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conservative mp defects to labour a conservative mp and former minister has defected to labour. robert jackson 58 mp for wantage in oxfordshire said he was disillusioned with the party s leadership and its dangerous views on europe. prime minister tony blair declared himself delighted saying mr jackson would be warmly welcomed by labour mps. mr jackson who has clashed with his leaders over tuition fees and europe in the past served as higher education minister between 1987 and 1990. in a letter to his constituency chairman he wrote: it is in the country s best interest that tony blair rather than michael howard should form the next government. while saying he admired mr blair s courageous leadership of the country he bitterly criticised the conservatives stance on europe. the conservative party s hostility to europe has now hardened to the point at which it advocates the unilateral denunciation of britain s treaty obligations he wrote. mr blair said mr jackson was a decent fair-minded and dedicated public servant... who will be warmly welcome by labour mps and members . as he rightly says [the conservatives] have learned nothing from their two election defeats and are if anything drifting further rightwards he added. a spokesman for michael howard said mr jackson s views on policy issues were very different from those of the party leadership. he believes students should pay tuition fees that tony blair should not be criticised over his handling of the iraq war and that more powers should be given to europe the spokesman said. he added that it was not surprising mr jackson had chosen to leave the conservatives. mr jackson is due to stand down at the next election. he is the third conservative mp to defect to labour since 1997. | science and tech | 2 |
wales hails new superstar one game into his six nations career and gavin henson is already a welsh legend. a mesmeric display against england topped off by his howitzer of a match-winning penalty has secured life membership of that particular club. at 23 henson has the rugby world at his silver-booted feet. and if his natural self-assurance and swagger is shared by his wales team-mates then a full-blown revival could be more than just a lot of hot air drifting up from the valleys. the red dragonhood subdued the red rose army in most areas of the field but henson s stellar performance ensured their efforts yielded the win they craved above all others. he announced himself in the game s opening salvo with a welcome to cardiff greeting for mark cueto on the gain line. and his defence was a major feature of the match his principal victim poor old or rather young mathew tait. the england centre will have spent his 19th birthday on sunday shuddering at the memory of how he was up-ended not just once but twice by henson s all-enveloping tackles. the second time after the interval single-handedly lifted the record millennium stadium crowd at a time when england were starting to show menace. showing awesome strength henson nonchantly held the bewildered debutant in mid-air a master predator toying with his helpless prey savouring the kill. his kicking game also prospered particularly when he moved to full-back for 10 minutes either side of half-time when his captain gareth thomas was in the sin-bin. one huge clearance from tait s kick sent england retreating rapidly while another booming punt to the right corner kept the visitors pinned in their own half. henson was also creativity personified: one little chip ahead for shane williams narrowly missed its target; a precise cross-kick forcing jamie noon to fumble the ball into touch. he also had a hand in the game s only try finished superbly by williams and might have scored himself on the half-hour as he glided into space only to be scragged by tait. henson was twice repelled as wales laid siege to the english line after charlie hodgson s penalty had edged the visitors in front for the first time. but he was not to be denied as the crescendo rose to a deafening din and the outcome of the match fell to him. replacement gareth cooper made the most of a poor welsh scrum by chipping into space where jason robinson was penalised for holding on in the tackle. five metres in from the right touchline 44 metres out it was not a kick stephen jones who had seen a long-range effort fall agonisingly under the bar would have approached with confidence. it was out of steve s range but i looked at gavin and he gave me a reassuring nod said thomas. henson surveying his date with destiny positively relished the responsibility and the chance to make himself a hero. without further ado he nervelessly slotted the kick that ended five years of english dominance and 12 years of waiting in cardiff. i knew i was going to get it before i even took the kick he said later his distinct spikey locks freshly gelled into an appropriate star shape. i have been getting them from that distance all year so it wasn t a problem. there were still four minutes for wales to hold out and the frenzy was such that henson could not even hear jones shouting instructions at him from three yards away. but it was wales who finished the game on the attack almost snatching a second try in a thunderous climax. just do it implored the front page headline on saturday s western mail newspaper. and thanks to henson wales did. | sports | 0 |
lomu relishing return to action former all black star jonah lomu says he cannot wait to run out on the pitch for former england rugby union captain martin johnson s testimonial on 4 june. the 29-year-old had a kidney transplant in july 2004 but will play his first full match for three years leading a southern hemisphere side at twickenham. i actually started training three weeks after my operation but i was very limited until a few months ago. now it s basically bring it on! said the giant winger. the match on 4 june will be my first 15-man game but i have a training schedule which is quite testing and combines with sevens and a whole lot of things said lomu. i have got so much energy since my operation that i train three times a day six days a week. mohammed ali has always been my ideal. coming back to rugby people said you are dreaming but it always starts off with a dream. it s up to you whether you want to make it a reality. opinion has been divided on whether lomu should attempt to return to the game after such a major operation. but when lomu was asked whether he was taking a risk he replied: as much as someone going down the road being hit by a bus. there are a lot of people in the world with one kidney who just don t know it. i have talked this over had a chat with the donor and this is to set my soul at peace and finish something i started in 1994 [when he made his all blacks debut]. at his lowest ebb lomu was so ill he could barely walk but he says he is now getting stronger every day and his long-term target is to play for new zealand again. the only person who saw me at my worst was my wife he added. i used to take two steps and fall over but now i can run and it is all coming back and a lot more quickly than i ever thought it would. to play for the all blacks would be the highest honour i could get. that is the long-term goal and you have to start somewhere. | world | 2 |
show over for mtv s the osbournes rock star ozzy osbourne has said his family will not make any more episodes of reality tv show the osbournes. at the end of it i didn t like having cameras around the house all the time the black sabbath singer told reporters at the mtv europe awards in rome. his wife sharon who also appears in the popular mtv show based on the osbournes family life agreed. now everybody s doing reality shows. he s done it he s been there he s got to do something else she said. ozzy osbourne said he had had enough of the work involved in making the series. when you watch a 25-minute episode i ve been filming all day he said. sharon osbourne is currently appearing as a judge and mentor in itv1 talent show the x-factor alongside simon cowell and louis walsh. earlier this year she topped a poll of the most important people in rock for her part in guiding the career of husband ozzy and her family. she was the driving force behind the osbournes which ran for three series earning the family a reported $85m (£46m). the renewed popularity for ozzy has seen sales of his merchandise hit the $50m (£27.2m) mark a record for a heavy metal artist. sales of t-shirts accessories and action figures have rocketed since the osbournes hit screens. at its peak the osbournes had a regular audience of eight million with america s tv guide magazine describing the series as a cross between the simpsons and this is spinal tap . osbourne himself was at a loss to explain its popularity: i suppose americans get a kick out of watching a crazy brit family like us make complete fools of ourselves every week. | world | 2 |
blair pressing us on climate tony blair is pressing the us to cut greenhouse gases despite its unwillingness to sign the kyoto protocol downing street has indicated. officials have confirmed climate change was discussed when influential senator john mccain recently visited mr blair. climate change was an issue the prime minister wanted to progress during the uk s presidency of the g8 and eu in 2005 said a spokesman. but he played down reports mr blair was considering a new us-friendly treaty. according to the times the uk leader wants to end us isolation with a kyoto-lite agreement on the scale and nature of the threat from climate change. he is said to have discussed the idea with mr mccain during his time at number 10. the prime minister is said to believe the united states refusal to sign the kyoto protocol on emissions is undermining other countries resolve to cut carbon dioxide production. so far the us has refused to sign up to the kyoto treaty - which aims to cut emissions - branding it politically motivated and not based on science. president bush s advisers have repeatedly denied global warming is taking place. europe which disputes the claim has also signalled it wants to press ahead with talks about longer term climate change action in a way which involves both the united states and developing countries. mr blair s reported treaty would also establish an international programme to develop technology needed for renewable energy and the reduction of carbon emissions says the times. but there is still apparently little prospect of america agreeing to cut emissions which could further provoke environmental campaigners already angry at the lack of progress. mr blair was left blushing on wednesday when it emerged his manifesto target of a 20% cut to the 1990 greenhouse gas level by 2010 was set to be missed. | politics | 0 |
bortolami predicts dour contest italy skipper marco bortolami believes saturday s six nations contest against scotland will be a scrappy encounter. with both sides looking for their first win of the championship the third-round game at murrayfield has been billed as a wooden-spoon decider. and bortolami feels the edinburgh contest could end up being a bruising battle of the packs. it will not be a pretty game because both teams are desperate to gain their first win said the lock forward. italy have only recorded three wins since they joined the six nations in 2000 but two of those have come against scotland. this year italy opened up with a stubborn display against ireland but ended up losing 28-17. however they were thoroughly outplayed by an impressive welsh side in rome last time out. now the italians travel to edinburgh hoping to claim their first away win in the six nations. scotland played extremely well against france in paris but not so well when ireland came to edinburgh said bortolami. we are still very disappointed with our last game against wales in rome and we are thoroughly determined to right the wrongs. as a nation our quest is to be respected as a team worthy of a place in this tournament and we can only do this by winning games. | sports | 0 |
daimlerchrysler s 2004 sales rise us-german carmaker daimlerchrysler has sold 2.1% more cars in 2004 than in the previous year as solid chrysler sales offset a weak showing for mercedes. sales totalled 3.9 million units worldwide during 2004 the company said at the detroit motor show. a switch to new models hit luxury marque mercedes-benz with sales down 3.1% at 1.06 million. chrysler avoided the fate of us rivals ford and general motors both of whom lost ground to japanese firms. its sales rose 3.5% to 2.7 million units. similarly on the up was the smart brand of compact cars with the division s sales jumping by 21.1% during 2004 to 136 000. the future of the brand - which is controlled by the mercedes group within daimlerchrysler - remains in question however. smart has consistently lost money since it started trading in 1998 and new model launches are now on hold said mercedes chief executive eckhard cordes. in europe the smart will now go on sale through regular mercedes dealerships as well as its own dealer network mr cordes said. | politics | 2 |
scots suffer another injury blow scotland s back row crisis has worsened ahead of the rbs six nations with news that scott gray will miss out on the opening matches. the borders flanker has a knee injury and joins donnie macfadyen and allister hogg on the sidelines. star number eight simon taylor will miss at least the first two games after damaging an ankle during his comeback. scott macleod (ankle ligaments) and jon petrie (cartilage) are also doubtful for the opener in paris on 5 february. gray 26 who won his first cap against australia at murrayfield last year was hurt in club action at the weekend. scotland doctor james robson said: a scan has shown damage to the medial ligaments of scott s right knee ruling him out of the first part of the championship. we will seek further specialist advice in due course to determine just how long scott may be out for. another potential option glasgow flanker andrew wilson has been ruled out for a month after damaging ligaments in both knees against northampton recently. flanker jason white and prop tom smith have also been suffering from flu and missed this week s training sessions. we have got plenty of good young players coming through and we have got to look at the opportunities it represents for them rather than the negatives williams added. williams could now turn to edinburgh pair alasdair strokosch and simon cross. leeds tykes flanker jon dunbar also trained with the squad but is still awaiting verification of his eligibility to qualify for scotland. | sports | 0 |
games win for blu-ray dvd format the next-generation dvd format blu-ray is winning more supporters than its rival according to its backers. blu-ray backed by 100 firms including sony is competing against toshiba and nec-backed hd-dvd to be the format of choice for future films and games. the blu-ray association said on thursday that games giants electronic arts and vivendi would both support its dvd format. the next generation of dvds will hold high-definition video and sound. this offers incredible 3d-like quality of pictures which major hollywood studios and games publishers are extremely keen to exploit in the coming year. in a separate press conference at the consumer electronics show in las vegas toshiba announced that dvd players for its technology would be on the market by the end of 2005. as we move from standard definition video images to high-definition images we have a much greater need for storage richard doherty from panasonic s hollywood laboratories one of the pioneers of blu-ray told the bbc news website. so by utilising blue laser-based technology we can make an optical laser disc that can hold six times as much as today s dvd. a blu-ray disc will be able to store 50gb of high-quality data while toshiba s hd-dvd will hold 30gb. mr doherty added that it was making sure the discs could satisfy all high-definition needs including the ability to record onto the dvds and smaller discs to fit into camcorders. both toshiba and blu-ray are hopeful that the emerging dvd format war akin to the betamax and vhs fight in the 1980s can be resolved over the next year when next-generation dvd players start to come out. when players do come out they will be able to play standard dvds too which is good news for those who have huge libraries of current dvds. but the support from vivendi and electronics arts is a big boost to blu-ray in the battle for supremacy. gaming is a $20 billion industry worldwide so is as crucial as the film industry in terms of money to be made. the technical requirement for game development today demands more advanced optical-disc technologies said michael heilmann chief technology officer for vivendi universal. blu-ray offers the capacity performance and high-speed internet connectivity to take us into the future of gaming. ea a leading games developer and publisher added that the delivery of high-definition games of the future was vital and blu-ray had the capacity functionality and interactivity needed for the kinds of projects it was planning. sony recently announced it would be using the technology in its next generation of playstations. mr doherty said gamers were ravenous for high-quality graphics and technology for the next generation of titles. gamers especially those working on pcs are always focused on more capacity to deliver textures deeper levels for delivering higher-resolution playback. he added: the focus for games moving forward on increased immersion. gaming companies really like to focus on creating a world which involves creating complicated 3d models and textures and increasing the resolution increasing the frame rate - all of these are part of getting a more immersive experience. fitting these models on current dvd technologies means compressing the graphics so much that much of this quality is lost. as games move to more photo-real capability the current technology is limiting. they are thrilled at the advanced capacity to start to build these immersive environments said mr doherty. currently graphics-intensive pc games also require multiple discs for installation. high-definition dvds will cut down on that need. likewise consoles rely on single discs so dvds that can hold six times more data mean much better high-resolution games. blu-ray has already won backing from major hollywood studios such as mgm studios disney and buena vista as well as top technology firms like dell lg samsung and phillips amongst others. while toshiba s hd-dvd technology has won backing from paramount universal and warner bros. the real world benefits (of hd-dvd) are apparent and obvious said jim cardwell president of warner home video. mr cardwell added that rapid time to market and dependability were significant factors in choosing to go with hd-dvd. both formats are courting microsoft to be the format of choice for the next generation xbox but discussions are still on-going. next generation dvds will also be able to store images and other data. ces is the largest consumer electronics show in the world and runs from 6 to 9 january. | world | 2 |
bbc leads interactive bafta wins the bbc and the national theatre have led the field at this year s interactive bafta awards. the national theatre s stagework website picked up the prize for best learning as well as top factual site. the bbc collected three awards including best online entertainment for the hitchhiker s guide to the galaxy adventure game. spooks interactive took the best interactive tv prize. the annual awards recognise the best in digital media. bbc sport interactive fought off competition from cbbc newsround and the guardian to take home the best news and sport trophy for its coverage of england s exit from euro 2004. it was recognised for its groundbreaking use of animation. bafta s grant dean chair of bafta s interactive entertainment committee said all the entrants had been of outstanding quality and that judging had been enormously difficult . without a doubt 2005 has been a landmark year for the bafta interactive awards he added. many of the top awards this year have gone to the companies we most commonly associate with traditional entertainment showing how the gap between new media film and television is closing. awards were given out in 12 different categories including interactive tv film music design as well as technical and social innovation at a london ceremony. the top music award was given to sseyo minimixa a mobile music sequencer designed to let people write edit and share compositions. warner bros was given two prizes for its inspiring efforts in film and dvd interactivity. the chaplin collection beat oasis really bend it like beckham shaun of the dead and the day today in the dvd category and trauma won best film. elsewhere fashionista and clothes designer alexander mcqueen took the accolade for the best-designed website. the awards have been running since 1997 but in 2002 the british academy of film and television decided to split them into separate games and interactive ceremonies. on tuesday half-life 2 dominated the games prizes. it collected six baftas including best game and best online game. | science and tech | 0 |
jones happy with henson heroics wales fly-half stephen jones admitted he was happy to hand gavin henson responsibility for taking the match-winning kick against england. jones had missed three earlier shots at goal when wales 9-8 down were awarded a long-range penalty with four minutes left in cardiff. i knew the percentages of gavin reaching it were far higher than me jones said. when he said he wanted it there were no problems. jones had seen a long-range effort fall a whisker under the crossbar on the hour before charlie hodgson put england in front with 10 minutes left. i looked at where it was and i knew i was going to struggle to make it jones added. i said to gareth (thomas the wales captain) this is touch and go. it was out of my range and obviously gavin is phenomenal when it comes to distance. he was confident and fancied it. there were no questions that he d miss it the way he was playing. he had a superb game. jones was happy to hail henson s heroic contribution to wales first win over england in cardiff since 1993. physically he s a specimen: he s a balanced player he glides when he runs and obviously he s got a great kicking game as well jones said. his defence was superb he made some great hits and he had a great game. i m glad he s welsh. victory over england for the first time since 1999 will no doubt fuel expectations of what wales might achieve in this year s six nations. but they now face three away fixtures in italy france and scotland before completing their campaign against ireland in cardiff. people all over the world want to see wales back at the top table of world rugby said a proud coach mike ruddock. but we are not there yet. the next step is finding the consistency to get further wins. we have to travel this week and we can t afford to get too giddy about this result. we have got to be professional and keep focused on facing italy. none more so than henson who can now expect to have the same sort of spotlight thrust upon him as the likes of jonny wilkinson and brian o driscoll. the confident 23-year-old is undaunted by the prospect of dealing with such weighty expectations however. i m the sort of player who likes pressure on me he said. it makes me more concentrated and i think i perform better under more pressure. i set a high standard against england and i ve got to back it up next week. two years ago when we played italy i wasn t involved and we lost so we ve got to put that right next week. | sports | 0 |
battered dollar hits another low the dollar has fallen to a new record low against the euro after data fuelled fresh concerns about the us economy. the greenback hit $1.3516 in thin new york trade before rallying to $1.3509. the dollar has weakened sharply since september when it traded about $1.20 amid continuing worries over the levels of the us trade and budget deficits. meanwhile france s finance minister has said the world faced economic catastrophe unless the us worked with europe and asia on currency controls. herve gaymard said he would seek action on the issue at the next meeting of g7 countries in february. ministers from european and asian governments have recently called on the us to strengthen the dollar saying the excessively high value of the euro was starting to hurt their export-driven economies. it s absolutely essential that at the meeting of the g7 our american friends understand that we need coordinated management at the world level said mr gaymard. thursday s new low for the dollar came after data was released showing year-on-year sales of new homes in the us had fallen 12% in november - with some analysts saying this could indicate problems ahead for consumer activity. commerce department data also showed consumer spending - which drives two thirds of the us economy - grew just 0.2% last month. the figure was weaker than forecast - and fell short of the 0.8% rise in october. the official us policy is that it supports a strong dollar but many market observers believe it is happy to let the dollar fall because of the boost to its exporters. the us government has faced pressure from exporter organisations which have publicly stated the currency still has further to fall from abnormal and dangerous heights set in 2002. the us says it will let market forces determine the dollar s strength rather than intervene directly. statements from president bush in recent weeks highlighting his aim to cut the twin us deficits have prompted slight upturns in the currency. but while some observers said the quiet trade on thursday had exacerbated small moves in the market most agree the underlying trend remains downwards. the dollar has now fallen for a third consecutive year and analysts are forecasting a further albeit less dramatic weakening in 2005. i can see it finishing the year around $1.35 and we can see that it s going to be a steady track upward for the euro/dollar in 2005 finishing the year around $1.40 said adrian hughes currency strategist with hsbc in london. | business | 0 |
