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johansson takes adelaide victory second seed joachim johansson won his second career title with a 7-5 6-3 win over taylor dent at the australian hardcourt championships in adelaide. the swede was made to graft american dent surviving three break points in the fifth game of the match. but johansson got the breakthrough with a sublime backhand return winner and won the second set with more ease. his first tournament win was at memphis in 2004 helping him leap from 113th in the world rankings to number 11. afterwards dent said he rated us open semi-finalist johansson as a top contender at the australian open which starts on 17 january. i believe men s tennis is all about holding serve and if he s playing like that on his own serve i don t see how guys are going to break him said dent. johansson was more restrained in his assessment: i have to improve my serve if i m going to go all the way in melbourne. | sports | 0 |
record fails to lift lacklustre meet yelena isinbayeva may have produced another world pole vault record but her achievement could not hide the fact it was not the best meet we have ever seen in birmingham. and hey there are not many meets that go by without the russian breaking a world record. apparently isinbayeva has cleared five metres in training and i would just love her to put us out of our misery and have a go at it rather than extending the indoor record by one centimetre at a time. athletics to me is all about pushing the barriers and being the best you can and i would like to see her have a go at 5m in competition. mind you every time she breaks the record she gets $30 000 so she can afford to be deliberate about it. world records aside i thought it was a very encouraging evening s work for kelly holmes. she looked good and was very positive. agnes samaria who came second is in very good shape and is in the world s top three 800m runners this season. yes samaria let kelly get away but there was no coming back over the last 200m as kelly dominated the race so beating samaria is a bit of a benchmark for kelly. my gut feeling is that kelly would like to run in the european indoor championships but she just hasn t convinced herself she is fit enough to do so. on the other hand i think jason gardener is struggling to come near what is going to be required to win the men s 60m in madrid. he started well in the final but still could not stay with the front-runners. jason has a lot of experience indoors but for some reason he is struggling to maintain his pace through to the finish. it would have been nice to see what mark lewis-francis could have done in the final if only he hadn t got himself disqualified. he was blatantly playing the false-start game to his advantage but it tripped him up and made him look a bit silly. my view is you re meant to go when the gun goes and not before. and if you try to unsettle your rivals by employing the false-start tactic you have to remember not to false start yourself again. having said that mark is looking in much better shape. but i haven t seen anything from mark or jason yet which suggests france s ronald pognon - who has run 6.45 seconds - will be under threat at the europeans. from a british point of view sarah claxton s victory in the 60m hurdles was the best thing to come out of the meet. something else that probably went unnoticed was melanie purkiss winning the women s national 400m race in a new personal best of 52.98 seconds. aaas champion kim wall came second in another lifetime best so we have a very strong 4x400m squad going to the european championships. scotland s lee mcconnell is probably going to run too so we have a real prospect of a medal. from an international perspective i thought meseret defar was disappointing in the 3 000m but i don t think the pace-making was great. canadian heather hennigar set a fast early pace but could not maintain it and if jo pavey had been in last year s shape she would have given defar a real run for her money. she had a go but just could not hang in there. we were also expecting a bit more from bernard lagat in the men s 1500m. but he has only just come over from the usa so he may not be that sharp and i still think he is in great shape. as for kenenisa bekele he was well beaten by markos geneti. but we only had half expectations for bekele as he has been struggling this season. it was very hot in the national indoor arena and i felt uncomfortable in the commentary box. i think those conditions affected the distance runners and in fact defar complained to her coach after the race that she could not get her breath properly. | sports | 0 |
edwards tips idowu for euro gold world outdoor triple jump record holder and bbc pundit jonathan edwards believes phillips idowu can take gold at the european indoor championships. idowu landed 17.30m at the british trials in sheffield last month to lead the world triple jump rankings. it s all down to him but if he jumps as well as he did in sheffield he could win the gold medal said edwards. his ability is undoubted but all his best performances seem to happen in domestic meetings. idowu made his breakthrough five years ago but so far has only a commonwealth silver medal to his name. edwards himself kept idowu off top spot at the manchester games. but he believes the european indoors in madrid represent a chance for the 26-year-old to prove his credentials as britain s top triple jumper. he has to start producing at international level and here is the beginning said edwards. phillips still needs to be much more consistent. i m sure a victory in madrid will build up his confidence and self-belief that he can be best in the world. the qualifying round of the men s triple jump in madrid takes place on friday with the final scheduled for saturday. olympic champion christian olsson will not be taking part as he is out for the entire indoor season with an ankle injury. | sports | 0 |
when technology gets personal in 2020 whipping out your mobile phone to make a call will be quaintly passé. by then phones will be printed directly on to wrists or other parts of the body says ian pearson bt s resident futurologist. it s all part of what s known as a pervasive ambient world where chips are everywhere . mr pearson does not have a crystal ball. his job is to formulate ideas based on what science and technology are doing now to guide industries into the future. inanimate objects will start to interact with us: we will be surrounded - on streets in homes in appliances on our bodies and possibly in our heads - by things that think . forget local area networks - these will be body area networks. ideas about just how smart small or even invisible technology will get are always floating around. images of devices clumsily bolted on to heads or wrists have pervaded thinking about future technology. but now a new vision is surfacing where smart fabrics and textiles will be exploited to enhance functionality form or aesthetics. such materials are already starting to change how gadgets and electronics are used and designed. so mp3 players - the mass gadget of the moment - will disappear and instead become integrated into one s clothing says mr pearson. so the gadgets that fill up your handbag when we integrate those into fabric we can actually get rid of all that stuff. you won t necessarily see the electronics. wearable technology could exploit body heat to charge it up while video tattoos or intelligent electronic contact lenses might function as tv screens for those on the move. however this future of highly personal devices where technology is worn or even fuses with the body itself raises ethical questions. if technology is going to be increasingly part of clothing jewellery and skin there needs to be some serious thinking about what it means for us as humans says baroness susan greenfield. at a recent conference for technology engineering academic and fashion industry experts at the royal society in london neuroscientist baroness greenfield cautioned we can t just sleepwalk into the future . yet this technology is already upon us. researchers have developed computers and sensors worn in clothing. mp3 jackets based on the idea that electrically conductive fabric can connect to keyboard sewn into sleeves have already appeared in shops. these smart fabrics have come about through advances in nano- and micro-engineering - the ability to manipulate and exploit materials at micro or molecular scale. at the nanoscale materials can be tuned to display unusual properties that can be exploited to build faster lighter stronger and more efficient devices and systems. the textile and clothing industry has been one of the first to exploit nanotechnology in quite straightforward ways. many developments are appearing in real products in the fields of medicine defence healthcare sports and communications. professional swimming suits reduce drag by incorporating tiny structures similar to shark skin. nanoscale titanium dioxide (tio2) coatings give fabrics antibacterial and anti-odour properties. these have special properties which can be activated in contact with the air or uv light. such coatings have already been used to stop socks smelling for instance to turn airline seats into super stain-resistant surfaces and applied to windows so they clean themselves. dressings for wounds can now incorporate nanoparticles with biocidal properties and smart patches are being developed to deliver drugs through the skin. but baroness greenfield is concerned about how far this more personal contact with technology might affect our very being. if our clothing skin and personal body networks do the talking and the monitoring everywhere we go we have to think about what that means for our concept of privacy. mr pearson picks up the theme pointing out there are a lot of issues humans have to iron out before we become cyborgian . his main concern is privacy . we are looking at electronics which are really in deep contact with your body and a lot of that information you really don t want every passer-by to know. so we have to make sure we build security in this. if you are wearing smart make-up where electronics are controlling the appearance you don t want people hacking in and writing messages on your forehead. as technology infiltrates our biology how will our brains function differently we cannot arrogantly assume that the human brain will not change with this warns baroness greenfield. there have already been successful experiments to grow human nerve cells on circuit boards. this paves the way for brain implants to help paralysed people interface directly with computers. clearly the organic carbon of our bodies and silicon is increasingly merging. the cyborg - a very familiar part-human part-inorganic science fiction and academic idea - is on its way. | science and tech | 0 |
terror powers expose tyranny the lord chancellor has defended government plans to introduce control orders to keep foreign and british terrorist suspects under house arrest where there isn t enough evidence to put them on trial. lord falconer insists that the proposals do not equate to a police state and strike a balance between protecting the public against the threat of terrorism and upholding civil liberties. but thriller writer frederick forsyth tells bbc news of his personal response to the move. there is a mortal danger aimed at the heart of britain. or so says home secretary charles clarke. my reaction so what it is not that i am cynical or just do not care. i care about this country very much. but in the 66 years that i have been alive there has not been one hour of one day of one month of one year when there has not been a threat aimed at us. my point is the british have always coped without becoming a dictatorship. we have coped with fear without becoming a state based on fear; we have coped with threat without turning our country into a land of state threat. but that is what the blair government now seeks to do - create a tyranny to defend us from the al-qaeda tyranny. i was born on 25 august 1938. the mortal threat back then was a scruffy little austrian called adolf hitler. a week after my first birthday the threat had become reality. we were at war. my father wore a uniform for five years. after 1945 we yearned for peace at last. but in 1946 winston churchill told us - from the baltic to the adriatic an iron curtain has descended across europe. behind the iron curtain another genocidal psychopath another threat. josef stalin triggered the cold war with the berlin blockade in 1948. my whole generation was blighted by it. we were threatened by the nuclear holocaust the nuclear wind the nuclear winter. we built shelters that would have sheltered nothing. we spent our treasure on weapons instead of hospitals. we took silly precautions. some fought it; some marched futilely against it. some pretended it was not there. the cold war lasted 43 years but we remained a parliamentary democracy. by the early seventies it was terrorism as well. al fatah black september red brigades but most of all for us the ira and the inla. thirty more years; 300 policemen and women over 600 soldiers more than 3 000 civilians dead but we won because even ira bombs could not force us to become a tyranny. that was why the tyrants lost. civil rights were infringed as little as humanly possible. evidence had to be taken in secret to protect covert sources; yes and one judge no-jury courts had to be instituted when juries were terrorised. informants had to be given immunity from their own crimes to win the bigger battle. but habeas corpus did not die; right of appeal was not abolished. now the threat is islamic fundamentalism. its leaders want to destroy our society; so did the ira. it is based and funded abroad; so was the ira. it has sleeper fanatics inside our society; so did the ira. it is extremely hard to penetrate with our agents; so was the ira. the prime movers are not easy to bring to trial; neither were the ira. but we did. and without becoming a tyranny. now the blair government proposes the law system of fascism and communism. the citizen can be arrested and held without charge or trial not even on the careful consideration of an experienced judge but the whim of a political activist called a government minister. to be protected from terror the government says we must become a tyranny. but a tyranny is based on the citizen s terror. this is not victory; this is defeat before a shot is fired. an interesting article - its good to see widening participation in the debate - but i suggest we move one step further. our own bombs and bullets will can only shatter peace because invading foreign nations imprisoning the innocent and hunting in the shadows cannot destroy an evil of the mind and hatred within the heart. rather than focusing upon effect we should consider the cause because terrorism does not begin with bombs. why not try a foreign policy of compassion it can only enhance our democracy and share our freedom. i agree with frederick forsyth. we really can t deal with terrorism by turning britain into a fascist state. what we really need is more honesty from our security services and our politicians. if they do not have evidence to bring these people to trial there probably isn t any. our security services behave like the detective who having decided that a certain person is guilty rakes over all kinds of obscure and flimsy evidence to try and prove it while the real villain gets away. remember there were no wmd in iraq. just because a person may have made some stupid and naive decisions in life does not make them a terrorist. in this overly politically correct society it is good to see someone like mr. forsyth speak out. yes there has been oppression by the british government in the past and overstepping the mark in places like ireland but yes we are still a democracy where it is rare to be arrested without charge/trial etc. (apart from a number of prisoners in belmarsh goal for example).this country signs up to human rights and then pretends that they only apply to the people with nothing to fear the innocent people (defined by whom ). when id cards become mandatory the data collected will not be protected by the data protection act and will be readily available to people like gchq with no control by the person whose id is being checked. the threat now is new. you cannot compare the threats of past years with now. forsyth says 3000 died over 30 years or terrorism; 3000 people died in one morning in ny on september 11th 2001. the threat today is that terrorists will acquire nuclear or biological technology. a kilo of semtex will flatten a building a kilo of plutonium will flatten a city. you now have a combination of people who will perform terrorist acts with technology that is rapidly becoming accessible. i agree the government is probably encouraging a degree of mass-hysteria and talking up the threat; but talking-down the threat and doing nothing is unacceptable too. the problem with this issue is not that it isn t important but the fact that in general we brits can be so politically apathetic some times that we will just let this go without telling the government no. however as the nation that gave the world the common law and a true sense of the rights of individual liberty i hope this will prove to be one step too far. as somebody of chinese origin i can say that this country used to be a good place to migrate and start a new life. whilst life wasn t perfect we could make better for ourselves. now we are riddled with red tape and be told what we can or cannot do. we have to be politically-correct and we are not allowed to have beliefs or opinions. we have a prime minister who spends too much time meddling in us politics and affairs which have little to do with the lives of british citizens at home or abroad. mr forsyth has done a good job in voicing his opinions. let s hope the bbc doesn t get gagged for letting people express their views. the people have the right to know and the bbc s role is to inform educate and entertain... i agree. terrorists intend to spread fear but in reality it is the government which has spread the fear by its constant publicising of the this invisible enemy so dangerous that we must allow them to ride roughshod over our rights and liberties. in the end the very thing we seek to protect is what we are giving up in the name of safety from this invisible enemy. the terrorists have already won. i absolutely agree with frederick forsyth. yes we have to defend ourselves against terrorism but existing laws seem to be more than adequate. the idea that the new terrorism demands new powers is erroneous. the evidence of any real terrorist capability in the uk is scant. ricin for example is a dangerous poison but it is not a weapon of mass destruction. what is really worrying is the enthusiasm of mr blair and his government for authoritarian reactions and attempts to manipulate the electorate through fear. if the government has its way with id cards tracking and so on then totalitarianism has won and as such it then matters little whether we give in to the terrorists demands or not. we will have lost the precious freedom which bush and blair constantly tells us we have and that they seek to bring to others. i agree wholeheartedly with mr forsyth. i am shocked at the ease with which this government is prepared to wipe out a major portion of the liberties that british people have enjoyed for centuries - the right not to be deprived of our liberty without a trial in open court. that goes right back to magna carta and ordinary people have spilled their blood to enforce that right against governments who thought they knew best . when you look at today s britain you realise george orwell was only wrong about one thing: the date. frederick forsyth puts it beautifully. the government is seeking to introduce a police state. the new powers of home internment without trial follow a pattern which includes the introduction of surveillance via compulsory id cards and the linking of data bases together with the un-british idea that we will have to swear allegiance to the state at the age of 18 years. we are sleep-walking into this. wake up! an interesting view but missing two crucial facts of this new threat: 1) if these terrorists acquire weapons of mass destruction they will use them without fear of mutually assured destruction that kept the cold war in a state of tense balance. these people will use devastating force against us without fear of any consequence. 2) the terrorists are prepared to use suicide bombers which means they could kill innocent people on the london underground and we could do very little to stop it. because these terrorists are potentially so deadly we have to come up with new tougher responses. it will be a little late in the day when people outside london wake up one morning to find out that london has been nuked. we won t have much of a society left to debate ! he s correct in most of what he says. mind you he does seem to have forgotten that disgraceful internment policy in northern ireland which probably caused many idealistic if misguided young catholics to join the ira. administrative detention of muslims could have a similar effect now. surely we the public would be better protected if the security services rather than alerting a suspect terrorist by placing them under house arrest (and for how long )they were to place suspect terrorist under surveillance and maybe acquire sufficient evidence to prosecute or even better prevent a terrorist attack. i don t usually have much time for mr forsyth s largely right wing views but this time he has got it spot on. there is no doubt that there are terrorist organisations who would like to do harm to the u.k. but it is very doubtful whether al-qaeda is a global organisation co-ordinating this. the rise of surveillance cameras id cards the plan to charge for road use by tracking every vehicle at all times this is the stuff of nightmares. add to this this new legislation which effectively means that the protection of the law will be removed from anyone at the whim of the home secretary and i genuinely wonder what sort of world my two children will inherit. where will this end. as it stands terrorists do not need to attack the u.k. it s government will soon have it s people terrorised more that they could very achieve with a few bombs. mr forsyth has expressed exactly what my gut fears and reservations were about this proposed legislation but could not verbalise. thank you. mr forsyth seems to forget that killings in the troubles occurred on both sides of the religious divide and was carried out by killers from both sides. he also forgets basic human rights were suspended then as now. experienced judges sat over some of the greatest miscarriages of justice during those times. for very little return and maximum alienation. these laws and the emphasis on the islamic threat will just do the same. forsyth is wrong. the nature of the current threat is new. it is no longer to our armed forces as the soviet threat in the eastern bloc was. it is to you and i. the terrorist aim to kill indiscriminately. the best comparison is therefore the blitz 1941. at this time let us not forget suspects (foreign and british were routinely rounded up and interned for the duration of the war without any complaints from the public. we must not forget we are at war. i d say that that the likelihood of an attack by a sleeper cell of fundamentalist lunatics against a major uk target is a when not an if probability. i ll bet any money you like that the day after any such attack freddie forsyth will be saying that the government didn t do enough to protect the uk. people like forsyth can only see one side of any argument and for him it is the side that is opposite new labour and tony blair. i agree wholeheartedly with mr forsyth. the very reason this country has been such a wonderful place to live is under attack not from terrorists but from this government. the perpetuation of the perceived terrorist threat is not because of what the alleged terrorists are doing but from our own government. i believe what this government is doing is at the very least highly questionable and at worst sinister. at what point will they feel they have enough control over every single person in the british isles; when we are all tagged and monitored constantly our freedom is being craftily and surreptitiously whittled away by this government and we are gaining nothing. it should be of great concern to everyone. i am slightly older than mr forsyth and therefore have lived through the same history as him. i am against a police state and would not like to think that i lived in one. i think that the attack on iraq made the international situation worse and may have provoked further acts of terrorism. how true. there are extremely worrying parallels between britain now and germany during the 30 s. i never thought it would be so easy to take over a country from within. mr forsyth has forgotten one key point; the terrorists who threaten britain today are well aware that hitler stalin and the ira all failed. as a result modern day terrorists are willing to do things their predecessors did not. that does not mean that the civil liberties of modern britain must be eroded to counter the threat; that should always be the absolute last resort. but to meet the new threat to defeat the sinister fanaticism of today s terrorists we may need to do things a little differently. let us hope not. frederic forsythe s comments seem to me to be a well-thought-out analysis of why we (human society as a whole and britain in particular) should resist the temptation to over-protect through fear. it is this fear which enables terrorists to succeed in the end and terrorists can come in all forms as mr. forsythe s opening comments suggest. i am reminded of a quote attributed to thomas jefferson. a nation that limits freedom in the name of security will have neither. the government are faced with an incredibly difficult task and have made a policy to deal with it. it s all very well criticising that policy but if mr forsythe can t draw on his years of experience to offer an alternative i say so what to his opinions. frederick forsyth s rhetoric is absurd and his conclusions laughable. he distorts reality to serve his own prejudice against new labour. this government seeks to balance protection of our democracy with minimum loss of civil rights. it is frederick forsyth who is the extremist because he does not appreciate the need for balance. i rarely find myself agreeing with my forsyth but in this instance i think he is correct. the rule of law must prevail civil liberties are worth defending. if the government can hold suspects without charge or trial what s next i agree absolutely. by introducing fascist type laws we loose the moral high ground in our fight against terror. our democratic system is not perfect but as churchill points out it is better than all the others that have been tried . terrorist attacks will take place but for many reasons we should take that personal risk in return for personal freedom. i do not usually agree with mr. forsyth but he is spot on here. the single biggest threat we face is that of a government dedicated to acting illegally and manipulating international and national law to suit its own purpose. totalitarianism always requires an outside threat justifying a range of extraordinary powers leaders want. the british government is a far greater threat that and terrorist organisation. although in principle i agree with him frederick forsyth fails to address one key point- al-qaeda attacks (though obviously there have been none yet in the uk) seek to kill the maximum number of people. the ira wanted to limit the death toll of their attacks so as to maintain support among the republican movement. yes i agree with mr. forsyth s views. i do not believe the government s plans are justified. there is over reaction to and the negative influence of the us president s interpretation of democracy and freedom. he uses the same arguments that were current before the wwii the wars to liberate iraq afghanistan with syria and iran to come. we are leaving a poor inheritance for the future generations. mr forsyth is a wonderful writer and should keep his fiction where it belongs. the british government is not going down the road that mr forsyth suggests. sadly comments such as his will make a lot of people believe that they are governed by people who are fast becoming tyrants instead of being genuinely committed to stopping tyranny even if the method employed to do that is at the moment alien to the british people who have lived in a democracy protected by tony blair and others of like mind who mr. forsyth seems to be putting along side the scruffy little austrian. thomas hobbes would be smiling in his grave at labour s propositions. like new labour he called himself a libertarian. like new labour he believed he was promoting the people s best interests. but as forsythe criticises this government hobbes has been criticised by most subsequent philosophers for arguing his way into the