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concern over rfid tags consumers are very concerned about the use of radio frequency id (rfid) tags in shops a survey says. more than half of 2 000 people surveyed said they had privacy worries about the tags which can be used to monitor stock on shelves or in warehouses. some consumer groups have expressed concern that the tags could be used to monitor shoppers once they had left shops with their purchases. the survey showed that awareness of tags among consumers in europe was low. the survey of consumers in the uk france germany and the netherlands was carried out by consultancy group capgemini. the firm works on behalf of more than 30 firms who are seeking to promote the growth of rfid technology. the tags are a combination of computer chip and antenna which can be read by a scanner - each item contains a unique identification number. more than half (55%) of the respondents said they were either concerned or very concerned that rfid tags would allow businesses to track consumers via product purchases. fifty nine percent of people said they were worried that rfid tags would allow data to be used more freely by third parties. ard jan vetham capgemini s principal consultant on rfid said the survey showed that retailers needed to inform and educate people about rfid before it would become accepted technology. acceptance of new technologies always has a tipping point at which consumers believe that benefits outweigh concerns. with the right rfid approach and ongoing communication with consumers the industry can reach this point. he said that the survey also showed people would accept rfid if they felt that the technology could mean a reduction in car theft or faster recovery of stolen items. the tags are currently being used at one tesco distribution centre in the uk - the tags allow the rapid inventory of bulk items. they are also in use as a passcard for the m6 toll in the midlands in the uk. mr vetham said the majority of people surveyed (52%) believed that rfid tags could be read from a distance. he said that was a misconception based on a lack of awareness of the technology. at least once consumer group - consumers against supermarket privacy invasion and numbering (caspian) - has claimed that rfid chips could be used to secretly identify people and the things they are carrying or wearing. all kinds of personal belongings including clothes could constantly broadcast messages about their whereabouts and their owners it warned. | science and tech | 0 |
howard rebuts asylum criticisms tory leader michael howard has gone on the offensive in response to people questioning how a son of immigrants can propose asylum quotas. mr howard whose parents fled the nazi threat to come to the uk says the claim would mean no-one from an immigrant family could become premier. his comments come in a bbc documentary called no more mr nasty . tv presenter anne robinson said as home secretary he gave the impression he would like to kick your cat . ms robinson a friend of the tory leader also revealed that as a cambridge student mr howard was much loved by women and he was a courteous and kind and rather dashing lover - although she denied having personal experience. i wasn t at cambridge - and it s not personal experience - but i know people who were. documentary maker michael cockerell was given behind-the-scenes access to mr howard for his film portrait. the tory leader was asked about to respond to people who said that if there had there been a quota on immigration and asylum in the 1930s his parents might not have been allowed into the country. he replies: what is the inference of that that if you reach the view that you need to control immigration in the interests of the country you re not allowed to put a view forward if you happen to be descended from immigrants that seems to me an absolutely extraordinary proposition it would certainly mean no one from immigrant parents could be prime minister. ms robinson who presents the weakest link tells cockerell that she despaired at his hardline image when he was home secretary in john major s government. i used to have to sit on my hands because he d get on television and give a passable impression of someone who d like to kick your cat or would put your baby in prison if he cried. i mean it was very very draconian. the film shows mr howard laughing at rory bremner s impression of him as dracula which he calls good fun apart from the serious falsehood of a comment suggesting he wants fewer black people in the uk. the film shows the private side of the tory leader watching television at home or playing table tennis with his wife ex-model sandra. asked if she enjoys a game of ping pong she confesses: yeah it would be more enjoyable if i could win occasionally too but otherwise it s quite fun. former downing street communications chief alastair campbell now working on labour s election campaign says a touchy-feely image does not fit mr howard. he says tony blair was not worried by his opponents early performance in their commons clashes because mr howard lacked a big strategy including on issues like iraq. the tory leader brands such criticisms as absolutely rubbish arguing that he has been consistent on his support for the war but critical of mr blair s failure to tell the truth on intelligence. former tory chancellor ken clarke says mr howard has a bigger problem changing perceptions of the tory party than his personal image. mr clarke says the party is improving and it is conceivable it could win the next election. but he adds: it has got to change itself a bit and broaden its appeal. - michael howard: no more mr nasty is being shown on bbc2 on saturday 12 february at 2005 gmt. | entertainment | 2 |
broadband fuels online change fast web access is encouraging more people to express themselves online research suggests. a quarter of broadband users in britain regularly upload content and have personal sites according to a report by uk think-tank demos. it said that having an always-on fast connection is changing the way people use the internet. more than five million households in the uk have broadband and that number is growing fast. the demos report looked at the impact of broadband on people s net habits. it found that more than half of those with broadband logged on to the web before breakfast. one in five even admitted to getting up in the middle of the night to browse the web. more significantly argues the report broadband is encouraging people to take a more active role online. it found that one in five post something on the net everyday ranging from comments or opinions on sites to uploading photographs. broadband is putting the me in media as it shifts power from institutions and into the hands of the individual said john craig co-author of the demos report. from self-diagnosis to online education broadband creates social innovation that moves the debate beyond simple questions of access and speed. the demos report entitled broadband britain: the end of asymmetry was commissioned by net provider aol. broadband is moving the perception of the internet as a piece of technology to an integral part of home life in the uk said karen thomson chief executive of aol uk with many people spending time on their computers as automatically as they might switch on the television or radio. according to analysts nielsen//netratings more than 50% of the 22.8 million uk net users regularly accessing the web from home each month are logging on at high speed they spend twice as long online than people on dial-up connections viewing an average of 1 444 pages per month. the popularity of fast net access is growing partly fuelled by fierce competition over prices and services. | science and tech | 0 |
old firm pair handed suspensions celtic s henri camara and nacho novo of rangers have both been suspended for offences missed by the referee in a recent old firm game. both were given automatic one-match bans and 12 additional disciplinary points for their actions. that means novo will miss a further two games because of his prior record. camara will miss one additional game. novo was found guilty of stamping on celtic s stephen pearson. camara was punished for kicking gregory vignal. i m extremely disappointed. i don t know if there s a lot to add to that said rangers manager alex mcleish of novo s punishment. but what i will say is that i m at a loss as to why that incident should be picked up and highlighted when there were so many other incidents during the game. both players will miss this weekend s games when celtic host dundee united and rangers visit kilmarnock unless they decide to appeal. the additional bans come into effect from 28 december meaning camara will also be unavailable for the home game against livingston while novo will miss the meetings with dundee united and dunfermline. an sfa spokesman said: they have seven days to appeal but with matches coming along at the weekend they would need to do so before friday. but if they do appeal it won t be heard before this weekend because it takes a bit of time to seat up an appeals tribunal. meanwhile bob malcolm and rangers have been informed by letter as to the outcome of the hearing regarding his reaction to rangers being awarded a penalty in the same game. malcolm a substitute on the day was taken from the rangers dug-out and spoken to by police about an alleged gesture he made. but the sfa would not detail what if any punishment malcolm would receive. once rangers receive our letter we will be in a position to make a comment on the findings added the spokesman. | entertainment | 2 |
mrs howard gets key election role michael howard s ex-model wife sandra is to play a leading role in the conservative election campaign. mrs howard will make solo visits to target seats as well as accompanying her husband on his helicopter campaign trail criss-crossing the country. mr howard will host a news conference at the party s london hq every morning tory co-chairman liam fox said. we want michael to be as accessible as possible mr fox said adding that the party was not afraid of scrutiny. the tory leader wanted to meet as many ordinary members of the public mr fox said. tony blair has also said he is intending to get out and talk to as many people as possible during the election campaign. but labour campaign chiefs say there are no plans for mr blair to hold a daily news conference. mr fox responded by accusing the prime minister of hiding away from the scrutiny of london s media . the liberal democrats also say they are planning to hold daily news conferences with charles kennedy. on mrs howard s role mr fox said: sandra has already been campaigning with michael on a number of visits and has been undertaking short visits herself. that pattern will continue. it s worked very well up until now. mrs howard made her debut speech at the conservative party conference in bournemouth last october. she used her speech on the fringe to highlight the work of a drugs charity addaction which she supports. mrs howard has also appeared along side her husband on tv chat shows. during an interview on itv1 s this morning she said she often criticised her husband for not showing the side of him that she knows. | politics | 0 |
parmalat boasts doubled profits parmalat the italian food group at the centre of one of europe s most painful corporate scandals has reported a doubling in profit. its pre-tax earnings in the fourth quarter were 77m euros (£53m; $100m) up from 38m in the same period of 2003. less welcome was the news that the firm had been fined 11m euros for having violated takeover rules five years ago. the firm sought bankruptcy protection in december 2003 after disclosing a 4bn-euro hole in its accounts. overall the company s debt is close to 12bn euros and is falling only slowly. its brands well-known in italy and overseas have continued to perform strongly however and have barely lost revenue since the scandal broke. but a crucial factor for the company s future is the legal unwinding of its intensely complex financial position. on tuesday the company s administrator turnaround expert enrico bondi sued morgan stanley its former banker to return 136m euros relating to a 2003 bond deal. that brought to 49 the number of banks that mr bondi has sued a mass of legal action that could bring in as much as 3bn euros. the company has also sued former auditors and financial advisors for damages. and criminal cases against the company s former management are proceeding separately. | politics | 2 |
beatles suits sell for $110 000 four suits worn by the beatles on their please please me album cover have sold for $110 00 (£59 000) at a us auction. but some of elvis presley s earliest recordings - including takes of all shook up - failed to sell at the bonhams and butterfields two-day sale. a private collection of six tape recordings of presley valued at between $30 000 (£16 000) and $50 000 (£27 000) did not meet their reserve price. a signed presley photograph managed to fetch $2 115 (£1 140). auction spokesman erik simon said the presley tapes were withdrawn because they did not meet the minimum price set by the owners . he said the family of sound engineer thorne nogar did not want to divulge the price they had set or the offers they had received. the rca tapes date from september 1956 to september 1957. the pre-masters include a take of jailhouse rock religious songs material for his first christmas album and banter between presley members of his band and mr nogar. we ve had them for a lot of years and i think the people should enjoy them. and frankly we could use the money mr nogar s son stephen 57 said before the auction. mr nogar who died in 1994 aged 72 always used to make two tapes of sessions as a back-up in case rca producers wanted to make late changes to songs. he called them his ass-saver tapes his son said. the quality is said to be noticeably crisper than that of a new vinyl record. because the family does not own the copyright to the music the tapes could only be sold for personal enjoyment and cannot be copied for commercial gain. the auction made a total of $1.1m (£600 000). | entertainment | 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. | politics | 2 |
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 |
tarantino to make friday sequel director quentin tarantino is in talks to write and direct a new instalment in the friday the 13th horror franchise according to the hollywood reporter. the film-maker will reportedly meet executives from new line cinema this week to discuss the 12th film in the long-running stalk and slash series. the original film released in 1980 has spawned ten sequels based around mask-wearing murderer jason voorhees. the most recent freddy vs jason was released in summer 2003. that film saw jason battle freddy krueger star of the nightmare on elm street franchise. according to the industry newspaper new line had been trying to make another sequel involving ash the hero of the evil dead movies but was unable to agree terms with director sam raimi. tarantino is said to be intrigued by the prospect of building a new film around one of the horror genre s most recognised figures. first however he is scheduled to direct the season finale of us television series csi: crime scene investigation. filming is due to start in early april. tarantino s episode for which he also wrote the original story will be broadcast in the us on 19 may. | entertainment | 0 |
local net tv takes off in austria an austrian village is testing technology that could represent the future of television. the people of engerwitzdorf are filming editing and producing their own regional news channel. the channel covers local politics sports events and anything that residents want to film and are prepared to upload for others to watch on pcs. the pilot has been so successful that telekom austria is now considering setting up other projects elsewhere. it s growing unbelievably fast said rudolf fischer head of telekom austria s fixed line division. the trial of buntes fernsehen (multi-coloured tv) was started in late 2004 and creates a net-based tv station run by the 8 000 residents of engerwitzdorf. the hardware and software to turn video footage into edited programmes has been provided by telekom austria but this equipment following training has been turned over to the villagers. any video programme created by the villagers is uploaded to a buntes fernsehen portal that lets people browse and download what they want to watch. most people watch the tv on their home pc and a broadband connection is needed to get broadcast quality programmes. in the first four months of the project villagers have created 60 films and put together regular reports on local news items. they have adopted it very quickly said mr fischer. they like the possibility to create their own content and see what s going on in the area. it s kind of the democratisation of local tv he said because none of the bigger broadcasters would ever do anything like this for that region. the buntes fernsehen project has been such a success that telekom austria is now considering setting up other schemes in similarly rural areas. mr fischer said it was taking the roll-out to other areas slowly because of the work involved in setting up the scheme getting backers from local government and educating people how to make programmes. the engerwitzdorf scheme is an outgrowth of telekom austria s online tv channel aon which lets people watch programmes on their pc. aon streams a couple of live channels plus sports news and music programmes on to the net and has a pay-for-download section that lets people watch what they want when they want to watch it. in october a larger tv-on-demand project is due to launch in vienna that will let people download many programmes from the net. | science and tech | 0 |
uk coal plunges into deeper loss shares in uk coal have fallen after the mining group reported losses had deepened to £51.6m in 2004 from £1.2m. the uk s biggest coal producer blamed geological problems industrial action and operating flaws at its deep mines for its worsening fortunes. the south yorkshire company led by new chief executive gerry spindler said it hoped to return to profit in 2006. in early trade on thursday its shares were down 10% at 119 pence. uk coal said it was making significant progress in shaking up the business. it had introduced new wage structures a new daily maintenance regime for machinery at its mines and methods to continue mining in adverse conditions. the company said these actions should significantly uplift earnings . it expected 2005 to be a transitional year and to return to profitability in 2006. the recent rise in coal prices has failed to benefit the company as most of its output had already been sold it said. total production costs were £1.30 per gigajoule uk coal said but the average selling price was just £1.18 per gigajoule. we have a long journey ahead to fix these issues. we continue to make progress and great strides have already been made said mr spindler. uk coal operates 15 deep and surface mines across nottinghamshire derbyshire leicestershire yorkshire the west midlands northumberland and durham. | business | 0 |
singer ferguson facing eviction three degrees star sheila ferguson is the favourite to be evicted from itv s i m a celebrity... get me out of here on monday. bookmakers ladbrokes says the singer has even odds of being the first contestant to be voted off the show. it s going to be close but sheila is favourite as she has shown herself to be a bit of a troublemaker said ladbrokes warren lush. comic joe pasquale remains odds on favourite to win the reality show. mr lush added that nancy sorrell s chances of an early departure had increased since the surprise arrival of husband vic reeves in the jungle camp last wednesday. notwithstanding comedian reeves remains 3/1 favourite to win the show after pasquale. huggy bear actor antonio fargas also remains a contender for eviction having done nothing to live up to the pre-show hype . there has been a big gamble on natalie [appleton] to go... but bookies fancy the millions at home will keep piling on the misery by putting her through more bushtucker trials added mr lush. the former all saint star has performed dismally in bushtucker trials which have seen her plunged into glass tanks containing putrid waste and challenged to eat fish eyes. on friday ladbrokes suspended betting after singer brian harvey quit the show folllowing a blazing row with janet street-porter. harvey who entered the camp a day later than other contestants after learning that his grandmother had died reached the end of his tether following days of meagre rations and rows. | business | 2 |
mccall earns tannadice reprieve dundee united manager ian mccall has won a reprieve from the sack with chairman eddie thompson calling for an end to speculation over his future. it is understood that mccall would have been sacked if sheffield wednesday manager paul sturrock had been willing to return to tannadice. but sturrock has distanced himself from the position. we re in a difficult situation. we must get out of it through the efforts of current personnel said thompson. ian mccall and i have had a long and detailed talk about a number of areas including the current league position and the manner of the exit from the league cup he added. however the continuing speculation is doing no one any good especially as we have several crucial games coming up. the minds of the coaching staff and the players have to be on those games and those games only. our season would of course improve considerably if in the next few weeks we achieved some improved league results and there is also the potential of another cup semi-final subject to the draw. all that matters at the present time - is us all having a total focus on the games ahead and a positive series of results being achieved. dundee united players had expressed their solidarity with mccall after their side s 3-0 scottish cup win over queen of the south. we want the boss to stay we don t want someone else coming in said jim mcintyre. hopefully now he gets the chance to stay. keeper tony bullock echoed mcintyre s sentiments. i think all the boys are behind ian mccall he added. at the moment it is all speculation and we have got to rise above all that and do a job on the pitch. on saturday sturrock insisted that he had unfinished business with wednesday who are fourth in league one. i ve only been here five months and i don t expect to be leaving very very soon he said. i can appreciate the rumours because i ve emphasised my thoughts and ambitions to go back to dundee united. i can assure you the timescale is not the right one. it (dundee united) is my team. i had five years there as a coach six as a player two years as a manager - once you ve done that kind of thing it s the result you look for. the important thing now is i ve come here to do a job and i m going to try to finish it. | sports | 0 |
straw to attend auschwitz service foreign secretary jack straw will visit auschwitz for the 60th anniversary of the former nazi concentration camp s liberation it has been announced. prince edward will also join the uk delegation in poland for national holocaust memorial day on 27 january. between 1.1 and 1.5 million people mainly jews were killed at auschwitz. the tories said they were glad mr straw had been shamed into going having earlier criticised the decision to send a lower-ranking official. shadow foreign secretary michael ancram said: i am glad the foreign secretary has finally been shamed into representing britain at this important act of commemoration. once again this government has shown crass insensitivity until it has been forced by public opinion into doing what it should have done in the first place. in britain the queen and prince philip will lead the nation s commemoration at a service in westminster hall london. the queen will also host a reception for holocaust survivors at st james s palace. altogether some six million people mainly jews perished in the holocaust. the queen s grandson prince harry sparked outrage earlier this week after photographs of him wearing a nazi uniform at a costume party emerged. the prince 20 apologised but critics have called for him to go to auschwitz for the commemoration of the soviets 1945 liberation of the camp. prince harry should see for himself the results of the hated symbol he so foolishly and brazenly chose to wear rabbi marvin hier founder of jewish human rights group the simon wiesenthal center said. | entertainment | 2 |
trial begins of spain s top banker the trial of emilio botin the chairman of spain s most powerful bank santander central hispano has started in madrid. mr botin is accused of misusing the bank s funds after he approved the payment of 160m euros ($208m; £111m) in bonus and pension payouts to two former executives. however the trial was suspended when mr botin s lawyer introduced a new set of documents on the day testimony was set to begin. a three-judge panel gave prosecution lawyers until monday to study the documents when the trial will be reconvened. the high-profile case began after two santander shareholders filed a criminal complaint about the payments to jose maria amusategui and angel corcostegui who stepped down in 2001. both executives helped mr botin orchestrate spain s biggest bank merger between santander and banco central hispano in 1999. as he arrived at spain s high court earlier on wednesday mr botin greeted the waiting media saying: i have full faith in justice. santander s board of governors strongly reject the charges against their chairman saying the payouts were legal and made with their unanimous support. but if convicted mr botin could face a prison term of up to six years. mr corcostegui a former ceo at santander also asked the court for new evidence to be admitted. in spite of the allegations against him mr botin continues to lead santander and was instrumental in the £8.5bn takeover last november of the british bank abbey national. since taking over the chairmanship in 1986 he has turned santander into one of the top ten biggest banks in the world. | entertainment | 2 |
england given tough sevens draw england will have to negotiate their way through a tough draw if they are to win the rugby world cup sevens in hong kong next month. the second seeds have been drawn against samoa france italy georgia and chinese taipei. the top two sides in each pool qualify but england could face 2001 winners new zealand in the quarter-finals if they stumble against samoa. scotland and ireland are in pool a together with the all blacks. england won the first event of the international rugby board world sevens series in dubai but have slipped to fourth in the table after failing to build on that victory. however they beat samoa in the recent los angeles sevens before losing to argentina in the semi-finals. england have the ability and determination to win this world cup and create sporting history by being the only nation to hold both the 15s and sevens world cups at the same time said england sevens coach mike friday. england have a fantastic record in hong kong and have won there the last three years but the world cup is on a different level. every pool contains teams who have caused upsets before and we will have to work hard to ensure we progress from our group. we have not performed consistently to our true potential so far in the irb sevens which has been disappointing - but we can only look forward. england won the first rugby world cup sevens in 1993 with a side that included the likes of lawrence dallaglio and matt dawson. in 1997 and 2001 england lost in the quarter-finals. (seeds in brackets) new zealand (1) scotland (8) tonga ireland korea usa. england (2) samoa (7) france italy georgia chinese taipei. fiji (3) australia (6) canada portugal japan hong kong. argentina (4) south africa (5) kenya tunisia russia uruguay. | sports | 0 |
iran budget seeks state sell-offs iran s president mohammad khatami has unveiled a budget designed to expand public spending by 30% but loosen the islamic republic s dependence on oil. the budget for the fiscal year starting on 21 march calls for the sell-off of 20% of the state s corporate holdings. mr khatami s second term as president ends on 1 august making this his last budget. but opposition from members of parliament who have attacked previous privatisations could block his plans. elections in may 2004 ousted many of mr khatami s supporters in parliament in favour of more hard-line religious conservatives. late last year they backed a law which would give parliament a veto over foreign investment. the ruling was a response to the involvement in telecoms and airport projects by turkish companies which hardliners accused of doing business with israel. it came not long after the expediency council - iran s ultimate decision-maker - blessed mr khatami s policy of selling stakes in sectors protected by the constitution such as energy transport telecoms and banking. continued obstruction of foreign investment could get in the way not only of privatisation plans but also of mr khatami s hope of modestly reducing the government s reliance on oil revenues. in an address to the majlis mr khatami predicted economic growth of 7.1% in 2005-6 up from 6.7% in the current year. he said he wanted to increase the 2005-6 budget to 1 546 trillion rials ($175.6bn; £93.6bn) from the previous year s 1 070 trillion. within that figure taxation would rise to $14.3bn a rise of over 40% from what is expected from the current year. in contrast oil revenues were expected to fall to $14.1bn from $16bn in the year to march 2005. current government expenditure should come from tax revenues mr khatami said. oil revenues should be used for productive investment. mr khatami has already been blocked by parliament from reducing the subsidies on many products including bread and petrol reducing his room to manoeuvre. | entertainment | 2 |
