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web helps collect aid donations the web is helping aid agencies gather resources to help cope with the aftermath of the tsunami disaster. many people are making donations via websites or going online to see how they can get involved with aid efforts. high-profile web portals such as google yahoo ebay and amazon are gathering links that lead people to aid and relief organisations. so many were visiting some aid-related sites that some webpages were struggling to cope with the traffic. an umbrella organisation called the disasters emergency committee (dec) has been set up by a coalition of 12 charities and has been taking many donations via its specially created website. it urged people to go online where possible to help because donations could be processed more quickly than cash donated in other ways meaning aid could be delivered as quickly as possible. the site has so far received almost £8 million with more than 11 000 donations being made online every hour. telco bt stepped in to take over the secure payments on the dec site and provided extra logistical support for phone and online appeals after it was initially crippled with online donations. it has also provided space in london s bt tower for one of the call centres dealing with donations. some of the web s biggest firms are also helping to channel help by modifying their homepages to include links to aid agencies and organisations collecting resources. on its famously sparse homepage google has placed a link that leads users to a list of sites where donations can be made. among the 17 organisations listed are oxfam medecins sans frontieres (doctors without borders) and network for good. many of the sites that google lists are also taking online donations. online retailer amazon has put a large message on its start page that lets people donate money directly to the american red cross that will be used with relief efforts. auction site ebay is giving a list of sites that people can either donate directly to divert a portion of their profits from anything they sell on ebay to the listed organisations or simply buy items that direct cash to those in the list. yahoo is proving links direct to charities for those that want to donate. the auction drop website is asking people to donate old digital cameras computers and other gadgets they no longer want that can be auction to raise cash for the aid effort. sadly the outpouring of goodwill has also encouraged some conmen to try to cash in. anti-fraud organisations are warning about e-mails that are starting to circulate which try to convince people to send money directly to them rather than make donations via aid agencies. those wanting to give cash were urged to use legitimate websites of charities and aid agencies. | business | 2 |
gamer buys $26 500 virtual land a 22-year-old gamer has spent $26 500 (£13 700) on an island that exists only in a computer role-playing game (rpg). the australian gamer known only by his gaming moniker deathifier bought the island in an online auction. the land exists within the game project entropia an rpg which allows thousands of players to interact with each other. entropia allows gamers to buy and sell virtual items using real cash while fans of other titles often use auction site ebay to sell their virtual wares. earlier this year economists calculated that these massively multi-player online role-playing games (mmorpgs) have a gross economic impact equivalent to the gdp of the african nation of namibia. this is a historic moment in gaming history and this sale only goes to prove that massive multi-player online gaming has reached a new plateau said marco behrmann director of community relations at mindark the game s developer. the virtual island includes a gigantic abandoned castle and beautiful beaches which are described as ripe for developing beachfront property. deathifier will make money from his investment as he is able to tax other gamers who come to his virtual land to hunt or mine for gold. he has also begun to sell plots to people who wish to build virtual homes. this type of investment will definitely become a trend in online gaming said deathifier. the entopia economy lets gamers exchange real currency into ped (project entropia dollars) and back again into real money. ten peds are the equivalent to one us dollar and typical items sold include iron ingots ($5) and shogun armour ($1.70) gamers can theoretically earn money by accumulating peds through the acquisition of goods buildings and land in the entropia universe. mmorpgs have become enormously popular in the last 10 years with hundreds of thousands of gamers living out alternate lives in fantasy worlds. almost 200 000 people are registered players on project entropia. | science and tech | 0 |
youssou n dour wins music prize senegalese musician youssou n dour has been named a winner of a bbc radio 3 world music award. his album egypt won the critics award for album of the year while the best newcomer accolade went to argentine chango spasiuk. winners were chosen from ten categories to reflect different continents. a special poll winners concert hosted by eliza carthy and benjamin zephaniah will take place at the sage in gateshead on 5 march. the concert will be broadcast on radio 3 s world music day the following evening and will feature performances by many of the award winners. it will also include the announcement of the audience award chosen by radio 3 and bbc world service listeners alongside bbc four viewers. winner in the africa category was malian desert blues band tinariwen formed from the nomadic people of the southern sahara. cuban pianist bebo valdes and flamenco singer diego el cigala responsible for critically acclaimed album lagrimas negrasmusic won an award in the boundary crossing category. each winner will receive a specially commissioned sculpture entitled planet by anita sulimanovic who won a competition to design the award. highlights of the poll winners concert to be held at the sage gateshead will be televised on bbc four on 11 march. | entertainment | 0 |
castaignede fires laporte warning former france fly-half thomas castaignede has warned the pressure is mounting on coach bernard laporte following their defeat by wales. france suffered a shock loss against the welsh at the weekend after looking on course for an easy win. castaignede told bbc sport: the pressure is big on laporte after a huge loss to new zealand a slim win over scotland and a miracle against england. but the french have to get behind him and the team at lansdowne road. following victories over south africa and australia in november france were deemed by many to be the world s leading side. but they were then trounced 45-6 by new zealand and only just beat scotland after the scots had a try disallowed in their six nations opener. it then took some woeful spot kicking from charlie hodgson and olly barkley to help them to victory against england at twickenham. < castaignede said: you can t say any of those results have eased the pressure on laporte. had england s kickers not been so bad the position in the six nations would be very different now. laporte has been criticised for france s negative tactics in their wins over scotland and england. but his side played a more free-flowing style against wales making a mockery of the opposition s defence in the first half before suffering a shock turnaround in fortunes after the interval. all the chat in france has been about how france will play against ireland said castaignede ahead of the 12 march tie. everyone wants to see the sort of play we saw against wales. but everyone also wants a win. castaignede a veteran of 43 international caps admitted the french would go in as underdogs against ireland. going to ireland is never easy but the way they re playing right now it s harder than ever said castaignede. they re very experienced and don t often lose at home. they ve got some great forwards and some electric runners on the break. despite praising the irish he claimed the welsh had the upper hand in the six nations run-in. ireland have such a good pack but wales are something else on the break he added. at the weekend they were simply awesome. as a frenchman it was disappointing to see but you had to admire it. their commitment to every cause can make them win this championship. the 30-year-old also tipped yann delaigue to start ahead of frederic michalak at number 10 after an impressive display in paris last weekend. delaigue played really well and admittedly michalak played well too said castaignede. i m just glad i m not the one who has to make the decision. | world | 2 |
mallon wades into ne vote battle middlesbrough mayor ray mallon has been drafted in to boost the yes campaign as the north east assembly referendum enters its final week. the former police chief dubbed robocop for his zero tolerance style clashed on thursday with sunderland no campaigner neil herron. mr mallon said an assembly would give local people more of a say over key issues such as transport and crime. but mr herron said north east people did not want or need an assembly. the pair met on the platform at sunderland station as mr mallon toured the region highlighting claimed improvements to transport if the area gets an assembly. but mr herron - who gained fame as one of sunderland s metric martyrs and is running his own no campaign alongside the official north east says no campaign - said he was not convinced by mr mallon s arguments. the reality is that it is not going to deliver he said. labour has had two-and-a-half years to convince people of this. if you can t sell a deal in that time it is a bad deal. on wednesday mr mallon provoked fury by branding the official no campaign two-bit tories in a confrontation outside its durham headquarters. the campaign is being run by two-bit conservatives who are not interested in what happens in the north east; they are interested in hitting the labour party over the head he said. mr mallon is a late recruit to the yes campaign after rejecting overtures from no campaigners including he claims tory leader michael howard. most local observers believe the contest is too close to call although little recent polling has been carried out. yes campaign chairman john tomaney said he hoped for a late flurry of votes to boost turnout - something he says will boost their cause. he added: the government exerts a lot of political power in the north east. the accountability should be in the north east as well. he also defended the decision to attack the official no campaign s alleged political allegiances. we felt we had to show what people were behind the no campaign - london tory spin doctors. graham robb spokesman for north east says no said the yes campaign s decision to get personal dragged the campaign into the gutter and showed they were rattled . and he hit back at mr mallon s claim that an assembly would improve transport links in the region. it can push paper around but it can not get people moving he said. some 487 939 people had returned their ballot papers by wednesday - a turnout of 25.7%. the deadline for voting is next thursday 4 november. | entertainment | 2 |
worldcom ex-boss launches defence lawyers defending former worldcom chief bernie ebbers against a battery of fraud charges have called a company whistleblower as their first witness. cynthia cooper worldcom s ex-head of internal accounting alerted directors to irregular accounting practices at the us telecoms giant in 2002. her warnings led to the collapse of the firm following the discovery of an $11bn (£5.7bn) accounting fraud. mr ebbers has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and conspiracy. prosecution lawyers have argued that mr ebbers orchestrated a series of accounting tricks at worldcom ordering employees to hide expenses and inflate revenues to meet wall street earnings estimates. but ms cooper who now runs her own consulting business told a jury in new york on wednesday that external auditors arthur andersen had approved worldcom s accounting in early 2001 and 2002. she said andersen had given a green light to the procedures and practices used by worldcom. mr ebber s lawyers have said he was unaware of the fraud arguing that auditors did not alert him to any problems. ms cooper also said that during shareholder meetings mr ebbers often passed over technical questions to the company s finance chief giving only brief answers himself. the prosecution s star witness former worldcom financial chief scott sullivan has said that mr ebbers ordered accounting adjustments at the firm telling him to hit our books . however ms cooper said mr sullivan had not mentioned anything uncomfortable about worldcom s accounting during a 2001 audit committee meeting. mr ebbers could face a jail sentence of 85 years if convicted of all the charges he is facing. worldcom emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2004 and is now known as mci. last week mci agreed to a buyout by verizon communications in a deal valued at $6.75bn. | world | 2 |
lewis-francis eyeing world gold mark lewis-francis says his olympic success has made him determined to bag world championship 100m gold in 2005. the 22-year-old pipped maurice greene on the last leg of the 4x100m relay in athens to take top honours for team gb. but individually the birchfield harrier has yet to build on his world junior championship win four years ago. the gold medal in athens has made me realise that i can get to the top level and i want to get there again. it can happen i don t see why not he said. lewis-francis has still to decided what events will feature in his build-up to the worlds - with one exception. he has confirmed his participation in the norwich union grand prix in birmingham on 18 february where he will take on another member of britain s victorious men s relay team - jason gardener - over 60m. he added: it s a bit too early to make any predictions for helsinki but i have my eyes open and i know i can be the best in the world. | sports | 0 |