hands of the totalitarians. simply put he argued that in favour of the ultimate liberty - the liberty to live - man should be prepared to surrender all other liberties to a supreme sovereign as protection against his fellow barbaric man. hobbes has been roundly condemned by posterity and rightly so. i hope new labour suffers the same treatment. i agree with mr forsyth s views. the governments approach is totally against the spirit of british democracy. they must not be allowed to get away with it. of course frederick is wrong about britain winning the war against the ira and he s wrong too about the country not becoming a tyranny. has he forgotten about shoot to kill torture internment without trial collusion with loyalist death squads etc my background is somewhat similar to freddie s so i am persuaded to agree with many of his sentiments. we can have no moral justification for imposing our system of government on anyone while we are systematically depriving our own citizens of basic individual and collective freedoms. whilst the principle of keeping potential terrorists under house arrest might seem superficially attractive it is unfortunately also the first step towards totalitarianism. who is to decide whom is a suspect why should we believe them who can have faith in the honesty integrity and competence of our intelligence services and politicians in light of the events of recent years what is to stop false denunciations what of those falsely accused who will lose their careers who will support their families will their children still go to school it smacks to me of the methods of nazi germany stalin s russia ceausescu s romania - the list goes on. it looks as if a new dark age is coming. i see that opinion on mr forsyth s remarks are divided. the problem i see is that those who support imprisonment without trial believe it will never happen to them or their family only to people they don t like or are scared of. but history has shown that if you have laws like that they always get abused by those in power. after all today you may be scared of the same people as those in power but someday those in power may be scared of you! and that day you ll be the one imprisoned without the chance of justice. our laws are such that you cannot just be imprisoned at the whim of our police forces you have to be shown to be deserving of it. if we imprison people without trial for an indeterminate period we are no better that those we are fighting. i never thought it possible for me to agree with a single word uttered by frederick forsyth but i m in wholehearted agreement with him on this one. we as a nation are in grave danger of being duped by pro us propaganda which of course also means we ll inherit most if not all of their total paranoia and allow our governments of any political persuasion incidentally to gradually and insidiously impose a police state by well tried & tested back door methods. i grieve for the future of my children it s no wonder they re adamant they don t ever want any of their own. this government with much fanfare signs us up to the european convention on human rights but now wants to introduce indefinite house arrest without trial. this puts it on a par with the government of burma. like many of your respondents i wouldn t usually think of mr forsyth as someone whose views i share but in the instance of opposing charles clark s proposals for house arrest i agree wholeheartedly with mr forsyth/ i agree with mr forsyth. just look at the facts - our government (along with the us) invaded another sovereign country (iraq) by selecting intelligence that backed it s case based on fear. the facts turned out to be very different. if individuals are treated in the same distorted way then we ve done ourselves more damage than any terrorist organisation could with bombs. we become animals too. i agree in many ways with what mr forsyth has said - if we are to be respected and have influence within the world we must be seen to be walking the walk as well as talking the talk - how can we accuse countries such as zimbabwe and burma of human rights abuses when we are locking up people who may be totally innocent it is hypocrisy of the highest order. mr forsyth links islamic fundamentalism to the new threat . however it appears that he has misunderstood the term islamic fundamentalism . it should be pointed out that a muslim who adheres to the true fundamentals of the qur aan and the teachings of the last prophet muhammad is an islamic fundamentalist. this person does not commit suicide in any shape or form nor does she/he kill innocent women men and children. this person is self-reflective and constantly tries to better her/his actions by being good to others. the people who mr forsyth labels the new threat are those who do not follow the correct teachings of islam. they have arrived at their own interpretations and assumptions with regards their actions. on top of that they claim to be following islam in its true form! i accept that the intentions of these policies are to make britain a safer place but i cannot think of a single example from history where doing this sort of thing has ever made any difference - in northern ireland internment certainly didn t achieve anything - the bombings didn t stop and it could be argued that all it achieved was to just supply the ira with yet more angry and resentful republicans willing to take up arms against the british. being eight years older than frederick forsyth and a survivor of the blitz on london it is easy to agree with him he is absolutely spot on. during the ira bombings there were massive explosions in canary wharf to the right of where i write this and also to the left in the city of london. notwithstanding these and the attempted and nearly successful assassination attempts on prime minister thatcher in brighton and on later occupants of 10 downing street there was no retaliatory blitz on belfast or dublin as there has been on afghanistan and iraq. even when england was in true peril in 1940 apart from some detentions there were no wholesale derogation of habeas corpus and the like. we have to see off these latest attempts on our liberties including id cards which winston churchill decided had to go since he said the average bobby on the beat could not be relied on to not be tempted to take undue advantage against the citizen going about their lawful activities (incidentally i can still remember my old id card number). hence it is clear that the far too great police state powers set for the statute books have to be resisted and neutered. what can i add to mr. forsyth s eloquently put arguments... except applause! well done that man for standing up and being counted in the war against tyranny . | science and tech | 2 |
balco case trial date pushed back the trial date for the bay area laboratory cooperative (balco) steroid distribution case has been postponed. us judge susan illston pushed back a preliminary evidentiary hearing - which was due to take place on wednesday - until 6 june. no official trial date has been set but it is expected to begin in september. balco founder victor conte along with james valente coach remy korchemny and trainer greg anderson are charged with distributing steroids to athletes. anderson s clients include barry bonds and several other baseball stars have been asked to appear before a congressional inquiry into steroid use in the major leagues. the balco defence team have already lost their appeal to have the case dismissed at a pre-trial hearing in san francisco but will still argue the case should not go to trial. the hearing in june will focus on the admissibility of evidence gathered during police raids on balco s offices and anderson s home. conte and anderson were not arrested at that point but federal agents did obtain statements from them. the defence are expected to challenge the legality of those interviews and if ilston agrees she could could reject all the evidence from the raids. balco has been accused by the united states anti-doping agency (usada) of being the source of the banned steroid thg and modafinil. former double world champion kelli white and olympic relay star alvin harrison have both been banned on the basis of materials discovered during the balco investigation. britain s former european 100m champion dwain chambers is currently serving a two-year ban after testing positive for thg in an out-of-competition test in 2003. and american sprinter marion jones has filed a lawsuit for defamation against conte following his allegations that he gave her performance-enhancing drugs. | sports | 0 |
russian film wins bbc world prize russian drama the return (vozvrashchenie) has been named winner of the bbc four world cinema award. the film tells the story of two adolescent boys who are subjected to a harsh regime when their strict father returns after a 10-year absence. directed by andrey zvyagintsev the return previously won the 2003 golden lion award at the venice film festival. the prize was presented at an awards ceremony held in london on thursday and hosted by jonathan ross. the winner was chosen by a panel which included x files actress gillian anderson critic roger clarke and touching the void director kevin mcdonald. ross who is the presenter of bbc one s film 2005 was also involved in the deliberations. a shortlist of six films from around the world had been drawn up from which the panel chose. other nominees included the motorcycle diaries zatoichi and hero. a viewer poll saw director zhang yimou s martial arts epic hero emerge as the favourite with 32% of votes cast. tragedy struck the production of the return when one of the young stars 15-year-old vladimir girin drowned in a lake where some of the film s scenes were set. the winner of the world cinema award last year was the french animated feature belleville rendezvous | science and tech | 2 |
da vinci film to star tom hanks actor tom hanks and director ron howard are reuniting for the da vinci code an adaptation of the international best-selling novel by dan brown. distributor sony pictures said production will begin next year with a planned release in may 2006. hanks will play robert langdon who is trying to solve the murder of a member of an ancient society that has protected dark secrets for centuries. it will be hanks third collaboration with howard. they previously worked together along with howard s producing partner brian grazer on splash and apollo 13. hanks is one of hollywood s most bankable stars with his presence in a movie almost guaranteeing box office success. brown s book has become a publishing phenomenon consistently topping book charts in the uk and us. it has sold more than eight million copies worldwide in little over two years. it is a classic whodunit which centres on a global conspiracy surrounding the holy grail mythology and places heavy emphasis on symbols and cryptography. its protagonist is a harvard professor likened to a contemporary indiana jones who also appeared in brown s first book angels and demons. the tale mixes art history with mythology semiotics with medieval history. | business | 2 |
japan narrowly escapes recession japan s economy teetered on the brink of a technical recession in the three months to september figures show. revised figures indicated growth of just 0.1% - and a similar-sized contraction in the previous quarter. on an annual basis the data suggests annual growth of just 0.2% suggesting a much more hesitant recovery than had previously been thought. a common technical definition of a recession is two successive quarters of negative growth. the government was keen to play down the worrying implications of the data. i maintain the view that japan s economy remains in a minor adjustment phase in an upward climb and we will monitor developments carefully said economy minister heizo takenaka. but in the face of the strengthening yen making exports less competitive and indications of weakening economic conditions ahead observers were less sanguine. it s painting a picture of a recovery... much patchier than previously thought said paul sheard economist at lehman brothers in tokyo. improvements in the job market apparently have yet to feed through to domestic demand with private consumption up just 0.2% in the third quarter. | business | 0 |
wenger signs new deal arsenal manager arsene wenger has signed a new contract to stay at the club until may 2008. wenger has ended speculation about his future by agreeing a long-term contract that takes him beyond the opening of arsenal s new stadium in two years. he said: signing a new contract just rubber-stamps my desire to take this club forward and fulfil my ambitions. i still have so much to achieve and my target is to drive this club on. these are exciting times for arsenal. the 55-year-old frenchman told arsenal s website www.arsenal.com: my intention has always been clear. i love this club and am very happy here. wenger has won the title and the fa cup three times each during his reign. chairman peter hill-wood said: we are absolutely delighted that arsene has signed an extension to his contract. since his arrival in 1996 he has revolutionised the club both on and off the pitch. as well as the six major honours he s won during his time here arsene has been a leading influence behind all the major initiatives at the club including the construction of our new training centre and also our new stadium. the club has continued to reap the benefits of arsene s natural eye for unearthing footballing talent. we currently have a fantastic crop of young players coming through the ranks together with a number of world-class players who are playing a wonderful brand of football. meanwhile arsenal director danny fiszman is looking for wenger to stay beyond 2008. when we come towards the end of his contract we will both review the situation. i m sure we will want him to stay on and i hope he will too said fiszman. | sports | 0 |
whitehall cuts ahead of target thousands of civil service jobs have already been cut or moved out of london as part of a major cost-cutting drive. chancellor gordon brown said 12 500 jobs had gone while 7 800 were being moved out of the south east. he plans to axe 104 000 jobs to free up money for education health defence housing and overseas aid. unions oppose the plans but mr brown said £2bn savings had already been made and more jobs had been cut than had been expected at this stage. a further 200 jobs at the department of the environment food and rural affairs have been earmarked to be cut. at the department for work and pensions 30 000 jobs are to go 560 will be lost by the end of the month at the department of trade and industry and 400 are to go at the inland revenue and customs. in his budget statement the chancellor said the first 12 500 civil service jobs had been cut on target. about 4 300 civil servants will leave london and the south east by the end of march 2005 and there are plans to relocate another 3 500. of those 300 department of health posts will go to yorkshire while hundreds at the department of culture will move to birmingham and newcastle. mr brown also announced plans to merge 35 agencies into nine - described by one civil service union as a bonfire of the quangos . mark serwotka the leader of the public and commercial services union said: in last year s budget we had the day of the long knifes as the chancellor kicked off the crude game of who could cut the most civil service jobs between the government and the tories. there was a time when the only worry thousands of hard working civil and public servants had on budget day was whether petrol or taxes would go up nowadays the worry is whether they will have a job by the end of it. he said mr brown had made welcome announcements on closing tax loopholes and extending the new deal while cutting the very people who deliver them. the treasury also announced plans to reduce the number of public sector workers on sick leave with a new system of checks and tougher measures against those suspected of abusing the system. | business | 2 |
keegan hails comeback king fowler manchester city boss kevin keegan has praised striker robbie fowler for his landmark return to form. the 29-year-old out of favour at city earlier this season took his premiership goal tally past 150 with a brace in monday s 3-2 win at norwich. he is still a quality player and knows where the net is - we have just got to supply him with ammunition and in the end we did keegan said. he has worked hard to get back to where he is now. the former liverpool striker who moved to city in 2003 after a poor stint at leeds has battled back into first-team contention after struggling with fitness at the start of the season. fowler overtook les ferdinand on tuesday evening to become the third highest scorer of all time in the premiership with 151 goals and he only trails alan shearer (250) and andy cole (173). and keegan believes there is still more to come from the former england forward. he can get better if we can supply him better added keegan. people want to write him off but if he has kept the articles of those people who have written him off he could throw them back at them and they would be left with a bit of egg on their face. fowler s double strike helped city come back from two goals down to clinch a dramatic win at carrow road and keegan sympathised with norwich boss nigel worthington afterwards. i feel a bit for nigel worthington he said. his team have got great character they have a lot of drive and enthusiasm. i know it is a killer blow for norwich but i really think they have brought something to the premiership. the stadium and the atmosphere is great it is just a tough league to stay in - as they are finding out and as we know. | sports | 0 |
tv calls after carroll error spurs boss martin jol said his team were robbed at manchester united after pedro mendes shot clearly crossed the line but was not given. the referee is already wearing an earpiece so why can t we just stop the game and get the decision right said jol after the 0-0 draw. but at the end of the day it s so obvious that pedro s shot was over the line it s incredible. we feel robbed but it s difficult for the linesman and referee to see it. mendes shot from 50 yards and united goalkeeper roy carroll spilled the ball into his own net before hooking it clear. jol added: we are not talking about the ball being a couple of centimetres or an inch or two over the line it was a metre inside the goal. what really annoys me is that we are here in 2005 watching something on a tv monitor within two seconds of the incident occurring and the referee isn t told about it. we didn t play particularly well but i am pleased - even now - with a point although we should have had three. mendes could not believe the goal was not given after seeing a replay. he said: my reaction on the pitch was to celebrate. it was a very nice goal it was clearly over the line - i ve never seen one so over the line and not given in my career. it s really really over. what can you do but laugh about it it s a nice goal and one to keep in my memory even though it didn t count. it s not every game you score from the halfway line. manchester united manager sir alex ferguson sympathised with tottenham and said the incident highlighted the need for video technology. i think it hammers home what a lot of people have been asking for and that s that technology should play a part in the game ferguson told mutv. what i was against originally was the time factor in video replays. but i read an article the other day which suggested that if a referee can t make up his mind after 30 seconds of watching a video replay then the game should carry on. thirty seconds is about the same amount of time it takes to organise a free-kick or take a corner or a goal-kick. so you wouldn t be wasting a lot of time. i think you could start off by using it for goal-line decisions. i think that would be an opening into a new area of football. arsenal boss arsene wenger also used the incident to highlight the need for video technology. when the whole world apart from the referee has seen there should be a goal at old trafford that just reinforces what i feel - there should be video evidence said wenger. it s a great example of where the referee could have asked to see a replay and would have seen in five seconds that it was a goal. | sports | 0 |
grammys honour soul star charles the memory of soul legend ray charles dominated the music world s leading music ceremony on sunday as he was given eight posthumous grammy awards. charles who died in 2004 got honours including record and album of the year while alicia keys and actor jamie foxx performed a musical tribute to him. r&b star keys won four awards herself at the grammy ceremony in los angeles. u2 usher norah jones and kanye west got three each. west led the race going into the ceremony with 10 nominations. charles last album genius loves company a collection of duets that has sold more than two million copies was named album of the year and best pop vocal album. his song here we go again with norah jones won record of the year and best pop vocal collaboration while heaven help us all with gladys knight picked up best gospel performance. jones said: i m glad he s getting recognised because of who he is and how much i love him. actor jamie foxx - who is nominated for an oscar for playing charles in the hit movie ray - dedicated a rendition of georgia on my mind to old friends . keys looking to replicate her grammys success of 2002 when she won five picked up best r&b song for you don t know my name and best r&b album for the diary of alicia keys. she also shared the award for best r&b vocal performance by a duo or group with usher for my boo. usher s other victories were for best contemporary r&b album for confessions and best rap/sung collaboration for yeah! featuring lil jon and ludacris. kanye west dominated the rap categories winning best rap song for jesus walks and best rap album for the college dropout. but in one of the night s biggest shocks he lost out in the battle to be named best new artist to pop rock act maroon 5. vertigo by rock giants u2 won three trophies - best rock song best short video and best rock vocal performance by a duo or group. one of the other main awards song of the year went to us singer-songwriter john mayer for daughters. mayer also won best male pop vocal performance. britney spears picked up her first ever grammy for her song toxic which was named best dance recording. rod stewart also won the first grammy of his career getting the best traditional pop album award for stardust... the great american songbook: volume iii. in 2003 stewart said he was astounded he had never won a grammy - but they tend not to give it to the british unless you re sting . there were few other high-profile british victors this year. annie lennox metal group motorhead and dance act basement jaxx all took home trophies. but elvis costello who had four nominations and joss stone and franz ferdinand who were both up for three awards got nothing. beach boys veteran brian wilson was another first-time winner - for best rock instrumental performance. it represents triumph and achievement in music that i feel that i deserved and i m really glad i won he said. a live recording of composer john adams 11 september tribute on the transmigration of souls performed by the new york philharmonic won three classical prizes. and former us president bill clinton picked up the second grammy of his career winning the spoken word award for the audio version of his autobiography my life. | entertainment | 0 |
progress on new internet domains by early 2005 the net could have two new domain names. the .post and .travel net domains have been given preliminary approval by the net s administrative body. the names are just two of a total of 10 proposed domains that are being considered by the internet corporation for assigned names and numbers icann. the other proposed names include a domain for pornography asia mobile phones an anti-spam domain and one for the catalan language and culture. the .post domain is backed by the universal postal union that wants to use it as the online marker for every type of postal service and to help co-ordinate the e-commerce efforts of national post offices. the .travel domain would be used by hotels travel firms airlines tourism offices and would help such organisations distinguish themselves online. it is backed by a new york-based trade group called the travel partnership. icann said its early decision on the two domains was in response to the detailed technical and commercial information the organisations behind the names had submitted. despite this initial approval icann cautioned that there was no guarantee that the domains would actually go into service. at the same time icann is considering proposals for another eight domains. one that may not win approval is a proposal to set up a .xxx domain for pornographic websites. a similar proposal has been made many times in the past. but icann has been reluctant to approve it because of the difficulty of making pornographers sign up and use it. in 2000 icann approved seven other new domains that have had varying degrees of success. three of the new so-called top level domains were for specific industries or organisations such as .museum and .aero. others such as .info and .biz were intended to be more generic. in total there are in excess of 200 domain names and the majority of these are for nations. but domains that end in the .com suffix are by far the most numerous. | politics | 2 |
diageo to buy us wine firm diageo the world s biggest spirits company has agreed to buy californian wine company chalone for $260m (£134m) in an all-cash deal. although diageo s best-known brands include smirnoff vodka and guinness stout it already has a us winemaking arm - diageo chateau & estate wines. diageo said it expects to get us regulatory approval for the deal during the first quarter of 2005. it said chalone would be integrated into its existing us wine business. the us wine market represents a growth opportunity for diageo with favourable demographic and consumption trends said diageo north america president ivan menezes. in july diageo which is listed on the london stock exchange reported an annual turnover of £8.89bn down from £9.28bn a year earlier. it blamed a weaker dollar for its lower turnover. in the year ending 31 december 2003 chalone reported revenues of $69.4m. | politics | 2 |
safety alert as gm recalls cars the world s biggest carmaker general motors (gm) is recalling nearly 200 000 vehicles in the us on safety grounds according to federal regulators. the national highway traffic safety administration (nhtsa) said the largest recall involves 155 465 pickups vans and sports utility vehicles (suvs). this is because of possible malfunctions with the braking systems. the affected vehicles in the product recall are from the 2004 and 2005 model years gm said. those vehicles with potential faults are the chevrolet avalanche express kodiak silverade and suburban; the gmc savana sierra and yukon. the nhtsa said a pressure accumulator in the braking system could crack during normal driving and fragments could injure people if the hood was open. this could allow hydraulic fluid to leak which could make it harder to brake or steer and could cause a crash it warned. gm is also recalling 19 924 cadillac xlr coupes srx suvs and pontiac grand prix sedans from the 2004 model year. this is because the accelerator pedal may not work properly in extremely cold temperatures requiring more braking. in addition the car giant is calling back 17 815 buick raniers chevrolet trailblazers gmc envoys and isuzu ascenders from the 2005 model years because the windshield is not properly fitted and could fall out in a crash. however gm stressed that it did not know of any injuries related to the problems. news of the recall follows an announcement last month that gm expects earnings this year be lower than in 2004. the world s biggest car maker is grappling with losses in its european business weak us sales and now a product recall. in january gm said higher healthcare costs in north america and lower profits at its financial services subsidiary would hurt its performance in 2005. | politics | 2 |
oscar nominee dan o herlihy dies irish actor dan o herlihy who was nominated for best actor at the 1955 oscars has died at the age of 85. o herlihy whose oscar nomination was for luis bunuel s the adventures of robinson crusoe died at his home in malibu california a spokesman said. the actor began his film career in the 1940s playing macduff to orson welles macbeth in 1948 and was also a regular in on the dublin stage. he later appeared in robocop and its sequel and cult tv show twin peaks. he played the ceo of omni consumer products in 1987 s robocop and robocop 2 three years later and was saw mill owner andrew packard in twin peaks also in 1990. despite his oscar nomination he had few other lead roles and became a familiar supporting actor on tv and in film. the year he was nominated the academy award was won by marlon brando for on the waterfront. | entertainment | 0 |