brown and blair face new rift claims for the umpteenth time tony blair and gordon brown are said to have declared all out war on each other. this time the alleged rift is over who should take the credit for the government s global aid and debt initiatives particularly in the wake of the tsunami disaster - an issue many hoped and believed was above such things. it dominated the prime minister s monthly news conference which saw mr blair start in full irritation mode as he was forced to bat away question after question about his relationship with his neighbour. as he told journalists: i am not interested in what goes in and out of newspapers. there is a complete unity of purpose. and he again heaped praise on mr brown saying he was doing a great job and would continue doing it - although he would not commit to any job for mr brown after the election. so why did he arrange his press conference at the last moment so it coincided with mr brown s long-arranged keynote speech on aid and debt he was asked by now mr blair had moved from irritation mode to his barely disguised fury setting. he snapped back that the hacks knew very well what the operational reasons were for the timing of his press conference. well not really as it happens. and he repeated what a great man gordon was and how united they were before again sneering that he took absolutely no notice of what went in and out of the newspapers preferring to get on with the job of doing the best for the country and the world. although in the next breath he declared: i get increasingly alarmed by what i read in the newspapers before catching himself on and quickly adding: in so far as i read them of course. he probably had good reason to be alarmed because the newspapers had been full of stories about the claimed open warfare between the two men. as far as the timing of the prime minister s press conference is concerned there are two options. the first is that it was a calculated attempt to upstage the chancellor and seize back the initiative on the big issue of the moment. if that is the case it suggests that even the fear of seriously negative newspaper headlines is not enough to stop the squabbling. the second option is that it was an unavoidable coincidence which would suggest the government has lost its once-famed ability to strictly co-ordinate announcements - through the infamous downing street grid - to avert just such allegations. either way the effect was the same - to overshadow the big announcements of government policy on a hugely pertinent issue. and there had been previous suggestions that the new year had started with a fresh outbreak of the warfare between the two men. firstly the prime minister insisted on wednesday that he had been intimately involved in the development of the proposals to get g8 countries to freeze debt repayments from the tsunami-hit countries. it was claimed he had been embarrassed by the fact that gordon brown appeared to have taken the initiative over the government s response to the disaster while mr blair was still on holiday in egypt. then as if to pour fuel on the flames both men separately spoke about working on tsunami or wider aid and development policy with their cabinet colleagues foreign secretary jack straw aid minister hilary benn and deputy prime minister john prescott - without mentioning the other. all this came amid fresh claims that mr brown was still seething that he had been excluded from a prominent role in general election planning and had as a result started to set out his own platform. the fact that he used an article in the guardian newspaper to set out what he believed should be in the manifesto has embarked on a mini tour of britain to set out his aid plans and will next week visit africa on the same mission - often seen as the prime minister s turf - has only added to the impression of rival camps operating entirely independently of each other. the prime minister denied all that as well repeating his insistence that it was inconceivable the economy and the chancellor would not be at the centre of the election campaign. but the big fear with many on the labour benches now is that unless a lid can be put on the speculation over the rivalry it may even threaten to undermine the election campaign itself. | politics | 0 |
man utd to open books to glazer manchester united s board has agreed to give us tycoon malcolm glazer access to its books. earlier this month mr glazer presented the board with detailed proposals on an offer to buy the football club. in a statement the club said it would allow mr glazer limited due diligence to give him the opportunity to take the proposal on to a formal bid. but it said it continued to oppose mr glazer s plans calling his assumptions aggressive and his plan damaging . many of manchester united s supporters own shares in the club and the fan-based group shareholders united is strongly opposed to any takeover by mr glazer. about 300 fans protested outside the old trafford ground two days ago. rival local club manchester city has pleaded with visiting fans not to protest inside its ground when the two teams play a televised match on sunday. manchester united s response comes as little surprise as the board made clear. any board has a responsibility to consider a bona fide offer proposal the club said in its statement. should it become a firm offer it should be at a price that the board is likely to regard as fair and on terms which may be deliverable . but it also stressed that it stayed opposed to mr glazer s proposal. the board continues to believe that mr glazer s business plan assumptions are aggressive the statement said and the direct and indirect financial strain on the business could be damaging. whether or not the bid is attractive in monetary terms in the case of manchester united many investors hold the stock for sentimental rather than financial reasons. at present mr glazer and his family hold a 28.1% stake making them manchester united s second biggest shareholders. they own the successful tampa bay buccaneers american football team based in florida. if the family makes a formal offer they will need the support of the club s biggest shareholders. irish horse racing millionaires jp mcmanus and john magnier own 29% of united through their investment vehicle cubic expression and have yet to express a view on the bid approach. a group of five mps are calling on the department of trade and industry to block any takeover of the club by the us football magnate on public interest grounds. they have signed a house of commons motion and tony lloyd the manchester central mp whose constituency includes the club s old trafford ground has pledged to take the matter to tony blair if necessary . the commons motion says any takeover designed to transform the club into a private company would be against the interests of those supporters and football . however the dti has dismissed the proposal. a spokesman said the department did not believe there was a case for changing the enterprise act so that takeovers of football clubs could be looked at on non-competition grounds. mr glazer s offer values the club at £800m ($1.5bn). pitched at 300p per share it also relies less on debt to finance it than an earlier approach from the us tycoon which was rejected out of hand. manchester united shares closed at 270.25p on friday down 3.75p on the day. | politics | 2 |
text message record smashed uk mobile owners continue to break records with their text messaging with latest figures showing that 26 billion texts were sent in total in 2004. the figures collected by the mobile data association (mda) showed that 2.4 billion were fired off in december alone the highest monthly total ever. that was 26% more than in december 2003. the records even surpassed the mda s own predictions it said. every day 78 million messages are sent and there are no signs of a slow down. before december s bumper text record the previous highest monthly total was in october 2004 when 2.3 billion were sent. text messaging is set to smash more records in 2005 too said the mda with forecasts suggesting a total of 30 billion for the year. even though mobiles are becoming increasingly sophisticated with much more multimedia applications texting is still one of the most useful functions of mobiles. people are using sms to do much more too. booking cinema tickets text voting and news or sports text alerts are growing popular. mobile owners have also given the chance to donate to the disasters emergency committee s (dec) asian tsunami fund by texting donate to a simple short code number. looking further ahead in the year the mda s chairman mike short has predicted that more people will go online through their mobiles estimating 15 billion wap page impressions. handsets with gprs capability - an always on net connection - will rise to 75% while 3g mobile ownership growing to five million by the end of 2005. these third generation mobiles offer a high-speed connection which means more data like video can be received on the phone. globally mobile phone sales passed 167 million in the third quarter of 2004 according to a recent report from analysts gartner. that was 26% more than the previous year. it is predicted that there would be two billion handsets in use worldwide by the end of 2005. | science and tech | 0 |
creator of first apple mac dies jef raskin head of the team behind the first macintosh computer has died. mr raskin was one of the first employees at apple and made many of the design decisions that made the mac so distinctive when it was first released. he led the team that decided to use a graphical interface and mouse that let people navigate around the computer by pointing and clicking. the 1984 release of the mac reflected mr raskin s belief that good design should make computers easy to use. mr raskin joined apple in 1978 as employee number 31 initially to lead the company s publications department. however in 1979 he was put in charge of a small team to design a computer that lived up to his idea of a machine that was cheap aimed at consumers rather than computer professionals and was very easy to use. the result was the 1984 macintosh that did away with the then common text-based interface in favour of one based around graphics that resembled a virtual desktop and used folders and documents. users navigated around the machine using a mouse and by pointing clicking and dragging. although now in common use in almost all computers these methods were pioneering when first used in the macintosh. the gui was developed by xerox parc and used in its star machine. but the acceptance of the interface did not truly begin until the concept was developed for use by apple in its pioneering lisa computer. his role on the macintosh was the initiator of the project so it wouldn t be here if it weren t for him said andy hertzfeld an early macintosh team member. although mr raskin drove the team that created the macintosh he did not stay at apple to see it released. in 1981 he was removed from the project following a dispute with apple s mercurial boss steve jobs. in 1982 mr raskin left apple entirely. the macintosh was reputedly named after mr raskin s favourite apple though the name was changed slightly following a trademark dispute with another company. after leaving apple mr raskin founded another company called information appliance and continued to work on better ways to interface with computers. he was also an accomplished musician played three instruments and conducted san francisco s chamber opera society. mr raskin was diagnosed in december 2004 with pancreatic cancer and died on 26 february at his home in california. | 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. | science and tech | 2 |
escaped prisoner report ordered first minister jack mcconnell has ordered a report on the decision to allow a paranoid schizophrenic knife attacker to go on a visit unguarded. michael ferguson 36 escaped after being allowed out of the high-security carstairs unit. the snp s nicola sturgeon has demanded to know who was responsible for signing off the leave. the scottish executive said ministers would be notified but it would not be common practice to sign approval. an executive spokesman said the health department and the state hospital itself would work together on preparing the report. ministerial responsibility for carstairs rests with rhona brankin the deputy health minister. ms brankin said: the first minister has called for a review of what has happened we need to talk to the state hospital and we need to reflect on this. ms sturgeon has written to mr mcconnell asking for clarification on the move to allow the prisoner out. she said questions must be answered about his escape if the public is to be reassured about safety. police are still searching for ferguson who failed to return after a trip to east kilbride on monday. the scottish national party s parliamentary leader argued that under the law authorisation of ferguson s leave of absence would have come directly from ministers. she said: the scottish executive seemed to indicate yesterday that the escape of mr ferguson was a matter for carstairs. however my understanding is that under the mental health legislation the decision to grant this patient - and any restricted patient - leave of absence would have required direct and specific authorisation by scottish ministers. she added: i have written to the first minister today asking for confirmation of that fact. i have also asked him to confirm which minister would routinely take decisions of this nature and what information they are based on. this is not an attempt to apportion blame but to ensure a better understanding of the decision making process in such important and sensitive cases. police said ferguson posed a danger to the public. bbc scotland political correspondent glenn campbell said the first minister had ordered an urgent report into the situation. he said: we understand from the executive that in this case no individual minister signed off the approval for michael ferguson to be released unescorted from carstairs. the executive concedes that it is up to scottish ministers they have a legal responsibility for approving this sort of leave but they say routinely it is specialised officials that make that decision and simply inform ministers that they have taken it. but at that stage presumably ministers can ask hard questions and can ask for reassurances that the patient is not a serious danger to the public or that any risk has been minimised. scottish conservative leader david mcletchie said earlier it was almost beyond belief that this has been allowed to happen . the executive spokeswoman said the recommendation for leave was agreed by a psychiatric advisor in conjunction with officials on behalf of ministers . she said: ministers were told of that notified of it but it would not be common practice for them to sign it off. they do have statutory responsibility but the common practice has been that people who work with the patient and have the best knowledge about risk would make that decision. ferguson who slashed a man in a doctors surgery in coatbridge in 1994 had been out to see his fiancée annabella holmes 47 whom he met when she was a patient at the high security complex in south lanarkshire. he is described as being 5ft 9ins tall slim with blond hair blue eyes and a fair complexion. ferguson was wearing a black jacket grey jeans black jumper and black shoes when he was last seen. he has multiple fading tattoos on his left hand and a very faded tear tattoo under his left eye. ms holmes is not missing but there have been no sightings of ferguson since monday. strathclyde police asked anyone who spots ferguson to contact sergeant keith mcdonald on . | politics | 0 |
downloads enter us singles chart digital music downloads are being included in the main us singles chart for the first time. billboard s hot 100 chart now incorporates data from sales of music downloads previously only assigned to a separate download chart. green day s boulevard of broken dreams is currently number two in billboard s pop chart and tops its digital chart. download sales are due to be incorporated into the uk singles chart later this year. digital sales in the us are already used to compile billboard s hot digital sales chart. they will now be tallied with sales of physical singles and airplay information to make up its new hot 100 chart. its second new chart - the pop 100 - also combines airplay digital and physical sales but confines its airplay information to us radio stations which play chart music. in addition to green day other artists in the current us digital sales top 10 include kelly clarkson the game and the killers. sales of legally downloaded songs shot up more than tenfold in 2004 with 200 million track purchased online in the us and europe in 12 months the international federation of the phonographic industry (ifpi) reported last month. in the uk sales of song downloads overtook those for physical singles for the first time at the end of last year. the last week of december 2004 saw download sales of 312 000 compared with 282 000 physical singles according to the british phonographic industry. the uk s first official music download chart was launched last september compiling the most popular tracks downloaded from legal uk sites - including itunes od2 mycokemusic.com and napster. westlife s flying without wings - a 1999 track reissued for the occasion - was the first number one of the uk download chart. a spokesman for the british phonographic industry (bpi) said the first combined uk download and sales chart was due to be compiled within the first half of this year . work is going on across the music business right now to make sure the new chart works to plan he said. the bpi spokesman described the uk music download chart compiled by the official charts company as having been a great success since its launch. it has provided a focus for the industry and has really driven interest in downloads among music fans he said. | science and tech | 2 |
blair dismisses quit claim report tony blair has dismissed reports he told gordon brown he would quit before the next general election. you don t do deals over jobs like this the prime minister told bbc one s breakfast with frost programme. according to a new book brown s britain mr blair went back on a pledge to make way for mr brown after cabinet allies intervened in june 2004. mr blair said the claims were reheated from six months ago and that he was concentrating on running the country. mr blair said: i ve dealt with this six months ago. i said then you don t do deals over jobs like this - you don t. what both of us are actually concentrating on are the issues that concern the country. the book by sunday telegraph journalist robert peston and serialised in the newspaper said the pair had mutual animosity and contempt for each other. it claims tony blair felt by november 2003 he had lost voters trust because of the iraq war and that he was no longer an asset to the labour party. and that at a dinner hosted by deputy prime minister john prescott he told mr brown of his intention to stand down. according to mr peston the prime minister said: help me to get through the year and i will then stand down. but he then changed his mind in june 2004 following intervention from allies in the cabinet and the suspicion that the chancellor was deliberately manoeuvring against him according to the book. mr peston told bbc news: my understanding is that they are not nearly as close or as friendly as they once were. what the book says is there is now a pretty profound mutual mistrust mutual animosity. i think in public you see this double-act pretending everything is alright but in private i don t think the relationship is good because brown understandably feels deeply betrayed - particularly over this issue of the leadership. but in a wide-ranging bbc interview covering issues such as the asian tsunami disaster the middle east peace process and northern ireland mr blair said: when you get to the top in politics you get this huge swell around you. all sorts of people make all sorts of claims and counter-claims. he admitted to a sense of frustration about the allegations which he said had been made countless times . there has been fresh speculation of a rift recently following their separate responses to the asian tsunami. these rumours were fuelled by mr blair s decision to hold his monthly media conference at the same time as a long-planned speech by mr brown on uk plans to tackle global poverty with a new marshall plan for africa. there was speculation the pair were trying to outdo each other s response to the disaster. but the prime minister said he had discussed these claims with the chancellor and dismissed them as a load of nonsense . former welfare minister frank field mp said the prime minister should sack mr brown but did not believe mr blair was strong enough to do so. tory leader michael howard accused the prime minister and mr brown of squabbling like schoolboys . he told sky news sunday with adam boulton: this is the politics of the playground and britain really does deserve better. the liberal democrat parliamentary chairman matthew taylor said the personal ambition of mr blair and mr brown was getting in the way of good government . either they need to grow up and put their squabbles to one side or they cannot expect the electorate to support a divided government at the next election. during the interview mr blair also said the former home secretary david blunkett would play a big role at the general election. | sports | 2 |
macy s owner buys rival for $11bn us retail giant federated department stores is to buy rival may department stores for $11bn (£5.7bn). the deal will bring together famous stores like macy s bloomingdale s and marshall field s creating the largest department store chain in the us. the combined firm will operate about 1 000 stores across the us with combined annual sales of $30bn. the two companies facing competition from the likes of wal-mart tried to merge two years ago but talks failed. sources familiar with the deal said that negotiations between the two companies sped up after may s chairman and chief executive gene kahn resigned in january. as part of the deal federated - owner of macy s and bloomingdale s - will assume $6bn of may s debt bringing the deal s total value to $17bn. directors at both companies have approved the deal and it is expected to conclude by the third quarter of this year. may has struggled to compete against larger department store groups such as federated and other retailers such as wal-mart. federated expects the merger to boost earnings from 2007 but the deal will cost it $1bn in one-off charges. we have taken the first step toward combining two of the best department store companies in america creating a new retail company with truly national scope and presence said terry lundgren federated s chairman. some analysts see the merger as a rescue deal for may. without this deal may would have been to put it bluntly washed up said kurt barnard president of barnard s retail consulting group. federated has annual sales of $15.6bn while may s yearly sales are $14.4bn. | entertainment | 2 |
gb select holmes for double bid kelly holmes has been chosen for both the 800m and 1500m at next month s european indoor championships - despite not yet confirming her availability. the double-olympic champion is still undecided about whether to compete in her first european indoors in madrid. but uk athletics chief max jones believes it is likely holmes will race. he said: it s worth a punt isn t it she s gone back to training. if she s confident she will pick one (distance). the programme does not permit both. if holmes does take her place in the gb side she has already indicated that 1500m will be her favoured distance. under championship rules she does not have to decide until 24 hours before the event begins in madrid on 4 march. jones added: she was pleased with her run in birmingham (at last weekend s grand prix). i am inclined to think she will (compete). it could depend on how training goes and she will have to be close to top form. and he admitted holmes presence would be a great boost to the rest of the norwich union gb team. she is a very good team member and is very good to have there he added. meanwhile there is no surprises in the rest of the great britain team announced on tuesday. defending 60m champion jason gardener is included and will be chasing his third successive gold medal. he will be joined in the event by mark lewis-francis - runner-up behind him three years ago in vienna - and new boy darren chin. kelly sotherton has been invited by championship organisers to compete against carolina kluft in the pentathlon. sotherton finished third in the olympic heptathlon in athens where the swede took gold. there are 16 newcomers at this level of competition in gb s 46-strong team. the championships will be the last to be attended by jones before he retires to be succeeded by dave collins. jones said: the olympic games is the overwhelming target for uka and therefore it is beneficial to start the next four-year cycle with a not-so-pressurised major games. the european indoor championships always provide a chance for the young and inexperienced to make a name for themselves and the current indoor season has produced some exciting new talent. madrid is the first small step on a long journey to beijing and the 2008 olympics but for some of the emerging athletes this will be a very important step. 60m: d chin (belgrave harriers) j gardener (wessex and bath) m lewis-francis (birchfield harriers). t abeyie (woodford green with essex ladies) c lambert (belgrave harriers). d garland (channel islands ac). j mcilroy (windsor slough eton and hounslow ac) jimmy watkins (cardiff aac). ed jackson (aldershot farnham and district) n speaight (belgrave harriers) j thie (cardiff aac). a baddeley (harrow ac) m farah (windsor slough eton and hounslow ac) j mayock (barnsley ac). d greaves (newham and essex beagles) a scott (shaftesbury barnet harriers) a turner (notts ac). b challenger (belgrave harriers). pole vault: n buckfield (crawley ac). n morgan (birchfield harriers) c tomlinson (newham and essex beagles). l achike (shaftesbury barnet harriers) n douglas (oxford city ac) p idowu (belgrave harriers). d cossins (birchfield harriers) r davenport (gloucester ac) d garland (channel islands ac) r preddy (gloucester ac) g warburton (cardiff aac). k endacott (city of plymouth ac) j kwakye (woodford green with essex ladies) j maduaka (woodford green with essex ladies). k wall (basildon ac). k holmes (ealing southall and middlesex ac). h clitheroe (preston harriers) k holmes (ealing southall and middlesex ac). j pavey (exeter harriers). d allahgreen (trafford ac) s claxton (belgrave harriers). j crane (sale harriers manchester) s jones (trafford ac). j whitlock (trafford ac). j johnson (herne hill harriers). k sotherton (birchfield harriers). d fraser (croydon harriers) l mcconnell (shaftesbury barnet harriers) c murphy (woodford green with essex ladies) m purkiss (southampton ac). | sports | 0 |
kuznetsova failed a drugs test us open champion svetlana kuznetsova has tested positive for a banned drug according to belgian authorities. belgian sports minister claude eerdekens said that the russian world number five tested positive for the stimulant ephedrine on 19 december. kuznetsova was playing in an exhibition event in charleroi at the time. eerdekens said: there is a problem. ephedrine was discovered. she remains innocent until proved guilty. she can ask for it to be tested again. the situation remains unclear as the tournament was not commissioned by the world anti-doping agency (wada) the international tennis federation (itf) or the women s tennis accosiation (wta). the test was carried out by regional belgian authorities and kuznetsova has not yet been able to have a b sample tested. speaking at the australian open on monday before eerdekens identified her kuznetsova said: i m not worried. i m not using anything to push myself. i have not been notified of any positive test and i think it is unfair that it s come out the way it did. eerdekens said that confirmation of the findings was sent last friday to the player s address in spain as well as to the belgian prosecutors office and the belgian and russian tennis federations. he conceded kuznetsova might have taken a medicine which contained the banned substance. we have simply stated a fact he said. it is for the federation concerned to impose the disciplinary measures after a procedure that respects the defence. either the ephedrine was taken to improve her performance or it is because she took some medicine legitimately to cure an infection. however kuznetsova s naming was condemned by russian tennis chief shamil tarpishchev. first of all this belgian sports minister has broken every ethical rule in the book by naming a player without any proof of wrongdoing without any basic evidence tarpishchev said. we all know the basic principle in doping cases. if there is a positive sample then they should notify the international tennis federation (itf) as well as the national federation within three days he said. this is not the case here. as of today we have not received any statement from the doping officials nor did the itf. today i called the itf headquarters and they told me they know nothing about it. if wada (the world anti-doping agency) was behind the testing then we would also have known something by now. otherwise all these looks to me as pure fiction and fabrication of the facts. | world | 2 |
