasn t perfect we could make better for ourselves. now we are riddled with red tape and be told what we can or cannot do. we have to be politically-correct and we are not allowed to have beliefs or opinions. we have a prime minister who spends too much time meddling in us politics and affairs which have little to do with the lives of british citizens at home or abroad. mr forsyth has done a good job in voicing his opinions. let s hope the bbc doesn t get gagged for letting people express their views. the people have the right to know and the bbc s role is to inform educate and entertain... i agree. terrorists intend to spread fear but in reality it is the government which has spread the fear by its constant publicising of the this invisible enemy so dangerous that we must allow them to ride roughshod over our rights and liberties. in the end the very thing we seek to protect is what we are giving up in the name of safety from this invisible enemy. the terrorists have already won. i absolutely agree with frederick forsyth. yes we have to defend ourselves against terrorism but existing laws seem to be more than adequate. the idea that the new terrorism demands new powers is erroneous. the evidence of any real terrorist capability in the uk is scant. ricin for example is a dangerous poison but it is not a weapon of mass destruction. what is really worrying is the enthusiasm of mr blair and his government for authoritarian reactions and attempts to manipulate the electorate through fear. if the government has its way with id cards tracking and so on then totalitarianism has won and as such it then matters little whether we give in to the terrorists demands or not. we will have lost the precious freedom which bush and blair constantly tells us we have and that they seek to bring to others. i agree wholeheartedly with mr forsyth. i am shocked at the ease with which this government is prepared to wipe out a major portion of the liberties that british people have enjoyed for centuries - the right not to be deprived of our liberty without a trial in open court. that goes right back to magna carta and ordinary people have spilled their blood to enforce that right against governments who thought they knew best . when you look at today s britain you realise george orwell was only wrong about one thing: the date. frederick forsyth puts it beautifully. the government is seeking to introduce a police state. the new powers of home internment without trial follow a pattern which includes the introduction of surveillance via compulsory id cards and the linking of data bases together with the un-british idea that we will have to swear allegiance to the state at the age of 18 years. we are sleep-walking into this. wake up! an interesting view but missing two crucial facts of this new threat: 1) if these terrorists acquire weapons of mass destruction they will use them without fear of mutually assured destruction that kept the cold war in a state of tense balance. these people will use devastating force against us without fear of any consequence. 2) the terrorists are prepared to use suicide bombers which means they could kill innocent people on the london underground and we could do very little to stop it. because these terrorists are potentially so deadly we have to come up with new tougher responses. it will be a little late in the day when people outside london wake up one morning to find out that london has been nuked. we won t have much of a society left to debate ! he s correct in most of what he says. mind you he does seem to have forgotten that disgraceful internment policy in northern ireland which probably caused many idealistic if misguided young catholics to join the ira. administrative detention of muslims could have a similar effect now. surely we the public would be better protected if the security services rather than alerting a suspect terrorist by placing them under house arrest (and for how long )they were to place suspect terrorist under surveillance and maybe acquire sufficient evidence to prosecute or even better prevent a terrorist attack. i don t usually have much time for mr forsyth s largely right wing views but this time he has got it spot on. there is no doubt that there are terrorist organisations who would like to do harm to the u.k. but it is very doubtful whether al-qaeda is a global organisation co-ordinating this. the rise of surveillance cameras id cards the plan to charge for road use by tracking every vehicle at all times this is the stuff of nightmares. add to this this new legislation which effectively means that the protection of the law will be removed from anyone at the whim of the home secretary and i genuinely wonder what sort of world my two children will inherit. where will this end. as it stands terrorists do not need to attack the u.k. it s government will soon have it s people terrorised more that they could very achieve with a few bombs. mr forsyth has expressed exactly what my gut fears and reservations were about this proposed legislation but could not verbalise. thank you. mr forsyth seems to forget that killings in the troubles occurred on both sides of the religious divide and was carried out by killers from both sides. he also forgets basic human rights were suspended then as now. experienced judges sat over some of the greatest miscarriages of justice during those times. for very little return and maximum alienation. these laws and the emphasis on the islamic threat will just do the same. forsyth is wrong. the nature of the current threat is new. it is no longer to our armed forces as the soviet threat in the eastern bloc was. it is to you and i. the terrorist aim to kill indiscriminately. the best comparison is therefore the blitz 1941. at this time let us not forget suspects (foreign and british were routinely rounded up and interned for the duration of the war without any complaints from the public. we must not forget we are at war. i d say that that the likelihood of an attack by a sleeper cell of fundamentalist lunatics against a major uk target is a when not an if probability. i ll bet any money you like that the day after any such attack freddie forsyth will be saying that the government didn t do enough to protect the uk. people like forsyth can only see one side of any argument and for him it is the side that is opposite new labour and tony blair. i agree wholeheartedly with mr forsyth. the very reason this country has been such a wonderful place to live is under attack not from terrorists but from this government. the perpetuation of the perceived terrorist threat is not because of what the alleged terrorists are doing but from our own government. i believe what this government is doing is at the very least highly questionable and at worst sinister. at what point will they feel they have enough control over every single person in the british isles; when we are all tagged and monitored constantly our freedom is being craftily and surreptitiously whittled away by this government and we are gaining nothing. it should be of great concern to everyone. i am slightly older than mr forsyth and therefore have lived through the same history as him. i am against a police state and would not like to think that i lived in one. i think that the attack on iraq made the international situation worse and may have provoked further acts of terrorism. how true. there are extremely worrying parallels between britain now and germany during the 30 s. i never thought it would be so easy to take over a country from within. mr forsyth has forgotten one key point; the terrorists who threaten britain today are well aware that hitler stalin and the ira all failed. as a result modern day terrorists are willing to do things their predecessors did not. that does not mean that the civil liberties of modern britain must be eroded to counter the threat; that should always be the absolute last resort. but to meet the new threat to defeat the sinister fanaticism of today s terrorists we may need to do things a little differently. let us hope not. frederic forsythe s comments seem to me to be a well-thought-out analysis of why we (human society as a whole and britain in particular) should resist the temptation to over-protect through fear. it is this fear which enables terrorists to succeed in the end and terrorists can come in all forms as mr. forsythe s opening comments suggest. i am reminded of a quote attributed to thomas jefferson. a nation that limits freedom in the name of security will have neither. the government are faced with an incredibly difficult task and have made a policy to deal with it. it s all very well criticising that policy but if mr forsythe can t draw on his years of experience to offer an alternative i say so what to his opinions. frederick forsyth s rhetoric is absurd and his conclusions laughable. he distorts reality to serve his own prejudice against new labour. this government seeks to balance protection of our democracy with minimum loss of civil rights. it is frederick forsyth who is the extremist because he does not appreciate the need for balance. i rarely find myself agreeing with my forsyth but in this instance i think he is correct. the rule of law must prevail civil liberties are worth defending. if the government can hold suspects without charge or trial what s next i agree absolutely. by introducing fascist type laws we loose the moral high ground in our fight against terror. our democratic system is not perfect but as churchill points out it is better than all the others that have been tried . terrorist attacks will take place but for many reasons we should take that personal risk in return for personal freedom. i do not usually agree with mr. forsyth but he is spot on here. the single biggest threat we face is that of a government dedicated to acting illegally and manipulating international and national law to suit its own purpose. totalitarianism always requires an outside threat justifying a range of extraordinary powers leaders want. the british government is a far greater threat that and terrorist organisation. although in principle i agree with him frederick forsyth fails to address one key point- al-qaeda attacks (though obviously there have been none yet in the uk) seek to kill the maximum number of people. the ira wanted to limit the death toll of their attacks so as to maintain support among the republican movement. yes i agree with mr. forsyth s views. i do not believe the government s plans are justified. there is over reaction to and the negative influence of the us president s interpretation of democracy and freedom. he uses the same arguments that were current before the wwii the wars to liberate iraq afghanistan with syria and iran to come. we are leaving a poor inheritance for the future generations. mr forsyth is a wonderful writer and should keep his fiction where it belongs. the british government is not going down the road that mr forsyth suggests. sadly comments such as his will make a lot of people believe that they are governed by people who are fast becoming tyrants instead of being genuinely committed to stopping tyranny even if the method employed to do that is at the moment alien to the british people who have lived in a democracy protected by tony blair and others of like mind who mr. forsyth seems to be putting along side the scruffy little austrian. thomas hobbes would be smiling in his grave at labour s propositions. like new labour he called himself a libertarian. like new labour he believed he was promoting the people s best interests. but as forsythe criticises this government hobbes has been criticised by most subsequent philosophers for arguing his way into the hands of the totalitarians. simply put he argued that in favour of the ultimate liberty - the liberty to live - man should be prepared to surrender all other liberties to a supreme sovereign as protection against his fellow barbaric man. hobbes has been roundly condemned by posterity and rightly so. i hope new labour suffers the same treatment. i agree with mr forsyth s views. the governments approach is totally against the spirit of british democracy. they must not be allowed to get away with it. of course frederick is wrong about britain winning the war against the ira and he s wrong too about the country not becoming a tyranny. has he forgotten about shoot to kill torture internment without trial collusion with loyalist death squads etc my background is somewhat similar to freddie s so i am persuaded to agree with many of his sentiments. we can have no moral justification for imposing our system of government on anyone while we are systematically depriving our own citizens of basic individual and collective freedoms. whilst the principle of keeping potential terrorists under house arrest might seem superficially attractive it is unfortunately also the first step towards totalitarianism. who is to decide whom is a suspect why should we believe them who can have faith in the honesty integrity and competence of our intelligence services and politicians in light of the events of recent years what is to stop false denunciations what of those falsely accused who will lose their careers who will support their families will their children still go to school it smacks to me of the methods of nazi germany stalin s russia ceausescu s romania - the list goes on. it looks as if a new dark age is coming. i see that opinion on mr forsyth s remarks are divided. the problem i see is that those who support imprisonment without trial believe it will never happen to them or their family only to people they don t like or are scared of. but history has shown that if you have laws like that they always get abused by those in power. after all today you may be scared of the same people as those in power but someday those in power may be scared of you! and that day you ll be the one imprisoned without the chance of justice. our laws are such that you cannot just be imprisoned at the whim of our police forces you have to be shown to be deserving of it. if we imprison people without trial for an indeterminate period we are no better that those we are fighting. i never thought it possible for me to agree with a single word uttered by frederick forsyth but i m in wholehearted agreement with him on this one. we as a nation are in grave danger of being duped by pro us propaganda which of course also means we ll inherit most if not all of their total paranoia and allow our governments of any political persuasion incidentally to gradually and insidiously impose a police state by well tried & tested back door methods. i grieve for the future of my children it s no wonder they re adamant they don t ever want any of their own. this government with much fanfare signs us up to the european convention on human rights but now wants to introduce indefinite house arrest without trial. this puts it on a par with the government of burma. like many of your respondents i wouldn t usually think of mr forsyth as someone whose views i share but in the instance of opposing charles clark s proposals for house arrest i agree wholeheartedly with mr forsyth/ i agree with mr forsyth. just look at the facts - our government (along with the us) invaded another sovereign country (iraq) by selecting intelligence that backed it s case based on fear. the facts turned out to be very different. if individuals are treated in the same distorted way then we ve done ourselves more damage than any terrorist organisation could with bombs. we become animals too. i agree in many ways with what mr forsyth has said - if we are to be respected and have influence within the world we must be seen to be walking the walk as well as talking the talk - how can we accuse countries such as zimbabwe and burma of human rights abuses when we are locking up people who may be totally innocent it is hypocrisy of the highest order. mr forsyth links islamic fundamentalism to the new threat . however it appears that he has misunderstood the term islamic fundamentalism . it should be pointed out that a muslim who adheres to the true fundamentals of the qur aan and the teachings of the last prophet muhammad is an islamic fundamentalist. this person does not commit suicide in any shape or form nor does she/he kill innocent women men and children. this person is self-reflective and constantly tries to better her/his actions by being good to others. the people who mr forsyth labels the new threat are those who do not follow the correct teachings of islam. they have arrived at their own interpretations and assumptions with regards their actions. on top of that they claim to be following islam in its true form! i accept that the intentions of these policies are to make britain a safer place but i cannot think of a single example from history where doing this sort of thing has ever made any difference - in northern ireland internment certainly didn t achieve anything - the bombings didn t stop and it could be argued that all it achieved was to just supply the ira with yet more angry and resentful republicans willing to take up arms against the british. being eight years older than frederick forsyth and a survivor of the blitz on london it is easy to agree with him he is absolutely spot on. during the ira bombings there were massive explosions in canary wharf to the right of where i write this and also to the left in the city of london. notwithstanding these and the attempted and nearly successful assassination attempts on prime minister thatcher in brighton and on later occupants of 10 downing street there was no retaliatory blitz on belfast or dublin as there has been on afghanistan and iraq. even when england was in true peril in 1940 apart from some detentions there were no wholesale derogation of habeas corpus and the like. we have to see off these latest attempts on our liberties including id cards which winston churchill decided had to go since he said the average bobby on the beat could not be relied on to not be tempted to take undue advantage against the citizen going about their lawful activities (incidentally i can still remember my old id card number). hence it is clear that the far too great police state powers set for the statute books have to be resisted and neutered. what can i add to mr. forsyth s eloquently put arguments... except applause! well done that man for standing up and being counted in the war against tyranny .

blair congratulates bush on win tony blair has said he looks forward to continuing his strong relationship with george bush and working with him during his second term as president. mr bush s re-election came at a crucial time for a world that was fractured divided and uncertain mr blair said. it had to be brought together he added saying action was needed on poverty the middle east and the conditions on which terrorists prey. mr blair said states had to work with the us to fight global terrorism. but there was a need to recognise it would not be defeated by military might alone but also by demonstrating the strength of our common values he added. solving the conflict in the middle east was the world s single most pressing political challenge of the present day mr blair warned. the prime minister also urged europe and the us to build anew their alliance . all of us in positions of leadership not just president bush have a responsibility to rise to this challenge. it is urgent that we do so. mr blair also paid tribute to democrat john kerry s campaign saying he had helped make the presidential election a true celebration of american democracy . the election of the us president was significant for the world but particularly so for britain because of its special relationship he added. earlier tory leader michael howard sent mr bush his warmest congratulations saying: we look to the president to be a unifying force for those all over the world who share our determination to defend freedom. liberal democrat leader charles kennedy welcomed the fact there had been a quick conclusion to the election unlike in 2000. mr bush s first task was to rebuild a sense of domestic purpose within the us he said. mr kennedy said: internationally it is to be hoped that a second term will see a more sensitive approach to relations with long-standing allies not least for the global efforts to combat terrorism. lib dem foreign affairs spokesman menzies campbell said a win by mr kerry would have given mr blair the chance of a fresh start adding it was almost as if there was an umbilical cord between mr bush and the uk premier. europeans must hope that his administration will be much more multilateral in character and that he will act swiftly to rebuild the atlantic partnership which is so vital to security. iraq will remain an issue of potential division for some time to come. even before the result became clear mr blair was being urged to push for action on climate change at his first meeting with whichever candidate won. liberal democrat environment spokesman norman baker underlined the issue of global warming during a commons debate on anglo-american relations on wednesday. environment secretary margaret beckett has said the us will act on global warming despite george bush s refusal to sign up to the kyoto protocol on carbon emissions. public opinion would force change she told bbc news. but myron ebell an adviser on climate change to president bush has said there would be no change in the us stance and rejected the threat of climate change. he claimed the us was the only country with independent scientists.

u2 stars enter rock hall of fame singer bruce springsteen has inducted irish rock band u2 into the rock and roll hall of fame in new york. the lavish ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of rock n roll also saw the induction of the pretenders percy sledge the o jays and buddy guy. this was a band that wanted to lay claim to this world and the next one too said springsteen. bono the edge adam clayton and larry mullen jr who formed u2 at school in 1977 begin a world tour on 28 march. introducing the band springsteen mocked bono as the man who single-handedly pioneered the irish mullet poking fun at one of the best and most endearingly messianic complexes in rock n roll . but he also spoke of the group s enduring stature adding that it was the only band of the last 20 years where he knew all four members names. u2 s contemporaries the pretenders led by chrissie hynde - took to the stage to perform my city was gone with inductee neil young. we are a tribute band said hynde 53. we re paying tribute to james honeyman-scott and pete farndon without whom we would not have been here she said referring to the premature deaths of two of the band s guitarists from drug overdoses. britain s rod stewart introduced percy sledge citing his best-known hit when a man loves a woman as one of the best performances i ve ever heard . justin timberlake introduced soul group the o jays a gospel-style quartet from ohio who performed a medley of their best-known songs including back stabbers love train and for the love of money. anyone who s ever written produced or performed something soulful stands in the shadows of these giants said timberlake. joining the ceremony at new york s waldorf astoria were legendary r&b star bo diddley who performed with eric clapton and robbie robertson. clapton alongside bb king also introduced fellow guitarist buddy guy and recalled seeing him play as a teenager in england. he was for me what elvis was probably like for other people he said. my course was set and he was my pilot said clapton who joined guy and king in a performance of let me love you baby. also performing at the ceremony was veteran musician jerry lee lewis who continued his reputation as a rowdy piano-pounder despite his 69 years kicking over his stool and sitting on the piano during a rendition of whole lotta shakin goin on.

two nigerian banks set to merge nigerian banks united bank of africa and standard trust bank have agreed plans to merge and create the biggest bank in west africa. the deal is also in line with a 2004 directive from the nigerian central bank that called for more consolidation in the nation s crowded banking sector. the merger was announced in a statement on standard trust s website on tuesday but no financial details were revealed. united bank is the third biggest in nigeria in terms of number of branches. standard trust is smaller but more profitable. the boards of united bank and standard trust at separate meetings yesterday approved arrangements to merge both institutions standard trust said. standard trust is 100% nigerian-owned but united bank has some foreign investors including new york-based global depository receipts (32.8%) and banca nazionale del lavoro and monte del paschi di siena both from italy who each have a 2.4% stake.

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 .

ukip candidate suspended in probe eurosceptic party ukip have suspended a candidate for allegedly suggesting the criminally insane should be killed. john houston 54 was due to stand in the east kilbride seat in lanarkshire at the next election. but he was suspended after his reported views including the return of the british empire were sent to two scottish newspapers. ukip spokesman mark croucher said those who selected mr houston knew nothing of his views. the episode comes at a difficult time for ukip soon after the high-profile departure of mep robert kilroy-silk. mr houston is alleged to have said that the organs of the criminally insane should be made available to law-abiding members of the community and proposed the legalisation of drugs and the sex trade. the document reportedly said: we re looking for the resurrection of the british empire. the problems for the human race - environmental and others - can only be dealt with on a global scale and that calls for a radical alliance of the english-speaking nations which they are uniquely able to do. mr croucher said the main issue would be that mr houston s reported views had been presented as ukip policy which they were not. he said they might have been submissions to a committee working on the party s manifesto but would not have been matched to mr houston when he was standing to become a candidate. he told bbc news: he appears to have said these things. we have suspended him as a member and as a candidate. by all accounts none of this was mentioned at his selection meeting. it is simply a distraction from the task in hand the eu constitution not individual idiocies. mr houston was quoted in the herald newspaper saying: i feel ukip have over-reacted and overshot the runway. peter nielson who is ukip scotland chairman said he had suspended mr houston on friday night. he will remain suspended while the matter is being investigated and then we will decide if and what further action will be taken. he said that any evidence would be looked into and mr houston may be interviewed by the party. he added: i can t comment too much at the moment i have one version from him but i haven t seen the papers yet.

parry puts gerrard above money listen to the full interview on sport on five and the bbc sport website from 1900 gmt. but parry speaking exclusively to bbc sport also admits gerrard who has been constantly linked with chelsea will have the final say on his future. he told bbc five live: steven is above money. he is the future of liverpool. it doesn t matter if it s £30m £40m or £50m we will not accept offers. but we are also realistic enough to know we can t keep steven against his will. on the subject of liverpool s finances parry also revealed the club is ready to explore the possibility of a sponsorship deal for its proposed new stadium. and responding to criticism from bbc sport pundit and former liverpool stalwart alan hansen he insisted talks on new investment are ongoing but added the door has not closed on shareholder and lifelong fan steve morgan. parry joined liverpool as chief executive in july 1998 from a similar role at the premier league. there have been several highs and lows during his time in charge at anfield - and he had a busy summer overseeing the arrival of new manager rafael benitez and managing to hold on to steven gerrard. on the subject of liverpool s captain and prize asset parry revealed real madrid did ask for an option on the england midfield man during negotiations for striker fernando morientes. he said: they were looking for ways of saying they got more out of the deal for fernando morientes but the response to real madrid was the same - steven is not for sale. but when asked if gerrard would be a liverpool player on the first day of next season parry said: i sincerely hope he will be. steven knows my views. he knows rafa s views. we have re-affirmed recently to steven that we are trying to build a team around him. we crave success as much as he does. we know he s ambitious and nobody can argue with that. i think steven would dearly love to win things with liverpool more than he d like to do anything else. we all want to see progress by next season. he s not alone in that. there are a lot of other players who feel the same so we all have a common aim. it is expected chelsea will test liverpool with a £30m-plus bid in the summer - but parry claims he will be in no mood to listen. there have been a lot of open secrets about steven most of which have been complete myths. it is suggested we had a deal tied up last summer. we didn t had an offer last summer parry explained. we had told chelsea that as far as we were concerned he was not for sale and we didn t want to sell him. in reality it didn t go beyond that. maybe there will be an offer in the summer. maybe there won t. our position is we want steven to stay but we are also realistic enough and have enough respect for steven - and he has enough respect for us - to know that it is his decision that will be crucial. you are not going to keep a player like steven against his will. that just doesn t work but any idea we are going to accept offers for steven and then tell him by the way we ve decided to sell you is not on the agenda. you can forget that. parry is currently in the process of finalising funding for liverpool s new stadium in stanley park which is set to open in 2007. and he confessed arsenal s £100m deal with emirates to sponsor their new ground - complete with naming rights - has given the anfield club serious food for thought. he said: i have to say historically it is something i have been against and i have been on record as saying that but i think the size of the arsenal deal is a real eye-opener. i would say in the past deals have been done frankly far too cheaply and it just hasn t even been worth contemplating. but the arsenal deal is the sort of deal that causes you to draw breath and say wow - that s interesting. my personal point of view is that i would find it a hell of a lot more palatable than a shared stadium. some liverpool fans would find such a move highly controversial but parry countered: i recognise it would be an emotive issue for many supporters but you look at the amount of money available and it could go into the team. if it was the right partner how strong an issue is it time will tell. i think the stadium will always be anfield not least because of where it is but do we need to investigate the possibilities of sponsorship i think it would be remiss not to. that s not to say we have made a decision that we will go down that road but i think it is clearly something we have to explore. on the subject of possible new investment parry revealed liverpool are still in negotiations with a mystery investor with rumours of interest from the middle east. that prompted the withdrawal of tycoon steve morgan who got frustrated by failed bids and what he claimed was indecision by the board. he also accused liverpool of using him as a stalking horse to attract other bids but parry explained: steve has never been used as a stalking horse. there s no need and that is not the way we do business. we had discussions with steve over the course of 2004. i think we came close to concluding a deal in the summer but it didn t happen. quite genuinely the new interest did appear relatively late in the day just prior to the agm in december and as i have said it was of such potential magnitude and that potential is so exciting we felt we had to evaluate it. we are still evaluating it. steve s interest was taken very much on its own merits. his enthusiasm for the club is there for all to see and who knows what the next few months will hold the door isn t closed on anything. we had a perfectly sensible dialogue with steve last year. we have a common interest in making liverpool successful. that s a dream we all share so as far as i m concerned the door is not closed. i would take £50m if we had no investment but if we did keep him. as for the stadium if it gets us cash what difference does it make really £50m for gerrard i don t care who you are the directors would take the money and it is the way it should be. we cannot let that sum of money go despite gerrard s quality. through a cleverly worded statement the club has effectively forced gerrard to publicly make the decision for himself which i think is the right thing to do. critical time for liverpool with regards to gerrard. ideally we would want to secure his future to the club for the long term. i am hoping he doesn t walk out of the club like michael owen did for very little cash. £50m realistically would allow rafa to completely rebuild the squad however if we can afford to do this and keep gerrard we will be better for it. i would however be happy with gerrard s transfer for any fee over £35m. parry s statements are clever in that any future gerrard transfer cannot be construed as a lack of ambition by the club to not try and keep their best players. upping the ante is another smart move by parry. i would keep gerrard. no amount of money could replace his obvious love of the club and determination to succeed. the key is if gerrard comes out and says that he is happy. clearly if he isn t then we would be foolish not to sell. the worrying thing is who would you buy (or who would come) pending possible non-champions league football.

police detain chinese milk bosses chinese police have detained three top executives at milk firm yili with reports suggesting that they are being investigated for embezzlement. yili - full name inner mongolia yili industrial - confirmed its chairman chief financial officer and securities representative were all in custody. the company china s third-largest milk producer is to hold an emergency meeting to debate the issue. a yili spokesman said it may now move to oust chairman zheng junhuai. the spokesman did not say why the three had been detained by the police. the official xinhua news agency said the arrest was linked to alleged embezzlement. yili has recently been the subject of intense media speculation over its financial operations. executives are suspected of wrongly using 417m yuan ($50.4m; £26m) of company funds to support a management buyout back in july 2003. yili s shares were suspended on tuesday having fallen by 10% on monday. the company and its two main rivals - market leader mengniu dairy and second place bright dairy - dominate a chinese milk market that has grown by almost 30% over the past five years. analysts wondered if the scandal at yili - the latest to befall chinese companies this year - could be followed by further revelations of corporate wrongdoing. investors wonder if yili s scandal one of a slew to be uncovered this year isn t just the tip of the iceberg said chen huiqin an analyst at huatai securities.