hundreds vie for best film oscar a total of 267 films are eligible for the best film oscar but only five will be chosen to go forward as nominees. the academy of motion picture arts and sciences has sent out the first ballot papers with the full list of films vying for recognition. among those expected to receive nominations are the aviator million dollar baby and sideways. academy members will now vote for their favourites before the final nominees are announced on 25 january. to be eligible for nomination a film must have been shown in a commercial theatre for seven consecutive days before the deadline of 31 december. director martin scorsese s the aviator starring leonardo dicaprio went on general release on christmas day in the us ensuring it just made the deadline. studios have already begun lobbying voters taking out full page adverts in trade publications such as variety urging them to remember particular films when it comes to choosing what to back. other movies tipped for possible success include closer starring jude law and julia roberts finding neverland with johnny depp as author jm barry and kinsey starring liam neeson as the famed sex scientist alfred kinsey. meanwhile design engineer takuo miyagishima will be awarded an oscar at the scientific and technical awards dinner on 12 february 2005. miyagishima is the 18th recipient of the sawyer award which is presented to an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry. the main oscar ceremony will be held in los angeles on 27 february. | entertainment | 0 |
debate needed on donations cap a cap on donations to political parties should not be introduced yet the elections watchdog has said. fears that big donors can buy political favours have sparked calls for a limit. in a new report the electoral commission says it is worth debating a £10 000 cap for the future but now is not the right time to introduce it. it also says there should be more state funding for political parties and candidates should be able to spend more on election campaigning. there were almost £68m in reported donations to political parties in 2001 2002 and 2003 with nearly £12m of them from individual gifts worth more than £1m. the rules have already been changed so the public can see who gives how much to the parties but the report says there are still public suspicions. the commission says capping donations would mean taxpayers giving parties more cash - something which would first have to be acceptable to the public and shown to work. while we are not in principle opposed to the introduction of a donation cap we do not believe that such a major departure from the existing system now would be sensible says its report. if there was to be a cap it should be £10 000 - a small enough amount to make a difference but which would have banned £56m in donations between 2001 and 2003. even without changes the commission does urge political parties to seek out more small-scale donations and suggests there should be income tax relief for gifts under £200. it also suggests increasing state funding for parties to £3m so help can be extended to all parties with at least two members in the house of commons european parliament scottish parliament welsh assembly or northern ireland assembly. and it suggests new ways of boosting election campaigning seen as a way of improving voter turnout. all local election candidates should be entitled to a free mailshot for campaign leaflets says the watchdog. and there should be a shift in the amount of money allowed to be spent at elections from a national level to a local level to help politicians engage better with voters. the report suggests doubling the money which can be spent by candidates while cutting national spending limits from £20m to £15m. the commission also says the spending limits for general elections should cover the four months before the poll - as happens with other elections. electoral commission chairman sam younger said: there is no doubt that political parties have a vital role to play in maintaining the health of our democracy and for this they need to be adequately resourced. our research has shown that people want to be more informed about party politics and that they want politicians to be more visible and accessible. the public are reluctant for the state to fund parties but at the same time are unhappy with large private donations. he called for a wider public debate on party funding to find the consensus needed for radical changes to the current system. | science and tech | 2 |
wine comedy wins critics award quirky comedy sideways was named the best film of the year by the los angeles film critics association. the us movie also picked up four other accolades including best director for alexander payne and supporting actor for thomas haden church. british actress imelda staunton has again been recognised for her role in vera drake winning best actress while liam neeson won best actor for kinsey. the awards will be handed out on 13 january at a ceremony in las vegas. sideways tells the story of two men who take a road trip through california s wine regions and also stars paul giamatti. virginia madsen was also named best supporting actress for her performance in the film. house of flying daggers directed by yimou zhang was named best foreign language film while the animation award went to the incredibles. unusually the runners-up in categories were also named with clint eastwood s million dollar baby just missing out on the best film award. the best director runner-up was martin scorsese for the aviator. a career achievement award will be handed to veteran actor and comic jerry lewis at the ceremony next year. | science and tech | 2 |
tory candidate quits over remark a conservative election challenger is quitting after being quoted as wanting a period of creative destruction in the public services . danny kruger who also works in the tory research unit had been due to take on tony blair in sedgefield. he says his remark last week was misrepresented but he will not contest the election for fear of damaging the conservative cause. tory leader michael howard accepted his decision with regret . mr kruger was quoted in the guardian newspaper saying: we plan to introduce a period of creative destruction in the public services. in a statement the party said the comment had been taken out of context. he fully supports the party s policies on and approach to the public services said the statement. however in order to avoid any further misrepresentation of his views and any damage to the party he has decided not to stand in the sedgefield constituency at the next election. mr kruger is continuing in his job at the tory campaign headquarters. labour election coordinator alan milburn claimed mr kruger had exposed the tory agenda for £35bn of cuts to public services. mr milburn said: he is not some unknown hopeful fighting an unwinnable seat. he is a man who has worked at the heart of conservative policy development... his claim that the tories were planning a period of creative destruction in the public services is not a rogue claim. it is the authentic and shocking voice of the conservative party. it reveals the true picture of what they would do. | politics | 0 |
sony psp tipped as a must-have sony s playstation portable is the top gadget for 2005 according to a round-up of ultimate gizmos compiled by stuff magazine. it beats the ipod into second place in the top ten essentials list which predicts what gadget-lovers are likely to covet this year. owning all 10 gadgets will set the gadget lover back £7 455. that is £1 000 cheaper than last year s list due to falling manufacturing costs making gadgets more affordable. portable gadgets dominate the list including sharp s 902 3g mobile phone the pentax optio sv digital camera and samsung s yepp yh-999 video jukebox. what this year s essentials shows is that gadgets are now cheaper sexier and more indispensable than ever. we ve got to the point where we can t live our lives without certain technology said adam vaughan editor of stuff essentials. the proliferation of gadgets in our homes is inexorably altering the role of the high street in our lives thinks mr vaughan. take digital cameras who would now pay to develop an entire film of photos or legitimate downloads who would travel miles to a record shop when they could download the song in minutes for 70p he asks. next year will see a new set of technologies capturing the imaginations of gadget lovers stuff predicts. the xbox 2 high-definition tv and mp3 mobiles will be among the list of must-haves that will dominate 2006 it says. the spring launch of the psp in the uk is eagerly awaited by gaming fans. | science and tech | 0 |
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. | politics | 2 |
call centre users lose patience customers trying to get through to call centres are getting impatient and quicker to hang up a survey suggests. once past the welcome message callers on average hang up after just 65 seconds of listening to canned music. the drop in patience comes as the number of calls to call centres is growing at a rate of 20% every year. customers are getting used to the idea of an always available society says cara diemont of it firm dimension data which commissioned the survey. however call centres also saw a sharp increase of customers simply abandoning calls she says from just over 5% in 2003 to a record 13.3% during last year. when automated phone message systems are taken out of the equation where customers have to pick their way through multiple options and messages the number of abandoned calls is even higher - a sixth of all callers give up rather than wait. one possible reason for the lack in patience ms diemont says is the fact that more customers are calling on the move using their mobile phones. the surge in customers trying to get through to call centres is also a reflection of the centres growing range of tasks. once a call centre may have looked after mortgages now its agents may also be responsible for credit cards insurance and current accounts ms diemont says. problems are occurring because increased responsibility is not going hand-in-hand with more training the survey found. in what dimension data calls an alarming development the average induction time for a call centre worker fell last year from 36 to just 21 days leaving agents not equipped to deal with customers . this ms diemont warns is scary and not good for the bottom line either. poor training frustrates both call centre workers and customers. as a result call centres have a high churn rate with nearly a quarter of workers throwing in the towel every year which in turn forces companies to pay for training new staff. resolution rates - the number of calls where a customer s query is resolved to mutual satisfaction - are running at just 50%. when the query is passed on to a second or third person - a specialist or manager - rates rise to about 70% but that is still well below the industry target of an 85% resolution rate. suggestions that outsourcing - relocating call centres to low-cost countries like india or south africa - is to blame are wrong ms diemont says. there are no big differences in wait time and call resolution between call centres based in europe or north america and those in developing countries around the world. you can make call centres perform anywhere if you have good management and the right processes in place she says. however companies that decide to offshore their operations are driven not just by cost considerations. only 42% of them say that saving money is the main consideration when closing domestic call centre operations. half of them argue that workers in other countries offer better skills for the money. but not everybody believes that outsourcing and offshoring are the solution. nearly two-thirds of all firms polled for the survey have no plans to offshore their call centres. they give three key reasons for not making the move: - call centre operations are part of their business core function - they are worried about the risk of going abroad - they fear that they will damage their brand if they join the offshoring drive. the survey was conducted by sunovate on behalf of dimension data and is based on in-depth questionnaires of 166 call centres in 24 countries and five continents. what are your experiences with call centres are you happy to listen to vivaldi or greensleeves or do you want an immediate response and if you work in a call centre: did your training prepare you for your job | science and tech | 2 |
2004: an irish athletics year 2004 won t be remembered as one of irish athletics great years. the year began with that optimism which invariably and unaccountably seems to herald an upcoming olympiad. but come late august a few hot days in the magnificent stadium in athens told us of the true strength of irish athletics - or to be more accurate the lack of it. sonia o sullivan s olympic farewell apart there was little to stir the emotions of irish athletics watchers. but after the disastrous build-up to the games we shouldn t have been surprised. at the start of the year an o sullivan had been earmarked as ireland s best medal prospect but as it turned out walker gillian never even made it to the start line because of injury. less than a week before the olympics the sport was rocked by news that 10 000m hope cathal lombard had tested for the banned substance epo. lombard s shattering of mark carroll s national 10 000m record in april had already set tongues wagging but even the most cynical of observers were surprised when he was rumbled after an irish sports council sting operation. the corkman quickly held his hands up in admission and was promptly handed a two-year ban from the sport. back at pre-olympic ranch in greece it must have seemed that things couldn t have got any worse but they very nearly did with walker jamie costin lucky to escape with his life after being involved in a car crash near athens. once the track and field action began in athens a familiar pattern of underachievement emerged although alistair cragg s performance in being the only athlete from a european nation to qualify for the 5 000m final did offer hope for the future. our beloved sonia scraped into the women s 5k final as a fastest loser and for a couple of days the country attempted to delude itself into believing that she might be in the medal shake-up. as it happened she went out the back door early in the final although there was nothing undignified about the way that she insisted on finishing the race over a minute behind winner meseret defar. it later transpired that sonia had been suffering from a stomach bug in the 48 hours before the final although typically the cobhwoman played down the effects of the illness. amazingly she was back in action a couple of weeks later when beating a world-class field at the flora lite 5k road race in london and while her major championship days may be over it s unlikely that we have seen the last of her in competition. at least sonia managed to make it to athens. at the start of the year several northern ireland athletes had genuine hopes of qualifying for the games but come august an out-of-form and injured paul brizzel was the lone standard bearer for the province. the ballymena man gave it a lash but his achilles problem and a bad lane draw meant a time of 21.00 and an early exit. james mcilroy gareth turnbull zoe brown and paul mckee all had to be content with watching the athens action on their television screens. 800m hope mcilroy never got near his best during the summer and a fourth place in the british trials effectively ended his hopes of making the plane. the injury-plagued turnbull gamely travelled round europe in search of the 1500m qualifying mark but 3:39 was the best he could achieve after missing several months training during the previous winter. a lingering hamstring probem and a virus wrecked mckee s athens ambitions and both he and turnbull deserve a slice of better fortune in 2005. pole vaulter brown had hoped for a vote of confidence from the british selectors after she had achieved the athens b standard but the call never came. as the summer ended stalwarts catherina mckiernan and dermot donnelly hung up their competitive spikes. mckiernan had to candidly acknowledge that time had crept up on her after several injury-ravaged years. donnelly and his annadale striders team-mates later suffered tragedy when their friend and clubman andy campbell was found dead at his home on 18 december. a large turnout of athletics-loving folk turned out in west belfast to offer their respects to the campbell family and andy s many friends. as only death can it put the year s athletics happenings in a sharp perspective. | science and tech | 2 |
games win for blu-ray dvd format the next-generation dvd format blu-ray is winning more supporters than its rival according to its backers. blu-ray backed by 100 firms including sony is competing against toshiba and nec-backed hd-dvd to be the format of choice for future films and games. the blu-ray association said on thursday that games giants electronic arts and vivendi would both support its dvd format. the next generation of dvds will hold high-definition video and sound. this offers incredible 3d-like quality of pictures which major hollywood studios and games publishers are extremely keen to exploit in the coming year. in a separate press conference at the consumer electronics show in las vegas toshiba announced that dvd players for its technology would be on the market by the end of 2005. as we move from standard definition video images to high-definition images we have a much greater need for storage richard doherty from panasonic s hollywood laboratories one of the pioneers of blu-ray told the bbc news website. so by utilising blue laser-based technology we can make an optical laser disc that can hold six times as much as today s dvd. a blu-ray disc will be able to store 50gb of high-quality data while toshiba s hd-dvd will hold 30gb. mr doherty added that it was making sure the discs could satisfy all high-definition needs including the ability to record onto the dvds and smaller discs to fit into camcorders. both toshiba and blu-ray are hopeful that the emerging dvd format war akin to the betamax and vhs fight in the 1980s can be resolved over the next year when next-generation dvd players start to come out. when players do come out they will be able to play standard dvds too which is good news for those who have huge libraries of current dvds. but the support from vivendi and electronics arts is a big boost to blu-ray in the battle for supremacy. gaming is a $20 billion industry worldwide so is as crucial as the film industry in terms of money to be made. the technical requirement for game development today demands more advanced optical-disc technologies said michael heilmann chief technology officer for vivendi universal. blu-ray offers the capacity performance and high-speed internet connectivity to take us into the future of gaming. ea a leading games developer and publisher added that the delivery of high-definition games of the future was vital and blu-ray had the capacity functionality and interactivity needed for the kinds of projects it was planning. sony recently announced it would be using the technology in its next generation of playstations. mr doherty said gamers were ravenous for high-quality graphics and technology for the next generation of titles. gamers especially those working on pcs are always focused on more capacity to deliver textures deeper levels for delivering higher-resolution playback. he added: the focus for games moving forward is on increased immersion. gaming companies really like to focus on creating a world which involves creating complicated 3d models and textures and increasing the resolution increasing the frame rate - all of these are part of getting a more immersive experience. fitting these models on current dvd technologies means compressing the graphics so much that much of this quality is lost. as games move to more photo-real capability the current technology is limiting. they are thrilled at the advanced capacity to start to build these immersive environments said mr doherty. currently graphics-intensive pc games also require multiple discs for installation. high-definition dvds will cut down on that need. likewise consoles rely on single discs so dvds that can hold six times more data mean much better high-resolution games. blu-ray has already won backing from major hollywood studios such as mgm studios disney and buena vista as well as top technology firms like dell lg samsung and phillips amongst others. while toshiba s hd-dvd technology has won backing from paramount universal and warner bros. the real world benefits (of hd-dvd) are apparent and obvious said jim cardwell president of warner home video. mr cardwell added that rapid time to market and dependability were significant factors in choosing to go with hd-dvd. both formats are courting microsoft to be the format of choice for the next generation xbox but discussions are still on-going. next generation dvds will also be able to store images and other data. ces is the largest consumer electronics show in the world and runs from 6 to 9 january. | science and tech | 0 |
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. | world | 2 |
giving financial gifts to children your child or grandchild may want the latest toy this christmas but how about giving them a present that will help their financial future gifts of the financial variety might have a longer lasting impact. it may encourage children to save or start a fund which could count towards university costs for example. the government is trying to encourage saving at an early age through its new child trust fund. the first vouchers worth £250 or £500 for low-income families will be distributed from january. all children born after 1st september 2002 will be eligible. parents will need to decide which financial institution will manage this gift in time for the start of the scheme in april 2005. parents and relatives will be able to top up the fund with up to £1 200 a year which will grow free of income and capital gains tax. as the child trust fund will not be in force in time for christmas relatives could invest their gifts in a higher rate children s deposit account and use this as a feeder fund. there are accounts designed to start children off in the savings habit and they often pay a higher rate of interest. some of the best instant-access accounts currently available include the ladybird account from the saffron walden building society paying 5.35% for a minimum balance of £1 and the alliance & leicester firstsaver which pays 5.25% also starting at £1. interest earned by children is subject to income tax. however children like adults have a personal income tax allowance (£4 745 for the current tax year). if the account holds money gifted by friends and relatives - but not parents - any interest earned from the savings account may be set against the allowance. as long as the total amount of interest falls within the allowance then no tax will be payable. when the account is opened a form r85 available from the bank or building society should be completed. this confirms that the account holder is a non-taxpayer and allows interest to be received without the deduction of income tax. the tax rules are different for parents who save on behalf of a child. only £100 of interest (per parent) can be tax-free. where interest exceeds this level the whole of the interest will be taxed on the parent. this is to prevent parents from holding their own cash savings in their children s names and taking advantage of the tax allowances. where both parents and other relatives are saving on behalf of a child consideration should be given to opening separate accounts - one for parents gifts and one for gifts from other relatives. therefore it may be preferable for parents to contribute to the child trust fund which is tax free with any gifts from relatives that take the total above the annual £1 200 limit being directed to a deposit account. another favourite solution is premium bonds. with the promise of riches far greater than a mere deposit account they make great presents. the parent or guardian will be responsible for the bonds and will receive notification of the purchase. any prizes will be sent to the parent or child s guardian. the minimum for each purchase is £100 and bonds are sold in multiples of £10. there are gift opportunities beyond cash accounts and these should not be ignored. over the longer term stock market funds have outperformed other types of investment although in the shorter term they can be volatile. one of the benefits of investing for children is that investment is generally for the longer term - more than ten years - which helps to reduce the risks associated with investing in shares. one way to spread the risk is to invest in the stock market through a unit or investment trust. these are pooled investment funds which give access to a wide range of shares. these funds may be actively managed where a fund manager picks individual stocks based on a view of their future potential or passive where a manager invests in all the shares that comprise a stock market index for example the ftse 100. exchange traded funds offer an alternative way to track a stock market. these are single shares that give the return of an underlying index (so are really another form of tracker). the difference is that the charges are quite low. the only drawback with all financial gifts is that the children gain an absolute right to the money at age 18 and parents will have no control over how it is spent. for larger gifts it may be worthwhile taking professional advice on the establishment of a suitable trust that will allow ongoing control over the capital and income. | entertainment | 2 |