paris promise raises welsh hopes has there been a better six nations match than saturday s epic in paris and can the welsh revival continue all the way to a first grand slam since 1978 those are the two questions occupying not just wales supporters but rugby fans as a whole after a scintillating display in paris. welsh legend mervyn davies a member of two of three grand slam-winning sides of the 1970s hailed it as one of the great performances of the past three decades . martyn williams wales two-try scorer on the day called it one of the most surreal games i have ever played in . a crestfallen france coach bernard laporte simply observed: there was a french half and there was a welsh half . and what a half it was for the red dragonhood transforming a 15-6 half-time deficit into an 18-15 lead within five mesmerising minutes of the second period. but while that passage of play showed the swelling self-belief of a side prepared to back its own spirit of adventure the final quarter told us a whole lot more about this welsh side. that they recovered from a battering in the first half-hour to first stem the tide before half-time then reverse it on the resumption was remarkable enough. but in resisting a seemingly unstoppable wave of french pressure in a nail-biting final five minutes wales showed not only their physical attributes but their mental resolve. in international rugby any of the top seven sides can beat each other on a given day but the great sides are those that win the close contests on a consistent basis. england suffered some infamous six nations disappointments en route to world cup glory the pain of defeat forging bonds that ultimately led to victory when it really mattered. wales have some way to go before they can be remotely considered in a similar light. but the signs are that players previously on the receiving end are learning how to emerge on the right side of the scoreline. ten of the 22 on duty on saturday were also involved when wales were trounced 33-5 in paris two years ago. but since they threw off the shackles against new zealand in the 2003 world cup wales have rediscovered much of what made them a great rugby nation in the first place. the confidence in the squad has been building and building since the world cup and we now have young players who are becoming world class noted coach mike ruddock. the likes of michael owen gethin jenkins dwayne peel and gavin henson are certainly building strong cases for inclusion on this summer s lions tour to new zealand. and players like stephen jones martyn williams shane williams and gareth thomas are proving it is not only the youngsters that are on an upward curve. jones after his superb man-of-the-match display observed that we are a very happy camp now . ruddock and thomas can take much of the credit for that ensuring the tribal and regional divisions that have often scarred welsh rugby do not extend to the national squad. the joie de vivre so evident in that magical second-half spell in paris also stems from a style of play that first wooed supporters the world over in the 1970s. if england had half the innate attacking exuberance wales have produced in this championship they would not be contemplating the debris of three consecutive defeats. similarly wales have learnt that style alone does not win matches and that forward power mental toughness and good decision-making under pressure are equally important. so on to murrayfield where wales have not won on their last three visits. while the hype in the principality will go into overdrive the players will set about the task of beating scotland. only then - with the visit of ireland to finish - can they start thinking about emulating the hallowed players of the 1970s and writing their own names into welsh legend. | sports | 0 |
mcconnell details scots wave toll at least three people from scotland died in the tsunami disaster and a further three are on the missing list the first minister has told msps. the figures came out during a statement by jack mcconnell to the scottish parliament on wednesday. he formally expressed scotland s sympathy for the victims of the indian ocean tidal wave which killed 150 000. mr mcconnell went on to promise that scotland would play its part in the reconstruction effort. he said the provisional figures on the dead and lost had been provided by the police. mr mcconnell said the tragedy should persuade everyone to step up the fight against global poverty and change the world for the better. he said he was proud of the generous response of people in scotland to the disaster appeal which is expected soon to top £20m. the first minister also praised scottish water for immediately flying bottled water and five large generators to the disaster zone. the scottish executive has seconded 11 staff to the aid agencies. but he said scotland was in it for the long term with help planned for fishing communities for children s services and for the aid charities. he said 2005 must be the year that scotland showed clearly it cared for what happened to people elsewhere in the world whether in asia or in africa. mr mcconnell went on to signal that the executive would play its part in the make poverty history campaign being mounted by a variety of aid charities trade unions and churches in the run-up to the g8 summit in gleneagles in july. edinburgh architect dominic stephenson became the first scot to be confirmed as a victim of the asian tsunami. the 27-year-old was holidaying on the thai island of koh phi phi with eileen lee 24. she is still missing. | politics | 0 |
mayor will not retract nazi jibe london mayor ken livingstone has again refused to retract a nazi insult made to a jewish reporter. labour s mr livingstone who says he is standing by his remarks had accused an evening standard journalist of being like a concentration camp guard . at his weekly press conference on tuesday he said his comments were not racist and refused to apologise. he said to media representatives: if you think they are racist i think you are wrong. the mayor said his comments would not affect the 2012 olympic bid and added that his determination to stand up for what he believed in may impress bid chiefs who arrived in london on tuesday. i think it is important that the ioc (international olympic committee) members realise that when we get the games...they have a mayor who is not going to panic change course or get in a great flap but will deliver the games on time and to budget he said. on tuesday the mayor said he would be making a full written response to the chairman of the assembly. two motions were passed by the london assembly which is made up of 25 members elected to examine the mayor s activities on monday asking him to apologise and withdraw his comments. the mayor said he had recounted to the assembly a number of examples of intrusion by journalists into his and his family s private life. i don t suggest for one minute that has anything to do with the holocaust which was uniquely the most evil chapter in history. but when reporters say to me i m only doing this because it s my job... that s the same abdication of moral responsibility at the thin end of the wedge that in its most extreme and horrific version ends up with others being prepared to stand as a concentration camp guard. we are responsible for our own choices in this life i always have been and so have reporters. an official complaint has been made to local government watchdogs by the board of deputies of british jews demanding an investigation by the standards board of england. it has the power to suspended or bar him from office but mr livingstone said: there must have been 20 instances like this over the last 24 years. i have never in response to any of that modified a policy i believed to be right or modified a position i believed to be right and i don t intend to now. because if i do that effectively you hand power over your policies and position to the editors of papers. on tape mr livingstone who once worked as a freelance restaurant critic on the paper is heard asking reporter oliver finegold if he is a german war criminal . mr finegold replies: no i m jewish i wasn t a german war criminal. i m quite offended by that. the mayor then says: ah right well you might be but actually you are just like a concentration camp guard you are just doing it because you are paid to aren t you | politics | 0 |
air china in $1bn london listing china s national airline is to make its overseas stock market debut with a dual listing in london and hong kong the london stock exchange (lse) has said. air china plans to raise $1bn (£514m) from the flotation. share trading will begin on 15 december the lse said. for china s aviation authorities the listing is part of the modernisation of its airline sector to cope with soaring demand for air travel. no further details of the share price or number of shares were given. the lse has been working hard to woo chinese companies to choose london rather than new york for their listings. it opened an asia-pacific office in hong kong last month. we are delighted that air china has chosen london for its listing outside china said lse chief executive clara furse. the london stock exchange offers ambitious chinese companies access to the world s most international equity market combined with high regulatory and corporate governance standards she said. a spokesman for the lse said: we ve been engaged with them (air china) for about 18 months two years now. as part of its pitch to bring listings to london the lse is thought to be highlighting the extra costs and red-tape imposed by new us laws passed since the enron scandal whilst stressing london s strong regulatory environment. germany s chancellor gerhard schroeder began a three-day visit to beijing on monday by signing a deal worth 1bn euros ($1.3bn; £690m) for airbus to sell 23 new planes to air china the deutsche welle radio station reported. china s booming economy has created huge demand for air travel among middle-class chinese turning the country into a sales battleground between rival plane makers airbus and boeing. air china s long-awaited flotation is part of a strategy to modernise a dozen state-owned carriers which have been reorganised into three groups under air china china southern and china eastern. merrill lynch are sole bookrunners for air china s flotation which will take the form of a share placing with institutional investors in london though retail investors may be able to buy air china shares in hong kong. air china s primary listing will be in hong kong with a secondary listing in london. the shares will be denominated in hong kong dollars. however investors may be wary of chinese stocks. the collapse last week of china aviation oil the singapore-listed arm of a chinese jet fuel trader has cast the spotlight on corporate governance shortcomings at chinese firms. | business | 0 |
wmc says xstrata bid is too low australian mining firm wmc resources has said it is worth up to 30% more than a hostile 7.4bn australian dollar ($5.8bn; £3bn) bid by rival xstrata. there is now pressure on swiss-based xstrata to increase its takeover offer. a report from investment firm grant samuel in wmc defence documents values wmc shares at a$7.17 to a$8.24 against xstrata s bid of a$6.35 a share. analysts said the defence documents provided more details on wmc and may trigger a possible rival bid. if a bid is going to emerge it is probably likely in the next one to two weeks said daiwa securities analyst mark pervan. he said the valuation would put increased pressure on xstrata to look at sweetening its offer. marc gonsalves an executive at xstrata said: we will review the information contained in the target s statement over the next week or so. he added: while we will review the assumptions made by grant samuel in detail we are extremely sceptical of their conclusion and suggest that wmc shareholders take extreme care in presuming that these optimistic assumptions are capable of being realised. last month australia s competition watchdog said it would not oppose the purchase of wmc by zurich and london-based xstrata. on tuesday wmc chairman tommie bergman said in a statement the directors believed it was in shareholders best interest to reject the offer. he said wmc would pursue value-creating options provided by a portfolio of world class assets . and wmc chief executive andrew michelmore claimed the xstrata offer was aimed at creating value for xstrata s shareholders and was not being made for the benefit of wmc s shareholders. grant samuel said its valuation of wmc was based on lower average prices for nickel copper and uranium than current market levels. any longer term commodity price improvements would only improve our outlook mr michelmore said. in 2003 xstrata acquired australia s largest copper miner - mim holdings. wmc resources is the world s third-largest producer of concentrated nickel and also a miner of copper and uranium. it owns the olympic dam mine in south australia which contains about one-third of the world s known uranium resources and is also the world s fourth largest copper mine. xstrata is a global mining giant with operations in australia south africa spain germany argentina and the uk. its core products are copper coking coal thermal coal ferrochrome vanadium and zinc. it also has growing businesses in gold lead and silver. | business | 0 |
schools to take part in mock poll record numbers of schools across the uk are to take part in a mock general election backed by the government. some 600 schools have already signed up for the y vote mock elections 2005 run by the hansard society and aimed at boosting interest in politics. pupils in the schools taking part will learn the skills of speech writers canvassers and political candidates. schools minister stephen twigg said engaging young people s interest was essential to the future of democracy. he added: said young people who are engaged and motivated by the political process are essential to the future health of our democracy. the mock elections initiative provides an opportunity for pupils to develop their own understanding of how the democratic process works and why it matters. by experiencing the election process first hand - from running a campaign to the declaration of the final result - we hope that young people will develop the enthusiasm to take part in the future. the hansard society the electoral commission and the department for education and skills are running the programme. pupils will stand as party candidates speech writers and canvassers. michael raftery project manager at the hansard society said: the y vote mock elections for schools mirror the excitement and buzz of a real election raising awareness of citizenship and the benefits of active democracy. the mock votes will take place around 5 may widely expected to be the date of the general election. information packs including ballot papers and manifesto guides with elections happening in early may were sent out to the 3 000 schools invited to take part. | politics | 0 |
gm pays $2bn to evade fiat buyout general motors of the us is to pay fiat 1.55bn euros ($2bn; £1.1bn) to get out of a deal which could have forced it to buy the italian car maker outright. fiat had sold gm a stake in 2000 as part of a partnership agreement. but fiat s heavy losses have convinced gm - whose own european operations are in the red - to back away. the pay-off means the two firms will unwind joint ventures but fiat will keep supplying diesel engines and the money will allow it to reduce its debt. fiat s shares on the milan stock exchange rose 4.5% by 0900 gmt to 6.2 euros having shot up more than 7% in early trading. we now have absolute freedom to design our own future said fiat chief executive sergio marchionne. analysts said fiat seemed to have done well out of the deal although some predictions had expected a 2bn euro pay-off. fiat is to get 1bn euros immediately with another 550m to follow within 90 days. the firm is italy s largest private employer and a failure to reach an agreement could have had severe consequences for thousands of workers and for the italian economy. for its part gm was keen to ward off any criticism that the deal had been a mistake. we needed scale in europe to get costs down and we were able to do that in working with fiat said gm chief executive rick wagoner. the fiat-gm alliance came about in 2000 as an alternative to selling fiat outright. german-us car firm daimlerchrysler had been willing to buy the firm but fiat patriarch gianni agnelli did not want to give up control. instead gm swapped a 6% stake in itself for 20% of fiat - and gave fiat a put option to sell gm the rest of the car maker between january 2004 and july 2009. but despite the alliance fiat failed to put itself back on track continuing to lose money and market share. as a result the sell-off looked better and better for the italians - and much worse for gm which is struggling with its own loss-making european marques opel and saab. the relationship soured further after fiat sold half its finance arm and recapitalised in 2003 halving gm s stake to 10%. | sports | 2 |
moya clinches cup for spain spain won the davis cup for the second time in their history when carlos moya beat the usa s andy roddick in the fourth rubber in seville. moya won 6-2 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-5) to give the hosts an unassailable 3-1 lead with only one singles rubber remaining. roddick battled hard and had chances in the second set but moya s clay-court expertise proved the difference. mardy fish beat tommy robredo 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 in the final dead rubber to cut spain s winning margin to 3-2. spain s only other davis cup title came in 2000 when they beat australia in barcelona. this time they chose to play the final in seville and the city s olympic stadium was revamped to allow for a record crowd for a competitve tennis event of 27 000 spectators. and the home fans gave vociferous support to their players with 18-year-old nadal and moya winning both friday s singles rubbers. american twins mike and bob bryan gave the visitors hope with victory over juan carlos ferrero and tommy robredo in saturday s doubles. but it remained an uphill task for a us team far happier on hard courts than clay and 1998 french open champion moya had too much for world number two roddick. this has been incredible - the moment i ve been waiting for for years said moya who missed out in 2000 through injury. i ve prepared myself for this day. i knew that playing on clay i would have my chances to win. the davis cup is my dream. i can t ask for more. there is nothing bigger than what i ve lived today. moya stormed into a 4-0 lead on his way to taking the first set against roddick and recovered immediately from dropping serve in the second. the match came down to two tie-breaks and moya dominated both clinching victory on his third match point. wild celebrations followed with an emotional moya congratulated by his team-mates including nadal who at 18 years and 187 days becomes the youngest ever victor in davis cup history. i think we put up a better fight here than in paris two years ago said roddick who was on the us team which lost to france in the 2002 semi-finals at roland garros. they were just better than us this weekend. i have nothing to be ashamed of i gave it my all. i am not going to walk out of here with my head down that s for sure. there s no miracle answer. we have to improve. | business | 2 |
fbi agent colludes with analyst a former fbi agent and an internet stock picker have been found guilty of using confidential us government information to manipulate stock prices. a new york court ruled that former fbi man jeffrey royer 41 fed damaging information to anthony elgindy 36. mr elgindy then drove share prices lower by spreading negative publicity via his newsletter. the egyptian-born analyst would extort money from his targets in return for stopping the attacks prosecutors said. under the guise of protecting investors from fraud royer and elgindy used the fbi s crime-fighting tools and resources actually to defraud the public said us attorney roslynn mauskopf. mr royer was convicted of racketeering securities fraud obstruction of justice and witness tampering. mr elgindy was convicted of racketeering securities fraud and extortion. the charges carry sentences of up to 20 years. when the guilty verdict was announced by the jury foreman mr elgindy dropped his face into his hands and sobbed the associated press news agency reported. he was led weeping from the court room by us marshals ap said. defense lawyers contended that mr royer had been feeding information to mr elgindy and another trader in an attempt to expose corporate fraud. mr elgindy s team claimed that he also was fighting against corporate wrongdoing. elgindy s conviction marks the end of his public charade as a crusader against fraud in the market said ms mauskopf. one of the more bizarre aspects of the trial focused on the claims that mr elgindy may have had foreknowledge of the 11 september terrorist attacks in new york and washington. mr elgindy had been trying to sell stock prior to the attack and had predicted a slump in the market. no charges were brought in relation to these allegations. | business | 0 |
fast lifts rise into record books two high-speed lifts at the world s tallest building have been officially recognised as the planet s fastest. the lifts take only 30 seconds to whisk passengers to the top of the 508m tall tfc 101 tower in taipei taiwan. the guinness book of records has declared the 17m per second speed of the two lifts the swiftest on earth. the lifts also have a pressure control system to stop passengers ears popping as they ascend and descend at high speed. in total the tfc tower has 61 lifts 34 of them double-deckers and 50 escalators to shuttle people around its 106 floors. the tfc 101 tower is due to be officially opened on 31 december. the super-fast lifts can speed up to 24 passengers to the tip of the tower in about 30 seconds while ascending their 382m track. the 17m/s top speed of the lifts translates to about 38mph (61km/h). curiously the lifts take longer to descend and spend almost a whole minute returning to ground level from the top of the tfc tower. the key new technologies applied in the world s fastest elevators include: - a pressure control system which adjusts the atmospheric pressure inside a car by using suction and discharge blowers preventing ear popping - an active control system which tries to balance the lift more finely and remove the sources of vibrations - streamlined cars to reduce the whistling noise produced by running the lifts at a high speed inside a narrow shaft the certification of our elevators as world record-holders by the authoritative guinness world records is a great honour for us said masayuki shimono president of manufacturer toshiba elevator and building systems which installed the lifts. the first record for the world s fastest passenger elevators was published in the first edition of the guinness book of records in 1955. as such it is an interesting indicator of how technology has advanced in the 50 years since that first edition when the record was 426m per minute or 25.6 km/h less than half the speed of the new record said hein le roux specialist researcher at the guinness world records. taipei s tfc 101 tower is more than 50m taller than the petronas towers in kuala lumpur malaysia - formerly the world s tallest skyscraper. | science and tech | 0 |
steady job growth continues in us the us created fewer jobs than expected in december but analysts said that the dip in hiring was not enough to derail the world s biggest economy. according to labor department figures 157 000 new jobs were added last month. that took 2004 s total to 2.2 million the best showing in five years. job creation was one of last year s main concerns for the us economy. while worries still remain the conditions are set for steady growth in 2005 analysts said. the unemployment rate stayed at 5.4% in december and about 200 000 jobs will need to be created each month if that figure is to drop. it was a respectable report said michael moran analyst at daiwa securities. payroll growth in december was a little lighter than the consensus forecast but we had upward revisions to the prior two months and an increase in manufacturing employment. manufacturing is a cyclical area of the economy and if it s showing job growth it s a good indication that the economy is on a solid growth track. that means that the federal reserve is likely to continue its policy of raising interest rates. the fed lifted borrowing costs five times last year to 2.25% citing evidence the us economic recovery was becoming more robust. job creation was one of last year s main concerns for the us economy and proved to be a main topic of debate in the us presidential election. while demand for workers is far from booming the conditions are set for steady growth. overall compared to the previous year it looks great it just keeps going stronger and stronger and i expect that to be the case in 2005 said kurt karl economist at swiss re in new york. meanwhile economists cautioned against reading too much into data from the federal reserve showing an unexpected $8.7bn drop in consumer debt in november. a fall in consumer spending which makes up about two-thirds of all us economic activity could help limit the extent of any future interest rate rises. but economists said there could be a number of reasons for a fall in the borrowing which include credit cards and personal loans while noting that such figures can vary on a month-to-month basis. | business | 0 |
ronaldo considering new contract manchester united winger cristiano ronaldo said he is close to agreeing to a new contract at old trafford. the portugal star who joined in august 2003 on a five-year-deal is a regular in the united first-team. the united board have already made an offer to renew the contract but i m trying not to think about it he told the news of the world. my agent has spoken with the club and it will be resolved soon. i think we ll reach a good agreement for both sides. ronaldo refused to commit his long-term future to the club. nobody knows what will come tomorrow. i like being here but who knows he added. there aren t many bigger and better clubs than this one. it s my ambition to be at a big club. i m happy but nobody knows the future. | sports | 0 |
iranian mps threaten mobile deal turkey s biggest private mobile firm could bail out of a $3bn ($1.6bn) deal to build a network in iran after mps there slashed its stake in the project. conservatives in parliament say turkcell s stake in irancell the new network should be cut from 70% to 49%. they have already given themselves a veto over all foreign investment deals following allegations about turkish firms involvement in israel. turkcell now says it may give up on the deal altogether. iran currently has only one heavily congested mobile network with long waiting lists for new subscribers. turkcell signed a contract for the new network in september. the new operator planned to offer subscriptions for about $180 well below the existing firm s $500 price tag. but a parliamentary commission has now ruled that turkcell s 70% controlling stake is too high. they say that turkcell is a security risk because of alleged business ties with israel. parliament as a whole - dominated by religious conservatives - will vote on the ruling on tuesday. turkcell said the ruling would make more difficult... turkcell s financial consolidation of irancell because its stake would be reduced to less than 50%. if management control and financial consolidation of irancell cannot be achieved... the realisation of the project will become risky it warned in a statement. the firm has refused to comment on whether it has business dealings in israel although like almost all gsm operators worldwide it has an interconnection deal with israeli networks so that its customers can use their phones there. the two countries strengthened ties in both defence and economic issues in 2004. israeli industry minister ehud olmert was reported in june to have attended a meeting between ruhi dogusoy turkcell s chief operating officer and executives from israeli telecoms firms. telecoms is one of two areas specifically targeted by the new veto law on foreign investments passed earlier in september. the other is airports a source of controversy after the army closed tehran s new imam khomeini international airport on its opening day in may 2004. again the allegation was that the part-turkish tav consortium which built and ran it had links with israel. | business | 0 |