tv future in the hands of viewers with home theatre systems plasma high-definition tvs and digital video recorders moving into the living room the way people watch tv will be radically different in five years time. that is according to an expert panel which gathered at the annual consumer electronics show in las vegas to discuss how these new technologies will impact one of our favourite pastimes. with the us leading the trend programmes and other content will be delivered to viewers via home networks through cable satellite telecoms companies and broadband service providers to front rooms and portable devices. one of the most talked-about technologies of ces has been digital and personal video recorders (dvr and pvr). these set-top boxes like the us s tivo and the uk s sky+ system allow people to record store play pause and forward wind tv programmes when they want. essentially the technology allows for much more personalised tv. they are also being built-in to high-definition tv sets which are big business in japan and the us but slower to take off in europe because of the lack of high-definition programming. not only can people forward wind through adverts they can also forget about abiding by network and channel schedules putting together their own a-la-carte entertainment. but some us networks and cable and satellite companies are worried about what it means for them in terms of advertising revenues as well as brand identity and viewer loyalty to channels. although the us leads in this technology at the moment it is also a concern that is being raised in europe particularly with the growing uptake of services like sky+. what happens here today we will see in nine months to a years time in the uk adam hume the bbc broadcast s futurologist told the bbc news website. for the likes of the bbc there are no issues of lost advertising revenue yet. it is a more pressing issue at the moment for commercial uk broadcasters but brand loyalty is important for everyone. we will be talking more about content brands rather than network brands said tim hanlon from brand communications firm starcom mediavest. the reality is that with broadband connections anybody can be the producer of content. he added: the challenge now is that it is hard to promote a programme with so much choice. what this means said stacey jolna senior vice president of tv guide tv group is that the way people find the content they want to watch has to be simplified for tv viewers. it means that networks in us terms or channels could take a leaf out of google s book and be the search engine of the future instead of the scheduler to help people find what they want to watch. this kind of channel model might work for the younger ipod generation which is used to taking control of their gadgets and what they play on them. but it might not suit everyone the panel recognised. older generations are more comfortable with familiar schedules and channel brands because they know what they are getting. they perhaps do not want so much of the choice put into their hands mr hanlon suggested. on the other end you have the kids just out of diapers who are pushing buttons already - everything is possible and available to them said mr hanlon. ultimately the consumer will tell the market they want. of the 50 000 new gadgets and technologies being showcased at ces many of them are about enhancing the tv-watching experience. high-definition tv sets are everywhere and many new models of lcd (liquid crystal display) tvs have been launched with dvr capability built into them instead of being external boxes. one such example launched at the show is humax s 26-inch lcd tv with an 80-hour tivo dvr and dvd recorder. one of the us s biggest satellite tv companies directtv has even launched its own branded dvr at the show with 100-hours of recording capability instant replay and a search function. the set can pause and rewind tv for up to 90 hours. and microsoft chief bill gates announced in his pre-show keynote speech a partnership with tivo called tivotogo which means people can play recorded programmes on windows pcs and mobile devices. all these reflect the increasing trend of freeing up multimedia so that people can watch what they want when they want. | entertainment | 2 |
gadget growth fuels eco concerns technology firms and gadget lovers are being urged to think more about the environment when buying and disposing of the latest hi-tech products. at the consumer electronics show in las vegas earlier this month several hi-tech firms were recognised for their strategies to help the environment. ebay also announced the rethink project bringing together intel apple and ibm among others to promote recycling. the us consumer electronics market is set to grow by over 11% in 2005. but more awareness is needed about how and where old gadgets can be recycled as well as how to be more energy efficient said the us environmental protection agency (epa). of particular growing concern is how much energy it takes to recharge portable devices one of the fastest growing markets in technology. the consumer electronics association (cea) has predicted that shipments of consumer technologies in 2005 will reach more than $125.73 billion (nearly £68 billion). ebay s initiative pulls together major technology firms environment groups government agencies and ebay users to give information about what to do with old computers and where to send them. the online auction house thinks that its already-established community of loyal users could be influential. we really became aware of the e-waste issue and we saw that our 125 million users can be a powerful force for good ebay s david stern told the bbc news website. we saw the opportunity to meet the additional demand we have on the site for used computers and saw the opportunity too to good some good for the environment. but it is not just computers that cause a problem for the environment. teenagers get a new mobile every 11 months adults every 18 months and a 15 million handsets are replaced in total each year. yet only 15% are actually recycled. this year a predicted two billion people worldwide will own a mobile according to a deloitte report. schemes in the us like ripmobile could help in targeting younger generations with recycling messages. the initiative which was also launched at ces rewards 10 to 28-year-olds for returning unused phones. this system allows for the transformation of a drawer full of unused mobile phones into anything from music to clothes to electronics or games said seth heine from ripmobile. one group of students collected 1 000 mobiles for recycling in just three months. mr heine told the bbc news website that what was important was to raise awareness amongst the young so that recycling becomes learned behaviour . europe is undoubtedly more advanced than the us in terms of recycling awareness and robust end of life programmes although there is a tide change happening in the rest of the world too. intel showcased some its motherboards and chips at ces which are entirely lead free. there is more and more awareness on the consumer side but the whole industry is moving towards being lead free intel s allen wilson told the bbc news website. there is still low-level awareness right now but it is on the rise - the highest level of awareness is in europe. a european union (eu) directive weee (waste electronic and electrical equipment) comes into effect in august. it puts the responsibility on electrical manufacturers to recycle items that are returned to them. but developments are also being made to design better technologies which are more energy efficient and which do not contain harmful substances. elements like chromium lead and cadmium - common in consumer electronics goods - will be prohibited in all products in the eu by 2006. but it is not just about recycling either. the predicted huge growth in the gadget market means the amount of energy used to power them up is on the rise too. the biggest culprit according to the epa is the innocuous power adaptor nicknamed energy vampires . they provide vital juice for billions of mobile phones pdas (personal digital assistants) digital cameras camcorders and digital music players. although there is a focus on developing efficient and improved circuits in the devices themselves the technologies inside rechargers are still outdated and so eat up more energy than is needed to power a gadget. on 1 january new efficiency standards for external power supplies came into effect as part of the european commission code of conduct. but at ces the epa also unveiled new guidelines for its latest energy star initiative which targets external power adapters. these map out the framework for developing better adaptors that can be labelled with an energy star logo meaning they are about 35% more efficient. the initiative is a global effort and more manufacturers adaptors are being brought on board. most are made in china. about two billion are shipped global every year and about three billion are in use in the us alone. the epa is already working with several companies which make more than 22% of power supplies on the market. we are increasingly finding companies that not only want to provide neat hi-tech devices but also bundle with it a hi-tech efficient power supply the epa s andrew fanara said. initiatives like this are critical; if power adaptors continue to be made and used as they are now consumer electronics and other small appliances will be responsible for more than 40% of electricity used in us homes said the epa. | science and tech | 0 |
newcastle 27-27 gloucester newcastle centre mathew tait answered his critics as he scored one try and made another but he could not stop gloucester grabbing a draw. the falcons were 22-6 down at the break before tait recently axed by england after just one six nations outing inspired his side to a 27-22 lead. a last-gasp touchdown from luke narraway pulled the visitors level. but gloucester missed out on victory when henry paul fluffed the conversion and seti kiole was denied a late try. newcastle had a couple of chances at the start of the second half with line-outs in the corner. but they failed to make them count until joe shaw found dave walder who released mark mayerholfer in his own 22. the former all black broke clear and popped the ball up for tait on halfway. he chipped ahead for michael stephenson to scorch through for the try which walder converted to give newcastle a lifeline. they grabbed it with both hands mayerhofler breaking through and tait making a brilliant early run to cut inside and race 30m to score. walder converted to make it 22-20 before he was just wide with a 40m penalty in the 70th minute. mayerhofler then scythed through the middle for a try after hall charlton popped the ball up and walder s conversion took newcastle 27-22 ahead. with three minutes of normal time left narraway was driven over for a try in the corner which levelled the scores at 27-27. henry missed the conversion but gloucester nearly won it when kiole broke through only to be hauled down by charlton and tom may. walder; may tait mayerhofler stephenson; wilkinson grindal; isaacson long ward; gross hamilton; mccarthy harris dowson. replacements: peel wilson thompson parling sititi charlton shaw. goodridge; garvey simpson-daniel fanolua kiole; paul gomarsall; wood curnier powell; eustace brown; forrester buxton balding. replacements: elloway sigley cornwell narraway page davies mauger. | business | 2 |
takeover offer for sunderland fc bob murray chairman of sunderland fc has launched a £1.5m ($2.8m) bid for the club after buying broadcaster bskyb s stake in the business. mr murray is already sunderland s leading shareholder holding a 37.6% stake and now hopes to take full control of the championship side. mr murray said the club would find it easier to attract more investment by having a single majority owner. sunderland delisted its shares from the stock market in august. a lifetime sunderland supporter and board director since 1984 mr murray agreed to buy bskyb s 4.76% holding in the wearside club on tuesday - taking his stake to 42.3%. under stock market rules mr murray is required to make an offer for the remaining shares that he does not already own at the same price paid for the bskyb holding of 31p a share. should the offer be fully accepted mr murray said he expected to pay a maximum of £1.53m for the remaining shares. he also stressed that fans who wanted to keep in touch with the club s financial affairs could retain a small number of shares enabling them to attend annual meetings. the football sector is experiencing significant changes and uncertainty mr murray said in a statement. the recent speculation surrounding malcolm glazer and manchester united has shown the unsettling effect possible where there are a number of disparate interests he added. i believe that this offer will strengthen the company and remove the potential for that type of uncertainty. sunderland were relegated from the premiership in 2003 but are currently pushing for promotion. the club managed to reduce its losses last year from £20.6m to £1.2m after selling a host of leading players. however the club s turnover dropped sharply from £42.5m to £28.5m over the same period because of a fall in broadcast revenues. bskyb bought its stake in sunderland in 1999 as part of a five year media partnership deal. the deal expired last month. | business | 0 |
mcdonald s to sponsor mtv show mcdonald s the world s largest restaurant chain is to sponsor a programme on music channel mtv as part of its latest youth market promotion. the show advance warning highlights new talent and mtv reckons it will give mcdonald s access to nearly 400 million homes in 162 countries. mcdonald s golden arches name and i m loving it catchphrase will be used throughout the half-hour programme. the move comes amid growing concerns about obesity in europe and the us. the european union has called on the food industry to reduce the number of adverts aimed at young children warning that legislation would be introduced. unless voluntary steps were taken. in the us food group kraft is among firms that already have cut back on promoting sugar and fattening products to the young. mcdonalds has also been taking steps to improve its junk food reputation revamping its menu and providing clients with health-related products such as pedometers. as well as burgers like the big mac and quarter pounder with cheese the company now sells healthier options such as salads and fresh fruit. chief executive jim skinner attributed an 8.3% increase in january worldwide sales to the vitality of our menu among other things. hooking up with mtv is expected to add extra momentum to mcdonald s recent revival. mtv which played a key role in the emergence of the music video is to show advance warning on all 25 of its channels across the world. the programme can at present only been seen in the us where it has featured artists like british stars joss stone and franz ferdinand. mcdonald s has targeted the youth market in the past with its advertisements signing up stars like jelly-legged dancer justin timberlake and all-woman singing group destiny s child. | business | 0 |
hewitt falls to dent lleyton hewitt suffered a shock defeat to taylor dent in the quarter-finals of the australian hardcourt championships in adelaide on friday. the top seed was a strong favourite for the title but went down 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to the american. dent will face juan ignacio chela next after the fourth seed was too strong for jurgen melzer. olivier rochus beat third seed nicolas kiefer 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 and will take on second seed joachim johansson. the swede reached the last four by beating compatriot thomas enqvist 6-3 4-6 6-1. i felt like i was striking the ball much better said johansson. i felt like i had a lot of break chances i didn t take care of them all but i broke him four times and he only broke me once. i felt that was the key to get up in the set early. | politics | 2 |