ireland v usa (sat) saturday 20 november lansdowne road dublin 1300 gmt the irish coach knows a repeat of the record 83-3 victory over the states in 2000 is not on the agenda and expects a real test at lansdowne road. their coach tom billups will have them very organised said o sullivan. they ran five tries past the french in the summer so we will not take them for granted. we have guys coming into the team who are chomping at the bit. the irish line-up shows nine changes from the team which started against south africa with winger tommy bowe and flanker denis leamy making their international debuts. the other changes see recalls for backs david humphreys kevin maggs and guy easterby with eric miller marcus horan donnacha o callaghan and frank sheehan all returning to the pack. o sullivan said the players coming in had the opportunity to stake claims for inclusion against argentina on 27 november. easterby gets a rare start at scrum-half while humphreys now effectively ronan o gara s deputy at fly-half wins his 65th cap. we have got to get the focus right on the day said ulster man humphreys. the us may be classed as weaker opposition but we will treat them with the respect they deserve. the states lost 39-31 against france in their last international and are ranked 16th in world rugby. the americans have made three changes plus one positional switch from the game in july against the french. lock alec parker blind-side flanker brian surgener and right wing al lakomskis return and captain kort schubert of the cardiff blues shifts to number eight. schubert is the only eagles player remaining from the sides meeting four years ago. g murphy; s horgan b o driscoll (capt) k maggs t bowe; d humphreys g easterby; m horan. f sheahan j hayes d o callaghan p o connell s easterby d leamy e miller. s byrne s best l cullen a foley p stringer r o gara g dempsey. viljoen; lakomskis emerick sika fee hercus timoteo; macdonald wyatt waasdorp parker klerck surgener petruzzella schubert (capt). hobson osentowski gouws mo unga williams sherman tuipulotu. | sports | 0 |
funding cut hits wales students the wales students rugby side has become a casualty of the welsh rugby union s reorganisation at youth level. an amalgamated under-18 side formed from separate schools and national youth teams plays its first match on thursday against italy at the gnoll. but that move has seen the wru decide to end its funding of representative sides such as wales students. as a result traditional international fixtures against england and france in the new year have been cancelled. the welsh students rugby football union feels that it is unable to properly prepare for or stage the matches. the secretary of the welsh students rugby football union reverend eldon phillips said: it is a shame that fixtures cannot be maintained this year. the competition provided by the strong english and french teams has enabled the welsh students to test themselves in high quality matches. the increasing number of young rugby players entering higher education look for the biggest challenge that is representative rugby but this year that opportunity will be denied them. players who have played for wales students before going on to win full senior representative honours include robert jones rob howley jon humphreys darren morris martyn williams and ceri sweeney. | science and tech | 2 |
potter director signs warner deal harry potter director alfonso cuaron has signed a three-year deal with hollywood studio warner brothers according to variety trade magazine. the mexican film-maker who directed harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban will produce mainstream movies and smaller spanish-language films. we had a wonderful experience with alfonso on harry potter warner producer jeff robinov told variety. cuaron s other films include mexican movie y tu mama tambien. the 2001 rites-of-passage drama about two teenage boys who embark on a relationship with an older woman brought cuaron international attention - and box office glory. it also won him and his brother carlos with whom he co-wrote the screenplay an oscar nomination for best original screenplay. warner will distribute cuaron s films in several languages outside the us. this deal will give us the opportunity to collaborate with alfonso on movies that make the most of his artistry and vision and continue to offer him the mainstream worldwide audiences that our studio provides so successfully said mr robinov. his first film for warner brothers was 1995 s family fantasy movie a little princess. based on the novel by frances hodgson burnett a little princess tells the story of a young girl who is sent to live in a new york boarding school when her widowed father enlists for war. after the erotic nature of y tu mama tambien cuaron was a surprise choice to direct the third harry potter film but his dark interpretation was received well by the public and critics alike. | business | 2 |
bristol city 2-1 milton keynes leroy lita took his goal tally to 13 for the season as his double earned city an ldv vans trophy win. the striker finished off scott murray cross from close range just seconds before half-time. lita then made it 2-0 on 52 minutes but dons substitute serge makofo then netted a great volley to make it 2-1. the visitors almost took the tie to extra time with a late 30-yard bullet from richard johnson which was well held by steve phillips. phillips amankwaah coles hill fortune murray (anyinsah 59) doherty (harley 45) dinning bell lita (cotterill 72) gillespie. subs not used: orr brown. hill. lita 45 52. bevan oyedele ntimban-zeh crooks puncheon kamara (makofo 64) chorley herve (mckoy 45) tapp (johnson 45) mackie pacquette. subs not used: martin palmer. pacquette chorley johnson mckoy. makofo 66. 3 367 j ross (essex). | sports | 0 |
no re-draft for eu patent law a proposed european law on software patents will not be re-drafted by the european commission (ec) despite requests by meps. the law is proving controversial and has been in limbo for a year. some major tech firms say it is needed to protect inventions while others fear it will hurt smaller tech firms. the ec says the council of ministers will adopt a draft version that was agreed upon last may but said it would review all aspects of the directive . the directive is intended to offer patent protection to inventions that use software to achieve their effect in other words computer implemented invention . in a letter ec president josé manuel barroso told the president of the european parliament josep borrell that the commission did not intend to refer a new proposal to the parliament and the council (of ministers) as it had supported the agreement reached by ministers in may 2004. if the european council agrees on the draft directive it will then return for a second reading at the european parliament. but that will not guarantee that the directive will become law - instead it will probably mean further delays and controversy over the directive. most eu legislation now needs the approval of both parliament and the council of ministers before it becomes law. french green mep alain lipietz warned two weeks ago that if the commission ignored the parliament s request it would be an insult to the assembly. he said that the parliament would then reject the council s version of the legislation as part of the final or conciliation stage of the decision procedure. in the us the patenting of computer programs and internet business methods is permitted. this means that the us-based amazon.com holds a patent for its one-click shopping service for example. critics are concerned that the directive could lead to a similar model happening in europe. this they fear could hurt small software developers because they do not have the legal and financial might of larger companies if they had to fight patent legal action in court. supporters say current laws are inefficient and it would serve to even up a playing field without bringing eu laws in line with the us. | politics | 2 |
blair says mayor should apologise tony blair has urged london mayor ken livingstone to apologise for his nazi comment to a jewish reporter. labour s mr livingstone who says he is standing by his remarks had accused an evening standard journalist of being like a concentration camp guard . mr blair told five s wright stuff show: let s just apologise and move on. mr livingstone has said the remarks may have been offensive but were not racist and said he would not apologise even if the prime minister asked. mr blair who was instrumental in returning mr livingstone to the labour party insisted on wednesday it was time for the london mayor to say sorry. a lot of us in politics get angry with journalists from time to time but in the circumstances and to the journalist because he was a jewish journalist yes he should apologise he said. let s just apologise and move on - that s the sensible thing. tory leader michael howard asked about mr livingstone s remark by reporters said it was important for politicians to be mindful about the language they use. it s particularly important that as we get close to the election that politicians talk with civility and courtesy about issues that we all face he said. i think it s a matter of sadness that we are not seeing that from the labour party. we had what ken livingstone said we had what alastair campbell has said and we have what others have said. i think that s a matter of great regret. the row blew up after mr livingstone was approached by evening standard reporter oliver finegold following a party marking the 20th anniversary of former culture secretary chris smith coming out as britain s first gay mp. on tape mr livingstone who once worked as a freelance restaurant critic on the paper is heard asking mr finegold if he is a german war criminal . mr finegold replies: no i m jewish i wasn t a german war criminal. i m quite offended by that. the mayor then says: ah right well you might be but actually you are like a concentration camp guard you are just doing it because you are paid to aren t you at his weekly press conference on tuesday mr livingstone said his comments were not racist and refused to apologise. if you think they are racist i think you are wrong he told reporters. the dispute comes as an inspection team from the international olympic committee began a four-day tour to assess london s bid for the 2012 games. an official complaint has been made to local government watchdogs by the british jews demanding an investigation by the standards board of england. it has the power to suspend or bar mr livingstone from public office. | politics | 0 |
hingis hints at playing comeback martina hingis has admitted that she might consider a competitive return to tennis if an appearance in thailand later this month goes well. the former world number one will play at the volvo women s open in pattaya which starts on 31 january as part of her charity work in the region. the tournament is a test she said. i don t know how my body will react. i support several charities in thailand. i m also playing to see where i am. speaking to le matin the 24-year-old swiss added: at pattaya there will not be as many people and the players are ranked between the 30th and 95th in the world. hingis was 22 when she retired after having surgery on both ankles and her last wta event was in filderstadt germany in october 2002 when she lost to elena dementieva. | science and tech | 2 |
voters don t trust politicians eight out of 10 voters do not trust politicians to tell the truth a new poll conducted for the bbc suggests. and 87% of the 1 000 adults quizzed by icm for bbc news 24 said politicians did not deliver what they promised. the poll comes after foreign secretary jack straw predicted trust would be the key choice at the next election. both the tories and the lib dems are keen to emphasise a perceived lack of trust in tony blair following his claims over iraqi weapons. but according to the bbc poll 61% said the issue of trust made no difference to whether or not they would vote at the next election widely expected on 5 may. the poll also looked at what lay behind the lack of trust in politicians. some 87% said politicians did not keep the promises they made before elections while 92% said they never gave a straight answer . just under three-quarters of respondents (73%) said politicians had shown themselves to be dishonest too often. mr straw told activists in blackburn on thursday that voters would have to decide at the next election which party best deserves their future trust . that in the end is the key choice at the next election. he acknowledged that the public had lost faith in labour but suggested it could persuade people to reinvest their trust with us if the party could overcome tory attempts to spread cynicism in politics. the conservatives are keen to highlight the trust issue. during his response to gordon brown s budget statement on tuesday michael howard compared the chancellor s figures to the prime minister s claims about iraq s weapons of mass destruction. the lib dems are also keen to highlight the trust issue with charles kennedy has claiming voters had a fundamental lack of trust in the prime minister . and the green party unveiled a billboard opposite the palace of westminster accusing the government of lying over the iraq war. former education secretary estelle morris told bbc news 24 that there was a real problem of trust between the public and the politicians. she said she did not feel her own colleagues could be trusted but suggested the three-cornered relationship between the press politicians and the public had a hand in the issue. the public was often turned off by sitting on the sidelines in the battle of words between the politician and the journalist she added. lib dem foreign affairs spokesman menzies campbell said the iraq war had hit trust in politicians hard. issues of war and peace life and death do have a very damaging effect on the credibility of politicians . martin bell who won the tatton seat from tory neil hamilton on anti-corruption platform said politicians often failed to see themselves as others did. we need public figures we trust to tell the truth and who can see themselves as others see them. | politics | 0 |
us duo in first spam conviction a brother and sister in the us have been convicted of sending hundreds of thousands of unsolicited e-mail messages to aol subscribers. it is the first criminal prosecution of internet spam distributors. jurors in virginia recommended that the man jeremy jaynes serve nine years in prison and that his sister jessica degroot be fined $7 500. they were convicted under a state law that bars the sending of bulk e-mails using fake addresses. they will be formally sentenced next year. a third defendant richard rutkowski was acquitted. prosecutors said jaynes was a snake oil salesman in a new format using the internet to peddle useless wares news agency associated press reported. a fed-ex refund processor was supposed to allow people to earn $75 an hour working from home. another item on sale was an internet history eraser . his sister helped him process credit card payments. jaynes amassed a fortune of $24m from his sales prosecutors said. he s been successful ripping people off all these years ap quoted prosecutor russell mcguire as saying. jaynes was also found guilty of breaking a state law which prohibits the sending of more than 100 000 e-mails in 30 days virginia state attorney general jerry kilgore reportedly said. prosecutors had asked for 15 years in jail for jaynes and a jail term for his sister. but jaynes lawyer david oblon called the nine-year recommended term outrageous and said his client believed he was innocent. he pointed out that all three of the accused lived in north carolina and were unaware of the virginia state law. spam messages are estimated to account for at least 60% of all e-mails sent. | world | 2 |
kilroy launches veritas party ex-bbc chat show host and east midlands mep robert kilroy-silk said he wanted to change the face of british politics as he launched his new party. mr kilroy-silk who recently quit the uk independence party said our country was being stolen from us by mass immigration. he told a london news conference that veritas - latin for truth - would avoid the old parties lies and spin . ukip leader roger knapman says he is glad to see the back of mr kilroy-silk. mr kilroy-silk promised a firm but fair policy on immigration and said they hoped to contest most seats at the forthcoming general election. he said veritas would also announce detailed policies on crime tax pensions health and defence over the next few weeks. labour campaign spokesman fraser kemp said veritas was joining an already crowded field on the right of british politics . on thursday mr kilroy-silk is due to announce which constituency he will run in at the next general election - that will come amid speculation he has his sights set on defence secretary geoff hoon s ashfield seat. he was joined in the new venture by one of ukip s two london assembly members damien hockney who is now veritas deputy leader. ukip s chairman petrina holdsworth has said the group will just be a parody of the party the men have left. mr kilroy-silk quit ukip last week after months of tension as he vied unsuccessfully for the leadership of that party. he said he was ashamed to be a member of a ukip whose leadership had gone awol after the great opportunity offered by its third place at last june s european elections. while ukip has turned its back on the british people i shall not he said. i will be standing at the next general election. i shall be leading a vigorous campaign for the causes i believe in. and unlike the old parties we shall be honest open and straight. mr hockney also left ukip saying mr kilroy-silk would deliver better as the leader of a eurosceptic party. a spokesman for ukip called on mr hockney to quit the london assembly. the party asserts that mr hockney has a moral obligation if not a legal one to stand down. its leader roger knapman has said he is glad to see the back of mr kilroy-silk. he has remarkable ability to influence people but sadly after the [european] election it became clear that he was more interested in the robert kilroy-silk party than the uk independence party so it was nice knowing him now goodbye he said. ukip officials also argue mr kilroy-silk has not been straightforward in attacking the party he once wanted to lead. veritas it s the bnp in an expensive suit! it s all well and good robert kilroy-silk claiming that veritas is a party that doesn t believe in lies and spin but the truth of the matter is its completely useless due to proportional representation there is no chance that veritas will have any chance in claiming power and change the two-horse race trend. in my opinion this is just a publicity stunt which has just been used as a smoke-screen for his anti-islamism slurs which got him sacked from the television. i think that his views regarding immigration are shared by many. it really is time that the uk government ceased to be a paper tiger on this issue. in addition as an ashfield constituent i would be more than interested in kilroy -silk opposing geoff hoon!! good to see the parties of the right splintering in the way the parties of the left have always done. let s hope kilroy-silk ukip and the euro-sceptic wing of the tory party all fade further into obscurity so we can have some truth in the debate about europe. we benefit enormously from our membership of the eu we need to be at the heart of europe leading it and driving it to where we as a country want to go not running away from it. all mouth and trousers. a clown. trouble is any votes he collects may just end up helping new labour into a third term. whatever kilroy-silk and ukip do none of their anti-european policies have any relevance outside middle england. this new party might gain support from right-wing england but will have little impact in wales or scotland. hopefully this all this fighting within euro-sceptic parties will allow them to slip out of the way and get people voting for real political parties which address more than one issue. england needs europe to survive and as soon as people realise this the better we can t rely on the usa forever! at last an impetus for increasing the likely 40% turn out for the election. the electorate is disillusioned with british politics. kilroy has one agenda - the uk - and i ll be voting for him. both ukip and rk-s are representatives of small-mindedness and a lack of vision for the whole of humankind. the interests of humanity and the world lie so much beyond the scope of these people s bickering that who in the overall scheme of things really cares about their petty tiff many people believe you kilroy. you may even believe yourself but switching horses midstream and then bad mouthing the steed that got you halfway seriously diminishes your credibility. the very idea of political parties born out of such negative feelings as euroscepticism or british supremacy is nauseating. one can only hope the public recognise these extremists for what they are and shun them at the polls. i ve always thought that kilroy-silk was a self-publicising egotist and this news does absolutely nothing to alter my opinion. brilliant about time this country had a plausible party! having seen the recent bbc 3 documentary and witnessed the thoroughly disgraceful chauvinistic behaviour of a number of senior ukip figures i can well understand why kilroy-silk feels embarrassed to be associated with such people. hopefully the ukip members who are interested in the political debate will support his action. fantastic news. pro-europeans now have far less to worry about from the right. the conservatives are as confused as they have been since the mid-1990s and the extreme anti-europeans are fracturing themselves into splinter groups that split any votes they might get in local european and general elections. robert kilroy-silk s ego and vanity are his own (and his supporters ) worst enemy. as a euro-enthusiast i could not be more delighted by kilroy-silk s behaviour. he took a party that was just building up a head of steam and having exposed it to ridicule by attempting a coup-d etat he is now setting about the serious business of dividing it in two. the closer to straight-down-the-middle the better as far as i am concerned but in any eventuality the two sceptic parties will exhaust their energies fighting each other. if every politician with ambitions to lead their party resorted to forming their own for that purpose we d have ballot papers a mile long! you ve got to hand it to kilroy-silk for his sheer arrogance and supreme self-belief. whilst not being a great fan of kilroy i do agree with his comments about the ukip leadership and like him i am also leaving ukip. i believe countless opportunities have been lost to discredit the eu and to show our people what belonging to the eu really means. the eu s comments last week about michael howard s plans to reform immigration show how little we govern our own country when they can turn round and say immigration is a matter for the eu and not individual member states. the sooner we leave this corrupt super-state the better does anyone else think that it is ironic that euro-sceptic kilroy-silk has used a latin name for his new party rather than a good old british name is this indicative of the man - contradictory vain and pompous i think mr kilroy-silk has got a very good point. british politics has become too pc and as a result has no straight talking honest strong politicians. they are all interested in their own careers and not the people who put them in power. as a result i feel our democracy is being abused and i want it stopped. if mr kilroy-silk lives up to half his promises he will get my vote. honestly who really cares man with tan leaves party with no plan to set up party with no idea. as one of kilroy-silk s east midlands constituents i hope those who voted for him are proud to have been taken in by such charming vacuity. i feel insulted by having him represent me in the european parliament. ukip tried hard to accommodate robert kilroy silk but he made it clear that only control of it would satisfy him. someone so keen on complete control was bound to fall foul of ukip s democratic nature. kilroy is an able communicator and a capable politician in exactly the way those who lead ukip are not. he tried to make it work but they didn t seem to want to grow up. he was left in the position of having to defend their gaffes to the media. this new party seems a logical next step for kilroy. good luck to the man i say. oh please! this is an amusing irrelevance. there is absolutely no chance of either of these parties communicating a sensible and constructive eurosceptic argument. they will play a key part in winning the country round to the idea of a reformed more democratic more dynamic europe union. future generations will thank him for his ridiculousness. the refreshing thing about robert is that he is open honest and straight. what other politician can claim this. i have a suspicion that he talks for a larger part of the electorate that his critics would like. i shall be voting for him. the electorate of the east midlands voted not for kilroy-silk but for the ukip. kilroy-silk was made an mep because of his position on the ukip s party list. he has no mandate to represent the area and should resign from the european parliament. i wouldn t write off kilroy-silk. while he s a clown and a one man band at the moment he s a populist and that s always dangerous.the man clearly has an enormous ego and looking at our current political masters that seems to be one of the factors in success. good luck to kilroy though i think he is doing more harm than good for both his new party and ukip because their vote base is not strong enough for both parties to be successful and at the moment ukip have the upper hand while veritas are starting from square one and fighting a somewhat uphill battle. the man i once found cringe worthy on day time tv could well turn out to be my country s knight in shining armour. he expresses views which are now more than common amongst society today - but people are almost too scared to express them. kilroy silk has secured my vote and many more like me. what s more i look forward to the day when he claims victory wrecks the eu and rescues my great nation... without a hair out of place and his tan as perfect as ever! great stuff. the longer the uk dithers over europe the richer we in ireland become as the only english-speaking country fully committed to europe. oh and send us over those hard-working immigrants - our economy needs them. this is just what the europhiles pray for. as the main eurosceptic party ukip should try to resolve its differences with kilroy to show a united front and give the uk public a serious political voice against europe. having multiple parties with the same view point just splits the vote further. thank goodness that kilroy-silk has gone - now ukip at least has a chance in the election! it is very sad to see the cause of britain regaining its proper relationship with europe damaged by this split within ukip. robert kilroy-silk could have a lot to offer. instead we have a split party and a damaged cause. under the present electoral system people must work together and small parties have no hope of representation. last summer ukip achieved a major advance partly and only partly due to kilroy-silk. it is a great shame this has been dissipated in in-fighting. ukip has a wide platform of policies not just withdrawal from the eu. this kilroy-silk conveniently ignores in the comments surrounding the launch of his own party. neither the english democrats nor the new party were interested in letting him join them and take over their leadership speaks volumes. veritas is the beginning of the end for kilroy-silk. if he believes in truth and democracy then he and the two assembly members should resign and force a by-elections to stand on their own platform rather than this backdoor approach to politics of being elected for one party then defecting to another. so ukip was good enough for him to lead not good enough for him to follow! interesting that a party committed to plain speaking should have a latin name! every opinion poll points to an overwhelming anti-europe feeling in this country. kilroy-silk could be on the verge of something huge if he can broaden his appeal beyond this one issue. he is an extremely able communicator with years of political experience. we wants quality schools top hospitals clean and efficient public transport punishments that fit the crime limited asylum a purge on bureaucracy and less taxes. it needs courage and honesty two qualities sadly lacking in our politicians. kilroy-silk may just have those very qualities. recruit the right colleagues robert and your time may have come! well if you cannot get enough limelight being an ordinary mp then go out and start up your own party. it s all flash and no real policy here let s hope this is the start of both ukip and kilroy-silk slipping into obscurity. veritas the name will doom it. but perhaps i am wrong for surely all modern schoolchildren will understand it since they do still learn latin in the classroom do they not the whole essence of what rks represents is euroscepticism so explain to me how the too-twee label of veritas symbolises that | politics | 0 |