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.

healey targets england comeback leicester wing austin healey hopes to use sunday s return heineken cup clash with wasps as a further springboard to an england recall for the six nations. healey who won 51 caps prior to the 2003 world cup has been in good form in the tigers resurgence this season. i definitely still have ambitions to play for england healey told the bbc. we will have to see what happens after the previous (autumn) tests but when i look at the current squad i definitely feel there is a place there for me. healey who has also played both half-back positions and full-back during his career has reverted to the wing where he won most of his england caps. after recovering from a trapped nerve in his back sustained at the end of september the 31-year-old is relishing his role in the tigers revival. i had six weeks out but fortunately i have resumed the sort of form i had before he said. i am basically playing where it best suits leicester. obviously i can play scrum-half fly-half or full-back at a moment s notice. but playing on the wing actually gives me a bigger free role to come in where i am not expected and influence things. that has been apparent in parts one and two of the wasps-leicester trilogy in recent weeks. first healey came off his flank with an angled run to score an injury-time try that earned the tigers a 17-17 draw in their premiership meeting on 21 november. then in the first of their heineken cup double header last sunday healey slotted in at stand-off and delivered a superb cross-kick for martin corry to score the tigers third try. i caught cozza s eye a couple of phases before that and was hoping to get it to him on the full but fortunately even with the bounce he managed to score healey recalled. healey twice a heineken cup winner believes last sunday s match was up there with some of the biggest club contests he has played in. it was a very intense occasion and a very destructive game he recalled. there was not a huge amount of rugby played but it was a great game to be involved in. after about 15 minutes i thought we might stride away with it but wasps really came back into it and in the last couple of minutes it could have gone either way. the same outcome this sunday would put leicester in pole position to top their heineken pool with a home game against biarritz and away trip to calvisano to come. but healey insists the tigers must summon the same desire if they are to deliver the knockout blow in what has been dubbed rugby s version of rocky ii . there was a lot of satisfaction in the dressing room aftewards but it is really only a case of a job half done he added. it was the first of a two-leg trip and if we lose at welford road it will negate all the positives we can take from result. i think it came down to who wanted it more and in the end i think we did. we have got to show the same desire again this week.

indonesians face fuel price rise indonesia s government has confirmed it is considering raising fuel prices by as much as 30%. millions of indonesians use kerosene for basic cooking and prices have been heavily subsidised for years. president susilo bambang yudhoyono s government has said it wants to curb fuel subsidies and direct the money into aid programmes for the poor. but critics argue cutting subsidies will hurt the poorer families that his government says it wants to help. millions of people were left homeless in indonesia aceh s region following the earthquake and tsunami disaster in late december. indonesia pays subsidies to importers in order to stabilise domestic fuel prices but higher oil prices have forced the government to spend more on holding prices down. it spent 59.2 trillion rupiah ($6.58bn; £3.5bn) on fuel subsidies in 2004 a sum far in excess of its original projection of 14.5 trillion rupiah. since president yudhoyono s government came to power in october it has indicated its intention of raising domestic fuel prices by cutting subsidies. the (january to march) quarter of this year is the best time for us to increase fuel prices said sri mulyani indrawati state minister for national development planning. we are still considering if a 30% hike is suitable at the moment. the sooner the better for the state budget. the bbc s correspondent in jakarta rachel harvey told world business report that there was likely to be a strong public reaction to any price rise. the big question is whether they go for one big short sharp shock and raise prices between 20% and 30% or whether they try to stagger it she said. indonesia s previous government led by president megawati sukarnoputri also attempted to cut subsidies in 2003 but was forced to back down in the face of public protests.

mccall earns tannadice reprieve dundee united manager ian mccall has won a reprieve from the sack with chairman eddie thompson calling for an end to speculation over his future. it is understood that mccall would have been sacked if sheffield wednesday manager paul sturrock had been willing to return to tannadice. but sturrock has distanced himself from the position. we re in a difficult situation. we must get out of it through the efforts of current personnel said thompson. ian mccall and i have had a long and detailed talk about a number of areas including the current league position and the manner of the exit from the league cup he added. however the continuing speculation is doing no one any good especially as we have several crucial games coming up. the minds of the coaching staff and the players have to be on those games and those games only. our season would of course improve considerably if in the next few weeks we achieved some improved league results and there is also the potential of another cup semi-final subject to the draw. all that matters at the present time - is us all having a total focus on the games ahead and a positive series of results being achieved. dundee united players had expressed their solidarity with mccall after their side s 3-0 scottish cup win over queen of the south. we want the boss to stay we don t want someone else coming in said jim mcintyre. hopefully now he gets the chance to stay. keeper tony bullock echoed mcintyre s sentiments. i think all the boys are behind ian mccall he added. at the moment it is all speculation and we have got to rise above all that and do a job on the pitch. on saturday sturrock insisted that he had unfinished business with wednesday who are fourth in league one. i ve only been here five months and i don t expect to be leaving very very soon he said. i can appreciate the rumours because i ve emphasised my thoughts and ambitions to go back to dundee united. i can assure you the timescale is not the right one. it (dundee united) is my team. i had five years there as a coach six as a player two years as a manager - once you ve done that kind of thing it s the result you look for. the important thing now is i ve come here to do a job and i m going to try to finish it.

fockers retain film chart crown comedy meet the fockers has held on to the number one spot at the north american box office for a second week. it took $42.8m (£23.7m) at the weekend making its overall takings more than $163m (£90m) in 12 days according to studio estimates. it took $19.1m (£9.9m) on christmas day alone the highest takings on that day in box office history. the sequel to the ben stiller comedy meet the parents stars robert de niro dustin hoffman and barbra streisand. the success of meet the fockers could help produce record box office revenue for 2004 said paul dergarabedian president of the industry s tracker exhibitor relations. we ve had a much stronger than anticipated final week of the year that helped the industry end on a high note said mr dergarabedian. meet the fockers also broke the box office records for the most money taken on new year s eve when it made $12.2m (£6.2m) and new year s day when it took $18m (£9.4m). the previous new year s eve record was set in 2000 by cast away with $8.5m (£4.5m). the lord of the rings: the return of the king had held the new year s day title with $12.8m (£6.7m). however christmas takings were down 26.5% on 2003 s figures - which was blamed on christmas falling over a weekend this year. this weekend s top 12 films took an estimated $125.4m (£65.8m) a 4.3% increase on the same weekend last year. but there were no major releases last week to provide competition to meet the fockers or lemony snicket s a series of unfortunate events which finished in second place with $14.7m (£7.7m). the aviator starring leonardo dicaprio as howard hughes ended up in third position after taking $11.2m (£5.9m). comedy fat albert - co-written by bill cosby - moved down the chart to fourth place after taking $10.7m (£5.6m).

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.

q&a: malcolm glazer and man utd the battle for control of manchester united has taken another turn after the club confirmed it had received a fresh takeover approach from us business tycoon malcolm glazer. no formal offer has been made yet but manchester united have confirmed they have received a detailed proposal from the us entrepreneur which could lead to a bid. reports have put the offer at 300p per share which would value manchester united at about £800m ($1.5bn). the approach by the 76-year-old owner of the tampa bay buccaneers american football team is reportedly being led by his two sons avi and joel. a previous approach to the united board by mr glazer in october last year was turned down. however the bbc has learnt that the club is unlikely to reject the latest plan out of hand. mr glazer s previous offer involved borrowing large amounts of money to finance any takeover. that would have left the club with debt levels which were deemed not... in the best interests of the company by manchester united s board when they rejected his approach last year. however mr glazer s latest offer is reported to have cut the amount of borrowing needed by £200m. while united s board may be casting a serious eye over mr glazer s latest proposals supporters remain fiercely opposed to any deal. supporters group shareholders united - which has proved adept in rallying opposition to mr glazer s campaign - said it would fight any move. manchester united are a debt-free company. we don t want to fall into debt and we don t need to fall into debt shareholders united s sean bones told the bbc. united s players also appear unhappy at the prospect of a takeover. a lot of people want the club s interest to be with people who have grown up with the club and got its interests at heart rio ferdinand told bbc radio five live. no-one knows what this guy will be bringing to the table. the key to any successful bid will be attracting the support of united s largest shareholders the irish horse racing tycoons john magnier and jp mcmanus. through their cubic expression vehicle they own 28.9% of the club. mr glazer owns 28.1%. joe mclean a football specialist at accountancy firm grant thornton said the support of mr magnier and mr mcmanus was utterly crucial . mr glazer s bid will not proceed without their support and they have previously indicated that they are holding their stake as an investment. if that s the case the shares will therefore need a price attachment of about 300 pence maybe 305. if that s the case then mr glazer might well secure their support - if he does this bid could well go ahead. indeed it is. malcolm glazer was little-known in the uk until he started to build up his stake in manchester united in late 2003. in february 2004 he said he was considering whether to bid for the club. no bid emerged but mr glazer continued to increase his holding in the club. in october 2004 manchester united said they had received a preliminary approach which turned out to have come from mr glazer. however the board rejected the move because of the amount of debt it would involve. at the club s annual general meeting in november mr glazer took revenge by using his hefty stake in the club to oust three directors from the board. legal adviser maurice watkins commercial director andy anson and non-executive director philip yea were voted out against the wishes of chief executive david gill. but the move led to bankers jp morgan and public relations firm brunswick withdrawing from the glazer bid team.

labour s election love-in peace and love have been in short supply in the labour party in recent days. if press reports are to be believed alan milburn and gordon brown have been at each other s throats over the contents of labour s next election manifesto. but the pair were all smiles on tuesday morning as they joined john prescott to unveil labour s latest poster campaign. the event - at old billingsgate fish market on the banks of the thames - was a carefully choreographed show of unity. and the surest sign yet that we are heading for a general election in the next few months. it was also one of the most bizarre photo opportunities of recent years. the first inkling something slightly odd was afoot was when - in place of the soft rock music normally chosen for such occasions - labour s speakers crackled to life with the sound of booker t and the mgs. then a vw camper van trundled into view decked out in that most mind-bending of psychedelic messages - lowest mortgage rate for 40 years . as the side-door slid open it looked for one glorious moment as if the cabinet had decided to bury their differences and go on the road together scooby doo-style. but sadly it wasn t the cabinet who had raided the dressing-up box - just six rather ill-at-ease looking labour students. two were dressed as regency dandies - to unveil a poster trumpeting the longest period of economic growth for 200 years . another pair of students were in a beatle wig and sgt pepper jacket to highlight the lowest interest rates since the 1960s . the remaining two were dressed in a vague approximation of disco chic to demonstrate the lowest unemployment since the seventies . the politicians - led out by john prescott - were soberly-suited as always. the event may have been designed to highlight labour s economic success under mr brown but there was little doubt who was in charge. the chancellor walked side-by-side with mr milburn pointedly exchanging chit chat as they approached the microphone. but it was mr milburn who took centre stage speaking of the positive campaign the party hoped to stage in the coming weeks and months . the mobile poster vans would let people know britain is working again . mr brown repeated the familiar mantras displayed on the posters and spoke of labour s shared purpose and united dedication . it was left to mr prescott to pay glowing tribute to the chancellor s record and in a final flourish to produce his famous pledge card from 1997 claiming labour has met all of its promises. the event was carefully stage-managed to underline cabinet unity. and more specifically to demonstrate the central role mr brown will play in the election campaign despite being sidelined as campaign chief in favour of mr milburn. but keen students of body language will have had a field day. there was much forced smiling for the cameras but only mr prescott who revels in such occasions seemed to be truly enjoying himself. mr milburn made a point of turning to face the chancellor as he spoke nodding thoughtfully. but it was the former health secretary s final gesture placing an arm on mr brown s back as they walked away from the microphones which was perhaps the most telling. thanks for dropping by gordon he might have been saying.

eu referendum could cost £80m it could cost £80m to run a uk referendum on the european constitution ministers have revealed. in a written parliamentary answer constitutional affairs minister chris leslie said the poll was likely to cost the same as a general election. mr leslie said the cost could not be compared with the only previous british referendum held 30 years ago. ministers say the constitution would make the european union work better but critics fear creating a super state . labour mp john cryer whose question revealed the price estimate said the cost surprised him but was not a central factor as it was important people had their say. but he said it would have been better to have rejected the constitution so avoiding the need for a referendum. the 2001 election cost £80m. no date for the vote has been set but foreign secretary jack straw has suggested it is unlikely to be held until early 2006 - after the predicted date for the next election. most voters said the uk should stay in the common market in the 1975 referendum.

howard rejects bnp s claim tory leader michael howard has dismissed claims that his immigration policy was moving onto the turf of the british national party (bnp). bnp leader nick griffin told the independent he expected some bnp voters to switch to the tories over the issue. but mr howard said he rejected the idea that the tories and bnp appealed to the same voting instincts. asked if he would welcome bnp voters he told the bbc: i don t want anybody to vote for these extremist parties . he added on bbc radio 4 s today programme: if you want good community relations in this country...then you have to have firm fair immigration controls. the tories have promised an upper limit on the number of people allowed into britain with the slogan: it s not racist to impose limits on immigration . all parties are stepping up campaiging in the run-up to the general election widely expected to be called for 5 may. labour has unveiled its own points system for ensuring migrants who want to work in the uk have skills that are required but have rejected immigration quotas. the liberal democrats have warned both parties against pandering to prejudice . mr griffin told the independent the tories plans were a definite move onto our turf . he said: i quite freely accept that on a nationwide basis the tories will con enough people to make a significant hole in our vote. asked whether he was comfortable with the perception that the conservatives and the bnp appeal to the same voting instincts mr howard told the bbc: i reject that entirely . he said he found bnp s policies abhorrent but he said the uk had to take a different approach to immigration which he said was out of control. the government doesn t want to limit it in any way we do there s a legitimate difference between us there which we can discuss in a calm rational and reasonable way he said. he again rejected newspaper speculation that his own father entered britain illegally.

wales silent on grand slam talk rhys williams says wales are still not thinking of winning the grand slam despite a third six nations win. that s the last thing on our minds at the moment said williams a second- half replacement in saturday s 24-18 win over france in paris. we all realise how difficult a task it is to go up to scotland and beat them. we ve come unstuck there a couple of times recently so our focus is on that game and we ll worry about ireland hopefully after we ve beaten scotland. with captain gareth thomas ruled out of the rest of the campaign with a broken thumb williams is vying for his first start in the championship so far. kevin morgan is probably favourite to replace thomas at full-back leaving williams and hal luscombe to battle for the right wing berth. a hamstring injury denied luscombe the opportunity to make a third successive start but the dragons winger is expected to be fit for the trip to murrayfield on 13 march. hooker robin mcbryde is doubtful after picking up a knee injury in paris but centre sonny parker and flanker colin charvis are set to recover from injury to be in contention for selection. said wales assistant coach scott johnson: they ve worked through the weekend and the reports are a bit more positive. so we re getting a couple back and that adds to the depth of the squad. scotland secured their first win of the campaign on saturday by grinding out an 18-10 win over italy. matt williams side has shown little in attack but johnson insisted the scots will be difficult opposition to break down. italy are really brave opposition and sometimes it s very hard to win he said. so an ugly win can be just as effective as a 30 or 40 point victory. scotland are a hard side and very underrated so we re not taking anything for granted. we re not basking in the glory of winning our first three games. we ve got to be diligent in our preparation. that s my job and we ve got to make sure we re focused.

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.

top of the pops leaves bbc one the bbc s flagship pop music programme top of the pops is to move from bbc one on fridays to sundays on bbc two. the new programme will combine with archive show totp2 mixing new music with footage of classic bands. the corporation said the new show aims to appeal to a diverse audience of music lovers . the move is the biggest shake-up in the history of the show which was first broadcast in 1964 and has always been on bbc one. top of the pops was relaunched in a blaze of publicity in december last year in an attempt to reverse a long-term decline in audience figures. the all new top of the pops was fronted by newcomer tim kash and was put together by producer andi peters who was brought back to the bbc from channel 4 to revitalise the series. about three million people a week were watching the show on fridays - less than half the total it was attracting in the mid-1990s - as the programme went up against popular itv soap coronation street. but despite the relaunch audience figures failed to rise and still remain around the three million mark. tim kash has since been replaced as host by fearne cotton. the new show will launch in spring next year in an extended format. bbc two controller roly keating: it s an exciting new era for top of the pops. we want to make it bigger and better so that it becomes the ultimate pop music show for music lovers of every generation. mr keating described bbc two as the natural home of top of the pops. he added: the addition of top of the pops will also extend bbc two s offering to younger audiences. a bbc spokeswoman said andi peters would continue as executive producer on the show. she said that issues over the exact format of the programme and a time slot were still to be decided. the programme will have a close relationship with the bbc radio 1 chart show which suggests the relaunched show may be transmitted at about 1900 on sundays. hopefully the audience for top of the pops will find it on bbc two. we think that the new slot will create a buzz around the programme as for the first time viewers will discover the news of who is number one as it happens.

south bank awards honour hit soap coronation street has become the first soap to triumph at the south bank show awards which traditionally reward highbrow and groundbreaking culture. the soap beat fellow itv1 show filthy love and channel 4 s shameless to win the best tv drama prize on thursday. little britain was named best comedy while franz ferdinand beat morrissey and the libertines to the music award. shane meadows dead man s shoes picked up the best film award beating shaun of the dead and my summer of love. the two award ceremonies reflect the achievements the industry believes have been made in the last year. in 2004 coronation street pulled away from its bbc one rival eastenders in the ratings and dominated other tv awards. last year the south bank award for best tv drama went to steven poliakoff s period piece the lost prince while bloody sunday about the 1972 killings in northern ireland won in 2003. in other south bank categories little britain s second series beat nighty night and the green wing to the comedy trophy while alan bennett s the history boys won in the theatre category. author david mitchell made up for losing out in the booker prize to alan hollinghurst by beating him to the literary award with his book cloud atlas. shameless state of play and clocking off creator paul abbott got a lifetime achievement award while former grange hill actress amma asante won the breakthrough award for writing and directing her first film a way of life.

tough rules for ringtone sellers firms that flout rules on how ringtones and other mobile extras are sold could be cut off from all uk phone networks. the rules allow offenders to be cut off if they do not let consumers know exactly what they get for their money and how to turn off the services. the first month under the new rules has seen at least ten firms suspended while they clean up the way they work. the rules have been brought in to ensure that the problems plaguing net users do not spread to mobile phones. in the last couple of years ringtones wallpapers screensavers and lots of other extras for phones have become hugely popular. but fierce competition is making it difficult for firms to get their wares in front of consumers said jeremy flynn head of third party services at vodafone. if you are not on the operator s portal you are going to have quite heavy marketing costs because it s a problem of how people discover your services he said. to combat this many ringtone and other mobile content sellers started using a new tactic to squeeze more cash out of customers. this tactic involved signing people up for a subscription to give them for instance several ringtones per week or month instead of the single track they thought they were getting. mr flynn said that the move to using subscriptions happened over the space of a few weeks at the end of 2004. websites such as grumbletext.co.uk started getting reports from customers who were racking up large bills for phone content they did not know they had signed up for. what made us uncomfortable was that these services were not being marketed transparently said mr flynn. people did not know they were being offered a subscription service. we saw potential for substantial consumer harm here he added. the swift adoption of subscription services led to the creation of a new code of conduct for firms that want to sell content for mobile phones. the drafting of the new rules was led by the mobile entertainment forum and the uk s phone firms. everyone is required to conform to this code of conduct said andrew bud regulatory head of the mef and executive chairman of messaging firm mblox. it s all about transparency he said. consumers have to be told what they have got themselves into and how to get out of it. the consumer has a right to be protected he said. christian harris partnership manager of mobile content firm zed said the new system was essential if consumers were to trust companies that sell ringtones and other downloads. the groundrules must be applied across the whole industry and if that s done effectively we will see the cowboys driven out he said. the new rules came in to force on 15 january and the first month under the new regime has seen many firms cautioned for not honouring them. some have been told to revamp websites so customers know what they get for their money and what they are signing up for said mr flynn. also said mr flynn vodafone has briefly cut off between eight and ten content sellers flouting the rules. we have quite draconian contracts with firms he said. we do not have to say why. we can just cut them off. under the rules consumers must be able to switch off the services by using a universal stop command sent via text message. he said the system had been designed to limit how much a consumer will pay if they inadvertently signed up for a service. the mobile is so personal that people really resent the abuse of what is effectively part of their personality said mr flynn.

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.

mobile multimedia slow to catch on there is no doubt that mobile phones sporting cameras and colour screens are hugely popular. consumers swapping old phones for slinkier dinkier versions are thought to be responsible for a 26% increase in the number of phones sold during the third quarter of 2004 according to analysts gartner more than 167 million handsets were sold globally between july and september 2004 a period that according to gartner analyst carolina milanesi is seldom strong . but although consumers have mobiles that can take and send snaps sounds and video clips few so far are taking the chance to do so. in fact the numbers of people not taking and sending pictures audio and video is growing. figures gathered by continental research shows that 36% of british camera phone users have never sent a multimedia message (mms) up from 7% in 2003. this is despite the fact that during the same period the numbers of camera phones in the uk more than doubled to 7.5 million. getting mobile phone users to send multimedia messages is really important for operators keen to squeeze more cash out of their customers and offset the cost of subsidising the handsets people are buying. the problem they face said shailendra jain head of mms firm adamind is educating people in how to send the multimedia messages using their funky handsets. also he said they have to simplify the interface so its not rocket science in terms of someone understanding it. research bears out the suspicion that people are not sending multimedia messages because they do not know how to. according to continental research 29% of the people it questioned said they were technophobes that tended to shy away from innovation. only 11% regarded themselves as technically savvy enough to send a picture or video message. the fact that multimedia services are not interoperable across networks and phones only adds to people s reluctance to start sending them said mr jain. they ask themselves: if i m streaming video from one handset to another will it work he said. there s a lot of user apprehension about that. there are other deeper technical reasons why multimedia messages are not being pushed as strongly as they might. andrew bud executive chairman of messaging firm mblox said mobile phone operators cap the number of messages that can be circulating at any one time for fear of overwhelming the system. the rate we can send mms into the mobile network is fairly constant he said. the reason for this is that there are finite capacities for data traffic on the second generation networks that currently have the most users. no-one wants to take the risk of swamping these relatively narrow channels so the number of mms messages is capped said mr bud. this has led to operators finding other technologies particularly one known as wap-push to get multimedia to their customers. but when networks do find a good way to get multimedia to their customers the results can be dramatic. israeli technology firm celltick has found a way to broadcast data across phone networks in a way that does not overwhelm existing bandwidth. one of the first firms to use the celltick service is hutch india the largest mobile firm in the country. the broadcast system gets multimedia to customers via a rolling menu far faster than would be possible with other systems. while not multimedia messaging such a system gets people used to seeing their phones as a device that can handle all different types of content. as a result 40% of the subscribers to the hutch alive which uses celltick s broadcast technology regularly click for more pictures sounds and images from the operator. operators really need to start utilising this tool to reach their customers said yaron toren spokesman for celltick. until then multimedia will be a message that is not getting through.