blair and brown criticised by mps labour mps have angrily criticised tony blair and gordon brown amid renewed reports of a rift between the two men. a meeting of the parliamentary labour party saw a succession of normally loyal members warn that feuding could jeopardise labour s election hopes. the pm insisted nothing would derail labour s campaign despite a new book saying he has upset his chancellor by backing out of a pledge to stand aside. mr brown will again be in the public eye at the party s new poster launch. in what the party had hoped would be perceived as a show of unity he is due to line up alongside alan milburn - the man controversially appointed as the party s election supremo - and deputy leader john prescott for the event in london on tuesday. relations between mr brown and mr milburn are widely reported to be cool ever since mr blair brought the latter back into the cabinet to run labour s election campaign a role successfully carried out by mr brown in both 1997 and 2001. mr blair told the parliamentary labour party on monday: i know from everyone here in cabinet and government nothing is going to get in the way of a unified labour party with a unified position and winning the third term people desperately need. the prime minister and his chancellor arrived within seconds of each other for the meeting of the plp and were seemingly in good spirits as it started. new speculation about the state of their relationship was sparked by claims in brown s britain by sunday telegraph journalist robert peston which suggested mr blair went back on a pledge to make way for mr brown. labour s paul flynn said mr blair and mr brown had a scorching from mps adding: it was a parliamentary labour party meeting like no other. backbencher stephen pound said some mps had threatend to expose those fuelling the reports if mr blair and mr brown did not stop this nonsense this poisonous briefing . lord campbell-savours a former mp challenged mr brown to deny reports that he had told the prime minister he did not believe anything he said. mr prescott said mps were entitled to complain about discipline after reading recent press reports. they told us very clearly it was the troops telling the leaders: get in line he told bbc radio 4 s today on tuesday. mr prescott said there were occasional disagreements in any government. but he argued mr blair and mr brown could work successfully together and had produced a strong economy and better public services. the new book claims mr prescott hosted a dinner in november 2003 where the prime minister told mr brown he would stand down before the next election because he had lost trust over the iraq war. he had then changed his mind in june 2004 following intervention from cabinet allies and suspicion that the chancellor was manoeuvring against him writes mr peston. mr prescott said there was a dinner but the discussions were confidential. of course as a waiter for 10 years i have a professional ability here he joked. mr blair has insisted he has done no deals over the premiership while mr brown says he will not let gossip distract him from helping a unified election campaign. the conservatives say the two men are behaving like squabbling schoolboys and the liberal democrats claim personal ambition is obstructing good government. | business | 2 |
us casino tricks face ban in uk controversial new uk casinos will be banned from using american tricks of the trade to ensure they are socially responsible it has been suggested. culture secretary tessa jowell said proposed super-casinos will be different from their us counterparts. in america pheromones have reportedly been released from machines to encourage aggressive gambling and clocks are often removed from walls. eight super-casinos are proposed from 2010 if the gambling bill becomes law. ms jowell said the legislation would ban psychological trickery. she told the times: british casinos will be quite different to those overseas. they will have to act in a socially responsible way and will be tightly regulated. they will be run according to british rules and we ll simply not allow any tricks which people are subjected to unawares and which increase the risk of problem gambling. one tactic used in the us is simulating daylight during night-time to lull players into remaining at the tables and slot machines. casinos also frequently offer free food drink and hotel accommodation to keep punters betting. a spokesman for the british casino association which represents the uk industry said the government was trying to allay fears over a uk las vegas . he said the way the licences were being awarded meant uk firms were at a massive disadvantage and foreign companies would be certain to win the contracts. the uk industry is one of the world s most respected he said. we have the lowest level of problem gambling in the world. we certainly don t use pheremones. the uk gambling industry is being totally frozen in time and the foreign companies will take over. | politics | 0 |
mcleish ready for criticism rangers manager alex mcleish accepts he is going to be criticised after their disastrous uefa cup exit at the hands of auxerre at ibrox on wednesday. mcleish told bbc radio five live: we were in pole position to get through to the next stage but we blew it we absolutely blew it. there s no use burying your head in the sand we know we are going to get a lot of criticism. we have to take it as we have done in the past and we must now bounce back. mcleish admitted his team s defending was amateurish after watching them lose 2-0 to guy roux s french side. i m very disappointed because we didn t give ourselves a chance losing the first goal from our own corner. it was amateur he added. the early goal in the second half gave us a mountain to climb and we never created the same kind of chances as we did in the first half. it s difficult to take positives from the game. we ve let the fans down. | politics | 2 |
ford gains from finance not cars ford the us car company reported higher fourth quarter and full-year profits on thursday boosted by a buoyant period for its car loans unit. net income for 2004 was $3.5bn (£1.87bn) - up nearly $3bn from 2003 - while turnover rose $7.2bn to $170.8bn. in the fourth quarter alone ford reported net income of $104m compared with a loss of $793m a year ago. but its auto unit made a loss. fourth quarter turnover was $44.7bn compared to $45.9bn a year ago. though car and truck loan profits saved the day ford s auto unit made a pre-tax loss of $470m in the fourth quarter (compared to a profit of £13m in the year-ago period) and its us sales dipped 3.8%. yesterday general motor s results also showed its finance unit was a strong contributor to profits. however ford is working hard to revitalise its product portfolio unveiling the fusion and zephyr models at the international motor show in detroit. it also brought out a number of new models in the second half of 2004. in 2004 our company gained momentum delivering...more new products and more innovative breakthroughs such as the escape hybrid the industry s first full-hybrid sport utility vehicle said chairman and chief executive officer bill ford. we also confronted operating challenges with our jaguar brand and high industry marketing costs he added. but ford declined to provide guidance for first quarter 2005. it will do so at a presentation in new york on 26 january. in addition the company said 2004 net income was affected by a fourth-quarter pre-tax charge taken to reduce the value of a receivable owed to ford by visteon a former subsidiary. recent new models introduced by ford include the ford five hundred and mercury montego sedans the ford freestyle crossover the ford mustang the land rover lr3/discovery and volvo s40 and v50 in north america and europe. total company vehicle unit sales in 2004 were 6 798 000 an increase of 62 000 units from 2003. fourth-quarter vehicle unit sales totalled 1 751 000 a decline of 133 000 units. for the full year ford s worldwide automotive division earned a pre-tax profit of $850m a $697m improvement from $153m a year ago. | science and tech | 2 |
playstation 3 processor unveiled the cell processor which will drive sony s playstation 3 will run 10-times faster than current pc chips its designers have said. sony ibm and toshiba who have been working on the cell processor for three years unveiled the chip on monday. it is being designed for use in graphics workstations the new playstation console and has been described as a supercomputer on a chip. the chip will run at speeds of greater than 4 ghz the firms said. by comparison rival chip maker intel s fastest processor runs at 3.8 ghz. details of the chip were released at the international solid state circuits conference in san francisco. the new processor is set to ignite a fresh battle between intel and the cell consortium over which processor sits at the centre of digital products. the playstation 3 is expected in 2006 while toshiba plans to incorporate it into high-end televisions next year. ibm has said it will sell a workstation with the chip starting later this year. cell is comprised of several computing engines or cores. a core based on ibm s power architecture controls eight synergistic processing centres. in all they can simultaneously carry out 10 instruction sequences compared with two for current intel chips. later this year intel and advanced micro devices plan to release their own multicore chips which also increase the number of instructions that can be executed at once. the cell s specifications suggest the playstation 3 will offer a significant boost in graphics capabilities but analysts cautioned that not all the features in a product announcement will find their way into systems. any new technology like this has two components said steve kleynhans an analyst with meta group. he said: it has the vision of what it could be because you need the big vision to sell it. then there s the reality of how it s really going to be used which generally is several levels down the chain from there. while the playstation 3 is likely to be the first mass-market product to use cell the chip s designers have said the flexible architecture means that it would be useful for a wide range of applications from servers to mobile phones. initial devices are unlikely to be any smaller than a games console however because the first version of the cell will run hot enough to need a cooling fan. and while marketing speak describes the chip as a supercomputer - it remains significantly slower than the slowest computer on the list of the world s top 500 supercomputers. ibm said cell was os neutral and would support multiple operating systems simultaneously but designers would not confirm if microsoft s windows was among those tested with the chip. if cell is to challenge intel s range of chips in the marketplace it will need to find itself inside pcs which predominantly run using windows. | science and tech | 0 |
reliance unit loses anil ambani anil ambani the younger of the two brothers in charge of india s largest private company has resigned from running its petrochemicals subsidiary. the move is likely to be seen as the latest twist in a feud between mr ambani and his brother mukesh. anil 45 has stepped down as director and vice-chairman of indian petrochemicals corporation (ipc). the company was not available for comment. ipc is 46%-owned by reliance industries which in turn is run by mukesh. mukesh has spoken of ownership issues between the two brothers who took over control of the reliance empire following the death of their father in july 2002. reliance s operations have massive reach covering textiles telecommunications petrochemicals petroleum refining and marketing as well as oil and gas exploration insurance and financial services. the brothers spat has hogged headlines in india during recent weeks despite a denial from the family that there was anything wrong. speculation has been rife about what has triggered the stand-off with some observers blaming anil s political ambitions others the heavy investment by mukesh and reliance in a mobile phone venture. shares of ipc dipped on the news in mumbai but recovered to trade almost 6% higher. reliance shares added 1.7% while reliance energy headed by anil jumped 7%. | business | 0 |
kilroy unveils immigration policy ex-chatshow host robert kilroy-silk has attacked uk policy on immigration saying britain s open door approach is hitting low wage indigenous workers. the veritas leader said the only people to benefit from immigrants from places like poland were employers landlords members of the metropolitan elite . the mep said his party would only admit foreigners who were required because they had specific skills to offer. and he argued asylum cost £2bn a year for 14 000 successful applicants. mr kilroy-silk said that worked out at £143 000 per successful asylum seeker. he said veritas wanted to grant an amnesty for all those in britain claiming asylum and who have children and deport everyone else. britain should take its fair share of asylum seekers under the united nations convention on human rights he argued. and mr kilroy-silk said he wanted to spend an extra £500m a year to help provide for refugees abroad. | science and tech | 2 |
liverpool revel in night of glory liverpool manager rafael benitez said their qualification for the next stage of the champions league was one of the proudest nights of my career. the reds beat olympiakos 3-1 with a late steven gerrard strike and benitez said: it was a really great night. the players ran hard all the time and you see how much it means to the fans. we knew before the game that it was very important for the club to gain these extra finances. for liverpool this result is very very important. benitez hailed gerrard for his match-winning strike four minutes from time and also the anfield crowd for sticking by their side after they had fallen a goal behind at the interval. the reds scored three second-half goals in a sensational comeback capped by gerrard s 20-yard drive. he added: steven can play all over the pitch and he influences every part of the game. i have said to him many times that he has the freedom because he has talent and is very important to us. i felt that the difference between the sides was really our supporters i cannot thank them enough. i want to say thank-you to the supporters they were magnificent to help us achieve this result. gerrard admitted he thought they were going out of the champions league after trailing 1-0 at half-time. he said: i d be lying if i thought we were going through when we were losing at half-time. we had a mountain to climb but we have climbed it and credit to everyone. that was one of the best goals i have scored i caught it sweet i haven t caught one like that for ages. it was a massive night for me and the team. liverpool s win means all four of england s champions league representatives have reached the knockout stages for the first time. | sports | 0 |
s&n extends indian beer venture the uk s biggest brewer scottish and newcastle (s&n) is to buy 37.5% of india s united breweries in a deal worth 4.66bn rupees ($106m:£54.6m). s&n will buy a 17.5% equity stake in united maker of the well-known kingfisher lager brand and make a public offer to buy another 20% stake. a similar holding will be controlled by vijay mallya chair of the indian firm. the deal was a natural development of its joint venture with united said tony froggatt s&n s chief executive. its top brands include newcastle brown ale foster s john smith s strongbow and kronenbourg. in 2002 s&n and united agreed to form a strategic partnership one that would include a joint venture business and a uk investment in the indian brewer. the joint venture was established in may 2003. with both parties having a 40% stake in the venture - millennium alcobev. millennium alcobev will now be merged with united which expects post-merger to have about half of india s beer market. india with a population of more than one billion consumes about 1.2 billion bottles of beer every year. kingfisher has market share of about 29%. in addition to the equity stake s&n is to invest 2.47bn rupees in united through non-convertible redeemable preference shares. meanwhile united s budget airline kingfisher airlines is to buy 10 a320 aircraft from airbus and has the option to buy 20 more aircraft in a deal worth up to $1.8bn. the airline the brainchild of mr mallya expects to start its operations by the end of april. the new airline would break even in the very first year of operation mr mallya said. | business | 0 |
eu fraud clampdown urged eu member states are failing to report fraud and irregularities in eu funds on a consistent basis the uk s public spending watchdog has said. the national audit office said although the latest figures showed reported fraud was falling the eu still had no common definition of fraud. it also expressed concern that for the 10th year the european court of auditors had qualified the eu accounts. the nao urged the government to push for improvements in reporting fraud. it said member states needed to be more accountable on how money was spent. the report said: member states still do not report fraud and other irregularities to the european anti-fraud office on a consistent basis. as the court has now qualified its opinion on the community accounts for a decade it is essential for all the authorities involved to contribute to the strengthening of the audit of eu revenue and expenditure and improving accountability for the financial management and use of eu resources. it said there were 922 cases of reported fraud or irregularities in eu funds in the uk in 2003 worth £38.5m (52m euros) up from 831 cases worth £35.7m in 2002. at the same time reported fraud throughout the eu dropped from 10 276 cases worth £808m to 8 177 cases worth £644m. edward leigh chairman of the commons public accounts committee said britain had to set an example when it assumed the eu presidency. any fraud in other member states is potentially fraud against the uk taxpayer given that we are the second largest net contributor to the community he said. departments responsible for administering eu funds need to make sure that they re doing everything possible to weed out improper spending. the government must take the opportunity afforded by the uk presidency of the eu to press the commission and other member states to take an equally robust stance against fraud and irregularity and raise overall standards of financial management. a spokesman for the european anti-fraud office said the organisation agreed with the nao s assessment of fraud reporting. the quality of reporting does differ from member state to member state and there is room for improvement spokesman jorg wojahn said. he added that there is generally good co-operation with member states and the anti-fraud office on specific cases of fraud with the statistics studied by nao providing a good overview for planning strategic ways of detecting fraud . | entertainment | 2 |
more power to the people says hp the digital revolution is focused on letting people tell and share their own stories according to carly fiorina chief of technology giant hewlett packard. the job of firms such as hp now she said in a speech at the consumer electronics show (ces) was to ensure digital and physical worlds fully converged. she said the goal for 2005 was to make people the centre of technology. ces showcases 50 000 new gadgets that will be hitting the shelves in 2005. the tech-fest the largest of its kind in the world runs from 6 to 9 january. the digital revolution is about the democratisation of technology and the experiences it makes possible she told delegates. revolution has always been about giving power to the people. she added: the real story of the digital revolution is not just new products but the millions of experiences made possible and stories that millions can tell. part of giving people more control has been about the freeing up of content such as images video and music. crucial to this has been the effort to make devices that speak to each other better so that content can be more easily transferred from one device such as a digital camera to others such as portable media players. a lot of work still needs to be done however to sort out compatibility issues and standards within the technology industry so that gadgets just work seamlessly she said. ms fiorina s talk also touted the way technology is being designed to focus on lifestyle fashion and personalisation something she sees as key to what people want. special guest singer gwen stefani joined her on-stage to promote her own range of hp digital cameras which ms stefani has helped design and which are heavily influenced by japanese youth culture. the digital cameras which are due to go on sale in the us by the summer are based on the hp 607 model. the emphasis on personalisation and lifestyle is a big theme at this year s ces with tiny wearable mp3 players at every turn and rainbow hues giving colour to everything. ms fiorina also announced that hp was working with nokia to launch a visual radio service for mobiles which would launch in europe early this year. the service will let people listen to radio on their mobiles and download relevant content like a track s ringtone simultaneously. the service is designed to make mobile radio more interactive. among the other new products she showcased was the digital media hub a big upgrade to hp s digital entertainment centre. coming out in the autumn in the us the box is a networked high-definition tv cable set-top box digital video recorder and dvd recorder. it has a removable hard drive cartridge memory card slots and light scribe labelling software which lets people design and print customised dvd labels and covers. it is designed to contain all a household s digital media such as pre-recorded tv shows pictures videos and music so it can all be managed in one place. the hub reflects the increasing move to re-box the pc so that it can work as part of other key centres of entertainment. research suggests that about 258 million images are saved and shared every day equating to 94 billion a year. eighty per cent of those remain on cameras. media hubs are designed to encourage people to organise them on one box. ms fiorina was one of several keynote speakers who also included microsoft chief bill gates to set out what major technology companies think people will be doing with technologies and gadgets in the next 12 months. in a separate announcement during the keynote speech ms fiorina said that hp would be partnering mtv to replace this year s mtv asia music award. mtv s asia aid will be held in bangkok on 3 february and is aimed at helping to raise money for the asian tsunami disaster. | politics | 2 |
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. | business | 0 |
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. | science and tech | 0 |