vera drake s bafta triumph hope at the bafta film awards on saturday night there is the prospect that a home-grown movie could walk off with a clutch of trophies. vera drake mike leigh s tale about a 1950s backstreet abortionist is nominated in 11 categories. these include best film best director and best actress shortlist for imelda staunton who plays the eponymous character. the film has spent months being lauded with prizes from the venice film festival to five awards from the london critics circle on wednesday night. the baftas has a tradition of honouring british cinema and this year vera drake is the obvious candidate to be heaped with praise. empire magazine s reviews editor dan jolin said the film had a very good chance of doing well on saturday predicting that it would collect five or six awards. i don t think it s going to do a lord of the rings-style sweep but imelda staunton is a shoo-in for best actress he said. a best director prize for mike leigh and best british film are also likely and it could steal some awards from heavily-nominated competitors the aviator and finding neverland. mr jolin tipped another contender - most likely the aviator - to walk away with the bafta for best film and added that finding neverland had been lavished with nominations but not trophies. strong oscar contenders million dollar baby and sideways did not figure in the bafta nominations giving vera drake greater potential to walk away with the big prizes. there is a sense that this film is ours and we should slap our own guys on the back. out of all the films in the running for the baftas vera drake is the true blue british one. if mike leigh is going to win awards for anything it should be vera drake at this year s baftas said mr jolin adding that the film was probably his most technically accomplished and lavish work yet. mr jolin also tipped phil davis for a best supporting actor prize for his role in vera drake but felt that heather craney could be outdone by kate winslet or natalie portman in the supporting actress category. if there is anywhere where this film is going to win it will be at the baftas he said. the guardian s film critic peter bradshaw felt that there might well be a sweep of awards for vera drake on saturday night. i hope that bafta voters will respond to the extremely high standard of acting from the whole cast of the film. if bafta can t do so what hope is there he said. mr bradshaw felt that mike leigh s masterpiece was entitled to the best film award - leaving dead man s shoes harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban my summer of love and shaun of the dead to slug it out for the best british film trophy. i will be cheering if vera drake wins a whole host of awards he added. | business | 2 |
yachvili savours france comeback france scrum-half dimitri yachvili praised his team after they fought back to beat england 18-17 in the six nations clash at twickenham. yachvili kicked all of france s points as they staged a second-half revival. we didn t play last week against scotland and we didn t play in the first half against england he said. but we re very proud to beat england at twickenham. we were just defending in the first half and we said we had to put them under pressure. we did well. yachvili admitted erratic kicking from england s charlie hodgson and olly barkley who missed six penalties and a drop goal chance between them had been decisive. i know what it s like with kicking. when you miss some it s very hard mentally but it went well for us he said. france captain fabien pelous insisted his side never doubted they could secure their first win against england at twickenham since 1997. france were 17-6 down at half-time but pelous said: no-one was down at half-time we were still confident. we said we only had 11 points against us which was not much. the plan was to keep hold of possession and pressure england to losing their composure. france coach bernard laporte accepted his side had not played well. we know we have to play better to defend the title he said. i m not happy we didn t score a try but we re happy because we won. | sports | 0 |
msps hear renewed climate warning climate change could be completely out of control within several decades the scottish environment protection agency is warning a committee of msps. experts are giving evidence on the subject to the scottish parliament s environment committee. officials believe nuclear energy and wind farms may be better options than trying to tackle global warming. solutions suggested by conservationists include reducing internal uk air travel and boosting electric trains. the evidence is part of the committee s inquiry into the impact of climate change in scotland. sepa is attempting to curb global warming gases as pollution from transport emissions increases. ecologists are warning msps that scotland may have to accept significant intrusion from wind farms. it is likely also that nuclear power will be needed for possibly several decades. sepa predict that the two methods will remain as energy sources until climate change is under control. experts studying the seas off scotland s west coast have already forecast more devastating weather of the type which caused havoc across the country last month. they predicted that damaging storms will become more frequent. researchers from the university of the highlands and islands and southampton have been looking at wave heights in the atlantic over the last nine years. the project was conducted jointly by the environmental research institute in thurso which is part of the university of the highlands and islands (uhi) millennium institute network and the southampton oceanography centre. scientists carried out a series of studies including the use of satellites to assess wave heights in the seas around the west coast and the hebrides. | world | 2 |
super union merger plan touted two of britain s big trade unions could merge to form a super union of two million members. the move by amicus and the transport and general workers union (tgwu) would be a seen as a bid to carry more weight with ministers and employers. amicus has 1.2 million members and the tgwu has 800 000. any merger would have to be approved by the unions executives and their membership. it is understood meetings will be held on wednesday about the proposal. along with the gmb and unison the tgwu and amicus worked closely together in the last year to hammer out a 56-point deal with labour s leadership over equality at work holidays and pensions - the warwick agreement. both unions are remaining tight-lipped about the merger rumours but one insider pointed out to the bbc news website that nobody is denying suggestions a merger could be on the agenda when the two unions executives hold their meetings on wednesday. amicus s executive was due to meet in any case although the tgwu is holding specially scheduled talks. | politics | 0 |
pearce keen on succeeding keegan joint assistant boss stuart pearce has admitted he would like to succeed kevin keegan as manager at manchester city. keegan has decided to step down as city manager when his contract comes to an end in 18 months. you don t have to be einstein to realise there will be a manager s job available at a really good club pearce told bbc gmr. i will certainly be applying for it although whether the board deem me good enough to take it i do not know. pearce initially joined city as a player under keegan in 2001 before becoming part of the coaching staff. he was promoted to joint assistant-manager following the departure of arthur cox last summer. the former england defender had a year as player-boss with nottingham forest eight seasons ago but has made no secret of his desire to have another crack at the job. he was linked with the manager s job at oldham and keegan has stated he would not get in the way if pearce wanted to leave. but it now appears pearce is keen to wait for his chance at city. he added: by that time i will have been here for five years so at least they will have had a good look at me and they are aware of my feelings with regard to being kevin s successor. obviously the issue is out of my hands but it is a fantastic job for anybody - i just hope it will be me. | business | 2 |
costin aims for comeback in 2006 jamie costin should be paralysed. he says so himself in a matter-of-fact way as he recalls the car accident which occurred nine days before he was scheduled to step out into the olympic stadium in athens for the 50k walk. there is an ironic chuckle as he talks of his immediate thoughts after a lorry driving on the wrong side of the road had ploughed into his rental car. i was in a lot of pain and i guessed that one of my toes was broken says the waterford man. but i was thinking maybe with a cortisone injection you never know. in my back it felt as though all the muscles had been ripped off my pelvis but i was thinking maybe we could do something with laser therapy and ultra sound and hopefully i d be able to race. it took over 10 hours before jamie knew with certainty that he would not be competing in his second olympics. my back had been broken in two places and with one of my vertebrae the bottom part had exploded so i m fierce lucky not be paralysed. i d fractured my big toe as well which was on the brake. jamie didn t finally arrive at hospital in athens until some nine and a half hours after the accident. for the first nine hours i had no pain killers which was ridiculous in 35 degrees heat. but once i got the scans and saw them it was a case of moving on and thinking: ok i ve got a different set of circumstances now . within three days he was arriving back in ireland by air ambulance. doctors in athens had wanted to operate on jamie s back immediately but he insisted on delaying any surgery until he arrived back home - something he is now very relieved about. the greek doctors were going to put three or four inch titanium rods either side of my spinal cord up through my vertebrae. that would have fused all my lower back and i would never have been able to race again. they were really putting a lot of pressure on me to agree to the surgery. but when i got to the mater in dublin they said it was possible for it to heal totally naturally which is giving me the chance to get back into competition which is very important to me. the people at the mater have been absolutely fantastic. jamie had to wear a body cast for three and a half months after the accident and spent most of that time flat on his back. he then progressed to crutches for six weeks until he was finally able to walk unaided on 10 january. walking without the crutches seemed like something finally really measurable in terms of my recovery. physio sessions with johnston mcevoy in limerick have been a vital part of his recovery. johnston uses an advanced type of acupuncture and it s very effective. needles get put right close up to my spine. a two and a half inch needle went in yesterday and i m fairly incapacitated today as a result. jamie has also travelled to receive treatment at the polish training centre in spala where he has trained with triple olympic champion robert korzeniowski over the past five years. i was there for over a fortnight earlier this month and underwent a fair extreme treatment called cryotherapy. basically there s a small room which is cooled by liquid nitrogen to minus 160 degrees centigrade and it promotes deep healing. jamie heads to poland again on sunday where he will be having daily cryotherapy in addition to twice-daily physio sessions and pool-work. all these sessions are small steps on the way to what jamie hopes will be a return to racing in 2006. it s all about trying to get mobility in my back. lying down for three and a half months didn t really help with the strength. there s a lot of work involved in my recovery. i m doing about six hours a day between physio and pool work. i m also going to the gym to lift very light weights to try and build up my muscles. i m fairly full on with everything i do. i d hope to be training regularly by march. but training is just part of the process of getting back. at the moment every time i go and do a big bit of movement my whole pelvic area all down my lower back just tightens up. it s a case of waiting and seeing how it reacts. hopefully after four or five months my back won t tighten up as much. | entertainment | 2 |
house prices drop as sales slow house prices fell further in november and property sale times lengthened as rate rises took their toll the royal institute of chartered surveyors found. a total of 48% of chartered surveyor estate agents reported lower prices in the three months to november - the highest level in 12 years. meanwhile the number of sales dropped 32% to an average of 22 per surveyor. the amount of unsold properties on their books rose for the sixth month in a row to an average of 67 properties. the slowdown occurring in the market has given buyers more power to negotiate but this time of year is traditionally a quiet one rics housing spokesman ian perry said. the decision by the bank of england not to increase interest rates further and the healthy economy is allowing confidence to consolidate. the figures support recent data from the government and other bodies which all point to a slowdown in the housing market. on monday the council of mortgage lenders british bankers association and building societies association all said mortgage lending was slowing. the figures were published as another survey by property website rightmove said the average asking price of a home fell by more than £600 from £190 329 in november to £189 733 in december. around the uk the midlands and south saw the biggest price falls while london prices fell but at less than the national rate. in scotland where prices have remained on an upward path increases were more moderate rics added. but the news failed to dent confidence that sales will recover in future with surveyors at their most optimistic in a year - as new purchase inquiries stabilised despite holding at lower levels. sales usually pick up in the new year and i am confident this year will be no exception mr perry added. looking ahead the group is anticipating a quiet start to 2005 with the market picking up in the second half - prompting a 3% rise in prices over the coming 12 months. | business | 0 |
kenyan school turns to handhelds at the mbita point primary school in western kenya students click away at a handheld computer with a stylus. they are doing exercises in their school textbooks which have been digitised. it is a pilot project run by eduvision which is looking at ways to use low cost computer systems to get up-to-date information to students who are currently stuck with ancient textbooks. matthew herren from eduvision told the bbc programme go digital how the non-governmental organisation uses a combination of satellite radio and handheld computers called e-slates. the e-slates connect via a wireless connection to a base station in the school. this in turn is connected to a satellite radio receiver. the data is transmitted alongside audio signals. the base station processes the information from the satellite transmission and turns it into a form that can be read by the handheld e-slates. it downloads from the satellite and every day processes the stream sorts through content for the material destined for the users connected to it. it also stores this on its hard disc. the system is cheaper than installing and maintaining an internet connection and conventional computer network. but mr herren says there are both pros and cons to the project. it s very simple to set up just a satellite antenna on the roof of the school but it s also a one-way connection so getting feedback or specific requests from end users is difficult. the project is still at the pilot stage and eduvision staff are on the ground to attend to teething problems with the linux-based system. the content is divided into visual information textual information and questions. users can scroll through these sections independently of each other. eduvision is planning to include audio and video files as the system develops and add more content. mr herren says this would vastly increase the opportunities available to the students. he is currently in negotiations to take advantage of a project being organised by search site google to digitise some of the world s largest university libraries. all books in the public domain something like 15 million could be put on the base stations as we manufacture them. then every rural school in africa would have access to the same libraries as the students in oxford and harvard currently the project is operating in an area where there is mains electricity. but mr herren says eduvision already has plans to extend it to more remote regions. we plan to put a solar panel at the school with the base station have the e-slates charge during the day when the children are in school then they can take them home at night and continue working. maciej sundra who designed the user interface for the e-slates says the project s ultimate goal is levelling access to knowledge around the world. why in this age when most people do most research using the internet are students still using textbooks the fact that we are doing this in a rural developing country is very exciting - as they need it most. | science and tech | 0 |
strong quarterly growth for nike nike has reported its best second-quarter earnings helped by strong demand for its athletic shoes and converse sneakers. the global sports giant said it posted a profit of $261.9m (£135.6m) for the three months to 30 november up from $179.1m in the same period last year. revenues increased 11% to $3.1bn from $2.8bn for the same period in 2003. nike whose products are endorsed by tiger woods among other sports stars said demand continues to grow . the results came after a strong first quarter of the year for the firm based in beaverton oregon. philip knight chairman and chief executive said: nike s second-quarter revenues and earnings per share reached all-time high levels as a result of solid performance across our global portfolio. our businesses in the united states and emerging markets such as china russia and turkey combined with favourable european exchange rates helped drive much of this growth. he added: with the first half of our fiscal year in the books we remain confident that our business strategy and consistent execution will allow us to deliver on our goals of healthy profitable growth. the firm reported worldwide futures orders for athletic footwear and gear scheduled for delivery from december 2004 to april 2005 of $4.9bn. that is 9.1% higher than such orders reported for the same period last year. | business | 0 |
melzer shocks agassi second seed andre agassi suffered a comprehensive defeat by jurgen melzer in the quarter-finals of the sap open. agassi was often bamboozled by the austrian s drop shots in san jose losing 6-3 6-1. defending champion and top seed andy roddick rallied to beat sweden s thomas enqvist 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 7-5. but unseeded cyril saulnier beat the fourth seed vincent spadea 6-2 6-4 and tommy haas overcame eighth seed max mirnyi 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2. melzer has now beaten agassi in two of their three meetings. i had a good game plan and i executed it perfectly he said. it s always tough to come out to play andre. i didn t want him to play his game. he makes you run like a dog all over the court. and agassi who was more than matched for power by his opponent s two-handed backhand said melzer was an example of several players on the tour willing to take their chances against him. a lot more guys are capable of it now said the american. he played much better than me. that s what he did both times. i had opportunities to loosen myself up agassi added. but i didn t convert on the big points. | sports | 0 |
rapper jay-z becomes label boss rap star jay-z is to become a record company executive after being put in charge of one of hip-hop s most influential labels def jam. jay-z who said he would make no more music after 2003 s the black album will become the company s president and chief executive from january. def jam s parent company universal made the appointment after buying jay-z s roc-a-fella label. def jam s artists include ll cool j dmx ludacris ja rule and ashanti. jay-z will continue to run roc-a-fella which he founded with damon dash in 1995 and has kanye west and beanie sigel on its roster. universal said on wednesday it had bought the 50% of roc-a-fella it did not already own. antonio la reid chairman of the island def jam music group said: i can think of no-one more relevant and credible in the hip-hop community to build upon def jam s fantastic legacy. he hoped jay-z would move the company into its next groundbreaking era he added. jay-z real name shawn carter said: i have inherited two of the most important brands in hip-hop def jam and roc-a-fella. i feel this is a giant step for me and the entire artist community. one of the most successful and respected rap stars of the last eight years jay-z s hits have included hard knock life dirt off your shoulder and 03 bonnie and clyde with his girlfriend beyonce knowles. he said he would retire after the black album but has just released an album and been on an ill-fated tour with r kelly. def jam was founded in 1984 by russell simmons and producer rick rubin and signed artists including run-dmc the beastie boys and public enemy. | entertainment | 0 |
ex-boeing director gets jail term an ex-chief financial officer at boeing has received a four-month jail sentence and a fine of $250 000 (£131 961) for illegally hiring a top air force aide. michael sears admitted his guilt in breaking conflict of interest laws by recruiting darleen druyun while she still handled military contracts. ms druyun is currently serving a nine month sentence for favouring boeing when awarding lucrative contracts. boeing lost a $23bn government contract after a pentagon inquiry into the case. the contract to provide refuelling tankers for the us air force was cancelled last year. the pentagon revealed earlier this week that it would examine eight other contracts worth $3bn which it believes may have been tainted by ms druyun s role in the procurement process. boeing sacked mr sears and ms druyun in november 2003 after allegations that they had violated company recruitment policy. ms druyun had talks with mr sears in october 2002 about working for boeing while she was still a top procurement official within the pentagon. she subsequently joined the company in january 2003. ms druyun admitted that she had steered multi-billion dollar contracts to boeing and other favoured companies. in documents filed in a virginia court ahead of mr sears sentencing prosecutors blamed boeing s senior management for failing to ask key questions about the legal and ethical issues surrounding ms druyun s appointment. mr sears told prosecutors that no other boeing officials were aware that ms druyun was still responsible for major procurement decisions at the time she was discussing a job with boeing. however analysts believe boeing may yet face civil charges arising from the scandal. the pentagon has investigated 400 contracts dating back to 1993 since the allegations against ms druyun came to light. boeing s corporate ethics have come under scrutiny on several occasions in recent years. boeing was sued by lockheed martin after its rival accused it of industrial espionage during a 1998 contract competition. boeing apologised publicly for the affair - although it claimed it did not gain any unfair advantage - and pledged to improve its procedures. the pentagon subsequently revoked $1bn worth of contracts assigned to boeing and prohibited the seattle-based company from future rocket work. | politics | 2 |
greek sprinters won t run again the careers of sprinters kostas kenteris and katerina thanou are over says the boss of the organisation that cleared them of missing a drugs test. greek athletics federation boss vassilli sevastis told the country s parliament: i believe kenteris and thanou won t race again. the damage to their commercial interests has been done he added. athletics bosses are considering its reponse to the ruling while the athletes face a trial in a greek court. greek prosecutors have brought spearate charges of missing the drugs test and faking a motorcycle accident. speaking to the greek parliament on tuesday sevastis said that the evidence sent by the international olympic committee and athletics governing body the iaaf was not strong enough for the greek association to find the sprinters guilty. we were given the task of getting the snake out if its hole but we were not given any evidence to do it with he said. so how can you as a greek with your hand on your heart try the athletes he added. the athletes are technically free to compete while the iaaf reviews its response to the decision to clear kenteris and thanou. but sevastis said: it does not matter if they are found guilty at the court of arbitration for sport and the current decision is reversed. | sports | 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. | science and tech | 0 |
jobs growth still slow in the us the us created fewer jobs than expected in january but a fall in jobseekers pushed the unemployment rate to its lowest level in three years. according to labor department figures us firms added only 146 000 jobs in january. the gain in non-farm payrolls was below market expectations of 190 000 new jobs. nevertheless it was enough to push down the unemployment rate to 5.2% its lowest level since september 2001. the job gains mean that president bush can celebrate - albeit by a very fine margin - a net growth in jobs in the us economy in his first term in office. he presided over a net fall in jobs up to last november s presidential election - the first president to do so since herbert hoover. as a result job creation became a key issue in last year s election. however when adding december and january s figures the administration s first term jobs record ended in positive territory. the labor department also said it had revised down the jobs gains in december 2004 from 157 000 to 133 000. analysts said the growth in new jobs was not as strong as could be expected given the favourable economic conditions. it suggests that employment is continuing to expand at a moderate pace said rick egelton deputy chief economist at bmo financial group. we are not getting the boost to employment that we would have got given the low value of the dollar and the still relatively low interest rate environment. the economy is producing a moderate but not a satisfying amount of job growth said ken mayland president of clearview economics. that means there are a limited number of new opportunities for workers. | entertainment | 2 |
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. | business | 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. | sports | 0 |