how political squabbles snowball it s become commonplace to argue that blair and brown are like squabbling school kids and that they (and their supporters) need to grow up and stop bickering. but this analysis in fact gets it wrong. it s not just children who fight - adults do too. and there are solid reasons why even a trivial argument between mature protagonists can be hard to stop once its got going. the key feature of an endless feud is that everyone can agree they d be better off if it ended - but everyone wants to have the last word. each participant genuinely wants the row to stop but thinks it worth prolonging the argument just a tiny bit to ensure their view is heard. their successive attempts to end the argument with their last word ensure the argument goes on and on and on. (in the case of mr blair and mr brown successive books are published ensuring the issues never die.) now this isn t because the participants are stupid - it s actually each individual behaving entirely rationally given the incentives facing them. indeed there s even a piece of economic theory that explains all this. nothing as obscure as post-neo-classical endogenous growth theory which the chancellor himself once quoted - but a ubiquitous piece of game theory which all respectable policy wonks are familiar with. it s often referred to as the prisoner s dilemma based on a parable much told in economics degree courses... about a sheriff and two prisoners. the story goes that two prisoners are jointly charged with a heinous crime and are locked up in separate cells. but the sheriff desperately needs a confession from at least one of them to provide enough evidence to convict them of the crime. without a confession the prisoners will get a minimal sentence on some trumped up charge. clearly the prisoners best strategy is to keep their mouths shut and take the short sentence but the clever sheriff has an idea to induce them to talk. he tells each prisoner separately that if they confess - and they are the only one to confess - they ll be let off their crime. and he tells them that if they don t confess - and they are the only one not to confess - they ll get life. now if you are prisoner confronted with this choice your best bet is to confess. if your partner doesn t confess you ll get off completely. and if your partner does confess you d better confess to ensure you don t get life. the result is of course both prisoners confess so the sheriff does not have to let either one off. both prisoners individual logic was to behave that way even though both would have been better if they had somehow agreed to shut up. don t worry if you don t entirely follow it - you can to look it up on google where there are 283 000 entries on it. the prisoners dilemma and all its ramifications have truly captured economists in the last couple of decades. it is a parable used to describe any situation where there is an obvious sensible choice to be taken collectively but where the only rational choice individually is to behave selfishly. a cold war arms race for example - a classic case where both russia and america would be better off with just a few arms rather than a lot of arms. but as long as each wants just a few more arms than the other an arms race ensues with the results that the individually logical decision to buy more arms results in arms levels that are too high. what economics tells us is that once you re in a prisoners dilemma - unless you are repeating the experience many times over - it s hard to escape the perverse logic of it. it s no good just exhorting people to stop buying arms or to stop arguing when all their incentives encourage them to carry on. somehow the incentives have to change. in the case of the labour party if you believe the rift between blair and brown camps is as bad as the reports suggest solomon s wisdom needs to be deployed to solve the problem. every parent knows there are ingenious solutions to arguments solutions which affect the incentives of the participants. an example is the famous rule that one divides the other chooses as a way of allocating a piece of cake to be sliced up between greedy children. in the case of an apparently endless argument if you want it to come to an end you have to ensure the person who has the last word is one who loses rather than the one who wins the row. the cost of prolonging the row by even one more briefing or one more book for that matter has to exceed the benefit of having the last word and getting your point in. if the rest of the party can enforce that they ll have the protagonists retreating pretty quickly. | science and tech | 2 |
brown shrugs off economy fears gordon brown is to freeze petrol duty increases fund a £1bn package to avoid big council tax rises and boost childcare and maternity leave. in an upbeat pre-budget report he slightly increased borrowing but insisted economic targets would be met. the chancellor also hailed the longest period of growth in uk industrial history but denied he was gloating . but oliver letwin for the tories attacked government red tape and debt dubbing mr brown sir wastealot . the shadow chancellor said mr brown s golden rule had turned to dross in his hands and said he was borrowing to spend not invest with predicted debt over the coming years totalling £170bn. mr letwin told mps: the tide is going out on the chancellor s credibility. he is spending borrowing and taxing so much because he is not getting value for taxpayer s money. vincent cable for the liberal democrats accused mr brown of ducking tough choices. he said: last week the prime minister gave us the politics of fear; this week the chancellor has offered the economics of complacency. there are serious challenges ahead from the falling dollar and from the rapid downturn in the uk housing market and rising personal debt. but they have not been confronted. mr brown rejected the lib dem s call to open up the government s books to the national audit office saying decisions on tax and spending should be made by ministers. some economists say his forecasts on public finances are wishful thinking. bbc economic editor evan davis said the figures were plausible but also a gamble. mr brown s insistence he was not gloating was a pointed rebuttal of a warning from new european commissioner peter mandelson. in his speech he set out a 10-year childcare strategy for if labour wins the next election. it includes a £285m cash injection to extend paid maternity leave from six months to nine with parents able to transfer leave from the mother to the father. he also promised to increase free nursery education for three and four-year-olds to 15 hours from april 2007. and funds would be provided to keep schools open from 0800 to 1800gmt to look after children while their parents were at work. taken together the measures would create a welfare state that is truly family-friendly for the first time in its history said mr brown. he also announced a cash hand-out for older pensioners with payments of £50 for the over-70s as part of the winter fuel allowance. in a move ministers say should keep council tax rises below 5% next year the chancellor said he was providing an extra £1bn for local councils. the money is expected to come from government departments such as health and education. mr brown said he was set to meet his two fiscal rules - to borrow only to invest and keep debt low and sustainable - both in this economic cycle and the next. borrowing figures for 2003/4 are £35bn - £2.5bn less than the £37.5bn predicted in march s budget as already announced by the office for national statistics. borrowing is tipped to fall to £31bn by 2005/06 - but that is still £2bn more than mr brown predicted in his march budget. inflation would be 1.75% next year and 2% in the years to follow mr brown forecast. he also pledged an extra £105m for security and counter-terrorism. business groups have welcomed efforts to improve competitiveness and invest more in skills and innovation. but there worries about the costs of more family-friendly working. simon sweetman from the federation of small businesses said: the proposals on maternity leave have clearly been made with a general election in mind and with little thought to the impact on small employers. | business | 2 |
galloway plea for hostage release ex-labour mp george galloway has appealed for the release of aid worker margaret hassan kidnapped in iraq. mrs hassan 59 who led care international operations in iraq was abducted in baghdad on 19 october. mr galloway was expelled from the labour party because of his staunch opposition to the war on iraq. he denied an earlier report that he planned to make a direct appeal to the kidnappers via the al-jazeera arabic television channel. speaking in london on saturday at the first annual delegate conference of his newly-founded party the respect coalition he said: i have deliberately not involved myself before in any of these situations. but this woman has been a prominent opponent of both the war and the preceding years of sanctions. i am prepared to do anything i can to help save her life. a spokesman later said mr galloway had friends in common with ms hassan who he described as a prominent anti-war activist and that he was willing to do anything - go to iraq or be an intermediary or anything that s necessary . since her abduction several videos of mrs hassan have been broadcast by al-jazeera. the latest footage showed mrs hassan asking for british troops to be pulled out of iraq. she also urged care international the aid agency she works for to close its office in baghdad and appealed for iraqi women prisoners to be freed. care has since closed down all its operations in iraq. | politics | 0 |
news corp eyes video games market news corp the media company controlled by australian billionaire rupert murdoch is eyeing a move into the video games market. according to the financial times chief operating officer peter chernin said that news corp is kicking the tyres of pretty much all video games companies . santa monica-based activison is said to be one firm on its takeover list. video games are big business the paper quoted mr chernin as saying. we would like to get into it . the success of products such as sony s playstation microsoft s x-box and nintendo s game cube have boosted demand for video games. the days of arcade classics such as space invaders pac-man and donkey kong are long gone. today games often have budgets big enough for feature films and look to give gamers as real an experience as possible. and with their price tags reflecting the heavy investment by development companies video games are proving almost as profitable as they are fun. mr chernin however told the ft that news corp was finding it difficult to identify a suitable target. we are struggling with the gap between companies like electronic arts (ea) which comes with a high price tag and the next tier of companies he explained during a conference in phoenix arizona. these may be too focused on one or two product lines. activision has a stock market capitalisation of about $2.95bn (£1.57bn) compared to ea s $17.8bn. some of the games industry s main players have recently been looking to consolidate their position by making acquisitions. france s ubisoft one of europe s biggest video game publishers has been trying to remain independent since electronic arts announced plans to buy 19.9% of the firm. analysts have said that industry mergers are likely in the future. | business | 0 |
verizon seals takeover of mci verizon has won a takeover battle for us phone firm mci with a bid worth $6.8bn (£3.6bn) reports say. the two firms are expected to seal the deal on monday morning according to news agency reports despite what was thought to be a higher bid from qwest. the us telecoms market is consolidating fast with former long-distance giant at&t being bought by former subsidiary sbc earlier this year for $16bn. mci exited bankruptcy in april having gone bust under previous name worldcom. the bankruptcy followed its admission in 2002 that it illegally booked expenses and inflated profits. shareholders lost about $180bn when the company collapsed while 20 000 workers lost their jobs. former worldcom boss bernie ebbers is currently on trial accused of overseeing an $11bn fraud. qwest has itself come under suspicion of sub-standard behaviour paying the securities and exchange commission $250m in october to settle charges that it manipulated its results to keep wall street happy. mci is the us s second-biggest long distance firm after at&t. consolidation in the us telecommunications industry has picked up in the past few months as companies look to cut costs and boost client bases. a merger between mci and verizon would be the fifth billion-dollar telecoms deal since october. last week sbc communications agreed to buy its former parent and phone trailblazer at&t for about $16bn. buying mci would give either qwest or verizon access to mci s global network and business-based subscribers. the rationale is similar to the one underpinning sbc s at&t deal. verizon is by far the bigger company and has its own successful mobile arm - factors which may have swung the board in its favour since both suitors are offering a mixture of cash and shares. | world | 2 |
mcclaren eyes uefa cup top spot steve mcclaren wants his middlesbrough team to win their uefa cup group by beating partizan belgrade. boro have already qualified for the knockout stages alongside partizan and villareal at the expense of lazio. but boss mcclaren is looking for a victory which would mean they avoid a team that has played in the champions league in friday s third-round draw. to need a win to finish top is fantastic but it is going to be a tough one mcclaren said. when the draw was made i thought it was the toughest group of them all - and so it has proved. lazio were favourites villarreal have been semi-finalists and partizan have fantastic experience in europe. the pleasing thing is we did the business in the first two games. winning those two has put us in a great position and it has been a fantastic experience playing these teams. | politics | 2 |
why few targets are better than many the economic targets set out at the lisbon summit of european union leaders in 2000 were meant to help europe leapfrog its way past the united states to become the world s leading economy by 2010. but the lisbon targets are about much more than just economic prestige. for many economists and analysts they are about ensuring europe doesn t become a global economic laggard. they are also about ensuring europe can continue to compete as an equal with the growing economic giants of asia india and china as well as with the economic might of the united states. that s why there was a tone of urgency in the report out on wednesday by the former dutch prime minister wim kok. mr kok was commissioned by the european commission in march this year to assess how far the eu has come towards meeting the lisbon targets five years on from their inception. his conclusion was simple: too many of the targets will be seriously missed. lisbon risks becoming a synonym for missed objectives and failed promises his report said. the status quo is not an option. at risk in the medium to long run is nothing less than the sustainability of the society europe has built it said. the report comes at a time when europe s competitive position is waning. the eu s economic growth rate is projected to be 2% this year and 2.4% next. while there has been growth in overall employment rates in europe productivity lags behind that of the us. but meeting the lisbon targets requires a political commitment that no eu member state has volunteered so far. that has in part been due to the state of the global economy in the past few years. as mr kok s report noted: the ink had scarcely dried on the [lisbon] agreement before the worldwide stock market bubble imploded. the us suffered two years of economic slowdown and recession and the european economy followed suit. the circumstances weren t conducive to creating the 20 million new jobs promised by eu leaders in lisbon in 2000. neither were they conducive to getting governments to spend more on research and development money needed if the eu was to meet its target of becoming a so-called knowledge-based economy . the [lisbon] vision is a compelling one but in order to do it society has to change said paul hofheinz of the lisbon council a brussels-based citizen action group. what you find is that a lot of people have been fighting change. you find trade unions fighting change. but also the employers associations. even though they tell you they re in favour of change many are actually pushing for less competition more subsidy and less free market activity. but part of the problem was also linked to the original targets set out in lisbon five years ago. targets have a habit of coming back to haunt you and in the lisbon case they covered too much according to the wim report. economic growth and job creation were linked to issues ranging from environmental protection to social inclusion and even safety at sea. the agenda was just too broad and as a result nothing was prioritised. lisbon is about everything and thus about nothing the kok report said. everybody is responsible and thus no one. that s why the kok report recommends that the lisbon targets be narrowed down to 14 key indicators with an emphasis on creating jobs and economic growth. it also recommends that the european commission draw up a league table which ranks countries according to the steps they re taking towards meeting the targets effectively naming shaming and faming . rhetoric and delivery don t necessarily go hand in hand mr kok said in a press conference alongside the publication of his report. we don t have the luxury anymore just to exchange politeness with one another. on one point mr kok was very clear: the european union should not try to emulate the us economy. the european economic and social model needs to change but not so much so that social and environmental issues take a backseat to economic growth. in that sense the lisbon agenda is sailing into unchartered waters. the kok report tries to do away with a belief that jobs need to be sacrificed at the altar of economic growth. it s very ambitious said john palmer political director at the european policy centre a brussels-based think-tank. this is something that no advanced economy in the world has tried to do. it s going to require quite new and innovative policies. but some analysts believe that the kok report doesn t come up with the sort of innovative policies and thinking needed to make the lisbon targets a reality. for example it recommends putting in place policies which encourage women and older people to remain in the workforce. but it doesn t say how companies should be convinced to do this. it will be up to the incoming president of the european commission jose manuel barroso to adopt mr kok s recommendations and press them on eu governments. mr barroso has said that the eu s competitiveness will be his top priority. he expects his five-year term in office to be judged on europe s success in meeting the lisbon agenda. | politics | 2 |
astrazeneca hit by drug failure shares in anglo-swedish drug have closed down 8% in uk trade after the failure of its iressa drug in a major clinical trial. the lung cancer drug did not significantly prolong survival in patients with the disease. this setback for the group follows the rejection by the us in october of its anti-coagulant pill exanta. meanwhile another of its major money spinners - cholesterol drug crestor - is facing mounting safety concerns. this would be two of the three blockbuster drugs that were meant to power the company forward failing... and we ve got risks on crestor said nick turner analyst at brokers jefferies. astrazeneca had hoped to pitch its iressa drug against rival medicine tarceva. but iressa proved no better than a placebo in extending lives in the trial involving 1 692 patients. tarceva - made by osi pharmaceuticals genentech and roche - has already proved to be successful in helping prolong the life of lung cancer patients. aztrazeneca has now appointed a new executive director to the board. john patterson will be in charge of drug development. the company said mr patterson would make substantial changes to the clinical organisation and its processes . i am determined to improve our development and regulatory performance restore confidence in the company and value to shareholders said chief executive tom mckillop. | business | 0 |
firefox browser takes on microsoft microsoft s internet explorer has a serious rival in the long-awaited firefox 1.0 web browser which has just been released. few people get excited when some new software is released especially when the program is not a game or a music or movie player. but the release of the first full version of firefox has managed to drum up a respectable amount of pre-launch fervour. fans of the software have banded together to raise cash to pay for an advert in the new york times announcing that version 1.0 of the browser is available. the release of firefox 1.0 on 9 november might even cause a few heads to turn at microsoft because the program is steadily winning people away from the software giant s internet explorer browser. firefox has been created by the mozilla foundation which was started by former browser maker netscape back in 1998. much of the development work done since then has gone into firefox which made its first appearance under this name in february. earlier incarnations but which had the same core technology were called phoenix and firebird. since then the software has been gaining praise and converts not least because of the large number of security problems that have come to light in microsoft s internet explorer. rivals to ie got a boost in late june when two us computer security organisations warned people to avoid the microsoft program to avoid falling victim to a serious vulnerability. internet monitoring firm websidestory has charted the growing population of people using the firefox browser and says it is responsible for slowly eroding the stranglehold of ie. before july this year according to websidestory internet explorer was used by about 95% of web surfers. that figure had remained static for years. in july the ie using population dropped to 94.7% and by the end of october stood at 92.9%. the mozilla foundation claims that firefox has been downloaded almost eight million times and has publicly said it would be happy to garner 10% of the windows- using net-browsing population. firefox is proving popular because at the moment it has far fewer security holes than internet explorer and has some innovations lacking in microsoft s program. for instance firefox allows the pages of different websites to be arranged as tabs so users can switch easily between them. it blocks pop-ups has a neat way of finding text on a page and lets you search through the pages you have browsed. one of the most powerful features of firefox is the many hundreds of extras or extensions produced for it. the mozilla foundation is an open source organisation which means that the creators of the browser are happy for others to play around with the core code for the program. this has resulted in many different add-ons or extensions for the browser which now include everything from a version of the familiar google toolbar to a homeland security monitor that keep users aware of current threat levels. firefox which used to be called firebird and before that phoenix also has a growing number of vocal net-based fans. a campaign co-ordinated by the spread firefox website attempted to raise the $50 000 needed for a full page advert in the new york times. the campaign set itself a target of recruiting 2500 volunteers. ten days in to the campaign 10 000 people had signed up and now about $250 000 has been raised. the ad is due to run sometime in a three-week period in late november/early december. the surplus cash will be used to help keep the mozilla foundation running. microsoft is facing a growing challenge to ie s hold on the web using population. from alternative browsers such as opera safari amaya and even netscape. | sports | 2 |
fast lifts rise into record books two high-speed lifts at the world s tallest building have been officially recognised as the planet s fastest. the lifts take only 30 seconds to whisk passengers to the top of the 508m tall tfc 101 tower in taipei taiwan. the guinness book of records has declared the 17m per second speed of the two lifts the swiftest on earth. the lifts also have a pressure control system to stop passengers ears popping as they ascend and descend at high speed. in total the tfc tower has 61 lifts 34 of them double-deckers and 50 escalators to shuttle people around its 106 floors. the tfc 101 tower is due to be officially opened on 31 december. the super-fast lifts can speed up to 24 passengers to the tip of the tower in about 30 seconds while ascending their 382m track. the 17m/s top speed of the lifts translates to about 38mph (61km/h). curiously the lifts take longer to descend and spend almost a whole minute returning to ground level from the top of the tfc tower. the key new technologies applied in the world s fastest elevators include: - a pressure control system which adjusts the atmospheric pressure inside a car by using suction and discharge blowers preventing ear popping - an active control system which tries to balance the lift more finely and remove the sources of vibrations - streamlined cars to reduce the whistling noise produced by running the lifts at a high speed inside a narrow shaft the certification of our elevators as world record-holders by the authoritative guinness world records is a great honour for us said masayuki shimono president of manufacturer toshiba elevator and building systems which installed the lifts. the first record for the world s fastest passenger elevators was published in the first edition of the guinness book of records in 1955. as such it is an interesting indicator of how technology has advanced in the 50 years since that first edition when the record was 426m per minute or 25.6 km/h less than half the speed of the new record said hein le roux specialist researcher at the guinness world records. taipei s tfc 101 tower is more than 50m taller than the petronas towers in kuala lumpur malaysia - formerly the world s tallest skyscraper. | entertainment | 2 |
industrial revival hope for japan japanese industry is growing faster than expected boosting hopes that the country s retreat back into recession is over. industrial output rose 2.1% - adjusted for the time of year - in january from a month earlier. at the same time retail sales picked up faster than at any time since 1997. the news sent tokyo shares to an eight-month high as investors hoped for a recovery from the three quarters of contraction seen from april 2004 on. the nikkei 225 index ended the day up 0.7% at 11 740.60 points with the yen strengthening 0.7% against the dollar to 104.53 yen. weaker exports normally the engine for japan s economy in the face of weak domestic demand had helped trigger a 0.1% contraction in the final three months of last year after two previous quarters of shrinking gdp. only an exceptionally strong performance in the early months of 2004 kept the year as a whole from showing a decline. the output figures brought a cautiously optimistic response from economic officials. overall i see a low risk of the economy falling into serious recession said bank of japan chief toshihiko fukui despite warning that other indicators - such as the growth numbers - had been worrying. within the overall industrial output figure there were signs of a pullback from the export slowdown. among the best-performing sectors were key overseas sales areas such as cars chemicals and electronic goods. with us growth doing better than expected the picture for exports in early 2005 could also be one of sustained demand. electronics were also one of the keys to the improved domestic market with products such as flat-screen tvs in high demand during january. | politics | 2 |
defiant hunts put ban to the test thousands of hunt supporters have been out on the first day of hunting in england and wales after the ban on hunting with dogs came into force. the countryside alliance called on hunt supporters to meet as normal but vowed to stay within the law. although hunting with dogs is now a criminal offence exercising hounds chasing a scent trail and flushing out foxes to be shot are still legal. one anti-hunt protester was taken to hospital after a violent clash in kent. the man suffered facial injuries after an incident involving a group of men at the end of the east kent hunt near ashford. in wiltshire police arrested four men under the new law suspected of hunting with dogs. the group from south wales and ireland have been released on bail but police say they may face prosecution under new poaching laws. it is believed more than 270 hunts went out on saturday just one day after the ban came in. they were greeted by big crowds in many areas of the country with actor jeremy irons and former minister kate hoey among the supporters. anti-hunt groups - such as the league against cruel sports - deployed 100 monitors at hunts to check for illegal activity. mike hobday from the league said video evidence of the law being broken was to be passed onto police. our evidence suggests that most hunts did operate within the law many meeting and promptly going home and others peacefully exercising their hounds or drag hunting. however we have received reports of what we believe is clearly illegal activity by a number of hunts across britain. bbc correspondent simon hall at postbridge on dartmoor in the west country said 2 000 people had turned out to welcome the hunt. and the bbc s sarah mukherjee with the beaufort hunt in badminton gloucestershire said several hundred people had gathered on foot to see the hunt with 150 on horseback. tom heap bbc rural affairs correspondent said it appeared that hunstman had for now been sticking to the new rules. and while there was big turnout in support of the hunts on saturday he said it remains to be seen if the level of backing can be maintained. before riding out with the hunt former minister kate hoey told crowds: we will prevail and this law will have to be overturned. judith moritz in melton mowbray said anti-hunt activists were out to monitor the four hunts operating in that part of leicestershire but were outnumbered by large crowds of followers. the countryside alliance said the meets would show the new law was impossibly difficult to determine and open to different interpretations. chief executive simon hart said: there has been hunting in england for 700 years. this [ban] may take two or three years perhaps two or three months to unpick. it will be nothing more than a temporary break in normal service as broadcasters say. conservative family spokeswoman theresa may said if the party was in government again it would make sure the law was repealed. suffolk chief constable alastair mcwhirter the association of chief police officers spokesman on rural policing told the bbc the law would be enforced although the police would not break up hunts. the attorney general lord goldsmith has so far not issued any instructions to police on how they should deal with any hunters who do violate the law. he said he would consult the director of public prosecutions and the police in the near future to decide what measures to take on hunting prosecutions. | science and tech | 2 |