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.

gadget growth fuels eco concerns technology firms and gadget lovers are being urged to think more about the environment when buying and disposing of the latest hi-tech products. at the consumer electronics show in las vegas earlier this month several hi-tech firms were recognised for their strategies to help the environment. ebay also announced the rethink project bringing together intel apple and ibm among others to promote recycling. the us consumer electronics market is set to grow by over 11% in 2005. but more awareness is needed about how and where old gadgets can be recycled as well as how to be more energy efficient said the us environmental protection agency (epa). of particular growing concern is how much energy it takes to recharge portable devices one of the fastest growing markets in technology. the consumer electronics association (cea) has predicted that shipments of consumer technologies in 2005 will reach more than $125.73 billion (nearly £68 billion). ebay s initiative pulls together major technology firms environment groups government agencies and ebay users to give information about what to do with old computers and where to send them. the online auction house thinks that its already-established community of loyal users could be influential. we really became aware of the e-waste issue and we saw that our 125 million users can be a powerful force for good ebay s david stern told the bbc news website. we saw the opportunity to meet the additional demand we have on the site for used computers and saw the opportunity too to good some good for the environment. but it is not just computers that cause a problem for the environment. teenagers get a new mobile every 11 months adults every 18 months and a 15 million handsets are replaced in total each year. yet only 15% are actually recycled. this year a predicted two billion people worldwide will own a mobile according to a deloitte report. schemes in the us like ripmobile could help in targeting younger generations with recycling messages. the initiative which was also launched at ces rewards 10 to 28-year-olds for returning unused phones. this system allows for the transformation of a drawer full of unused mobile phones into anything from music to clothes to electronics or games said seth heine from ripmobile. one group of students collected 1 000 mobiles for recycling in just three months. mr heine told the bbc news website that what was important was to raise awareness amongst the young so that recycling becomes learned behaviour . europe is undoubtedly more advanced than the us in terms of recycling awareness and robust end of life programmes although there is a tide change happening in the rest of the world too. intel showcased some its motherboards and chips at ces which are entirely lead free. there is more and more awareness on the consumer side but the whole industry is moving towards being lead free intel s allen wilson told the bbc news website. there is still low-level awareness right now but it is on the rise - the highest level of awareness is in europe. a european union (eu) directive weee (waste electronic and electrical equipment) comes into effect in august. it puts the responsibility on electrical manufacturers to recycle items that are returned to them. but developments are also being made to design better technologies which are more energy efficient and which do not contain harmful substances. elements like chromium lead and cadmium - common in consumer electronics goods - will be prohibited in all products in the eu by 2006. but it is not just about recycling either. the predicted huge growth in the gadget market means the amount of energy used to power them up is on the rise too. the biggest culprit according to the epa is the innocuous power adaptor nicknamed energy vampires . they provide vital juice for billions of mobile phones pdas (personal digital assistants) digital cameras camcorders and digital music players. although there is a focus on developing efficient and improved circuits in the devices themselves the technologies inside rechargers are still outdated and so eat up more energy than is needed to power a gadget. on 1 january new efficiency standards for external power supplies came into effect as part of the european commission code of conduct. but at ces the epa also unveiled new guidelines for its latest energy star initiative which targets external power adapters. these map out the framework for developing better adaptors that can be labelled with an energy star logo meaning they are about 35% more efficient. the initiative is a global effort and more manufacturers adaptors are being brought on board. most are made in china. about two billion are shipped global every year and about three billion are in use in the us alone. the epa is already working with several companies which make more than 22% of power supplies on the market. we are increasingly finding companies that not only want to provide neat hi-tech devices but also bundle with it a hi-tech efficient power supply the epa s andrew fanara said. initiatives like this are critical; if power adaptors continue to be made and used as they are now consumer electronics and other small appliances will be responsible for more than 40% of electricity used in us homes said the epa.

jansen suffers a further setback blackburn striker matt jansen faces three weeks out after surgery to treat a cartilage problem. but central defender lorenzo amoruso is moving closer to fitness following a knee operation. rovers assistant manager mark bowen said: matt had a small operation to trim knee cartilage. it s a tiny piece of work which should be a fairly quick recovery. lorenzo is also jogging for the first time along with kicking a ball. jansen s career has been dogged by injury since a freak scooter accident two years ago. he returned to first-team action soon after mark hughes appointment as blackburn boss and marked it with a goal against portsmouth in his first appearance of the season. bowen added: i m guessing but i reckon maybe two to three weeks before he is back in action completely. the rovers assistant boss forecast a longer time spell for amoruso s availability for first-team duties. bowen said: there s still some scar tissue present so it will be some weeks. it s a case of see how he goes. you can t put a real time on a comeback we ll see how he progresses.

jones files lawsuit against conte marion jones has filed a lawsuit for defamation against balco boss victor conte following his allegations that he gave her performance-enhancing drugs. the sydney olympic gold medallist says conte damaged her reputation and she is seeking $25m (£13m) in the suit. conte whose company is at the centre of a doping investigation made the claims in a us television programme. he and three others were indicted in february by a federal grand jury for a variety of alleged offences. in an email to the associated press on wednesday conte said: i stand by everything i said . jones won three gold medals and two bronzes in sydney in 2000. her lawsuit filed in the us district court in san francisco said the sprinter had passed a lie detector test and that she has never taken banned performance-enhancing drugs . conte s statements the suit added were false and malicious . after the abc television program earlier this month jones lawyer richard nicholls said: marion has steadfastly maintained her position throughout: she has never ever used performance-enhancing drugs. victor conte is a man facing a 42-count federal indictment while marion jones is one of america s most decorated female athletes. mr conte s statements have been wildly contradictory. mr conte chose to make unsubstantiated allegations on television while marion jones demanded to take and then passed a lie detector examination. mr conte is simply not credible. we challenge him to submit to the same lie detector procedure that marion jones passed. the sport s ruling body the iaaf is taking a cautious approach to conte s allegations but contacted the us anti-doping agency. communications director nick davies said the iaaf would seek to contact conte for further information . but davies stressed it would be up to the american authorities to decide whether they will take action against jones in light of conte s television interview and the world governing body would monitor the situation closely. if it is felt there is case to answer it would be for its national governing body (usa track and field) to take the appropriate disciplinary action he added. the us anti-doping agency has proved itself to be very diligent in its anti-doping war. and i am sure like ourselves they will be watching the television programme with great interest. jones who is under investigation for steroid use by the us anti-doping agency has continually denied ever taking illegal substances since being investigated in the balco scandal although she praised a zinc supplement conte marketed. jones who did not win any medals in athens in august has never failed a drugs test. meanwhile conte who has been charged along with three other men of distributing illegal steroids and money laundering is due to face trial in march.

e-university disgraceful waste a failed government scheme to offer uk university courses online has been branded a disgraceful waste by mps. the e-university was scrapped last year having attracted only 900 students at a cost of £50m. chief executive john beaumont was paid a bonus of £44 914 despite a failure to bring in private sector backers. the commons education select committee called this morally indefensible but the government said the e-university project had improved understanding . a department for education and skills spokeswoman said the venture had been ambitious and ground-breaking but take-up had not been sufficient to continue with the project . she added: uk e-universities was not the only organisation to have lost out on private sector investment in the collapse of the dotcom boom. the select committee found that those responsible for founding the e-university in 2000 had been caught up in the general atmosphere of enthusiasm surrounding the internet. initial business plans forecast a quarter of a million students joining within a decade bringing in at least £110m in profit. but virtually no market research was carried out and just £4.2m was spent on worldwide sales and marketing of courses. some £14m went on developing the technology to make the e-university work. this was used by just 200 students the rest preferring to work through existing university websites. with no significant private investors and no direct accountability to a government minister the e-university had had too much freedom to spend public money as it wished the report found. committee chairman barry sheerman said: uk e-university was a terrible waste of public money. the senior executives failed to interest any private investors and showed an extraordinary over-confidence in their ability to attract students to the scheme. the report warns that the government should not be scared off investment in innovative but potentially risky schemes by the failure of the e-university but should learn the lessons from this disaster .

robinson out of six nations england captain jason robinson will miss the rest of the six nations because of injury. robinson stand-in captain in the absence of jonny wilkinson had been due to lead england in their final two games against italy and scotland. but the sale full-back pulled out of the squad on wednesday because of a torn ligament in his right thumb. the 30-year-old will undergo an operation on friday but england have yet to name a replacement skipper. robinson said: this is very disappointing for me as this means i miss england s last two games in the six nations at twickenham and two games for my club sale sharks. but i m looking to be back playing very early in april. robinson picked up the injury in the 19-13 defeat to ireland at lansdowne road on saturday. and coach andy robinson said: i am hugely disappointed for jason. as england captain he has been an immense figure during the autumn internationals and the six nations leading by example at all times. i look forward to having him back in the england squad. the announcement is the latest setback for robinson s injury-depleted squad. among the key figures already missing are jonny wilkinson mike tindall will greenwood julian white and phil vickery - a list which leaves robinson short on candidates for the now vacant captaincy role. former england skipper jeremy guscott told bbc radio five live his choice would be matt dawson even though he is does not hold a regular starting place. the obvious choice is dawson said guscott. especially given that harry ellis did not have his best game at scrum-half on saturday. dawson has the credentials and the experience even though his winning record at captain is not great. the other option in martin corry who is the standout forward at the moment. unfortunately england cannot rely on leaders on the field at the moment. england will announce their squad for the 12 march game against italy on saturday.

wilkinson fit to face edinburgh england captain jonny wilkinson will make his long-awaited return from injury against edinburgh on saturday. wilkinson who has not played since injuring his bicep on 17 october took part in full-contact training with newcastle falcons on wednesday. and the 25-year-old fly-half will start saturday s heineken cup match at murrayfield on the bench. but newcastle director of rugby rob andrew said: he s fine and we hope to get him into the game at some stage. the 25-year-old missed england s autumn internationals after aggravating the haematoma in his upper right arm against saracens. he was subsequently replaced as england captain by full-back jason robinson. sale s charlie hodgson took over the number 10 shirt in the internationals against canada south africa and australia. wilkinson s year has been disrupted by injury as his muscle problem followed eight months on the sidelines with a shoulder injury sustained in the world cup final.

wales silent on grand slam talk rhys williams says wales are still not thinking of winning the grand slam despite a third six nations win. that s the last thing on our minds at the moment said williams a second- half replacement in saturday s 24-18 win over france in paris. we all realise how difficult a task it is to go up to scotland and beat them. we ve come unstuck there a couple of times recently so our focus is on that game and we ll worry about ireland hopefully after we ve beaten scotland. with captain gareth thomas ruled out of the rest of the campaign with a broken thumb williams is vying for his first start in the championship so far. kevin morgan is probably favourite to replace thomas at full-back leaving williams and hal luscombe to battle for the right wing berth. a hamstring injury denied luscombe the opportunity to make a third successive start but the dragons winger is expected to be fit for the trip to murrayfield on 13 march. hooker robin mcbryde is doubtful after picking up a knee injury in paris but centre sonny parker and flanker colin charvis are set to recover from injury to be in contention for selection. said wales assistant coach scott johnson: they ve worked through the weekend and the reports are a bit more positive. so we re getting a couple back and that adds to the depth of the squad. scotland secured their first win of the campaign on saturday by grinding out an 18-10 win over italy. matt williams side has shown little in attack but johnson insisted the scots will be difficult opposition to break down. italy are really brave opposition and sometimes it s very hard to win he said. so an ugly win can be just as effective as a 30 or 40 point victory. scotland are a hard side and very underrated so we re not taking anything for granted. we re not basking in the glory of winning our first three games. we ve got to be diligent in our preparation. that s my job and we ve got to make sure we re focused.

mutant book wins guardian prize a book about the evolution of mutants and the science of abnormality has won the guardian first book award 2004. armand marie leroi a lecturer at london s imperial college scooped the £10 000 prize for mutants: on the form varieties and errors of the human body. it is profoundly cultured and beautifully written in the very best tradition of popular science writing today said judge claire armistead. the award recognises and rewards new writing across fiction and non-fiction. a panel of literary experts including novelists hari kunzru and ali smith director sir richard eyre and comedian alexei sayle chose the winner from a five-strong shortlist. the shortlist included susanna clarke s jonathan strange and mr norrell a novel about the magic arts at the turn of the 19th century and the places in between rory stewart s account of his trek on foot across afghanistan. what we found so impressive about armand marie leroi s book was the scope of its reference its elegance and its inquisitiveness said ms armistead chair of the judges and the guardian literary editor. while the subject matter of mutants unsettled some involved in the judging process the overwhelming majority found it fascinating she added. her words were echoed by iris director sir richard eyre who called marie leroi s work extraordinarily thought provoking . the award for first time authors is open to books from genres including fiction poetry biography memoir history politics science and current affairs. previous winners include white teeth by zadie smith in 2000 which went on to become a bestseller.

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.

parmalat boasts doubled profits parmalat the italian food group at the centre of one of europe s most painful corporate scandals has reported a doubling in profit. its pre-tax earnings in the fourth quarter were 77m euros (£53m; $100m) up from 38m in the same period of 2003. less welcome was the news that the firm had been fined 11m euros for having violated takeover rules five years ago. the firm sought bankruptcy protection in december 2003 after disclosing a 4bn-euro hole in its accounts. overall the company s debt is close to 12bn euros and is falling only slowly. its brands well-known in italy and overseas have continued to perform strongly however and have barely lost revenue since the scandal broke. but a crucial factor for the company s future is the legal unwinding of its intensely complex financial position. on tuesday the company s administrator turnaround expert enrico bondi sued morgan stanley its former banker to return 136m euros relating to a 2003 bond deal. that brought to 49 the number of banks that mr bondi has sued a mass of legal action that could bring in as much as 3bn euros. the company has also sued former auditors and financial advisors for damages. and criminal cases against the company s former management are proceeding separately.

umbro profits lifted by euro 2004 uk sportswear firm umbro has posted a 222% rise in annual profit after sales of replica england football kits were boosted by the euro 2004 tournament. pre-tax profit for 2004 was £15.4m ($29.4m). umbro which recently lost sponsorship deals with chelsea and celtic said on thursday it had signed a new four-year agreement with scottish club rangers. it hopes 2005 sales will benefit from the launch of a new england replica shirt ahead of the 2006 world cup. in january umbro announced its sponsorship agreement with chelsea which gave umbro the lucrative right to make replica shirts would end in 2006 five years earlier than expected. the firm which is to receive a payment from chelsea of £24.5m said it is appraising a number of additional investment opportunities as a result of this compensation . chief executive peter mcguigan said the firm plans to grow sales both in the uk and internationally. the firm reporting its first annual results since listing on the london stock exchange in june said the uk market had seen sales growth of 8% last year. it said the launch of its evolution x fashion range had boosted sales. umbro supplies more than 150 teams across the world including the national sides of ireland sweden and norway. shares in umbro were up 1.76% at 115.5 pence in morning trade.

ge sees excellent world economy us behemoth general electric has posted an 18% jump in quarterly sales and in profits and declared itself in great shape . we are benefiting from our growth initiatives and an excellent global economy said ge s chief executive jeff immelt. ge is the us biggest firm based on stock market valuation. ge s net profits were $5.37bn (£2.86bn) for the final three months of 2004 while sales came in at $43.7bn. the group whose businesses range from jet engines to the nbc television channel forecast sustained growth at between 10-15% for this year and next. ge s shares rose 1% on the news before ending friday 0.24% lower. the industries ge is in are doing very well. the materials financial and industrial sectors are all picking up said steve roukis an analyst at fund manager matrix asset advisors which has shares in ge. ge said orders in the fourth quarter were 15% higher than in the same period of 2003 with growth across the board . in the fourth quarter nine of our 11 businesses delivered at least double-digit earnings growth said mr immelt. full year 2004 gains were less spectacular but still respectable. net profit was up 6% at $16.6bn. last year ge bought vivendi universal merging it with nbc to form nbc universal. the success of universal studio s film ray a portrait of jazz musician ray charles has helped boost earnings at the unit.

o sullivan keeps his powder dry when you are gunning for glory and ultimate success keeping the gunpowder dry is essential. ireland coach eddie o sullivan appears to have done that quite successfully in the run-up to this season s six nations championship. he decreed after the 2003 world cup that players should have a decent conditioning period during the year. that became a reality at the end of last summer with a 10-week period at the start of the this season. it may have annoyed his scottish and in particularly welsh cousins who huffed and puffed at the disrespect apparently shown to the celtic league. we will say nothing of mike ruddock poaching eight of the dragons side that faced leinster on sunday. but like o sullivan he was well within his rights particularly when you are talking about the national side and pride that goes along with it. the irfu has thrown their weight behind o sullivan who must be glad that in the main there is centrally-controlled contracts. bar keith gleeson who is just returning from a broken leg everyone of o sullivan s squad is fit fresh and standing at the oche ready to launch this season s campaign. but i doubt whether o sullivan is going to gloat about the handling of his players. he is not that sort of person. however he may look at the overworked and injury-hit england wales and france squads whose players have been overworked and then pat himself on the back for his foresight. but there is still the question of turning up and transferring that freshness into positive results when the referee signals the start of the game. already ireland are being earmarked as hot favourites in many quarters to go the whole hog this season. a first grand slam since karl mullen s led the team to a clean sweep in 1948. with england and france visiting lansdowne road for the last time before the old darling is pulled down everything looks perfectly placed. but in the days of yore that frightened the life out of any irishman. under the burden of great expectations ireland have crumpled. take the triple crown-winning side of 1985 under mick doyle. they were expected to up the ante further for a grand slam only the second in ireland s history. what happened in 1986 whitewashed. you see ireland in any sport love to be downsized. then they can go out and prove a point to the contrary. it is the nature of the beast. but o sullivan s side are very capable of proving a salient point this season. after their first triple crown for 19 years they can live up to their success and take a further step up the ladder. o sullivan has kept faith and displayed loyalty to his players and they have repaid him in spades ... and there is more to come. he has some old dogs in his squad but he will come to this season s championship with a different box of tricks and a new verve to succeed. ireland can indeed succeed but just whisper it.

bbc to pour £9m into new comedy the bbc is to invest £9m in developing new comedy and entertainment programmes outside london. the changes come as part of a shake-up of several departments to create shows that appeal to a wider range of people. changes are also being made to teams in the factual and daytime departments outside london. director of television jana bennett said the changes were about getting the best ideas on screen as efficiently and effectively as we can . the new structure in each genre is designed to ensure that happens she said. a number of new roles are being created in each department including a head of comedy commissioning based in glasgow. the new person will be in charge of the £9m budget and their role will be to develop shows outside the capital both within the bbc and with independent production companies. jane lush controller of entertainment commissioning said entertainment and comedy are incredibly important to our audiences; i m confident these changes will help us get the very best programmes on screen. similar positions will also be created in the other departments with the new commissioning editor for documentaries based in bristol and the daytime commissioning editor in birmingham. ms bennett said the new roles would benefit those making programmes within the bbc as well as those making shows for the channel independently. a strong independent sector and a flourishing in-house production base are not mutually exclusive and will stimulate the competition that will deliver the best ideas to the audience she said.

air china in $1bn london listing china s national airline is to make its overseas stock market debut with a dual listing in london and hong kong the london stock exchange (lse) has said. air china plans to raise $1bn (£514m) from the flotation. share trading will begin on 15 december the lse said. for china s aviation authorities the listing is part of the modernisation of its airline sector to cope with soaring demand for air travel. no further details of the share price or number of shares were given. the lse has been working hard to woo chinese companies to choose london rather than new york for their listings. it opened an asia-pacific office in hong kong last month. we are delighted that air china has chosen london for its listing outside china said lse chief executive clara furse. the london stock exchange offers ambitious chinese companies access to the world s most international equity market combined with high regulatory and corporate governance standards she said. a spokesman for the lse said: we ve been engaged with them (air china) for about 18 months two years now. as part of its pitch to bring listings to london the lse is thought to be highlighting the extra costs and red-tape imposed by new us laws passed since the enron scandal whilst stressing london s strong regulatory environment. germany s chancellor gerhard schroeder began a three-day visit to beijing on monday by signing a deal worth 1bn euros ($1.3bn; £690m) for airbus to sell 23 new planes to air china the deutsche welle radio station reported. china s booming economy has created huge demand for air travel among middle-class chinese turning the country into a sales battleground between rival plane makers airbus and boeing. air china s long-awaited flotation is part of a strategy to modernise a dozen state-owned carriers which have been reorganised into three groups under air china china southern and china eastern. merrill lynch are sole bookrunners for air china s flotation which will take the form of a share placing with institutional investors in london though retail investors may be able to buy air china shares in hong kong. air china s primary listing will be in hong kong with a secondary listing in london. the shares will be denominated in hong kong dollars. however investors may be wary of chinese stocks. the collapse last week of china aviation oil the singapore-listed arm of a chinese jet fuel trader has cast the spotlight on corporate governance shortcomings at chinese firms.

long life promised for laptop pcs scientists are working on ways to ensure laptops can stay powered for an entire working day. building batteries from new chemical mixes could boost power significantly say industry experts. the changes include everything from the way chips for laptops are made to tricks that reduce the power consumption of displays. ever since laptops appeared the amount of time they last between recharges has been a frustration for users. a survey carried out in 2000 by forrester research found that the shortness of battery life was the most complained about feature of laptops. the focus back then was more on performance and features said mike trainor chief mobile technology evangelist for chip giant intel. for most of the 90s battery life was stuck on two to 2.5 hours. but now he said laptops can last much longer. it was not just a case of improving battery life by squeezing more out of the lithium ion power packs he explained. other changes are needed to get to the holy grail of a laptop running for about eight hours before needing a recharge. lithium ion is never going to get there by itself he said. the industry has done a great job of wringing all possible energy storage out of that technology that they can. some new battery chemistries promise to cram more power into the same space said mr trainor though work still needed to be done to get them successfully from the lab to manufacturing. he was sceptical that fuel cells would develop quick enough to take over from solid batteries even though they have the potential to produce several times more energy than lithium ion power packs. in fuel cells you need to have pumps and separators and evaporation chambers he said. it s a mini energy plant that needs to be shrunk and shrunk and shrunk. intel has been working with component makers to test energy consumption on all the parts inside a laptop and find ways to make them less power hungry. this work has led to the creation of the mobile pc extended battery life (ebl) working group that shares information about building notebooks that are more parsimonious with power. some of the improvements in power use come simply because components on chips are shrinking said mr trainor. intel has also changed the way it creates transistors on silicon to reduce the power they need. on a larger scale said mr trainor improvements in the way that voltage regulators are made can reduce the amount of power lost as heat and make a notebook more energy efficient. also said mr trainor research is being done on ways to cut energy consumption on displays - currently the biggest power guzzler on a laptop. many laptop makers have committed to creating 14 and 15 inch screens that draw only three watts of power. this is far below the power consumption levels of screens in current notebooks. if we can get close to eight hours that s a place that people see as extraordinarily valuable that s what the industry has to deliver mr trainor said.

blair says mayor should apologise tony blair has urged london mayor ken livingstone to apologise for his nazi comment to a jewish reporter. labour s mr livingstone who says he is standing by his remarks had accused an evening standard journalist of being like a concentration camp guard . mr blair told five s wright stuff show: let s just apologise and move on. mr livingstone has said the remarks may have been offensive but were not racist and said he would not apologise even if the prime minister asked. mr blair who was instrumental in returning mr livingstone to the labour party insisted on wednesday it was time for the london mayor to say sorry. a lot of us in politics get angry with journalists from time to time but in the circumstances and to the journalist because he was a jewish journalist yes he should apologise he said. let s just apologise and move on - that s the sensible thing. tory leader michael howard asked about mr livingstone s remark by reporters said it was important for politicians to be mindful about the language they use. it s particularly important that as we get close to the election that politicians talk with civility and courtesy about issues that we all face he said. i think it s a matter of sadness that we are not seeing that from the labour party. we had what ken livingstone said we had what alastair campbell has said and we have what others have said. i think that s a matter of great regret. the row blew up after mr livingstone was approached by evening standard reporter oliver finegold following a party marking the 20th anniversary of former culture secretary chris smith coming out as britain s first gay mp. on tape mr livingstone who once worked as a freelance restaurant critic on the paper is heard asking mr finegold if he is a german war criminal . mr finegold replies: no i m jewish i wasn t a german war criminal. i m quite offended by that. the mayor then says: ah right well you might be but actually you are like a concentration camp guard you are just doing it because you are paid to aren t you at his weekly press conference on tuesday mr livingstone said his comments were not racist and refused to apologise. if you think they are racist i think you are wrong he told reporters. the dispute comes as an inspection team from the international olympic committee began a four-day tour to assess london s bid for the 2012 games. an official complaint has been made to local government watchdogs by the british jews demanding an investigation by the standards board of england. it has the power to suspend or bar mr livingstone from public office.

remote control rifle range debuts soon you could go hunting via the net. a texas company is considering letting web users use a remote-controlled rifle to shoot down deer antelope and wild pigs. for a small fee users will take control of a camera and rifle that they can use to spot and shoot the game animals as they roam around a 133-hectare texas ranch. the live-shot website behind the scheme already lets people practise shooting at targets via the internet. john underwood the man behind the live-shot website said the idea for the remote-control hunting came to him a year ago when he was watching deer via a webcam on another net site. we were looking at a beautiful white-tail buck and my friend said if you just had a gun for that . a little light bulb went off in my head mr underwood told the reuters news agency. a year s work and $10 000 has resulted in a remote-controlled rig on which sits a camera and .22 calibre rifle. mr underwood is planning to put one of these rigs in a concealed location in a small reserve on his texas ranch and let people shoot at a variety of game animals. also needed is a fast net connection so remote hunters can quickly track and aim at passing game animals with the camera and rifle rig. each remote hunting session will cost $150 with additional fees for meat processing and taxidermy work. species that can be shot will include barbary corsican and mouflon sheep blackbuck antelope and wild pigs. already the live-shot site lets people shoot 10 rounds at paper and silhouette targets for $5.95 for each 20-minute shooting session. for further fees users can get the target they shot and a dvd recording of their session. handlers oversee each shooting session and can stop the gun being fired if it is being aimed off-range or at something it should not be. mr underwood said that internet hunting could be popular with disabled hunters unable to get out in the woods or distant hunters who cannot afford a trip to texas. in a statement the rspca said it had grave concerns about people being allowed to go online and remotely control a rifle. we assume it would be extremely difficult to accurately control a gun in this way and therefore it would be difficult to ensure a clean kill something the rspca accepts is the intention of those shooting for sport it said. animals hit but not killed would without doubt be caused to suffer unnecessarily said the statement. mike berger wildlife director of the texas parks and wildlife department said current hunting statutes did not cover net or remote hunting. he said state laws on hunting only covered regulated animals such as native deer and bird species. as such there was nothing to stop mr underwood letting people hunt unregulated imported animals and wild pigs. mr underwood also lets people come in person to the ranch to hunt and shoot game animals.

bbc denies blackadder tv comeback the bbc has said there are no plans in the pipeline for a new series of hit comedy blackadder which ended in 1989. tony robinson who played the servant baldrick told itv1 s this morning the show s star rowan atkinson was more keen than he has been in the past . robinson added he would love to do another series each of which was set in a different era ranging from the 15th century to world war i. but the bbc said on thursday there were no plans for a comeback. in the final series all the main characters were killed off charging towards german lines after being ordered out of their trench. the poignant finale was later voted the best farewell episode of a tv series. a host of other uk actors including hugh laurie stephen fry and miranda richardson also appeared in the show. blackadder returned for a one-off special filmed to celebrate the arrival of the millennium in 1999. it was shown at the millennium dome in greenwich before being screened on bskyb.

film star fox behind theatre bid leading actor edward fox is one of the men behind plans to reopen a swansea theatre thought to be wales oldest. the star of film and tv hits day of the jackal and edward and mrs simpson has joined forces with swansea-born actor-director terry palmer. they will set up a charity to raise money to buy the palace theatre and hope to reopen it to audiences in summer 2006. it is estimated that £500 000 is needed to buy the grade ii listed building. the palace theatre which will be known as the pavilion repertory theatre was sold to an undisclosed bidder at auction 13 months ago for £340 000. before that it had been used as a nightclub for 10 years. oscar-winner sir anthony hopkins who was born in nearby port talbot made his professional debut there and charlie chaplin and lily langtry have also trodden its boards. fox told the south wales evening post that after visiting the theatre he was surprised by its beauty. a lot of money needs to be spent on it but all the bones are there - it just needs a beautiful skin he said. to call it a jewel is not an over-estimation. there are not many theatres left like this. the hope for the immediate future is that we can attract enough people to come forward to allow it to prosper he told the newspaper. fox first found fame in the 1960s. one of his most memorable roles was as an assassin in the day of the jackal in 1973 and he won a tv bafta as the prince of wales in 1980 for edward and mrs simpson. he was brought on board to save the theatre by mr palmer a long-standing friend of 40 years. two years ago i decided to return to swansea and do something for the city said mr palmer. he said he was excited by the idea of running the palace as a charity where young actors could develop and with an annual shakespeare festival in the summer. if in five years time the theatre can function in all areas without me i shall be well satisfied having helped to create a vital living theatre for the city he added. keith poulton a business adviser from swansea has already committed an undisclosed amount of money to the project. we need at least £75 000 to secure a deposit on the building and we ve only got two months to do that said mr poulton. a few benefactors have expressed their interest and mr fox is going to give it an awful lot of time he added. last year roads around the theatre were cordoned off when masonry from its roof fell onto a car but engineers said they were happy that it was safe.

web radio takes spanish rap global spin the radio dial in the us and you are likely to find plenty of spanish-language music. but what you will not find is much spanish-language hip-hop. hip-hop and rap are actually quite popular in the spanish-speaking world but local artists are having trouble marketing their work abroad. but now a us company is bringing rap and hip-hop en espanol to computer users everywhere. los caballeros de plan g are one of mexico s hottest hip-hop acts. they have a devoted fan base in their native monterrey. but most mexican hip-hop fans not to mention fans in most of the spanish-speaking world rarely get a chance to hear the group s tracks on the radio. you can t really just go on the radio and listen to hip-hop in spanish... it s just not accessible says manuel millan a native of san diego california. it s really hard for the spanish hip-hop scene to get into mainstream radio. you usually have a very commercialised sound and the groups are not really known around the country or around the world. millan and two friends set out to change that - they wanted to make groups like los caballeros de plan g accessible to fans globally. mainstream radio stations were not going to play this kind of music and starting their own broadcast station was economically impossible. so millan and his friends launched a website called latinohiphopradio.com. the name says it all: it is web-based radio devoted to the hottest spanish language rap and hip-hop tracks. the site which is in both in english and spanish is meant to be easy to navigate. all the user has to do is download a media player. there are no djs. it is just music streamed over the net for free. suddenly with the help of the website los caballeros de plan g are producing export quality rap. the web might be just the right medium for spanish language hip-hop right now. the genre is in what millan calls its infant stage . but the production values are improving and artists such as argentina s mustafa yoda are pushing to make it better and better. mustafa yoda is currently one of the hottest tracks on latinohiphopradio.com. he s considered the eminem of argentina and the latin american hip-hop scene millan says. he really hasn t had that much exposure as far as anywhere in the world but he s definitely the one to look out for as far as becoming the next big thing in the spanish-speaking world. currently the chilean group makisa is also in latinohiphopradio.com s top 10 as is cuban artist papo record. every country s got it s own cultural differences and they try to put those into their own songs millan says. latinohiphopradio.com has been up and running for a couple of months now. the site has listeners from across the spanish speaking world. right now mexico leads the way accounting for about 50% of listeners. but web surfers in spain are logging in as well - about 25% of the web station s traffic comes from there. that is not surprising as many consider spain to be the leader in spanish-language rap and hip-hop. millan says that spain is actually just behind the united states and france in terms of overall rap and hip-hop production. that might be changing though as more and more latin american artists are finding audiences. but one spaniard is still firmly in latinohiphopradio.com s top 10. his name is tote king and manuel millan says that he is the hip-hop leader in spain. on his track uno contra veinte emcees or one against 20 emcees tote king shows he is well aware of that fact. it s basically him bragging that he s one of the best emcees in spain right now millan says. and it s pretty much true. he has the tightest productions and his rap flow is impeccable it s amazing. latinohiphopradio.com is hoping to expand in the coming year. millan says they want to include more music and more news from the world of spanish language hip-hop and rap. clark boyd is technology correspondent for the world a bbc world service and wgbh-boston co-production.