gates opens biggest gadget fair bill gates has opened the consumer electronics show (ces) in las vegas saying that gadgets are working together more to help people manage multimedia content around the home and on the move. mr gates made no announcement about the next generation xbox games console which many gadget lovers had been hoping for. about 120 000 people are expected to attend the trade show which stretches over more than 1.5 million square feet and runs from 6 to 9 january. the latest trends in digital imaging storage technologies thinner flat screen and high-definition tvs wireless and portable technologies gaming and broadband technologies will all be on show over the three days. mr gates said that a lot of work had been done in the last year to sort out usability and compatibility issues between devices to make it easier to share content. we predicted at the beginning of the decade that the digital approach would be taken for granted - but there was a lot of work to do. what is fun is to come to the show and see what has been done. it is going even faster than we expected and we are excited about it. he highlighted technology trends over the last year that had driven the need to make technology and transferring content across difference devices seamless . gaming is becoming more of a social thing and all of the social genres will use this rich communications. and if we look at what has been going on with e-mail instant messaging blogging entertainment - if we can make this seamless we can create something quite phenomenal. mr gates said the pc like microsoft s media centre had a central role to play in how people would be making the most out of audio video and images but it would not be the only device. it is the way all these devices work together which will make the difference he said. he also cited the success of the microsoft xbox video game halo 2 released in november which pushed xbox console sales past playstation in the last two months of 2004 for the first time in 2004. the game which makes use of the xbox live online games service has sold 6.23 million copies since its release. people are online and playing together and that really points to the future he said. several partnerships with device and hardware manufacturers were highlighted during mr gates speech but there were few major groundbreaking new technology announcements. although most of these affected largely us consumers the technologies highlighted the kind of trends to come. these included what mr gates called an ecosystem of technologies like sbc s iptv a high-definition tv and digital video recorder that worked via broadband to give high-quality and fast tv. there were also other deals announced which meant that people could watch and control content over portable devices and mobile phones. ces features several more key speeches from major technology players such as intel and hewlett packard as well as parallel conference sessions on gaming storage broadband and the future of digital music. about 50 000 new products will be unleashed at the tech-fest which is the largest yet. consumer electronics and gadgets had a phenomenal year in 2004 according to figures released by ces organisers the cea on tuesday. the gadget explosion signalled the strongest growth yet in the us in 2004. that trend is predicted to continue with wholesale shipments of consumer technologies expected to grow by 11% again in 2005. | entertainment | 2 |
parker s saxophone heads auction a saxophone belonging to legendary jazz musician charlie parker is expected to fetch up to $1m (£535 000) at an auction of jazz memorabilia next month. the sale at guernsey s auction house in new york will feature instruments from other musicians including john coltrane and benny goodman. other items will include an evening gown belonging to ella fitzgerald. organisers said the auction was the first in the us to be devoted to items belonging to jazz musicians. other items that will be auctioned include unreleased tape recordings of music by parker as well as handwritten sheet music by jazz composers john coltrane and theolonius monk. among the instruments in the sale will be a trumpet which belonged to dizzy gillespie which is expected to fetch around $500 000 (£267 000) as well as jj johnson s trombone and a vibraphone which beloned to lionel hampton. works of art by musicians including miles davis and bruni sablan will also be featured. the proceeds from the auction which will take place on 20 february will go towards several organisations including the john coltrane foundation a foundation set up in memory of benny goodman and the red cross. | world | 2 |
when invention turns to innovation it is unlikely that future technological inventions are going to have the same kind of transformative impact that they did in the past. when history takes a look back at great inventions like the car and transistor they were defining technologies which ultimately changed people s lives substantially. but says nick donofrio senior vice-president of technology and manufacturing at ibm it was not the thing itself that actually improved people s lives. it was all the social and cultural changes that the discovery or invention brought with it. the car brought about a crucial change to how people lived in cities giving them the ability to move out into the suburbs whilst having mobility and access. when we talk about innovation and creating real value in the 21st century we have to think more like this but faster mr donofrio told the bbc news website after giving the royal academy of engineering 2004 hinton lecture. the invention discovery is likely not to have the same value as the transistor had or the automobile had. the equivalent of those things will be invented or discovered but by themselves they are just not going to able to generate real business value or wealth as these things did. these are not altogether new ideas and academics have been exploring how technologies impact wider society for years. but what it means for technology companies is that a new idea method or device will have to have a different kind thinking behind it so that people see the value that innovative technology has for them. we are in a different phase now when it comes to technology argues mr donofrio industry week s 2003 technology leader of the year. the hype and over-promise is over and now technology leaders have to demonstrate that things work make sense make a difference and life gets better as a result. in the dotcom era there was something that was jumping up in your face every five minutes. somebody had a new thing that would awe you. you weren t quite sure that it did anything you weren t quite sure if you needed it you weren t quite sure if it had value for it but it was cool. but change and innovation in technology that people will see affecting their daily lives he says will come about slowly subtlety and in ways that will no longer be in your face . it will creep in pervasively. nanotechnologies will play a key part in this kind of pervasive environment in all sorts of ways through new superconducting materials to coatings power and memory storage. i am a very big believer in the evolution of this industry into a pervasive environment in an incredible network infrastructure says mr donofrio. pervasive computing is where wireless computing rules and where jewellery clothes and everyday objects become the interfaces instead of bulky wires screens and keyboards. the net becomes a true network that is taken for granted and just there like air. people will not have to do anything to stay connected. people will know their lives are just better says mr donofrio. trillions of devices will be connected to the net in ways people will not know. natural interfaces will develop devices will shape your persona and our technologically underused voices could be telling our jewellery to sort out the finances. ultimately there will be says mr donofrio no value in being computer illiterate . to some it sounds like a technological world gone mad. to mr donofrio it is a vision innovation that will happen. behind this vision should be a rich robust network capability and deep computing says mr donofrio. deep computing is the ability to perform lots of complex calculations on massive amounts of data and integral to this concept is supercomputing. it has value according to ibm because it helps humans work out extremely complex problems to come up with valuable solutions like how to refine millions of net search results finding cures for diseases or understanding of exactly how a gene or protein operates. but pervasive computing presumably means having technologies that are aware of diversity of contexts commands and requirements of a diverse world. as computing and technologies become part of the environment part of furniture walls and clothing physical space becomes a more important consideration. this is going to need a much broader range of skills and experience. i am confident that the set [science engineering and technology] industry is going to be short on skills he says. if i am right about what innovation is you need to be multidisciplinary and collaborative. women tend to have those traits a lot better than men. eventually women could win out in both life and physical sciences he says. in the uk a dti-funded resource centre for women has set a target to have 40% representation on set industry boards. ibm according to mr donofrio has 30%. our goal is for our research team to become the preferred organisation for women in science and technology to begin their career. the whole issue of global diversity is as much a business matter as it is a moral and social concern to mr donofrio. we believe in the whole issue of global diversity he says. our customers are diverse our clients are diverse. they expect us to look like them. as more and more women or underrepresented minorities succeed into leadership positions it becomes and imperative for us to constantly look like them. | entertainment | 2 |
umaga ready for lions all blacks captain tama umaga has warned the british and irish lions will be his most fearsome opponents yet ahead of their summer tour. but umaga in england for saturday s irb rugby aid match also backed new zealand to win the three-test series against the lions. he told bbc sport: it s potentially the most fearsome line-up i ve ever come up against. they re awesome. but i d back us all the way to beat them when they come over. lions boss sir clive woodward is set to announce his squad for the june-july tour next month. when woodward was appointed last year it was widely believed he would rely heavily on his former england players. but umaga said: he d be hard pushed to do that now considering the shape of the six nations. don t get me wrong england have got a lot of talented guys and i m sure there are some of them who ll make the lions test xv. but you can t disguise wales and ireland in particular. some of the tries they ve scored have been great. i ll admit it ll be fairly awesome lining up against the likes of brian o driscoll. umaga will meet o driscoll in saturday s rugby aid match at twickenham with the irish captain leading the northern hemisphere side. o driscoll is among a host of players in the northern hemisphere squad coached by woodward that are tipped for lions call-ups. it ll be good for us to get an early idea of some of these guys although a lot can change between now and june umaga said. the 31-year-old admitted interest in the lions tour was immense calling it the biggest thing to hit new zealand since lord of the rings . he added: as players it s enough for us to be driven by the rarity of playing the lions. in fact it s not just us all blacks - it s the talk of the country. umaga admitted the fear of injury weighed on his mind ahead of saturday s charity game which features a host of big names including george gregan andrew mehrtens and chris latham. but he admitted the value of the cause - proceeds of the match will go to aiding victims of the tsunami - easily won him over. the second [southern hemisphere coach] rod macqueen made the approach i didn t hesitate. it was great when new zealand rugby then gave me the all clear. thankfully i didn t know anyone that was involved in the tragedy of the tsunami but you couldn t miss all the horrific reports on the news. there are so many people that were affected are still affected and will be affected for a long time. it s just good to know we can do something minor to help out. - the match will be televised on bbc one at 1400 gmt on saturday. | sports | 0 |
turkey deal to help world peace a deal bringing turkey a step closer to eu membership is of fundamental importance to the peace and security of the world tony blair has said. the deal struck at the european council last week also proved claims of a clash between muslims and christians were wrong mr blair said. it represented the achievement of an historic british objective he added. tory leader michael howard said the deal laid to rest any suggestion the eu was anti-islamic . turkey s involvement with the eu would provide an invaluable bridge between europe and the rest of the world mr howard added. but the tory leader argued that the eu constitution was not designed to take in a country as large as turkey. mr blair has been a leading advocate of turkish membership despite controversy surrounding the idea. he insisted that the turkish leadership had made great advances in improving its human rights records. the deal to open formal talks with ankara came despite an eu demand for turkey to recognise cyprus. it was agreed the issue can be tackled at a later date but turkish premier recep erdogan had to accept negotiations did not guarantee his country full eu membership. the internationally recognised southern part of cyprus is an eu member but turkey which occupies northern cyprus had previously insisted it would not bow to demands to recognise the country calling the issue a red line . it could take up to 15 years before turkey is able to join and entry cannot be guaranteed. if it joins turkey may have to accept restrictions to limit migration by its citizens. the eu has also announced that it will start accession talks with croatia in april 2005. however talks will begin only if the country co-operates fully with the un war crimes tribunal for the former yugoslavia. | politics | 0 |
desailly backs blues revenge trip marcel desailly insists there is no chance of history repeating itself when chelsea take on barcelona on wednesday. the french star was part of the chelsea side crushed 5-1 at the nou camp in the champions league quarter-final second leg in 2000. things will be totally different this time he told bbc sport. now everyone knows about chelsea and is a little bit afraid of them. they are one of the major clubs in europe and the pressure will be on barcelona. chelsea have not played barcelona since that quarter-final tie five years ago. the blues had looked destined to progress after winning the first leg at stamford bridge 3-1 courtesy of two goals from tore andre flo and one by gianfranco zola. but they collapsed in the second leg going down to strikes from rivaldo (2) luis figo dani and patrick kluivert. former chelsea captain desailly who is now playing for al-gharafa in qatar says there is no comparison between that side and the current blues team who are top of the premiership. mentally they are much stronger even though a lot of their players are young the 36-year-old said. we made some mistakes at the nou camp in 2000 - a lot of them were individual mistakes. it would not happen now. this team has a new motivation and a different mentality. world cup winner desailly saw huge changes during his time at stamford bridge. he was signed for £4.6m from ac milan in 1998 by ruud gullit and went on to play under gianluca vialli and claudio ranieri. but the biggest change occurred when billionaire roman abramovich bought the club in 2003. desailly says the russian s arrival helped to instil a winning mentality at the club as well as a demand for success. the whole of chelsea is different now - the chairman the manager and all the players he said. everything is new and there is a huge determination to win. since that game in 2000 chelsea have gained more experience in europe and were very close to reaching the champions league final last season. desailly is one of the most decorated players in the history of football. he won the 1998 world cup and 2000 european championship with france the champions league in 1993 with marseilles and 1994 with ac milan two serie a titles and the fa cup in 2000 with chelsea. he is now winding down his career in qatar alongside the likes of frank lebeouf josep guardiola titi camara gabriel batistuta and christophe dugarry. so he is full of admiration for two of his colleagues from the great milan side of the mid-90s who are likely to line up against manchester united on wednesday - paolo maldini and alessandro costacurta. i m happy that they have managed to play so long at a high level he said. i made a vow to costacurta that as long as he plays i will continue to play. and it s amazing that paolo has managed to play at such a high level for such a long time. | science and tech | 2 |
observers to monitor uk election ministers will invite international observers to check the forthcoming uk general election is fairly run. the move comes amid claims the poll could be marred by electoral fraud. a report by two mps committees called on thursday for urgent changes to the electoral registration system to combat vote rigging and boost turnout. but in a written response to labour mp gordon prentice the government said it would normally invite observers to any uk election. junior constitutional affairs minister christopher leslie said: i fully expect us to repeat our previous practice of doing so once the date for the next general election is announced. the government has looked at ways of boosting voter turnout which fell to 59% in the last general election in 2001. but trial all-postal ballots in four english regions last summer were hit by delays and some fraud allegations. liberal democrat peer lord greaves called last week for international observers at the general election - saying otherwise there could be months of court challenges on a scale not seen since the 19th century . thursday s report was drawn up by two committees scrutinising the work of the office of the deputy prime minister (odpm) and the department for constitutional affairs (dca). it said that with the growth of postal voting there was a strong case to tighten up fraud protection by requiring voters to register individually rather than by household. it also said about three million people eligible to vote are not registered to do so. figures for the 2001 general election suggest 29% of people aged between 18 and 24 and 19% of black voters were not on the electoral roll. young people in shared accommodation are thought to miss out because no one acts as head of the household to fill in the form. odpm committee chairman andrew bennett said individual voter registration as opposed to registration by household should be quickly introduced as it could dramatically reduce the chances of fraud . but his counterpart on the dca committee alan beith said it should be delayed until measures likely to increase registration have been put in place and proved effective. shadow constitutional affairs secretary oliver heald accused the government of dragging its feet over this badly needed measure . it is vital that we move ahead with the northern ireland system of individual electoral registration to safeguard the integrity of the britain s electoral system he said. the report said individual registration should be treated carefully as 12% of voters disappeared from the electoral roll in northern ireland when it was introduced in 2002. the report said the government should consider fines for unregistered voters but accepted many experts said it would be an expensive system that would be hard to enforce. it said incentives to register such as £20 council tax rebate were likely to be seen as gimmicks and risked undermining the integrity of the system mps said. instead they called for imaginative campaigns to boost interest. | world | 2 |
wenger handed summer war chest arsenal boss arsene wenger has been guaranteed transfer funds to boost his squad the summer. the club s managing director keith edelman stressed that the development of their new £350m stadium had no affect on wenger s spending power. the money is there. don t worry we ve got it edelman told bbc sport. hopefully we ll spend it this summer and in the coming years. arsene attends all our board meetings and he knows our finances are very strong. edelman added that it was pointless having a brand new stadium if the team did not match the surroundings. its great to have nice new surroundings but if the team aren t performing on the pitch then there isn t great respect in having a fabulous stadium he said. it s important that we had sufficient funds for our team in place before we began on the stadium. | entertainment | 2 |
hunt ban support is in decline support for a ban on hunting has fallen in the past six years a poll suggests. less than half the uk wants a ban compared to almost two-thirds in 1999 the mori survey of 2 000 adults for bbc one s countryfile programme suggests. the number opposed to a ban remains constant but those neither supporting nor opposing has increased by 11%. most city-dwellers support the ban but rural people were evenly split between supporters opponents and undecided. polling company mori carried out both surveys. in july 1999 they asked 801 adults if they supported the ban for the mail on sunday. for countryfile they asked 2 234 adults across the country the same question. the mail on sunday survey found that 63% supported a hunting ban compared with 24% against. in the countryfile survey 47% said they supported the legislation with 26% against. but the programme makers suggest the british public are becoming increasingly neutral to the issue because around one quarter said they neither support nor oppose a ban. | politics | 0 |
oil prices reach three-month low oil prices have fallen heavily for a second day closing at three-month lows after news that us crude stocks have improved ahead of winter. london brent crude closed at $40.15 on thursday - a drop of 5.1% - having dived below $40 a barrel for the first time since mid-september. us light crude traded in new york lost more than $2 to $43.25 its lowest close since 10 september. the price of both benchmark crudes has dropped 12% in two days. the falls were triggered when the energy information administration (eia) said on wednesday that us crude stocks were 3.5% higher than a year ago. the news calmed worries about winter shortages. weak us fuel and heating oil stocks have been a persistent factor in pushing up oil prices. it s amazing how quickly sentiment changed said rick mueller an analyst at energy security analysis. analysts also attributed the fall to mild early-winter weather which has tempered demand for heating oil. the stronger fuel inventories helped boost us stock markets to nine-month highs on wednesday though only the nasdaq index had hung onto those gains by the end of thursday. in london the ftse 100 index closed 15 points higher at 4 751. the long-awaited drop in oil prices helped to ease persistent investor jitters over the impact of energy costs on company profits and economic growth. however traders warned that the fall could be short-lived if there is a cold snap in north america this winter or any major supply problems in other parts of the world. the price of crude is still up about 30% on the start of 2004 but has fallen from the record of $55.67 set in late october. opec nations have increased production to 25-year highs to meet global demand and this has helped rebuild us stocks hit by supply disruptions after hurricane ivan in september. traders were also encouraged by comments on wednesday from the energy minister of opec member algeria. chakib khelil said the cartel was likely to keep output unchanged when it meets next week. however some analysts believe the sharp fall in crude prices may harden opec s attitude to over-production leading to a scaling back of oil output. fears still remain over the level of us heating oil stocks which are rising but remain down on 2004 levels. a cold spell in north america would start to deplete supplies and could spark further price rises. analysts however say prices will fall further if inventories continue to rise. mother nature is going to be huge in the next several weeks said kyle cooper at citigroup global markets. long term i think we re headed to $30-35 but i don t think we re doing that yet. we have a lot of winter left. john person president of national futures advisory services said the eia data indicated there should be adequate supplies for the next three months in the us. . | business | 0 |
xbox power cable fire fear microsoft has said it will replace more than 14 million power cables for its xbox consoles due to safety concerns. the company said the move was a preventative step after reports of fire hazard problems with the cables. it affects xboxes made before 23 october 2003 for all regions but mainland europe - and consoles in that region made before 13 january 2004. microsoft said it had received 30 reports of minor injury or property damage due to faulty cables. the firm said fewer than one in 10 000 consoles had experienced component failures. the recall affects almost three quarters of all xboxes sold around the world since its launch in 2001. in a statement it added: in almost all instances any damage caused by these failures was contained within the console itself or limited to the tip of the power cord at the back of the console. but in seven cases customers reported sustaining a minor burn to their hand. in 23 cases customers reported smoke damage or minor damage to a carpet or entertainment centre. this is a preventative step we re choosing to take despite the rarity of these incidents said robbie bach senior vice president microsoft home and entertainment division. we regret the inconvenience but believe offering consumers a free replacement cord is the responsible thing to do. consumers can order a new cable from the xbox website or by telephoning 0800 028 9276 in the uk. microsoft said customers would get replacement cords within two to four weeks from the time of order. it advised users to turn off their xboxes when not in use. a follow-up to xbox is expected to released at the end of this year or the beginning of 2006. | politics | 2 |
blair up for it ahead of poll tony blair says his personal standing in the eyes of voters will be an issue in the general election. the prime minister said he was up for it as the country waits to go to the polls possibly in a matter of weeks. he told the observer government life was a constant barrage of attack but said he would not stay in charge if he felt unable to contribute. mr blair also spoke of meeting many people across the country with concerns about the compensation culture. he said britain was in danger of needless panic over public safety issues. speaking amid a flurry of pre-election campaigning the prime minister said: i am an issue i always will be. whoever is the prime minister will be. he added: if you are afraid to take criticism you should go and do another job. asked if he would quit as leader if he felt like a liability to labour he said: it s important always not to do the job unless you feel you have something to contribute. whether he still had something to offer he said was a judgement for people to make. mr blair s assessment is likely to be seen as a signal that replacing him would not bring an upsurge in fortunes for the labour administration. his comments come as the co-chairman of the conservative party liam fox on saturday called him a disappointment of historic proportions as a prime minister. mr blair said he had learned from a series of at times tough encounters with members of the public during question and answer sessions across the country in recent weeks. he pledged to clamp down on britain s growing compensation culture which has brought concerns that doctors teachers and other professionals are being hampered in their work by the fear of frivolous lawsuits. i was quite shocked to be told by people who were running a nursery that they were worried about letting the kids out into the playground when it was wet in case one of them slipped and fell and they ended up having a legal case [against them] he said. we have got to look at a way of getting people protection on that. mr blair said the government was also looking at how to make sure that legal aid is not abused with actions against doctors and others as part of a review being carried out by the lord chancellor s department. and there should be real debate about the risk posed by public safety threats he said. we are in danger of - depending on whatever is the media campaign of the day - ending up spending literally hundreds sometimes millions of pounds meeting quite a small risk. his comments come after the government announced it is to spend £200m on drugs to treat a possible outbreak of bird flu and the sudan 1 food scare. meanwhile commons leader peter hain has warned that on the campaign trail he has seen dangerous complacency being displayed by labour voters convinced of a general election victory. if labour voters stayed at home in marginal seats they could see tory leader michael howard coming in the back door to number 10 with the tradesman s key to number 10 getting into power he added. | politics | 0 |
china blocks google news site china has been accused of blocking access to google news by the media watchdog reporters without borders. the paris-based pressure group said the english-language news site had been unavailable for the past 10 days. it said the aim was to force people to use a chinese edition of the site which according to the watchdog does not include critical reports. google told the bbc news website it was aware of the problems and was investigating the causes. china is believed to extend greater censorship over the net than any other country in the world. a net police force monitors websites and e-mails and controls on gateways connecting the country to the global internet are designed to prevent access to critical information. popular chinese portals such as sina.com and sohu.com maintain a close eye on content and delete politically sensitive comments. and all 110 000 net cafes in the country have to use software to control access to websites considered harmful or subversive. china is censoring google news to force internet users to use the chinese version of the site which has been purged of the most critical news reports said the group in a statement. by agreeing to launch a news service that excludes publications disliked by the government google has let itself be used by beijing it said. for its part the search giant said it was looking into the issue. it appears that many users in china are having difficulty accessing google news sites in china and we are working to understand and resolve the issue said a google spokesperson. google news gathers information from some 4 500 news sources. headlines are selected for display entirely by a computer algorithm with no human editorial intervention. it offers 15 editions of the service including one tailored for china and one for hong kong. google launched a version in simplified chinese in september. the site does not filter news results to remove politically sensitive information. but google does not link to news sources which are inaccessible from within china as this would result in broken links. | world | 2 |