iaaf launches fight against drugs the iaaf - athletics world governing body - has met anti-doping officials coaches and athletes to co-ordinate the fight against drugs in sport. two task forces have been set up to examine doping and nutrition issues. it was also agreed that a programme to de-mystify the issue to athletes the public and the media was a priority. nothing was decided to change things - it was more to have a forum of the stakeholders allowing them to express themselves said an iaaf spokesman. getting everyone together gave us a lot of food for thought. about 60 people attended sunday s meeting in monaco including iaaf chief lamine diack and namibian athlete frankie fredericks now a member of the athletes commission. i am very happy to see you all members of the athletics family respond positively to the iaaf call to sit together and discuss what more we can do in the fight against doping said diack. we are the leading federation in this field and it is our duty to keep our sport clean. the two task forces will report back to the iaaf council at its april meeting in qatar. | sports | 0 |
ferdinand casts doubt over glazer rio ferdinand has said he is unsure of malcolm glazer s motives after the american billionaire launched a new offer to buy manchester united. the club have confirmed that the glazer family partnership have submitted proposals of a third bid. a lot of people want the club s interest to be with people who have grown up with the club and have got its interests at heart said ferdinand. no one knows what this guy will be bringing to the table. the central defender added on bbc radio five live: we will have to wait and see what glazer comes with. i would like to see the situation resolved either way. i think people are getting bored with him coming in and out of the news with new proposals. the other stuff off the pitch takes the shine off what is going on the pitch. glazer currently owns a 28.1% stake in the club and united s statement to the stock exchange said: the board has noted the recent press speculation on this subject. the board can confirm that it has now received a detailed proposal subject to various pre-conditions which may form the basis of an offer for manchester united from glazer. a further announcement will be made in due course. glazer s previous bids for the club which united supporters opposed were rejected by the board because of the high level of debt they would incur. but it is believed that glazer has substantially reduced the borrowing required for his latest move. he will still need the approval of major shareholders john magnier and jp mcmanus who own 28.9% of the club to succeed. but the irish duo have cut off talks with glazer over the proposed sale of their stake while fans remain opposed to his involvement. | world | 2 |
clarke faces id cards rebellion charles clarke faces his first real test as home secretary on monday with a possible backbench rebellion over the controversial id cards bill. up to 30 labour mps could oppose the scheme during a commons debate. mr clarke who took on the post on thursday after david blunkett quit has rejected calls to pause on the bill. tory leader michael howard also faces a possible rebellion after deciding to back identity cards. the liberal democrats oppose the plans. mr clarke writing in the times accused some critics of liberal woolly thinking and spreading false fears by claiming id cards would erode civil liberties. he writes that it is actually a profoundly civil libertarian measure because it promotes the most fundamental civil liberty in our society - which is the right to live free from fear crime and fear . mr clarke is expected to try and win over opponents to the scheme by saying officials who secretly accessed information they were not allowed to see would face up to two years in jail. he is also expected to cut the £85 cost of the card and passport for the elderly and those on lower incomes. mr howard last week said his front bench team had reached a collective view to back id cards after holding a good discussion but admitted it was not an easy issue . he had decided to support the plans as the police said they would help fight terror crime and illegal immigration. but former shadow attorney general bill cash said there was still very deep disquiet about the plan among senior tories. he told bbc radio 4 s today the government was intensely authoritarian and was creating increasingly a big brother society . critics argue that introducing the cards would be a costly scheme with no specific aim. ministers say it would help the fight against terrorism illegal immigration and organised crime. but opponents say that similar schemes in other countries have not prevented attacks like the madrid rail bombing. on sunday lib dem leader charles kennedy repeated his call for a pause in considering the legislation. he told bbc s breakfast with frost programme that mr clarke had a real opportunity on monday following the departure of mr blunkett. if you were running a family or a business would you have the second reading of the identity cards bill tomorrow or would you pause to reflect and see what you might do about it in the new year that is the sensible way to go about it but i think this government has got itself so much into tram lines now that it is not behaving sensibly at all. the first cards would be issued in 2008 and when he was introducing the bill mr blunkett suggested parliament could decide in 2011 or 2012 whether to make it compulsory for everybody to own the cards although not to carry them. the new bill would also create new criminal offences on the possession of false identity documents. | politics | 0 |
parmalat boasts doubled profits parmalat the italian food group at the centre of one of europe s most painful corporate scandals has reported a doubling in profit. its pre-tax earnings in the fourth quarter were 77m euros (£53m; $100m) up from 38m in the same period of 2003. less welcome was the news that the firm had been fined 11m euros for having violated takeover rules five years ago. the firm sought bankruptcy protection in december 2003 after disclosing a 4bn-euro hole in its accounts. overall the company s debt is close to 12bn euros and is falling only slowly. its brands well-known in italy and overseas have continued to perform strongly however and have barely lost revenue since the scandal broke. but a crucial factor for the company s future is the legal unwinding of its intensely complex financial position. on tuesday the company s administrator turnaround expert enrico bondi sued morgan stanley its former banker to return 136m euros relating to a 2003 bond deal. that brought to 49 the number of banks that mr bondi has sued a mass of legal action that could bring in as much as 3bn euros. the company has also sued former auditors and financial advisors for damages. and criminal cases against the company s former management are proceeding separately. | science and tech | 2 |
fear will help france - laporte france coach bernard laporte believes his team will be scared going into their game with england on sunday but claims it will work in their favour. the french turned in a stuttering performance as they limped to a 16-9 win against scotland in the opening match of the six nations on saturday. we will go to twickenham with a little fear and it ll give us a boost said the french coach. he added: we are never good enough when we are favourites. meanwhile perpignan centre jean-philippe granclaude is delighted to have received his first call-up to the france squad. it s incredible the youngster said. i was not expecting it at all. playing with the france team has always been a dream and now it has come true and i am about to face england at twickenham in the six nations. laporte will announce his starting line-up on wednesday at the french team s training centre in marcoussis near paris. | sports | 0 |
ebbers denies worldcom fraud former worldcom chief bernie ebbers has denied claims that he knew accountants were doctoring the books at the firm. speaking in court mr ebbers rejected allegations he pressured ex-chief financial officer scott sullivan to falsify company financial statements. mr sullivan made accounting decisions he told the federal court saying his finance chief had a keen command of the numbers . mr ebbers has denied charges of fraud and conspiracy. during his second day of questioning in the new york trial mr ebbers played down his working relationship with mr sullivan and denied he frequently met him to discuss company business when questioned by the prosecution. in a lot of weeks we would speak ... three or four times mr ebbers said adding that conversations about finances were rarely one-on-one and were usually discussed by a group of people instead. mr ebbers relationship to mr sullivan is key to the case surrounding financial corruption that led to the collapse of the firm in 2002 following the discovery of an $11bn accounting fraud. the prosecution s star witness is mr sullivan one of six worldcom executives indicted in the case he has pleaded guilty to fraud and appeared as a prosecution witness as part of an agreement with prosecutors. during his time on the witness stand mr sullivan repeatedly told jurors he met frequently with mr ebbers told him about changes made to worldcom s accounts to hide costs and had warned him such practises were improper. however during the case on tuesday mr ebbers denied the allegations. i wasn t advised by scott sullivan of anything ever being wrong he told the court. he s never told me he made an entry that wasn t right. if he had we wouldn t be here today. mr ebbers could face a jail sentence of up to 85 years if convicted of all the charges he is facing. shareholders lost about $180bn in worldcom s collapse 20 000 workers lost their jobs and the company went bankrupt. the company emerged from bankruptcy last year and is now known as mci. | business | 0 |
technology gets the creative bug the hi-tech and the arts worlds have for some time danced around each other and offered creative and technical help when required. often this help has come in the form of corporate art sponsorship or infrastructure provision. but that dance is growing more intimate as hi-tech firms look to the creative industries for inspiration. and vice versa. uk telco bt is serious about the idea and has launched its connected world initiative. the idea says bt is to shape a 21st century model which will help cement the art technology and business worlds together. we are hoping to understand the creative industry that has a natural thirst for broadband technology said frank stone head of the bt s business sector programmes. he looks after several centres of excellence which the telco has set up with other institutions and organisations one of which is focused on creative industries. to mark the initiative s launch a major international art installation is to open on 15 april in brussels with a further exhibit in madrid later in the summer. they have both been created using the telco s technology that it has been incubating at its research and development arm including a sophisticated graphics rendering program. using a 3d graphics engine the type commonly used in gaming bafta-winning artists langlands & bell have created a virtual story-based 3d model of brussels coudenberg cellars. they have recently been excavated and are thought to be the remnants of coudenberg palace an historical seat of european power. the 3d world can be navigated using a joystick and offers an immersive experience of a landscape that historically had a river running through it until it was bricked up in the 19th century. the river was integral to the city s survival for hundreds of years and it was equally essential to the city that it disappeared said the artists. we hope that by uncovering the river we can greater understand the connections between the past and the present and appreciate the flow of modernity once concealing but now revealing the river senne. in their previous works they used the quake game graphics engine. the game engine is the core component of a video game because it handles graphics rendering game ai and how objects behave and relate to each other in a game. they are so time-consuming and expensive to create the engines can be licensed out to handle other graphics-intensive games. bt s own engine tara (total abstract rendering architecture) has been in development since 2001 and has been used to recreate virtual interactive models of buildings for planners. it was also used in 2003 in encounter an urban-based pervasive game that combined both virtual play in conjunction with physical on-the-street action. because the artists wanted video and interactive elements in their worlds new features were added to tara in order to handle the complex data sets. but collaboration between art and digital technology is by no means new and many keen coders designers games makers and animators argue that what they create is art itself. as more tools for self-expression are given to the person on the street enabling people to take photos with a phone and upload them to the web for instance creativity will become an integral part of technology. the orange expressionist exhibition last year for example displayed thousands of picture messages from people all over the uk to create an interactive installation. technology as a way of unleashing creativity has massive potential not least because it gives people something to do with their technology. big businesses know it is good for them to get in on the creative vein too. the art world is fantastically rich said mr stone with creative people and ideas which means traditional companies like bt want to get in with them. between 1997 and 2002 the creative industry brought £21 billion to london alone. it is an industry that is growing by 6% a year too. the partnership between artists and technologists is part of trying to understand the creative potential of technologies like broadband net according to mr stone. this is not just about putting art galleries and museums online he said. it is about how can everyone have the best seat in house and asking if technology has a role in solving that problem. with broadband penetration reaching 100% in the uk businesses with a stake in the technology want to give people reasons to want and use it. the creative drive is not purely altruistic obviously. it is about both industries borrowing strategies and creative ideas together which can result in better business practices for creative industries or more patent ideas for tech companies. what we are trying to do is have outside-in thinking. we are creating a future cultural drive for the economy said mr stone. | science and tech | 0 |