dollar hovers around record lows the us dollar hovered close to record lows against the euro on friday as concern grows about the size of the us budget deficit. analysts predict that the dollar will remain weak in 2005 as investors worry about the state of the us economy. the bush administration s apparent unwillingness to intervene to support the dollar has caused further concern. however trading has been volatile over the past week because of technical and automated trading and light demand. this has amplified reactions to news analysts said adding that they expect markets to become less jumpy in january. the dollar was trading at $1.3652 versus the euro on friday morning after hitting a fresh record low of $1.3667 on thursday. one dollar bought 102.55 yen. disappointing business figures from chicago triggered the us currency s weakness on thursday. the national association of purchasing management-chicago said its manufacturing index dropped to 61.2 a bigger fall than expected. there are no dollar buyers now especially after the chicago data yesterday said abn amro s paul mackel. at the same time 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. investors will now look towards february s meeting of finance ministers from the g7 industrialised nations in london for clues as to whether central banks will combine forces to stem the dollar s decline. | world | 2 |
what the election should really be about a general election is the best chance most pressure groups get to make a real impact on government policy. here is how six leading lobbies plan to make sure their cause is being debated ahead of an expected spring poll. we ve called for the state pension to be increased from £79.60 to the pensioner credit guarantee level of £105.45. that s what we re calling for. many pensioners are disadvantaged by the current system. if we ve got one in five pensioners below the poverty line we ve got to make it more generous or have these people living in poverty. we ve drawn up a pensioners manifesto. this will be sent to each of the candidates in the 659 constituencies. they will be asked which of the top five issues including the pension issue they would support. once we ve got their responses we will publish the results within the constituencies and nationally as well. it s our way of putting the politicians on notice. we are trying to get across the fact that there are 11m voters over 60 in the country they are more likely to vote than other sections of society and thirdly they are true swing voters. before 1997 most pensioners voted conservative. in 1997 and 2001 they voted labour. but there is no guarantee they will vote for a labour government this time around. they cannot take that vote for granted. pensions generally will certainly be a big election issue even though the government has postponed the publication of adair turner s full report into the issue. he said the uk had one of the least generous pensions systems in the developed world. that the government takes seriously the impact of aviation on the environment. we haven t worked out specific plans but i imagine we will lobby political parties and incumbent mps. various local groups will do that in their particular areas and we will provide a national briefing. we don t have any large demonstrations planned but they can t be ruled out. it is hard to say whether we will be successful. we have got the issue in the public consciousness to an extent but it is difficult to say whether an election will raise its importance in the public mind or whether it will be pushed out by big issues like iraq. repealing the hunting bill. we are challenging the use of the parliament act 1949 in a high court action. we are hoping to hear in the new year. whichever way the court rules the other side will appeal so we expect it to fall plumb in electioneering time. when the ban comes into force on 18 february we will be going to the european court because no compensation is being paid. so there s a lot of legal territory to go. we are trying to engage with the ministers by demonstrating and talking. whatever intelligence we get we will try to turn up and speak to whoever it is. (rural affairs minister) alun michael has avoided us and cancelled engagements so that makes it difficult. it is not intimidatory - on the whole it is groups of angry housewives. of course there is an element of shouting because people are angry but there is no violence because that does not achieve anything. it will fall plumb in the run up to the most important general election tony blair will ever face. it s exactly what the prime minister did not want. he wanted the issue off the table until after the election. people using live animals as targets for sport both here and abroad. the reason for including abroad is because of trophy hunting. it is another sort of form of shooting for sport. the principle is the same whether it s a tiger or a pheasant. we will widely publicise what s happening in relation to trophy hunting. we will publicise the darker aspects of the target animal industry the uk. we will seek to get pledges from individual mps and would-be mps saying that they are against the use of animals as targets for sports. we would like the support of political parties but i think a general election is very much to do with pledges mps make to their electors. with hunting we had many mps who were happy to say they were against it. i think what we will get is a very real climbing up the agenda. whether or not we will get a ban i am not sure. but it will mobilise public opinion. everything we do will reduce animal suffering and in time that will lead to a ban. the issue that we think is the most important for this election is choice. the language of consumerism is very commonplace in government and across the political spectrum. choice as an ideology is beginning to be the privatisation of this decade. it s become an issue in itself but what s really missing from the debate is the consumer s choice in that. choice is not choice at all if all you have to choose from is two failing schools. we have seen so many pensions mis-selling scandals and in the pensions industry there s a maximum of choice but a minimum quality in that. we want choice on the consumer s terms - that means clear and accessible information to operate that choice. firstly we have our website. it features our campaigns and changes every day. secondly through our 700 000 members who communicate with us. thirdly through the media and also what we will be doing is holding a pre-election conference. we will invite the opinion formers mps journalists and others. the idea is that we open up communications between members of the public and the politicians. i think we will be successful. it s very much the language being used by the main political parties. politicians on all sides are very sensitive to this issue they want to be seen to be responding to this issue. fuel duty is a large part of operational costs for road haulage workers. we have been hearing about this proposed increase of 1.92p per litre that gordon brown has been postponing and postponing. tuppence does not sound like a great deal but every year if you operate one vehicle that s an increase of about £750. if you re running 10 vehicles it s obviously 10 times that. if fuel duty does rise we will be absolutely horrified. there will be a huge effect throughout the industry and i would not be surprised if you see widespread demonstrations. what it will mean is there will be a number of firms going out of business. we will continue to do what we have always done we keep the issue in the trade press. regrettably it s one of those stories that it is getting harder to get into the national press. whatever we do the public don t like lorries - they see us as a complaining minority. but they don t realise that when you see a car on the road it is probably going to work when you see a lorry it s already at work. | science and tech | 2 |
blair moves to woo jewish voters tony blair has pledged to never ever ever attack tory leader michael howard over his jewish beliefs. the prime minister told the jewish chronicle: if you look at what i do i attack michael howard politically. mr blair also distanced himself from recent labour campaign posters featuring mr howard which critics claimed were anti-semitic . these were not intended to cause any offence to anyone on the jewish community mr blair insisted. one poster depicted mr howard and his shadow chancellor oliver letwin who is also jewish as flying pigs. another pictured the tory leader swinging a pocket watch on a chain which critics said echoed the jewish money lender shylock in shakespeare s merchant of venice. others compared the image to the character fagin in charles dickens oliver twist. labour has since taken the designs of its website saying members had preferred other designs. during his interview with the jewish chronicle mr blair said: i ve been a very strong supporter of the jewish community and israel and will always be so. pressed on whether he would draw attention to mr howard s jewish beliefs in an attempt to attract muslim support he replied: the idea that i would allow anybody to make such a charge is outrageous. it s untrue. if you look what i do i attack michael howard politically. i would never ever ever attack him on that basis. mr blair also defended his party s attitude towards the jewish community pointing out that it was his government that had introduced the holocaust memorial day. he added that labour also aggressively fought all forms of racism. neither the conservatives nor the liberal democrats wished to comment on mr blair s words. the prime minister was speaking as london s labour mayor ken livingstone remains embroiled in a row over comments he made to a jewish reporter from the city s evening standard newspaper. mr blair repeated calls for the mayor to apologise for likening the reporter oliver finegold to a concentration camp guard. mr livingstone should have withdrawn the comment immediately once he realised the journalist was jewish said mr blair. i m sure that is what in truth he wants to do. well he should do it. mr livingstone has said he could not sincerely say sorry for the comments he made and claims he has been targeted by the newspaper. he conceded his comments may have been offensive but were not racist and said earlier this week he would not apologise even if mr blair asked. | sports | 2 |
gatlin and hayes win owen awards american olympic stars justin gatlin and joanna hayes have been named the winners of the 2004 jesse owens awards usa track & field s (usatf) top honour. gatlin 22 won the closest 100m final in games history with a career-best time of 9.85 seconds in athens. he also won bronze in the 200m and silver in the 4x100m relay becoming the only male athlete to win three athletics medals this summer. hayes 27 set an olympic record of 12.37 in winning the 100m hurdles. established in 1981 the jesse owens awards - named in honour of the late olympic great who won four gold medals at the 1936 berlin games - are presented annually to the outstanding us male and female track and field performers. the 2004 awards will be presented on 3 december in conjunction with the usatf annual meeting in portland. it is such a great honour to win the jesse owens award said gatlin. it is one of the biggest honours in track and field and it is a great end to a great year. hayes said: knowing some of the great people who have won this award before me and knowing what it represents i feel a sense accomplishment and pride which lets me know that everything that i have worked for is and always will be worth it. | business | 2 |
blair labour s longest-serving pm tony blair has become the labour party s longest-serving prime minister. the 51-year-old premier has marked his 2 838th day in the post overtaking the combined length of harold wilson s two terms during the 1960s and 1970s. if mr blair wins the next election and fulfils his promise to serve a full third term he will surpass margaret thatcher s 11 years by the end of 2008. in 1997 mr blair became the youngest premier of the 20th century when he came to power at the age of 43. the last prime minister to be installed at a younger age was lord liverpool who was a year his junior in 1812. mr blair s other political firsts include becoming the first labour leader to win two successive full terms in power after the 2001 labour landslide. and the birth of the blairs fourth child leo on 20 may 2000 was the first child born to a serving prime minister in more than 150 years. the last downing street dad was lord john russell in 1848. labour won a huge majority of 167 over the conservatives in 2001 but mr blair has since been criticised by many in his own party. the war in iraq and reforms of the health service and education system have provoked dissent from backbenchers. gordon brown chancellor of the exchequer under mr blair became britain s longest-serving chancellor of modern times in 2004. former labour leader lord kinnock said the chancellor would be best placed to take over from mr blair. when asked about the future leadership of the party he told itv wales waterfront programme: that contest is a long way away and it will occur only when the prime minister tony blair decides he s subscribed all he can and then wants to go. i think that the main contender will be gordon brown who is a man of virtually unmatched capability and now great experience. both mr brown and mr blair rose to prominence when lord kinnock led labour between 1983 and 1992. | science and tech | 2 |
yukos unit buyer faces loan claim the owners of embattled russian oil giant yukos are to ask the buyer of its former production unit to pay back a $900m (£479m) loan. state-owned rosneft bought the yugansk unit for $9.3bn in a sale forced by russia to part settle a $27.5bn tax claim against yukos. yukos owner menatep group says it will ask rosneft to repay a loan that yugansk had secured on its assets. rosneft already faces a similar $540m repayment demand from foreign banks. legal experts said rosneft s purchase of yugansk would include such obligations. the pledged assets are with rosneft so it will have to pay real money to the creditors to avoid seizure of yugansk assets said moscow-based us lawyer jamie firestone who is not connected to the case. menatep group s managing director tim osborne told the reuters news agency: if they default we will fight them where the rule of law exists under the international arbitration clauses of the credit. rosneft officials were unavailable for comment. but the company has said it intends to take action against menatep to recover some of the tax claims and debts owed by yugansk. yukos had filed for bankruptcy protection in a us court in an attempt to prevent the forced sale of its main production arm. the sale went ahead in december and yugansk was sold to a little-known shell company which in turn was bought by rosneft. yukos claims its downfall was punishment for the political ambitions of its founder mikhail khodorkovsky and has vowed to sue any participant in the sale. | business | 0 |
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. | world | 2 |
irish company hit by iraqi report shares in irish oil company petrel resources have lost more than 50% of their value on a report that the firm has failed to win a contract in iraq. reuters news agency reported that iraq s oil ministry has awarded the first post-war oilfield contracts to a canadian and a turkish company. by 1700 gmt petrel s shares fell from 97p ($1.87) to 44p ($0.85). petrel said that it has not received any information from iraqi authorities to confirm or deny the report. iraq is seeking to award contracts for three projects valued at $500m (£258.5m). turkey s everasia is reported by reuters to have won a contract to develop the khurmala dome field in the north of the country. a canadian company named iog is reported to have won the contract to run the himrin field. ironhorse oil and gas has denied to reuters that it is the company in question. these two projects aim to develop khurmala field to produce 100 000 barrels per day and raise the output of himrin. the winners of the contract are to build new flow lines and build gas separation stations. the contract to develop the suba-luhais field has not yet been awarded as iraq s oil ministry is studying the offers. if iraq s cabinet approves the oil ministry s choice of companies then this will be the first deal that iraq has signed with a foreign oil company. iraq is still trying to boost its production capacity to match levels last seen in the eighties before the war with iran. oil officials hope to double iraq s output by the end of the decade. | entertainment | 2 |
fa decides not to punish mourinho the football association will take no action against chelsea boss jose mourinho following his sending-off in sunday s carling cup final. mourinho who was sent from the touchline for appearing to taunt liverpool fans has been reminded of his responsibilities to the game . but the fa confirmed: there will be no further action taken in this matter. mourinho claimed his silence gesture was aimed at the media although they were on the other side of the ground. the former porto coach was forced to watch the climax of his side s 3-2 victory over liverpool on television after being ushered away from the touchline by fourth official phil crossley. his gesture came after chelsea s equaliser on 79 minutes courtesy of a steven gerrard own goal. mourinho still faces an fa investigation into his allegation that manchester united s players cheated during january s carling cup semi-final at stamford bridge. and uefa could also launch disciplinary action following mourinho s failure to attend a compulsory post-match press conference after chelsea s champions league defeat at barcelona last week. in addition some time this month chelsea must also answer a charge of failing to control their players during the premiership win at blackburn in february. and a charge of failing to control their supporters following a carling cup meeting with west ham earlier this season is still to be heard. the premier league is also continuing investigations into allegations chelsea officials tapped up arsenal defender ashley cole in january. | entertainment | 2 |
wright-phillips to start on right england coach sven-goran eriksson has revealed shaun wright-phillips will start against the netherlands. but wright-phillips will not make his first start for england playing on the left as had been widely expected. shaun wright-phillips will probably start the game said eriksson. but i m not going to start wright-phillips on the left. eriksson also revealed that wes brown will start alongside jamie carragher in the injury-hit centre of defence. when asked if brown and carragher would start eriksson replied: i could tell you yes. it s a blow that four or five central defenders are away because of injuries. on the other hand it s good for carragher and brown to show what they can do at this level. that s positive. the england coach said that he had been impressed by wright-phillips form for manchester city. he deserves his chance. he has been playing well all season and i look forward to seeing him. and he added that andy johnson and stewart downing - the other two new players in the squad - would also get a chance to impress. wright-phillips downing and johnson will start or get the chance to play some part. johnson was not in my plans a year ago but he is doing a great season and scoring a lot of goals. downing is another one making a great season. he is young talented and there are not too many left-footed players in the squad. | sports | 0 |
elvis set to top uk singles chart rock n roll legend elvis is set to top the uk singles chart on sunday 27 years after his death. the re-release of hit song jailhouse rock was out-selling x factor winner steve brockstein s cover of against all odds by 2 000 copies on tuesday. if the record does make the top spot it will be elvis 19th uk number one. the last time he topped the charts was with the remix of the little-known song a little less conversation which was number one in june 2002. if jailhouse rock does reach number one on sunday it will be the 999th in the history of the uk pop charts. the song first topped the charts in 1958. chart analysts say elvis could score the 1000th number one as well. his record one night will be released the following week followed the week after by a fool such as i as part of his record company sonybmg s new elvis campaign. it has called it the most ambitious singles release campaign in the history of the uk record industry . | science and tech | 2 |
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. | sports | 0 |
hitler row over welsh arts cash an artist critical of welsh arts funding being brought under assembly government control has denied comparing the idea with dictatorships in russia and germany. shani rhys james is worried that the arts council of wales may be taken over by the welsh assembly government. culture minister alun pugh said it would be crass and ignorant to liken a quango review to hitler s germany. but ms james emphasised she had actually said artists needed freedom. the future of the arts council of wales has been in question since it was announced that most welsh quangos would eventually be abolished. it was announced last july that three welsh quangos education and training body elwa the wales tourist board and the welsh development agency would be brought under assembly government control. the arts council of wales may be among the next to come under the assembly government s umbrella. but ms james who won the £30 000 jerwood painting prize in 2003 said arts funding should be separate from government. ms james told bbc radio wales: it s quite dangerous when you involve politicians because it s not like the health service and it s not like the railways. free expression is absolutely vital in a democratic society. you need distance you do not need government interference because it could be taken the wrong way. but she said reports that she had likened the assembly government to totalitarian regimes were inaccurate. she told good morning wales: just to put the record straight that business in the paper where it said i likened the government to bolshevik russia or hitler s germany the actual quote i gave was: it is vital to a civilised society that we allow artists to express themselves without government control . as we know from past european history i.e. russia and germany in the early 20th century artists will go underground or leave the country or rather than compromise their expression . artists need a free voice to express themselves - they reflect a truth through their own art forms. she said the assembly government was not best placed to run the arts in wales. she added: it would be a momentous change and devastating to the arts. it would set the arts scene back 60 years because i really don t think the government has the expertise. if you have the national assembly taking control i fear you are going to be going back to the dragons and leeks and the choirs. wales has moved on. it is international now. it is not set back in how green was my valley responding to ms james criticisms mr pugh said: the structure of unelected quangos is under review and we have made it clear that further announcements are due shortly. comparing the welsh assembly government to hitler s germany is a crass and ignorant response to a real issue about democratic accountability. ms james whose father was welsh was born in melbourne where her parents worked in the theatre. she moved to powys nearly 20 years ago where she works from her studio near llangadfan. she has won a number of arts prizes including the wales open in 1989 and the mostyn open in 1991. | entertainment | 2 |
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. | sports | 2 |
boogeyman takes box office lead the low-budget horror film boogeyman has knocked robert de niro thriller hide and seek from the top spot at the uk box office. the film in which a young man is forced to revisit a traumatic childhood experience took £788 439 in its first three days on release. hide and seek which was knocked off the top of the us box office by boogeyman last month fell one place. oscar nominee hotel rwanda was also a new entry in the chart at number five. the film which scored oscar nominations for don cheadle and british actress sophie okonedo made £507 596 in its first week of nationwide release. comedy sequel meet the fockers and shall we dance starring jennifer lopez and richard gere completed the top five. clint eastwood s million dollar baby re-entered the charts at number eight following its recent success at the oscars. the boxing drama which won four awards including best film and best director has made £4.4m to date. two other new entries a remake of the 1965 film flight of the phoenix and the teen comedy harold and kumar get the munchies debuted outside the top 10. | entertainment | 0 |
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. | politics | 2 |