warning over windows word files writing a microsoft word document can be a dangerous business according to document security firm workshare. up to 75% of all business documents contained sensitive information most firms would not want exposed a survey by the firm revealed. to make matters worse 90% of those companies questioned had no idea that confidential information was leaking. the report warns firms to do a better job of policing documents as corporate compliance becomes more binding. sensitive information inadvertently leaked in documents includes confidential contractual terms competitive information that rivals would be keen to see and special deals for key customers said andrew pearson european boss of workshare which commissioned the research. the efficiencies the internet has brought in such as instant access to information have also created security and control issues too he said. the problem is particularly acute with documents prepared using microsoft word because of the way it maintains hidden records about editing changes. as documents get passed around worked on and amended by different staff members the sensitive information finds its way into documents. poor control over the editing and amending process can mean that information that should be expunged survives final edits. microsoft however does provide an add-on tool for windows pcs that fixes the problem. the remove hidden data add-in is a tool that you can use to remove personal or hidden data that might not be immediately apparent when you view the document in your microsoft office application says the instructions on microsoft s website. microsoft recommends that the tool is used before people publish any word document. a tool for apple machines running word is not available. workshare surveyed firms around the world and found that on average 31% of documents contained legally sensitive information but in many firms up to three-quarters fell in to the high risk category. often said mr pearson this sensitive information was invisible because it got deleted and changed as different drafts were prepared. however the way that windows works means that earlier versions can be recalled and reconstructed by those keen to see how a document has evolved. few firms have any knowledge of the existence of this so-called metadata about the changes that a document has gone through or that it can be reconstructed. the discovery of this hidden information could prove embarrassing for companies if for instance those tendering for contracts found out about the changes to terms of a deal being negotiated. the research revealed that a document s metadata could be substantial as on average only 40% of contributors changes to a document make it to the final draft. problems with documents could mean trouble for firms as regulatory bodies step up scrutiny and compliance laws start to bite said mr pearson. | science and tech | 0 |
jones files lawsuit against conte marion jones has filed a lawsuit for defamation against balco boss victor conte following his allegations that he gave her performance-enhancing drugs. the sydney olympic gold medallist says conte damaged her reputation and she is seeking $25m (£13m) in the suit. conte whose company is at the centre of a doping investigation made the claims in a us television programme. he and three others were indicted in february by a federal grand jury for a variety of alleged offences. in an email to the associated press on wednesday conte said: i stand by everything i said . jones won three gold medals and two bronzes in sydney in 2000. her lawsuit filed in the us district court in san francisco said the sprinter had passed a lie detector test and that she has never taken banned performance-enhancing drugs . conte s statements the suit added were false and malicious . after the abc television program earlier this month jones lawyer richard nicholls said: marion has steadfastly maintained her position throughout: she has never ever used performance-enhancing drugs. victor conte is a man facing a 42-count federal indictment while marion jones is one of america s most decorated female athletes. mr conte s statements have been wildly contradictory. mr conte chose to make unsubstantiated allegations on television while marion jones demanded to take and then passed a lie detector examination. mr conte is simply not credible. we challenge him to submit to the same lie detector procedure that marion jones passed. the sport s ruling body the iaaf is taking a cautious approach to conte s allegations but contacted the us anti-doping agency. communications director nick davies said the iaaf would seek to contact conte for further information . but davies stressed it would be up to the american authorities to decide whether they will take action against jones in light of conte s television interview and the world governing body would monitor the situation closely. if it is felt there is case to answer it would be for its national governing body (usa track and field) to take the appropriate disciplinary action he added. the us anti-doping agency has proved itself to be very diligent in its anti-doping war. and i am sure like ourselves they will be watching the television programme with great interest. jones who is under investigation for steroid use by the us anti-doping agency has continually denied ever taking illegal substances since being investigated in the balco scandal although she praised a zinc supplement conte marketed. jones who did not win any medals in athens in august has never failed a drugs test. meanwhile conte who has been charged along with three other men of distributing illegal steroids and money laundering is due to face trial in march. | politics | 2 |
wenger dejected as arsenal slump arsenal manager arsene wenger claimed their display in the 3-1 defeat against bayern munich was our worst peformance in the champions league . kolo toure s late goal gives the gunners hope for the second leg but wenger said: the only positive is that we are still in the tie. the players are really down in the dressing-room. i feel we really turned in a bad performance. at 3-0 we faced a real struggle but 3-1 at least gives us a chance. goalscorer toure was also at fault for two goals and wenger said: we need to help toure rebuild his confidence as he is low at the moment. wenger also tried to stay upbeat himself adding: but there is enough time for crying. i could cry - maybe it would be easier - but life goes on. in this job you have good and bad nights. this was a bad night - but i still have confidence in the quality of my players as well as their spirit and desire. but wenger s bayern counterpart felix magath was in no mood to celebrate either. he said: i am far from happy despite the win. my players failed to try and score a fourth to kill the tie and then conceded the late goal. arsenal are fully capable of scoring several goals against us on their own turf. arsenal keeper jens lehmann whose personal rivalry with bayern goalkeeper oliver kahn was not helped by the result said: do i blame myself for the third goal as a goalkeeper i always blame myself. i just know the goals were very easy against us. in my time here we have never conceded three easy goals like that - but sometimes it happens. it would have been impossible to go through at 3-0 - but with the goal we have chances. everything is now possible. | sports | 0 |
scots smoking ban details set out smoke-free areas will save lives and improve scotland s health first minister jack mcconnell has insisted. he told the scottish parliament on wednesday that a comprehensive ban on smoking in public places would be introduced by the spring of 2006. mr mcconnell said the country s health rates were lamentable not least because of smoking. he said fines of up to £2 500 would be levied on employers and licences would be removed for non-compliance. earlier the scottish executive considered a range of options but agreed unanimously to introduce an all-out ban on smoking in public places. in a statement to parliament mr mcconnell said that the licensed trade would be asked to join an expert committee prior to the ban coming into force. the health arguments far outweighed lingering public disquiet about a complete ban and claims by the licensed trade that jobs would be lost he told msps. he said there would be an international marketing campaign whereby tourists can enjoy smoke free environment and the sick man of europe image becomes a thing of the past . there are still national habits which hold us back - the time has come for this parliament to accelerate improvements in health he declared. health rates are lamentable because of a lack of exercise drugs abuse excessive drinking and over-eating. they all make us one of the most unhealthy countries in europe and too many smoke. it is clear that scotland must not be held back by poor public health - the single biggest contribution devolved government can make is to reduce the toll of preventable death caused by smoking. the legislation will be introduced as part of the health service (miscellaneous provisions) bill which will be considered by parliament before christmas. main points of the plan: - a comprehensive ban on smoking in all enclosed public places in scotland - the legislation will be enforced by environmental health and local licensing officers - licensees or employers who fail to enforce the law will face fines up to a maximum of £2 500 - licensees who persistently refuse to comply with the law will face the ultimate sanction of losing their liquor licence - a system of issuing fixed penalty notices for those individuals who break the law will be examined - individuals who persistently break the law will face a maximum fine of £1 000. mr mcconnell claimed there was evidence that smoking bans had helped smokers to either give up quicker or smoke less. he said there had been falling cigarette sales of 13% in new york and 16% in ireland. mr mcconnell added that there had been a near nine per cent rise in tax revenues from new york bars and restaurants and in ireland only a one point three per cent volume sales fall where they were declining before the ban. the afternoon announcement following a cabinet meeting on wednesday morning won broad support from opposition parties. the scottish national party s holyrood leader nicola sturgeon welcomed the move but added that the public should be consulted as the clock ticked towards the ban date. she said: the time has come for a ban on smoking in public places. there is evidence a ban can cut deaths from passive smoking and makes it easier for the 70% of smokers who desperately want to give up the habit. but we must also recognise that some people have concerns and reservations - there are people who are yet to be persuaded. the scottish conservative party leader david mcletchie questioned what would be exempted from the ban. he was keen to know if inmates in scottish prisons would continue to be allowed to smoke. mr mcletchie asked: would it not be ironic and perhaps entirely typical of the first minister s brave new scotland that the criminals can be smokers but the smokers will become criminals the scottish green party s health spokeswoman eleanor scott said she was pleased scotland would be following the success stories of new york and ireland . she believed the majority of people in scotland wanted to go out without having to breathe in harmful tobacco smoke. | politics | 0 |
us tv special for tsunami relief a us television network will screen a celebrity tv special to benefit the tsunami relief effort in south asia. nbc will encourage viewer donations during an hour-long show featuring musical performances on 15 january. actress sandra bullock has donated $1m (£525 000) to the american red cross and actor leonardo dicaprio pledged a sizable aid contribution to unicef. meanwhile 70 hong kong music and movie stars re-recorded we are the world in mandarin and cantonese to raise funds. the song will not be released as a single but will be played regularly during a chinese telethon on friday in aid of victims of the boxing day disaster. around 140 000 people were killed and five million left homeless or without food and water after an earthquake below the indian ocean sent waves crashing into coastal communities in 11 countries. the united nations warned that the number killed in the disaster could rise sharply with aid yet to reach some remote areas. performers have yet to be confirmed for nbc s aid relief benefit later this month. it follows a two-hour telethon carried by all four major us television networks 10 days after the 11 september terror attacks in 2001. america: a tribute to heroes raised more than $150m (£79m) to help victims of the suicide attacks on the world trade center and pentagon. | entertainment | 0 |
blair congratulates bush on win tony blair has said he looks forward to continuing his strong relationship with george bush and working with him during his second term as president. mr bush s re-election came at a crucial time for a world that was fractured divided and uncertain mr blair said. it had to be brought together he added saying action was needed on poverty the middle east and the conditions on which terrorists prey. mr blair said states had to work with the us to fight global terrorism. but there was a need to recognise it would not be defeated by military might alone but also by demonstrating the strength of our common values he added. solving the conflict in the middle east was the world s single most pressing political challenge of the present day mr blair warned. the prime minister also urged europe and the us to build anew their alliance . all of us in positions of leadership not just president bush have a responsibility to rise to this challenge. it is urgent that we do so. mr blair also paid tribute to democrat john kerry s campaign saying he had helped make the presidential election a true celebration of american democracy . the election of the us president was significant for the world but particularly so for britain because of its special relationship he added. earlier tory leader michael howard sent mr bush his warmest congratulations saying: we look to the president to be a unifying force for those all over the world who share our determination to defend freedom. liberal democrat leader charles kennedy welcomed the fact there had been a quick conclusion to the election unlike in 2000. mr bush s first task was to rebuild a sense of domestic purpose within the us he said. mr kennedy said: internationally it is to be hoped that a second term will see a more sensitive approach to relations with long-standing allies not least for the global efforts to combat terrorism. lib dem foreign affairs spokesman menzies campbell said a win by mr kerry would have given mr blair the chance of a fresh start adding it was almost as if there was an umbilical cord between mr bush and the uk premier. europeans must hope that his administration will be much more multilateral in character and that he will act swiftly to rebuild the atlantic partnership which is so vital to security. iraq will remain an issue of potential division for some time to come. even before the result became clear mr blair was being urged to push for action on climate change at his first meeting with whichever candidate won. liberal democrat environment spokesman norman baker underlined the issue of global warming during a commons debate on anglo-american relations on wednesday. environment secretary margaret beckett has said the us will act on global warming despite george bush s refusal to sign up to the kyoto protocol on carbon emissions. public opinion would force change she told bbc news. but myron ebell an adviser on climate change to president bush has said there would be no change in the us stance and rejected the threat of climate change. he claimed the us was the only country with independent scientists. | world | 2 |
protect whistleblowers tuc says the government should change the law to give more protection to employees who raise health and safety concerns about their workplaces the tuc has said. it said data from employment tribunals suggested 1 500 safety whistleblowers had lost their jobs since 1999. some firms found it cheaper to sack a worker than to improve buildings or change working conditions it said. the health and safety executive said it was trying to get workers more involved in helping to make workplaces safer. the tuc figures were drawn from unfair dismissal cases at tribunals were health and safety were the main issue. safety representatives were often ignored when raising concerns because there was no legal duty to respond claimed the union organisation. general secretary brendan barber said: it shouldn t be a firing offence to object to unsafe work. workers should not be placed in the situation where they are forced to choose between risking their job or risking their personal health and safety. mr barber who said the problem is far worse than official statistics show called for a legal system that protects safety whistleblowers . he added that workers who are not in a union as well as casual and migrant workers stand little chance of redress. rory o neill editor of union-backed hazards magazine which conducted the research said: giving union safety reps more rights in more workplaces is the ultimate win-win. death and injuries at work increased last year for the second time since the turn of the century. it would be a fatal mistake not to take full advantage of the union safety effect. the tuc has called on the government to appoint roving safety reps and to increase spending on health and safety work inspections. the health and safety executive had said that it had launched an initiative to make factories and offices safer with more worker involvement. | politics | 0 |
controversial film tops festival a controversial film starring hollywood actor kevin bacon as a convicted paedophile won top honours at the london film festival on thursday. the woodsman won the satyajit ray award named after the indian director. the low-budget film directed by nicole kassell is about a convicted child molester trying to rebuild his life after 12 years in jail. judges said the film tackled the contentious subject with great insight and sensitivity . previous films to take the prize include the oscar-winning boys don t cry which was about the true life story of murdered transsexual brandon teena. british writer-director amma asante won the uk film talent award this year for her debut feature a way of life. set in south wales the film is about a teenage single mother who becomes embroiled in a tense stand-off with a turkish neighbour. also on thursday night the fipresci international critics awards went to aaltra a belgian film about the handicapped; and the sutherland trophy which was won by jonathan caouette for his film tarnation. the festival closed with a screening of the film i heart huckabees starring jude law and dustin hoffman and directed by three kings film-maker david o russell. the festival this year also included the first european screening of the new pixar animation the incredibles and the british film bullet boy starring so solid crew rapper asher d. | sports | 2 |
comic morris returns with sitcom comedian chris morris who created controversial tv show brass eye is to return to screens with a new sitcom about a spoof london media worker. morris will direct and co-write nathan barley - a character from cult website tv go home - for channel 4. it is a send-up of the stereotypical cool metropolitan media scene with nicholas burns in the title role. a brass eye satire of the media handling of paedophilia sparked 2 500 complaints in 2001. nathan barley will be a character-driven comedy according to charlie brooker who created tv go home in 1999 and has co-written the series. barley is described as a webmaster guerrilla film-maker screenwriter dj and in his own words a self-facilitating media node . the story will also feature dan ashcroft a style magazine columnist and his sister claire a film-maker who hates the cool scene. as well as brass eye morris was behind another news show satire the day today and dark sketch comedy jam. the new show is expected to begin in february. | politics | 2 |
iaaf will contest greek decision the international association of athletics federations will appeal against the acquittal of greek athletes kostas kenteris and katerina thanou. the high-profile duo were cleared of doping offences by the greek athletics federation (segas) last month. now the iaaf will lodge an appeal with the court of arbitration for sport (cas) and has suspended both athletes. an iaaf statement said: the doping review board concluded that the decision is erroneous. the statement continued: both athletes cases will be refered to arbitration before the cas. the decision in both cases will be final and binding. segas said the iaaf appeal was expected and understandable. now we are going to await the final result which we cannot prejudge said segas chairman vassilis sevastis. kenteris who won olympic 200m gold at the 2000 olympics and thanou were suspended by the iaaf last december after failing to take routine drugs tests before the athens games. however the independent tribunal overturned those bans clearing the sprinters of avoiding tests in tel aviv chicago and athens and failing to notify anti-doping officials of their whereabouts before the olympics. kenteris lawyer gregory ioannidis described the iaaf s decision as not unexpected but told bbc sport he did not expect the organisation to take action so quickly. the iaaf s timing is extremely surprising and it creates concerns and questions said ioannidis. the iaaf has not yet received the complete file of proceedings which include statements testimonies the closing speeches of defence counsel... and nine audio tapes. we have the evidence and it is time the world discovered the truth. kenteris and thanou dramatically withdrew from last summer s olympics after missing a drugs test at the olympic village on 12 august. the pair then spent four days in a hospital claiming they had been injured in a motorcycle crash. it was the international olympic committee who demanded the iaaf investigate the affair. thanou and kenteris still face a criminal trial later this year for allegedly avoiding the test and then faking a motorcycle accident | business | 2 |
nhs waiting time target is cut hospital waiting times for patients in wales are to be cut but not to the same extent as those in england. welsh health minister jane hutt said no patient would wait more than 12 months for an outpatient appointment by march 2006 against a current target of 18 months. but she said the target for an inpatient appointment would remain at 12 months for march 2006. the announcement came as new monthly waiting figures showed a drop. this current inpatient target was set when the assembly government extended its second offer guarantee scheme which gives patients the option of having their treatment outside wales. details about funding to resource the new targets are expected in the new year. in england the current target for inpatients - seeing a consultant to having an operation - is six months. dr richard lewis welsh secretary of the british medical association (bma) welcomed the new targets to make further and faster progress on waiting lists . however much remains to be done on waiting lists and waiting times because wales still lags a long way behind england he said. capacity must be built into the system with sustained investment to ensure that welsh patients don t receive a worse service than patients over the border. health analyst tony beddow from the welsh institute for health and social care called the new targets reasonably impressive . on wednesday ms hutt also announced £264m for health services will be spent reducing waiting times improving key areas and modernising staff pay structures in wales. ms hutt said major achievements had been made in cutting unacceptably long waits for treatment over the past year . we are turning the corner on long waits in wales. now we need to see those reductions in long waiters being improved again she said. she added the targets intended to ensure no-one waits more than a year for treatment or to see a consultant. but let us not forget two thirds of those waiting for treatment now are waiting less than six months and these targets affect the small minority of patients in wales that are waiting far too long. rhodri glyn thomas plaid cymru health spokesman said: it s exactly the same target she set in 1999 with the qualification that it s dependent on a second offer. it s a failed target from a failed minister..with a failed policy. for the welsh liberal democrats kirsty williams called the new target hugely unambitious . it leaves patients in wales still waiting two years before they re treated. conservative health spokesman jonathan morgan said: we re spending more money but waiting lists have gone through the roof. the audit commission has said that the money is not being spent efficiently or effectively and that s quite a criticism. meanwhile the latest monthly waiting list figures showed the total number of people waiting more than 18 months as an inpatient in wales has fallen by 9.8%. statistics to the end of november showed a decline since october from 785 to 708. the number waiting over 12 months also fell from 7 613 to 6 630 or 12.9%. ms hutt said they were excellent figures . there are 305 775 people on a waiting list of some kind down from 311 764 last month. | politics | 0 |
o gara revels in ireland victory ireland fly-half ronan o gara hailed his side s 19-13 victory over england as a special win. the munster number 10 kicked a total of 14 points including two drop goals to help keep alive their grand slam hopes. he told bbc sport: we made hard work of it but it s still special to beat england. i had three chances to win the game but didn t. we have work to do after this but we never take a victory over england lightly. ireland hooker shane byrne echoed o gara s comments but admitted the game had been england s best outing in the six nations. byrne said: it was a really really hard game but from one to 15 in our team we worked really really hard. we just had to stick to our defensive pattern trust ourselves and trust those around us. all round it was fantastic. ireland captain brian o driscoll who scored his side s only try said: we are delighted we felt if we performed well then we would win but with england also having played very well it makes it all the sweeter. we did get the bounce of the ball and some days that happens and you ve just got to jump on the back of it. ireland coach eddie o sullivan was surprised that england coach andy robinson said he was certain mark cueto was onside for a disallowed try just before the break. andy was sitting two yards from me and i couldn t see whether he was offside or not so i don t know how andy could have known said o sullivan. what i do know is that england played well and when that happens it makes a very good victory for us. we had to defend for long periods and that is all good for the confidence of the team. i think our try was very well worked it was a gem as good a try as we have scored for a while. o sullivan also rejected robinson s contention england dominated the forward play. i think we lost one lineout and they lost four or five so i don t know how that adds up to domination he said. o driscoll also insisted ireland were happy to handle the pressure of being considered favourites to win the six nations title. this season for the first time we have been able to play with the favourites tag he said. hopefully we have proved that today and can continue to keep doing so. as for my try it was a move we had worked on all week. there was a bit of magic from geordan murphy and it was a great break from denis hickie. | entertainment | 2 |