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.

savvy searchers fail to spot ads internet search engine users are an odd mix of naive and sophisticated suggests a report into search habits. the report by the us pew research center reveals that 87% of searchers usually find what they were looking for when using a search engine. it also shows that few can spot the difference between paid-for results and organic ones. the report reveals that 84% of net users say they regularly use google ask jeeves msn and yahoo when online. almost 50% of those questioned said they would trust search engines much less if they knew information about who paid for results was being hidden. according to figures gathered by the pew researchers the average users spends about 43 minutes per month carrying out 34 separate searches and looks at 1.9 webpages for each hunt. a significant chunk of net users 36% carry out a search at least weekly and 29% of those asked only look every few weeks. for 44% of those questioned the information they are looking for is critical to what they are doing and is information they simply have to find. search engine users also tend to be very loyal and once they have found a site they feel they can trust tend to stick with it. according to pew research 44% of searchers use just a single search engine 48% use two or three and a small number 7% consult more than three sites. tony macklin spokesman for ask jeeves said the results reflected its own research which showed that people use different search engines because the way the sites gather information means they can provide different results for the same query. despite this liking for search sites half of those questioned said they could get the same information via other routes. a small number 17% said they wouldn t really miss search engines if they did not exist. the remaining 33% said they could not live without search sites. more than two-thirds of those questioned 68% said they thought that the results they were presented with were a fair and unbiased selection of the information on a topic that can be found on the net. alongside the growing sophistication of net users is a lack of awareness about paid-for results that many search engines provide alongside lists of websites found by indexing the web. of those asked 62% were unaware that someone has paid for some of the results they see when they carry out a search. only 18% of all searchers say they can tell which results are paid for and which are not. said the pew report: this finding is ironic since nearly half of all users say they would stop using search engines if they thought engines were not being clear about how they presented paid results. commenting mr macklin said sponsored results must be clearly marked and though they might help with some queries user testing showed that people need to be able to spot the difference.

uk discriminated against roma the government s immigration rules racially discriminated against roma (gypsies) seeking entry into the uk the law lords have ruled. it follows a home office move to cut asylum claims by stopping people mostly roma from boarding flights to britain from the czech capital prague. civil rights group liberty said it exposed racism at the heart of the government s asylum policy . the home office said it had not meant to discriminate against anyone. it said it would look at the implications of the ruling but pointed out the controls were no longer in place because czechs are now entitled to free movement across europe. the screening took place at the airport in july 2001 at a time of concern about the number of asylum seekers entering britain. those refused pre-clearance were effectively prevented from travelling to the uk because no airline would carry them. lady hale sitting with lords bingham steyn hope and carswell said many roma had good reason to want to leave the czech republic because of persecution. but she said they were treated more sceptically than non-roma passengers by immigration officers acting on racial grounds . lady hale said immigration officers should have treated all would-be passengers in the same way only using more intrusive questioning if there was a specific reason. liberty said statistics suggested roma czechs were 400 times more likely to be stopped by british immigration officials at prague airport than non-roma czechs. it took up the case of six unnamed roma czechs refused entry to britain and that of the european roma rights centre which said the measures unfairly penalised roma people. it lost a high court action in october 2002 when a judge said the system was no more or less objectionable than a visa control system. he ruled there was no obligation on britain not to take steps to prevent a potential refugee from approaching its border to claim asylum. the court of appeal then decided the practice almost inevitably discriminated against roma but that this was justified because they were more likely to seek asylum. immigration law allows officials to discriminate against citizens from named countries but it does not allow officers to go further than that. responding to the ruling a home office spokesman said: the scheme was operated two years ago as a short-term response to the high levels of passengers travelling from prague who are subsequently found to be ineligible for entry to the uk. welcoming the ruling maeve sherlock chief executive of the refugee council said: human rights abuses against the roma in eastern europe are well documented and it is hugely troubling that the government sought to deny entry to such a vulnerable group. amnesty international s jan shaw said: that the government s own asylum policy was being operated discriminatorily is bleakly ironic given that discrimination often lies at the heart of serious human rights abuse not least in the czech republic. but the chairman of migration watch uk sir andrew green said the house of lords decision was a step in the wrong direction . the basic point is that the government has a duty to control our borders and this decision appears to extend the race relations legislation beyond sensible limits.

ge sees excellent world economy us behemoth general electric has posted an 18% jump in quarterly sales and in profits and declared itself in great shape . we are benefiting from our growth initiatives and an excellent global economy said ge s chief executive jeff immelt. ge is the us biggest firm based on stock market valuation. ge s net profits were $5.37bn (£2.86bn) for the final three months of 2004 while sales came in at $43.7bn. the group whose businesses range from jet engines to the nbc television channel forecast sustained growth at between 10-15% for this year and next. ge s shares rose 1% on the news before ending friday 0.24% lower. the industries ge is in are doing very well. the materials financial and industrial sectors are all picking up said steve roukis an analyst at fund manager matrix asset advisors which has shares in ge. ge said orders in the fourth quarter were 15% higher than in the same period of 2003 with growth across the board . in the fourth quarter nine of our 11 businesses delivered at least double-digit earnings growth said mr immelt. full year 2004 gains were less spectacular but still respectable. net profit was up 6% at $16.6bn. last year ge bought vivendi universal merging it with nbc to form nbc universal. the success of universal studio s film ray a portrait of jazz musician ray charles has helped boost earnings at the unit.

games firms face tough future uk video game firms face a testing time as they prepare for the next round of games consoles the industry warns. fred hasson head of tiga which represents independent developers said that more uk firms would go under due to greater risks in making new titles. three leading uk video game companies also predicted that more firms would close as they struggled to adapt. microsoft sony and nintendo are expected to release new consoles in the next 18 months. microsoft has said repeatedly that it wants to be first to the market and some analysts predict that xbox 2 will be released in the us before the end of 2005. the new machines will all have much greater processing and graphical power which will have a huge impact on development of next generation games. mr hasson said: in the last four years we have probably lost a third of independent developers. he said there were about 150 independent developers left in the industry and more were likely to close. once the cull has finished its likely to present those still standing with great opportunities he said. mr hasson said the industry was predicting that developments costs and teams were likely to need to double in order to cope with the demands of the new machines. that figure was endorsed by three independent companies contacted by the bbc news website - codemasters climax and rebellion. as consoles get more powerful the content gets more detailed and that means more cost said gary dunn development director at codemasters which develops games in house and also publishes titles. jason kingsley chief executive of rebellion said the transition from the current generation of consoles to the new machines was difficult because the production quality expected by consumers will be that much bigger . he added: we have been through five technology transitions and survived so far. each one has involved the death of some people. all companies said they were investing in new tools - called middleware - in order to try and avoid staff numbers spiralling out of control. simon gardner president of climax s action studio said: we are investing in superior tools and editors. we are investing upfront to generate this content without the need for huge teams. it s vital we avoid huge teams. he said climax was already directing about 20% of its resources to preparation for next generation titles. mr dunn warned that companies could face a short supply of programming development and artistic talent. if companies are hiring bigger and bigger teams at some point the talent is going to run out. mr hasson said games developers were beginning to realise that they had to be more business-like . there are still some developers who were involved in games from the bedroom coding days. some of them are still making games for peer group approval - that has to stop.

cole faces lengthy injury lay-off aston villa s carlton cole could be out for six weeks with a knee injury. the striker who is on a season-long loan from chelsea picked up the knock in an england under-21 match against holland earlier this month. carlton will be out of action for four to six weeks after a bad challenge said villa boss david o leary. i won t be able to tell you whether he will need an operation until maybe next week. whether he has an operation has got to be left to chelsea. cole who also struggled with an ankle problem earlier in the season was unable to rest because o leary had a shortage of strikers. the return to fitness of darius vassell after four months out with a broken ankle and the emergence of luke moore has alleviated some of the villa s manager s problems in that department.

boro suffer morrison injury blow middlesbrough midfielder james morrison has been ruled out for up to eight weeks after an operation on tuesday. the 18-year-old who has played in 13 of the club s last 14 games had surgery to repair a double hernia. a club spokesman confirmed: it is a bilateral sportsman s hernia which was operated on yesterday. morrison was sent for scans after being substituted at half-time during boro s 2-1 uefa cup win over graz ak in which he scored the equaliser. his injury is the latest blow for the teessiders who have been without gaizka mendieta george boateng and mark viduka for extended periods. meanwhile the kick-off time for boro s uefa cup match at sporting lisbon on 17 march has been brought forward from 2115 gmt to 1945 gmt.

disaster claims less than $10bn insurers have sought to calm fears that they face huge losses after an earthquake and giant waves killed at least 38 000 people in southern asia. munich re and swiss re the world s two biggest reinsurers have said exposure will be less than for other disasters. rebuilding costs are likely to be cheaper than in developed countries and many of those affected will not have insurance analysts said. swiss re has said total claims are likely to be less than $10bn (£5.17bn). swiss re believes that the cost would be substantial but that it is unlikely to be in double-digit billions the financial times reported. munich re the world s largest reinsurance company said that its exposure is less than 100m euros (£70m; $136m). at least 10 countries have been affected with sri lanka indonesia india and thailand among the worst hit. the region s resorts and western tourists are expected to be among the main claimants. lloyds of london told the financial times it expected its exposure to be limited to holiday resorts personal accident travel insurance and marine risks . a spokeswoman for hanover re europe s fifth-largest reinsurance firm estimated tsunami-related damage claims would be in the low double-digit millions of euros. the company has paid out about 300 million euros (£281m; $400m) to cover damage caused recently by four major hurricanes in the us. but insurers have not had long to assess the economic impact of the damage and reports of more casualties and destruction are still coming through. so many things are unclear it is just too early to tell said serge troeber deputy head of swiss re s natural disasters department. you need very complicated processes to estimate damages. unlike the hurricanes you can t just run a model. he anticipated that his own company s total claims would be less then those from the hurricanes which the company put at $640m. allianz a leading german insurer said it did not know yet what its exposure would be. however it said the tidal waves were unlikely to have a significant impact on its business. zurich financial said they could not yet assess the cost of the disaster. the impact on us insurance companies is not expected to be heavy analysts said. most us insurers have relatively little exposure to asia and those that do pass on a lot of the risk to reinsurance companies or special catastrophe funds. insured damage could be a fraction of the billions of dollars worth of destruction in sri lanka india thailand indonesia the maldive islands and malaysia said prudential equity group insurance analyst jay gelb. us insurers are likely to have only minimal to no exposure. it s more likely the bermuda-based reinsurance [companies] might have some exposure said paul newsome an insurance analyst at ag edwards & co. many of the affected countries such as indonesia sri lanka or the maldives do not usually buy insurance for these kinds of disasters said a us-based insurance expert. early estimates from the world bank put the amount of aid needed for the worst affected countries including sri lanka india indonesia and thailand at about $5bn (£2.6bn) similar to the cash offered to central america after hurricane mitch. mitch killed about 10 000 people and caused damage of about $10bn in 1998. but the cost of the tsunamis on the individuals involved is incalculable. we cannot fathom the cost of these poor societies and the nameless fishermen and fishing villages ... that have just been wiped out. hundreds of thousands of livelihoods have gone said jan egeland head of the un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs. tourists cutting short their holidays in affected areas may suffer a financial impact too. the association of british insurers warned that travel insurance does not normally cover cutting short a holiday. it said loss of possessions will usually be covered but the association stressed the importance of checking the wording of travel policies.

ea to take on film and tv giants video game giant electronic arts (ea) says it wants to become the biggest entertainment firm in the world. the us firm says it wants to compete with companies such as disney and will only achieve this by making games appeal to mainstream audiences. ea publishes blockbuster titles such as fifa and john madden as well as video game versions of movies such as harry potter and the james bond films. its revenues were $3bn (£1.65bn) in 2004 which ea hoped to double by 2009. ea is the biggest games publisher in the world and in 2004 had 27 titles which sold in excess of one million copies each. nine of the 20 biggest-selling games in the uk last year were published by ea. gerhard florin ea s managing director for european publishing said: doubling our industry in five years is not rocket science. he said it would take many years before ea could challenge disney - which in 2004 reported revenues of $30bn (£16bn) - but it remained a goal for the company. we will be able to bring more people into gaming because games will be more emotional. mr florin predicted that the next round of games console would give developers enough power to create real emotion. it s the subtleties the eyes the mouth - 5 000 polygons doesn t really sell the emotion. with ps3 and xbox 2 we can go on the main character with 30 000 to 50 000 polygons he said. with that increased firepower the finding nemo video game looks just like the movie but it will be interactive. mr florin said that more than 50% of all ea s games were sold to adults and played by adults but the perception remained that the video game industry was for children. our goal is to bring games to the masses which bring out emotions. ea said the video game industry was now bigger than the music industry. nobody queues for music anymore. you can t ignore an industry when people queue to buy a game at midnight because they are so desperate to play it he said referring to demand for titles for such as grand theft auto: san andreas and halo 2. jan bolz ea s vice president of sales and marketing in europe said the firm was working to give video games a more central role in popular culture. he said the company was in advanced stages of discussions over a reality tv show in which viewers could control the actions of the characters as in its popular game the sims. one idea could be that you re controlling a family telling them when to go to the kitchen and when to go to the bedroom and with this mechanism you have gamers all over the world playing the show said mr bolz. he also said ea was planning an international awards show similar to the oscars and the grammys which would combine video games music and movies. mr bolz said video games firm had to work more closely with celebrities. people will want to play video games if their heroes like robbie williams or christina aguilera are in them. mr florin said the challenge was to keep people playing in their 30s 40s and 50s. there s an indication that a 30 year old comes home from work and still wants to play games. if that s true that s a big challenge for tv broadcasters - because watching tv is the biggest pastime at present.

kennedy predicts bigger turnout voters pent up passion could confound predictions of a low turnout in the coming general election charles kennedy has said. the liberal democrat leader predicted concerns over iraq and other international and domestic issue would express themselves during the campaign. his comments come as an inquiry looks at how best to boost voter turnouts. ex-foreign secretary robin cook said people were not apathetic but fed up of pager politics and not being heard. he like mr kennedy pointed to the hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrated against plans for the iraq war. mr cook who is giving evidence to the power inquiry into voter turnout rates told bbc radio 4 s today programme it was not fair to blame the public who were more interested in politics than ever before . they are turned off by the way we do politics in britain. there s a message there for politicians. he urged politicians to avoid negative campaigning and to speak more from the heart . we should be not so afraid to say what we stand for. he also criticised the cult of personality politics: there s far too much interest in celebrities. politics are in danger of becoming another branch of the celebrity industry. the government has tried a number of things in an attempt to boost voter turnout which fell to 59% in the last general election in 2001. this has included bringing in directly elected mayors to head local authorities and trialling postal voting.

us bank boss hails genius smith us federal reserve chairman alan greenspan has given a speech at a scottish church in honour of the pioneering economist adam smith. he delivered the 14th adam smith lecture in kirkcaldy fife. the adam smith lecture celebrates the author of 1776 s wealth of nations which became a bible of capitalism. dr greenspan was invited by chancellor gordon brown whose minister father john used to preach at the st bryce kirk church. mr brown introduced dr greenspan to the 400 invited guests as the the world s greatest economist . dr greenspan 79 who has been in the uk to attend the g7 meeting in london said the world could never repay the debt of gratitude it owed to smith whose genius he compared to that of mozart. he said the philosopher was a towering contributor to the modern world . kirkcaldy the birthplace in 1723 of adam smith and by extension of modern economics is also of course where your chancellor was reared. i am led to ponder to what extent the chancellor s renowned economic and financial skills are the result of exposure to the subliminal intellect-enhancing emanation in this area. he continued: smith reached far beyond the insights of his predecessors to frame a global view of how market economics just then emerging worked. in so doing he supported changes in societal organisation that were to measurably enhance standards of living. dr greenspan said smith s revolutionary philosophy on human self-interest laissez-faire economics and competition had been a force for good in the world. the incredible insights of a handful of intellectuals of the enlightenment - especially with smith toiling in the environs of kirkcaldy - created the modern vision of people free to choose and to act according to their individual self-interest he said. following his lecture dr greenspan - who received an honorary knighthood from the queen at balmoral in 2002 - was awarded an honorary fellowship of the royal society of edinburgh. he later opened an exhibition dedicated to smith in the atrium of fife college of further and higher education. joyce johnston principal of the college said: it is very fitting that the world s premier economist delivered this lecture in tribute to the world s first economist. dr greenspan - who became chairman of the federal reserve for an unprecedented fifth term in june 2004 - will step down in january next year. he has served under presidents george w bush bill clinton george bush and ronald reagan. he was also chairman of the council of economic advisors to gerald ford.

ferguson rues failure to cut gap boss sir alex ferguson was left ruing manchester united s failure to close the gap on chelsea everton and arsenal after his side s 1-1 draw with fulham. premiership leaders chelsea and the gunners endured a 2-2 stalemate on sunday giving united the chance to make up some ground in the league. but ferguson said: i think what makes it so bad is that both our rivals dropped points at the weekend. it was a great opportunity - and we haven t delivered. united went ahead through alan smith in the 33rd minute before bouba diop s superb 25-yard strike cancelled out the visitors lead in the 87th minute. ferguson described the result as an absolute giveaway after united had earlier missed a host of opportunities to finish off the encounter. he said: it was a good performance - some of the football was fantastic - but we just didn t finish them off. in fairness it s a fantastic strike from the fulham player. the result leaves ferguson s side fourth in the league on 31 points - four points behind arsenal and a further five back from chelsea.

the pirates with no profit motive two men who were part of a huge network of internet software pirates known as drink or die have been convicted at the old bailey. bbc news investigates how the network worked and what motivated those involved. they called themselves drink or die (dod). they were a network of computer buffs who derived pleasure from cracking codes protecting copyrighted software such as windows 95. they would then share it with each other. there is no suggestion any of them profited financially. but the authorities in both britain and the united states considered it software piracy and took a dim view of networks such as dod one of a number of so-called warez organisations operating on the internet. in october 2000 the us customs service began an investigation into dod and other networks such as razor 1911 risciso myth and popz. fourteen months later us customs co-ordinated a series of raids across the globe as part of operation buccaneer. seventy search warrants were executed in the us britain australia norway sweden and finland. at least 60 people were arrested worldwide - 45 of them in the us. among the leaders of the network were americans john sankus - known by his internet nickname eriflleh (hellfire spelt backwards) - richard berry kent kartadinata and christopher tresco who used a server based at the prestigious massachusetts institute of technology (mit). the longest jail sentence - 46 months - was handed down to sankus a 28-year-old from philadelphia. us attorney paul mcnulty said at the time: john sankus and his techno-gang operated in the faceless world of the internet and thought they would never be caught. they were wrong. these sentences and those to follow should send a message to others entertaining similar beliefs of invincibility. but one man still in legal limbo is british-born australian hew raymond griffiths who is still fighting against extradition to the us. us customs claimed mr griffiths was one of dod s leaders but his lawyer antony townsden told the bbc news website it was a laughable suggestion and added: he was living on welfare and had such an old computer that he couldn t even download software. the allegation that he was the group s co-leader is illusory. he had the least technical skills of anyone he couldn t crack any codes and he has only been called a leader because he was a loudmouth who wrote a lot on their messageboard. mr townsden said if he had committed any crimes he should be prosecuted in australia not the us. he claimed the australian government s decision to accept the extradition request was typical of their current acquiescent attitude to the us. mr griffiths is expecting to hear this week the outcome of his appeal against the decision to extradite him. those involved would give themselves internet aliases which would act in the same way as tags used by graffiti artists. they could then brag about their code-cracking abilities without giving away their real identities. alex bell whose trial at the old bailey ended on friday was known as mr 2940 - after a computer device - while his co-defendant steven dowd s nickname curiously was tim. a spokesman for us immigration customs and enforcement dean boyd said dod did not appear to be motivated by money. their motivation was the kudos which surrounded being able to crack sophisticated software. he told the bbc news website: primarily they were just interested in how fast they could crack the code. it was all about underground notoriety. but mr boyd pointed out that once the software had been distributed on the internet it fell into the hands of organised criminals who were able to mass produce pirated software at zero cost. it cost us industries a lot of money billions of dollars he said. mr boyd said: it was truly global in scope. we raided a number of universities including duke (in north carolina) and mit and found that several of the people involved were employed by major computer corporations. they would go home from work in the evenings and get involved in this warez culture. warez groups which began to surface in the early 1990s operate according to a strict code of honour. for example if one group cracked the software first its rivals would respect that achievement and not seek to claim it themselves. mr boyd said the destruction of dod was a great coup but he added: i m not going to sit here and say we have sorted the problem. there are still hackers and people who do this for fun. internet piracy of computer software remains a gigantic problem. a spokesman for the business software alliance said: dod members claim they did not profit at all. but they did profit by getting access to very expensive servers. he said dod and other warez groups were fostering a culture of piracy on the internet. he said 29% of computer software in britain was believed to have been pirated and this cost £1bn in revenue for software companies their suppliers and distributors. it may seem like a victimless crime but it touches more people than you might care to believe.