elvis fans hold birthday bash elvis fans around the world have been marking the legendary singer s 70th birthday on saturday. a three-day elvis convention took place in blackpool england over the weekend with the aim of finding the best european elvis impersonator. his graceland tennessee home was the focus for us celebrations with four days of events including a concert by the memphis symphony orchestra. elvis single jailhouse rock became the uk s number one on sunday. fans in france celebrated with a tribute concert by elvis cover bands and a special exhibition of memorabilia is on display in bonn germany. jailhouse rock is now the 999th number one single in uk pop history. record company sonybmg are releasing elvis 18 number one singles at the rate of one a week in britain complete with original artwork and a collector s box. hit single one night will follow next week - with the chance of becoming the 1 000th number one as interest surrounding elvis birthday grows. hmv spokesman gennaro castaldo said: it would be a fantastic and truly fitting way to celebrate elvis landmark birthday. | business | 2 |
blair looks to election campaign tony blair s big speech will be looked back on as the performance that kicked off the election campaign. that poll may still be about 16 weeks away but there can be little doubt left that the campaign is now in full swing. the prime minister used his speech to a selected audience in the south east to set out his broad brush election manifesto. there was a detailed account of the government s past record with a major emphasis on the economy and public services. there was an attempt to draw the line under the gossip surrounding his rift with chancellor gordon brown. and there was an insistence on the importance of the party continuing to operate as unremittingly new labour - although that may continue to irritate his chancellor. there was little in terms of concrete proposals or what might form manifesto pledges although the prime minister talked about a new labour manifesto that will be aimed at all sections of society . his was more a speech designed to remind people and some in his own party precisely what new labour stood for and to leave them in no doubt there would not be any shrinking away from that approach. and for some that means showing that new labour actually does stand for something - that it is as he said more than an electoral device . to that end he set out a broad programme aimed to appeal to both middle england voters who switched to the party in 1997 and stuck with it possibly through some gritted teeth in 2001 and to more traditional lower income old labour supporters. in a key section he declared: in our third term we can achieve an unprecedented widening of opportunity and prosperity. for the first time ever a whole generation growing up with unbroken economic stability. every family - not just the fortunate few - knowing their children will have an inheritance at adulthood. every pupil in every secondary school guaranteed a place in university or a quality apprenticeship. every adult - including those who missed out at school - able to get the skills then need to advance. home ownership extended to its highest ever level and to families who have never before been able to afford it. the highest ever level of employment with everyone in work guaranteed a decent wage and decent conditions . under what is to be the general election slogan britain is working the prime minister time and again insisted the future direction would be unremittingly new labour. that might get under the skin of mr brown but he also heaped praise on him as the most successful post-war chancellor britain has had. probably the greatest ideological divide between the two men in so far as there is one is about the degree of private finance allowed into the public services. an unremittingly new labour manifesto as the prime minister is happy to make plain will stress the importance of that - the belief patients and parents for example want a choice of good services before they start worrying about who has provided them. the chancellor is said to be far more sceptical about private finance although there is no suggestion he opposes it in principle. with an election looming the next big speech from gordon brown will be closely examined for any signs of divisions and in particular the use of that little three letter word. but for now all eyes have been focused on the next general election. and for many in westminster mr blair s performance has only succeeded in hardening the belief that will be on 5 may. | politics | 0 |
vouchers to cut winter deaths pensioners are being promised energy savings by the liberal democrats as snow and cold temperatures continue. the party says the plans could save the average pensioner £100 every year and cut winter deaths. the government gives £200 for winter fuel to households with people over 60 or £300 where people are over 80. the tories promise to keep the payments. the lib dems would allow people to swap these winter fuel payments for discounts on home insulation. shadow local government secretary ed davey said: the current scheme has helped some older people but this new liberal democrat approach will go much further to end the scandal of tens of thousands of old people dying from the winter cold every year. the vouchers are designed to let pensioners choose from a list of approved energy supplies who would compete for business by offering discounts on home insulation schemes. the plan would boost energy conservation says the party - and insulation could save £100 every year for pensioner households so using the money more intelligently than at present. | politics | 0 |
almagro continues spanish surge unseeded nicolas almagro became the fifth spaniard to reach the last eight at the buenos aires open ousting eighth seed mariano zabaleta. he showed admirable resolve to win a rain-affected match 6-7 6-4 6-4. compatriot and seventh seed rafael nadal also reached the last eight beating italian potito starace 6-1 6-3. nadal playing in the outdoor clay event for the first time hit some powerful forehands to oust starace in a match delayed over an hour by rain. it s always a problem to have to stop for rain but one gets used to it said spanish teenager nadal. luckily i was able to keep my pace going throughout the match. he will now play gaston gaudio who beat unseeded brazilian flavio saretta 6-3 6-2 in the day s late match. | sports | 0 |
lee to create new film superhero comic book veteran stan lee is to team up with producer robert evans to create a movie featuring a new superhero. foreverman will focus on a character who has to face problems in everyday life as well as using his special powers to save the world. paramount pictures the studio behind the film have revealed few details about the project but say it has the potential to spawn a series of films. lee is best known for his work on spider-man and the incredible hulk. he is collaborating on the script with screenwriter peter briggs who penned the recent comic book adaptation hellboy. we believe it to be truly a whole new franchise said gill champion president and chief executive of lee s pow! entertainment. in this world where people are looking for something different stan s idea was to create a concept not seen before to become an evergreen franchise for paramount. many of lee s other creations including x-men and daredevil have been turned into films in the past five years. however the spider-man series has been the biggest box office hit with the 2002 original and its 2004 sequel taking almost $1.6bn (£857m) worldwide. a third spider-man film is scheduled for release in 2007. another marvel comics adaptation the fantastic four will be released in cinemas this summer. | politics | 2 |
wales coach elated with win mike ruddock paid tribute to his wales side after they came from 15-6 down to beat france 24-18 in the six nations. after going two tries down in 12 minutes we had to show character said the national team coach. i didn t have to tell them anything at half-time because those players have stared down the barrel of a gun before. they decided they didn t want to do that again and came out fighting. it was a great team effort and we showed great character to come back. man-of-the-match stephen jones who kicked three penalties a drop goal and conversion was ecstatic following after the win at stade de france. it s just a special moment. two years ago we didn t win a single game in the six nations. but we re a very happy camp now he said. we worked hard as a squad and i m a proud welshman. we ve got hard matches to come so we re just happy with the start. double try scorer martyn williams was keen not to talk about a possible grand slam for wales. we ve got more self-belief these days. two or three years ago we might have collapsed after going behind so early. there s no mention of a grand slam among the players. we ve got a tough game against scotland at murrayfield. they could bring us crashing down to earth. | business | 2 |
fry set for role in hitchhiker s actor stephen fry is joining the cast of the forthcoming film adaptation of the hitchhiker s guide to the galaxy. fry will provide the voice of the guide an electronic book which accompanies the story s hero arthur dent on his travels around the galaxy. martin freeman john malkovich bill nighy and alan rickman are co-starring in the film due for release in may. the late douglas adams original 1977 scripts have also been turned into a series of successful books. being asked to do the voice of the guide is like having your birthday on christmas day discovering a winning lottery ticket in your stocking and having chocolate poured all over you said fry a self-confessed fan of the book. the film s executive producer robbie stamp said that adams who died in 2001 would have been delighted with the choice of fry for the role. his humour and intelligence are perfect for the voice of the guide added mr stamp. adams wrote the screenplay based on his book before his premature death while a new radio series was aired 26 years after the first broadcast and included many of the original cast members. hollywood star malkovich will play religious cult leader humma kavula which was especially created by adams for the new film. freeman who starred in hit bbc comedy the office will play the role of arthur dent who begins his intergalactic voyage following the destruction of the earth. | science and tech | 2 |
japan bank shares up on link talk shares of sumitomo mitsui financial (smfg) and daiwa securities jumped amid speculation that two of japan s biggest financial companies will merge. financial newspaper nihon keizai shimbun claimed that the firms will join up next year and already have held discussions with japanese regulators. the firms denied that they are about to link up but said they are examining ways of working more closely together. smfg shares climbed by 2.7% to 717 000 and daiwa added 5.3% to 740 yen. combining smfg japan s third-biggest lender and daiwa the country s second-largest brokerage firm would create a company with assets of more than $1 000bn (£537bn). smfg president yoshifumi nishikawa said that the companies needed to bolster their businesses. both companies need to strengthen retail and other operations he said adding that it s an issue we have in common . daiwa said that although it is true that the two groups have been engaging in various discussions to enhance cooperation there are no plans to enter into negotiations to consolidate the two businesses . analysts said that consolidation in japan s financial sector was likely to continue and that it was likely to have a positive impact on earnings. cross-selling opportunities between banks and brokers are increasing thanks to deregulation so we can expect the relationship to get even stronger said heronry nozaki an analyst at nikkocitigroup. the merger would be a good move he added. | world | 2 |
gsk aims to stop aids profiteers one of the world s largest manufacturers of hiv/aids drugs has launched an initiative to combat the smuggling of cheaper pills - supplied to poorer african countries - back into europe for resale at far higher price. the company glaxosmithkline is to alter the packaging and change the colour of the pills currently provided to developing nations under a humanitarian agreement. it is estimated that drugs companies are losing hundreds of millions of dollars each year as a result of the diversion of their products in this way. this is a very sensitive area for the big drugs companies. they want to maintain their profits but have been put under tremendous pressure to provide cheap anti-aids drugs to the world s poorest nations. the result is that drugs supplied to africa are now more than thirty times cheaper than those sold in europe; bringing these medicines within the reach of millions of hiv-positive africans through their government s health care systems. but the wide difference in price also means that there are big gains to be made from illegally diverting these cheaper drugs back into wealthier countries and re-selling them at a higher price. glaxosmithkline believes that by coating the pills destined for africa in a red dye and adding new identification codes both onto the pills and on the packaging then this trade can be substantially reduced. the company says that it will then be possible to identify specific distributors in africa who have re-sold humanitarian drugs for profit as well as those suppliers in europe that have also been involved in the trade. glaxo says distribution of the new-look drugs has already begun and that their chemical content is identical to those currently being sold in europe. | business | 0 |