pop band busted to take a break chart-topping pop band busted have confirmed that they plan to take a break following rumours that they were on the verge of splitting. a statement from the band s record company universal said frontman charlie simpson planned to spend some time working with his other band fightstar. however they said that busted would reconvene in due course . the band have had eight top three hits including four number ones since they first hit the charts in 2002. their singles include what i go to school for year 3000 crashed the wedding you said no and who s david the band which also includes members matt jay and james bourne made the top ten with their self-titled debut album as well as the follow-up a present for everyone in 2003. they won best pop act and best breakthrough act at the 2004 brit awards and were nominated for best british group. most recently they topped the charts with the theme from the live-action film version of thunderbirds which was voted record of the year on the itv1 show. the band have capitalised on a craze for artists playing catchy pop music with rock overtones. the trio are seen as an alternative to more manufactured artists who are not considered credible musicians because they do not write their own songs or play their own instruments. however recent rumours have suggested that simpson has been wanting to quit the band to focus on fightstar. he now plans to take fightstar on tour. | entertainment | 0 |
super union merger plan touted two of britain s big trade unions could merge to form a super union of two million members. the move by amicus and the transport and general workers union (tgwu) would be a seen as a bid to carry more weight with ministers and employers. amicus has 1.2 million members and the tgwu has 800 000. any merger would have to be approved by the unions executives and their membership. it is understood meetings will be held on wednesday about the proposal. along with the gmb and unison the tgwu and amicus worked closely together in the last year to hammer out a 56-point deal with labour s leadership over equality at work holidays and pensions - the warwick agreement. both unions are remaining tight-lipped about the merger rumours but one insider pointed out to the bbc news website that nobody is denying suggestions a merger could be on the agenda when the two unions executives hold their meetings on wednesday. amicus s executive was due to meet in any case although the tgwu is holding specially scheduled talks. | business | 2 |
ukraine steel sell-off illegal the controversial sell-off of a ukrainian steel mill to a relative of the former president was illegal a court has ruled. the mill krivorizhstal was sold in june 2004 for $800m (£424m) - well below other offers. president viktor yushchenko elected in december is planning to revisit many of ukraine s recent privatisations. krivorizhstal is one of dozens of firms which he says were sold cheaply to friends of the previous administration. on wednesday prime minister yulia tymoshenko said as many as 3 000 firms could be included on the list of firms whose sale was being reviewed. mr yushchenko had previously said the list would be limited to 30-40 enterprises. more than 90 000 businesses in all from massive corporations to tiny shopfronts have been sold off since 1992 as the command economy built up when ukraine was part of the soviet union was dismantled. analysts have suggested that the government needs to avoid the impression of an open-ended list so as to preserve investor confidence. thursday s ruling by a district court in perchesk overturned a previous decision in a lower court permitting the sale. the consortium which won the auction for the mill was created by viktor pinchuk son-in-law of former-president leonid kuchma and rinat akhmetov the country s richest man. the next step is for the supreme court to annul the sale altogether opening the way for krivorizhstal to be resold. mr yushchenko has suggested a fair valuation could be as much as $3bn. one of the foreign bidders who lost out steel giant lnm told bbc news that it would be interested in any renewed sale. | politics | 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. | science and tech | 2 |
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. | business | 2 |
jones doping probe begins an investigation into doping claims against marion jones has been opened by the international olympic committee. ioc president jacques rogge has set up a disciplinary body to look into claims by victor conte of balco laboratories. jones who says she is innocent could lose all her olympic medals after conte said he gave her performance-enhancing drugs before the sydney olympics. but rogge said it was too early to speculate about that hoping only that the truth will emerge . any decision on the medals would be taken by the ioc s executive board and could hinge on interpretation of a rule stating that olympic decisions can only be challenged within three years of the games closing. the sydney olympics ended more than four years ago but world anti-doping agency chief dick pound said the rule may not apply because the allegations are only coming out now. we will find a way to deal with that pound said. in a statement released through her attorney rich nichols jones repeated her innocence and vowed she would be cleared. victor conte s allegations are not true and the truth will be revealed for the world to see as the legal process moves forward she said. conte is someone who is under federal indictment and has a record of issuing contradictory inconsistent statements. | sports | 0 |
brown calls for £5.5bn aids fund gordon brown has called on rich nations to fund a £5.5bn ($10bn) plan to fight the aids epidemic and find a vaccine. on the fourth day of his six-day tour of africa the uk chancellor predicted a vaccine could be found by 2012 if the world stepped up its funding pledges. doubling the £400m being spent yearly on finding such a vaccine could advance it by three years and save six million lives mr brown said on thursday. he hopes to use the uk s g8 presidency to push the issue forward. i believe that the generation that provided the finance to combat cure and eradicate the world s deadliest disease of today - and today the world s least curable disease - hiv/aids - will rightly earn the title the great generation mr brown said in a speech during his african tour. the problems of hiv/aids were inseparable from poverty he added. at least $10 billion per annum (£5.5bn) is needed to address the hiv/aids crisis in low and middle income countries. existing financial commitments on their own will not stop the pandemic. the uk s proposal for an international finance facility is so important - increasing world aid flows by over $50 billion (£27bn). a doubling of world aid to halve world poverty. mr brown also said he had agreed with the italian finance minister domenico siniscalco to push forward with plans for the world-wide sharing and co-ordination of research into the disease. currently the private sector was only spending £60m a year on seeking an inoculation and the market needed boosting mr brown said. he called on industrialised nations to commit themselves to buying the first 300m vaccines at a cost of $20 each thereby boosting the market for inoculations. this would be a large enough inducement to create much stronger interest from both large and small pharmaceutical firms mr brown added. more must also be done to finance the treatment and care of those living with hiv/aids and their families he said. but aid charity actionaid criticised mr brown s preoccupation with finding a vaccine and called on g8 nations to fund hiv/aids treatments. the charity s head of hiv/aids in britain simon wright said: while encouraging the pharmaceutical industry to discover an hiv vaccine is important a failure to provide any funding for hiv treatments condemns a generation of people to death. hiv is decimating african countries killing the most productive adults who should be working caring for children and building the economy. an hiv vaccine is probably at least 10 years away. treatments are needed now. on wednesday mr brown visited slums in the kenyan capital nairobi . he will visit an hiv/aids orphanage in tanzania and a women s credit union in mozambique before chairing a meeting of the commission for africa in cape town. the chancellor has already unveiled proposals for a g8 aid package which he has likened to the marshall plan used by the united states to rebuild europe after world war two. | entertainment | 2 |
yangtze electric s profits double yangtze electric power the operator of china s three gorges dam has said its profits more than doubled in 2004. the firm has benefited from increased demand for electricity at a time when power shortages have hit cities and provinces across the country. as a hydroelectric-power generator it has not been hurt by higher coal costs. net income jumped to 3bn yuan in 2004 ($365m; £190m) compared with 1.4bn yuan in 2003. sales surged to 6.2bn yuan from 3bn yuan a year earlier. the figures topped analysts expectations even though the rate of growth has slowed from 2003. analysts forecast that it is likely to decline further this year to a rate of expansion of closer to 20%. yangtze electric has been expanding its output to meet demand driven by china s booming economy. the government has delayed the building of a number of power plants in an effort to rein in growth amid concerns that the economy may overheat. that has led to an energy crunch with demand outstripping supply. earlier this month work was halted on an underground power station and a supply unit on the three gorges dam as well as a power station on its sister xiluodu dam because of environmental worries. a total of 30 large-scale projects have been halted across the country for similar reasons. the three gorges dam project has led to more than half a million people being relocated and drawn criticism from environmental groups and overseas human rights activists. its sister project the xiluodu dam is being built on the jinshajiang - or river of golden sand as the upper reaches of the yangtze are known. | politics | 2 |
uefa approves fake grass uefa says it will allow european matches to be played on artificial pitches from the start of next season. european football s governing body made the decision at a meeting of its executive committee on wednesday. uefa explained that the move follows comprehensive studies into the sporting and medical aspects of using artificial playing surfaces. they can be used subject to complying with uefa quality criteria but there use will not be made obligatory. luton preston queens park rangers and other clubs used to have plastic pitches during the the 1980s but after a two-year study uefa insists the surfaces have moved on. international matches can also be played on such pitches although games at major tournaments have to be contested on grass. uefa spokesman rob faulkner said: people in england have bad memories of the artificial pitches of luton and qpr in the 1980s but the latest generation are completely different and are much more like grass. we have sanctioned its use from the start of next season but only as long as it is the latest generation of artificial turf and meets a whole series of standards. several leading clubs from scandinavia russia and eastern europe - especially those who only play champions league or uefa cup matches in winter - are now expected to instal artificial pitches. | world | 2 |
howard and blair tax pledge clash tony blair has said voters will have to wait for labour s manifesto to see if the party has plans to increase tax. the premier was responding to a challenge from tory leader michael howard who said labour would raise taxes in its post-election budget. mr blair derided tory claims they could cut £35bn in wasteful spending saying the party had got its sums wrong. the two political leaders clashed just days after the opening salvoes of the pre-election period. mr howard told mps that every independent expert from the international monetary fund to the institute of fiscal studies had suggested the government was spending more than it is raising and a labour chancellor would have to put up taxes . mr blair replied: i think they are wrong for this very simple reason: that the treasury forecasts on the economy have been proven right. the tories on monday highlighted their plans for tax cuts worth £4bn although the specific taxes to be cut have not been announced. they also spelled out their plans for reduced government borrowing and more spending on key services. labour and the liberal democrats have said the party s sums do not add up and claim it would cut frontline services. but mr howard said voters faced a clear choice at the next election between more waste and more tax under labour and tory value for money and lower taxes. the liberal democrats have also launched their pre-election platform with leader charles kennedy saying his party was the authentic opposition particularly on the iraq war council tax and university tuition fees. labour hit back at the tory proposals even before their publication with election coordinator alan milburn accusing mr howard of producing a fraudulent prospectus . | politics | 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. | entertainment | 2 |
barclays shares up on merger talk shares in uk banking group barclays have risen on monday following a weekend press report that it had held merger talks with us bank wells fargo. a tie-up between barclays and california-based wells fargo would create the world s fourth biggest bank valued at $180bn (£96bn). barclays has declined to comment on the report in the sunday express saying it does not respond to market speculation. the two banks reportedly held talks in october and november 2004. barclays shares were up 8 pence or 1.3% at 605 pence by late morning in london on monday making it the second biggest gainer in the ftse 100 index. uk banking icon barclays was founded more than 300 years ago; it has operations in over 60 countries and employs 76 200 staff worldwide. its north american divisions focus on business banking whereas wells fargo operates retail and business banking services from 6 000 branches. in 2003 barclays reported a 20% rise in pre-tax profits to £3.8bn and it has recently forecast similar gains in 2004 predicting that full year pre-tax profits would rise 18% to £4.5bn. wells fargo had net income of $6.2bn in its last financial year a 9% increase on the previous year and revenues of $28.4bn. barclays was the focus of takeover speculation in august when it was linked to citigroup though no bid has ever materialised. stock market traders were sceptical that the latest reports heralded a deal. the chief executive would be abandoning his duty if he didn t talk to rivals but a deal doesn t seem likely reuters quoted one trader as saying. | entertainment | 2 |
palace threat over cantona masks manchester united fans wearing eric cantona masks will not be allowed in selhurst park on saturday. united fans are planning to mark the 10th anniversary of cantona s infamous kung-fu kick on crystal palace fan matthew simmons by wearing the masks. but palace stadium manager kevin corner has warned: if they wear them inside selhurst park they will be immediately rejected on safety grounds. and no fans wearing cantona masks will be allowed entry to the stadium. united fans had declared saturday as cantona day and had planned to wear masks that were popular during the frenchman s time as a player at the old trafford club. cantona received a nine-month ban following the incident and palace are keen to avoid an incident that would stir up ill feeling between the two sets of supporters. four months after the cantona incident a palace fan paul nixon was killed prior to an fa cup semi-final at villa park. | politics | 2 |
software watching while you work software that can not only monitor every keystroke and action performed at a pc but also be used as legally binding evidence of wrong-doing has been unveiled. worries about cyber-crime and sabotage have prompted many employers to consider monitoring employees. the developers behind the system claim it is a break-through in the way data is monitored and stored. but privacy advocates are concerned by the invasive nature of such software. the system is a joint venture between security firm 3ami and storage specialists bridgehead software. they have joined forces to create a system which can monitor computer activity store it and retrieve disputed files within minutes. more and more firms are finding themselves in deep water as a result of data misuse. sabotage and data theft are most commonly committed from within an organisation according to the national hi-tech crime unit (nhtcu) a survey conducted on its behalf by nop found evidence that more than 80% of medium and large companies have been victims of some form of cyber-crime. bridgehead software has come up with techniques to prove to a legal standard that any stored file on a pc has not been tampered with. ironically the impetus for developing the system came as a result of the freedom of information act which requires companies to store all data for a certain amount of time. the storage system has been incorporated into an application developed by security firm 3ami which allows every action on a computer to be logged. potentially it could help employers to follow the trail of stolen files and pinpoint whether they had been emailed to a third party copied printed deleted or saved to cd floppy disk memory stick or flash card. other activities the system can monitor include the downloading of pornography the use of racist or bullying language or the copying of applications for personal use. increasingly organisations that handle sensitive data such as governments are using biometric log-ins such as fingerprinting to provide conclusive proof of who was using a particular machine at any given time. privacy advocates are concerned that monitoring at work is not only damaging to employee s privacy but also to the relationship between employers and their staff. that is not the case said tim ellsmore managing director of 3ami. it is not about replacing dialogue but there are issues that you can talk through but you still need proof he said. people need to recognise that you are using a pc as a representative of a company and that employers have a legal requirement to store data he added. | entertainment | 2 |
uk s national gallery in the pink the national gallery home to some of the uk s greatest artworks has seen a big jump in visitor numbers. five million visitors made the london gallery - which houses treasures like raphael s madonna of the pinks - the uk s most visited museum in 2004. it recorded a 13.8% rise in numbers and was the country s second most visited tourist attraction behind blackpool pleasure beach. charles saumarez smith the gallery s director said he was delighted . he said the number of visitors through the doors had boosted figures to pre-11 september 2001 levels. mr saumarez smith added that the pedestrianisation of trafalgar square where the gallery is located and strong temporary collections throughout 2004 had led to the strong performance. our 2004 exhibition programme of el greco russian landscape in the age of tolstoy and raphael: from urbino to rome was particularly strong and exceeded all targets he said. the exceptional quality of the paintings in our permanent collection is also huge draw for the public. the expectations of today s visitors are higher than ever and we have kept pace with their demands. mr saumarez smith said he was confident the gallery could maintain the attendance. with important exhibitions of the work of caravaggio stubbs and rubens in place for 2005 i am confident that the gallery is set for another highly successful year he added. the figures were prepared by the association of leading visitor attractions (alva). it found that the figures had been boosted by an increase in europeans travelling to the uk on budget airlines. popular cultural tourist spots such as the tate modern and the natural history museum all recorded increases of more than 10% in visitor numbers compared with 2003. but for legal or confidentiality reasons some alva members did not submit figures for 2004 including buckingham palace windsor castle madame tussauds and alton towers. alva director robin broke said: visits from western europe were up by 10% and from north america by some 9% compared to 2003 while numbers from the rest of the world rose 20%. european figures were helped by the rapid growth of low-cost flights to britain from europe especially from new eu countries. | sports | 2 |
what the election should really be about a general election is the best chance most pressure groups get to make a real impact on government policy. here is how six leading lobbies plan to make sure their cause is being debated ahead of an expected spring poll. we ve called for the state pension to be increased from £79.60 to the pensioner credit guarantee level of £105.45. that s what we re calling for. many pensioners are disadvantaged by the current system. if we ve got one in five pensioners below the poverty line we ve got to make it more generous or have these people living in poverty. we ve drawn up a pensioners manifesto. this will be sent to each of the candidates in the 659 constituencies. they will be asked which of the top five issues including the pension issue they would support. once we ve got their responses we will publish the results within the constituencies and nationally as well. it s our way of putting the politicians on notice. we are trying to get across the fact that there are 11m voters over 60 in the country they are more likely to vote than other sections of society and thirdly they are true swing voters. before 1997 most pensioners voted conservative. in 1997 and 2001 they voted labour. but there is no guarantee they will vote for a labour government this time around. they cannot take that vote for granted. pensions generally will certainly be a big election issue even though the government has postponed the publication of adair turner s full report into the issue. he said the uk had one of the least generous pensions systems in the developed world. that the government takes seriously the impact of aviation on the environment. we haven t worked out specific plans but i imagine we will lobby political parties and incumbent mps. various local groups will do that in their particular areas and we will provide a national briefing. we don t have any large demonstrations planned but they can t be ruled out. it is hard to say whether we will be successful. we have got the issue in the public consciousness to an extent but it is difficult to say whether an election will raise its importance in the public mind or whether it will be pushed out by big issues like iraq. repealing the hunting bill. we are challenging the use of the parliament act 1949 in a high court action. we are hoping to hear in the new year. whichever way the court rules the other side will appeal so we expect it to fall plumb in electioneering time. when the ban comes into force on 18 february we will be going to the european court because no compensation is being paid. so there s a lot of legal territory to go. we are trying to engage with the ministers by demonstrating and talking. whatever intelligence we get we will try to turn up and speak to whoever it is. (rural affairs minister) alun michael has avoided us and cancelled engagements so that makes it difficult. it is not intimidatory - on the whole it is groups of angry housewives. of course there is an element of shouting because people are angry but there is no violence because that does not achieve anything. it will fall plumb in the run up to the most important general election tony blair will ever face. it s exactly what the prime minister did not want. he wanted the issue off the table until after the election. people using live animals as targets for sport both here and abroad. the reason for including abroad is because of trophy hunting. it is another sort of form of shooting for sport. the principle is the same whether it s a tiger or a pheasant. we will widely publicise what s happening in relation to trophy hunting. we will publicise the darker aspects of the target animal industry the uk. we will seek to get pledges from individual mps and would-be mps saying that they are against the use of animals as targets for sports. we would like the support of political parties but i think a general election is very much to do with pledges mps make to their electors. with hunting we had many mps who were happy to say they were against it. i think what we will get is a very real climbing up the agenda. whether or not we will get a ban i am not sure. but it will mobilise public opinion. everything we do will reduce animal suffering and in time that will lead to a ban. the issue that we think is the most important for this election is choice. the language of consumerism is very commonplace in government and across the political spectrum. choice as an ideology is beginning to be the privatisation of this decade. it s become an issue in itself but what s really missing from the debate is the consumer s choice in that. choice is not choice at all if all you have to choose from is two failing schools. we have seen so many pensions mis-selling scandals and in the pensions industry there s a maximum of choice but a minimum quality in that. we want choice on the consumer s terms - that means clear and accessible information to operate that choice. firstly we have our website. it features our campaigns and changes every day. secondly through our 700 000 members who communicate with us. thirdly through the media and also what we will be doing is holding a pre-election conference. we will invite the opinion formers mps journalists and others. the idea is that we open up communications between members of the public and the politicians. i think we will be successful. it s very much the language being used by the main political parties. politicians on all sides are very sensitive to this issue they want to be seen to be responding to this issue. fuel duty is a large part of operational costs for road haulage workers. we have been hearing about this proposed increase of 1.92p per litre that gordon brown has been postponing and postponing. tuppence does not sound like a great deal but every year if you operate one vehicle that s an increase of about £750. if you re running 10 vehicles it s obviously 10 times that. if fuel duty does rise we will be absolutely horrified. there will be a huge effect throughout the industry and i would not be surprised if you see widespread demonstrations. what it will mean is there will be a number of firms going out of business. we will continue to do what we have always done we keep the issue in the trade press. regrettably it s one of those stories that it is getting harder to get into the national press. whatever we do the public don t like lorries - they see us as a complaining minority. but they don t realise that when you see a car on the road it is probably going to work when you see a lorry it s already at work. | politics | 0 |
new foot and mouth action urged a senior tory mp has criticised agriculture department defra s lackadaisical approach to planning for a future foot and mouth outbreak. public accounts committee chairman edward leigh was giving his reaction to a report by a government watchdog on lessons to be learnt from the crisis. the national audit office said defra had improved its capacity to deal with future livestock disease outbreaks. but mr leigh said the department was dragging its heels . that comment referred to the setting up of a scheme to share any future compensation costs with industry. he also said defra had been dreadfully slow in paying some of its bills dating from the foot and mouth crisis. the outbreak which began in 2001 led to the slaughter of 6.5 million animals devastated many farms and rural businesses and is estimated to have cost the uk up to £8bn. four years after the outbreak defra is yet to begin its planned review of some of its contractors costs and £40m of invoices remain unpaid mr leigh said. mr leigh also pointed out that the introduction of an it system to help control future outbreaks had been delayed. in november it emerged european commission compensation amounted to just over a third of the money the uk government had hoped to get as reimbursement for the billions lost through the foot and mouth crisis. ministers had hoped to get £900m from the european union vet fund to help with animal slaughter and other costs but in the end was granted £349m. that was because the uk had valued the culled animals at between two and three times the commission s assessment of their likely market value. national audit office chief sir john bourn said a new compensation scheme was now being looked at. on the issue of the unpaid invoices sir john said defra had paid 97% of the £1.3bn submitted by contractors since 2001 but has not agreed a final settlement with 57 contractors pending the results of its investigations . mr leigh said being better prepared would also help avoid the need for mass funeral pyres which provided an unsettling images of the 2001 outbreak . a defra spokesman said: we welcome the report. it acknowledges the progress the department has made since 2001 - particularly on contingency planning and our improved capacity and preparedness for combating another major disease outbreak. however the department is aware that there are some areas requiring further work and we are working to resolve them as soon as is practicable. | world | 2 |