dallaglio his own man to the end controversy and lawrence dallaglio have never been very far away from each other throughout a glittering international career. even the end of his nine-year career came out of the blue just four days before the start of the season. but then dallaglio has always been his own man. ever since emerging onto the international scene dallaglio has polarised opinions. to supporters of england dallaglio could do no wrong. an integral part of a sustained period of success for england dallaglio s crowning glory was his part in the side that won the rugby world cup in 2003. rival fans meanwhile have tended to take an alternative view seeing dallaglio as the epitome of the less agreeable characteristics of english rugby. never afraid to speak his mind be it to the referee or the opposition on the pitch or his coach or the media off it dallaglio has sometimes rubbed people up the wrong way. dallaglio arrived as part of the unheralded england side which became the shock winners of the first rugby sevens world cup in 1993. it took him another two years to graduate to the full england xv but once there he proved to the manor born. displaying maturity and physical power beyond his years dallaglio rapidly established himself as an automatic choice able to play any one of the three back-row positions at international standard. within two years of his debut dallaglio was offered the england captain s band and his career continued to go from strength to strength as he made the 1997 lions tour to south africa. although overlooked for the captaincy in favour of england team-mate martin johnson he played a massive role in the 2-1 series victory. but after building up a seemingly unstoppable momentum dallaglio s career hit the buffers at speed in 1999. first came the last-minute defeat to wales in which dallaglio s decision not to kick for goal in the dying minutes was blamed for costing england a grand slam. worse was to follow though as an infamous newspaper sting cost him his treasured england captaincy. with sensational allegations of drug use - of which he was subsequently cleared - splashed across the front pages a devastated dallaglio stepped down as england skipper. but he bounced back getting his head down at club level before returning to the england fold albeit now as a lieutenant to new captain johnson. as a member of a new-look england side on the long road to world cup glory - a journey not without mishaps as a succession of grand slams opportunities were spurned - dallaglio emerged as a key performer once again. yet another setback arrived in 2001 as a serious knee injury cut short dallaglio s involvement on the lions tour to australia. rumours began to circulate that his career was over but in typical dallaglio style he embarked on a punishing schedule of rehabilitation to return an even more fearsome physical specimen. one effect of the injury was to rob dallaglio of much of his pace but ever the pragmatist he reinvented himself as a close quarters number eight of the highest calibre. the only player to play every minute of england s world cup triumph in australia dallaglio could hardly have done more to secure england s historic win and for that he will always be held in the highest esteem by england supporters. following johnson s retirement dallaglio s career came full circle as woodward restored him as england captain. while england did not hit the heights in dallaglio s second spell as captain losing five of their eight post-world cup tests dallaglio led by example leaving him as one of the few members of a squad lacking many world cup stars to live up to expectations. dallaglio walks away from the international game safe in the knowledge that he will go down as one of england s most accomplished players if not one of the great captains despite his evident pride in leading his country. the problem now for england is how to replace the almost irreplaceable. the likes of matt dawson jonny wilkinson phil vickery and hill have all been mentioned as contenders for dallaglio s role as captain. but it is as a player that england will really struggle to replace the 32-year-old. although players like joe worsley and chris jones are more than capable of stepping up the fact that there is no stand-out candidate speaks volumes about dallaglio s massive influence on english rugby. | sports | 0 |
blair pledges unity to labour mps tony blair has sought to reassure labour backbenchers that nothing will stand in the way of the party s bid for a third term in power. mr blair was speaking to mps amid fresh rumours of a rift with gordon brown. a new book says the prime minister went back on a pledge to mr brown to stand down before the next general election. the chancellor has said he is focused on winning the poll and is due to join election supremo alan milburn for a labour poster launch this week. mr blair told the parliamentary labour party (plp) on monday: i know from everyone here in cabinet and government nothing is going to get in the way of a unified labour party with a unified position and winning the third term people desperately need. the prime minister and his chancellor arrived within seconds of each other and seemingly in good spirits at the start of the meeting which lasted around an hour. a new book brown s britain by sunday telegraph journalist robert peston says mr blair went back on a pledge to make way for mr brown after cabinet allies intervened in june 2004. it has caused a new wave of concern among labour mps gearing up to defend their seats in an election widely expected to be held in may and several members are understood to have lined up to express their discontent at the plp meeting. health secretary john reid earlier warned that labour members would not easily forgive anybody fuelling damaging speculation. he told bbc news: those who co-operate or inspire these books in my view have to know that whatever the short-term political or personal advantage that they think they might secure they always do it by damaging the record the unity and the re-election chances of the labour party and the government. mr blair on sunday dismissed claims of broken promises saying: i ve dealt with this six months ago. i said then you don t do deals over jobs like this - you don t. in a separate bbc interview mr brown said he and the prime minister would not be distracted by gossip . it s very important that we all do what we can in a unified way to ensure the election of a labour government he said. on monday mr blair s spokesman said: the prime minister is determined that he will get on with the business of government because he believes that what people want. mr brown says he discussed the election campaign with mr blair on saturday and promised to play his part. mr peston said the pair had mutual animosity and contempt . mr blair had decided in november 2003 he would quit because he felt he had lost voters trust because of the iraq war. he had then changed his mind in june 2004 following intervention from cabinet allies and suspicion that the chancellor was manoeuvring against him. mr brown allegedly said he could no longer believe anything mr blair told him. conservative co-chairman liam fox likened the two men to self-obsessed schoolboys . liberal democrat parliamentary chairman matthew taylor said their personal ambition was getting in the way of good government . ex-labour leader neil kinnock said mr blair and mr brown could only deal with the media frenzy by continuing to say they would not allow a row to damage labour or british interests. he told bbc radio five live that mr brown would never encourage any kind of insurrection or coup. | politics | 0 |
wood - ireland can win grand slam former captain keith wood believes ireland can win only their second grand slam - and first since 1948 - in this year s rbs six nations championship. after claiming their first triple crown for 19 years last season wood tips his former team-mates to go one better. things have been building up over the past few years and i think this is the year for ireland he told bbc sport. there is a great chance to win a grand slam. a lot of things are in our favour with england and france at home. ireland have finished runners-up three times including last year since the old five nations became six in 2000 and not finished outside the top three in the past five years. despite being without flanker keith gleeson coach eddie o sullivan has not had to contend with the sort of casualty lists that have hit england and scotland in particular prior to the tournament. for ireland to win it we need to stay relatively injury free and fortunately we are one of the few teams that have done that so far wood added. it is going to be tough and we need to take all the luck and opportunities that come our way. ireland s last game of the tournament is against wales in cardiff - a fixture they have not lost since 1983. but despite their traditional hospitality when the irish are visiting wood believes wales might end their four-match losing run against england in cardiff. so many of the major england players have either retired in the last year or are injured that i think it will be very hard for them down in cardiff wood added. wales have had four brilliant games in the last year or so and lost all four so the time is right for them now to beat one of the major teams. | sports | 0 |
watchdog probes vivendi bond sale french stock market regulator amf has filed complaints against media giant vivendi universal its boss and another top executive. it believes the prospectus for a bond issue was unclear and that executives may have had privileged information. amf has begun proceedings against vivendi its chief executive jean-rene fourtou and chief operating officer jean-bernard levy. vivendi advisor deutsche bank was also the subject of a complaint filing. deutsche bank which was responsible for selling the convertible bonds to investors could face penalties if the complaint is upheld. vivendi has said it believes there is no legal basis for the complaints. the watchdog is said to believe the executive pair were party to privileged information surrounding the issue of the bonds. both men bought some of the bonds the associated press news agency reported. amf is investigating claims that the duo were aware of an interest in vivendi s us assets from investor marvin davis at the time of the bond sale. vivendi however has said that the information was public knowledge as mr davis offer for the us assets had already been rejected by vivendi s board. amf is also looking into whether the executives knew that vivendi was considering exercising its right to buy british telecom s shares in cegetel. vivendi has rejected the charge saying the decision to buy the cegetel shares was no more than a possibility of which the public was perfectly aware at the time of the bond issue. back in december vivendi and its former chief executive jean-marie messier were each fined 1m euros ($1.3m; £690 000) by amf. the fines came after a 15-month probe into allegations that the media giant misled investors after a costly acquisition programme went wrong. | business | 0 |
angels favourite funeral song angels by robbie williams is the song britons would most like played at their funeral a survey has suggested. while the melancholy hit topped the uk poll europeans favoured queen s more upbeat anthem the show must go on as their first choice. frank sinatra s my way was second in the uk vote with monty python s always look on the bright side of life in third place. more than 45 000 people were surveyed by digital tv station music choice. the european chart which included denmark france and germany put led zeppelin s stairway to heaven in second and ac/dc s highway to hell in third. queen s who wants to live forever was highly favoured by both uk and european voters. both lists featured only one traditional or classic song each with britons requesting the royal scots dragoon guards amazing grace and their continental counterparts opting for mozart s requiem. wanting to share your most treasured musical gem with those you re leaving behind is the perfect way to sign off and leave a lasting impression music choice music and marketing manager simon george said. | entertainment | 0 |
games deserve a place in class computer games could enhance learning and have a legitimate place in the classroom say researchers. academics from the institute of education at london university found that games literacy was a key skill for youngsters. as well as being used in different areas of the curriculum games are a legitimate area of study in their own right researchers say. pupils should also be able to create their own games they say. like all games computer and video games entertain while promoting social development and playing and talking about games is an important part of young people s lives said project manager caroline pelletier. games literacy is a way of investigating how games are means of expression and representation just like writing or drawing she said. the researchers conducted two studies into the impact of games on education the first looking at how they can be used in different curriculum subjects to enhance learning. researchers found that girls were often excluded from the male-dominated world of game playing. without first-hand experience of how much fun a game can be they have little motivation to play and remain disengaged from an engrossing and sociable activity said research fellow diane carr. the second project looked at how games can be integrated into media education and concluded that writing games should be a core part of studying them. sixth-form teacher barney oram already teaches computer games alongside the more traditional study of film tv and popular music at the a-level course he runs at long road sixth form college in cambridge. for parents the idea that computer games could be brought into the classroom environment could cause controversy. dr andrew burn associate director of the institute of education s centre for the study of children youth and media moved to reassure anxious parents. games are a legitimate cultural form that deserve critical analysis in schools just as film television and literature do he said. but we also want to argue that full understanding only comes when children have the tools to create their own games. the games industry welcomed the report saying it showed how games had a positive impact on children. at a time of hysterical and inaccurate reporting it is heartening to see the cultural social and educational value of computer and video games being assessed intelligently said roger bennett director general of the entertainment and leisure software publishers association. this report is further evidence if it were needed about the excellence and imagination that thrives in gaming. they have much to offer to the education of our children and they have much to offer as a career. the three-year research project which is being presented at a seminar on tuesday in london was partly funded by the department of trade and industry. | politics | 2 |
bellamy fined after row newcastle have fined their welsh striker craig bellamy two weeks wages - about £80 000 - following his row with manager graeme souness. but bellamy 25 has not been put on the transfer list although he did not train with the first team on tuesday. magpies chairman freddy shepherd told the newcastle evening chronicle: it is not about money. it is about a player thinking he is bigger than this club. no individual is be it the chairman the manager or a player. souness dropped bellamy for sunday s game against arsenal claiming the welshman had feigned injury after being asked to play out of position. when i heard what the manager was saying i was in shock bellamy said. i thought not only has he gone behind my back he s lying he said in response to souness remarks. and the wales international refused to apologise. i won t apologise because i have done nothing wrong he told the evening chronicle. there s no doubt about it i am out of here. the difficult relationship between souness and bellamy boiled over at the weekend and has led to a war of words in the media. bellamy s claim that souness had lied about the background to the bust-up was strongly denied by shepherd who accused the striker of cheating the club. i wish to put the record straight regarding the bellamy situation said shepherd. craig walked off the training ground saying his hamstring was tight (on friday) but what he failed to reveal was that he had told other members of the squad before training that he intended to feign injury. when graeme discovered this he immediately ordered bellamy to attend a meeting in my office. at that meeting bellamy admitted to graeme and i that he had told the players that he was going to fake an injury in training and walk off. he also agreed at that meeting to apologise to his team-mates for his behaviour. he didn t do this which resulted in the action taken by the manager at the weekend which i fully support. in my book this is cheating on the club the supporters the manager and his own team-mates. he is paid extremely well and i consider his behaviour to be totally unacceptable and totally unprofessional. bellamy s latest outburst would appear to make his chances of a first-team recall remote. but even before newcastle said the player would not be sold bellamy insisted he had no intention of handing in a transfer request. i don t want the fans to think for one minute that i wouldn t play for this club he said. i d play anywhere for this club even in goal. it s a very difficult situation for me at the moment but i d never ask to leave this club. this club means so much to me. i couldn t do it because i know i couldn t come back here and play against newcastle. it would hurt too much. | sports | 0 |
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. | science and tech | 2 |
business fears over sluggish eu economy as european leaders gather in rome on friday to sign the new eu constitution many companies will be focusing on matters much closer to home - namely how to stay in business. lille is a popular tourist destination for britons who want a taste of france at the weekend. but how many tourists look at the impressively grand victorian chambre de commerce which stands beside the opera house and consider that it was built - like the town halls in many northern english towns - on the wealth created by coal steel and textiles like northern england and industrial scotland those industries have been in long term decline - the last coal pit closed in 1990. beck-crespel is a specialist steel firm in armentieres about 20 miles from lille. the company has not laid off a worker since 1945. it specialises in making bolts and fixings for power stations and the oil industry but not many of those are being built in europe these days. director hugues charbonnier says he is under pressure because factories in the far east are able to make some of his output more cheaply while his key markets are now in china and india. in our business the market is absolutely global you can not imagine living with our size (of business) even within an enlarged european union (if we did that) we would need not 350 people but perhaps just 150 or 200 he says. it isn t just globalisation that is hurting; the law in france means workers are paid for a 39 hour week even though they work just 35 hours. but at least there is still a steel industry. coal has now totally vanished and textiles are struggling. new business has been attracted but not enough to make up the difference. that is one reason why people here are not great fans of the eu says frederic sawicki a politics lecturer at the university of lille. in the region today the unemployment rate is 12% in some areas it is 15%. they don t see what europe is doing for them so there is a kind of euro scepticism especially in the working classes he says. which is strange because lille is at the crossroads of europe - if anywhere should be benefiting from the euro it is here. the euro was designed to increase trade within the eurozone but the biggest increase in trade has been with the rest of the world. much of that trade passes through the world s largest port rotterdam in holland home to specialist crane maker huisman itrec. its cranes help build oil rigs and lifted the sunken russian submarine kursk from the sea bed but huisman itrec is now setting up a factory in china where costs are cheaper and its main customers are closer. boss henk addink blames the low growth rate in europe for the lack of orders closer to home. in the us growth is something like 6% in china they are estimating 15% and in the eu it is more or less 1% he says. mr addink blames the euro for stifling demand. he much preferred the old currencies of europe which moved in relation to each country s economic performance. in germany industry is exporting more these days but the economy as a whole is once again mired in slow growth and high unemployment. growth is likely to peak this year at just under 2%. in britain that would be a bad year; in germany it is one of the best in recent years. with germany making up a third of the eurozone s economy this is a major problem. if germany doesn t once again become the powerhouse of europe growth across the bloc is never going to be as strong as it could be. however at one factory near the dutch border things are changing. the siemens plant at boscholt makes cordless phones and employs 2 000 staff. staff have started working an extra four hours a week for no extra pay after siemens threatened to take the factory and their jobs to hungary. factory manager herbert stueker says that he now hopes to increase productivity by nearly 30% . but germany needs much more reform if all its industry is to compete with places such hungary or china. the government is reforming the labour market and cutting the generous unemployment system but the real solution is to cut the wages of low skilled workers says helmut schneider director of the institute for the study of labour at bonn university. labour is too costly in germany especially for the low skilled labour and this is the main problem. if we could solve that problem we could cut unemployment by half he says. the eu set itself the target of being the most efficient economy in the world by 2010. four years into that process and the target seems further away than ever. | business | 0 |
india s maruti sees profits jump india s biggest carmaker maruti has reported a sharp increase in quarterly profit after a booming economy and low interest rates boosted demand. net profit surged 70% to 2.39bn rupees ($54.98m; £29.32m) in the last three months of 2004 compared with 1.41bn rupees a year earlier. total sales were 30.1bn rupees up 27% from the same 2004 period. maruti accounts for half of india s domestic car sales luring consumers with cheap fuel-efficient vehicles. demand in india also has been driven by the poor state of public transport and the very low level of car ownership analysts said. figures show that only eight people per thousand are car owners. maruti beat market expectations despite an increase in raw materials costs. the company majority-owned by japan s suzuki said an increase in steel and other raw material prices was partially offset by cost cutting. sales in the fiscal third quarter including vans and utility vehicles rose by 17.8% to 136.069 units. maruti is not the only company benefiting as indian s economic growth gives consumer greater spending power. utility vehicle and tractor maker mahindra has reported a 52% rise in net profit during the last three months of 2004. profit was 1.33bn rupees compared with 874.2m rupees a year earlier. | business | 0 |
howard hits back at mongrel jibe michael howard has said a claim by peter hain that the tory leader is acting like an attack mongrel shows labour is rattled by the opposition. in an upbeat speech to his party s spring conference in brighton he said labour s campaigning tactics proved the tories were hitting home. mr hain made the claim about tory tactics in the anti-terror bill debate. something tells me that someone somewhere out there is just a little bit rattled mr howard said. mr hain leader of the commons told bbc radio four s today programme that mr howard s stance on the government s anti-terrorism legislation was putting the country at risk. he then accused the tory leader of behaving like an attack mongrel and playing opposition for opposition sake . mr howard told his party that labour would do anything say anything claim anything to cling on to office at all costs . so far this year they have compared me to fagin to shylock and to a flying pig. this morning peter hain even called me a mongrel. i don t know about you but something tells me that someone somewhere out there is just a little bit rattled. environment secretary margaret beckett rejected mr howard s comment telling radio 4 s pm programme that labour was not rattled . we have a very real duty to try to get people to focus on michael howard s record what the proposals are that he is trying to put forward to the country and also the many examples we are seeing now of what we believe is really poor judgement on his behalf. mr howard said tory policies on schools taxes immigration and crime were striking a chord with voters. since the beginning of this year - election year - we ve been making the political weather he told the party conference. mr howard denied he had been playing politics by raising the case of margaret dixon whose operation had been cancelled seven times which grabbed headlines for the party two weeks ago. and he hit back at labour claims he had used mrs dixon as a human shield . she s not a human shield mr blair she s a human being. mr howard said his party plans for immigration quotas which have also been the focus of much media coverage were not racist - just common sense . he pledged cleaner hospitals and better school discipline with a promise to get rid of political correctness in the national curriculum and give everyone to the same chance of a decent state education as he had. i come from an ordinary family. if the teenage michael howard were applying to cambridge today gordon brown would love me. and he stressed his party s commitment to cut taxes and red tape and increase the basic state pension in line with earnings. he finished with a personal appeal to party activists to go out and win the next election. one day you will be able to tell your children and grandchildren as i will tell mine i was there. i did my bit. i played my part. i helped to win that famous election - the election that transformed our country for the better . labour election co-ordinator alan milburn said: michael howard s speech today confirms what we have always said - that his only strategy is opportunism but he has no forward vision for the country. in reference to the appearance of mr howard s family on the conference stage with him mr milburn said: michael howard is perfectly entitled to pose with his family today. but it is the hard working families across britain that will be damaged by his plan to cut £35bn from public spending. | politics | 0 |