crude oil prices back above $50 cold weather across parts of the united states and much of europe has pushed us crude oil prices above $50 a barrel for the first time in almost three months. freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall have increased demand for heating fuel in the us where stocks are low. fresh falls in the value of the dollar helped carry prices above the $50 mark for the first time since november. a barrel of us crude oil closed up $2.80 to $51.15 in new york on tuesday. opec members said on tuesday that it saw no reason to cut its output. although below last year s peak of $55.67 a barrel which was reached in october prices are now well above 2004 s average of $41.48. brent crude also rose in london trading adding $1.89 to $48.62 at the close. much of western europe and the north east of america has been shivering under unseasonably low temperatures in recent days. the decline in the us dollar to a five-week low against the euro has also served to inflate prices. the dollar moved sharply overnight and oil is following it said chris furness senior market strategist at 4cast. if the dollar continues to weaken oil will be obviously higher. several opec members said a cut in production was unlikely citing rising prices and strong demand for oil from asia. i agree that we do not need to cut supply if the prices are as much as this fathi bin shatwan libya s oil minister told reuters. i do not think we need to cut unless the prices are falling below $35 a barrel he added. opec closely watches global stocks to ensure that there is not an excessive supply in the market. the arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere will focus attention on stockpiles of us crude and gasoline which are up to 9% higher than at this time last year. heavy stockpiles could help force prices lower when demand eases. | business | 0 |
films on war triumph at sundance a study of the united states at war in the past 50 years has picked up one of the main awards at the 2005 sundance film festival in utah in the us. why we fight scooped the grand jury prize for documentaries at the world s leading independent film festival. british director sean mcallister s the liberace of baghdad - about a pianist in war-torn iraq - won a special prize in the world documentary category. both why we fight and the liberace of baghdad were made for the bbc. why we fight is due to be screened on bbc four in march. the sundance festival was founded by actor robert redford in 1981. this year s festival - which ended on sunday after a 11-day run - has been dominated by the themes of war and politics. in the new world cinema drama category the angolan film the hero triumphed to win the grand jury prize. the film - an angolan/french/portuguese production - tells the story of a veteran of the country s civil war who returns home to face a new battle of survival. twelve films competing in the new world cinema documentary category focused on countries and people under siege. finnish film the three rooms of melancholia looks at the war in chechnya and shake hands with the devil: the journey of romeo dallaire tells the story of a un mission to rwanda during the 1994 genocide. but it was dutch documentary shape of the moon - a study of an extended family in indonesia - which took the top prize. meanwhile french-israeli production wall which looks at israel s controversial security wall separating it from the palestinian territories picked up a world cinema special jury prize for documentaries. in the main drama category forty shades of blue was named winner of the grand jury prize. the film tells the tale of a forbidden tug-of-love between a father his russian immigrant girlfriend and his son. during its 24-year history the sundance film festival has showcased successes such as reservoir dogs the blair witch project and the full monty. last year s festival provided a platform for hits such as open water napoleon dynamite garden state and super-size me. the festival is held in the mountain resort of park city east of salt lake city which sees its population rise from 7 500 to 45 000 during the festival. | business | 2 |
india s deccan gets more planes air deccan has signed a deal to acquire 36 planes from avions de transport regional (atr). the value of the deal has not been revealed because of a confidentiality clause in the agreement. but air deccan s managing director gorur gopinath has said the price agreed was less than the catalogue price of $17.6m (£9.49m) per plane. recently india s first low-cost airline ordered 30 airbus a320 planes for $1.8bn. under the agreement air deccan will buy 15 new atr 72-500 and lease another 15. atr will also provide six second hand airplanes. in a statement atr has said deliveries of the aircraft will begin in 2005 and will continue over a five-year period. mr gopinath said the planes will connect regional indian cities. after an evaluation of both atr and bombardier aircraft we have chosen the atr aircraft as we find it most suitable for our operations and for the indian market for short haul routes. filippo bagnato atr s chief executive has said that his firm will also work with air deccan to create a training centre in bangalore. the potential of the indian budget market has attracted attention from businesses at home and abroad. air deccan has said it will base its business model on european firms such as ireland s ryanair. beer magnate vijay mallya recently set up kingfisher airlines while uk entrepreneur richard branson has said he is keen to start a local operation. india s government has given its backing to cheaper and more accessible air travel. | business | 0 |
trial date is set for balco case a us judge has set a preliminary trial date for the balco steroid distribution case which has rocked athletics. us district court judge susan ilston rejected an attempt by the defence team to have the case dismissed at a pre-trial hearing in san francisco. and she set a march date for the case of the four men accused of distributing illegal performance-enhancing drugs to elite athletes to be heard. a firm decision on whether the trial takes place is expected in january. the judge said that she may conduct hearings in january into whether federal agents illegally searched the balco headquarters and wrongfully obtained statements from the company s founder victor conte and its vice-president james valente. the two men - along with personal trainer greg anderson and athletics coach remy korchemny - were all indicted earlier this year but have pleaded their innocence. the outcome of those hearings could result in some or all of the charges being dismissed. conte said that he would be telling his side of the story on an american tv show on friday. the world deserves to know the truth about performance-enhancing drugs he said. balco (the bay area laboratory cooperative) is the company at the centre of the scandal. the company has been accused by the united states anti-doping agency (usada) of being the source of the banned steroid thg and modafinil. the usada claims that 10 athletes have received sanctions for testing positive for 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. | science and tech | 2 |
thomas out of six nations wales captain gareth thomas has been ruled out of the rest of the six nations with a broken thumb. the full-back will have surgery on monday after fracturing his thumb in the 24-18 win over france on saturday. but welsh legend phil bennett insisted wales can cope without thomas as they chase a first grand slam in 27 years. bennett told bbc sport: such is the spirit in the camp they ll put kevin morgan at 15 rhys williams at wing and just carry on. thomas will miss the match against scotland on 13 march and what promises to be a huge encounter against the irish six days later. bennett added: it s a setback. he s a great captain he leads from the front and the boys love him. thomas was replaced at half-time by williams as his side turned around a 15-6 deficit in paris. with gareth missing i would think michael owen will be our captain said wales coach mike ruddock. he did a great job in the second half in france. he has been vice-captain all along throughout the championship. wales travel to edinburgh to take on scotland in a fortnight and then host ireland in cardiff in the final round of matches in what could be the grand slam and championship decider. bennett an inspirational fly-half for llanelli and wales in the 1970s insisted the national team were entering a new golden period. it was a great game and a magnificent result for wales bennett told bbc radio five live s sportsweek programme. the way this young team are blending the glory days are on their way back. we couldn t get possession early on and france dominated and scored two tries. had they been ruthless wales could have gone into the interval 30 points down. but they didn t take their chances. wales defended fairly well but you cannot give that sort of quality ball to good sides. the all blacks would have been ruthless and buried us in the first half. but the character we showed in the second half was quite outstanding. | sports | 0 |
hobbit picture four years away lord of the rings director peter jackson has said that it will be up to four years before he starts work on a film version of the hobbit. the oscar winner said on a visit to sydney there was a desire to make it but not before lengthy negotiations. i think it s gonna be a lot of lawyers sitting in a room trying to thrash out a deal before it will ever happen said the new zealander. the rights to jrr tolkien s book are split between two major film studios. jackson who is currently filming a remake of hollywood classic king kong said he thought that the sale of mgm studios to the sony corporation would cast further uncertainty on the project. the 43-year-old was in the australian city to visit a lord of the rings exhibition which has attracted 140 000 visitors since it opened in december. the film-maker recently sued film company new line cinema for undisclosed damages over alleged withheld profits and lost revenue from the first part of the middle earth trilogy. the fellowship of the ring from 2001 went on to make worldwide profits of $291 million (£152 million). jackson is thought to have secured the most lucrative film directing deal in history to remake king kong which is currently in production in wellington. the picture which stars naomi watts and oscar winner adrien brody is due to be released in december. jackson has also committed to making a film version of lovely bones based on the best-selling book by alice sebold. | entertainment | 0 |
santini resigns as spurs manager tottenham manager jacques santini has resigned for personal reasons . the former france manager moved to white hart lane this summer but now wants to return to france. santini said: my time at tottenham has been memorable and it is with deep regret that i take my leave. i wish the club and the supporters all the best. private issues in my personal life have arisen which caused my decision. i very much hope that the wonderful fans will respect my decision. he added: i should like to thank (sporting director) frank arnesen and (chairman) daniel levy for their understanding. assistant coach martin jol has been put in temporary charge and will take care of team affairs for saturday s premiership match against charlton. arnesen said the club were sad to see santini go: we are obviously disappointed that jacques is leaving us. we fully respect his decision. i can assure you that the club will act swiftly to minimise the impact of jacques departure. our priority is to ensure that this season s performance remains unaffected by this move. i shall make a further statement on monday clarifying our position. we wish jacques well. | entertainment | 2 |
novartis hits acquisition trail swiss drugmaker novartis has announced 5.65bn euros ($7.4bn; £3.9bn) of purchases to make its sandoz unit the world s biggest generic drug producer. novartis which last month forecast record sales for 2005 said it had bought all of germany s hexal. it also acquired 67.7% of hexal s us affiliate eon labs and offered to buy the remaining shares for $31 each. novartis said that it would be able to make cost savings of about $200m a year following the acquisitions. novartis shares rose 1% to 57.85 swiss francs in early trading. the deal will see novartis sandoz business overtake israel s teva pharmaceuticals as the world s biggest maker of generics. based on 2004 figures the newly merged producer would have sales of more than $5bn the company estimated. novartis said that it would merge a number of departments adding that there may be job cuts. the strong growth outlook for sandoz which will create jobs is expected to partially compensate for necessary reductions in the work force the firm said in a statement. generic drugs are chemically identical to their more expensive branded rivals. producers such as sandoz can copy the branded products usually after their patent protection expires and can sell them more cheaply as they do not have to pay research and development cost. there are more than 150 generic drugmakers worldwide and analysts have predicted consolidation in a market that they call fragmented. however not all analysts were initially convinced about the deal. this is a very expensive acquisition birgit kuhlhoff from sal oppenheim investment bank told reuters. i find it strange that they are making acquisitions in exactly those markets where they suffered price pressure. | science and tech | 2 |
hearts 2-1 livingston hearts wrapped up their scottish cup quarter-final tie against livingston with two goals in the first 10 minutes. lee miller scored inside the opening 60 seconds heading over colin meldrum and into the net from a jamie mcallister free kick. mcallister himself scored the second when he met saul mikoliunas cross at the back post to put the game beyond the visitors. craig easton headed in a controversial goal after an hour but hearts held on. the opening goal came after gus bahoken had clumsily fouled miller 35 yards from goal. mcallister floated the free kick into the livi box and miller outjumped the static visiting defence to loop his header from 10 yards over meldrum. with just 10 minutes on the clock the home side doubled their lead. mikoliunas sprinted down the right crossed to the back post where mcallister raced in to head past meldrum. moments later miller came close to grabbing his second with a first-time drive from 16 yards which skimmed the bar. then mcallister picked up a pass from stephen simmons and drove an angled shot from 20 yards narrowly past meldrum s far post. the impressive mikoliunas twice went close before half time - a low drive was comfortably gathered by meldrum and then he curled a left-footed shot past the keeper s right-hand post. livi manager richard gough made three changes at the interval bringing on defender goran stanic midfielder gabor vincze and striker ferenc horvath for bahoken derek lilley and mark wilson. but in the opening stages of the second period little changed. however the west lothian side gave themselves a lifeline with a controversial goal. eric deloumeaux sent jason dair away on the right and he tried to give the ball to mcpake who looked to be in an offside position. the livi striker ignored the pass however and dair ran on to it and played easton in at the back post and he headed home from close range. the home side called for offside against mcpake but referee alan freeland ignored their claims and pointed to the centre-circle. livi went all out for the equaliser. in the 87th minute burton o brien was hauled back at the edge of the box by neil macfarlane but dair sent his shot just inches wide. gordon webster miller hartley neilson mcallister simmons (macfarlane 64) berra burchill (wyness 82) mikoliunas (cesnauskis 77) wallace. moilanen kizys. berra webster. miller 1 mcallister 10. meldrum mcnamee bahoken (stanic 45) deloumeaux strong dair easton mark wilson (vincze 45) lilley (horvath 45) o brien mcpake. mckenzie hand. : vincze horvath. easton 60. 9 796 a freeland | entertainment | 2 |