ukip mep attacked german empire a uk independence party mep suggested germany saw the eu as an empire and was cheaper than using tanks a new documentary has revealed. mike nattrass ukip s deputy leader made the comments to an audience at a meeting during last september s hartlepool by-election campaign. but challenged on the remark he denied accusing germany of using the eu as cover for a 4th german reich . he says he was not german-bashing but saying peace was the eu s founding aim. the meeting was shown in a bbc 3 film on ex-ukip mep robert kilroy-silk. the former chat show host quit the party earlier this month calling it a joke. the documentary showed mr nattrass apparently talking about the eu telling the meeting: the germans are the big losers here but they don t care because to them the project is worthwhile. it s like an empire for them spreading in all directions away from germany into hungary into what they call the sudetenland - czechoslovakia places like that. so it s cheaper for them to do it this way than roll the tanks in. on tuesday he told the bbc news website he did not think the comments were offensive and worked happily with meps of different nationalities in the european parliament. he argued that peace was the only reason for having the outdated eu as there was no economic justification. pointing to germany s trade interests as a country in the centre of europe mr nattrass said: the fact is that the eu benefits germany but it does not benefit britain. i m not at all german-bashing. it s the truth. a ukip spokesman said: mike has some passionate beliefs and sometimes uses excessively colourful language with which to express them. the documentary showed some of the tensions between mr kilroy-silk and his fellow meps after ukip took third place in last year s european elections. he denied wanting to be leader until october 2004 when he told bbc one s breakfast with frost programme he aspired to the job. asked by the documentary makers why he had lied about his leadership ambitions mr kilroy-silk said: there was one thing i said that i shouldn t have said at the time. i was trying to be helpful to the party and it was the wrong thing to do i should have told the truth. the film also included footage of a row between mr kilroy-silk mep nigel farage and party leader roger knapman about rumours that he was about to resign the ukip whip in the european parliament. mr kilroy-silk told them he had not left the ukip group - a move he announced shortly after the meeting. he told mr farage: don t tell lies nigel now you ve told too many. most of the trouble had been caused by you. ukip officials claim it was in fact mr kilroy-silk not mr farage who briefed newspapers he was leaving the group of meps. later in unguarded off-air comments in a television studio mr kilroy-silk was heard saying he was irritated by defending some of these right-wing fascist nutters . mr kilroy-silk separately said he had argued against ukip working with such groups which believed homosexuality was a sin. a ukip spokesman said there were more than 40 meps in the same group in the european parliament. they were from a broad spectrum - some right-wing some left-wing - but with a shared belief in the unfeasibility of the eu as it is now . he did not defend other groups religious beliefs but argued it was their right to hold such views - just as mr kilroy-silk had a right to criticise arab states. london ukip mep gerard batten said: robert has made a variety of comments about ukip and its meps. there are of course two sides to every story. what robert does not say is that he was offered several positions which would have given him effective control of the party but not the title of leader. mr kilroy-silk is to launch his own parry veritas in westminster on wednesday. | entertainment | 2 |
the comic book genius of stan lee stan lee the man responsible for a string of comic superheroes that have become household names has won a court battle for a slice of the profits from the hit spider-man movies. many marvel at the man who gave his characters extraordinary powers and everyday headaches - a formula which revolutionised comics. born in 1922 to poor working-class jewish immigrants from romania stan lieberman got a job in timely publications a company owned by a relative. he was assigned to the comics division and - thanks to a fertile imagination - rose to editor by the age of 18. for more than 20 years he was the ultimate hack - knocking out crime stories horrors westerns anything to sate the appetite of his juvenile readership. words of more than two syllables were discouraged. characters were either all good or bad with no shades of grey. so embarrassed was lieberman by much of what he was writing that he refused to put his real name on the byline. he assumed the dumb name stan lee now legally adopted. by the time he was 40 lee had decided he was too old for the comic game. his british-born wife joan suggested he had nothing to lose and for his swansong should write the kind of characters he really wanted to create. after a rival comic had come up with a superteam consisting of batman superman and wonder woman timely needed to respond. lee s answer in 1961 was the fantastic four - a team of astronauts who gained super powers after being bombarded with cosmic rays. they were to change lee s life and the comics industry forever. lee gave each character individual everyday teenage problems such as dandruff ingrown toenails and acne. they would frequently fall out with their parents and each other. the fan letters poured in. without immediately knowing it stan lee had ushered in the golden age of comics and his imagination was rekindled. his marvel universe spawned the new title of marvel comics. soon after nerdy peter parker was transformed - after a bite from an irradiated spider - into someone who could crawl up the sides of new york s skyscrapers. spider-man was born. he was to become an icon of modern popular culture. spidey as he is affectionately known had quite extraordinary powers - yet he had problems at work at home and with his girlfriends. at last the teenager was no longer just the sidekick but the main hero. and the hero was no longer just brawn he had brains too. just because he s a hero and has super powers doesn t mean he doesn t have problems stan lee told the bbc. the incredible hulk the mighty thor iron man and the rest all grappled with problems like drug abuse bigotry and social inequality. radically lee gave the artists responsible for the comic designs credits for their work. jack kirby frank miller john romitaand and others achieved cult status in their own right. other superheroes broke new ground in other ways. daredevil was blind black panther was black and silver surfer pondered the state of humanity. lee s influence remains. some years ago the marvel hero northstar came out of the closet. in its heyday marvel was selling 50 million copies a year. until he retired from editing in 1971 stan lee wrote all the copy for marvel s covers. in 1999 his stan lee media venture aimed at marrying comic-strips with the internet went spectacularly wrong. lee went bankrupt and his business partner landed in prison for fraud. in 2001 though he started a new company entitled pow! (purveyors of wonder) entertainment which is currently developing films and television programmes. his latest project is a superhero based on a real person - jay j armes who has metal claws after losing both hands aged 12 and fights crime with a tiger. but his 40-year-old creations are still as enduring as ever - with x-men the hulk and daredevil have all been turned into hollywood action movies in the last five years. but spider-man has been the biggest box office hit with the 2002 original and its 2004 sequel taking almost $1.6bn (£857m) in ticket sales around the world - before dvd and merchandise sales are counted. it seems stan lee is as indestructible as his heroes. | entertainment | 0 |
veteran martinez wins thai title conchita martinez won her first title in almost five years with victory over anna-lena groenefeld at the volvo women s open in pattaya thailand. the 32-year-old spaniard came through 6-3 3-6 6-3 for her first title since berlin in 2000. it feels really good said martinez who is playing her last season on the tour. to come through like that in an important match feels good. it s been nearly five years and i didn t think i could do it. groenefeld was the more powerful player but could not match her opponent s relentless accuracy. it was my first final a new experience said the german. i think she played a good match a tough match but i tried to stay in there. i think the whole week was good for me. | sports | 0 |
keanu reeves given hollywood star actor keanu reeves best known for his role in the matrix movies has been awarded a star on the prestigious hollywood walk of fame. the 40-year-old attended the unveiling of the star with his mother patricia and thanked her for inspiring him to become an actor. when i was 15 years old i asked my mom if it was ok to be an actor reeves said. she said: whatever you want . his star is the 2 277th to be embedded in the pavement on hollywood boulevard. the actor who was born in the lebanese capital beirut also spoke of how he dropped out of school to pursue an acting career. hollywood was calling he said so i got in my car a 1969 british racing green volvo with holes in the floor and bricks holding up the seats. i was a young man full of hopes and dreams. reeves first found fame in the teen comedy bill and ted s excellent adventure and went on to combine such blockbusters as speed the devil s advocate and the matrix series with smaller films including my own private idaho. more recently he was seen in something s gotta give alongside jack nicholson and diane keaton. his next film the supernatural thriller constantine is released in the us later this month and opens in the uk in march. | entertainment | 0 |
global blogger action day called the global web blog community is being called into action to lend support to two imprisoned iranian bloggers. the month-old committee to protect bloggers is asking those with blogs to dedicate their sites on 22 february to the free mojtaba and arash day . arash sigarchi and mojtaba saminejad are both in prison in iran. blogs are free sites through which people publish thoughts and opinions. iranian authorities have been clamping down on prominent sites for some time. i hope this day will focus people curt hopkins director of the committee told the bbc news website. the group has a list of actions which it says bloggers can take including writing to local iranian embassies. the committee has deemed tuesday free mojtaba and arash day as part of its first campaign. it is calling on the blogsphere - the name for the worldwide community of bloggers - to do what it can to help raise awareness of the plight of mojtaba and arash as well as other cyber-dissidents . if you have a blog the least you could do is put nothing on that blog except free mojtaba and arash day said mr hopkins. that would mean you could see that phrase 7.1 million times. that alone will shine some light on the situation. if you don t have one find one dedicated to that - it takes about 30 seconds. technorati a blog search engine tracks about six million blogs and says that more than 12 000 are added daily. a blog is created every 5.8 seconds according to a us research think-tank. the committee to protect bloggers was started by us blogger curt hopkins and counts fired flight attendant blogger ellen simonetti as a deputy director. she has since started the international bloggers bill of rights a global petition to protect bloggers at work. although not the only website committed to human rights issues by any means it aims to be the hub or organisation information and support for bloggers in particular and their rights to freedom of speech. the committee although only a month old aims to be the focal point for blogger action on similar issues in the future and will operate as a non-for-profit organisation. blogging is in this weird no man s land. people think of it as being one thing or another depending on their point of view said mr hopkins. some think of themselves as pundits kind of like journalists and some like me have a private blog which is just a publishing platform. but they do not have a constituency and are out there in the cold. it is not just human rights issues in countries which have a track record of restricting what is published in the media that is of concern to bloggers. the question of bloggers and what rights they have to say what they want on their sites is a thorny one and has received much press attention recently. high profile cases in which employees have been sacked for what they have said on their personal and often anonymous blogs have highlighted the muddy situation that the blogsphere is currently in. this is a big messy argument explained mr hopkins. he added: it is just such a new way of doing business there will be clamp downs. but the way these issues get tested is through the courts which said mr hopkins is part of the whole messy conversation. if you haven t already got bloggers in your company you will have them tomorrow - and if you don t have a blogger policy now you had better start looking at having one. mr hopkins said that the blogsphere - which is doubling every five months - was powerful because it takes so little time and expertise to create a blog. everyone does this - mums radicals conservatives he said. many companies offer easy-to-use services to create a blog and publish it in minutes to a global community. that is the essential difference. what i call templating software gives every single person on earth the chance to have one. you don t even have to have your own computer. | science and tech | 0 |
blair s hope for blunkett return the events leading to david blunkett s resignation must not swept under the carpet the tories have warned. on wednesday tony blair said he hoped the former home secretary would serve again in government in the future. mr blunkett quit in december after a probe linked him to the visa application of his ex-lover s nanny. mr blair said he left without a stain on his character but tory dominic grieve branded the way mr blunkett s office operated as scandalous . mr blair told bbc radio 4 s today programme: i know david very well and i believe him to be a man of real integrity and real ability and i was very sad for him as to what happened. he said mr blunkett still had an immense amount to offer the country but he was not making any guarantees or definitive statements about future jobs. but shadow attorney general mr grieve said: while i don t rule out the possibility that mr blunkett may return as a minister i don t think it s something that can simply be brushed under the carpet. senior labour backbencher martin o neill who chairs the commons trade committee said he believed the prime minister would want one of his praetorian guard - a reference to the elite body guard of roman emperors - back alongside him. but colleague ian gibson who chairs the science and technology committee said there was a question mark as to whether mr blunkett could serve at cabinet level again. | politics | 0 |
jobs growth still slow in the us the us created fewer jobs than expected in january but a fall in jobseekers pushed the unemployment rate to its lowest level in three years. according to labor department figures us firms added only 146 000 jobs in january. the gain in non-farm payrolls was below market expectations of 190 000 new jobs. nevertheless it was enough to push down the unemployment rate to 5.2% its lowest level since september 2001. the job gains mean that president bush can celebrate - albeit by a very fine margin - a net growth in jobs in the us economy in his first term in office. he presided over a net fall in jobs up to last november s presidential election - the first president to do so since herbert hoover. as a result job creation became a key issue in last year s election. however when adding december and january s figures the administration s first term jobs record ended in positive territory. the labor department also said it had revised down the jobs gains in december 2004 from 157 000 to 133 000. analysts said the growth in new jobs was not as strong as could be expected given the favourable economic conditions. it suggests that employment is continuing to expand at a moderate pace said rick egelton deputy chief economist at bmo financial group. we are not getting the boost to employment that we would have got given the low value of the dollar and the still relatively low interest rate environment. the economy is producing a moderate but not a satisfying amount of job growth said ken mayland president of clearview economics. that means there are a limited number of new opportunities for workers. | politics | 2 |
healey targets england comeback leicester wing austin healey hopes to use sunday s return heineken cup clash with wasps as a further springboard to an england recall for the six nations. healey who won 51 caps prior to the 2003 world cup has been in good form in the tigers resurgence this season. i definitely still have ambitions to play for england healey told the bbc. we will have to see what happens after the previous (autumn) tests but when i look at the current squad i definitely feel there is a place there for me. healey who has also played both half-back positions and full-back during his career has reverted to the wing where he won most of his england caps. after recovering from a trapped nerve in his back sustained at the end of september the 31-year-old is relishing his role in the tigers revival. i had six weeks out but fortunately i have resumed the sort of form i had before he said. i am basically playing where it best suits leicester. obviously i can play scrum-half fly-half or full-back at a moment s notice. but playing on the wing actually gives me a bigger free role to come in where i am not expected and influence things. that has been apparent in parts one and two of the wasps-leicester trilogy in recent weeks. first healey came off his flank with an angled run to score an injury-time try that earned the tigers a 17-17 draw in their premiership meeting on 21 november. then in the first of their heineken cup double header last sunday healey slotted in at stand-off and delivered a superb cross-kick for martin corry to score the tigers third try. i caught cozza s eye a couple of phases before that and was hoping to get it to him on the full but fortunately even with the bounce he managed to score healey recalled. healey twice a heineken cup winner believes last sunday s match was up there with some of the biggest club contests he has played in. it was a very intense occasion and a very destructive game he recalled. there was not a huge amount of rugby played but it was a great game to be involved in. after about 15 minutes i thought we might stride away with it but wasps really came back into it and in the last couple of minutes it could have gone either way. the same outcome this sunday would put leicester in pole position to top their heineken pool with a home game against biarritz and away trip to calvisano to come. but healey insists the tigers must summon the same desire if they are to deliver the knockout blow in what has been dubbed rugby s version of rocky ii . there was a lot of satisfaction in the dressing room aftewards but it is really only a case of a job half done he added. it was the first of a two-leg trip and if we lose at welford road it will negate all the positives we can take from result. i think it came down to who wanted it more and in the end i think we did. we have got to show the same desire again this week. | world | 2 |
disney backs sony dvd technology a next generation dvd technology backed by sony has received a major boost. film giant disney says it will produce its future dvds using sony s blu-ray disc technology but has not ruled out a rival format developed by toshiba. the two competing dvd formats blu-ray developed by sony and others and toshiba s hd-dvd have been courting top film studios for several months. the next generation of dvds promises very high quality pictures and sound as well as a lot of data. both technologies use a blue laser to write information. it has a shorter wavelength so more data can be stored. disney is the latest studio to announce which technology it is backing in a format battle which mirrors the 1980s betamax versus vhs war. sony lost out to jvc in that fight. the current battle for hollywood s hearts and minds is a crucial one because high-definition films will bring in billions of revenue and the studios would prefer to use one standard. last month paramount universal and warner brothers said they were opting for the toshiba and nec-backed format hd-dvd high-definition discs. those studios currently produce about 45% of dvd content. sony pictures entertainment and mgm studios have already staked their allegiance with the blu-ray disc association whose members also include technology companies dell samsung and matsushita. twentieth century fox is still to announce which technology it will be supporting. if fox decided to go with blu-ray too it would mean the format would have a 47% share of dvd content. disney said its films would be available on the blu-ray format when dvd players for the standard went on sale on north america and japan expected in 2006. universal is to start producing films on the hd-dvd format in 2005 and paramount will start releasing titles using the standard in 2006. toshiba expects sales of hd-dvds to reach 300bn yen ($2.9bn £1.5bn) by 2010. | politics | 2 |
hansen delays return until 2006 british triple jumper ashia hansen has ruled out a comeback this year after a setback in her recovery from a bad knee injury according to reports. hansen the commonwealth and european champion has been sidelined since the european cup in poland in june 2004. it was hoped she would be able to return this summer but the wound from the injury has been very slow to heal. her coach aston moore told the times: we re not looking at any sooner than 2006 not as a triple jumper. moore said hansen may be able to return to sprinting and long jumping sooner but there is no short-term prospect of her being involved again in her specialist event. there was a problem with the wound healing and it set back her rehabilitation by about two months but that has been solved and we can push ahead now he said. the aim is for her to get fit as an athlete - then we will start looking at sprinting and the long jump as an introduction back to the competitive arena. moore said he is confident hansen can make it back to top-level competition though it is unclear if that will be in time for the commonwealth games in melbourne next march when she will be 34. it s been a frustrating time for her but it has not fazed her determination he added. | sports | 0 |
apple makes blogs reveal sources apple has won its legal fight to make three bloggers reveal who told them about unreleased products. the bid to unmask the employees leaking information was launched in december 2004 following online articles about apple s asteroid product. now apple has won the right to see e-mail records from the three bloggers to root out the culprit. a lawyer for the three bloggers said the ruling set a dangerous precedent that could harm all news reporters. apple s lawsuit accused anonymous people of stealing trade secrets about the asteroid music product and leaking them to the powerpage apple insider and think secret websites. all three are apple fan sites that obsessively watch the iconic firm for information about future products. apple is notoriously secretive about upcoming products which gives any snippets of information about what it is working on all the more value. the lawsuit to reveal the names of the leakers was filed against the power page and apple insider sites. the separate legal fight with think secret has yet to be resolved. in the ruling handed down this week by santa clara county superior court judge james kleinberg apple can now get its hands on e-mail records from the bloggers net providers. in making his ruling judge kleinberg said that laws covering the divulging of trade secrets outweighed considerations of public interest. california has so-called shield laws which protect journalists from prosecution if what they are writing about can be shown to be in the public interest. the judge wrote: ...it is not surprising that hundreds of thousands of hits on a website about apple have and will happen. but an interested public is not the same as the public interest . judge kleinberg said the question of whether the bloggers were journalists or not did not apply because laws governing the right to keep trade secrets confidential covered journalists too. the electronic frontier foundation which is acting as legal counsel for power page and apple insider said the ruling had potentially wide implications. anyone who reports on companies or the trade press should be concerned about this ruling said eff lawyer kurt opsahl. mr opsahl said the eff was planning to appeal against the ruling because the bloggers were journalists and us federal laws stop net firms handing over copies of e-mail messages if the owner of that account does not give their consent. | science and tech | 0 |
crisis ahead in social sciences a national body designed to tackle skills shortages in key subjects should be set up a committee of mps has said. there was an absolute crisis in the recruitment of statisticians and other social science experts the commons science and technology committee added. major problems are expected over the next 10 years as the social science workforce continues to age it said. the committee was reporting on the work strategy and spending plans of the economic social research council. the council aims to promote and support strategic research for social science postgraduates and provide social scientists to meet the needs of the country. it also liaises with the government and industry over their social science needs. in its report on the council s work the committee said: we are deeply concerned by the skills shortages afflicting in particular the qualitative branches of social sciences. this mirrored previous concerns the committee had expressed on shortages in the fields of maths and chemistry it said. it is hard to see how significant progress towards rectifying these shortages can be made through the deployment of economic and social research council s limited resources. if the government is serious about addressing skills shortages in key subjects it needs to find a more effective mechanism to achieve this. a national strategic capabilities fund to address shortages in key areas should be set up in response the committee added. | politics | 0 |
china s shanda buys stake in sina chinese online game operator shanda interactive entertainment has bought a 20% stake in sina the country s biggest internet portal firm. the move may be a precursor to a full takeover with analysts saying that a better-known international firm may also now show an interest in sina. shanda said that it may boost its stake in sina even buying it outright. a merger would create a firm that offers online role-playing games news entertainment and wireless messaging. sina said that the purchase of a stake by shanda would have no impact on its business. the board of directors said in a statement that it would continue to act in the best interests of all the company stakeholders including shareholders employees and customers . both companies are listed on the new york stock exchange s (nyse) technology-dominated nasdaq index. in a filing with the us securities and exchange commission sina said its shares were purchased between 12 january and 10 february for about $230m. rumours about a possible takeover boosted sina s shares by more than 10% on friday. they added an extra 6.4% to $27.24 in electronic trading after the trading session had finished. and there may be more gains amid bid speculation when trading resumes in new york on tuesday after monday s public holiday analysts forecast. there could still be some potential parties that could still counter bid said wallace cheung an analyst at dbs vickers. even though shanda has 20% of sina they still have quite a long way to take full control. however mr cheung noted that a foreign company trying to take control of a chinese internet portal firm with its ability to filter and pass on news may not be viewed very favourably by beijing. | business | 0 |
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