rivals of the £400 apple... the mac mini is the cheapest apple computer ever. but though it is cheap for a mac how does it compare to pcs that cost about the same amount dot.life tries to find out if you can you get more for your money if you stick with the beige box. an extremely small computer that is designed to bring the macintosh to the masses. apple offer a less powerful mac mini for £339 but the £399 models has a 1.4ghz power pc chip 80 gigabyte hard drive combined cd burner/dvd player. it comes equipped with usb and firewire ports for peripheral connections ethernet port for broadband a port for standard video output and an audio/headphone jack.the machine comes with mac os x the apple operating system the software suite ilife which includes itunes iphoto imovie idvd and garageband. a monitor keyboard or mouse. there is also no built-in support for wireless technology or any speakers. the lack of a dvd burner is an omission in the age of backing-up important software. wireless and a dvd burner can be added at extra cost. apple are targeting people who already have a main computer and want to upgrade - especially pc users who have used an apple ipod. compact and stylish the mac mini would not look out of place in any home. apple computers are famously user friendly and offer much better network security which means fewer viruses. the package of software that comes with the machine is the best money can buy. the mac mini is just a box. if you don t already have a monitor etc adding them to the package sees the value for money begin to dwindle. macs don t offer the upgrade flexibility of a pc and the machine s specifications lack the horse power for tasks such as high-end video editing or games. the mac mini puts the macintosh within the reach of everyone an apple spokesman said. it will bring more customers to the platform especially pc users and owners. an entry-level machine designed for basic home use. a 2.6ghz intel celeron chip 40 gigabyte hard drive 256mb combined cd burner/dvd player. it comes equipped with a 17 inch monitor keyboard and mouse. the machine has 6 usb ports and an ethernet port for broadband connection. there s also a port for standard video output. the machine comes with windows xp home edition. it provides basic home tools such as a media player and word processor. a dvd burner or any wireless components built in. wireless and a dvd burner can be added at extra cost. homes and small offices including those looking to add a low cost second computer. cost is the clear advantage. the dell provides enough power and software for basic gaming and internet surfing. it s easily upgradeable so a bigger hard drive better sound and graphics cards can be added. the dell is hardly stylish and the hard drive is on the small size for anyone wanting to store photos or a decent sized digital music collection. this machine is for small businesses and for people who want a second computer for basic home use perhaps in a kids bedroom a spokesman for dell said. i think we offer better value once you realise all the extras needed for the mac mini. a desktop computer that pc pro magazine dubbed best performer in a group test of machines that cost only £399 (£469 including vat). a good basic pc that according to pc pro has superb upgrade potential . for your money you get a 1.8ghz amd sempron processor 512mb of ram 120gb hard drive dvd writer 16-inch monitor mouse keyboard and windows xp2 much more than the basics. it cannot handle 3d graphics and has no firewire slots. those on a limited budget who want a machine they can add to and improve as their cash allows. it s cheap and has plenty of room to improve but that could end up making it expensive in the long run. it s a good basic workhorse. it s not pretty and has a monitor rather than a flat-panel display. some of the upgrades offered by jal to the basic model are pricey. you might find that you want to chop and change quite quickly. nick ross deputy labs editor at pc pro said the important point about buying a cheap and cheerful pc is the upgrade path. interest has switched from processor power to graphics and sound cards as that s what makes the difference in games. even manufacturers are not going to be marketing machines as faster he said they ll emphasise the different features. a computer built from bits you buy and put together yourself. a surprisingly good pc sporting an amd athlon xp 2500 processor 512 megabytes ram a graphics card with 128 ram on board plus tv out a 40 gb hard drive cd-writer and dvd player windows xp home. anything else. you re building it so you have to buy all the software you want to install and do your own trouble-shooting and tech support. building your own machine is easier than it used to be but you need to read specifications carefully to make sure all parts work together. experienced and keen pc users. building your own pc or upgrading the one you have is a great way to improve your understanding of how it all works. it s cheap you can specify exactly what you want and you get the thrill of putting it together yourself. and a bigger thrill if everything works as it should. once it s built you won t be able to do much with it until you start buying software for it. if it starts to go wrong it might take a lot of fixing. as gavin cox of the excellent buildyourown.org.uk website put it: it will be tough to obtain/build a pc to ever be as compact and charming as the mac mini. performance-wise it s not cutting edge and is barely entry-level by today s market but up against the mac mini i believe it will hold its own and even pull a few more tricks says gavin cox. the good news is that the machine is eminently expandable. by contrast says mr cox the mac mini is almost disposable. | science and tech | 0 |
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. | entertainment | 0 |
dame julie pops in to see poppins mary poppins star dame julie andrews watched the hit stage version of her classic film at a charity performance in london s west end. it was the first time dame julie who shot to fame as the nanny in the 1964 disney movie had seen the musical staged at the prince edward theatre. she watched laura michelle kelly 23 reprise the role on stage. the show has been one of the west end s hottest tickets since opening in december winning two olivier awards. kelly was named best musical actress at last month s ceremony and the musical also won best choreography. but kelly said she was very nervous about meeting dame julie because she was my absolute hero . the gala performance saw dame julie 69 return to the theatre where she had her first starring role in a performance of humpty dumpty in 1948. the mary poppins musical has been masterminded by theatre impresario sir cameron mackintosh and directed by richard eyre with choreography by matthew bourne. sir cameron said he hoped the production which cost £9m to bring to the stage was a blend of the sweet-natured film and the original book by pl travers. proceeds from thursday s show will go to charities including absolute return for kids (ark) international relief agency operation usa and drama school lamda. | entertainment | 0 |
venezuela reviews foreign deals venezuela is to review all foreign investment in its mining industries in an effort to strengthen its indigenous industrial output. president hugo chavez has ordered all existing contracts with foreign firms to be examined to see if they provide maximum benefits to the country. the review will cover production of gold aluminium and iron ore although it excludes the country s oil sector. chavez has sought to extend the state s role in all sectors of the economy. the left-wing president is conducting a controversial review of land ownership in the country while also seeking to create a state-run telecoms firm to compete with foreign-owned businesses. he has argued that major economic reforms are vital to improve the lives of venezuela s poorest citizens. announcing the review of raw material production minister victor alvarez said the government would seek to transfer technology training capability and content from projects with foreign partners. we are defending our national sovereignty over the use of our national resources which must serve the endogenous development of the nation mr alvarez said. for this reason we are reviewing all memorandums of understanding all letters of intent all agreements that have been signed all contracts to check which of these comply with these directives. everything absolutely everything has to be reviewed. venezuela has previously assured foreign companies with operations in the mineral rich country that it respects existing contracts. however the government insisted that it needed to develop its own industrial infrastructure in order to create new jobs and lessen its reliance on foreign partners. if we don t do this we are just going to carry on being slaves suppliers of raw materials all our lives and we will never develop our own productive capacity mr alvarez added. companies from the united states canada france and switzerland all have substantial investments in venezuela s mining sector. | business | 0 |
borders rail link campaign rally campaigners are to stage a rally calling for a borders rail link which was closed in 1969 to be reopened. they will mark the 36th anniversary of the line closure which ran from edinburgh through the borders and on to carlisle with a walk at tweedbank. anne borthwick of campaign for borders rail said reopening the waverley line would restore the area s prosperity. msps are considering the reintroduction of passenger rail services through midlothian to the borders. campaigners have said that reopening the waverley line which could cost up to £100m would be a huge economic boost for the borders. in 2000 borders council said the area s economy had suffered since the closure. ms borthwick said the lobby group was determined to keep the pressure on the scottish executive. we are hoping that many people will join us in a march to mark the 36th anniversary of the closure of the waverley line she said. campaign for borders rail is the biggest independent lobby group in scotland and we have been lobbying tirelessly for the reinstatement of rail services to the borders and eventually to carlisle. we believe that it is time for the scottish executive to commit to the first phase of the project by pledging to fund the line between edinburgh and tweedbank in the first instance and then investigate extending the line in the future. ms borthwick said reopening the line would be a prosperous move and protect the character of the scottish borders. a study in 2000 which was commissioned by the executive scottish borders council midlothian council and scottish borders enterprise found that a half-hourly service from tweedbank to edinburgh could cover its operating costs. it also found that a half-hourly service from gorebridge to edinburgh could cover operating costs and that a freight railway joining the west coast main line at longtown could also be reinstated. | science and tech | 2 |
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. | entertainment | 0 |
asia quake increases poverty risk nearly two million people across asia could be thrown into poverty because of the indian ocean tsunami the asian development bank (adb) has said. in its first overview of the disaster the adb said the impact on economic growth would be slight because major cities and factories escaped damage. but the blow to many low-income people could be enormous . the paris club of rich creditor nations on wednesday offered to freeze debts owed by tsunami-hit countries. the move was aimed at helping south asian governments find budgets to rebuild devastated coastal areas though so far only sri lanka indonesia and the seychelles have indicated that they will take it up. other countries believe their economies are strong enough to cope or wish to avoid being viewed as credit risks. poverty is potentially the most important impact of this natural disaster said adb chief economist ifzal ali. donor nations have promised to give $717m (£379m) in disaster relief over the next six months according to the united nations. mr ali added his voice to those warning that aid pledges must be promptly delivered saying the number of people at risk of poverty hinged on concerns over sanitation and health conditions and other basic needs being properly and quickly addressed . there are 1.9 billion people in asia living on less than $2 a day. the adb fears that 1 million indonesians could join them while in india just over half a million people - 645 000 - are at risk of falling into poverty. a quarter of a million sri lankans and 23 500 people in the maldives are also facing poverty. in the maldives where 43% of the population already lives on less than $2 a day this could rise to half. sri lanka and the maldives are the two countries the adb fears are most at risk of suffering lasting economic damage from the tsunami. sri lanka s government has estimated reconstruction costs at nearly $3bn. a government task force held meetings to discuss an emergency rebuilding plan with the adb world bank and japanese aid agencies on wednesday and promised to publish the plan within 10 days. indonesia malaysia thailand and india have enjoyed strong economic growth in recent years which should cushion them against reconstruction costs. although indonesia s northern province of aceh suffered the worst death toll the region s oil and natural gas production facilities have survived intact the report said. however it remains too soon to asses the damage to poor people s livelihoods in aceh because it would depend on how much farm land had been flooded by seawater. this is a profoundly tragic event for the region and for the millions who are suffering. but the economies of the affected countries except sri lanka and the maldives should emerge with minimal damage the adb report said. some businesses may even gain from the reconstruction efforts thereby creating jobs. at a meeting in thailand abd president thadao chino said he was confident of the country s own capabilities to restore normalcy to the affected areas and meet the rehabilitation requirements . thailand has said it does not wish to opt for a debt repayment freeze while india has also rejected international aid saying it can cope on its own resources. debt repayment holidays carry the risk of credit ratings downgrades making it more expensive to borrow money in future. indonesia however is pressing for greater help with its debts than the current freeze would bring. it is one of the world s most indebted countries. | business | 0 |
ebbers aware of worldcom fraud former worldcom boss bernie ebbers was directly involved in the $11bn financial fraud at the firm his closest associate has told a us court. giving evidence in the criminal trial of mr ebbers ex-finance chief scott sullivan implicated his colleague in the accounting scandal at the firm. mr sullivan worldcom s former number two is the government s chief witness in its case against mr ebbers. mr ebbers has denied multiple charges of conspiracy and fraud. senior worldcom executives are accused of orchestrating a huge fraud at the former telecoms company in which they exaggerated revenues and hid the cost of expenses. the firm was forced into bankruptcy the largest in us history. mr sullivan 42 pleaded guilty to fraud last year and agreed to assist the government with its case against mr ebbers. prosecutors have alleged that mr ebbers 63 directed mr sullivan to hide the true state of the company s finances by providing false information to the firm s accountants. mr ebbers has denied all the charges saying he was unaware of the fraud. his lawyers claim that their client was unfamiliar with detailed accounting practices and left that side of the business to mr sullivan. however on monday mr sullivan named mr ebbers as one of five executives who participated in the accounting fraud. he [ebbers] has got a hands-on grasp of financial information mr sullivan told a new york court. on his first day of questioning mr sullivan admitted to falsifying the company s financial statements. we did not disclose these adjustments he said. we did not talk about these adjustments and the information was false. mr sullivan said his former boss knew more about accounting matters than many chief financial officers and described him as detail-oriented . he portrayed mr ebbers a charismatic businessman who built up worldcom from a small regional operator into one of america s largest telecoms firms as obsessed with costs. he would talk about that there were more coffee filters than coffee bags and that means employees are taking coffee home he said. we needed to cut expenses. we needed to cut a lot more than coffee expenses. mr sullivan is at the centre of the government s case against mr ebbers. mr ebbers could face a sentence of 85 years if convicted of all the charges he is facing. | entertainment | 2 |
eu fraud clampdown urged eu member states are failing to report fraud and irregularities in eu funds on a consistent basis the uk s public spending watchdog has said. the national audit office said although the latest figures showed reported fraud was falling the eu still had no common definition of fraud. it also expressed concern that for the 10th year the european court of auditors had qualified the eu accounts. the nao urged the government to push for improvements in reporting fraud. it said member states needed to be more accountable on how money was spent. the report said: member states still do not report fraud and other irregularities to the european anti-fraud office on a consistent basis. as the court has now qualified its opinion on the community accounts for a decade it is essential for all the authorities involved to contribute to the strengthening of the audit of eu revenue and expenditure and improving accountability for the financial management and use of eu resources. it said there were 922 cases of reported fraud or irregularities in eu funds in the uk in 2003 worth £38.5m (52m euros) up from 831 cases worth £35.7m in 2002. at the same time reported fraud throughout the eu dropped from 10 276 cases worth £808m to 8 177 cases worth £644m. edward leigh chairman of the commons public accounts committee said britain had to set an example when it assumed the eu presidency. any fraud in other member states is potentially fraud against the uk taxpayer given that we are the second largest net contributor to the community he said. departments responsible for administering eu funds need to make sure that they re doing everything possible to weed out improper spending. the government must take the opportunity afforded by the uk presidency of the eu to press the commission and other member states to take an equally robust stance against fraud and irregularity and raise overall standards of financial management. a spokesman for the european anti-fraud office said the organisation agreed with the nao s assessment of fraud reporting. the quality of reporting does differ from member state to member state and there is room for improvement spokesman jorg wojahn said. he added that there is generally good co-operation with member states and the anti-fraud office on specific cases of fraud with the statistics studied by nao providing a good overview for planning strategic ways of detecting fraud . | business | 2 |
legendary music studio to close the new york music studio where john lennon spent his final hours is to close next month. the hit factory which opened 37 years ago has played host to some of the biggest stars in music including paul simon madonna and david bowie. however the rise in digital recording has affected business at the studio which is relocating to smaller premises in miami. lennon recorded his final album double fantasy at the studio in 1979. the studio was founded by jerry ragovoy in 1968. in 1975 it was sold to fellow producer edward germano who turned it into a 100 000 square foot studio with seven recording rooms and live mastering suites. his first client was stevie wonder who recorded part of his classic album songs in the key of life there. other well-known albums to be recorded or partially recorded at the studio include bruce springsteen s born in the usa the rolling stones emotional rescue and paul simon s graceland. michael jackson billy joel jay-z and beyonce are also among artists who have used the hit factory in the past as well as 50 cent who survived an attempt on his life as he left the premises in 2000. the studio made history in 1994 when it won a record 41 grammy nominations for songs recorded mastered or mixed there including the soundtrack to the whitney houston film the bodyguard. | world | 2 |
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. | politics | 2 |
richard and judy choose top books the 10 authors shortlisted for a richard and judy book award in 2005 are hoping for a boost in sales following the success of this year s winner. the tv couple s interest in the book world coined the term the richard & judy effect and created the top two best-selling paperbacks of 2004 so far. the finalists for 2005 include andrew taylor s the american boy and robbie williams autobiography feel. this year s winner alice sebold s the lovely bones sold over one million. joseph o connor s star of the sea came second and saw sales increase by 350%. the best read award on richard madeley and judy finnigan s channel 4 show is part of the british book awards. david mitchell s booker-shortlisted novel cloud atlas makes it into this year s top 10 along with several lesser known works. there s no doubt that this year s selection of book club entries is the best yet. if anything the choice is even wider than last time said madeley. it was very hard to follow last year s extremely successful list but we think this year s books will do even better said richard and judy executive producer amanda ross. we were spoiled for choice and it was tough getting down to only 10 from the 301 submitted. | entertainment | 0 |