t-mobile bets on pocket office t-mobile has launched its latest pocket office third-generation (3g) device which also has built-in wi-fi - high-speed wireless net access. unlike other devices where the user has to check which high-speed network is available to transfer data the device selects the fastest one itself. the mda iv released in the summer is an upgrade to the company s existing smartphone the 2.5g/wi-fi mda iii. it reflects the push by mobile firms for devices that are like mini laptops. the device has a display that can be swivelled and angled so it can be used like a small computer or as a conventional clamshell phone. the microsoft mobile phone with two cameras and a qwerty keyboard reflects the design of similar all-in-one models released this year such as motorola s mpx. one in five european workers are already mobile - meaning they spend significant time travelling and out of the office rene obermann t-mobile s chief executive told a press conference at the 3gsm trade show in cannes. he added: what they need is their office when they are out of the office. t-mobile said it was seeing increasing take up for what it calls office in a pocket devices with 100 000 mdas sold in europe already. in response to demand t-mobile also said it would be adding the latest phone-shaped blackberry to its mobile range. reflecting the growing need to be connected outside the office it announced it would introduce a flat-fee £20 ($38) a month wi-fi tariff for people in the uk using its wi-fi hotspots. it said it would nearly double the number of its hotspots - places where wi-fi access is available - globally from 12 300 to 20 000. it also announced it was installing high-speed wi-fi on certain train services such as the uk s london to brighton service to provide commuters a fast net connection too. the service which has been developed with southern trains nomad digital (who provide the technology) begins with a free trial on 16 trains on the route from early march to the end of april. a full service is set to follow in the summer. wi-fi access points will be connected to a wimax wireless network - faster than wi-fi - running alongside the train tracks. brian mcbride managing director of t-mobile in the uk said: we see a growing trend for business users needing to access e-mail securely on the move. we are able to offer this by maintaining a constant data session for the entire journey. he said this was something other similar in-train wi-fi services such as that offered on gner trains did not offer yet. mr obermann added that the mobile industry in general was still growing with many more opportunities for more services which would bear fruit for mobile companies in future. thousands of mobile industry experts are gathered in cannes france for the 3gsm which runs from 14 to 17 february. | science and tech | 0 |
amnesty chief laments war failure the lack of public outrage about the war on terror is a powerful indictment of the failure of human rights groups amnesty international s chief has said. in a lecture at the london school of economics irene khan said human rights had been flouted in the name of security since 11 september 2001. she said the human rights movement had to use simpler language both to prevent scepticism and spread a moral message. and it had to fight poverty not just focus on political rights for elites. ms khan highlighted detentions without trial including those at the us camp at guantanamo bay in cuba and the abuse of prisoners as evidence of increasing human rights problems. what s a new challenge is the way in which this age-old debate on security and human rights has been translated into the language of war she said. by using the language of war human rights are being sidelined because we know human rights do not apply in times of war. ms khan said such breaches were infectious and were now seen in almost very major country in the world. the human rights movement faces a crisis of faith in the value of human rights she said. that was accompanied by a crisis of governance where the united nations system did not seem able to hold countries to account. the amnesty secretary-general said a growing gap between the perceived influence of human rights group and what they could actually achieve was fuelling scepticism. public passivity on the war against terror is the single most powerful indictment on the failures of human rights groups she said. ms khan said the movement had failed to mobilise public outrage about what was happening to the human rights system. there needed to be a drive to use simpler language talking about the basic morality of the issues rather than the complexity of legal processes. such efforts could make the issues more relevant to people across the world she said. the human rights groups also had to recognise there were new groups which had to be tackled in new ways as power dripped away from state governments. al-qaeda for example was not going to be impressed by a traditional amnesty letter writing campaign. more also needed to be done to develop a human rights framework for international business corporations. amnesty international members voted in 2001 to extend the organisation s work from political and civil rights to cover social and economic rights too. ms khan said the human rights movement would make itself irrelevant if it turned away from the suffering caused by economic strife. we would be an elitist bunch working for the elites for those who cannot read the newspaper of their choice rather than those who cannot read she said. despite her concerns ms khan dubbed herself a hope-monger saying she was confident the passions of the human rights movement could overcome the new challenges. | sports | 2 |
palestinian economy in decline despite a short-lived increase in palestinian jobs in 2003 the economy is performing well below its potential said a world bank report. unemployment stood at 25% compared with 10% before the uprising against israeli occupation four years ago. young people are particularly hard hit with 37% out of work compared with 14% four years ago. but 104 000 new jobs were created last year during a brief easing of violence and closures. however during the first half of this year the palestinian economy lost more than 22 000 jobs. last year s growth rate of 6% can also be attributed to this temporary gap in violence the report said. according to the report intifada closures and palestinian economic crisis: an assessment there is a close link between the number of closures - both border closures and internal closures between cities - and palestinian economic problems. the closures arranged by israel restrict the movement of palestinian people and goods slowing down trade. closures are a key factor behind today s economic crisis in the west bank said nigel roberts world bank country director for the west bank and gaza. nearly half of all palestinians - some 47% - live below the poverty line and are particularly vulnerable to economic shocks. the report said even more would be on the poverty line without an average of $950m a year from international donors some of which goes towards job creation. it also called on the palestinian authority to revive its reform programme and maintain financial discipline to create an investment-friendly climate. this week colin powell us secretary of state was visiting the west bank to stress us support for a smooth palestinian election in january. | entertainment | 2 |
brits return keane to number one brits success has helped return keane s award-winning album hopes and fears back to the top of the uk album chart. the debut album which took the best british album title at the brits on tuesday moved up seven places from number eight to number one. also capitalising on brits success were the scissor sisters whose eponymous album moved three places to number two. u2 s latest single sometimes you can t make it on your own took the top spot in the singles chart ahead of elvis. the track from their current album how to dismantle an atomic bomb pushed eminem s like toy soldiers from number one to number three. elvis wooden heart which entered the chart at number two is the sixth in a series of 18 reissues to mark the 70th anniversary of presley s birth. there are currently six re-released elvis tracks occupying spots in the top 40 singles chart including are you lonesome tonight at number 20 it s now or never at number 27 and jailhouse rock at number 37. soldier by destiny s child ti and lil wayne debuted at number four while almost here the duet from former westlife star brian mcfadden and delta goodrem fell from number three to number five. there was more follow up to brits success for franz ferdinand won best rock act and best british group last week. their self-titled album moved from 13 to number four. last week s number one album tourist by athlete fell to number three. | sports | 2 |
intel unveils laser breakthrough intel has said it has found a way to put a silicon-based laser on a chip raising hopes of much faster networks. scientists at intel have overcome a fundamental problem that before now has prevented silicon being used to generate and amplify laser light. the breakthrough should make it easier to interconnect data networks with the chips that process the information. the intel researchers said products exploiting the breakthrough should appear by the end of the decade. we ve overcome a fundamental limit said dr mario paniccia director of intel s photonics technology lab. writing in the journal nature dr paniccia - and colleagues haisheng rong richard jones ansheng liu oded cohen dani hak and alexander fang - show how they have made a continuous laser from the same material used to make computer processors. currently says dr paniccia telecommunications equipment that amplifies the laser light that travels down fibre optic cables is very expensive because of the exotic materials such as gallium arsenide used to make it. telecommunications firms and chip makers would prefer to use silicon for these light-moving elements because it is cheap and many of the problems of using it in high-volume manufacturing have been solved. we re trying to take our silicon competency in manufacturing and apply it to new areas said dr paniccia. while work has been done to make some of the components that can move light around before now silicon has not successfully been used to generate or amplify the laser light pulses used to send data over long distances. this is despite the fact that silicon is a much better amplifier of light pulses than the form of the material used in fibre optic cables. this improved amplification is due to the crystalline structure of the silicon used to make computer chips. dr paniccia said that the structure of silicon meant that when laser light passed through it some colliding photons rip electrons off the atoms within the material. it creates a cloud of electrons sitting in the silicon and that absorbs all the light he said. but the intel researchers have found a way to suck away these errant electrons and turn silicon into a material that can both generate and amplify laser light. even better the laser light produced in this way can with the help of easy-to-make filters be tuned across a very wide range of frequencies. semi-conductor lasers made before now have only produced light in a narrow frequency ranges. the result could be the close integration of the fibre optic cables that carry data as light with the computer chips that process it. dr paniccia said the work was the one of several steps needed if silicon was to be used to make components that could carry and process light in the form of data pulses. it s a technical validation that it can work he said. | entertainment | 2 |
euro firms miss out on optimism more than 90% of large companies around the world are highly optimistic about their economic prospects a survey of 1 300 bosses suggests. their biggest worries are not terror threats but over-regulation low-cost competition and the wild ups and downs of oil prices. there is one exception: firms in western europe - but not the uk - are lacking confidence after years of slow growth. when business advisers pricewaterhousecoopers (pwc) conducted the same survey two years ago nearly 30% of bosses were gloomy about their prospects. global business leaders say that they are facing a two-pronged regulatory assault. after a string of corporate scandals in the united states - from enron to worldcom - the sarbanes-oxley act forces companies to be much more transparent but doing all the paperwork costs a lot of time and money. across europe meanwhile all stock exchange-listed companies are currently in the process of moving to new and complex accounting standards called ifrs. hacking through the red tape can hardly be avoided but many chief executives around the world appear to have decided on how to deal with low-cost competitors. already about 28% of the bosses polled for the survey say that they have moved parts of their business into low-wage countries and another 11% plan to do so in the future. possibly as a result the worry about low-cost competition has slightly fallen from last year with just 54% of companies calling it a significant threat or one of the biggest threats . but pwc s global chief executive samuel dipiazza said a growing number of companies were also concerned that moves to outsource work to cheaper countries could both hurt their reputation in their home markets and harm the quality of service they provide to their customers. according to frank brown global advisory leader at pwc the trend of large companies to have global operations has one clear upside: one risk in one region - for example the middle east - won t kill your business anymore. surprisingly the survey suggests that the rapid decline of the us dollar is not seen as a huge threat anymore unlike even a year ago when it was cited as the third-largest problem. mr dipiazza said the interviews with chief executives suggested that companies had adjusted to the new reality of a euro that buys $1.30 and more while others had successfully hedged their positions and locked in more favourable exchange rates. - for the survey pricewaterhousecoopers interviewed 1 324 chief executives throughout the world during the last three months of 2004. | business | 0 |