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.

church anger over bollywood film roman catholic organisations in india have demanded the withdrawal of a film that depicts a priest having an affair with a girl half his age. indian television channels are now refusing to run the promotional material for the film sins ahead of its release on friday. the director of the film vinod pande says the movie is not offensive and has refused to withdraw it. catholics are planning a protest in mumbai (bombay) on wednesday. the president of one of mumbai s main catholic organisations dolphy d souza says the portrayal of an ordained priest as a man of loose moral character has hurt the religious sentiments of india s catholic community. he called the film pornographic and sensational . mr d souza who is also the vice-president of the catholics national body has accused the director of the film of portraying a priest in bad light for commercial gains. catholics have urged mr pande to withdraw the film to show respect to the christian community s hurt sentiments. religion needs to be a personal affair and should not be a subject for entertainment or for commercial use joseph dias general secretary of the catholic secular forum said in a statement. but mr pande said that if the critics were to see the film they would not protest against it and would not insist on its withdrawal. he says he has no plans to cancel the film ahead of its scheduled screening on friday. it s about forbidden love. there was no agenda whatsoever to hurt anyone he said. the bbc s zubair ahmed in mumbai says that the controversial film shows a priest in steamy scenes with a girl half his age. she apparently goes to him for help but he falls in love with her. it takes place in the picturesque southern indian state of kerala. the film has already been cleared by the censor board with an a (adults only) certificate. mr d souza says he is shocked at the censor board s decision to clear the film. our correspondent says that india s tv channels have so far refused to be dragged into the controversy and have not screened the film s promotional material. most of the catholic community s anger has come after watching newspaper advertisements and hoardings of the film. christians make up about two per cent of india s population of more than a billion people.

microsoft sets sights on spyware windows users could soon be paying microsoft to keep pcs free of spyware. following the takeover of anti-spyware firm giant microsoft said it would soon release a toolkit that strips machines of the irritating programs. although initially free microsoft has not ruled out charging people who want to keep this toolkit up to date. surveys show that almost every windows pc is infested with spyware programs that do everything from bombard users with adverts to steal login data. microsoft said that a beta version of the toolkit to clean up windows machines should be available within 30 days. designed for pcs running windows 2000 and xp the utility will clean out spyware programs constantly monitor what happens on a pc and will be regularly updated to catch the latest variants. before now many of microsoft s other security boosting programs such as the firewall in windows xp have been given away free. but mike nash vice president in microsoft s security business unit said it was still working out pricing and licensing issues. charging for future versions has not been discounted he said. we ll come up with a plan and roll that out he said. the plan could turn out to be a lucrative one for microsoft. a recent survey by earthlink and webroot found that 90% of pcs are infested with the surreptitious software and that on average each one is harbouring 28 separate spyware programs. currently users wanting protection from spyware have turned to free programs such as spybot and ad-aware. spyware comes in many forms and at its most benign exploits lazy browsing habits to install itself and subject users to unwanted adverts. other forms hijack net browser settings to force people to view pages they would otherwise never visit. at its most malign spyware watches everything that people do with their pc and steals login information and other personal data. microsoft s announcement about spyware comes after it bought small new york software firm giant company software. terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

casual gaming to take off games aimed at casual players are set to be even bigger in 2005 according to industry experts. easy-to-play titles that do not require too much time and that are playable online or downloadable to mobile devices will see real growth in the coming year. the trend shows that gaming is not just about big-hitting games console titles which appeal more to hardcore gamers said a panel of experts. they were speaking before the annual consumer electronics show in las vegas which showcases the latest trends in gadgets and technologies for 2005. the panel also insisted that casual gamers were not just women a common misconception which pervades current thinking about gamer demographics. casual games like poker pool bridge bingo and puzzle-based titles which can be played online or downloaded onto mobile devices were gender neutral and different genres attracted different players. greg mills program director at aol said its figures suggested that sports-based games attracted 90% of 18 to 24-year-old males while puzzle games were played by 80% of females. games like bridge tended to attract the over-50 demographic of gamers. but hardcore gamers who are more attracted to blockbuster gamers which usually require hi-spec pcs like half-life 2 or halo 2 on xbox also liked to have a different type of gaming experience. when hardcore gamers are not playing halo they are playing poker and pool based on our research said geoff graber director of yahoo games which attracts about 12 million gamers a month. with the growth of powerful pc technology and ownership broadband take-up portable players and mobile devices as well as interactive tv casual gaming is shaping up to be big business in 2005 according to the panel. the focus for the coming year should be about attracting third-party developers into the field to offer more innovative and multiplayer titles they agreed. we are at a time where we are on the verge of something much bigger said mr graber. casual games will get into their stride in 2005 will be really big in 2006 and will be about community. with more people finding more to do with their gadgets and high-speed connections casual games would start to open up the world of gaming as a form of mass-market entertainment to more people. key to these types of titles is the chance they give people who may not see themselves as gamers to dip in and out of games when they liked. portal sites which offer casual games like aol yahoo and realarcade as well as other games-on-demand services allow people to build up buddy lists so they can return and play against the same people. this aspect of community is crucial for gamers who just want to have quick access to free or cheap games without committing long periods of time immersed in £30 to £40 console or pc titles said the panel. about 120 000 people are expected to attend the ces trade show which stretches over more than 1.5 million square feet and which officially runs from 6 to 9 january. the main theme is how new devices are getting better at talking to each other allowing people to enjoy digital content like audio video and images when they want and where they want.

rapper jay-z becomes label boss rap star jay-z is to become a record company executive after being put in charge of one of hip-hop s most influential labels def jam. jay-z who said he would make no more music after 2003 s the black album will become the company s president and chief executive from january. def jam s parent company universal made the appointment after buying jay-z s roc-a-fella label. def jam s artists include ll cool j dmx ludacris ja rule and ashanti. jay-z will continue to run roc-a-fella which he founded with damon dash in 1995 and has kanye west and beanie sigel on its roster. universal said on wednesday it had bought the 50% of roc-a-fella it did not already own. antonio la reid chairman of the island def jam music group said: i can think of no-one more relevant and credible in the hip-hop community to build upon def jam s fantastic legacy. he hoped jay-z would move the company into its next groundbreaking era he added. jay-z real name shawn carter said: i have inherited two of the most important brands in hip-hop def jam and roc-a-fella. i feel this is a giant step for me and the entire artist community. one of the most successful and respected rap stars of the last eight years jay-z s hits have included hard knock life dirt off your shoulder and 03 bonnie and clyde with his girlfriend beyonce knowles. he said he would retire after the black album but has just released an album and been on an ill-fated tour with r kelly. def jam was founded in 1984 by russell simmons and producer rick rubin and signed artists including run-dmc the beastie boys and public enemy.

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.

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.

mcdonald s boss bell dies aged 44 charlie bell the straight-talking former head of fast-food giant mcdonald s has died of cancer aged 44. mr bell was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in may last year a month after taking over the top job. he resigned in november to fight the illness. joining the company as a 15-year-old part-time worker mr bell quickly moved through its ranks becoming australia s youngest store manager at 19. a popular go-getter he is credited with helping revive mcdonald s sales. mr bell leaves a wife and daughter. as we mourn his passing i ask you to keep charlie s family in your hearts and prayers chief executive james skinner said in a statement. and remember that in his abbreviated time on this earth charlie lived life to the fullest. no matter what cards life dealt charlie stayed centred on his love for his family and for mcdonald s. after running the company s australian business in the 1990s mr bell moved to the us in 1999 to run operations in asia africa and the middle east. in 2001 he took over the reins in europe mcdonald s second most important market. he became chief operating officer and president in 2002. mr bell took over as chief executive after his predecessor as ceo jim cantalupo died suddenly of a heart attack in april. having worked closely with mr cantalupo who came out of retirement to turn mcdonald s around mr bell focused on boosting demand at existing restaurants rather than follow a policy of rapid expansion. he had promised not to let the company get fat dumb and happy and according to reuters once told analysts that he would shove a fire hose down the throat of competitors if he saw them drowning. mr bell oversaw mcdonald s i m lovin it advertising campaign and introduced successes such as mccafe now the biggest coffee shop brand in australia and new zealand. colleagues said that mr bell was proud of his humble beginnings helping out behind cash tills and clearing tables when visiting restaurants.

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.

umbro profits lifted by euro 2004 uk sportswear firm umbro has posted a 222% rise in annual profit after sales of replica england football kits were boosted by the euro 2004 tournament. pre-tax profit for 2004 was £15.4m ($29.4m). umbro which recently lost sponsorship deals with chelsea and celtic said on thursday it had signed a new four-year agreement with scottish club rangers. it hopes 2005 sales will benefit from the launch of a new england replica shirt ahead of the 2006 world cup. in january umbro announced its sponsorship agreement with chelsea which gave umbro the lucrative right to make replica shirts would end in 2006 five years earlier than expected. the firm which is to receive a payment from chelsea of £24.5m said it is appraising a number of additional investment opportunities as a result of this compensation . chief executive peter mcguigan said the firm plans to grow sales both in the uk and internationally. the firm reporting its first annual results since listing on the london stock exchange in june said the uk market had seen sales growth of 8% last year. it said the launch of its evolution x fashion range had boosted sales. umbro supplies more than 150 teams across the world including the national sides of ireland sweden and norway. shares in umbro were up 1.76% at 115.5 pence in morning trade.

blair stresses prosperity goals tony blair says his party s next manifesto will be unremittingly new labour and aimed at producing personal prosperity for all . the prime minister is trying to draw a line under speculation over the state of his relationship with gordon brown with the speech in chatham kent. he is saying that prosperity means both individual wealth and ensuring radically improved public services. he is also claiming labour is more ideologically united than ever. mr brown is currently touring africa after a week of facing questions about reports of his splits with downing street. with the election widely predicted for may angry labour mps this week warned mr blair and mr brown about the dangers of disunity. now mr blair is trying to put the focus on the substance of labour s platform for a third term in government. labour made low inflation unemployment and mortgage rates the centrepiece of a new poster campaign this week. and on thursday mr blair is saying: i want to talk about the central purpose ofnew labour - which is to increase personal prosperity and well-being not justfor a few but for all. by prosperity i mean both the income and wealth of individuals and theirfamilies and the opportunity and security available to them through radicallyimproved public services and a reformed welfare state. the tories are trying to capitalise on the apparent feud at the top of government. on wednesday they unveiled a poster which pictured the prime minister and mr brown under the words how can they fight crime when they are fighting each other michael howard and frontbencher john redwood on thursday launched new plans to abolish hundreds of quangos. they say government is spending too much and lower taxes are needed to make britain more competitive. the liberal democrats have also claimed infighting its obstructing good government. the latest speculation about relations between new labour s two most powerful figures came after the publication of a new book brown s britain by robert preston. in it he alleges that mr blair told mr brown in 2003 he would step down as prime minister before the coming general election. the book claims the premier went back on his pledge after support from cabinet allies and suspicion that mr brown was manoeuvring against him. mr peston s book claimed that mr brown told mr blair: there is nothing you could ever say to me now that i could ever believe. on wednesday mr blair directly denied mr brown made that quote and before he left for africa on tuesday the chancellor told reporters: of course i trust the prime minister.

stars pay tribute to actor davis hollywood stars including spike lee burt reynolds and oscar nominee alan alda have paid tribute to actor ossie davis at a funeral in new york. veteran star ossie davis a well-known civil rights activist died in miami at the age of 87 on 4 february 2005. friends and family including actress ruby dee his wife of 56 years gathered at the riverside church on saturday. also present at the service was former us president bill clinton and singer harry belafonte who gave the eulogy. he would have been a very good president of the united states said mr clinton. like most of you here he gave more to me than i gave to him. the 87-year-old was found dead last weekend in his hotel room in florida where he was making a film. police said that he appeared to have died of natural causes. davis made his acting debut in 1950 in no way out starring sidney poiter. he frequently collaborated with director spike lee starring in seven lee films including jungle fever do the right thing and malcolm x. attallah shabazz the daughter of activist malcolm x recalled the famous eulogy delivered by davis at her father s funeral. harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its finest hopes she said quoting the man she knew as uncle ossie. ditto. ossie was my hero and he still is said aviator star alan alda a family friend for over forty years. ossie was a thing of beauty. i want so badly someday to have his dignity - a little of it anyway added burt reynolds davis s co-star in the 90s tv comedy evening shade. before the midday funeral scores of harlem residents formed a queue outside the church to pay their respects to davis. it is hard to fathom that we will no longer be able to call on his wisdom his humour his loyalty and his moral strength to guide us in the choices that are yet to be made and the battles that are yet to be fought said belafonte himself an ardent civil rights activist who had been friends with davis for over 60 years. but how fortunate we were to have him as long as we did.

ten-year tragedy of missing manic richey edwards guitarist and lyricist for the manic street preachers vanished 10 years ago on 1 february 1995. his disappearance remains one of the most tragic mysteries in rock music. for his devoted fans richey edwards was an inspired and inspiring poet a man who articulated their desperation and despair who shouted the things most kept hidden. the manic street preachers may only have become stadium-conquering rock giants since his disappearance - but edwards was the figurehead for their first dangerous and dazzling incarnation. edwards did not feature in the original line-up of the band though. singer/guitarist james dean bradfield bassist nicky wire and drummer sean moore were originally accompanied by a rhythm guitarist called flicker. but edwards replaced flicker in time for the band s self-financed debut suicide alley after designing the record s artwork. after becoming a full-time member edwards became a critical part of the band writing lyrics and playing guitar - though in many concerts he was not actually plugged in. but the fiercely intelligent edwards - who name-checked writers such as sylvia plath george orwell and philip larkin - battled depression alcohol problems eating disorders and self-harm. by the time the band released their third album the holy bible in october 1994 edwards had been admitted to hospital with depression. but in his last interview a few months later seemed to be making plans for the future. edwards walks out of the embassy hotel in london in the early morning ahead of the band s us tour to promote the holy bible. in the following days police issue a missing person alert and his parents graham and sherry plead for their son to let them know he is safe and well. police discover edwards car in a car park near the severn bridge near bristol - a notorious suicide spot. the discovery leads many to believe he has killed himself. the rest of the band stop touring and recording. the band play their first concerts since edwards disappearance as a trio performing support slots for the stone roses on their uk stadium tour. the manic street preachers release their first music since edwards disappearance. a design for life reaches number two in the uk singles chart. the album everything must go follows. the manics win best band and best album for everything must go at the brit awards. a fan says she saw edwards in the hippy resort of goa india. interpol are alerted but do not track him down. graham and sherry edwards fly to the spanish island of fuerteventura six weeks after reports a man fitting their son s description has been seen in a bar called underground. the report comes to nothing. edwards sister rachel makes an emotional tv appeal five years after the disappearance. i d just like to say to him if he is able to listen that we do love him very much and we d like him to come back - me mum and dad she said. the band play a concert in the cuban capital havana - the first contemporary western rock band to play there. on the seventh anniversary of his disappearance police offer edwards parents the opportunity to sign a death certificate. they refuse. the big issue magazine which supports homelessness charities prints the last known picture of edwards in a fresh plea for information. a pair of trainers containing human bones washed up on the banks of the river severn have no link to edwards police say. the last song written by edwards - a song called judge y self which was to have been used for the judge dredd film soundtrack - is released on the b-side compilation lipstick traces. a skeleton found by the river severn is not edwards tests reveal. the manics seventh studio album lifeblood features a song dedicated to edwards called cardiff afterlife. the remaining manic street preachers members continue to pay a quarter of the band s royalties into an account held in his name.

bank holds interest rate at 4.75% the bank of england has left interest rates on hold again at 4.75% in a widely-predicted move. rates went up five times from november 2003 - as the bank sought to cool the housing market and consumer debt - but have remained unchanged since august. recent data has indicated a slowdown in manufacturing and consumer spending as well as in mortgage approvals. and retail sales disappointed over christmas with analysts putting the drop down to less consumer confidence. rising interest rates and the accompanying slowdown in the housing market have knocked consumers optimism causing a sharp fall in demand for expensive goods according to a report earlier this week from the british retail consortium. the brc said britain s retailers had endured their worst christmas in a decade. today s no change decision is correct said david frost director general of the british chambers of commerce (bcc). but if there are clear signs that the economy slows the mpc should be ready to take quick corrective action and cut rates. dismal reports from the retail trade about christmas sales are worrying if they indicate a more general weakening in consumer spending. mr frost added: the housing market outlook remains highly uncertain. it is widely accepted that if house prices start falling more sharply the risks facing the economy will worsen considerably. cbi chief economist ian mccafferty said the economy had slowed in recent months in response to rate rises but that it was difficult to gauge from the christmas period the likely pace of activity through the summer. the bank is having to juggle the emergence of inflationary pressures driven by a tight labour market and buoyant commodity prices against the risk of an over-abrupt slowdown in consumer activity he said. interest rates are likely to remain on hold for some time. on thursday there was more gloomy news on the manufacturing front as the office for national (ons) statistics revealed british manufacturing output unexpectedly fell in november - for the fifth month in the past six. the ons said manufacturing output dropped 0.1% in november matching a similar unrevised fall in october and confounding economists expectations of a 0.3% rise. manufacturers organisation the eef said it expected the hold in interest rates to continue in the near future. it also said there was evidence that manufacturers confidence may be waning as the outlook for the world economy becomes more uncertain. so far the evidence suggests that last year s rate increases have helped to rebalance the economy without damaging the recovery in manufacturing said eef chief economist steve radley. however should the business outlook start to deteriorate the bank should stand ready to cut rates. some economists have predicted rates will drop later in the year although others feel the bank may still think there is a need for a rise to 5% before that happens. the bank remains concerned about the long-term risks posed by personal debt - which is rising at 15% a year - if economic conditions worsen.

concerns at school diploma plan final appeals are being made for the government not to ditch the reform plan for england s secondary schools put forward by the tomlinson report. the government s response to the plan for a four-tier diploma to replace all existing 14-19 qualifications is expected next week. some are worried it could be scuppered if as tony blair and ruth kelly have suggested gcses and a-levels stay. sir mike tomlinson himself was briefed only this week. he is said to be feeling more comfortable about what the government is likely to say than if he had read only what was in newspapers in the earlier part of the week. but the government was said to be still rewriting its response on friday. it will be a tragedy if the government comes through with a half-hearted response said the chairman of the commons education select committee labour mp barry sheerman. his main concern was the reports that there would be a diploma - but only to replace existing vocational qualifications. we must tackle head-on the structural mess that is our secondary education system he wrote in the times educational supplement. it is not the case that the academic stream in secondary is fine while the vocational route is desperately weak. the qualifications and curriculum authority (qca) has also told the government not to compromise . the qca said the potential step-change in participation and attainment lay in the integrity of the whole diploma. any partial implementation of the proposals would in our view compromise that integrity said its chairman sir anthony greener. it is a sign of the qca s concern that its advice went to ministers last december but was publicised only recently. but people understand that a white paper response is government policy and has to command wider ministerial support than if it were coming only from the department for education and skills. they may be content if it does not close too many doors in writing - whatever spin is put on it. the chief inspector of schools david bell also said recently that gcses and a-levels should go. one of the reasons why i m so strongly in favour of these terms disappearing over time is that it s good for the symbols of change to be seen right across the system he said. if we don t say this is a sea-change in education we will miss a great opportunity. universities and head teachers in both the independent and state sectors have also backed the tomlinson proposals which include having higher grades at advanced level to differentiate between the brightest students. a note of concern has been expressed repeatedly by the employers organisation the cbi which complains of a lack of skills. in an attempt to address this the tomlinson plan is for tests in functional maths and literacy - decidedly not gcses. it has been suggested the government will take steps of some sort to meet firms concerns on this score. another dissenter is sir mike tomlinson s predecessor as chief schools inspector professor chris woodhead who has said there is no need for such a massive upheaval . the conservative party has put forward plans to revert to a system of having only the brightest percentage of students each year getting the top a-level grade no matter how well the others have done.

radcliffe enjoys winning comeback paula radcliffe made a triumphant return to competitive running with victory in the new york marathon. the briton running for the first time since dropping out of the olympic marathon and 10 000m held off kenyan susan chepkemei in a thrilling finish. the pair were locked together for the last few miles before radcliffe finally sprinted clear to win in two hours 23 minutes and 10 seconds. it s a good way to end the year she said. i m ready for a good rest now. radcliffe decided only recently to run in the race and many had doubted whether she had sufficiently recovered from her olympic ordeal just 11 weeks ago. but the world record-holder was prominent at the head of the field for the whole race as her rivals slowly dropped off the pace. just chepkemei and radcliffe were left in contention as the race came into the final few miles. the kenyan put in several bursts of speed to throw off radcliffe but the briton managed to hang in. both runners looked to be suffering as they reached the final mile in central park. but it was radcliffe who managed to dredge up a final sprint to see off chepkemei in the closest finish in the race s history and in the process make a huge step in erasing the disappointment she suffered in athens.

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.

asian quake hits european shares shares in europe s leading reinsurers and travel firms have fallen as the scale of the damage wrought by tsunamis across south asia has become apparent. more than 23 000 people have been killed following a massive underwater earthquake and many of the worst hit areas are popular tourist destinations. reisurance firms such as swiss re and munich re lost value as investors worried about rebuilding costs. but the disaster has little impact on stock markets in the us and asia. currencies including the thai baht and indonesian rupiah weakened as analysts warned that economic growth may slow. it came at the worst possible time said hans goetti a singapore-based fund manager. the impact on the tourist industry is pretty devastating especially in thailand. travel-related shares dropped in europe with companies such as germany s tui and lufthansa and france s club mediterranne sliding. insurers and reinsurance firms were also under pressure in europe. shares in munich re and swiss re - the world s two biggest reinsurers - both fell 1.7% as the market speculated about the cost of rebuilding in asia. zurich financial allianz and axa also suffered a decline in value. however their losses were much smaller reflecting the market s view that reinsurers were likely to pick up the bulk of the costs. worries about the size of insurance liabilities dragged european shares down although the impact was exacerbated by light post-christmas trading. germany s benchmark dax index closed the day 16.29 points lower at 3.817.69 while france s cac index of leading shares fell 5.07 points to 3.817.69. investors pointed out however that declines probably would be industry specific with the travel and insurance firms hit hardest. it s still too early for concrete damage figures swiss re s spokesman floiran woest told associated press. that also has to do with the fact that the damage is very widely spread geographically. the unfolding scale of the disaster in south asia had little immediate impact on us shares however. the dow jones index had risen 20.54 points or 0.2% to 10 847.66 by late morning as analsyts were cheered by more encouraging reports from retailers about post-christmas sales. in asian markets adjustments were made quickly to account for lower earnings and the cost of repairs. thai airways shed almost 4%. the country relies on tourism for about 6% of its total economy. singapore airlines dropped 2.6%. about 5% of singapore s annual gross domestic product (gdp) comes from tourism. malaysia s budget airline airasia fell 2.9%. resort operator tanco holdings slumped 5%. travel companies also took a hit with japan s kinki nippon sliding 1.5% and his dropping 3.3%. however the overall impact on asia s largest stock market japan s nikkei was slight. shares fell just 0.03%. concerns about the strength of economic growth going forward weighed on the currency markets. the indonesian rupiah lost as much as 0.6% against the us dollar before bouncing back slightly to trade at 9 300. the thai baht lost 0.3% against the us currency trading at 39.10. in india where more than 2 000 people are thought to have died the rupee shed 0.1% against the dollar analysts said that it was difficult to predict the total cost of the disaster and warned that share prices and currencies would come under increasing pressure as the bills mounted.

uk troops on ivory coast standby downing street has confirmed british troops are on standby in case they need to help evacuate several hundred uk citizens from ivory coast. the news came as it emerged france had begun evacuating its hostages after days of anti-french demonstrations. trouble flared after nine french peacekeepers were killed and president jacques chirac ordered the destruction of the ivory coast s air force. a company of 100-120 uk troops is understood to have been put on standby. they are ready to fly out and secure the route from the embassy to the airport if called upon. prime minister tony blair s official spokesman said: there are british nationals in ivory coast and as you can imagine we are making the usual contingency plans in case the situation deteriorates further but that s all i can say at this stage. he added the situation would be monitored carefully in case evacuation became necessary. france has played a lead role in international peacekeeping in ivory coast - a former colony - after president laurent gbagbo broke an 18-month ceasefire with rebels bombing their positions and killing the nine french soldiers. the decision to destroy the african nation s small air force prompted riots against french and other foreign nationals. the spanish have already put their forces on standby to evacuate their nationals if necessary.

ministers naive over phone-taps the government is being naive by refusing to allow phone-tap evidence in court a senior eu politician says. javier solana eu foreign policy chief says phone-tap evidence works in the courts of other european countries. human rights groups top police officers and many mps say allowing the evidence would remove the need to detain terror suspects without charge. but home secretary charles clarke says the evidence would not make much difference to these cases. mr solana told itv1 s jonathan dimbleby programme: [phone-tap evidence in court] works it is normal that it is done it would be naive not to do it. it would be naive not to use this technological thing that we have at our disposal. mr solana s comments come the day after sir ian blair the newly-appointed metropolitan police commissioner said he was in favour of phone-tap evidence. under the anti-terrorism crimes and security act 2001 foreign terror suspects can be detained in british jails without trial or charge. several suspects have been detained under these powers because evidence against them was deemed too sensitive to be heard in court. some of this evidence is believed to be telephone intercepts. human rights group liberty has argued that if intercept evidence could be heard these detainees could be brought to trial. but critics of phone-tap trials say the evidence is often weak and can expose the methods of the security services. the home secretary says intercepts would not make much difference because cases against terror suspects frequently rely on other kinds of surveillance. but mr clarke has been forced to change the regime of detention without trial after law lords ruled it illegal. he has opted for a system of control orders whereby suspects both british and foreign can be held under house arrest or surveillance. these orders will again involve a uk opt-out of parts of the european convention on human rights. while accepting that people have to be prepared for a possible terrorist attack mr solana said he had qualms about the home secretary s new plans. we have to fight terrorism with all our means but not so far as to change our way of life he said.

bryan twins keep us hopes alive the united states kept the davis cup final alive with victory in saturday s doubles rubber leaving spain 2-1 ahead going into the final day. masters cup champions mike and bob bryan thrashed juan carlos ferrero and tommy robredo 6-0 6-3 6-2 in front of a partisan crowd in seville. victory would have given spain the title but they were outclassed. in sunday s reverse singles carlos moya takes on andy roddick before rafael nadal faces mardy fish. it feels good but it s not going to be as good if we don t win two tomorrow said mike bryan. it feels good to give those guys another shot and spain has to go to sleep on that. bob bryan added: i m really confident in andy winning that first match and then anything can happen. spain coach jordi arrese chose to rest 18-year-old nadal in the doubles after his epic singles win over roddick on friday. he was replaced by former world number one ferrero but the spanish pair were out of their depth against one of the world s best doubles teams. the 26-year-old bryan twins have won all four of their davis cup matches this year. and they quickly silenced the huge crowd at the olympic stadium racing through the opening set to love. the spaniards then twice surrendered breaks of serve at the start of the second before the bryans broke to go 5-3 ahead and served out. when robredo dropped serve in the opening game of the third set the match was all but over and the unflappable bryan brothers powered on to an impressive win. ferrero who was upset to be dropped for friday s singles hinted at further dissatisfaction after the defeat. it was a difficult game against the best doubles players he said. they have everything calculated and we had very little to do. i was a bit surprised that i was named to play the doubles match because i hardly play doubles. arrese said: juan carlos hasn t played at all badly. he played the right way but the bryans are great doubles players.