wales want rugby league training wales could follow england s lead by training with a rugby league club. england have already had a three-day session with leeds rhinos and wales are thought to be interested in a similar clinic with rivals st helens. saints coach ian millward has given his approval but if it does happen it is unlikely to be this season. saints have a week s training in portugal next week while wales will play england in the opening six nations match on 5 february. we have had an approach from wales confirmed a saints spokesman. it s in the very early stages but it is something we are giving serious consideration to. st helens who are proud of their welsh connections are obvious partners for the welsh rugby union despite a spat in 2001 over the collapse of kieron cunningham s proposed £500 000 move to union side swansea. a similar cross-code deal that took iestyn harris from leeds to cardiff in 2001 did go through before the talented stand-off returned to the 13-man code with bradford bulls. kel coslett who famously moved from wales to league in the 1960s is currently saints football manager while clive griffiths - wales defensive coach - is a former st helens player and is thought to be the man behind the latest initiative. scott gibbs the former wales and lions centre played for st helens from 1994-96 and was in the challenge cup-winning team at wembley in 1996. | business | 2 |
brazil jobless rate hits new low brazil s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in three years in december according to the government. the brazilian institute for geography and statistics (ibge) said it fell to 9.6% in december from 10.6% in november and 10.9% in december 2003. ibge also said that average monthly salaries grew 1.9% in december 2004 from december 2003. however average monthly wages fell 1.8% in december to 895.4 reais ($332; £179.3) from november. tuesday s figures represent the first time that the unemployment rate has fallen to a single digit since new measurement rules were introduced in 2001. the unemployment rate has been falling gradually since april 2004 when it reached a peak of 13.1%. the jobless rate average for the whole of 2004 was 11.5% down from 12.3% in 2003 the ibge said. this improvement can be attributed to the country s strong economic growth with the economy registering growth of 5.2% in 2004 the government said. the economy is expected to grow by about 4% this year. president luiz inacio lula da silva promised to reduce unemployment when he was elected two years ago. nevertheless some analysts say that unemployment could increase in the next months. the data is favourable but a lot of jobs are temporary for the (christmas) holiday season so we may see slightly higher joblessness in january and february julio hegedus chief economist with lopes filho & associates consultancy in rio de janeir told reuters news agency. despite his leftist background president lula has pursued a surprisingly conservative economic policy arguing that in order to meet its social promises the government needs to first reach a sustained economic growth. the unemployment rate is measured in the six main metropolitan areas of brazil (sao paolo rio de janeiro belo horizonte recife salvador and porto alegre) where most of the population is concentrated. | business | 0 |
police probe bnp mosque leaflet police are investigating a british national party leaflet posted to homes in south wales opposing plans for a new mosque. anti-racism campaigners in swansea have handed copies to south wales police. swansea s muslim community is raising money to open a new mosque and community centre in the former st andrews united reform church. the building on george street has been derelict since the 1980s. taha idris director of the swansea bay race equality council said his organisation contacted police after receiving complaints from the public. i m quite shocked to see this sort of leaflet by the bnp in swansea he said. the bnp has tried in the past to get into swansea and this is another example of them trying again. i am in no doubt that the bnp are not needed and not wanted here. a south wales police spokeswoman confirmed that they were looking at the contents of the leaflet. according to the bnp s website they have been posted to homes in the castle ward. the bnp website carries a photograph of party leader nick griffin - who lives near welshpool mid wales - delivering the leaflet. the bnp has denied it is trying to stir up hatred of any race or religion but argues that they should be able to debate this without fear of arrest. swansea unite against fascism (uaf) is meeting this week to plan a campaign. following the death earlier this year of kalan kawa karim an iraqi kurd living in swansea it organised an anti-racism march in the city that was supported by more than 1 000 people. it is planning its own mail shot campaign and may launch a petition in support of the plans for the mosque. andy richards of swansea uaf said the leaflet was exactly what he had come to expect from the bnp. the people of swansea will not put up with this. swansea s muslim community bought the former church just across the road from the existing mosque on st helen s road in the late 1990s. mr idris said the community was now raising money to renovate the building. it is a landmark building in swansea and would otherwise just crumble he said. it is the ideal opportunity for the building to be restored and used in the proper manner. it will be a muslim community centre. it s a holistic place used for education weddings deaths and births. he said space was limited in the current mosque and on some occasions muslims had to travel to llanelli for cultural events. | politics | 0 |
taylor poised for scotland return simon taylor has been named in the scotland squad for saturday s six nations clash with italy. the 25-year-old number eight made a scoring return for edinburgh at the weekend - his first game in a year for the capital side. taylor suffered knee ligament damage playing against ireland in dublin in the 2004 six nations championship. simon is one of scotland s truly world class players so it is a huge bonus said team-mate chris paterson. he brings a whole new dimension to us especially in defence and his ability to slow the opposition ball down could be key against italy if he is involved. taylor has turned out for english side saracens in recent weeks during a short-term loan to improve his fitness. edinburgh were not in action during the first two weeks of this season s six nations. so taylor played the last 20 minutes of saracens win over northampton and then 40 minutes in a friendly against south african super 12 side the cats. scotland coach matt williams is due to name his match-day 22 on thursday. both scotland and italy have lost their opening two six nations games and just like last season s encounter which italy won this weekend s game could turn out to be a battle to avoid the wooden spoon. - m blair (edinburgh) a craig (glasgow) c cusiter (borders) s danielli (borders) m di rollo (edinburgh) a henderson (glasgow) b hinshelwood (worcester) r lamont (glasgow) s lamont (glasgow) d parks (glasgow) c paterson (edinburgh) g ross (leeds) h southwell (edinburgh) s webster (edinburgh) - r beattie (northampton) g bulloch (glasgow capt) b douglas (borders) j dunbar (leeds) i fullarton (saracens) s grimes (newcastle) n hines (edinburgh) a hogg (edinburgh) g kerr (leeds) n lloyd (saracens) s murray (edinburgh) j petrie (glasgow) r russell (london irish) c smith (edinburgh) t smith (northampton) s taylor (edinburgh) j white (sale). | sports | 0 |
conservative backing for id cards the tories are to back controversial government plans to introduce id cards. the shadow cabinet revealed its support ahead of next week s commons vote on a bill to introduce compulsory id. the decision follows a tough meeting where some senior tories argued vociferously against the move party sources told the bbc. the bill which ministers claim will tackle crime terrorism and illegal immigration is expected to be opposed by the liberal democrats. they have said the scheme is deeply flawed and a waste of money. sources within the conservative party told the bbc michael howard has always been in favour of id cards and tried to introduce them when he was home secretary. the party has been agnostic on the issue until now but had now decided to come off the fence the tory source said. despite giving their backing to id cards the conservatives insisted they would hold ministers to account over the precise purpose of the scheme. they said they would also press labour over whether objectives could be met and whether the home office would deliver them. and they pledged to assess the cost effectiveness of id cards and whether people s privacy would be properly protected. it is important to remember that this bill will take a decade to come into full effect a spokesman said. it will do nothing to solve the immediate problems of rising crime and uncontrolled immigration. lib dem home affairs spokesman mark oaten said: this has all the signs of michael howard overruling colleagues concerns over id cards. the tories should have the courage to try and change public opinion not follow it. the new chairman of the bar council guy mansfield qc warned there was a real risk that people on the margins of society would be driven into the hands of extremists. what is going to happen to young asian men when there has been a bomb gone off somewhere they are going to be stopped. if they haven t [id cards] they are going to be detained. | politics | 0 |
brando rejected godfather role late film star marlon brando is said to have repeatedly turned down his oscar-winning role in the godfather. the actor s friend budd schulberg told vanity fair magazine that brando s assistant suggested he read the novel. the actor repeatedly refused throwing the book at her and saying: for the last time i won t glorify the mafia . but brando who died last july at the age of 80 eventually took the role of don corleone winning him an oscar in 1973 which he notoriously refused. the actor sent a young woman dressed in native american costume to refuse the award on his behalf and to draw attention to the plight of native americans. schulberg told the magazine that brando s assistant realised the film star had warmed to the idea of the godfather role when he sported a drawn-on pencil moustache and asked: how do i look his assistant alice marchak said that he looked like george raft an actor famed for playing gangsters on the silver screen. every time she went to see brando from then on she added he was wearing a different gangster-style moustache. brando was asked to screen test for the role in the godfather as studio executives were said to be reluctant for the actor to play the part following problems on the set of brando s previous film mutiny on the bounty . in fact brando s academy award triumph revived his career. the actor was nominated for an oscar the following year for his role in bernardo bertolucci s last tango in paris. before his death brando granted gaming company electronic arts the rights to use his voice and image in a video game based on the godfather film and book and recorded voice-overs which closely resembled his role as don corleone. brando s co-stars from the godfather james caan and robert duvall will also reprise their roles for the video game it was confirmed on wednesday. | world | 2 |
broadband soars in 2004 if broadband were a jumbo jet then 2003 would have seen it taxiing down the runway firing up its engines and preparing for take-off. but this year has seen it soar. in the spring it literally took to the skies as lufthansa and british airways trialled it on flights. this perhaps said more about how indispensable people were beginning to perceive the technology rather than how useful sky-high broadband would actually be. it was flying high and by the autumn five million britons had signed up for high-speed net access at home. such enthusiasm is unlikely to dampen any time soon and experts predict that by the end of next year the numbers will have risen to more than eight million or more than 30% of homes. the two key factors in whetting people s appetite were falling prices and a huge marketing push. when operators such as bt and telewest offered standard 512k broadband for less than £20 at the beginning of the year it was as if an invisible barrier had been breached - broadband had truly gone mass market. a feeding frenzy followed as firms vied for eyeballs in a price war reminiscent of that following the mass market take-up of dial-up. broadband for less than £10 was even touted by some firms although such a low price raised eyebrows among more established companies questioning how they are able to sustain such business models. for those who became broadbanders in 2004 there was no turning back and the days of waiting for the modem to kick in began to seem as outdated an idea as a jungle without celebrities. the rest of the world was also falling in love with the benefits of fast internet access to the tune of 100 million connections worldwide by april prompting research firm point topic to declare it one of the fastest growing technologies ever. by september the number of broadband connections in the uk finally overtook dial-up and in december bt announced that it was making a new broadband connection every 10 seconds. broadband was being mentioned on the 10 o clock news and in the tabloids; the sun even carried a cartoon joke about it. but two of the most significant pieces of news for broadband were items that did not make the headlines. in may bt quietly announced that it was shaving 70% off the cost of allowing other operators access to its telephone exchanges so-called local loop unbundling. the vital local loop is the crucial link between telephone exchanges and homes. at the moment bt has a stranglehold on more than 80% of these lines making it the key voice in deciding what adsl products get into homes. with cheaper local loop unbundling rivals to bt can offer faster services that will leave the broadband of today looking positively tortoise-like. it will mean the uk will finally catch up with countries such as france and the netherlands where homes are routinely enjoying speeds of up to 15mb (megabits per second). and the major price fall means that rather than just talk about it companies are actually starting to get their own equipment into bt s exchanges. it may not seem that exciting but it is a remarkable transition given that just a few years ago the arguments over local loop unbundling bore more than a passing resemblance to the northern ireland peace talks - fraught bitter and with no end in sight. another big piece of news for broadband users in 2004 was the extension of bt s reach meaning more than 95% of the population could get broadband regardless of how far away from the exchange they lived. there was a slight caveat for those wanting to upgrade to 1mbps broadband they still have to live within six kilometres of a broadband-enabled exchange. for thousands frustrated by their inability to get the technology the news meant they could finally join in. broadband is not just about fast access over the telephone and cable operators ntl and telewest also had a bumper year. the biggest news for them was increased speeds introducing 2mb and 3mb services for users and offering a free upgrade to those on 512k. the cable operators are limited in their reach and it is perhaps testament to how big a deal local loop unbundling could become that even they are considering extending their range via this route. broadband can seem confusing for consumers with the huge amount of operators offering so many different products some with capped bandwidth and different length contracts and set-up fees. it is unlikely to get any less easy to understand in 2005 but remains a plane worth catching. as it gets faster and offers extras such as cheap telephone calls online the only real thing to remember for the coming year is to enjoy the ride. | science and tech | 0 |
mg rover china tie-up delayed mg rover s proposed tie-up with china s top carmaker has been delayed due to concerns by chinese regulators according to the financial times. the paper said chinese officials had been irritated by rover s disclosure of its talks with shanghai automotive industry corp in october. the proposed deal was seen as crucial to safeguarding the future of rover s longbridge plant in the west midlands. however there are growing fears that the deal could result in job losses. the observer reported on sunday that nearly half the workforce at longbridge could be under threat if the deal goes ahead. shanghai automotive s proposed £1bn investment in rover is awaiting approval by its owner the shanghai city government and by the national development and reform commission which oversees foreign investment by chinese firms. according to the ft the regulator has been annoyed by rover s decision to talk publicly about the deal and the intense speculation which has ensued about what it will mean for rover s future. as a result hopes that approval of the deal may be fast-tracked have disappeared the paper said. there has been continued speculation about the viability of rover s longbridge plant because of falling sales and unfashionable models. according to the observer 3 000 jobs - out of a total workforce of 6 500 - could be lost if the deal goes ahead. the paper said that chinese officials believe cutbacks will be required to keep the mg rover s costs in line with revenues. it also said that the production of new models through the joint venture would take at least eighteen months. neither rover nor shanghai automotive commented on the reports. | business | 0 |
glasgow hosts tsunami benefit gig the top names in scottish music are taking part in a benefit concert in aid of the victims of the asian tsunami. all 10 000 tickets for saturday s concert featuring franz ferdinand belle and sebastian and travis at glasgow s secc sold out in 36 hours. mull historical society deacon blue idlewild texas mogwai and teenage fanclub are among the other acts performing at the concert. organisers hope to raise at least £250 000 from the show. it follows a cardiff gig starring eric clapton keane and jools holland which raised more than £1.25m. and it is taking place on the same night as a tsunami benefit show in bristol which will see massive attack and portishead share a stage for the first time. colin macintyre of mull historical society was playing another gig on the same day but said he was determined to make the glasgow benefit. he said: i think we were all affected by seeing the reports coming from the far east. we all know somebody who was there but more than that it was that we had never seen a wave of destruction a natural disaster like this in my generation. i m lucky as an artist to be able to perform at something like this. | science and tech | 2 |
sydney return for henin-hardenne olympic champion justine henin-hardenne will return to action in january s sydney international tournament. the belgian has not competed since losing her top world ranking at the us open in september where she was beaten in the fourth round by nadia petrova. she took time out to shake off a virus but will defend her titles in sydney and at the australian open. women s world number one lindsay davenport and french open champion anastasia myskina will also compete. in the men s event world number three lleyton hewitt returns to defend his title along with runner-up carlos moya. moya spain s davis cup final hero in their recent win over the us had to retire with an ankle injury in the first set of the final. tournament director craig watson said: i had a message relayed to me from him after spain s davis cup victory saying he was looking forward to trying to make up for his disappointment in the (2004) final. the tournament will take place from 9-15 january. | sports | 0 |
insurance bosses plead guilty another three us insurance executives have pleaded guilty to fraud charges stemming from an ongoing investigation into industry malpractice. two executives from american international group (aig) and one from marsh & mclennan were the latest. the investigation by new york attorney general eliot spitzer has now obtained nine guilty pleas. the highest ranking executive pleading guilty on tuesday was former marsh senior vice president joshua bewlay. he admitted one felony count of scheming to defraud and faces up to four years in prison. a marsh spokeswoman said mr bewlay was no longer with the company. mr spitzer s investigation of the us insurance industry looked at whether companies rigged bids and fixed prices. last month marsh agreed to pay $850m (£415m) to settle a lawsuit filed by mr spitzer but under the settlement it neither admits nor denies the allegations . | business | 0 |
ore costs hit global steel firms shares in steel firms have dropped worldwide amid concerns that higher iron ore costs will hit profit growth. shares in germany s thyssenkrupp the uk s corus and france s arcleor fell while japan s nippon steel slid after it agreed to pay 72% more for iron ore. china s baoshan iron and steel co. said it was delaying a share sale because of weak market conditions adding it would raise steel prices to offset ore costs. the threat of higher raw material costs also hit industries such as carmakers. france s peugeot warned that its profits may decline this year as a result of the higher steel plastic and commodity prices. steelmakers have been enjoying record profits as demand for steel has risen driven by the booming economies of countries such as china and india. steel prices rose by 8% globally in january alone and by 24% in china. the boom times are far from over but analysts say that earnings growth may slow. the share price fall was initially triggered by news that two of the world s biggest iron ore suppliers had negotiated contracts at much-higher prices. miners rio tinto and cia. vale do rio dolce (cvrd) this week managed to boost by 72% the price of their iron ore a key component of steel. analysts had expected japan s nippon to agree to a price rise of between 40% and 50%. steel analyst peter fish director of sheffield-based consulting group meps said the extent of cvrd s price rise was uncharted territory adding that the steel industry hasn t seen an increase of this magnitude probably in 50 years . analysts now expect other iron ore producers such as australia s bhp billiton to seek annual price rises of up to 70%. the news triggered the share price weakness. it sparked worries that steel makers might not be able to increase product prices further [ to cover rising ore costs] explained kazuhiro takahashi of daiwa securities smbc. in europe arcelor shed 2.1% to 17.58 euros in paris with thyssenkrupp dropping 1.7% to 16.87 euros. in london corus fell 2.2% to 55.57 pence. japan s biggest steel company nippon steel lost 2.5% to 270 yen with closest rival jfe holdings down 3.4%. china s baoshan the country s largest steel producer said that the uncertainty surrounding the industry has prompted it to pull its planned share sale. the firm had been expected to offer 22.5bn yuan ($2.7bn) worth of shares to investors. no date has been given for when the 5 billion shares will come to the market. baoshan stock climbed on news of the delay and its decision to increase the price of its steel by 10%. | world | 2 |
india calls for fair trade rules india which attends the g7 meeting of seven leading industrialised nations on friday is unlikely to be cowed by its newcomer status. in london on thursday ahead of the meeting india s finance minister lashed out at the restrictive trade policies of the g7 nations. he objected to subsidies on agriculture that make it hard for developing nations like india to compete. he also called for reform of the united nations the world bank and the imf. palaniappan chidambaram india s finance minister argued that these organisations need to take into account the changing world order given india and china s integration into the global economy. he said the issue is not globalisation but the terms of engagement in globalisation. mr chidambaram is attending the g7 meeting as part of the g20 group of nations which account for two thirds of the world s population. at a conference on developing enterprise hosted by uk finance minister gordon brown on friday he said that he was in favour of floating exchange rates because they help countries cope with economic shocks. a flexible exchange rate is one more channel for absorbing both positive and negative shocks he told the conference. india along with china brazil south africa and russia has been invited to take part in the g7 meeting taking place in london on friday and saturday. china is expected to face renewed pressure to abandon its fixed exchange rate which g7 nations in particular the us have blamed for a surge in cheap chinese exports. some countries have tried to use fixed exchange rates. i do not wish to make any judgements mr chidambaram said. separately the imf warned on thursday that india s budget deficit was too large and would hamper the country s economic growth which it forecast to be around 6.5% in the year to march 2005. in the year to march 2004 the indian economy grew by 8.5%. | business | 0 |
nat insurance to rise say tories national insurance will be raised if labour wins the next election tory leader michael howard has claimed. tony blair has said he does not want higher tax rates for top earners but on wednesday said other tax promises would be left to labour s manifesto. prime minister s questions also saw mr blair predict that new plans would probably cut net immigration. he attacked tory plans to process asylum claims abroad - but mr howard said labour had proposed the idea too. the commons questions session again saw the leaders of the two biggest parties shape up for the forthcoming election campaign. the tories have promised £4bn in tax cuts but have yet to say where they will fall. mr howard pointed to the institute for fiscal studies predictions that labour will need to increase taxes to cover an £11bn gap in its spending plans. he accused ministers of wasting money on unsuccessful attempts to curb bad behaviour and truancy in schools and on slow asylum processing. it was no good mr blair claiming tax pledges were being left to the manifesto as he had given one to mps on tuesday about the top rate of income tax argued mr howard. pointing to national insurance he added: everyone knows tax will go up under labour: isn t it now clear which tax it would be mr blair instead hailed labour s achievement in using a strong economy to invest in public services. when we have money not only going into extra teachers and nurses but equipment in schools and hospitals that money is not wasted he said. on the tax questions he added: we will make commitments on tax at the time of the manifesto. home secretary charles clarke this week published plans for a new points system for economic migrants with only high-skilled workers allowed into the uk from outside the european union. mr blair said abuses would be weeded out and chain migration where families automatically get the right to settle with immigrant workers would end. that would probably create a fall in the migrant numbers he said. the prime minister ridiculed the tory plans for asylum quotas and for processing all asylum claims overseas. he challenged the tories on which country would house their processing centres - what he called a fantasy island . mr howard read from a letter about the government s own plans at the european council of ministers for processing asylum seekers outside the eu. but mr blair said: all the other countries could not agree on the way forward nor could the un. | politics | 0 |
sideways dominates spirit awards the comedy sideways has dominated this year s independent spirit awards winning all six of the awards for which it was nominated. it was named best film while alexander payne won best director and best screenplay along with writing partner jim taylor. it also won acting awards for stars paul giamatti thomas haden church and virginia madsen. sideways is tipped to do well at sunday s oscars with five nominations. the awards now in their 20th year are given to films made outside the traditional studio system and are traditionally held the day before the oscars. other winners included catalina sandino moreno who took best actress for her role as a drug smuggler in the colombian drama maria full of grace. moreno is also nominated for best actress at the oscars. the best first screenplay award went to joshua marston for maria full of grace. scrubs star zach braff won the award for best first feature for garden state which he wrote directed and starred in. oscar-nominated euthanasia film the sea inside from spain won best foreign film while metallica: some kind of monster was awarded best documentary. actor rodrigo de la serna took the best debut performance prize for the motorcycle diaries. the awards are voted for by the 9 000 members of the independent feature project/los angeles which includes actors directors writers and other industry professionals. last year s big winner lost in translation went on to win the oscar for best original screenplay for writer-director sofia coppola. | entertainment | 0 |