apple laptop is greatest gadget the apple powerbook 100 has been chosen as the greatest gadget of all time by us magazine mobile pc. the 1991 laptop was chosen because it was one of the first lightweight portable computers and helped define the layout of all future notebook pcs. the magazine has compiled an all-time top 100 list of gadgets which includes the sony walkman at number three and the 1956 zenith remote control at two. gadgets needed moving parts and/or electronics to warrant inclusion. the magazine specified that gadgets also needed to be a self-contained apparatus that can be used on its own not a subset of another device . in general we included only items that were potentially mobile said the magazine. in the end we tried to get to the heart of what really makes a gadget a gadget it concluded. the oldest gadget in the top 100 is the abacus which the magazine dates at 190 a.d. and put in 60th place. other pre-electronic gadgets in the top 100 include the sextant from 1731 (59th position) the marine chronometer from 1761 (42nd position) and the kodak brownie camera from 1900 (28th position). the tivo personal video recorder is the newest device to make the top 10 which also includes the first flash mp3 player (diamound multimedia) as well as the first successful digital camera (casio qv-10) and mobile phone (motorola startac). the most popular gadget of the moment the apple ipod is at number 12 in the list while the first sony transistor radio is at number 13. sony s third entry in the top 20 is the cdp-101 cd player from 1983. who can forget the crystalline hiss-free blast of madonna s like a virgin emenating from their first cd player asked the magazine. karl elsener s knife the swiss army knife from 1891 is at number 20 in the list. gadgets which could be said to feature surprisngly low down in the list include the original telephone (23rd) the nintendo gameboy (25th) and the pulsar quartz digital watch (36th). the list also contains plenty of oddities: the pez sweet dispenser (98th) 1980s toy tamagotchi (86th) and the bizarre ronco inside the shell egg scrambler (84th). why worry about mobile phones. soon they will be subsumed into the pda s / laptops etc. what about the marine chronometer completely revolutionised navigation for boats and was in use for centuries. for it s time a technological marvel! sony net minidisc! it paved the way for more mp3 player to explode onto the market. i always used my netmd and could not go anywhere without it. a laptop computer is not a gadget! it s a working tool! the sinclair executive was the world s first pocket calculator. i think this should be there as well. how about the clockwork radio or gps or a pocket calculator all these things are useful to real people not just pc magazine editors. are the people who created this list insane surely the most important gadget of the modern age is the mobile phone it has revolutionalised communication which is more than can be said for a niche market laptop. from outside the modern age the marine chronometer is the single most important gadget without which modern transportation systems would not have evolved so quickly. has everyone forgot about the breville pie maker an interesting list. of the electronic gadgets thousands of journalists in the early 1980s blessed the original noteboook pc - the tandy 100. the size of a4 paper and light three weeks on a set of batteries an excellent keyboard a modem. a pity tandy did not make it dos compatible. what s an apple powerbook 100 it s out of date - not much of a gadget . surely it has to be something simple / timeless - the tin opener swiss army knife safety razor blade wristwatch or the thing for taking stones out of horses hooves it has to be the mobile phone. no other single device has had such an effect on our way of living in such a short space of time. the ball point pen has got to be one of the most used and common gadgets ever. also many might be grateful for the pocket calculator which was a great improvement over the slide rule. the casio pocket calculator that played a simple game and made tinny noises was also a hot gadget in 1980. a true gadget it could be carried around and shown off. all top 10 are electronic toys so the list is probably a better reflection of the current high-tech obsession than anyhting else. i say this as the swiss army knife only made no 20. sinclair ql a machine far ahead of its time. the first home machine with a true multi-takings os. shame the marketing was so bad!!! apple.. a triumph of fashion over... well everything else. utter rubbish. yes the apple laptop and sony walkman are classic gadgets. but to call the sextant and the marine chronometer gadgets and rank them as less important than a tv remote control reveals a quite shocking lack of historical perspective. the former literally helped change the world by vastly improving navigation at see. the latter is the seed around which the couch potato culture has developed. no competition. i d also put apple s newton and the first palm pilot there as the front runners for portable computing and possibly the toshiba libretto for the same reason. i only wish that vulcan inc s flipstart wasn t just vapourware otherwise it would be at the top. how did a laptop ever manage to beat off the challenge of the wristwatch or the telephone (mobile or otherwise) what about radios and tvs the swiss army knife. by far the most useful gadget. i got mine 12 years ago. still wearing and using it a lot! it stood the test of time. psion organiser series 3 should be up there. had a usable qwerty keyboard removable storage good set of apps and programmable. case design was good (batteries in the hinge - a first i think). great product innovation. the first mobile pc was voted best gadget by readers of...err... mobile pc ! why do you keep putting these obviously biased lists on your site it s obviously the mobile phone or remote control and readers of a less partisan publication would tell you that. the motorola startac should be number one. why there will be mobile phones long after notebook computers and other gadgets are either gone or integrated in communications devices. the psion series 3c! the first most practical way to carry all your info around... i too would back the sinclair spectrum - without this little beauty i would never have moved into the world of it and earn the living that i do now. i d have put the mobile phone high up the list. probably a nokia model. sinclair spectrum - 16k. it plugged into the tv. games were rubbish but it gave me a taste for programming and that s what i do for a living now. i wish more modern notebooks -- even apple s newest offerings -- were more like the pb100. particularly disheartening is the demise of the trackball which has given way to the largely useless trackpad which every notebook on the market today uses. they re invariably inaccurate uncomfortable and cumbersome to use. congratulations to apple a deserved win! | science and tech | 0 |
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. | entertainment | 2 |
booming markets shed few tears the market former british government minister michael heseltine once said has no morality. and indeed stock exchange traders around asia have wasted little time regretting the victims of this week s disaster. stock markets in indonesia and india have hit all-time highs this week; even in sri lanka more comprehensively affected the main index has lost only 5% since the waves hit. bigger markets further afield have barely twitched. the msci world share index a measure of global stock market performance hit its highest level this week since early 2001; the bbc global 30 has risen by 3% in the past week. and this at a time when - all sentiment aside - insurance costs are already estimated in the tens of billions of dollars and countries around the region are looking at trimming their growth forecasts. in fact the markets are being perfectly rational. for a start the notional insurance cost of the disaster will have little bearing on corporate bottom lines. the overwhelming majority of the victims will have had no insurance: according to estimates from india only one-quarter of those affected there were wealthy enough to afford insurance and only one-quarter of that group at most will have taken out policies. indonesia is likely to have even lower take-up rates. and where insurance certainly is in place - in for example the many tourist complexes affected - the costs will be borne in far-away corners of the global reinsurance market rather than landing locally. second stock markets do not trade the sort of companies likely to have been damaged. most of the biggest companies traded on the soaring jakarta stock exchange are in oil technology and financial services - none of which have been hit by the flooding. tourist businesses the most likely sufferers are either foreign-owned or too small to have their shares listed. those that are listed have suffered: confifi hotel holdings a small sri lankan tourism firm has halved in value this week. but there are winners as well as losers. asian stock markets are heavily inclined towards property and construction companies many of which will be rubbing their hands over the reconstruction opportunities. in indonesia shares in state construction companies adhi karya and semen gresik have jumped sharply this week. more broadly the academic consensus is that major disasters are largely neutral in their longer-term economic impact. according to the natural hazards research and applications information center at colorado state university there is little evidence that disasters are inevitably followed by a depression. the need to find money to replace lost and damaged property is balanced by the beneficial effect of reconstruction activity; there is rarely the centre says any sort of rebuilding boom but in most cases sizeable indirect losses are avoided. a study of the 1993 des moines floods from the disaster research center at the university of delaware* found that 70% of local businesses were no worse off after the disaster and another 18% felt themselves better off. although it is commonly assumed on the basis of anecdotal evidence that disasters result in business failures and bankruptcies on a large scale our research indicates that most businesses even those that are especially hard-hit do indeed recover the authors concluded. but disasters have a vast psychological impact and markets are driven by psychological factors. in particular many analysts warn of panic spreading unchecked through the global financial system as investors seek to cover themselves against the unforeseeable effects of unguessable events. in fact again the risks here are lower than they seem. even the costliest natural disaster is rendered minuscule by the global capital market - currently $30 trillion and rising. a series of recent shocks the colorado centre has argued have demonstrated that this seamless global contagion hardly ever happens: market tremors rarely translate into economic slumps and economic woes rarely seriously undermine markets. the trillion-dollar debts of japan s banks for example have had no effect on stock markets further afield than tokyo. and the us stock market was on its way down long before 11 september 2001; it rose by 20% during the six months following the attacks. it is not that the broking community is indifferent to disasters or feelings one bombay trader said this week. but the reaction would have been seen if business had been affected. business sense probably tends to overrule everything else. | business | 0 |
collins appeals against drugs ban sprinter michelle collins has lodged an appeal against her eight-year doping ban with the north american court of arbitration for sport (cas). the 33-year-old received the ban last month as a result of her connection to the federal inquiry into the balco doping scandal. she is the first athlete to be banned without a positive drugs test or an admission of drugs use. cas has said that a ruling is normally given within four months of an appeal. collins was suspended by the us anti-doping agency based on patterns observed in her blood and urine tests as well as evidence in the balco investigation. as well as being hit with the ban collins was stripped of her 2003 world and us indoor 200m titles. the san francisco-based balco laboratory is at the centre of the scandal which has rocked the sport. the company has been accused of distributing illegal performance-enhancing drugs to elite athletes. | sports | 0 |
safin cool on wimbledon newly-crowned australian open champion marat safin has ruled out any chance of winning wimbledon in the future. after losing in round one last year safin said he had given up on wimbledon and winning his second grand slam title has not changed his mind. i ll play but with no expectations. i feel like i can t waste my time my energy on that surface he said. some people they cannot play on clay. some people they cannot play on a hard court. me i can t play on grass. however safin is hopeful that winning the australian open will give him the belief he needs to win more grand slam titles. it s a relief for me. two grand slams it s already something. but with this one i worked really hard for it he said. basically i would love to win a couple more. i think i have a chance if i continue this way. if (coach) peter lundgren will stick around with me and wants to work with me for a bit longer i think i can make it. the 25-year-old shocked pete sampras in the 2000 us open final to win his first major title but then lost in two australian open finals. safin admitted he had begun to doubt whether he would win another grand slam. i didn t expect that (to win the 2000 us open) - it was against sampras i wasn t the favourite so i had no pressure whatsoever he said. after the first final that i didn t win against thomas johansson (in 2002) i couldn t see myself winning the grand slams anymore. i was once in the semi-finals of the french open but i didn t believe i can win it. i just couldn t handle the pressure. you need to believe in yourself and i didn t. and after losing the first set 6-1 to lleyton hewitt in sunday s final safin said he began to doubt himself again. i am 25. i m playing against hewitt. at least you have to have the opportunity to win it at least have a chance he said. it s like you go there and you lose first set 6-1 then you start to think: this is not my day. the way i m playing is ridiculous. but then you start to really be a little bit more selfish and try to find a way out of there. and i found it. i was like really much i was much happier than in 2000 that s for sure because i get over it. | politics | 2 |
hague given up his pm ambition former conservative leader william hague says he will not stand for the leadership again having given up his ambition to be prime minister. mr hague 43 told the daily telegraph he would now find a life dominated by politics too boring and unfulfilling. mr hague who stepped down after his party s 2001 election defeat does not rule out a return to the front bench. he also told the paper he hopes to remain mp for richmond north yorks and start a family with wife ffion. mr hague who recently had published the biography of william pitt the younger also said he wanted to continue writing books and speech-writing. he told the newspaper: i don t know whether i will ever go back on to the front but don t rush me. asked if he would stand for the leadership again mr hague replied: no. definitely not. his determination to stay away from a central role will disappoint some senior conservative members who say the party needs him. tim collins the shadow education secretary said last week it would be a huge boost to the party if mr hague returned to the front bench. mr hague became an mp at 27 and leader of the opposition at 36. he said: i feel fortunate that by the age of 40 i had crammed in an entire political career. i had been in the cabinet and been leader of the party so now i can branch out into other things...it is a very liberating feeling. mr hague added that he may have misjudged his own ambition to be prime minister. maybe i wasn t as driven by politics as i thought i was he said. | politics | 0 |
japanese mogul arrested for fraud one of japan s best-known businessmen was arrested on thursday on charges of falsifying shareholder information and selling shares based on the false data. yoshiaki tsutsumi was once ranked as the world s richest man and ran a business spanning hotels railways construction and a baseball team. his is the latest in a series of arrests of top executives in japan over business scandals. he was taken away in a van outside one of his prince hotels in tokyo. there was a time when mr tsutsumi seemed untouchable. inheriting a large property business from his father in the 1960s he became one of japan s most powerful industrialists with close connections to many of the country s leading politicians. he used his wealth and influence to bring the winter olympic games to nagano in 1998. but last year he was forced to resign from all the posts he held in his business empire after being accused of falsifying the share-ownership structure of seibu railways one of his companies. under japanese stock market rules no listed company can be more than 80% owned by its 10 largest shareholders. now mr tsutsumi faces criminal charges and the possibility of a prison sentence because he made it look as if the 10 biggest shareholders owned less than this amount. seibu railways has been delisted from the stock exchange its share value has plunged and it is the target of a takeover bid. mr tsutsumi s fall from grace follows the arrests of several other top executives in japan as the authorities try to curb the murky business practices which were once widespread in japanese companies. his determination to stay at the top at all costs may have had its roots in his childhood. the illegitimate third son of a rich father who made his money buying up property as japan rebuilt after world war ii he has described the demands his father made. i felt enormous pressure when i dined with him and it was nothing but pain tsutsumi told a weekly magazine in 1987. he scolded me for pouring too much soy sauce or told me fruit was not for children. he didn t let me use the silk futon saying it s a luxury. there have been corporate governance issues at some other japanese companies too. last year twelve managers from mitsubishi motors were charged with covering up safety defects in their vehicles and three executives from japan s troubled ufj bank were charged with concealing the extent of the bank s bad loans. | entertainment | 2 |
lopez misses uk charity premiere jennifer lopez cancelled an appearance at the uk charity premiere of her new movie saying she was too ill to fly. the actress and singer dropped out at the last minute and has now cancelled all european promotion of the film shall we dance and her new album. she said: i very much wanted to be in london but unfortunately i m not well. at the advice of my doctors i m unable to travel. co-star richard gere attended the event held in aid of the tsunami appeal. thousands braved the cold weather to see the stars in london s leicester square. the red carpet boasted waltzing dancers in honour of the film s ballroom dancing theme. the film s director peter chelsom said he was disappointed that lopez did not attend. it s a shame. i know it s true that she s not well because she has also cancelled her promotional tour. i ve heard she has swollen glands. gere 55 greeted the crowd and signed autographs accompanied by his wife carey lowell. other stars who turned out on the night included honor blackman strictly come dancing presenter tess daly and actress anita dobson. lopez issues a statement apologising for her absence. i m so proud of shall we dance and was looking forward to visiting london she said. this film was a labour of love for me and i want to thank everyone involved in bringing it to you from the cast to the film director to the crew. lopez appeared at the grammy awards on sunday singing a duet with her third husband marc anthony. | science and tech | 2 |
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. | world | 2 |
record year for chilean copper chile s copper industry has registered record earnings of $14.2bn in 2004 the governmental chilean copper commission (cochilco) has reported. strong demand from china s fast-growing economy and high prices have fuelled production said cochilco vice president patricio cartagena. he added that the boom has allowed the government to collect $950m in taxes. mr cartagena said the industry expects to see investment worth $10bn over the next three years. with these investments clearly we are going to continue being the principle actor in the mining of copper. it s a consolidation of the industry with new projects and expansions that will support greater production. australia s bhp billiton - which operates la escondida the world s largest open pit copper mine - is planning to invest $1.9bn between now and 2007 while state-owned codelco will spend about $1bn on various projects. chile the biggest copper producer in the world is now analyzing ways of to keep prices stable at their current high levels without killing off demand or leading customers to look for substitutes for copper. the copper price reached a 16-year high in october 2004. production in chile is expected rise 3.5% in 2005 to 5.5 million tonnes said mr cartagena. cochilco expects for 2005 a slight reduction on copper prices and forecasts export earnings will fall 10.7%. | politics | 2 |
broadband in the uk growing fast high-speed net connections in the uk are proving more popular than ever. bt reports that more people signed up for broadband in the last three months than in any other quarter. the 600 000 connections take the total number of people in the uk signing up for broadband from bt to almost 3.3 million. nationally more than 5 million browse the net via broadband. britain now has among the highest number of broadband connections throughout the whole of europe. according to figures gathered by industry watchdog ofcom the growth means that the uk has now surpassed germany in terms of broadband users per 100 people. the uk total of 5.3 million translates into 7.5 connections per 100 people compared to 6.7 in germany and 15.8 in the netherlands. the numbers of people signing up to broadband include those that get their service direct from bt or via the many companies that re-sell bt lines under their own name. part of the surge in people signing up was due to bt stretching the reach of adsl - the uk s most widely used way of getting broadband - beyond 6km. asymmetric digital subscriber line technology lets ordinary copper phone lines support high data speeds. the standard speed is 512kbps though faster connections are available. this breakthrough led to a dramatic increase in orders as we were suddenly able to satisfy the pent-up demand that existed in many areas said paul reynolds chief executive of bt wholesale which provides phone lines that other firms re-sell. bt retail which sells net services under its own name also had a good quarter and provided about 30% of the new broadband customers. this was a slight increase on the previous three months. despite the good news about growth in broadband figures from telecommunications regulator ofcom show that bt faces increasing competition and dwindling influence in other sectors. local loop unbundling (llu) in which bt rivals install their hardware in exchanges and take over the line to a customer s home or office is growing steadily. cable & wireless and ntl have announced that they are investing millions to start offering llu services. by the end of september more than 4.2 million phone lines were using so-called carrier pre-section (cps) services such as talktalk and one.tel which route phone calls across non-bt networks from a local exchange. there are now more than 300 different firms offering cps services and the percentage of people using bt lines for voice calls has shrunk to 55.4%. | science and tech | 0 |
moya sidesteps davis cup in 2005 carlos moya has chosen not to help spain try and defend the davis cup crown they won in seville in november. moya led spain to victory over the usa but wants to focus on the grand slams in 2005 although insists he will return to the davis cup in 2006. after two years of total commitment with the davis cup team... i have taken this difficult decision to concentrate on the regular circuit said moya. they know that after this season they can count on me again if they so wish. the 1998 french open champion is determined to make an impact in the major events after spending much of the last eight years in the top 10. at the age of 29 i have set some tough goals in my professional career and this season i need to fix my objectives on specific dates and tournaments he said. since the davis cup in seville i have been working on my condition as well as technical and medical aspects of my game which will allow me to come into the big events of the year in top form. moya began 2005 with victory in the chennai open on sunday. | sports | 0 |
off-colour gardener storms to win britain s jason gardener shook off an upset stomach to win the 60m at sunday s leipzig international meeting. gardener clocked 6.56 seconds to equal the meeting record and finished well ahead of germany s marc blume who crossed the line in 6.67 secs. the world indoor champion said: i got to the airport and my stomach was upset and i was vomiting. i almost went home. i felt a little better sunday morning but decided i d only run in the main race. then everything went perfectly. gardener part of the great britain 4x100m quartet that won gold at the athens olympics will now turn his attention to next weekend s norwich union european indoor trials in sheffield. given i am still off-colour i know there is plenty more in the tank and i expect to get faster in the next few weeks he said. it s just a case of chipping away as i have done in previous years and the results will come. scotland s ian mackie was also in action in leipzig. he stepped down from his favoured 400m to 200m to finish third in 21.72 secs. germany s alexander kosenkow won the race in 21.07 secs with dutchman patrick van balkom second in 21.58 secs. there were plenty of other senior british athletes showing their indoor form over the weekend. promising 60m hurdler clocked a new uk record of 7.98 seconds at a meeting in norway. the 24-year-old reached the mark in her heat but had to settle for joint first place with former aaa champion diane allahgreen in the final. who broke onto the international scene at the olympic games last season set an indoor personal best of 16.50m in the triple jump at a meeting in ghent. that leap - 37cm short of brazilian winner jadel gregorio s effort - was good enough to qualify for the european indoor championships. at the same meeting finished third in 7.27 seconds in a high-class women s 60m. the event was won by european medal favourite christine arron of france while belgium rival kim gevaert was second. britain s joice maduaka finished fifth in 7.35. olympic bronze heptathlon medallist made a low-key return to action at an indoor meeting in birmingham. the 28-year-old cleared 1.76m to win the high jump and threw 13.86m in the women s shot put. | sports | 0 |