robots march to us cinema summit animated movie robots has opened at the top of the us and canada box office chart taking $36.5m (£19m) on its first weekend on release. featuring the voices of ewan mcgregor halle berry robin williams and mel brooks robots follows a robot inventor who moves to a big city. vin diesel s family comedy the pacifier fell to the number two spot taking $18.1m (£9.4m). new bruce willis movie hostage opened at number four with $9.8m (£5.1m). however a recut version of mel gibson s the passion of the christ which featured less violence than last year s original movie took just $239 850 (£125 000) despite opening in 957 cinemas. the new version of the film received little publicity and the original version is available across the us on dvd. we certainly had higher expectations than what we got said rob schwartz head of distribution for newmarket films which released the passion of the christ. we were trying to get the film out there hoping it would reach an audience that it didn t quite reach the first time around. it doesn t seem to have worked out quite as well as we had hoped. meanwhile will smith comedy hitch has become the top film at the global box office after taking an estimated $30.1m (£15.6m) over the weekend at cinemas outside north america according to industry website screen daily. it has taken $65.5m (£34.1m) so far buoyed by opening at number one in the uk last weekend and a successful run in germany. the movie which cost a reported $70m (£36.4m) to make has taken $138m (£72m) in the us so far.

musical future for phones analyst bill thompson has seen the future and it is in his son s hands. i bought my son max a 3g phone partly because they are so cheap and he needed a phone and partly because i am supposed to know about the latest technology and thought i should see how they work in real life. after using it for a while i am not at all tempted to get rid of my sonyericsson p800 smart phone. that has a relatively large screen even if it does only have slower gprs access to the network. i can read my e-mail surf the web using a proper browser and write stuff using the stylus on its touch screen. last week someone e-mailed me a document that had been compressed into a zip file and i was pleasantly surprised to discover that my phone even knew how to decompress it for me. by contrast the confusing menus complicated keyboard and truly irritating user interface of max s 3g phone simply get in the way and i did not see much value in the paid-for services especially the limited web access. the videos of entertainment news horoscopes and the latest celebrity gossip did not appeal and i did not see how the small screen could be useful for any sort of image never mind micro-tv. but then max started playing and i realised i was missing the point entirely. it is certainly not a great overall experience but that is largely due to the poor menu system and the phone layout: the video content itself is compelling. the quality was at least as good as the video streaming from the bbc website and the image is about the same size. max was completely captivated and i was intrigued to discover that i had nearly missed the next stage of the network revolution. it is easy to be dismissive of small screens and indeed anyone of my generation with failing eyesight and the view that there s never anything worth watching on tv is hardly going to embrace these phones. but just as the world wide web was the killer application that drove internet adoption music videos are going to drive 3g adoption. with vodafone now pushing its own 3g service and 3 already established in the uk video on the phone is clearly going to become a must-have for kids sitting on the school bus adults waiting outside clubs and anyone who has time to kill and a group of friends to impress. this will please the network operators who are looking for some revenue from their expensively acquired 3g licences. but it goes deeper than that: playing music videos on a phone marks the beginning of a move away from the download and play model we have all accepted for our ipods and mp3 players. after all why should i want to carry 60gb of music and pictures around with me in my pocket when i can simply listen to anything i want whenever i want streamed to my phone oh - and of course you can always use the phone to make voice calls and send texts something which ensures that it is always in someone s pocket or handbag available for other uses too. i have never really approved of using the internet protocol (ip) to do either audio or video streaming and i think that technically it is a disaster to make phone calls over the net using voice over ip . but i have to acknowledge that the net at least here in the developed western countries is fast and reliable enough to do both. i stream radio to my computer while i work and enjoy hearing the bizarre stations from around the world that i can find online but nowhere else. i am even playing with internet telephony despite my reservations and i appear on go digital on the world service streamed over the web each week. but 3g networks have been designed to do this sort of streaming both for voice and video which gives them an edge over net-based ip services. the 3g services aren t quite there yet and there is a lot to be sorted out when it comes to web access and data charges. vodafone will let you access its services on vodafone live! as part of your subscription cost but it makes you pay by the megabyte to download from other sites - this one for example. this will not matter to business users but will distort the consumer market and keep people within the phone company s collection of partner sites something that should perhaps be worrying telecoms regulator ofcom. but we should not see these new phones simply as cut-down network terminals. if i want fast access to my e-mail i can get a 3g card for my laptop or hook up to a wireless network. the phone is a lot more and it is as a combination of mini-tv personal communications device and music/video player that it really works. there is certainly room in the technology ecosystem for many different sorts of devices accessing a wide range of services over different networks. 3g phones and ipods can co-exist at least for a while but if i had to bet on the long term i would go for content on demand over carrying gigabytes in my pocket. or perhaps some enterprising manufacturer will offer me both. an mp3g player anyone bill thompson is a regular commentator on the bbc world service programme go digital.

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.

neeson in bid to revive theatre hollywood film star liam neeson has held a dinner party in new york to promote belfast s lyric theatre. the ballymena-born actor said that the theatre on ridgeway street was in a very dilapidated condition . lyric chairman david johnston has said that rebuilding the theatre at a cost of £8m is the only answer. mr neeson said that the idea was to get a bunch of healthy wealthy irish americans in one room and ask them to help with fundraising. the oscar-nominated actor whose films include schindler s list michael collins and star wars: the phantom menace said: the lyric is too important to the cultural and social life of northern ireland for this building to crumble and fall apart. it gave me a start professionally. mary o malley the founder of the theatre gave me my future. in those days in the mid-70s when i was there we were doing a play every four weeks. belfast was not a pretty town to be living in. there was serious trouble as you know but this theatre was like a belisha beacon of light and hope six nights a week doing everything from shakespeare to yeats to o casey with a group of actors and actresses that affected me very deeply and still do. the lyric began 50 years ago but the doors opened at its present site on the stranmillis embankment overlooking the river lagan in 1968. as well as liam neeson it also launched the careers of adrian dunbar and stephen rea and playwrights such as martin lynch and gary mitchell. speaking to bbc northern ireland before the event at new york s soho house mr neeson said that his spirit belonged to the glens of antrim. and he said that there was one figure from his childhood that he would love to portray on the big screen - ian paisley. he said that the dup leader and preacher was a very dynamic extraordinary figure . neeson used to listen to his sermons on a friday night in ballymena. he said: what an orator. he was from that old school of bible-thumping righteousness. but it was so dramatic. i found him very powerful. i d love to get a chance to play him some time.

india calls for fair trade rules india which attends the g7 meeting of seven leading industrialised nations on friday is unlikely to be cowed by its newcomer status. in london on thursday ahead of the meeting india s finance minister lashed out at the restrictive trade policies of the g7 nations. he objected to subsidies on agriculture that make it hard for developing nations like india to compete. he also called for reform of the united nations the world bank and the imf. palaniappan chidambaram india s finance minister argued that these organisations need to take into account the changing world order given india and china s integration into the global economy. he said the issue is not globalisation but the terms of engagement in globalisation. mr chidambaram is attending the g7 meeting as part of the g20 group of nations which account for two thirds of the world s population. at a conference on developing enterprise hosted by uk finance minister gordon brown on friday he said that he was in favour of floating exchange rates because they help countries cope with economic shocks. a flexible exchange rate is one more channel for absorbing both positive and negative shocks he told the conference. india along with china brazil south africa and russia has been invited to take part in the g7 meeting taking place in london on friday and saturday. china is expected to face renewed pressure to abandon its fixed exchange rate which g7 nations in particular the us have blamed for a surge in cheap chinese exports. some countries have tried to use fixed exchange rates. i do not wish to make any judgements mr chidambaram said. separately the imf warned on thursday that india s budget deficit was too large and would hamper the country s economic growth which it forecast to be around 6.5% in the year to march 2005. in the year to march 2004 the indian economy grew by 8.5%.

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.

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 .

davenport hits out at wimbledon world number one lindsay davenport has criticised wimbledon over the issue of equal prize money for women. reacting to a disputed comment by all england club chairman tim phillips the american said: i think it is highly insulting if prize money is taken away. somebody i think it was mr phillips said they won t have money for flowers at wimbledon. that s insulting. an all england club spokesperson denied phillips made the remark insisting: he definitely didn t say it. the statement added: it was said by someone else and was a humorous aside at the end of a radio interview when the conversation had moved to talking about the wimbledon grounds. davenport was speaking following the announcement that this week s dubai duty free event will join the us and australian opens in offering equal prize money for women. you hear about women playing only three sets while men play five said daveport. and the best women are never going to beat the best men. but it s a different game you go to watch with the women - it doesn t make it better or worse. hopefully we will be able to change people s minds. serena williams who is also in dubai added: i m obviously for equal prize money. women s tennis is exciting. men s tennis is exciting as well but the women have it right now. if you are bringing in the spectators you should be able to reap what everyone else is able to reap.

making your office work for you our mission to brighten up your working lives continues - and this time we re taking a long hard look at your offices. over the next few months our panel of experts will be listening to your gripes about where you work and suggesting ways to make your workspace more efficient more congenial or simply prettier. this week we re hearing from marianne petersen who is planning to convert a barn in sweden into a base for her freelance writing work. click on the link under her photograph to read her story and then scroll down to see what the panel have to say. and if you want to take part in the series go to the bottom of the story to find out how to get in touch. working from home presents a multitude of challenges. understanding your work personality allows you to work in terms of your own style. do you feel confident about your work output without conferring with others are you able to retain discipline and self motivate to get the job done do you build on the ideas of others - or are you a more introspective problem solver . in order for a virtual office to succeed keeping the boundary between work and home life is essential. it may be useful to be quite rigid about who is allowed to visit and to keep strict office hours. referring to the space as work will give those around you a clear message that this is professional space. it is imperative to consider how to bring the outside world into yours keeping up to date with developments and maintaining a network. isolated work environments mean this has to be carefully thought out and a strategy has to be developed that suits both your personality and your industry. joining professional groups or forming a loose association of like-minded people may assist. it is useful to structure these meetings in advance as often they get relegated to less important status when times are busy - with the danger that when the workload eases they have to be resurrected. prior to any interior work being undertaken it is essential to ensure that the roof and walls are made water-and-weather-tight and the structure is checked for stability. it appears that the roof trusses may need repairs and additional bracing. ideally the roof should be replaced with an outer material in keeping with the character and location of the barn. this would also allow for a well-insulated inner skin to be provided which should be light coloured. it is likely that the most efficient way of heating the building is with electricity. in order to provide this the owner will need to have an electrical engineer calculate the potential heating power and lighting load to make sure the mains supply and distribution capacity are adequate. ideally it would be good to have a mains water supply and some means of drainage for toilet and washing facilities. the walls should be dry lined with a single skin of plasterboard laid over rockwool slab which will allow good wall insulation and the power and lighting circuits to be concealed and the walls should be painted in a light colour. the owner mentions she might lay a new floor over the existing planks; this will improve the insulation and offer a level surface. i would suggest laying new oak veneer planks which can work in with the character of the barn. as for lighting consider a combination of floor mounted uplights wall lights (wall washers) and selected downlights. use a combination of mains voltage fluorescent fittings and dimmable units which can vary the light levels and the feel of the interior. please click on the link to the right here to see my ideas for marianne s barn. the layout of this office reflects the need to have a working area and a more relaxed meeting space. large desk space and extensive storage would combine with tub chairs to maximise the space available. the finishes chosen for the furniture will need to reflect the unusual setting while the lighting and temperature control mechanisms used will further influence the workplace. regarding accessing the internet via the connection in the main house your plan of going wireless is sensible. a wireless router/access point in the house with a wireless lan card in the pc in the renovated area may be sufficient. however important points to consider are the distance between the two buildings and the nature of the materials through which the signals have to pass which could result in a weak signal strength. you may require an additional wireless access point in the renovated area. your local it supplier will be able to advise on this. if you haven t already invested in robust firewall and anti-virus software it is essential to do so to protect your investment. to really take advantage of wireless technology you might consider a laptop computer and a docking station with external mouse and monitor. or you could use one of the new tablet computers which allow you to write directly on the screen and convert into text with built-in hand recognition software. and finally you will save money and space by considering a multi-function product for print scan copy and fax.

tv station refuses adoption show a tv station in the us has refused to show a controversial new series where adopted children try and pick their birth father - and win a cash prize. the wraz-tv fox affiliate in north carolina was the only one of 182 stations to refuse monday s show. who s your daddy promises $100 000 (£52 000) to the contestant if she correctly identifies her father. it was met with protests by the national council for adoption which said it exploits sensitive emotions. it exploits the sensitive emotions of adoption said thomas atwood president of the national council for adoption. it trivialises them. adoption is a very personal meaningful experience and it should not be commercialised like this. on the pre-taped programme the contestant is presented with eight men who may or may not be her natural father. if she picks the correct man from the line-up the contestant wins the jackpot prize of us$100 000 (£52 590). however if she picks the wrong man then the impostor takes the money. fox producers defended the show saying it was a positive experience . they have made six specials though only one episode has so far been broadcast. the special was thoroughly vetted by our standards and practices department to ensure that it was appropriate for broadcast said a fox spokesman. however any network affiliate that feels the programming may be inappropriate for their individual market has the right to pre-empt the schedule. wraz-tv instead chose to air an independently-produced film i have roots and branches... personal reflections on adoption a documentary about families with adopted children. we just don t think adoption is a game show said tommy schenck wraz-tv s general manager though he said his decision had not been influenced by public protests.

yahoo moves into desktop search internet giant yahoo has launched software to allow people to search e-mail and other files on their pcs. the firm is following in the footsteps of microsoft google and ask jeeves which have offered similar services. search has become a lucrative and hotly-contested area of expansion for net firms looking to extend loyalty beyond the web. with hard drives providing bigger storage users could need more help to locate important files such as photos. the desktop search technology has been licensed from a us-based firm x1 technologies. it is designed to work alongside microsoft s outlook and outlook express e-mail programs. searching e-mail effectively is becoming increasingly important especially as the amount of spam increases. according to research from message analysts the radicati group up to 45% of businesses critical information is stored in e-mail and attachments. yahoo s software can also work separately on the desktop searching for music photos and other files. users can search under a variety of criteria including file name size date and time. it doesn t yet incorporate web searching although yahoo has promised that future versions will allow users to search both web-based and desktop data. we are all getting more and more files on our desktop but the real commercial opportunity lies with linking this through to web content said julian smith an analyst with research firm jupiter. it is all about extending the idea of search and getting a closer relationship with consumers by organising not just how they search on the internet but the files on your computer as well he said. search engines are often the first port of call for users when they go onto the web. the new foray into desktop search has rung alarm bells for human rights groups concerned about the implications to privacy. and not everyone is impressed with the functionality of such services. alexander linden vice president of emerging technologies at analyst firm gartner downloaded the google product but has since removed it. it was just not very interesting he said. he believes the rush to enter the desktop business is just a way of keeping up with rivals. desktop search is just one of many features people would like but i m suspicious of its usefulness he said. more useful would be tools that can combine internet intranet and desktop search alongside improvements to key word searching he said.

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.

deutsche boerse set to woo lse bosses of deutsche boerse and the london stock exchange are to meet amid talk that a takeover bid for the lse will be raised to £1.5bn ($2.9bn). last month the german exchange tabled a 530 pence-per-share offer for lse valuing it at £1.3bn. paris-based euronext owner of liffe in london has also said it is interested in bidding for lse. euronext is due to hold talks with lse this week and it is reported to be ready to raise £1.4bn to fund a bid. euronext chief jean-francois theodore is scheduled to meet his lse counterpart clara furse on friday. deutsche boerse chief werner seifert is meeting ms furse on thursday in the third meeting between the two exchanges since the bid approach in december. the lse rejected deutsche boerse s proposed £1.3bn offer in december saying it undervalued the business. but it agreed to leave the door open for talks to find out whether a significantly-improved proposal would be in the interests of lse s shareholders and customers. in the meantime euronext which combines the paris amsterdam and lisbon stock exchanges also began talks with the lse. in a statement on thursday euronext said any offer was likely to be solely in cash but added that: there can be no assurances at this stage that any offer will be made. a deal with either bidder would create the biggest stock market operator in europe and the second biggest in the world after the new york stock exchange. according to the ft in its latest meeting deutsche boerse will adopt a charm offensive to woo the london exchange. the newspaper said the german suitor will offer to manage a combined cash and equities market out of london and let ms furse take the helm. other reports this week said the deutsche boerse might even consider selling its luxembourg-based clearstream unit - the clearing house that processes securities transactions. its ownership of clearstream was seen as the main stumbling block to a london-frankfurt merger. lse shareholders feared a deutsche boerse takeover would force them to use clearstream making it difficult for them to negotiate for lower transaction fees.

screensaver tackles spam websites net users are getting the chance to fight back against spam websites internet portal lycos has made a screensaver that endlessly requests data from sites that sell the goods and services mentioned in spam e-mail. lycos hopes it will make the monthly bandwidth bills of spammers soar by keeping their servers running flat out. the net firm estimates that if enough people sign up and download the tool spammers could end up paying to send out terabytes of data. we ve never really solved the big problem of spam which is that its so damn cheap and easy to do said malte pollmann spokesman for lycos europe. in the past we have built up the spam filtering systems for our users he said but now we are going to go one step further. we ve found a way to make it much higher cost for spammers by putting a load on their servers. by getting thousands of people to download and use the screensaver lycos hopes to get spamming websites constantly running at almost full capacity. mr pollmann said there was no intention to stop the spam websites working by subjecting them with too much data to cope with. he said the screensaver had been carefully written to ensure that the amount of traffic it generated from each user did not overload the web. every single user will contribute three to four megabytes per day he said about one mp3 file. but he said if enough people sign up spamming websites could be force to pay for gigabytes of traffic every single day. lycos did not want to use e-mail to fight back said mr pollmann. that would be fighting one bad thing with another bad thing he said. the sites being targeted are those mentioned in spam e-mail messages and which sell the goods and services on offer. typically these sites are different to those that used to send out spam e-mail and they typically only get a few thousand visitors per day. the list of sites that the screensaver will target is taken from real-time blacklists generated by organisations such as spamcop. to limit the chance of mistakes being made lycos is using people to ensure that the sites are selling spam goods. as these sites rarely use advertising to offset hosting costs the burden of high-bandwidth bills could make spam too expensive said mr pollmann. sites will also slow down under the weight of data requests. early results show that response times of some sites have deteriorated by up to 85%. users do not have to be registered users of lycos to download and use the screensaver. while working the screensaver shows the websites that are being bothered with requests for data. the screensaver is due to be launched across europe on 1 december and before now has only been trialled in sweden. despite the soft launch mr pollmann said that the screensaver had been downloaded more than 20 000 times in the last four days. there s a huge user demand to not only filter spam day-by-day but to do something more he said before now users have never had the chance to be a bit more offensive.

wales silent on grand slam talk rhys williams says wales are still not thinking of winning the grand slam despite a third six nations win. that s the last thing on our minds at the moment said williams a second- half replacement in saturday s 24-18 win over france in paris. we all realise how difficult a task it is to go up to scotland and beat them. we ve come unstuck there a couple of times recently so our focus is on that game and we ll worry about ireland hopefully after we ve beaten scotland. with captain gareth thomas ruled out of the rest of the campaign with a broken thumb williams is vying for his first start in the championship so far. kevin morgan is probably favourite to replace thomas at full-back leaving williams and hal luscombe to battle for the right wing berth. a hamstring injury denied luscombe the opportunity to make a third successive start but the dragons winger is expected to be fit for the trip to murrayfield on 13 march. hooker robin mcbryde is doubtful after picking up a knee injury in paris but centre sonny parker and flanker colin charvis are set to recover from injury to be in contention for selection. said wales assistant coach scott johnson: they ve worked through the weekend and the reports are a bit more positive. so we re getting a couple back and that adds to the depth of the squad. scotland secured their first win of the campaign on saturday by grinding out an 18-10 win over italy. matt williams side has shown little in attack but johnson insisted the scots will be difficult opposition to break down. italy are really brave opposition and sometimes it s very hard to win he said. so an ugly win can be just as effective as a 30 or 40 point victory. scotland are a hard side and very underrated so we re not taking anything for granted. we re not basking in the glory of winning our first three games. we ve got to be diligent in our preparation. that s my job and we ve got to make sure we re focused.

britons fed up with net service a survey conducted by pc pro magazine has revealed that many britons are unhappy with their internet service. they are fed up with slow speeds high prices and the level of customer service they receive. 17% of readers have switched suppliers and a further 16% are considering changing in the near future. it is particularly bad news for bt the uk s biggest internet supplier with almost three times as many people trying to leave as joining. a third of the 2 000 broadband users interviewed were fed up with their current providers but this could be just the tip of the iceberg thinks tim danton editor of pc pro magazine. we expect these figures to leap in 2005. every month the prices drop and more and more people are trying to switch he said. the survey found that bt and tiscali have been actively dissuading customers from leaving by offering them a lower price when they phone up to cancel their subscription. some readers were offered a price drop just 25p more expensive than that offered by an alternative operator making it hardly worth while swapping. other found themselves tied into 12-month contracts. broadband has become hugely competitive and providers are desperate to hold on to customers. 12% of those surveyed found themselves unable to swap at all. we discovered a huge variety of problems but one of the biggest issues is the current supplier withholding the information that people need to give to their new supplier said tim danton editor of pc pro. this breaks the code of practice but because that code is voluntary there s nothing we or ofcom can do to help he said. there is a vast choice of internet service providers in the uk now and an often bewildering array of broadband packages. with prices set to drop even further in coming months mr danton advises everyone to shop around carefully. if you just stick with your current connection then there s every chance you re being ripped off he warned.

eu referendum question unveiled the question to be asked in the referendum on the eu constitution has been unveiled by the government. it will be: should the united kingdom approve the treaty establishing a constitution for the european union the constitution will be incorporated into uk law if there is a yes vote in the referendum expected in 2006. critics say the constitution is a further step towards a federal europe but advocates say it ensures effective operation of the enlarged 25-state eu. if we reject this treaty britain will be isolated and weak in europe said foreign secretary jack straw who along with the rest of the cabinet will back a yes vote. patriots by definition wanted the uk to be prosperous at home and strong and influential abroad mr straw said. our role as a leading member of the eu is a crucial part of securing that. conservative shadow foreign secretary michael ancram said the referendum question seems straightforward . but he accused the government of trying to confuse the issue by putting the eu referendum question in the same bill as the ratification of the constitution when they should be treated as two separate issues . despite this underhand trick the referendum bill stood no chance of becoming law before the election he added. this is tony blair s cheap gesture to the pro-constitution lobby while he runs scared of a debate on europe he knows he cannot win. neil o brien director of anti-constitution group vote no said: the reality is that the government doesn t want to discuss the eu constitution ahead of the election because they know it is extremely unpopular with voters and with business. the uk independence party said: if the government believes that a no vote would mean that we should leave the european union they should just ask us if we want to leave the eu. then we can be out of it and better off much sooner. liberal democrat leader charles kennedy who backs the constitution said he expected the referendum would come in the first half of next year. he told bbc radio 4 s today programme: the sooner we get on with this the better. he said the question sounded very neutral and balanced adding it would enable the argument to be enjoined fairly and squarely on both sides . green mep caroline lucas welcomed tony blair s courage in keeping his word on holding a referendum. but she added: this treaty is a flawed document that will make the eu less accountable less sustainable and less just. mr blair signed the constitution at a ceremony in rome in november but had already made it clear the issue would be put to voters in a referendum. that promise came after sustained pressure from opposition parties. jack straw who argues the constitution reflected a british vision for europe and gives national governments a stronger grip has said the referendum could be held in spring 2006. but in an interview with the financial times mr blair refused to be pinned down to that date saying britain would hold a poll some time in 2006 but when i don t know . the paper said the prime minister claimed ignorance of when other countries were planning to hold their referendums.

the force is strong in battlefront the warm reception that has greeted star wars: battlefront is a reflection not of any ingenious innovation in its gameplay but of its back-to-basics approach and immense nostalgia quotient. geared towards online gamers it is based around little more than a series of all-out gunfights set in an array of locations all featured in or hinted at during the two blockbusting film trilogies. previous star wars titles like the acclaimed knights of the old republic and jedi knight have regularly impressed with their imaginative forays into the far corners of the franchise s extensive universe and their use of weird and wonderful new characters. battlefront on the other hand wholeheartedly revisits the most recognisable elements of the hit movies themselves. the sights sounds and protagonists on show here will all be instantly familiar to fans who may well feel that the opportunity to relive star wars most memorable screen skirmishes makes this the game they have always waited for. the mayhem can be viewed from either a third or first-person perspective and you can either fight for the forces of freedom or join darth vader on the dark side depending on the episode and type of campaign as well as the player s personal propensity for good or evil. there is ample chance to be a wookie shoot ewoks and rush into battle alongside a fired-up luke skywalker. in each section the task is simply to wipe out enemy troops seize strategic waypoints and move on to the next planet. it really is no more complicated than that. locations include the frozen wastes of hoth the ice planet from the empire strikes back complete with massive mechanical at-ats on the march. there are also the dusty sinister deserts of tatooine and geonosis as well as the forest moon of endor where return of the jedi s much-maligned ewoks lived. the feel of those places is well and truly captured with both backdrops and characters looking good and very authentic. it is worth noting though that on the playstation 2 the game s graphics are a curiously long way behind those of the xbox version. the pivotal element behind battlefront s success is that it successfully gives you the feel of being of being plunged into the midst of large-scale war. the number of combatants noise and abundance of laser fire see to that and the sense of chaos really comes over. speaking of noise battlefront is a real testament to the strength of the star wars galaxy s audio motifs. the multitude of distinctive weapon and vehicle noises are immensely familiar as are the stirring john williams symphonies that never let up. there is also a particularly snazzy remix of one of his themes in the menu section. it has to be said if the game did not have the boon of being star wars it would not stand up for long. the gameplay is reliable bog-standard stuff short on originality. there are also odd annoyances like the game s insistence on re-spawning you miles away from the action an irritating price to pay for not getting blown up the second you appear. and some of the weapons and vehicles are not as responsive and fluid to operate as they might be. that said it is still great fun to pilot a scout walker or speeder bike however non user-friendly they prove. whilst it is firmly designed with multiplayer action in mind battlefront is actually perfectly good fun as an offline game. the above-average ai of the enemy sees to that although given the frenetic environments they operate in their strategic behaviour does not need to be all that sophisticated. battlefront s novelty value will doubtless wear off relatively fast leaving behind a slightly empty one-trick-pony of a game. but for a while it is an absolute blast and one of the most immediately satisfying video game offerings yet from george lucas stable.