mcilroy wins 800m indoor title james mcilroy motored to the aaa s indoor 800m title in sheffied on sunday in a time of one minute 47.97 seconds. the larne athlete dominated the race from start to finish although he had to hold off a late challenge from welshman jimmy watkins in the final 100 metres. i had to go out and go through all the gears before the europeans and i won t run again until then said mcilroy. i though if i got lucky i d get close to the british record but i blew up in the end. mcilroy has been in superb form at the start of the season and will now start his build-up for the european indoors at madrid on 4-6 march. meanwhile paul brizzel and anna boyle reached the semi-finals of the 60m hurdles with boyle setting a season s best of 7.48. in the women s 60m final ailis mcsweeney broke michelle carroll s long-standing irish record by clocking 7.37 which left her in third place. david gillick showed that he is a genuine medal contender in the european indoor championships by claiming an impressive 400m victory. gillick was more than half-a-second clear when taking gold in 46.45 - .02 outside his personal best set in saturday s semi-finals. the irishman is now the fastest european this season. derval o rourke broke her own irish 60m hurdles record by clocking 8.06 which left her third behind new british record holder sarah claxton (7.96). james nolan (3:46.04) took second in the men s 1500m behind neil speaight (3:45.86) but the offaly man was outside the european indoor standard. colin costello was seventh in the 1500m final in 3:48.82). deirdre ryan was second in the women s high jump with a clearance of 1.87m while aoife byrne took silver in the 800m in a personal best of 2:06.73. lisburn s kelly mcneice reid (4:31.34) was seventh in the women s 1500m while gary murray (8:11.22) was 11th in the men s 3000m. meanwhile stephen cairns and jill shannon claimed the individual titles at saturday s northern ireland cross country championship in coleraine. cairns came in ahead of paul rowan and allan bogle in the men s race. willowfield claimed their first men s team title in 72 years while shannon helped lagan valley win the women s team honours. | sports | 0 |
campese berates whingeing england former australian wing david campese has told england to stop whingeing in the wake of their defeat to ireland. england coach andy robinson lambasted referee jonathan kaplan for costing them the game after disallowing tries from mark cueto and josh lewsey. but campese told bbc sport: robinson is living up to england s reputation as whingeing poms. stop going on about it as who really cares they re acting like they re the first team to be cheated of a win. england are contemplating a complaint to the international rugby board after potential tries by cueto in the first half and lewsey late on were ruled out without recourse to the video referee. but campese added: scotland could have beaten france in the same way but do you see them whingeing basically things didn t go england s way and in typical fashion they make more of it when they believe they ve lost unfairly. england are second bottom in the six nations table following defeats by wales france and ireland. but although campese admitted he was surprised about their current predicament he insisted england were no longer world class . england are beginning to realise that being world champions doesn t mean you deserve to win every game he said. they lost a few key players and suddenly everyone s realised the ones on the fringes were not all that good in the first place. added to that the senior players aren t standing up and they can t do anything when the pressure mounts. campese a veteran of 101 international caps said full-back jason robinson would now be the sole englishman in his world xv. robinson has been blamed for poor leadership in the tournament while his coach has been castigated for appointing a full-back captain. i agree that you can t captain from full-back said campese. you need someone in the thick of the action and it s very hard to give orders from all the way back there. some people are leaders and some aren t. he s not but there s no one who stands out in england s pack - no clear-cut leaders. campese though defended coach andy robinson who he believes was the only choice after sir clive woodward s resignation. but he blamed a lack of talent in the england camp for making the current coach look poor. england face a potential wooden spoon match against italy on 12 march. and the ex-wallaby added: if england lost that they d be in bloody turmoil. that said i don t think they will. campese has tipped wales to win both the six nations and grand slam come the end of the tournament. it s been a surprising tournament he said and maybe ireland have a little bit more talent overall. but playing at home is a major boost. and the possible grand slam decider at the millennium stadium will be just too much for the irish. | politics | 2 |
mps criticise child access system divorced parents seeking access to their children are often disadvantaged by the legal system mps have said. the constitutional affairs select committee said parents with custody could exploit delays in the system to stop former partners gaining access. courts should be used as a last resort but where they are their orders should be enforced more rigorously mps said. but they rejected the claim made by some campaign groups that there should be a legal presumption of equal access. currently the presumption is that the interests of the child are paramount. an arbitrary template imposed on all families whatever the needs of the child would relegate the welfare of individual children to a secondary position the mps said. they said the law should be changed to require family courts specifically to take account of the importance of sustaining the relationship between the child and the non-resident parent in contested cases. this would reassert the rights of non-resident parents to contact with their children as well as the rights of children to contact with both their parents while maintaining sufficient flexibility to cope with issues of safety they said. delays in court hearings and the inability to effectively enforce court orders allowed a new status quo arrangement for the children to become established by default they said. although the courts rigorously avoid conscious bias there are considerable grounds for accepting that non-resident parents are frequently disadvantaged by the system as it is administered at present. given the strong animosity between the parties which is common in contested family cases we find it hard to believe that tactical delay is not sometimes used to the advantage of resident parents. committee chairman alan beith said the five-month inquiry had been a complex and emotive one. at the moment far too many contact and residency cases are being dealt with by the courts when they could be better resolved through professional mediation and negotiation he said. this situation has to change. the court system should only be used as a last resort where mediation and negotiation have completely broken down or where issues of abuse or domestic violence need to be dealt with. this will help to reduce delays and improve the lives of many children across the country. | entertainment | 2 |
mcconnell in drunk remark row scotland s first minister has told a group of high school pupils that it is okay to get drunk once in a while . jack mcconnell was speaking to more than 100 secondary pupils from schools in the highlands about the problems of binge drinking and drink promotions. he has been criticised by the snp for encouraging young people to get drunk. but the scottish executive has insisted mr mcconnell was speaking about adults and his comments were a recognition that people will get drunk . the first minister s comments came in a question and answer session at glenurquhart high school in inverness attended by pupils from a number of secondary schools. a highland councillor who was at the event has also defended mr mcconnell. margaret davidson the independent member for the loch ness west said the first minister was speaking in a very general way and she was sure he was speaking about adults at the time. when one pupil asked mr mcconnell how the executive proposed to tackle under-age drinking began his response with the quip: i m sure there s no under-age drinking in the highlands. he went on to speak about the evils of binge drinking and railed against irresponsible drinks promotions. he said: i hope i m not going to be seen as preaching to anybody here but the really serious problem at the moment is binge drinking and the impact it has on people s health and their ability to control what s happening round about them. mr mcconnell said he regularly saw reports on the effects of binge drinking sprees which ended in assaults or even rapes and on the health consequences of binge drinking. the one thing we are going to do something really serious about is binge drinking and irresponsible drinks promotions that can help lead to that he said. far too many pub chains in particular are selling far too much booze far too cheaply and encouraging people to drink it far too quickly. we are go to clamp down on that and make those promotions illegal in the hope that people can enjoy a drink sensibly over the course of an evening. he added: by all means get drunk once in a while - but do not get into a situation where people are being encouraged to get completely incapable just to save some money and drink more quickly. snp holyrood leader nicola sturgeon said: this is an incredible gaffe by jack mcconnell. we all know that under-age drinking is an issue in scotland but it is quite staggering that any politician particularly the first minister should encourage young people to get drunk. the first minister should withdraw these remarks immediately. but an executive spokeswoman insisted mr mcconnell had made the remark with adults not youngsters in mind. he was talking in the context of adults binge drinking and irresponsible drinks promotions - which are for the over-18s she said. it was just a recognition that people will get drunk but that binge drinking and drinks promotions that encourage it are not acceptable. | politics | 0 |
queen recruit singer for new tour the remaining members of rock band queen are to go on tour next year with former free and bad company singer paul rodgers taking freddie mercury s place. guitarist brian may has said he expects to be on the road with rodgers and drummer roger taylor from april. may said: suddenly the queen phoenix is rising again from the ashes and will take precedence over... our lives. queen have played with many different singers since mercury s death in 1991 but have reportedly not toured. may performed with rodgers at a concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the fender stratocaster guitar in london in september. we were both so amazed at the chemistry that was going on in [free hit] all right now that suddenly it seems blindingly obvious that there was something happening here may wrote on his website. they teamed up again for a concert to mark their induction into the uk music hall of fame and were joined by taylor. the show went so incredibly well from our point of view and we got so many rave reactions from out there we decided almost then and there that we would look at a tour together may wrote. queen went to number one in 2000 with a version of we will rock you sung by boy band 5ive and they have also played with robbie williams will young and bob geldof. queen bassist john deacon has currently retired from the stage. rodgers was singer with early 1970s rockers free who had a global hit with all right now before forming bad company a successful supergroup with members of king crimson and mott the hoople. he has also been in the firm with led zeppelin s jimmy page and the law with the small faces and the who drummer kenny jones. | business | 2 |
george michael to perform for bbc george michael is to perform live at london s abbey road studios as part of a bbc radio 2 special next month. the session which will broadcast on 18 december will also see him talk about how his biggest hits came about. michael s appearance is part of the station s sold on song initiative which explores the art of songwriting. the station also confirmed that chris tarrant will be hosting a one-off new year s eve programme. he left london s capital fm this year after 17 years. the former breakfast show host - who attracted some of the highest ratings in britain despite only broadcasting to london - will offer his own individual take on the year in the two-hour show. this should be great fun tarrant said. i ve had a fantastic year and i know that lots of other people have as well. i m definitely looking forward to being on radio 2. other christmas specials from radio 2 include singer jamelia hosting a christmas day concert from the london community gospel choir while actor christopher lee will read fireside tales from the likes of edgar allan poe e nesbit and ambrose bierce. comedian harry hill will host a spoof nostalgia show on christmas day while singer jamie cullum will perform a live concert for the station. | politics | 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. | politics | 0 |
republic to face china and italy the republic of ireland have arranged friendlies against china and italy which will take place at lansdowne road in march and august. brian kerr s side will face the 54th ranked chinese on 29 march - just three days after the world cup qualifier against israel in tel aviv. italy will visit on 17 august in what will be a warm-up game ahead of the autumn world cup qualifiers. in their last meeting the irish beat italy in the 1994 world cup finals. however that is the republic s only victory in eight attempts against the italians who have won all the other seven games. the 29 march game will be the second time the republic have played china - the previous encounter back in june 1984 with the irish winning 1-0 in sapporo japan. brian kerr said: china have made great progress over the last few years and will provide difficult opposition. we all witnessed the performances of the asian teams in the last world cup and china play a similar type of football. as for italy they make a welcome return to dublin and will be a massive attraction because they are one of the great traditional powers in the world. the game will be ideal preparation for the three important world cup qualifiers in the autumn. ireland round off their world cup campaign with games against france on 7 september cyprus on 8 october and switzerland on 12 october. | politics | 2 |