china to overtake us net use the chinese net-using population looks set to exceed that of the us in less than three years says a report. china s net users number 100m but this represents less than 8% of the country s 1.3 billion people. market analysts panlogic predicts that net users in china will exceed the 137 million us users of the net by 2008. the report says that the country s culture will mean that chinese people will use the net for very different ends than in many other nations. already net use in china has a very different character than in many western nations said william makower chief executive of panlogic. in many western nations desktop computers that can access the net are hard to escape at work. by contrast in china workplace machines are relatively rare. this combined with the relatively high cost of pcs in china and the time it takes to get phone lines installed helps to explains the huge number of net cafes in china. only 36% of chinese homes have telephones according to reports. net usage tends to happen in the evening said mr makower they get access only when they go home and go off to the internet café. its fundamentally different usage to what we have here he said. net use in china was still very much an urban phenomenon with most users living on the country s eastern seaboard or in its three biggest cities. the net is key to helping chinese people keep in touch with friends said mr makower. many people use it in preference to the phone or arrange to meet up with friends at net cafes. what people can do on the net is also limited by aspects of chinese life. for instance said mr makower credit cards are rare in china partly because of fears people have about getting in to debt. the most popular way to pay is cash-on-delivery he said and that s quite a brake to the development of e-commerce. the arrival of foreign banks in china due in 2006 could mean greater use of credit cards but for the moment they are rare said mr makower. but if chinese people are not spending cash online they are interested in the news they can get via the net and the view it gives them on western ways of living. a large part of the attraction of the internet is that it goes below the radar he said. generally it s more difficult for the government to be able to control it. its real value is as an open window onto what s happening elsewhere in the world he said. government restrictions on how much advertising can appear on television means that the net is a source of many commercial messages chinese people would not see anywhere else. familiarity with the net also has a certain social cachet. it s a sign of them having made it that they can use the internet and navigate around it said mr makower. | sports | 2 |
vera drake scoops film award oscar hopefuls mike leigh and imelda staunton were both winners at the 2004 evening standard british film awards. vera drake - leigh s 1950s drama about a backstreet abortionist - was named best film and staunton who played the title role was named best actress. other winners included paddy considine who was crowned best actor for his role in dead man s shoes. bridget jones: the edge of reason was named evening standard readers film of 2004 at the central london ceremony. leigh was presented with his winner s statuette by timothy spall and staunton s award was announced by patrick stewart during the glittering ceremony at the savoy on sunday night. evening standard film critic derek malcolm said: he [leigh] has never made a film that is better controlled and technically more secure... if this isn t one of the films of the year i don t know what is. the alexander walker special award - which honours those who have made a supreme contribution to british film - went to tim bevan and eric fellner the co-chairmen of working title films. the production company is behind films such as my beautiful laundrette billy elliot about a boy shaun of the dead and bridget jones: the edge of reason. simon pegg who stars in and co-wrote shaun of the dead won the 2004 peter sellers award for comedy. other winners included emily blunt and nathalie press who were jointly named itv london most promising newcomer award for their performances in pawel pawlikowski s rites-of-passage story my summer of love. pawlikowski won the best screenplay statuette while roger deakins won the technical achievement award for his cinematography on the village and the ladykillers. guests at the ceremony included dame judi dench kim cattrall charles dance bill nighy and colin firth. the awards which were hosted by jack dee are to be screened on itv london on tuesday at 2300 gmt. | entertainment | 0 |
fresh hope after argentine crisis three years after argentina was hit by a deadly economic crisis there is fresh hope. the country s economy is set to grow about 8% this year after seeing 9% growth last year a sharp turnaround from 2002 when output fell 11%. the unemployment rate is improving too: it is set to slip below 13% by the end of the year down from 20% in may 2002. true problems remain but the overall picture is one of vast improvement. even the international monetary fund (imf) admits this. the argentine authorities are proud should be proud of the strong performance of the economy thomas dawson an imf director said earlier this month. argentina has made a remarkable recovery from a hideous and lengthy recession which in 2001 culminated in the government halting debt repayments to its private creditors. the debt default sparked a deep and prolonged economic crisis which at least initially was made worse by the government s decisions. pension payments were halted and bank accounts frozen as part of austerity measures introduced by the government to deal with the country s massive debts. in response angry crowds of ordinary argentines took to the streets where dozens of lives were lost in clashes with the police. two presidents and at least three finance minister resigned in less than a month. argentina was on the brink of collapse. the fix was found in the currency markets with the abandonment of the peso s decade-long peg to the us dollar in february 2002. the subsequent devaluation saw thousands of people s life savings disappear. scathes of companies went bust. three years ago every sector [of the economy] was hit by the crisis said entrepreneur drayton valentine. it really was dire. but since then the general mood on the ground has improved dramatically in part because the devaluation helped attract fresh direct investment from abroad and stimulate business within brazil. agriculture and tourism are helping said entrepreneur drayton valentine. mr valentine who was born in the united states but grew up in argentina was fortunate: at the time of the crisis his savings were held in dollar accounts abroad. but now he is using his money to help with the start-up a trading company. he explained that initially his firm is going to export building materials to spain and united states. then he would like to diversify to other areas depending on the market. locally there is a sense of recovery many companies are exporting now he said noting that a lot of firms which were closed during the crisis are re-opening. but not all that shines is gold. argentina is still burdened by its failure to pay private creditors at the end of 2001. president nestor kirchner s administration is still trying to hammer out an agreement with the creditors but with the debts nominal value standing at around $100bn it is not proving easy. debt defaults make further lending agreements both difficult and expensive to negotiate. argentina s current offer implies that the creditors would get just 25 cents for each dollar they are owed according to the creditors. understandably they want more and until they do both they and others are loath to continue lending. for president kirchner this proves a hopeless challenge. real losses have been suffered and somebody has to pay observed jack boorman adviser to imf s managing director rodrigo rato. everyone needs to keep in mind the enormous cost on the part of both creditors and the argentine society and people that will have been endured by the time a settlement is reached he said. the cost is enormous and continues to be paid and will not be reversed by any restructuring. with the international negotiations being troubled it is of little help to president kirchner that the domestic situation remains strained as well. this is partly because there are still bank account holders who are waiting to recover some of their deposits. the situation is bad for those who had previously chosen to save in argentina said carlos baez silva president of aara an association that represents bank account and bond holders. few people have recovered more than about half their savings mr baez silva estimated pointing out that many of the savers who have lost out are pensioners or others who once trusted the government people who set aside money for the future in the belief that their investment would be safe. a lot of them invested in good faith he said. the argentine state responded by taking most of their investments. the affair has made mr baez silva disillusioned with the country s legal system. on occasion the supreme court has ruled against the interests of the people he represents he says insisting that the system cannot be trusted. people have to deposit their money in the banks not necessarily because they trust them but because crime is so high that people cannot have their money in their homes beneath their mattresses. mr valentine who was born in the united states but grew up in argentina agreed. if i have to save pesos [the local currency] there is not much problem but i will think twice before i deposit dollars in a bank . | business | 0 |
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. | sports | 2 |
campbell to extend sprint career darren campbell has set his sights on running quicker than ever after deciding not to retire from sprinting. campbell who won olympic 4x100m relay gold had been unsure about his future. but he told five live s sportsweek: i had to get back into training before i could decide because if i didn t have the same hunger i d have to walk away. i ve started back and i m thoroughly enjoying it. i m looking forward to it. i ve got to run under 10 seconds (for 100m) and under 20 seconds (for 200m). campbell was part of the british quartet who shocked the americans to win relay gold in athens in august. the newport-based athlete and team-mates jason gardener marlon devonish and mark lewis-francis were rewarded with mbes in the new year honours list. campbell s relay triumph made up for his disappointing displays in the individual 100m and 200m events in athens when he failed to reach the finals. the 31-year-old who won olympic 200m silver in sydney in 2000 said during the games that a hamstring injury had stopped him from running at his best. he was criticised at the time by former olympic champion michael johnson who cast doubt on campbell s injury claims. to go to athens and finally get the gold i ve been trying to get for 24 years was a big relief said campbell. it was a chance for me to prove that if i d been fit i would have been challenging for the (individual) medals. every season i go and challenge for the medals so why would last season have been any different it s just unfortunate that i picked up that injury just before the olympics. campbell set his 100m personal best of 10.04secs when he won the european title in budapest in 1998. and he ran 20.13secs in the quarter-finals of the 200m in sydney on the way to olympic silver. | sports | 0 |
help for indies in download sales a campaign has been launched to help independent labels get their music online and benefit from the growing trend for downloading music. the british phonographic industry has identified a lack of independent music available for download. we want to ensure that independent repertoire is as successful in the download world as it is in the physical world said bpi chief peter jamieson. downloaded singles have now overtaken physical singles in the uk. mr jamieson said his organisation was lobbying music service providers which include itunes and napster to urge them to promote independent releases. download sales are due to be incorporated into the uk singles chart later this year. with downloads shortly to be eligible for the singles chart this is a key commercial issue on which the bpi committed to assisting its members added mr jamieson. as part of the campaign the bpi is running a series of seminars entitled getting your music online focusing on how independent labels can embrace digital music. the us has already begun incorporating download sales in the billboard s hot 100 chart. | world | 2 |
hague given up his pm ambition former conservative leader william hague says he will not stand for the leadership again having given up his ambition to be prime minister. mr hague 43 told the daily telegraph he would now find a life dominated by politics too boring and unfulfilling. mr hague who stepped down after his party s 2001 election defeat does not rule out a return to the front bench. he also told the paper he hopes to remain mp for richmond north yorks and start a family with wife ffion. mr hague who recently had published the biography of william pitt the younger also said he wanted to continue writing books and speech-writing. he told the newspaper: i don t know whether i will ever go back on to the front but don t rush me. asked if he would stand for the leadership again mr hague replied: no. definitely not. his determination to stay away from a central role will disappoint some senior conservative members who say the party needs him. tim collins the shadow education secretary said last week it would be a huge boost to the party if mr hague returned to the front bench. mr hague became an mp at 27 and leader of the opposition at 36. he said: i feel fortunate that by the age of 40 i had crammed in an entire political career. i had been in the cabinet and been leader of the party so now i can branch out into other things...it is a very liberating feeling. mr hague added that he may have misjudged his own ambition to be prime minister. maybe i wasn t as driven by politics as i thought i was he said. | world | 2 |
wales critical of clumsy grewcock wales coach mike ruddock says england lock danny grewcock needs to review his actions after he kicked dwayne peel. trouble flared at a ruck in the first half of wales 11-9 win in cardiff as grewcock came recklessly over the top with his boot leaving peel bloodied. grewcock was sin-binned with wales captain gareth thomas for retaliation. it s up to the citing commissioner said ruddock. i m not saying it s deliberate but grewcock did a similar thing for bath against leinster. last june grewcock was banned from rugby for two months for reckless use of a boot in a match against new zealand. six years earlier also in new zealand grewcock became only the second england player to be sent off in tests. the player himself and his captain jason robinson have both said that the clash with peel was accidental. if the ball is at the back of the ruck and i feel i can step over and disrupt it then i will do that said grewcock. but ruddock feels that the england man should be more careful. the boy himself should look at his actions it was a clumsy piece of footwork he said. he s a great player and i don t want to knock him we won t be calling for the match commissioner to review the incident. i m not going to go too far with the lad. it could just be a clumsy action and dwayne had just a minor cut. the referee s interpretation was that grewcock was attempting to step over the ruck. ruddock also warned his rbs 6 nations championship rivals that his team can make massive improvements. we created more opportunities and also squandered them by taking more contact and playing more individually said the coach. we ve looked through things on the video debrief and there were definitely a lot of chances that we wasted. in the forthcoming games ruddock may use penalty hero gavin henson as his first-choice kicker in place of stephen jones. our first aim was to get gavin settled into the team but it s something we ll talk about in selection this week said ruddock. | sports | 0 |
strong dollar call halts slide the us dollar s slide against the euro and yen has halted after us treasury secretary john snow said a strong dollar was in america s interest . but analysts said any gains are likely to be short-lived as problems with the us economy were still significant. they also pointed out that positive comments apart president george w bush s administration had done little to stop the dollar s slide. a weak dollar helps boost exports and narrow the current account deficit. the dollar was trading at $1.2944 against the euro at 2100gmt still close to the $1.3006 record level set on 10 november. against the japanese yen it was trading at 105.28 yen after hitting a seven-month low of 105.17 earlier in the day. policy makers in europe have called the dollar s slide brutal and have blamed the strength of the euro for dampening economic growth. however it is unclear whether ministers would issue a declaration aimed at curbing the euro s rise at a monthly meeting of eurozone ministers late on monday. higher growth in europe is regarded by us officials as a way the huge us current account deficit - that has been weighing on the dollar - could be reduced. mr snow who is currently in dublin at the start of a four-nation eu visit has applauded ireland s introduction of lower taxes and deregulation which have helped boost growth. the eurozone is growing below its potential. when a major part of the global economy is below potential there are negative consequences... for the citizens of those economies... and for their trading partners he said. mr snow s comments may have helped shore up the dollar on monday but he was careful to qualify his statement. our basic policy of course is to let open competitive markets set the values he explained. markets are driven by fundamentals and towards fundamentals. us officials have also said that other economies need to grow so the us is not the main global growth engine. economists say that the fundamentals or key indicators of the us economy are looking far from rosy. domestic consumer demand is cooling and heavy spending by president bush has pushed the budget deficit to a record $427bn (£230bn). the current account deficit meanwhile hit a record $166bn in the second quarter of 2004. for many analysts a weaker dollar is here to stay. no end is in sight said carsten fritsch a strategist at commerzbank . it is only a matter of time until the euro reaches $1.30. some analysts maintain the us is secretly happy with a lower dollar which helps makes its exports cheaper in europe thus boosting its economy. | sports | 2 |
ibm frees 500 software patents computer giant ibm says 500 of its software patents will be released into the open development community. the move means developers will be able to use the technologies without paying for a licence from the company. ibm described the step as a new era in how it dealt with intellectual property and promised further patents would be made freely available. the patents include software for a range of practices including text recognition and database management. traditional technology business policy is to amass patents and despite ibm s announcement the company continues to follow this route. ibm was granted 3 248 patents in 2004 more than any other firm in the us the new york times reports. for each of the past 12 years ibm has been granted more us patents than any other company. ibm has received 25 772 us patents in that period and reportedly has more than 40 000 current patents. in a statement dr john e. kelly ibm senior vice president technology and intellectual property said: true innovation leadership is about more than just the numbers of patents granted. it s about innovating to benefit customers partners and society. our pledge today is the beginning of a new era in how ibm will manage intellectual property. in the past ibm has supported the non-commercial operating system linux although critics have said this was done only as an attempt to undermine microsoft. the company said it wanted to encourage other firms to release patents into what it called a patent commons . adam jollans ibm s world-wide linux strategy manager said the move was a genuine attempt to encourage innovation. we believe that releasing these patents will result in innovation moving more quickly. this is about encouraging collaboration and following a model much like academia. mr jollans likened the plan for a patent commons to the way the internet was developed and said everyone could take advantage of the result of collaboration. the internet s impact has been on everyone. the benefits are there for everyone to take advantage of. stuart cohen chief executive of us firm open source development labs said the move could mean a change in the way companies deal with patents. i think other companies will follow suit he said. but not everyone was as supportive. florian mueller campaign manager of a group lobbying toprevent software patents becoming legal in the european union dismissed ibm s move as insubstantial. it s just diversionary tactics wrote mr mueller who leadsnosoftwarepatents.com in a message on the group s website. let s put this into perspective: we re talking aboutroughly one percent of ibm s worldwide patent portfolio. they filethat number of patents in about a month s time he added. ibm will continue to hold the 500 patents but it has pledged to seek no royalties from the patents. the company said it would not place any restrictions on companies groups or individuals who use them in open-source projects. open source software is developed by programmers who offer the source code - the origins of the program - for free and allow others to adapt or improve the software. end users have the right to modify and redistribute the software as well as the right to package and sell the software. other areas covered by the patents released by ibm include storage management simultaneous multiprocessing image processing networking and e-commerce. | world | 2 |
dvd review: spider-man 2 it s a universal rule that a film can either be a superhero special effects extravaganza or it can be good. but spider-man 2 breaks that rule in two. it s not fantastically deep but you get quickly drawn into the tale of spidey versus doc ock and more so into the fate of poor peter parker. gigantic action set pieces seamlessly work with more brooding personal torment and it all looks stunning. a few effects look false but tobey maguire kirsten dunst and alfred molina make this compelling. the other universal rule is that dvds of superhero films will have making of features only about the effects. this disc covers those special effects enough but as just one part of a detailed look at the film. then there are commentaries trailers and a blooper reel. sometimes quality comes in bulk: this set contains no less than 34 john wayne films ranging from the westerns and war movies to the quiet man. now is that a christmas present or what give this to someone on 24 december and you won t see them again until early in the new year. it s not truly a complete collection and leans more toward wayne s earlier films: there s no true grit for instance though there is hellraisers. the films look well transferred to dvd though none has extras. it was very daft but it knew it was and somehow this famous 1979 series became a cult favourite that s been long awaited on dvd. this set has the first season of buck (gil gerard) and wilma s (erin gray) tongue-in-cheek adventures and it s all as camp and gaudy as you remember. but it s also a disappointment. the us dvd has this and the more po-faced second season - and you can import it for just about the same price. the bigger omission though is that there are no extras. that s particularly disappointing because originally there were meant to be commentaries and stars gerard and gray had agreed to do them. | sports | 2 |
deutsche telekom sees mobile gain german telecoms firm deutsche telekom saw strong fourth quarter profits on the back of upbeat us mobile earnings and better-than-expected asset sales. net profit came in at 1.4bn euros (£960m; $1.85bn) a dramatic change from the loss of 364m euros in 2003. sales rose 2.8% to 14.96bn euros. sales of stakes in firms including russia s oao mobile telesystems raised 1.17bn euros. this was more than expected and helped to bring debt down to 35.8bn euros. a year ago debt was more than 11bn euros higher. t-mobile usa the company s american mobile business made a strong contribution to profits. it s a seminal achievement that they cut debt so low. that gives them some head room to invest in growth now said hannes wittig telecoms analyst at dresdner kleinwort wasserstein. the company also said it would resume paying a dividend after two years in which it focused on cutting debt. | business | 0 |
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