japan s ageing workforce: built to last in his twenties he battled tuberculosis for eight years then went on to run his own clothing business before marrying in his late thirties. and the 101-year-old torao toshitsune has eaten raw fish pretty much every day throughout his life. mr toshitsune is one of japan s 23 000 centenarians - a club that is growing by 13% annually and where the oldest member is 114. at his neat osaka detached house where he lives with one of his sexagenarian daughters mr toshitsune keeps a regular routine of copying out buddhist sutras and preparing the traditional japanese tea ceremony. between tasks this remarkably active senior citizen reveals what his next goal is: well what s most important for me is to be japan s number one. mr toshitsune wants to outlive everyone. and when it comes to longevity japan as a country appears to be doing just that. women can expect to live until 85 men until 78 four years longer than americans and europeans. on the outskirts of kyoto 83-year-old yuji shimizu contemplates this phenomenon during a round of golf with his younger friends who are in their seventies. i think this is because the food industry and the environment have improved he remarks. on average we can live longer. whether it s the diet or the traditional family structure where roles were clearly defined or just something in the genes japan s elderly are remarkable. but while life may be a game of golf for mr shimizu his grandchildren have huge problems ahead. japan is the world s least fertile nation with childbirth rates of just two thirds of that in the us. by 2007 japan s population is expected to peak at 127 million then shrink to under 100 million by the middle of the century. this means 30 million fewer workers at a time when the number of elderly will have almost doubled. in the year 2050 if the birth rate remains the same people over 60 will make up over 30% of the population explains shigeo morioka of the international longevity centre in tokyo. so how will japan s finances stay on track after a decade of economic stagnation and huge deficit spending the public sector debt is already about 140% of the country s gross domestic product (gdp) the highest rate among industrialised countries. the international monetary fund predicts that as the falling birth rate takes grip from 2010 the cost of running japan s welfare state will double to more than 5% of gdp while current account balances will deteriorate by over 2%. but unfortunately japan appears poorly prepared both financially and politically. glen wood vice president of deutsche securities japan asks; who s going to fund the pension fund for the next generation and indeed who are going to be the new japanese worker who is going to build the economy who are going to be the leaders who are going to be the producers of the gdp going forward one option is further welfare reform. another is immigration possibly from the philippines and indonesia. but so far any emerging policy appears restricted to a limited number of nursing staff. standing next to tokyo harbour is a version of new york s statue of liberty. but as yet japan is not ready for an ellis island. japan has never really liked that option in its history and i think it s an option that s becoming more and more plausible and necessary insists mr wood. in japan as in europe which also faces a workforce decline immigration is a very sensitive subject. but for the japanese economy facing 8% fewer consumers by 2050 means slumping domestic sales of cars hi-tech kit and home appliances perhaps even another property crash. of course the japanese could always have more children. the government is currently considering financial rewards for procreative couples similar to those in operation in australia. but there would be no pay back until 2030 when today s babies are taxpayers and the demographic crisis like in europe starts to unfold in 2010. in contrast to japan - and of course the european union - the us population is expected to increase by 46% to 420 million by the middle of the century. although president bush must re-devise social security to take account of a 130% rise in america s over 65s the imf foresees a positive contribution to the us current account balance from the combined forces of fertility and immigration. some voices in japanese industry are calling for radical changes to the nature of the japanese labour market. they want a shift towards financial services though doubts persist over the country s ability let alone willingness to move away from manufacturing. japan still has problems getting a viable banking system let alone shifting their auto business or their semi-conductor business or the broad based tech manufacturing business overseas says mr wood. japan can either drive some radical reforms or else run the risk of a vicious ageing recession. falling demand and a lower tax take could result in soaring budget pressures and a basket case currency. come 2020 japan could be more dependent on a shrinking workforce than any other industrialised power. there are fears that the world s number two economy is doomed to a permanent recession. but none of this is mr toshitsune s concern anymore. at 101 he chuckles that he feels fine.

public show for reynolds portrait sir joshua reynolds portrait of omai will get a public airing following fears it would stay hidden because of an export wrangle. the tate gallery unsuccessfully tried to buy the picture from its anonymous owner after a ban was issued preventing the painting from leaving the uk. the 18th century painting has remained in storage but the owner has agreed to allow it to be part of an exhibition. the exhibition of reynolds work will be shown at tate britain from may. joshua reynolds: the creation of celebrity will feature prints caricatures and sculpture by the 18th century artist who painted some of the most famous personalities of his day. portrait of omai fetched the second highest amount for a british painting when it was sold at auction for £10.3m in 2001. it was bought by a london dealer who sold it on to a collector. the unnamed collector wanted to take it out of the country but was barred from doing so by the government because of its historical significance. in march 2004 the tate managed to raise £12.5m funding to buy the portrait but the owner refused to sell and it has been held in storage since. the portrait is of a young man who was dubbed the noble savage when he arrived in london from polynesia. he became a darling of london society and was invited to all the best parties by people who were fascinated by such an exotic character. sir joshua painted him after his arrival in 1774 and it became the artist s most famous work after it was first exhibited at the royal academy in 1776.

ban hits half-life 2 pirates hard about 20 000 people have been banned from playing the half-life 2 game. game maker valve shut down the online accounts of the players because it had evidence that their copy of the game had been obtained illegally. copies of half-life 2 had been circulating on file-sharing systems soon after it was officially released. experts said the success of the half-life 2 anti-piracy system might tempt other game makers into creating their own version. half-life 2 was officially released on 16 november but before gamers could get to grips with the long-awaited title they were forced to authenticate their copy of the game online. authentication involved setting up an account with valve s gaming community system called steam and letting that check which copy of the game was being run. in a statement detailing the banning of the accounts valve said this system helped identify who had got hold of pirated copies. the method used was extremely easy for valve to trace and confirm and so there is no question that the accounts disabled were used to try and illegally obtain half-life 2 read the statement. valve spokesman doug lombardi said that the company had not yet released sales figures for the game and would not say what proportion of all steam players the 20 000 represented. one effect of steam s popularity has been to limit the copies of the game sold in shops and artificially depress the game s ranking in the top ten. even so the title debuted at no 3 in the uk charts. valve also said that a small number of accounts were closed because people were using stolen credit cards to buy copies of the game or were using stolen steam accounts. some of those who have been banned by the move protested their innocence in the online forums on the main steam site and said they were being punished for what other people did with their account. some contributors to the forums wondered if the action might force more piracy as people tried to get hold of successive copies of the game to keep ahead of valve s anti-piracy actions. in its statement valve also said that rumours that it distributed fake half-life 2 keys copies of the game or instructions on how to hack the game just to catch pirates and cheats were false. the company said: the hack came from the community as do they all. it added that most of those banned simply tried to use copies of half-life 2 circulating on file-swapping systems such as bit torrent rather than use hacks to get around the need for cd keys. rob fahey editor of online news site gamesindustry.biz said the mass banning showed off the power of the steam system. before now he said it has been hard for game makers to do anything about piracy once the game was being played. but with this valve is taking really effective steps against people using illegitimate copies of half-life 2 he said. if steam proves effective at cutting the piracy of games to a minimum said mr fahey other game makers may be tempted to set up copycat systems. it s not hard to see a point in the near future when every publisher wants you to run an application on your system purely to allow you to play their games he said. this could mean that computers get cluttered with poorly written steam-type systems that are used to batter people with adverts. unless game firms were careful he said they could face a backlash from consumers who soon get tired of maintaining different accounts for every game they play.

uk needs tax cuts tories insist a major change of direction is needed in britain if it is to prosper the shadow chancellor said as the tory party spring conference began. oliver letwin said the uk could not compete with other countries without the £4bn tax cuts he was promising. tory co-chairman liam fox had opened the forum in brighton with an attack on labour s record and party leader michael howard is due to speak later. tony blair has said conservative policies would cause economic failure. but mr letwin said britain had fallen from fourth to 11th in the international economic competitiveness league. can this country compete can this country prosper unless we do something about the burden of regulation and tax on our economy he said. if we are going to take on the great challenges the challenges like those posed by the chinese and the indians we have got to do something about getting down the burden of regulation and getting down the burden of tax he said. the fact is the very carefully costed fully funded plans we have laid out for saving £12bn by 2007-2008 are absolutely crucial to delivering an economy that will prosper and provide people with jobs and indeed provide the public services with the money they need on a sustainable long-term basis. mr letwin said voting for labour meant choosing higher taxes borrowing and waste. earlier dr fox had said labour s rule had been characterised by lost trust and failure to deliver . he also attacked the government s failure to control immigration and asylum and criticised its record on the nhs telling delegates labour cannot be trusted on education or crime. a tory government would sort out the shambles of immigration put patients before statistics and bring discipline to schools he said. michael howard who had been due to welcome delegates to the conference on friday will address them in a lunchtime speech. his welcome address had to be postponed after he stayed in london to lead the party s opposition to the prevention of terrorism bill in its lengthy progress through parliament. the bill was finally passed on friday evening after more than 30 hours of debate. mr howard is likely to defend his party s handling of the bill which was only passed after the conservatives accepted prime minister tony blair s promise that mps would be able to review it within a year.

boro suffer morrison injury blow middlesbrough midfielder james morrison has been ruled out for up to eight weeks after an operation on tuesday. the 18-year-old who has played in 13 of the club s last 14 games had surgery to repair a double hernia. a club spokesman confirmed: it is a bilateral sportsman s hernia which was operated on yesterday. morrison was sent for scans after being substituted at half-time during boro s 2-1 uefa cup win over graz ak in which he scored the equaliser. his injury is the latest blow for the teessiders who have been without gaizka mendieta george boateng and mark viduka for extended periods. meanwhile the kick-off time for boro s uefa cup match at sporting lisbon on 17 march has been brought forward from 2115 gmt to 1945 gmt.

wenger steps up row arsene wenger has stepped up his feud with sir alex ferguson by claiming the manchester united manager is guilty of bringing football into disrepute. the pair s long-running row was put back in the headlines on saturday when ferguson said his arsenal counterpart was a disgrace . wenger initially refused to bite back saying only: i will never answer any questions any more about this man. but now he claims ferguson should be punished by the football association. the latest twist in the ferguson-wenger saga came on saturday when the united boss in an interview with the independent newspaper discussed the events after the game between the two sides in october. united won 2-0 that day at old trafford but the game was followed by a now notorious food fight which saw ferguson s clothes covered in soup and pizza. the sides meet again at highbury on 1 february. in the tunnel wenger was criticising my players calling them cheats so i told him to leave them alone and behave himself ferguson said on saturday. he ran at me with hands raised saying what do you want to do about it to not apologise for the behaviour of the players to another manager is unthinkable. it s a disgrace but i don t expect wenger to ever apologise he s that type of person. those allegations were put to wenger after saturday s game at bolton which arsenal lost to slip 10 points behind chelsea in the title race. at first he said only: i ve always been consistent with that story and told you nothing happened. if he has to talk he talks. if he wants to make a newspaper article he makes a newspaper article. he doesn t interest me and doesn t matter to me at all. i will never answer to any provocation from him any more. he does what he likes in england anyway. he can go abroad one day and see how it is. but later on saturday according to the independent wenger spoke to a smaller group of reporters and expanded on his reaction. i have no diplomatic relations with him the arsenal boss is quoted as saying. what i don t understand is that he does what he wants and you (the press) are all at his feet. the situation (concerning the food fight) has been judged and there is a game going on in a month. the managers have a responsibility to protect the game before the game. but in england you are only punished for what you say after the game. now the whole story starts again. i don t go into that game. we play football. i am a football manager and i love football above all ... no matter what people say. reminded that ferguson called him a disgrace wenger added: i don t respond to anything. in england you have a good phrase. it is bringing the game into disrepute . but that is not only after a game it is as well before a game. ferguson had also claimed that united chief executive david gill and arsenal vice-chairman david dein had agreed at boardroom level not to discuss the incident in public. but ferguson added: in the ensuing weeks all you got was a diatribe from arsenal about being kicked off the pitch and all that nonsense. gill phoned dein three times to complain but nothing was done. the return is on 1 february and they will come out with another diatribe. david gill and i feel we should set the record straight because arsenal have not written to us to apologise and we would not let that happen here. meanwhile the league managers association have offered to act as peacemakers in the hope of resolving the on-going row. during that stormy game in october united striker ruud van nistelrooy caught arsenal s ashley cole with one particularly strong tackle. wenger later accused van nistelrooy of cheating and was fined £15 000 and severely reprimanded by the football association. ferguson admitted on saturday that van nistelrooy s tackle which earned the dutchman a ban could have given (cole) a serious injury but he believes arsenal were the main aggressors. wenger is always complaining the match was not played in the right spirit he added. they are the worst losers of all time they don t know how to lose. maybe it is just manchester united they don t lose many games to other teams. we tend to forget the worst disciplinary record of all time was arsenal s up until last season. in fairness it has improved and now they are seen as paragons of virtue. but to wenger it never happens it is all some dream or nightmare.

controversial film tops festival a controversial film starring hollywood actor kevin bacon as a convicted paedophile won top honours at the london film festival on thursday. the woodsman won the satyajit ray award named after the indian director. the low-budget film directed by nicole kassell is about a convicted child molester trying to rebuild his life after 12 years in jail. judges said the film tackled the contentious subject with great insight and sensitivity . previous films to take the prize include the oscar-winning boys don t cry which was about the true life story of murdered transsexual brandon teena. british writer-director amma asante won the uk film talent award this year for her debut feature a way of life. set in south wales the film is about a teenage single mother who becomes embroiled in a tense stand-off with a turkish neighbour. also on thursday night the fipresci international critics awards went to aaltra a belgian film about the handicapped; and the sutherland trophy which was won by jonathan caouette for his film tarnation. the festival closed with a screening of the film i heart huckabees starring jude law and dustin hoffman and directed by three kings film-maker david o russell. the festival this year also included the first european screening of the new pixar animation the incredibles and the british film bullet boy starring so solid crew rapper asher d.

sainsbury s labour election gift science minister lord sainsbury has made a £2m donation to the labour party for its general election fund. it is the latest hefty donation to the party by the billionaire - he has contributed more than £10m since 1999. david sainsbury said he was pleased to give cash to a party that had the vision to deliver economic prosperity and better public services for britain. general secretary matt carter said it was a fantastic gift that would help labour fight and win the election . through the generosity of david sainsbury and other labour supporters labour will be campaigning hard to take britain forward and to stop the tories taking us back mr carter said. lord sainsbury added: i am pleased to be able to make this contribution to the general election funds of the labour party because i believe that they are the only party that has the vision to deliver both economic prosperity and better public services for britain. the 64-year-old latest donation follows a £2.5m gift to the party in 2003. lord sainsbury was created a life peer in 1997 a year before he was appointed as minister for science.

drive to save festive holidays efforts are being made to protect workers days off on christmas day and new year s day. support is being sought for a bill which would ensure that large retailers in scotland remain closed on christmas day and 1 january. the usdaw trade union said shop workers should be able to enjoy a break with their families. msp karen whitefield wants to ensure only those whose roles are essential are at work over the festive season. in recent years more stores have been opening on traditional holidays with some starting their end-of-year sale on christmas day or new year s day. ms whitefield said: i have found members of the public to be very supportive when i have been campaigning on the streets. the early evidence shows quite clearly that the vast majority of people believe that shop workers should be given these two special days to spend with friends and family. usdaw general secretary john hannett added: christmas day and new year s day are special days for everyone in scotland and the fact that shops do not open is an important part of making them special. they are largely collective days of rest. we want people to tell karen through her consultation whether they want the special nature of these days to remain or whether they want them to become like any other trading day with shops open for business as usual. the consultation on a christmas & new year s day trading bill has so far attracted almost 500 responses and closes on 7 february.

isinbayeva claims new world best pole vaulter yelena isinbayeva broke her own indoor world record by clearing 4.89 metres in lievin on saturday. it was the russian s 12th world record of her career and came just a few days after she cleared 4.88m at the norwich union grand prix in birmingham. the olympic champion went on to attempt 5.05m at the meeting on france but failed to clear that height. in the men s 60m former olympic 100m champion maurice greene could only finish second to leonard scott. it was greene s second consecutive defeat at the hands of his fellow american who also won in birmingham last week. i ran my race perfectly said scott who won in 6.46secs his best time indoors. i am happy even if i know that maurice is a long way from being at his peak at the start of the season.

blair says mayor should apologise tony blair has urged london mayor ken livingstone to apologise for his nazi comment to a jewish reporter. labour s mr livingstone who says he is standing by his remarks had accused an evening standard journalist of being like a concentration camp guard . mr blair told five s wright stuff show: let s just apologise and move on. mr livingstone has said the remarks may have been offensive but were not racist and said he would not apologise even if the prime minister asked. mr blair who was instrumental in returning mr livingstone to the labour party insisted on wednesday it was time for the london mayor to say sorry. a lot of us in politics get angry with journalists from time to time but in the circumstances and to the journalist because he was a jewish journalist yes he should apologise he said. let s just apologise and move on - that s the sensible thing. tory leader michael howard asked about mr livingstone s remark by reporters said it was important for politicians to be mindful about the language they use. it s particularly important that as we get close to the election that politicians talk with civility and courtesy about issues that we all face he said. i think it s a matter of sadness that we are not seeing that from the labour party. we had what ken livingstone said we had what alastair campbell has said and we have what others have said. i think that s a matter of great regret. the row blew up after mr livingstone was approached by evening standard reporter oliver finegold following a party marking the 20th anniversary of former culture secretary chris smith coming out as britain s first gay mp. on tape mr livingstone who once worked as a freelance restaurant critic on the paper is heard asking mr finegold if he is a german war criminal . mr finegold replies: no i m jewish i wasn t a german war criminal. i m quite offended by that. the mayor then says: ah right well you might be but actually you are like a concentration camp guard you are just doing it because you are paid to aren t you at his weekly press conference on tuesday mr livingstone said his comments were not racist and refused to apologise. if you think they are racist i think you are wrong he told reporters. the dispute comes as an inspection team from the international olympic committee began a four-day tour to assess london s bid for the 2012 games. an official complaint has been made to local government watchdogs by the british jews demanding an investigation by the standards board of england. it has the power to suspend or bar mr livingstone from public office.

queen recruit singer for new tour the remaining members of rock band queen are to go on tour next year with former free and bad company singer paul rodgers taking freddie mercury s place. guitarist brian may has said he expects to be on the road with rodgers and drummer roger taylor from april. may said: suddenly the queen phoenix is rising again from the ashes and will take precedence over... our lives. queen have played with many different singers since mercury s death in 1991 but have reportedly not toured. may performed with rodgers at a concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the fender stratocaster guitar in london in september. we were both so amazed at the chemistry that was going on in [free hit] all right now that suddenly it seems blindingly obvious that there was something happening here may wrote on his website. they teamed up again for a concert to mark their induction into the uk music hall of fame and were joined by taylor. the show went so incredibly well from our point of view and we got so many rave reactions from out there we decided almost then and there that we would look at a tour together may wrote. queen went to number one in 2000 with a version of we will rock you sung by boy band 5ive and they have also played with robbie williams will young and bob geldof. queen bassist john deacon has currently retired from the stage. rodgers was singer with early 1970s rockers free who had a global hit with all right now before forming bad company a successful supergroup with members of king crimson and mott the hoople. he has also been in the firm with led zeppelin s jimmy page and the law with the small faces and the who drummer kenny jones.

prince crowned top music earner prince earned more than any other pop star in 2004 beating artists such madonna and elton john in us magazine rolling stone s annual list. the singer banked $56.5m (£30.4m) from concerts album and publishing sales with his musicology tour and album. he kept madonna in second place as she earned $54.9m (£29.5m) while embarking on her global re-invention tour. veterans simon and garfunkel were in 10th place their comeback tour helping them earn $24.9m (£13.4m) last year. prince returned to centre stage after a decade in the commercial wilderness the magazine reported. the singer s 2004 tour took $90.3m (£48.5m) in ticket sales and he sold 1.9 million copies of his latest album musicology. although she grossed more than prince last year madonna remained in second place because of the monumental production costs of her tour. heavy metal band metallica s madly in anger with the world tour helped push their 2004 earnings up to $43.1m (£23.1m). they were ahead of sir elton john who took fourth place and almost $42.7m (£23m) from performances including a debut on the las vegas strip. other seasoned performers in the list included rod stewart whose sold-out shows and third volume of the great american songbook covers album helped net him £35m (£19m). the highest-ranking rap act in the list was 50 cent who at number 19 took $24m (£13m) to the bank.

hotspot users gain free net calls people using wireless net hotspots will soon be able to make free phone calls as well as surf the net. wireless provider broadreach and net telephony firm skype are rolling out a service at 350 hotspots around the uk this week. users will need a skype account - downloadable for free - and they will then be able to make net calls via wi-fi without paying for net access. skype allows people to make free pc-based calls to other skype users. users of the system can also make calls to landlines and mobiles for a fee. the system is gaining in popularity and now has 28 million users around the world. its paid service - dubbed skype out - has so far attracted 940 000 users. it plans to add more paid services with forthcoming launches of video conferencing voice mail and skype in a service which would allow users to receive phone calls from landlines and mobiles. london-based software developer connectotel has unveiled software that will expand the sms functions of skype allowing users to send text messages to mobile phones from the service. broadreach networks has around two million users and hotspots in places such as virgin megastores the travelodge chain of hotels and all london s major rail terminals. the company is due to launch wi-fi on virgin trains later in the year. skype s success at spreading the world about internet telephony is well-known and we are delighted to be offering free access to skype users in our hotspots commented broadreach chief executive magnus mcewen-king.

calder fears for scottish rugby former scotland international finlay calder fears civil war at the sru could seriously hamper his country s rbs six nations campaign. four members of the executive board including the chairman david mackay have resigned after a simmering row. and calder said: this is terrible news for every level of scottish rugby. david is a successful businessman and i thought that if anybody could transform the negative atmosphere and rising debt level it was him. mackay s executive board has been in a power struggle with the general committee which contains members elected by scotland s club sides. he has been driven out by people who seem happier waging civil war than addressing the central issue that professional rugby can t be run by amateurs said calder. in fact i don t understand why we are still having this argument 10 years after professionalism arrived. but i don t believe the rest of the sru will take this lying down. i think the banks will be dismayed at this decision and ultimately it is them who pull the strings. so i wouldn t be surprised if they reviewed their position. but in the wider picture what message does this send out he thought the work of scotland s coaches who have been attempting to arrest the decline of the national side would be made much more difficult. matt williams and willie anderson must be wondering what have we walked into here said calder. and we can now expect weeks of arguments and acrimony just at a time when we should be looking forward to the six nations championship. i am very very disappointed more than you can imagine. why do so many scots have this knack of turning on each other when the going gets tough

sa return to mauritius top seeds south africa return to the scene of one of their most embarrassing failures when they face the seychelles in the cosafa cup next month. last year bafana bafana were humbled in the first by minnows mauritius who beat them 2-0 in curepipe. coach stuart baxter and his squad will return to curepipe face the seychelles in their first game of the new-look regional competition. the format of the event has been changed this year after the entry of the seychelles who have taken the number of participants to 13. the teams are now divided into three group of four and play knock-out matches on successive days to determine the group champions. mauritius host the first group and their opponents are madagascar the seychelles and south africa. bafana bafana play the seychelles before mauritius take on madagascar in a double-header on 26 february. the two winners return to the new george v stadium the next day and the victor of the group decider advances to august s final mini-tournament. the second group will be hosted in namibia in april. it comprises zimbabwe botswana mozambique and the hosts. in june former champions zambia will host lesotho malawi and swaziland in the third group in lusaka. the three group winners will then join title holders angola for the last of the mini-tournaments in august where the winners will be crowned. seychelles v south africa mauritius v madagascar winners meet in final match mozambique v zimbabwe namibia v botswana winners meet in final match lesotho v malawi zambia v swaziland winners meet in final match

council tax rise reasonable welsh councils should set their taxes at reasonable levels after being given an average funding increase of 6% says the assembly government. finance minister sue essex said it was a good deal for local government. the £3.2bn settlement includes the full £7.4m from the uk treasury announced by chancellor gordon brown. but opposition parties said rebanding of council taxes would mean steep rises. in addition £13.4m will come from the business support grant - a scheme which enables local authorities to keep part of business rates. she said where spending rises were kept to around 5% she was confident that councils will be able to set council taxes at reasonable levels. the welsh local government association (wlga) had said on the eve of the announcement said that significant cuts to services may still be unavoidable. after the announcement wlga finance spokesman bob wellington of torfaen said it was vital that rises were minimsed. a limited amount of money has come available but this is not the answer to our problems said mr wellington. it is vital that we start now to plan for future years and accept that resources will continue to reduce while pressures on services increase. on monday a delegation of north wales councils visited ms essex to lobby for increased funds. ms essex said: i have listened to the views of local government and council tax payers and recognise the funding pressures and the concerns they have about council tax rises. i have met a large number of local authorities in recent weeks and i am aware of the pressures on them to provide local services and keep down the level of council tax particularly for those people to are moving up a band due to the revaluation of domestic properties. she said council taxes could be kept at reasonable levels even for those people who have moved up a band . the settlement includes a rise in the grant to help councils with the most deprived communities and a 16.4% rise in capital expenditure support. ms essex said: this is a good deal for local government which will allow the well-managed councils of wales to develop their services and charge reasonable levels of council tax. it is now a matter for council leaders to manage their budgets at a local level. plaid cymru s local government spokesman dai lloyd called the announcement hugely disappointing . he said: wales and its local authorities have been short changed yet again. this is not whinging as the labour assembly government so often claims - it is anger. this will mean either a massive hike in council tax massive cuts in services provided by councils or both. mike german leader of the liberal democrats in the assembly claimed that one in three homes were still likely to face council tax rises due to rebanding. mr german said: i know from my discussions with welsh liberal democrat council leaders that they are doing their utmost to keep council tax to a minimum. but the random redistribution effect of rebanding...will create a great deal of difficulty. conservative local government spokesman glyn davies said that for the minister to claim that the majority of council tax payers in wales should see very little change is taking spin to the very verge of deception . he added: around a third of welsh households have been re-valued upwards by at least one band and inevitably face increases into double figures.