kennedy calls for iraq exit plans tony blair should set out a proper exit strategy from iraq in the wake of next sunday s elections in the country lib dem leader charles kennedy has said. in a speech focusing on issues arising from the re-election of george w bush mr kennedy said iraq had become a crucible of militant terrorism . he wants to see a phased withdrawal of uk troops as soon as the situation allows he said in london. any exit strategy must augment and support the democratic process. there are some who are of the opinion that the mere presence of british and american troops in iraq feeds the insurgency he said. there is some truth in that especially after the initial mistakes that were made - the heavy-handedness of operations like fallujah and the well-publicised instances of abuse at the hands of coalition forces. mr kennedy pointed out that the netherlands portugal and the czech republic which all have troops operating in the southern sector of iraq have announced their imminent withdrawal regardless of the situation on the ground . he accused mr blair s government of being less than straightforward over its plans. next week the prime minister should make a statement regarding the elections in iraq mr kennedy said during his city of london speech. he should set out a proper exit strategy including the phased withdrawal of british troops as the security situation allows. mr kennedy also argued that british troops deployed in iraq should be replaced with forces from other countries - especially islamic countries . | science and tech | 2 |
merritt close to indoor 400m mark teenager lashawn merritt ran the third fastest indoor 400m of all time at the fayetteville invitational meeting. the world junior champion clocked 44.93 seconds to finish well clear of fellow american bershawn jackson in arkansas. only michael johnson has gone quicker setting the world record of 44.63secs in 1995 and running 44.66secs in 1996. kenyan bernard lagat missed out on the world record by 1.45secs as he ran the third quickest indoor mile ever to beat canada s nate brannen by almost 10secs. the olympic silver medallist s time of three minutes 49.89secs was inferior only to the 1997 world record of moroccan hicham el guerrouj and former world record holder eamonn coghlan of ireland s 3:49.78. lagat was on course to break el guerrouj s record through 1200m but could not maintain the pace over the final 400m. ireland s continued his excellent form by winning a tight 3 000m in 7:40.53. cragg who recently defeated olympic 10 000m champion kenenisa bekele in boston held off bekele s ethiopian colleague markos geneti by only 0.19secs to secure his victory. mark carroll who will join cragg in the european indoor championships next month finished a solid third in 7:46.78. olympic 200m gold medallist of jamaica ran the fastest women s 60m in the world this year as she equalled her personal best of 7.09secs. world indoor 60m hurdles champion also won improving his season-leading time to 7.51secs. | world | 2 |
deutsche boerse boosts dividend deutsche boerse the german stock exchange that is trying to buy its london rival has said it will boost its 2004 dividend payment by 27%. analysts said that the move is aimed at winning over investors opposed to its bid for the london stock exchange. critics of the takeover have complained that the money could be better used by returning cash to shareholders. deutsche boerse also said profit in the three months to 31 december was 120.7m euros ($158.8m; £83.3m). sales climbed to 364.4m euros lifting revenue for the year to a record 1.45bn euros. frankfurt-based deutsche boerse has offered £1.3bn ($2.48bn; 1.88bn euros) for the london stock exchange. rival pan-european bourse euronext is working also on a bid. late on monday deutsche boerse said it would lift its 2004 dividend payment to 70 euro cents (£0.48; $0.98) from 55 euro cents a year earlier. there is a whiff of a sweetener in there anais faraj an analyst at nomura told the bbc s world business report. most of the disgruntled shareholders of deutsche boerse are complaining that the money that is being used for the bid could be better placed in their hands paid out in dividends mr faraj continued. deutsche boerse is trying to buy them off in a sense he said. | sports | 2 |
brown outlines third term vision gordon brown has outlined what he thinks should be the key themes of new labour s next general election bid. he said ensuring every child in britain had the best start in life could be a legacy to match the nhs s creation. the chancellor has previously planned the party s election strategy but this time the role will be filled by alan milburn - a key ally of tony blair. the premier insisted mr brown will have a key role in labour s campaign and praised his handling of the economy. writing in the guardian newspaper mr brown outlined his view of the direction new labour should be taking. as our manifesto and our programme for the coming decade should make clear labour s ambition is not simply tackling idleness but delivering full employment; not just attacking ignorance disease and squalor but promoting lifelong education good health and sustainable communities. bbc political editor andrew marr said that mr brown s article was a warning shot to mr blair not to try and cut him out of the manifesto writing process. it was as always coded and careful... but entirely deliberate was mr marr s assessment. the prime minister was asked about mr brown s article and about his election role when he appeared on bbc radio 4 s today programme. mr blair said a decision had yet to be taken over how the election would be run but the chancellor s role would be central . mr blair argued that under new labour the country had changed for the better and that was in part because of mr brown s management of the economy. and he pledged childcare would be a centrepiece of labour s manifesto. he also predicted the next general election will be a tough tough fight for new labour. but the prime minister insisted he did not know what date the poll would take place despite speculation about 5 may. mr blair said he was taking nothing for granted ahead of the vote - warning that the tory strategy was to win power via the back door by hinting they were aiming to cut labour s majority instead of hoping for an outright win. | politics | 0 |
lib dems to target stamp duty the liberal democrats are promising to raise the stamp duty threshold if they win the general election in a bid to court first-time house buyers. vince cable the party s treasury spokesman said raising the threshold to £150 000 would prevent over 400 000 home-buyers from paying the tax. he said first-time buyers were being squeezed out of the housing market. the labour party said the liberal democrats needed to explain how they would pay for the plan. the plan forms part of a wider lib dems policy to encourage first time buyers and those on lower incomes into the market. under the proposals the average saving for a new buyer would be more than £1 000 according to mr cable. first time buyers are being squeezed out of the housing market not only by higher house prices but also by being swept into the stamp duty net he said. by failing to uprate the stamp duty threshold gordon brown has hit first time buyers and those on low incomes the hardest. by pledging to increase the threshold to £150 000 the liberal democrats will make it possible for many first time buyers to buy a property without facing this tax. paul boateng mp labour s chief secretary to the treasury said: the lib dems sums don t add up. they can have no credibility until they can say how they would fund their ever growing list of tax and spending commitments. mr cable will publish his alternative budget on monday. | politics | 0 |
japanese banking battle at an end japan s sumitomo mitsui financial has withdrawn its takeover offer for rival bank ufj holdings enabling the latter to merge with mitsubishi tokyo. sumitomo bosses told counterparts at ufj of its decision on friday clearing the way for it to conclude a 3 trillion yen ($29bn) deal with mitsubishi. the deal would create the world s biggest bank with assets of about 189 trillion yen ($1.8 trillion). sumitomo s exit ends the most high profile fight in japanese bank history. ufj holdings japan s fourth-largest bank has been at the centre of a fierce bid battle over the last year. sumitomo japan s third-largest bank tabled a higher offer for ufj than its rival valuing the company at $35bn. however ufj s management was known to prefer the offer from mitsubishi tokyo financial group (mtfg) japan s second-largest bank. concerns were also raised about sumitomo s ability to absorb ufj and the former has now admitted defeat. we believe the market and most investors accept a ufj-mtfg merger sumitomo said in a statement. given the ongoing integration of ufj and mtfg operations persisting with our proposal may not be in the best interests of our shareholders or ufj s. mitsubishi s takeover of ufj - which will be japan s largest-ever takeover deal - will still have to be approved by shareholders of the two firms. however this is expected to be a formality. sumitomo may now turn its attention to deepening its ties with daiwa securities another japanese financial firm. the two are set to merge their venture capital operations and there has been speculation that this could lead to a full-blown merger. japanese banks are increasingly seeking alliances to boost profits. | business | 0 |
stock market eyes japan recovery japanese shares have ended the year at their highest level since 13 july amidst hopes of an economic recovery during 2005. the nikkei index of leading shares gained 7.6% during the year to close at 11 488.76 points. in 2005 it will rise toward 13 000 predicted morgan stanley equity strategist naoki kamiyama. the optimism in the financial markets contrast sharply with pessimism in the japanese business community. earlier this month the quarterly tankan survey of japanese manufacturers found that business confidence had weakened for the first time since march 2003. slower economic growth rising oil prices a stronger yen and weaker exports were blamed for the fall in confidence. despite this traders expect strength in the global economy to benefit japan which has been close to sliding into recession in recent months. structural reform within japan and an anticipated end to the banking sector s bad debt problems should also help they say. | science and tech | 2 |
what price for trusted pc security you can now buy trusted computers but can we really trust the pc vendors asks technology analyst bill thompson. if you have recently bought an ibm thinkvantage computer a dell optiplex or one of a whole range of laptops from toshiba hp/compaq or samsung then you may have got more for your money than you realised. inside your shiny new pc is an extra chip called the trusted platform module (tpm) that can be used for a range of hardware-based security features. eventually the tpm will be built into the main processor itself and if the trusted computing group has its way then you will find one in every piece of hardware you own from mobile phones to tv set top boxes to children s toys. but for the moment it is a separate piece of hardware providing enhanced security features to programs that know how to use them. and as part of a well-designed network system it can provide a lot more security than we enjoy today. a big advantage of the tpm is that it is hardware-based. at the moment most of us rely on software to keep our information safe and secure. it might be password-protected user accounts data encryption programs or a firewall but it all relies on program code running on an inherently insecure processor. hardware security is less common even if it is a lot safer. this is partly because it is more expensive to give someone a smartcard than a password but also because its more work for users systems administrators and managers. as a result we settle for second best. so when it comes to computer security trusted systems could be a major step forward. after all if you have a laptop that will only run programs that have been digitally signed then it will be a lot harder for virus writers to get their malicious code to run. and if all your files are locked automatically then even if you get your computer stolen your personal data will be safeguarded. at the moment support for trusted hardware is not built into major operating systems. instead you have to use special software like hp s protecttools or wave systems embassy. this provides file encryption password management and identity protection usually for business users who connect to company networks. full support for the trusted computing specification will not be available from microsoft until the next release of windows longhorn . this will include what microsoft in a typical act of obscurantism calls the next generation secure computing base and it will give user-level programs access to the trusted computing hardware. when that happens we can expect to see a lot of publicity around the new capabilities and no doubt the windows security centre will encourage users to turn on their trusted computing capability just as they turn on their firewall. however there is a downside to the increased security from viruses spyware and data theft that this will provide. because the trusted computing base is also used to make digital rights management (drm) systems more secure this will give content providers a lot more control over what we can do with music movies and books that we have bought from them. we have seen recently how allowing digital rights management services into our lives can lead to unwelcome consequences. users of apple s itunes used to be able to stream the music they had brought to up to five other itunes users a great way of letting your mates discover your music collection. but the latest version of itunes limits this capability just as an earlier upgrade reduced the number of times you could burn a selected playlist of purchased songs to a cd. another took away the ability to play songs downloaded from real s harmony service on your ipod. apple can do this because they wrote the software and they control the rights management. once it is embedded in trusted hardware it will be even harder for dedicated programmers to find their way around these restrictions and give us back the fair use rights that should be guaranteed under copyright law. similarly users of tivo digital video recorders have found that they cannot record some shows and other programmes that they have recorded are automatically deleted after a day. this happens because of changes that tivo have made to their software and the users cannot control it. one wonders whether hardware-based drm will work for those who believe that locking-down digital content is a bad idea and that the flexibility of copyright law is something that should be embraced and not taken away. it will not work because of the fundamental flaw at the heart of the system: in order for the purchaser to view the content it has to be unlocked. once it is unlocked then someone somewhere will figure out a way to make a copy of the unlocked version. and once an unlocked version leaks onto the network it will be uncontrollable. the efforts going into drm would be much better spent building efficient distribution services finding business models that are based on trusting your customers and offering high quality downloads at fair prices. what we want is not so much a trusted computing platform as a trusted customer platform. the record companies and the film industry need to recognise that most of us most of the time will pay a reasonable amount for good quality material. they will benefit more by building a market in which i can share songs with my friends record shows i want to watch later and burn cds for my kids; a market which respects the spirit of copyright law and does not seek to replace it by restrictive contracts or end user agreements. we need to ensure that trusted computing remains under the control of the users and is not used to take away the freedoms we enjoy today. bill thompson is a regular commentator on the bbc world service programme go digital. | science and tech | 0 |
uk discriminated against roma the government s immigration rules racially discriminated against roma (gypsies) seeking entry into the uk the law lords have ruled. it follows a home office move to cut asylum claims by stopping people mostly roma from boarding flights to britain from the czech capital prague. civil rights group liberty said it exposed racism at the heart of the government s asylum policy . the home office said it had not meant to discriminate against anyone. it said it would look at the implications of the ruling but pointed out the controls were no longer in place because czechs are now entitled to free movement across europe. the screening took place at the airport in july 2001 at a time of concern about the number of asylum seekers entering britain. those refused pre-clearance were effectively prevented from travelling to the uk because no airline would carry them. lady hale sitting with lords bingham steyn hope and carswell said many roma had good reason to want to leave the czech republic because of persecution. but she said they were treated more sceptically than non-roma passengers by immigration officers acting on racial grounds . lady hale said immigration officers should have treated all would-be passengers in the same way only using more intrusive questioning if there was a specific reason. liberty said statistics suggested roma czechs were 400 times more likely to be stopped by british immigration officials at prague airport than non-roma czechs. it took up the case of six unnamed roma czechs refused entry to britain and that of the european roma rights centre which said the measures unfairly penalised roma people. it lost a high court action in october 2002 when a judge said the system was no more or less objectionable than a visa control system. he ruled there was no obligation on britain not to take steps to prevent a potential refugee from approaching its border to claim asylum. the court of appeal then decided the practice almost inevitably discriminated against roma but that this was justified because they were more likely to seek asylum. immigration law allows officials to discriminate against citizens from named countries but it does not allow officers to go further than that. responding to the ruling a home office spokesman said: the scheme was operated two years ago as a short-term response to the high levels of passengers travelling from prague who are subsequently found to be ineligible for entry to the uk. welcoming the ruling maeve sherlock chief executive of the refugee council said: human rights abuses against the roma in eastern europe are well documented and it is hugely troubling that the government sought to deny entry to such a vulnerable group. amnesty international s jan shaw said: that the government s own asylum policy was being operated discriminatorily is bleakly ironic given that discrimination often lies at the heart of serious human rights abuse not least in the czech republic. but the chairman of migration watch uk sir andrew green said the house of lords decision was a step in the wrong direction . the basic point is that the government has a duty to control our borders and this decision appears to extend the race relations legislation beyond sensible limits. | politics | 0 |
dal maso in to replace bergamasco david dal maso has been handed the task of replacing the injured mauro bergamasco at flanker in italy s team to face scotland on saturday. alessandro troncon continues at scrum-half despite the return to fitness of paul griffen. the experienced cristian stoica is recalled at centre at the expense of walter pozzebon. we are going to scotland for the first away win and nothing else said manager marco bollesan. i really believe this is the team who will have all our faith for saturday s game. we lost a player like mauro bergamasco who has been important for us but (coach) john (kirwan) has put together the best team at present if not ever. r de marigny (parma); mirco bergamasco (stade francais) c stoica (montpellier) a masi (viadana) l nitoglia (calvisano); l orquera (padova) a troncon (treviso); a lo cicero (l aquilla) f ongaro (treviso) m castrogiovanni (calvisano) s dellape (agen) m bortolami (narbonne capt) a persico (agen) d dal maso (treviso) s parisse (treviso). g intoppa (calvisano) s perugini (calvisano) ca del fava (parma) s orlando (treviso) p griffen (calvisano) r pedrazzi (viadana) k robertson (viadana). | world | 2 |
howard unveils election platform the conservatives would stand up for the forgotten majority michael howard pledged as he unveiled the first part of the tory election manifesto. the tory leader argued there was a mass of people whom he says feel let down by tony blair and who share tory values. in the foreword to the manifesto he promises to focus on restoring order trying to lower taxes and giving power back to the people. labour says the document offers only a return to a failed tory past . the liberal democrats say the conservatives cannot win what they predict will be a three-party contest. campaigning activity is accelerating ahead of the general election which is widely tipped for may but could be any time before june 2006. labour on monday postponed a launch of election posters because of the asian tsunami disaster. mr howard published the introduction to the tory manifesto. other chapters will follow in coming weeks. in a speech in northamptonshire he said the forgotten majority made up the backbone of britain. they were people who were saving for their first home or their retirement working hard and accepting their responsibilities. he says in the manifesto foreword: they have been forgotten neglected and taken for granted by mr blair. saying britain must change direction mr howard argues government is too big and cannot continue down the path of ever rising taxes . he promises to ensure frontline professionals parents and patients make the key decisions rather than whitehall bureaucrats . and he says the tories would get a grip on crime immigration and disorder. the decline of responsibility and the proliferation of so-called human rights have left us in a moral quagmire unable to get a grip on rising crime and disorder he says. mr howard says he will produce a timetable for action so people can hold him to account but on issues like taxation he has so far only published options not specific plans. mr howard told bbc news: i m determined to lower taxes but i m also determined not to make any promises i can t keep. the tories were unveiling material months ahead of the expected election because they needed time to make voters aware of their policies he said. he was asked if tory support for the government on iraq and identity cards had given the lib dems the chance to portray themselves as the opposition to labour. mr howard argued the only test for his policies was whether they were best for britain. it had nothing to do with putting clear blue water between himself and his opponents. labour s election slogan will be: britain s working don t let the tories wreck it again . campaign coordinator alan milburn accused the tories of launching thatcherism in instalments while labour helped the hard working majority of families. lib dem president simon hughes said his party had set out its election stance in september. the liberal democrats will ask the british people for support this year as the party with the policies best able to deliver freedom and fairness and to restore trust he said. | politics | 0 |
minimum wage increased to £5.05 the minimum wage will rise in october benefiting more than 1m people the government has announced. adults must be paid at least £5.05 an hour up from £4.85 while 18 to 21 year olds will be paid £4.25. the recommendations came from the low pay commission which said the number of jobs had continued to grow since the minimum wage was introduced in 1999. businesses wanted it frozen warning more rises could damage competitiveness but the unions want a £6 rate. a further increase in the adult rate to £5.35 an hour is provisionally scheduled for october 2006. according to the commission many businesses had found the last two significant increases in the minimum wage challenging . we have therefore recommended only a slight increase above average earnings and concentrated it in the second year to allow business more time to absorb the impact said chairman adair turner. the government says most of those on the minimum wage are women - with many working in cleaning catering shops and hairdressing. unveiling the latest increase mr blair said he wanted the minimum wage to become a symbol of decency and fairness . for too long poverty pay capped the aspiration and prosperity of far too many hard-working families he said. too often people were told to make a choice between the indignity of unemployment or the humiliation of poverty pay. chancellor gordon brown and transport secretary alistair darling promoted the news in edinburgh wales secretary peter hain and welsh first minister rhodri morgan in cardiff and northern ireland minister john spellar in belfast. the government has not accepted the commission s recommendation that 21-year-olds should be paid at the adult rate but says it will look again at the rate later on. mr brown said: we want to do nothing that can damage the employment opportunities for young people particularly young people entering the labour market for the first time. the government has said it will look at tougher action against the small number of employers who consistently refuse to pay the minimum wage. the national minimum wage is currently set at £4.85 per hour for those aged 22 and above and at £4.10 for those aged 18 to 21. a £3 per hour minimum wage was introduced last october for 16 to 17-year-olds but apprentices are exempt. the trade unions congress welcomed the increase but has called for a £6 minimum wage by next year. but the confederation of british industry (cbi) called for a pause year to assess the impact of the above inflation rise in the minimum wage in october. and david frost director of the british chambers of commerce said: the level of increase each year has increased by rates far outstripping the rates of inflation. what employers are saying to us now is that it s at a level where it s starting to bite into the competitiveness of companies right across the country. the liberal democrats economics spokesman vincent cable said he supported the move to raise the minimum wage. it s not just good for the workers themselves but it lifts them out of benefits and therefore is good for the exchequer too he said. conservative leader michael howard said he accepted the principle of the minimum wage and would not seek to disturb the increase. speaking on bbc radio 4 s woman s hour mr howard hinted the tories might go into the general election with a promise to cancel income tax for the lowest-paid workers. there are people on very low salaries very low incomes indeed who really shouldn t be paying income tax he said. it would be better to decrease taxes on earnings below £12 000 a year with say no tax on below £6 000. the losses in tax can be recouped by having a 50pc tax band for people making over £100 000. our minimum wage is going to be effectively almost twice the us minimum wage yet our economy per person is only 2/3rds of the us! perhaps we have to really starting questioning why some products cost 50-60% more here than they do in the us. this combined with the tax decreases would make the pounds the low-paid people do make go much further. it s still not good enough! i got a part time job at 16 when i was doing my a-levels in an attempt to get a little money saved for uni. this was only 2 years ago and i was getting paid £2.75 an hour and working as hard as any of the older staff maybe it s about time 16 - 21 year olds got a fair wage! we must remember that the minimum wage is only part of the picture and must not rise to a level that makes employing people unattractive and encourages businesses to send work and therefore jobs abroad. still government and local councils employ staff via their contractors that pay at the minimum wage or very close to it. an easy way for the government to do as it preaches would be to insist on floor pay levels for all government workers and take tens of thousand of civil servants out of the social security system all together. any increase is certainly welcome news. however for all those whining about the pressures of an increase in the minimum wage i would simply ask them: would you be happy to work for less than £5.05 an hour . thought not ... so then don t expect others to either. i can t believe that so many of these comments are against the minimum wage! also i personally take great offence at the insinuation that people earning minimum wage were lazy at school if everyone went to university then who would serve you in the supermarkets and clean up after you it s about time that these hardworking people are rewarded with only what they deserve and have earned fair pay and a bit of respect wouldn t go a miss either. br /> this is good news. the minimum wage has put a sense of equality back into a worker s relationship with their employer. wages are supposed to be a fair reflection of an employee s efforts. for too long wages were a point of exploitation - what could an employer get away with. in very