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.

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.

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.

umaga ready for fearsome lions all blacks captain tama umaga has warned the british and irish lions will be his most fearsome opponents yet ahead of their summer tour. but umaga in england for saturday s irb rugby aid match also backed new zealand to win the three-test series against the lions. he told bbc sport: it s potentially the most fearsome line-up i ve ever come up against. they re awesome. but i d back us all the way to beat them when they come over. lions boss sir clive woodward is set to announce his squad for the june-july tour next month. when woodward was appointed last year it was widely believed he would rely heavily on his former england players. but umaga said: he d be hard pushed to do that now considering the shape of the six nations. don t get me wrong england have got a lot of talented guys and i m sure there are some of them who ll make the lions test xv. but you can t disguise wales and ireland in particular. some of the tries they ve scored have been great. i ll admit it ll be fairly awesome lining up against the likes of brian o driscoll. umaga will meet o driscoll in saturday s rugby aid match at twickenham with the irish captain leading the northern hemisphere side. o driscoll is among a host of players in the northern hemisphere squad coached by woodward that are tipped for lions call-ups. it ll be good for us to get an early idea of some of these guys although a lot can change between now and june umaga said. the 31-year-old admitted interest in the lions tour was immense calling it the biggest thing to hit new zealand since lord of the rings . he added: as players it s enough for us to be driven by the rarity of playing the lions. in fact it s not just us all blacks - it s the talk of the country. umaga admitted the fear of injury weighed on his mind ahead of saturday s charity game which features a host of big names including george gregan andrew mehrtens and chris latham. but he admitted the value of the cause - proceeds of the match will go to aiding victims of the tsunami - easily won him over. the second [southern hemisphere coach] rod macqueen made the approach i didn t hesitate. it was great when new zealand rugby then gave me the all clear. thankfully i didn t know anyone that was involved in the tragedy of the tsunami but you couldn t miss all the horrific reports on the news. there are so many people that were affected are still affected and will be affected for a long time. it s just good to know we can do something minor to help out. - the match will be televised on bbc one at 1400 gmt on saturday.

bangkok film festival battles on organisers of the third bangkok international film festival have been determined to carry on with this year s event despite the ravages of the asian tsunami disaster. the festivities have been scaled down red carpets have been mothballed and profits from ticket sales are being donated to the tsunami relief fund. apart from this however the festival has continued as originally planned. when the disaster happened we naturally asked ourselves if we should cancel said the festival s executive director craig prater. the decision was made that we would continue but that the focus would change. our premieres became fundraisers the opening night was visibly toned down and 10% of every ticket sold goes to the disaster fund he continued. but we feel like we ve turned a page. we ve acknowledged our position and now it s business as usual. mr prater s sentiments were echoed by christine rush director of the festival s sister event the bangkok film market. we have been careful to be respectful of the thai nation s recovery from this terrible disaster she said. however the nation s recovery very much depends upon it continuing its economic life. we are encouraging attendees to keep the victims in mind and aggressively support the aid organisations helping out she added. given the conspicuously low audience figures that support may be more symbolic than significant. however poor ticket sales have less to do with any fallout from the disaster and more to do with administrative and promotional difficulties. the eclectic programme contains a wide range of titles including such oscar hopefuls as ray charles biopic ray and mike leigh s abortion drama vera drake. that said the absence of thai subtitles on most film prints might have proved offputting to local cinemagoers. on a more positive note the celebrity guests attending the event have generated huge media interest in this busy capital city. problems securing air transport the clash with last sunday s golden globes ceremony in los angeles and other factors have forced some big names to cancel. but the festival has still attracted such hollywood directors as oliver stone and joel schumacher alongside such screen stars as michael douglas jeremy irons and jean-claude van damme. irons whose film being julia is in competition for the festival s golden kinnaree awards said he had wondered whether he should attend after december s catastrophe. i questioned whether i should come when such a tragedy had happened the british actor said. i thought it might be in rather bad taste. but then i spoke to the organisers and i was encouraged to let life go on. now i ve come here i m very glad. what impresses me about thai culture is they get over these things far quicker than we do in the west he continued. basically i was invited here by thailand. if they still want you to come you should. now in its third year bangkok is a relatively recent addition to the hectic film festival calendar. and while it has yet to attain the stature of more established events held in hong kong tokyo and pusan in south korea mr prater predicts it will soon become their equal. it s grown awfully fast in three years - maybe too fast he concedes. we ve had some bumps in the road but that s only because the festival is still a baby. i have no doubt in my mind that in five years this will be the top asian film festival in the world. the golden kinnarees will be awarded on friday. the festival itself runs until 24 january.

net regulation still possible the blurring of boundaries between tv and the internet raises questions of regulation watchdog ofcom has said. content on tv and the internet is set to move closer this year as tv-quality video online becomes a norm. at a debate in westminster the net industry considered the options. lord currie chairman of super-regulator ofcom told the panel that protecting audiences would always have to be a primary concern for the watchdog. despite having no remit for the regulation of net content disquiet has increased among internet service providers as speeches made by ofcom in recent months hinted that regulation might be an option. at the debate organised by the internet service providers association (ispa) lord currie did not rule out the possibility of regulation. the challenge will arise when boundaries between tv and the internet truly blur and then there is a balance to be struck between protecting consumers and allowing them to assess the risks themselves he said. adopting the rules that currently exist to regulate tv content or self-regulation which is currently the practice of the net industry will be up for discussion. some studies suggest that as many as eight million households in the uk could have adopted broadband by the end of 2005 and the technology opens the door to tv content delivered over the net. more and more internet service providers and media companies are streaming video content on the web. bt has already set up an entertainment division to create and distribute content that could come from sources such as bskyb itv and the bbc. head of the division andrew burke spoke about the possibility of creating content for all platforms. how risque can i be in this new age with celebrity chefs serving up more expletives than hot dinners surely i can push it to the limit he said. in fact he said if content has been requested by consumers and they have gone to lengths to download it then maybe it should be entirely regulation free. internet service providers have long claimed no responsibility for the content they carry on their servers since the law commission dubbed them mere conduits back in 2002. this defence does not apply if they have actual knowledge of illegal content and have failed to remove it. the level of responsibility they have has been tested in several high-profile legal cases. richard ayers portal director at tiscali said there was little point trying to regulate the internet because it would be impossible. huge changes are afoot in 2005 he predicted as companies such as the bbc offer tv content over the net. the bbc s planned interactive media player which will give surfers the chance to download programmes such as eastenders and top gear will make net tv mainstream and raise a whole new set of questions he said. one of these will be about the vast sums of money involved in maintaining the network to supply such a huge quantity of data and could herald a new digital licence fee said mr ayers. as inappropriate net content most obviously pornography viewed by children continues to dominate the headlines internet regulation remains a political issue said mp richard allan liberal democrat spokesman on it. mr allan thinks that the answer could lie somewhere between the cries of impossible to regulate and just apply offline laws online . in fact instead of seeing regulation brought online the future could bring an end to regulation as we know it for all tv content. after lord currie departed the panel agreed that this could be a reality and that for the internet people power is likely to reign. if content is on-demand consumers have pulled it up rather than had pushed to them then it is the consumers choice to watch it. there is no watershed on the net said mr burke.

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.

lib dems new election pr chief the lib dems have appointed a senior figure from bt to be the party s new communications chief for their next general election effort. sandy walkington will now work with senior figures such as matthew taylor on completing the party manifesto. party chief executive lord rennard said the appointment was a significant strengthening of the lib dem team . mr walkington said he wanted the party to be ready for any mischief rivals or the media tried to throw at it. my role will be to ensure this new public profile is effectively communicated at all levels he said. i also know the party will be put under scrutiny in the media and from the other parties as never before - and we will need to show ourselves ready and prepared to counter the mischief and misrepresentation that all too often comes from the party s opponents. the party is already demonstrating on every issue that it is the effective opposition. mr walkington s new job title is director of general election communications.

ge sees excellent world economy us behemoth general electric has posted an 18% jump in quarterly sales and in profits and declared itself in great shape . we are benefiting from our growth initiatives and an excellent global economy said ge s chief executive jeff immelt. ge is the us biggest firm based on stock market valuation. ge s net profits were $5.37bn (£2.86bn) for the final three months of 2004 while sales came in at $43.7bn. the group whose businesses range from jet engines to the nbc television channel forecast sustained growth at between 10-15% for this year and next. ge s shares rose 1% on the news before ending friday 0.24% lower. the industries ge is in are doing very well. the materials financial and industrial sectors are all picking up said steve roukis an analyst at fund manager matrix asset advisors which has shares in ge. ge said orders in the fourth quarter were 15% higher than in the same period of 2003 with growth across the board . in the fourth quarter nine of our 11 businesses delivered at least double-digit earnings growth said mr immelt. full year 2004 gains were less spectacular but still respectable. net profit was up 6% at $16.6bn. last year ge bought vivendi universal merging it with nbc to form nbc universal. the success of universal studio s film ray a portrait of jazz musician ray charles has helped boost earnings at the unit.

blogger grounded by her airline a us airline attendant is fighting for her job after she was suspended over postings on her blog or online diary. queen of the sky otherwise known as ellen simonetti evolved into an anonymous semi-fictional account of life in the sky. but after she posted pictures of herself in uniform delta airlines suspended her indefinitely without pay. ms simonetti was told her suspension was a result of inappropriate images. delta airlines declined to comment. i was really shocked i had no warning ms simonetti told bbc news online. i never thought i would get in trouble because of the blog. i thought if they had a problem someone would have said something before taking action. the issue has highlighted concerns amongst the growing blogging community about conflicts of interest employment law and free speech on personal websites. ms simonetti was suspended on 25 september pending an investigation and has since lodged a complaint with the us equal employment opportunity commission (eeoc). a spokesperson for delta airlines told bbc news online: all i can tell you is we do not discuss internal employee issues with the media. she added she could not say whether a similar situation over personal websites had occurred in the past. ms simonetti started her personal blog in january to help her get over her mother s death. she had ensured she made no mention of which airline she worked for and created fictional names for cities and companies. the airline s name was changed to anonymous airline and the city in which she was based was called quirksville. a large part of the blog contained fictional stories because queen of the sky developed over the months as a character in her own right according to ms simonetti. the images were taken from a digital camera she had inherited from her mother. we often take pictures on flight or on layovers. i just though why not include them on my blog for fun. i never meant it as something to harm my company and don t understand how they think it did harm them ms simonetti said. she has also claimed that pictures of male delta airline employees in uniform are freely available on the web. of the 10 or so images on the site only one showed ms simonetti s flight wings . they did not tell me which pictures they had a problem with. i am just assuming it was the one of me posing on seats where my skirt rode up she said. the images were removed as soon as she learned she had been suspended. as far as ms simonetti knows there is no company anti-blogging policy. there is guidance which suggests the company uniform cannot be used without approval from management but use in personal pictures on websites is unclear. jeffrey matsuura director of the law and technology programme at the university of dayton said personal websites can be hazardous for both employers and their employees. there are many examples of employees who have presented some kind of material online that have gotten them in trouble with employers he said. it was crucial that any policy about what was and what was not acceptable was expressed clearly was reasonable and enforced fairly in company policy. you have to remember that as an employee you don t have total free speech anymore he said. mr matsuura added that some companies actively encouraged employees to blog. one of the areas where it does become a problem is that they encourage this when it suits them but they may not be particularly clear when they [employees] do cross the line. he speculated that delta might be concerned that the fictional content on the blog may be linked back to the airline after the images of ms simonetti in uniform were posted. whether or not that is successful will depend on what exactly is prohibited and whether you can reasonably say this content now crosses that line he said. ms simonetti said her suspension has caused two of her friends to discontinue their blogs. one of them was asked to stop blogging by his company before any action was taken. if they had asked me just take down the blog i would have done it but that was not been given to me as an option she said. this blogging thing is obviously a new problem for employers and they need to get a policy about it. if i had known it would cost me my job i would not have done that.

jamieson issues warning to bigots scotland s justice minister has warned bigoted soccer fans that she wants to hit them where it hurts most by banning them from matches. cathy jamieson said exclusion orders are one of a series of measures being considered in the scottish executive campaign against sectarianism. she praised celtic and rangers for their work in tackling the problem. however the minister said stopping sectarian abuse associated with old firm matches is a key objective. ms jamieson was speaking ahead of the third round scottish cup clash between the glasgow clubs at parkhead on sunday. the sectarianism long associated with sections of the support from both clubs has become a significant target for the executive. last week ms jamieson and first minister jack mcconnell met supporters representatives from both clubs to discuss the issue. they plan to hold an anti-sectarian summit next month with officials from the clubs church leaders senior police officers and local authority chiefs among those to be invited. speaking on bbc radio scotland s sunday live programme ms jamieson described friday s meeting as very productive and said putting the squeeze on the bigots would be a key aim. ms jamieson stressed that sectarianism has not been confined to football but it can act as a trigger for tensions and violence. clubs have taken action in the past to ban troublesome fans and supporters groups expressed their desire to ensure that the game is no longer tainted by the problem. ms jamieson said the executive should have a role in tackling the soccer troublemakers. she said: we can t get away from the fact that in some instances some of the religious hatred that some people try to associate with football boils over into violence. that is the kind of thing we want to stop and that s the kind of thing supporters groups are very clear they don t want to be part of either and they will work with us to try and deal with that. ms jamieson praised the police for their action and said: the police do want to identify whether there are particular individuals who are going over the top and inciting hatred or violence - they will crack down very effectively on them. we have of course already indicated that we will consider the introduction of banning orders to give additional powers to where there are people who are going over the top who have made inappropriate behaviour at football matches to be able to stop them attending the games. that s the kind of thing that will hit those kind of people where it hurts the most in not allowing them to attend the games she said. praising celtic and rangers for their efforts she said: i don t think there is any doubt that we have seen some positive moves from the clubs. both rangers and celtic football clubs have been involved in working with the executive to produce for example an educational pack for young people.

election deal faltered over heath role the tories failed to hold onto power in 1974 after liberals demanded sir edward heath quit in return for co-operation. documents released after 30 years reveal the failed negotiations by the then prime minister following the dramatic february general election. liberal leader jeremy thorpe appeared willing to form a coalition government. but it partly collapsed over the conservative leader s own role prompting the queen to ask harold wilson to form a labour government. the february 1974 general election surprised the nation when it created a hung parliament with no party in overall control. sir edward had gone to the country for a fresh mandate amid the spiralling economic crisis a miners strike and the subsequent three-day week. labour emerged with the most seats - but its 301 mps were 17 short of the number mr wilson needed to form a majority. sir edward who had received more votes but had fewer mps believed he had the authority to remain at number 10 providing the 14 liberal mps would support his government. he said the liberals could keep out labour in three ways: lend ad hoc support to his minority government help draw up the government s programme or have up to three cabinet members in a coalition with the conservatives. according to the documents released at the national archives the friendly and easy first meeting indicated that both sir edward and mr thorpe thought they had the makings of a deal. mr thorpe was in high spirits having just led his party to a historic jump in support. he also argued for a grand coalition of all three main parties. but sir edward said that was impossible because the labour left was set against it and the pair settled on trying for a conservative-liberal pact. hours later sir edward s hopes of a deal unravelled as mr thorpe s colleagues refused to support him. jeremy said he was encountering a rather embarrassing problem with his colleagues about the prime minister personally reads a telephone memo for mr heath. they feel they could not agree to serve as long as he is the prime minister. asked if this was his own view he said - no it was not i am very close to ted and thought he was by far the most able man we had and he would be perfectly happy to serve - it was only some of his colleagues who were being difficult. the following day the stickling points had clearly become two-fold: mr thorpe s colleagues wanted electoral reform and sir edward s resignation. mr thorpe told sir edward: i am sorry this is obviously hell - a nightmare on stilts for you. somehow i personally hope that we can work something out. four hours later sir edward called the liberal leader back to downing street in a last attempt at a deal. the minutes of the meeting show how the chance of a coalition government quickly evaporated. the pm said he was bound to tell mr thorpe that his colleagues had told him that they would not agree to serve under any other prime minister. mr thorpe was at liberty to verify this by talking to one or two of the prime minister s colleagues. documents show that sir edward mulled over resigning and perhaps returning to coalition government in a labour-led coalition. but he already knew mr wilson would not form a coalition with either the liberals or the conservatives because of the opposition of the labour left. within hours of his final talks with mr thorpe sir edward told the nation he was resigning and the queen invited mr wilson to form a new minority government.

the pirates with no profit motive two men who were part of a huge network of internet software pirates known as drink or die have been convicted at the old bailey. bbc news investigates how the network worked and what motivated those involved. they called themselves drink or die (dod). they were a network of computer buffs who derived pleasure from cracking codes protecting copyrighted software such as windows 95. they would then share it with each other. there is no suggestion any of them profited financially. but the authorities in both britain and the united states considered it software piracy and took a dim view of networks such as dod one of a number of so-called warez organisations operating on the internet. in october 2000 the us customs service began an investigation into dod and other networks such as razor 1911 risciso myth and popz. fourteen months later us customs co-ordinated a series of raids across the globe as part of operation buccaneer. seventy search warrants were executed in the us britain australia norway sweden and finland. at least 60 people were arrested worldwide - 45 of them in the us. among the leaders of the network were americans john sankus - known by his internet nickname eriflleh (hellfire spelt backwards) - richard berry kent kartadinata and christopher tresco who used a server based at the prestigious massachusetts institute of technology (mit). the longest jail sentence - 46 months - was handed down to sankus a 28-year-old from philadelphia. us attorney paul mcnulty said at the time: john sankus and his techno-gang operated in the faceless world of the internet and thought they would never be caught. they were wrong. these sentences and those to follow should send a message to others entertaining similar beliefs of invincibility. but one man still in legal limbo is british-born australian hew raymond griffiths who is still fighting against extradition to the us. us customs claimed mr griffiths was one of dod s leaders but his lawyer antony townsden told the bbc news website it was a laughable suggestion and added: he was living on welfare and had such an old computer that he couldn t even download software. the allegation that he was the group s co-leader is illusory. he had the least technical skills of anyone he couldn t crack any codes and he has only been called a leader because he was a loudmouth who wrote a lot on their messageboard. mr townsden said if he had committed any crimes he should be prosecuted in australia not the us. he claimed the australian government s decision to accept the extradition request was typical of their current acquiescent attitude to the us. mr griffiths is expecting to hear this week the outcome of his appeal against the decision to extradite him. those involved would give themselves internet aliases which would act in the same way as tags used by graffiti artists. they could then brag about their code-cracking abilities without giving away their real identities. alex bell whose trial at the old bailey ended on friday was known as mr 2940 - after a computer device - while his co-defendant steven dowd s nickname curiously was tim. a spokesman for us immigration customs and enforcement dean boyd said dod did not appear to be motivated by money. their motivation was the kudos which surrounded being able to crack sophisticated software. he told the bbc news website: primarily they were just interested in how fast they could crack the code. it was all about underground notoriety. but mr boyd pointed out that once the software had been distributed on the internet it fell into the hands of organised criminals who were able to mass produce pirated software at zero cost. it cost us industries a lot of money billions of dollars he said. mr boyd said: it was truly global in scope. we raided a number of universities including duke (in north carolina) and mit and found that several of the people involved were employed by major computer corporations. they would go home from work in the evenings and get involved in this warez culture. warez groups which began to surface in the early 1990s operate according to a strict code of honour. for example if one group cracked the software first its rivals would respect that achievement and not seek to claim it themselves. mr boyd said the destruction of dod was a great coup but he added: i m not going to sit here and say we have sorted the problem. there are still hackers and people who do this for fun. internet piracy of computer software remains a gigantic problem. a spokesman for the business software alliance said: dod members claim they did not profit at all. but they did profit by getting access to very expensive servers. he said dod and other warez groups were fostering a culture of piracy on the internet. he said 29% of computer software in britain was believed to have been pirated and this cost £1bn in revenue for software companies their suppliers and distributors. it may seem like a victimless crime but it touches more people than you might care to believe.

no re-draft for eu patent law a proposed european law on software patents will not be re-drafted by the european commission (ec) despite requests by meps. the law is proving controversial and has been in limbo for a year. some major tech firms say it is needed to protect inventions while others fear it will hurt smaller tech firms the ec says the council of ministers will adopt a draft version that was agreed upon last may but said it would review all aspects of the directive . the directive is intended to offer patent protection to inventions that use software to achieve their effect in other words computer implemented invention . in a letter ec president josé manuel barroso told the president of the european parliament josep borrell that the commission did not intend to refer a new proposal to the parliament and the council (of ministers) as it had supported the agreement reached by ministers in may 2004. if the european council agrees on the draft directive it will then return for a second reading at the european parliament. but that will not guarantee that the directive will become law - instead it will probably mean further delays and controversy over the directive. most eu legislation now needs the approval of both parliament and the council of ministers before it becomes law. french green mep alain lipietz warned two weeks ago that if the commission ignored the parliament s request it would be an insult to the assembly. he said that the parliament would then reject the council s version of the legislation as part of the final or conciliation stage of the decision procedure. in the us the patenting of computer programs and internet business methods is permitted. this means that the us-based amazon.com holds a patent for its one-click shopping service for example. critics are concerned that the directive could lead to a similar model happening in europe. this they fear could hurt small software developers because they do not have the legal and financial might of larger companies if they had to fight patent legal action in court. supporters say current laws are inefficient and it would serve to even up a playing field without bringing eu laws in line with the us.

stock market eyes japan recovery japanese shares have ended the year at their highest level since 13 july amidst hopes of an economic recovery during 2005. the nikkei index of leading shares gained 7.6% during the year to close at 11 488.76 points. in 2005 it will rise toward 13 000 predicted morgan stanley equity strategist naoki kamiyama. the optimism in the financial markets contrast sharply with pessimism in the japanese business community. earlier this month the quarterly tankan survey of japanese manufacturers found that business confidence had weakened for the first time since march 2003. slower economic growth rising oil prices a stronger yen and weaker exports were blamed for the fall in confidence. despite this traders expect strength in the global economy to benefit japan which has been close to sliding into recession in recent months. structural reform within japan and an anticipated end to the banking sector s bad debt problems should also help they say.

mourinho receives robson warning sir bobby robson has offered chelsea boss jose mourinho some advice on coping under pressure. the pair worked together at barcelona and porto and robson had a word of warning for his protege. it has all gone for him just lately and that is marvellous but sometimes you have to have a bit of humility and learn how to lose said robson. it is when it goes against you and you get a bit of bad luck that you learn and he ll get it straight. robson was speaking after being formally granted the freedom of the city of newcastle. jose is doing very well at the moment robson added of the man who worked for him for six years. he has got one pot - possibly two to follow - a big game against barcelona to come and i cannot see them losing their lead in the premiership. they are in a good position and i would expect them to go on and win it which is a wonderful achievement. what has occurred over the last couple of weeks will stand him in very good stead for the future. if he is intelligent he will take it on board - and he is very intelligent. he will have learned more in the last fortnight than the last eight months. before that it was all about winning. robson also admitted he would relish the chance to get back into management and test his skills against mourinho. i am not in a hurry to take the wrong job but i am ready to take the right job and i feel there is another job in me he added. i know the area i am capable of working in and of course i would like a job in the premiership if one was available. it would not worry me if i had to pit my wits against jose. but it is not just a case of him and me against one another. it would be his team against my team - but i would not be afraid of that.

microsoft debuts security tools microsoft is releasing tools that clean up pcs harbouring viruses and spyware. the virus-fighting program will be updated monthly and is a precursor to microsoft releasing dedicated anti-virus software. also being released is a software utility that will help users find and remove any spyware on their home computer. although initially free it is thought that soon microsoft will be charging users for the anti-spyware tool. the anti-spyware tool is available now and the anti-virus utility is expected to be available later this month. microsoft s windows operating system has long been a favourite of people who write computer viruses because it is so ubiquitous and has many loopholes that can be exploited. it has proved such a tempting target that there are now thought to be more than 100 000 viruses and other malicious programs in existence. latest research suggests that new variants of viruses are being cranked out at a rate of up to 200 per week. spyware is surreptitious software that sneaks on to home computers often without users knowledge. in its most benign form it just bombards users with pop-up adverts or hijacks web browser settings. the most malicious forms steal confidential information or log every keystroke that users make. surveys have shown that most pcs are infested with spyware. research by technology firms earthlink and webroot revealed that 90% of windows machine have the malicious software on board and on average each one harbours 28 separate spyware programs. before now microsoft has left the market for pc security software to specialist firms such as symantec mcafee trend micro and many others. it said that its virus cleaning program would not stop machines being infected nor remove the need for other anti-virus programs. on spyware freely available programs such as ad-aware and spybot have become widely used by people keen to keep the latest variants at bay. microsoft s two security tools have emerged as a result of acquisitions the company has made over the last two years. in 2003 it bought romanian firm gecad software to get hold of its anti-virus technology. in december 2004 it bought new york-based anti-spyware firm giant company software. last year microsoft also released the sp2 upgrade for windows xp that closed many security loopholes in the software and made it easier for people to manage their anti-virus and firewall programs.