simplistic terms this put a pressure to keep low-paid wages low. with the minimum wage this downward pressure is at least partly removed. it is also interesting to read the comments from so called business leaders. they are the first to defend the rights and privileges of boards to award fat-cat salaries bonuses and pension rights to the select few but they are the first to attack policies that are put in place to merely defend the rights of those that really make those fat cats purr! i feel there are both negatives and positives to the increase on one hand some businesses will struggle to stay afloat but on the other hand in today world many young people can t afford to move out as property costs too much and only by earning more will they be able to get on in life. its true many may get complacent but the minimum wage could be looked at as more of a stepping stone rather than a hand out. here come the usual whines about how difficult it will be for businesses! we all remember michael howard s protestations that the minimum wage would cost a million jobs when it was introduced - funny how he s gone quiet on that one! jobs have continued to increase since this humane legislation was brought in. i think if any job is worth doing then it s worth being paid a fair wage for and £5.05 is hardly a fortune. if your business cannot pay its workers a decent wage then maybe it s not being run properly and if it folds a better-run company will take over its duties and employ more people so everybody wins except incompetent business owners! great keep at it tony i remember the despair of the 80s and the low wages employers got away with. at last we can make a difference to people and reward them for working. we can t afford not to pay a decent wage. it s not a jobs at any price economy goodbye sweatshops hello decency. the increase in minimum wage is a good thing. living in the southwest where house prices and rent have increased hugely (like the rest of the country) over the past 5 years has made living for you average 18-21 years old very difficult. in the south west the increase in living costs have not been matched by an increase in pay for example a job i did in plymouth was underpaid to an equivalent worker in exeter by 75p an hour. hopefully the increase in the minimum wage will bring in to balance pay on a regional and national level and in turn allow people like myself who do work hard but might never earn a 6 figure salary the chance to branch out on our own. i work at a large hospital where the contractors providing all ancillary services - domestic catering & portering etc - pay the minimum wage of £4.85 as the basic rate. someone has to do these unglamorous jobs and earn enough to live decently. how dare people suggest we are lazy or complacent for accepting these jobs and these wages who do they think will be carrying out these public service jobs if contractors are allowed to pay as little as their consciences allow this is definitely the right step in the right direction. it shows that this government cares for the low income earners as well. this is a million votes more. good strategy isn t it although i would not deny people the minimum wage increase its timing stinks. i am quite prepared for a raft of bribes to come from the government before the election and a raft of taxes afterwards they are playing us for the fools they think we are. this is extremely bad news for any business - whether they are small and medium enterprises or even large companies. by increasing overheads for business there will be an almost certain rise in costs to the consumer who while they openly welcome the idea of an increase in the minimum wage are the same people who still want to buy that shirt or that pair of trainers for next to nothing. the extra cost this increase will bring will only be reflected in the price of the goods we buy which in turn will only serve to discourage companies from setting-up business in the uk or encourage those companies already based here to look elsewhere. the jubilation felt by low-paid workers here will soon give way to misery as they lose their jobs. this will only lead to a reduction in jobs. why have many of the call centre jobs gone to india. blair say s the economy is strong and stable economy however consumer debt and the country s debt is at its highest and now they heap this onto businesses that will have no choice but to cut the workforce. the timing cannot be coincidental. this is blatant electioneering and should be exposed as such. andrew in derby complains that raising the minimum wage is blatant electioneering . i don t mind if it is. in our degraded democracy elections are the one time when elites really have to worry about doing something concrete for the majority. my only complaint is the paltry figures being discussed. if my maths is right a 35 hour week at £5.05 gives you an annual income just over £9 000 and raising it to £6 leaves it under £11 000. the unions should be putting the government under pressure for much more. businesses complaining might like to take a look at corporate pay shareholder payouts and profits before wondering if paying a living wage is really a controlling factor in the viability of their firm. i am all for lifting the minimum wage of workers to a reasonable level but we have to accept that with this will come competition from overseas workers. also small businesses will have to be able to afford this manpower cost. we are already seeing a sweeping change in it work being lost to india where people are paid much less. it is difficult for me to understand that only five years ago cheap labour abroad was classified as sweat shop but now we are told it is global competition. with our manufacturing industry in serious decline the country cannot be entirely service industries without something tangible to serve. there has to be something at the top of the food chain and that is manufacturing. the whole picture needs to be looked at. this is great news but that might be because i work for minimum wage. seems a good idea and will hopefully be an incentive to those who live to claim to actually get a job. when you can earn more from claiming than you can from work there is no incentive. perhaps a step in the right direction. if the tuc get their way a very large number of smes will have to close - this will put more people out of work. how then will the government fudge the unemployment figures! the government know it is not big business that keeps the economy going but the smes but we always get overlooked they will only take notice if these large corporations close and move to other countries after all they are predominantly owned by foreign companies. we are a specialist company but with these increases have already had an effect on us and we have lost work another one will close us. while i m delighted for those on low pay that this increase is being put forward i am extremely concerned at the implications for small businesses. as an employee for a small nursery i know this increase will cause great hardship for my employer who has been unable to increase salaries for higher paid employees because of last october s increase for the lower paid employees - who were originally being paid slightly above the minimum but are now on the minimum. this latest increase of 20p an hour will cause even more financial hardship. if the rate rises to £6 then i can foresee many small businesses having to pay off employees. the increase in minimum wage will have a serious effect on my business. although we pay above the minimum level we will have to increase our pay rates to maintain the differential. the raise is well above inflation and without significant increases in sales it will mean that i will not be taking on a new member of staff as planned and i will be looking to reduce the total hours worked by the other members of staff overtime being the first to go. i currently employ 42 staff whose wages mirror the national minimum wage. increases above inflation are fine but all of my business is conducted with local authorities who will not accept above inflation rises in my service delivery. 80% of my costs are labour. the other aspect that is always hidden is that the thresholds for tax credits do not move in line with these increases so that all that happens is that employees tax credit support is reduced by the amount of the increase thereby saving the government money but increasing the financial burden on small to medium businesses it is very good that the government has decided to increase the minimum wage - this should hopefully motivate people to undertake the lower status jobs. i know about this great idea - don t bother getting qualifications laze about at school no need to do anything other than attend so your parents don t get fined because remember when you do eventually start working doesn t matter how lazy you are you ll be guaranteed a decent wage. the ones who suffer are the employers. i hope that if industry and business have to pay this new rate that mr blair and mr brown will increase tax allowances and raise national insurance thresholds so that the treasury won t take some of this increase off the people they say they are helping or is this just another form of stealth tax on business through the back door i don t believe in the minimum wage at all! i think jobs should create their own wage value and that if people want higher wages they should earn them. now before everyone thinks that i am some rich-kid i can assure you i am not. i came from a very much working class background and started work 20 years ago on a youth opportunity program earning £25 per week. i worked hard went to college part time got my a-levels and degree & bettered myself. i now earn a 6 figure salary. i did that through hard work and getting off my backside. a minimum wage just makes people complacent. to ashley of swindon: when you earned £25 per week it was worth something. these days that £25 would need to be near to £60 to have the equivalent buying power. i might add that thanks to successive governments holding down the tax allowance threshold below inflation people earning the minimum wage are paying taxes that they never would have done 10 years ago at equivalent wages. in my day type arguments are a view that belong in the your day - 20 years ago! as a graduate working for minimum wage i welcome any increase of pay i can get. i disagree with ashley swindon saying i have to work harder to get more pay. i have my gcse s a-levels and a degree and have chosen to work for a small business that can t afford the wages i should be getting i should be on at least 3x what i m getting but they can t afford it. we all work hard but the money is just not there. but on the plus side i love my job and wouldn t change it just to get more pay. as an employer of staff in several shops the last rise in the minimum wage cost my company an additional £5000 per year. these next rises will cost me more. i have to get the money from somewhere so pass it on to customers. so no one really wins in the end. in answer to emma from sleaford regarding no one really wins in the end... on the contrary mr blair wins - he wins because he obviously has announced this to be a vote winner and his treasury wins because as an employer you will know that the amount of tax and national insurance that the government will receive from all the minimum wage increases will rise and of course not only will be paying out higher wages but as an employer higher employer ni contributions as well. if the minimum wage increases again and if it hits anywhere near the £6.00 mark there will be 12 more people on the employment line and one more small business going bankrupt - namely mine. think of us employers as well mr blair we are not all big corporations earning millions. all workers should be entitled to a fair day s pay for a fair day s work. how many people on the minimum wage have any hope of obtaining a mortgage or saving towards retirement it is good news for many asians living in uk. students who do odd jobs can increase their income and can help there family in their home country. i thank mr. blair and his government for increase in the national minimum wage. | world | 2 |
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. | business | 0 |
new media battle for bafta awards the bbc leads the nominations for the bafta interactive awards including one for the radio times website and one for sport interactive s euro 2004 coverage. the awards which were started in 1997 recognise the best websites digital tv shows and cd roms. other nominees include the guardian news website the national theatre mtv the science museum and the london stock exchange. the winners from 12 different categories are crowned on 2 march 2005. there were nearly 400 entries this year - a third more than last year. the bbc has 16 nominations while the guardian has three nominations. this year s nominees are a testament to the creative and innovative work going on within the industry said grant dean chair of the interactive committee. categories include interactive tv film digital tv mobile phones and music. shaun of the dead oasis definitely maybe really bend it like beckham the chaplin collection and the day today will battle it out in the dvd category. itv s great british spelling test takes on the bbc s olympics and spooks interactive for the interactive tv award. and the guardian takes three of a possible five nominations in the news and sport category for its website coverage of euro 2004 the tour de france and the us elections. the bbc s ican site is up for the technical and social innovation award alongside the likes of nottingham university s uncle roy all around you. in 2002 the british academy of film and television decided to split the awards into separate games and interactive ceremonies to fully cover the range of innovation outside the gaming industry. | entertainment | 0 |
mobile games come of age the bbc news website takes a look at how games on mobile phones are maturing. a brief round-up follows but you can skip straight to the reviews by clicking on the links below. if you think of snake when some mentions mobile games then you could be in for a bit of a surprise. this is because mobile games have come a long way in a very short time. even before nokia s n-gage game phone launched in late 2003 many mobile operators were realising that there was an audience looking for something to play on their handset. and given that many more people own handsets than own portable game playing gadgets such as the gameboy it could be a very lucrative market. that audience includes commuters wanting something to fill their time on the way home game fans looking for a bit of variety and hard core gamers who like to play every moment they can. life for all these types of player has got immeasurably better in the last year as the numbers of titles you can download to your phone has snowballed. now sites such as wireless gaming review list more than 200 different titles for some uk networks and the ranges suit every possible taste. there are ports of pc and arcade classics such as space invaders lunar lander and bejewelled. there are also versions of titles such as colin mcrae rally that you typically find on pcs and consoles. there are shoot-em-ups adventure games strategy titles and many novel games only found on handsets. rarely now does an action movie launch without a mobile game tie-in. increasingly such launches are all part of the promotional campaign for a film understandable when you realise that a good game can rack up millions of downloads. the returns can be pretty good when you consider that some games cost £5. what has also helped games on mobiles thrive is the fact that it is easier than ever to get hold of them thanks to technology known as wap push. by sending a text message to a game maker you can have the title downloaded to your handset. far better than having to navigate through the menus of most mobile operator portals. the number of handsets that can play games has grown hugely too. almost half of all phones now have java onboard meaning that they can play the increasingly sophisticated games that are available - even the ones that use 3d graphics. the minimum technology specifications that phones should adhere to are getting more sophisticated which means that games are too. now double key presses are possible making familiar tactics such as moving and strafing a real option. the processing power on handsets means that physics on mobile games is getting more convincing and the graphics are improving too. some game makers are also starting to take advantage of the extra capabilities in a mobile. many titles particularly racing games let you upload your best time to see how you compare to others. usually you can get hold of their best time and race against a ghost or shadow to see if you can beat them. a few games also let you take on people in real time via the network or if you are sitting close to them via bluetooth short-range radio technology. with so much going on it is hard to do justice to the sheer diversity of what is happening. but these two features should help point you in the direction of the game makers and give you an idea of where to look and how to get playing. too fast too furious (digital bridges) as soon as i start playing this i remember why i never play driving games - because i m rubbish at them. no matter if i drive the car via joystick or keypad i just cannot get the hang of braking for corners or timing a rush to pass other drivers. the game rewards replay because to advance you have to complete every section within a time limit. winning gives you cash for upgrades. graphically the rolling road is a convincing enough evocation of speed as the palm trees and cactus whip by and the city scrolls past in the background. the cars handle pretty well despite my uselessness but it was not clear if the different models of cars were appreciably different on the track. the only niggle was that the interface was a bit confusing especially when using a joystick rather than the keypad to play. fatal force (macrospace) a futuristic shooter that lets you either play various deathmatch modes against your phone or run through a series of scenarios that involves killing aliens invading earth. graphics are a bit cartoon-like but only helps to make clear what is going on and levels are well laid out and encourage you to leap about exploring. both background music and sounds effects work well. the scenarios are well scripted and you regularly get hints from the fatal force commanders. weapons include flamethrowers rocket launchers grenades and at a couple of points you even get chance to use a mech for a short while. with the right power-up you can go into a matrix-style bullet time to cope with the onslaught of aliens. the game lets you play via bluetooth if others are in range. online the game has quite a following with clans player rankings and even new downloadable maps. | politics | 2 |
gronkjaer agrees switch to madrid jesper gronkjaer has agreed a move to atletico madrid from birmingham city. the 27-year-old winger spent just five months at st andrews following a £2.2m move from chelsea in july after playing for denmark at euro 2004. he is set to move during the january transfer window in a deal rumoured to be about £1.4m subject to a medical. we will meet with the player s representative to finalise the contract and decide when he will sign said atletico sporting director toni munoz. gronkjaer has been targeted by blues fans and was sarcastically applauded when taken off against everton last month. boss steve bruce had said that he would be happy to let the danish international go if the price was right. he added: i m not going to say the decision to let him go is down to the fans reaction towards him. he has had a tough time since the summer with the loss of his mother and finding it difficult to adjust to a new club and a different area. he has been terrific and not missed a day s training and is someone if your daughter brought them home you would be delighted. it just hasn t quite worked out here for him. but we d like to get back most of what we spent. | sports | 0 |
bekele sets sights on world mark olympic 10 000m champion kenenisa bekele is determined to add the world indoor two mile record at february s norwich union grand prix in birmingham. the 22-year-old will again be chasing a record held by his compatriot and mentor haile gebrselassie who set the mark at the same meeting in 2003. i am still as hungry to do as much as i can in this sport said bekele. and aiming for the two mile world record in birmingham is the next of those targets. gebrselassie s current record stands at eight minutes 04.69 seconds. and bekele is no stranger to overhauling world marks at the national indoor arena. the ethiopian broke the world indoor 5 000m record on his debut at the meeting last year. compatriots mulugeta wondimu abiyote abate and markos geneti the world indoor bronze medallist over 3000m will race against bekele on 18 february. the meet has already attracted a crop of olympic talent. britain s 800m and 1500m champion kelly holmes is taking part in the 1000m. swedish heptathlon gold medallist carolina kluft will contest the 60m hurdles. while men s 4x100m relay gold medallists jason gardener and mark lewis-francis will go head-to-head in the 60m. | sports | 0 |
virgin blue shares plummet 20% shares in australian budget airline virgin blue plunged 20% after it warned of a steep fall in full year profits. virgin blue said profits after tax for the year to march would be between 10% to 15% lower than the previous year. sluggish demand reported previously for november and now december 2004 continues said virgin blue chief executive brett godfrey. virgin blue which is 25% owned by richard branson has been struggling to fend off pressure from rival jetstar. it cut its full year passenger number forecast by approximately 2.5% . virgin blue reported a 22% fall in first quarter profits in august 2004 due to tough competition. in november first half profits were down due to slack demand and rising fuel costs. virgin blue was launched four years ago and now has roughly one third of australia s domestic airline market. but the national carrier qantas has fought back with its own budget airline jetstar which took to the skies in may 2004. sydney-listed virgin blue s shares recovered slightly to close 12% down on wednesday. shares in its major shareholder patrick corporation - which owns 46% of virgin blue - had dropped 31% by the close. | sports | 2 |
johnson announces june retirement former england captain martin johnson has announced he is to retire from rugby union at the end of the season. johnson who captained england to world cup glory in 2003 will play his final match in june. johnson won 84 england caps and quit test rugby at the start of 2004 just two months after leading sir clive woodward s team to victory in sydney. the 34-year-old leicester lock s final match will be his testimonial at twickenham on 4 june. i m confident i have made the right decision to retire said johnson. i m sure there will be times next season when i ll wish i was out there playing for the tigers but you know when the time is right to go and i feel this is the right time. i feel physically that i could play for another season but playing week in and week out in the premiership is a full-time occupation and i only want to be out there for the right reasons. johnson will always be revered by england fans for captaining england to their dramatic world cup win against australia in sydney but his list of achievements does not stop at that. he is the only man to captain the lions twice and he also led england to a six nations grand slam. johnson also had huge success as captain of leicester guiding the tigers to back to back heineken cup victories and several premiership titles. apart from his marvellous captaincy johnson was also one of the finest second rows to ever play the game. teak tough and physically intimidating he ruled the rucks and mauls for the best part of a decade and was integral in england s rise to the top of the world game. his final appearance will be in his testimonial at twickenham where he will lead a team against a side captained by new zealand winger jonah lomu. the all black is aiming to return to action after a kidney transplant and johnson expects it to be a memorable occasion. this game against jonah will be a great way to end the season and end my career said johnson. lomu rugby union s first global superstar after his exploits in the 1995 world cup said he was proud to be part of johnson s farewell. we hold him in such high esteem said lomu. he is such a great leader and i am just honoured to be on the same pitch. | science and tech | 2 |
broadband set to revolutionise tv bt is starting its push into television with plans to offer tv over broadband. as a telecoms company bt is moving to a content distribution strategy andrew burke chief of bt s new entertainment unit told the iptv world forum. we want to be an entertainment facilitator he said on the opening day of the london conference. the bbc is also trialling a service to play programmes over the net and has not ruled out offering it to non-licence fee payers overseas. the corporation s interactive media player (imp) is its first foray into broadband tv - known as iptv (internet protocol tv). we see several opportunities for delivering the type of content that normally broadcasters find it difficult to get to viewers said bt s andrew burke. with more people on broadband and connection speeds increasing telcos around the world are looking for new ways to make money from it. increased competition between net service providers encouraged by ofcom has eroded bt s position in the market. it is looking for a good return on its investment in the technology which has made broadband over adsl a reality. it also sees delivering tv over broadband as a way of getting high-definition (hd) content to people sooner than they will be able to get it through conventional regular broadcasts. the bbc s imp has just finished successful technical trials and is set for much larger consumer trials later in 2005. before it officially launches the bbc must show the government how it offers value for money. delivering programmes over broadband offers clear public value says the bbc because it gives people more control and more choice. iptv is a similar idea to voip services like skype. both use broadband net connections to carry information like video and voice in packets of data instead of conventional means. since it uses internet technology iptv could mean more choice of programmes more more interactivity tailored programming and more localised content outside of conventional satellite digital cable and terrestrial broadcasts. it is all part of the larger changing tv technology landscape and like personal digital video recorders (pvrs) gives people much more control over tv. broadcasters see iptv and pvrs as both as a threat and an opportunity. the bbc recognises that tv over broadband is a reality and aims to innovate with it said rahul chakkara controller of bbci s 24/7 interactive tv services. the imp is based on peer-to-peer technology and lets people download programmes the bbc owns the rights to for up to seven days after broadcast. iptv enables us to take back that programme to our audience at different times said mr chakkara. so we can tell our audience that that programme they paid for [via the licence fee] they can access it any time they want. it helps said mr burke that people are more au fait with terms like digital interactive now that digital tv reaches more than 56% of uk homes. according to benoit joly from broadband telecoms firm thales 30% of europe cannot get satellite tv or digital tv. they could get iptv though. analysts say that iptv will account for 10% of the digital tv market in europe alone by the end of the decade. what needs to happen now agree analysts is for connection speeds to be bumped up to handle the service; 20mbps connections would be ideal. bt does not see itself as a broadcaster of iptv services rather as an enabler said mr burke. its strategy is a hybrid approach he explained where over-the-air conventional broadcasts are supplemented with content over broadband. initially appealing to niche markets like sports fans it will widen out. but iptv could be used for home-monitoring pet cams localised news services and local authority tv too says bt. it even suggests that it could target those households in the uk that do not own a computer 40% of the country. broadband to them would not be about data and the net - that could come later for them - but about cheap phone calls and more choice of tv programmes. home choice already offers 10 000 hours of shows and channels delivered over broadband to homes in london. with a broadband net subscription you can also get your tv and phone service. through content deals and partnerships it offers satellite as well as terrestrial channels and bespoke channels based on what viewers pick and choose from its catalogues. it aims to expand nationally but is seeing a lot of success with what it offers its 15 000 subscribers now and aims to double uptake as well as reach by the summer. although still at a very early stage iptv is another application for broadband that underlines its growing prominence as a backbone network - another utility like electricity. | business | 2 |
casino royale is next bond movie casino royale author ian fleming s first james bond book is to be the next bond film with goldeneye director martin campbell behind the camera. it will be the 21st james bond film to hit the big screen and speculation has been rife over who will play the lead. casino royale was turned into a spoof spy movie by john huston in 1967 with david niven in the lead role. pierce brosnan led the past four bond films but said producers axed him after offering him the chance to return. among the favourites to take over the coveted role are scottish actor dougray scott oscar nominee clive owen and australian star hugh jackman. producers say no decision has yet been made on who will become the seventh actor including niven to play bond on film. kill bill director quentin tarantino had talked of wanting to take on the casino royale project and said he had spoken to brosnan about it. shooting on casino royale is expected to begin once campbell has finished work on the legend of zorro a sequel to the mask of zorro starring catherine zeta jones and antonio banderas. producers barbara broccoli and michael g wilson expect the film to be released in 2006. the script will once again be developed by neal purvis and robert wade who have both worked on two previous bond movies. fleming s book saw the introduction of bond pitted against a russian spy in a game of baccarat. simultaneously a woman arrives on the scene to take his eye off the game. the novel is one of fleming s most violent and sadistic stories with 007 suffering a savage beating from his nemesis le chiffre. in addition to the 1967 film it was also adapted for television in 1954 with actor barry nelson as an americanised jimmy bond. mgm vice chairman chris mcgurk said: martin (campbell) is an incredibly exciting film-maker. goldeneye was a wonderful movie and helped reinvigorate the bond franchise. we re thrilled to have him back to direct the newest bond. new zealand-born campbell moved to the uk in 1966 and directed tv series such as the professionals minder and bergerac. his film credits include edge of darkness vertical limit and beyond borders which starred angelina jolie and clive owen. | business | 2 |
galloway targets new labour mp george galloway is to stand against pro-iraq war labour mp oona king at the next general election. mr galloway who on thursday won £150 000 in libel damages from the daily telegraph said he would contest bethnal green in london for respect. the glasgow kelvin mp who was expelled from labour over his anti iraq war stance accused ms king of being a new labour stooge . ms king said she was delighted at the chance to take on mr galloway. mr galloway s current constituency is set to disappear under planned boundary changes in scotland. the 50-year-old mp launched respect the unity coalition in january along with 1 000 anti-war activists and the muslim association of britain. the party s declared aims are an end to the occupation of iraq the repeal of anti-union laws and the end of privatisation. speaking from a cafe in brick lane east london mr galloway said he had accepted the party s invitation to stand with great honour and pride . he added: here in this constituency of bethnal green and bow there is a new labour stooge mp. a stooge who will sing any song make any speech do any dance do anything she is told to by tony blair - irrespective of how her constituents are adversely affected or how strongly they feel to the contrary. ms king has represented the constituency since 1997. she said: i m delighted i ve been given the chance to finish him (mr galloway) off and believe me i will. i know many people around the country will be grateful not least his constituents in scotland who he has shamelessly abandoned. in june s european parliament elections respect failed to gain enough votes for an mep but did come first in tower hamlets borough most of which is covered by the commons constituency of bethnal green and bow. a month later it gained a council seat in a by-election in st dunstan s and stepney green ward tower hamlets. mr galloway said that in next year s expected general election and local elections a year later the party would turn the east end of london into a fortress . both the conservatives and the liberal democrats have chosen prospective parliamentary candidates for bethnal green and bow from the bangladeshi population which makes up almost half the electorate. the telegraph was sued for libel by mr galloway after the newspaper claimed he received money from saddam hussein s regime in iraq. the newspaper said it was in the public interest to publish the claims based on documents found in baghdad. mr justice eady said he was obliged to compensate mr galloway... and to make an award for the purposes of restoring his reputation . | politics | 0 |
yukos loses us bankruptcy battle a judge has dismissed an attempt by russian oil giant yukos to gain bankruptcy protection in the us. yukos filed for chapter 11 protection in houston in an unsuccessful attempt to halt the auction of its yugansk division by the russian authorities. the court ruling is a blow to efforts to get damages for the sale of yugansk which yukos claims was illegally sold. separately former yukos boss mikhail khodorkovsky began testimony on friday in his trial for fraud and tax evasion. mr khodorkovsky - who has been in jail for more than a year - pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him and denied involvement in any criminal activities. i pride myself on heading for 15 years a number of successful companies and helping other enterprises rise from their knees he told a russian court. yugansk was auctioned to help pay off $27.5bn (£14.5bn) in unpaid taxes. it was bought for $9.4bn by a previously-unknown group which was in turn bought up almost immediately by state-controlled oil company rosneft. texas judge letitia clark said yukos did not have enough of a us presence to establish us jurisdiction. the vast majority of the business and financial activities of yukos continue to occur in russia judge clark said in her ruling. such activities require the continued participation of the russian government. yukos had argued that a us court was entitled to declare it bankrupt before its yugansk unit was sold since it has local bank accounts and its chief finance officer bruce misamore lives in houston. yukos claimed it sought help in the us because other forums - russian courts and the european court of human rights - were either unfriendly or offered less protection. russia had indicated it would in any case not abide by the rulings of the us courts. in her ruling the judge acknowledged that it appears likely that agencies of the russian government have acted in a manner that would be considered confiscatory under united states law . but she said her role was simply to decide on jurisdiction. the us court s jurisdiction had been challenged by deutsche bank and gazpromneft a former unit of russian gas monopoly gazprom which is due to merge with rosneft. analysts said the ability of gazprom and rosneft to trade freely overseas had been stifled while the ownership of yugansk remained unclear. yukos said it would consider its options in light of the ruling. however it claimed that the court had backed its argument in four out of five key issues. we believe the merits of our case are strong and simple said chief executive steven theede. our assets were illegally seized. we want them back or damages paid. | business | 0 |
halo fans hope for sequel xbox video game halo 2 has been released in the us on 9 november with a uk release two days later. why is the game among the most anticipated of all time halo is considered by many video game pundits to be one of the finest examples of interactive entertainment ever produced and more than 1.5 million people worldwide have pre-ordered the sequel. a science fiction epic halo centred the action on a human cyborg controlled by the player who had to save his crew from an alien horde after a crash landing on a strange and exotic world contained on the interior surface of a giant ring in space. remembrance of things past it was not - but as a slice of schlock science fiction inspired by works such as larry niven s ringworld and the film starship troopers it fit the bill perfectly. halo stood out from a crowd of similar titles - it was graphically impressive had tremendous audio using dolby digital a decent storyline instant playability and impressive physics. but what marked halo as a classic were the thousands of details which brought a feeling of polish and the enormously-high production values not usually associated with video gaming. produced by bungie software renowned for their innovation in gaming it caused a stir among the gaming fraternity when the developer was bought by microsoft and became an xbox exclusive. claude errera editor of fansite halo.bungie.org said: bungie got everything right. they were really careful to make sure everything worked the way it was supposed to. nothing distracts you when you were playing. there was nothing in halo that had not been done before but everything in there was as good as it could be. he added: graphically it was superior to everything else out there. it also had a depth to it that made it stand out. halo was unusually immersive sucking the player into the action and blurring the interface between screen and controller. it also capitalised on the growing popularity of lan gaming in the pc world - for the first time it became easy to link multiple game consoles together allowing up to 16 players to battle against each other at the same time. the game instantly cultivated an online following which continues today with a score of halo fan websites following every aspect of the sequel halo 2. errera spends three to fours hours a day of his own time maintaining the hugely popular website which attracts 600 000 page views a day from halo fans eager for the latest news. when the xbox launched on november 15 2001 in the us halo was one of the launch titles and had an immediate impact on critics and consumers. halo is the most important launch game for any console ever wrote the influential edge magazine in its review giving it a rare 10 out of 10 mark. the game had its critics and while it is not a one-off original as a game it brought many original touches and flourishes to the genre which have defined all other first person shooters since. the first time i played it i just stood there watching the spent shells fall out of my gun said errera remarking on the level of detail in the game. the game also inspired thousands of people to write their own fiction based on the storyline and produce downloadable video clips of the many weird and wonderful things that can be done in the game. it blew me away the first time someone managed to climb to the top of halo said errera referring to a fan who had created a video of master chief scaling the landscape of the graphical world. video clips of the more outrageous stunts that are possible thanks to the game s amazing physics engine are incredibly popular and some have attained a cult following. speculation about the sequel has seen every titbit analysed and poured over with all the intent of a forensic scientist examining a body. when early screenshots of the game were released some people wrote essay-length articles highlighting everything from the texture of graphics to clues about the story line. errera said expectations of the sequel among fans were sky high. it does not feel like a game release any more. somebody told me this was the biggest single release of any product in microsoft s history. we re all just hoping that bungie has got it right again. halo 2 is out on 9 november in the us and 11 november in the uk | science and tech | 0 |
highbury tunnel players in clear the football association has said it will not be bringing charges over the tunnel incident prior to the arsenal and manchester united game. arsenal s patrick vieira had earlier denied accusations that he threatened gary neville before the 4-2 defeat. vieira also clashed with opposing skipper roy keane and referee graham poll had to separate them. the referee has confirmed that he is satisfied he dealt with the incident at the time said an fa statement. it means united s win will pass off without further intervention from the governing body whose new chief executive brian barwick was in the highbury stands. i didn t threaten anybody. they are big enough players to handle themselves said vieira. i had a talk with roy keane and that s it. gary neville is a big lad he can handle himself. they just played better than us and deserved to win. neville admitted there had been incidents before the game but insisted it had not distracted his focus. there were a couple of things that did happen before the game which disappoint you he said. especially from players of that calibre but it s a tough game and we ve been around a long time. neville admitted that he had not enjoyed the match which was punctuated by fouls and the sending off of mikael silvestre for head-butting freddie ljungberg . i thought it was a horrible game in the first half and it was not much better in the second he said. there is no way that should have happened in a football match. after the match keane accused vieira of starting the row. patrick vieira is 6ft 4in and having a go at gary neville. so i said have a go at me he said. if he wants to intimidate our players and thinks that gary neville is an easy target i m not having it. manchester united manager sir alex ferguson added: vieira was well wound up for it. i ve heard different stories. patrick vieira has apparently threatened some of our players and things like that. | politics | 2 |
lib dems target first-time buyers the liberal democrats have unveiled plans to build 100 000 new affordable homes on publicly owned land. the party s scheme would allow people to buy a share in a home through a mutual home ownership trust as a way of getting onto the housing ladder. the lib dems would also encourage the conversion of existing buildings in an effort to protect greenfield sites. labour has already announced plans to help first-time buyers and the tories would extend right-to-buy schemes. all the major parties are focusing on the issue in the run-up to the election after a survey suggested first-time buyers could not afford a home in 92% of uk towns. the lib dems say their mutual homes would let people buy a share of a property usually worth about 5% of the building costs. party leader charles kennedy said the homes would be affordable because they would be built on surplus public sector land donated by central or local government. people would also only have to pay for the cost of the building and not the land he added. they would spend about 30% of their monthly salary on rent and buying extra shares in the property. when they moved house they would be able to cash in on any rise in property prices by selling their share. it would also allow councils to vary discounts to tenants given the right to buy their council homes so local needs were taken into account. mr kennedy said: mutual homes will offer people the opportunity to build up an equity stake in a home gradually investing only as much as they can afford. there are also plans to prevent high house prices forcing people out of their local communities. the kind of golden share used by the lib dems in south shropshire could be rolled out more widely. under the plan councils secure deals with developers where they keep a 1% share in a property scheme so properties cannot be sold on the open market. instead they are sold at build cost to people who the local council decides have local needs. the party says its help for first-time buyers can be funded at no extra cost to the taxpayer. but the plans involve changing the vat system which the party says often makes it too expensive to renovate existing buildings. the conservatives claimed the plans would amount to an extra tax of up to £11 000 on every new house. this is typical of lib dem hypocrisy said tory shadow local government secretary caroline spelman. they claim that they want to help people on to the property ladder but the small print of their policies reveal how they intend to price even more people out of the housing market. the flagship tory proposal on housing policy is to give a million more housing association tenants the right to buy their homes. labour has said it will allow 300 000 council and housing association tenants to buy a share in their homes. housing minister keith hill said much of the lib dem plans mimicked the government s strategy. however as usual the lib dems proposals are completely uncosted he said. mr hill said he also asked whether the lib dems would match labour s promise to spend £42bn on making refurbishing and repair council homes by 2010. | politics | 0 |
warning over tsunami aid website net users are being told to avoid a scam website that claims to collect cash on behalf of tsunami victims. the site looks plausible because it uses an old version of the official disasters emergency committee webpage. however dec has no connection with the fake site and says it has contacted the police about it. the site is just the latest in a long list of scams that try to cash in on the goodwill generated by the tsunami disaster. the link to the website is contained in a spam e-mail that is currently circulating. the message s subject line reads urgent tsunami earthquake appeal and its text bears all the poor grammar and bad spelling that characterises many other phishing attempts. the web address of the fake site is decuk.org which could be close enough to the official www.dec.org.uk address to confuse some people keen to donate. patricia sanders spokeswoman for the disaster emergency committee said it was aware of the site and had contacted the computer crime unit at scotland yard to help get it shut down. she said the spam e-mails directing people to the site started circulating two days ago shortly after the domain name of the site was registered. it is thought that the fake site is being run from romania. ms sanders said dec had contacted us net registrars who handle domain ownership and the net hosting firm that is keeping the site on the web. dec was going to push for all cash donated via the site to be handed over to the official organisation. bt and dec s hosting company were also making efforts to get the site shut down she said. ms sanders said sending out spam e-mail to solicit donations was not dec s style and that it would never canvass support in this way. she said that dec hoped to get the fake site shut down as soon as possible. all attempts by the bbc news website to contact the people behind the site have failed. none of the e-mail addresses supplied on the site work and the real owner of the domain is obscured in publicly available net records. this is not the first attempt to cash in on the outpouring of goodwill that has accompanied appeals for tsunami aid. one e-mail sent out in early january came from someone who claimed that he had lost his parents in the disaster and was asking for help moving an inheritance from a bank account in the netherlands. the con was very similar to the familiar nigerian forward fee fraud e-mails that milk money out of people by promising them a cut of a much larger cash pile. other scam e-mails included a link to a website that supposedly let people donate money but instead loaded spyware on their computers that grabbed confidential information. in a monthly report anti-virus firm sophos said that two e-mail messages about the tsunami made it to the top 10 hoax list during january. another tsunami-related e-mail is also circulating that carries the zar worm which tries to spread via the familiar route of microsoft s outlook e-mail program. anyone opening the attachment of the mail will have their contact list plundered by the worm keen to find new addresses to send itself to. | science and tech | 0 |
british library gets wireless net visitors to the british library will be able to get wireless internet access alongside the extensive information available in its famous reading rooms. broadband wireless connectivity will be made available in the eleven reading rooms the auditorium café restaurant and outdoor piazza area. a study revealed that 86% of visitors to the library carried laptops. the technology has been on trial since may and usage levels make the library london s most active public hotspot. previously many were leaving the building to go to a nearby internet café to access their e-mail the study found. at the british library we are continually exploring ways in which technology can help us to improve services to our users said lynne brindley chief executive of the british library. surveys we conducted recently confirmed that alongside the materials they consult here our users want to be able to access the internet when they are at the library for research or to communicate with colleagues she said. the service will be priced at £4.50 for an hour s session or £35 for a monthly pass. the study conducted by consultancy building zones found that 16% of visitors came to the library to sit down and use it as a business centre. this could be because of its proximity to busy mainline stations such as kings cross and euston. the study also found that people were spending an average of six hours in the building making it an ideal wireless hotspot. since may the service has registered 1 200 sessions per week making it london s most active public hotspot. the majority of visitors wanted to be able to access their e-mail as well as the british library catalogue. the service has been rolled out in partnership with wireless provider the cloud and hewlett packard. it will operate independently from the library s existing network. the british library receives around 3 000 visitors each day and serves around 500 000 readers each year. people come to view resources which include the world s largest collection of patents and the uk s most extensive collection of science technology and medical information. the library receives between three and four million requests from remote users around the world each year. | science and tech | 0 |
milburn defends poster campaign labour s election chief alan milburn has defended his party s campaign posters amid tory claims the ads were nothing short of sly anti-semitism . mr milburn said he appreciated people s concerns but insisted that what they were was anti-tory and not in any way shape or form anti-semitic . he was responding to tory spokesman julian lewis who said the ads were part of a wider trend of smearing the party. labour has withdrawn two controversial posters and launched four new designs. a row was sparked after the party published posters appearing to depict michael howard who is jewish as fagin and as a flying pig amid claims they were anti-semitic. the posters were labelled a big misjudgement by the conservatives who said labour s first shot in the election has badly backfired . the posters were among a series of ideas shown to labour members who were asked to vote on their favourite. labour has taken them off its website saying members preferred other posters. the party s four new designs launched on tuesday steer clear of the fagin or flying pig images but make clear that labour is sticking to its strategy of targeting the tory leader personally with reminders of his record in office. the posters were among a series of ideas shown to labour members who have been asked to choose which one should be used ahead of the election. in the commons tory spokesman mr lewis suggested the posters were part of a wider trend and reminded mps that labour chairman ian mccartney last year described shadow chancellor oliver letwin as a 21st century fagin . given the outrage that that smear caused then how could you have thought anything other than the fact that what you were doing in reviving it in your poster advertisements was nothing more and nothing less than a calculated campaign of sly anti-semitism mr milburn replied that they were not anti-semitic. what they were was anti-tory and i make no apologies at all for making clear to the british public exactly what the conservative plans would mean he said. i fully understand and indeed respect the views of those who have concerns about any poster designs that have appeared on the labour party website. the fagin and pigs might fly posters were taken off labour s website on monday after supporters voted for their favourite poster featuring mr howard and shadow chancellor oliver letwin holding a blackboard reading 2+2=5. a labour spokesman later said their removal from the party s website was not affected by the row. | politics | 0 |
britons growing digitally obese gadget lovers are so hungry for digital data many are carrying the equivalent of 10 trucks full of paper in weight . music images e-mails and texts are being hoarded on mobiles cameras laptops and pdas (personal digital assistants) a toshiba study found. it found that more than 60% kept 1 000 to 2 000 music files on their devices making the uk digitally fat . virtual weight measurements are based on research by california institute of technology professor roy williams. he calculated physical comparisons for digital data in the mid-1990s. he worked out that one gigabyte (1 000 000 000 bytes) was the equivalent of a pick-up truck filled with paper. the amount of data people are squirreling away on their gadgets is clearly a sign that people are finding more things to do with their shiny things. if digital hoarding habits continue on this scale people could be carrying around a digitally obese 20 gigabytes by next year. britain has become a nation of information hoarders with a ferocious appetite for data said martin larsson general manager of toshiba s european storage device division. as storage capabilities increase and the features and functionalities of mobile devices expand to support movie files and entire libraries of multi-media content we will all become virtually obese he told the bbc news website. the survey reflects the increasing trend for portable devices with built-in hard drives like music and media players from apple creative labs archos iriver and others. this trend is set to grow according to analysts. they suggest the number of hard drives in consumer electronics gadgets could grow from 17 million last year to 55 million in 2006. consumers are driving the move towards smaller devices that have greater functionality and industry is trying to keep up said mr larsson. people are looking for more than just phone calls and text messages on the move they want things like web browsing e-mailing music photos and more. many are finding memory keys and memory sticks are simply not big enough to hold everything. floppies and memory keys have their place but they don t have anything like the capacity or flexibility of a hard drive so are unable to meet the demand for more and more storage capacity in consumer devices said mr larsson. the cost of making hard drives has dropped and is continuing to do so because of improved technologies so they are proving to be more cost-effective than other forms of memory he added. the amount of data that can be stored has grown by 400% in the last three years while the cost for every gigabyte has fallen by 80%. it is also getting easier to transfer files from one device to another which has traditionally been a slow and problematic area. transfer of data between different memory types has improved significantly in recent times and will be further helped by the standards for hard drives which are currently being developed by the major manufacturers said mr larsson. according to technology analysts idc a fifth of all hard drives produced will be used in consumer electronics by 2007. | entertainment | 2 |
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 staff compiled the list and 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 (diamond 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 emanating 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 surprisingly 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) 1990s toy tamagotchi (86th) and the bizarre ronco inside the shell egg scrambler (84th). almost everyone has a mobile phone how many people own a powerbook or an ipod the findings of this magazine are not very convincing. what about the magnetic compass we still use it 1 000 years after it was invented. i am amazed by the obsession with individual gadgets rather than genre. for example the sony walkman was the first truly portable way of listening to your own music on the move whereas minidisc flash mp3 portable cd players etc. are really just improvements in technology. my favourite true gadgets are probably my portable minidisc player and the little battery powered whizzy thing i use to froth up my coffee! calm down it s only in their opinion and any list that includes the taser in the top 100 gadgets has to be suspect.... swiss army knife and no question about it. how many of the other items are still relatively unchanged from the original idea and still as useful/popular you don t need a laptop or even a pocket calculator to work that one out! this list merely illustrates interesting cultural divides between the american authors and the overwhelmingly british responses. brits see no further than mobile phones and the over thirties sinclair; whilst the americans focus on apple tv remotes and tivo (which probably is rather obscure in europe). what about the soda stream. this gadget changed my pre-teen life. lap tops may enable you to think different but you cant use them to get busy with the fizzy how about astro wars one of the pioneers for computer games i remember spending many an hour playing this and it still works today! however tried it the other day and it was rubbish still a great gadget of its time. 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 revolutionised 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 anything 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! | world | 2 |
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