us woman sues over ink cartridges a us woman is suing hewlett packard (hp) saying its printer ink cartridges are secretly programmed to expire on a certain date. the unnamed woman from georgia says that a chip inside the cartridge tells the printer that it needs re-filling even when it does not. the lawsuit seeks to represent anyone in the us who has purchased an hp inkjet printer since february 2001. hp the world s biggest printer firm declined to comment on the lawsuit. hp ink cartridges use a chip technology to sense when they are low on ink and advise the user to make a change. but the suit claims the chips also shut down the cartridges at a predetermined date regardless of whether they are empty. the smart chip is dually engineered to prematurely register ink depletion and to render a cartridge unusable through the use of a built-in expiration date that is not revealed to the consumer the suit said. the lawsuit is asking for restitution damages and other compensation. the cost of printer cartridges has been a contentious issue in europe for the last 18 months. the price of inkjet printers has come down to as little as £34 but it could cost up to £1 700 in running costs over an 18-month period due to cartridge a study by computeractive magazine revealed last year. the inkjet printer market has been the subject of an investigation by the uk s office of fair trading (oft) which concluded in a 2002 report that retailers and manufacturers needed to make pricing more transparent for consumers. | science and tech | 0 |
safin plays down wimbledon hopes newly-crowned australian open champion marat safin has ruled out any chance of winning wimbledon in the future. after losing in round one last year safin said he had given up on wimbledon and winning his second grand slam title has not changed his mind. i ll play but with no expectations. i feel like i can t waste my time my energy on that surface he said. some people they cannot play on clay. some people they cannot play on a hard court. me i can t play on grass. however safin is hopeful that winning the australian open will give him the belief he needs to win more grand slam titles. it s a relief for me. two grand slams it s already something. but with this one i worked really hard for it he said. basically i would love to win a couple more. i think i have a chance if i continue this way. if (coach) peter lundgren will stick around with me and wants to work with me for a bit longer i think i can make it. the 25-year-old shocked pete sampras in the 2000 us open final to win his first major title but then lost in two australian open finals. safin admitted he had begun to doubt whether he would win another grand slam. i didn t expect that (to win the 2000 us open) - it was against sampras i wasn t the favourite so i had no pressure whatsoever he said. after the first final that i didn t win against thomas johansson (in 2002) i couldn t see myself winning the grand slams anymore. i was once in the semi-finals of the french open but i didn t believe i can win it. i just couldn t handle the pressure. you need to believe in yourself and i didn t. and after losing the first set 6-1 to lleyton hewitt in sunday s final safin said he began to doubt himself again. i am 25. i m playing against hewitt. at least you have to have the opportunity to win it at least have a chance he said. it s like you go there and you lose first set 6-1 then you start to think: this is not my day. the way i m playing is ridiculous. but then you start to really be a little bit more selfish and try to find a way out of there. and i found it. i was like really much i was much happier than in 2000 that s for sure because i get over it. | entertainment | 2 |
sir paul rocks super bowl crowds sir paul mccartney wowed fans with a live mini-concert at american football s super bowl - and avoided any janet jackson-style controversies. the 62-year-old sang hey jude and other beatles songs in a 12-minute set at half-time during the game in florida. last year jackson exposed a breast during a dance routine causing outrage among millions of tv viewers and landing the cbs tv network a fine. sir paul however did nothing more racy than remove his jacket as he sang. organisers were widely considered to be playing it safe this year by booking 62-year-old sir paul for his second super bowl show. three years ago he was invited to perform at the first super bowl after the september 11 attacks and performed his specially-written song freedom. this time he started off the show at the alltel stadium in jacksonville florida with the beatles numbers drive my car and get back. he then performed a mellow version of live and let die the james bond theme he recorded with the band wings. finally he closed the show with a rousing version of hey jude. the former beatle resisted any temptation to refer to janet jackson s headline-grabbing performance last year instead keeping banter between songs to a minimum in order to squeeze as much music as he could into his slot. the singer removed his black jacket halfway through the show - but any fans hoping for a second nipple-gate were to be disappointed as he kept his red sweatshirt on underneath. earlier the black eyed peas and alicia keys had provided the night s other high-profile entertainment by performing in a pre-game show. black eyed peas singer fergie was dressed in a tight orange top and purple hotpants but nothing in her performance was likely to upset tv watchdogs. after the controversy last year - which saw cbs fined a record $550 000 (£292 000) by federal regulators - super bowl organisers had turned to producer don mischer to oversee this year s half-time show. his previous production credits included olympic opening and closing ceremonies. the super bowl is watched by an audience of 144.4 million in the us with many of the people watching are said to tune in specifically to see the entertainment put on around the event. michael jackson aerosmith diana ross gloria estefan and phil collins are among the stars who have previously graced the super bowl stage. | business | 2 |
cudicini misses carling cup final chelsea goalkeeper carlo cudicini will miss sunday s carling cup final after the club dropped their appeal against his red card against newcastle. the italian was sent off for bringing down shola ameobi in the final minute of sunday s match. blues boss jose mourinho had promised to pick cudicini for the final instead of first-choice keeper petr cech. the 31-year-old will now serve a one-match suspension commencing with immediate effect. cudicini kept a club record 24 clean sheets last season for chelsea but petr cech has established himself as first choice for mourinho since moving to stamford bridge in summer 2004. the 22-year-old czech republic international has set a new premiership record of 961 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal a mark which is still running. but mourinho has used cudicini regularly in the carling cup and the italian has only let in one goal in his four appearances during chelsea s run to the final. | politics | 2 |
evil twin fear for wireless net people using wireless high-speed net (wi-fi) are being warned about fake hotspots or access points. the latest threat nicknamed evil twins pose as real hotspots but are actually unauthorised base stations say cranfield university experts. once logged onto an evil twin sensitive data can be intercepted. wi-fi is becoming popular as more devices come with wireless capability. london leads the global wi-fi hotspots league with more than 1 000. the number of hotspots is expected to reach 200 000 by 2008 according to analysts. users need to be wary of using their wi-fi enabled laptops or other portable devices in order to conduct financial transactions or anything that is of a sensitive or personal nature said professor brian collins head of information systems at cranfield university. users can also protect themselves by ensuring that their wi-fi device has its security measures activated he added. bt openzone which operates a vast proportion of public hotspots in the uk told the bbc news website that it made every effort to make its wi-fi secure. naturally people may have security concerns said chris clark chief executive for bt s wireless broadband. but wi-fi networks are no more or less vulnerable than any other means of accessing the internet like broadband or dial-up. he said bt openzone as well as others have sophisticated encryption from the start of the login process to the service at a hotspot. this means that users personal information and data logon usernames and passwords are protected and secure said mr clark. in the vast majority of cases base stations straight out of the box from the manufacturers are automatically set up with the least secure mode possible said dr nobles. cybercriminals who try to glean personal information using the scam jam connections to a legitimate base station by sending a stronger signal near to the wireless client. anyone with the right gear can find a real hotspot and substitute it with an evil twin. cybercriminals don t have to be that clever to carry out such an attack said dr phil nobles a wireless net and cybercrime expert at cranfield. because wireless networks are based on radio signals they can be easily detected by unauthorised users tuning into the same frequency. although wi-fi is increasing in popularity as more people want to use high-speed net on the move there have been fears over how secure it is. some companies have been reluctant to use them in large numbers because of fears about security. a wireless network that is not protected can provide a backdoor into a company s computer system. public wi-fi hotspots offered by companies like bt openzone and the cloud are accessible after users sign up and pay for use. but many home and company wi-fi networks are left unprotected and can be sniffed out and hi-jacked by anyone with the correct equipment. bt advises that customers should change all default settings make sure that their security settings on all equipment are configured correctly said mr clark. we also advocate the use of personal firewalls to ensure that only authorised users can have access and that data cannot be intercepted. dr nobles is due to speak about wireless cybercrime at the science museum s dana centre in london on thursday. | science and tech | 0 |
mido makes third apology ahmed mido hossam has made another apology to the egyptian people in an attempt to rejoin the national team. the 21-year-old told a news conference in cairo on sunday that he is sorry for the problems that have led to his exclusion from the pharaohs since july last year. mido said: there isn t much i have to say today all there is to say is that i came specially from england to egypt to rejoin the national team and to apologise for all my mistakes. mido was axed by former coach marco tardelli after failing to answer a national call-up claiming he had a groin injury. but he then played in a friendly for his club as roma within 24 hours of a world cup qualifying match at home to cameroon last september. mido added: it s not my right to give orders and say when i want to play ... at the same time i will always make sure that i put the national s team s matches as my top priority. i feel that the national players are playing with a new spirit as i saw them play against belgium (egypt won 4-0 on wednesday) and i simply want to add to their success. i do confess that i was rude to the egyptian press at times but now i have gained more experience and know that i will never go anywhere without the press s support. many of the international stars like david beckham and (zinedine) zidane had the press opposing them. so i m now used to the fact that the press can be against me at times and i don t have to overreact when this happens. meanwhile egypt fa spokesman methat shalaby welcomed the apology and said no one had exerted pressure on mido to apologise. mido s apology today does not negatively affect mido in anyway on the contrary it makes him a bigger star and a role model for all football players shalaby said. shalaby earlier said that after an apology mido would be available for the national side if coach hassan shehata chose him. mido joined tottenham in an 18-month loan deal near the end of the january transfer window scoring twice on his debut against portsmouth. | sports | 0 |
yukos unit fetches $9bn at auction a little-known russian company has bought the main production unit of oil giant yukos at auction in moscow. baikal finance group outbid favourite gazprom the state-controlled gas monopoly to buy yuganskneftegas. baikal paid 260.75bn roubles ($9.37bn: £4.8bn) for yugansk - nowhere near the $27bn russia says yukos owes in taxes. yukos reacted immediately by repeating its view that the auction was illegal in international and russian law and said baikal had bought itself trouble. the company considers that the victor of today s auction has bought itself a serious $9bn headache said yukos spokesman alexander shadrin. he said the company would continue to make every lawful move to protect tens of thousands of shareholders in yukos from this forcible and illegitimate removal of their property . meanwhile tim osborne head of yukos main shareholders group menatep said that yukos may have to declare itself bankrupt and that legal action would be taken outside russia against the auction winners. reports from russia say baikal has paid a deposit of nearly $1.7bn from a sberbank (savings bank) account to the russian federal property fund for yugansk. the sale came despite a restraining order issued by a us court dealing with the firm s bankruptcy application for chapter 11 protection. yukos has always insisted the auction was state-sponsored theft but russian authorities argued they were imposing the law trying to recover billions in unpaid taxes. there were originally four registered bidders and with its close ties to the kremlin state-backed gas monopoly gazprom had been seen as favourite. but just two companies turned up for the auction gazprom and the unknown baikal finance group named after a large freshwater lake in siberia. and according to tass news agency gazprom did not make a single bid leaving the way open for baikal which paid above the auction start price of 246.75bn roubles. mystery firm baikal finance group is officially registered in the central russian region of tver but many analysts believe it may be linked to gazprom. kaha kiknavelidze analyst at troika dialog said: i think a decision that yugansk should end up with gazprom was taken a long time ago. so the main question was how to structure this transaction. i would not exclude that the structure of the deal has slightly changed and gazprom now has a partner. i would also not exclude that baikal will decline to pay in 14 days that are given by law and gazprom is then recognised as the winner. this would give gazprom an extra 14 days to accumulate the needed funds. another surprise was that the winner paid a significant premium above the starting price. however gazprom has announced it is not linked to baikal in any way. and paul collison chief analyst at brunswick ubs said: i see no plausible explanation for the theory that baikal was representing competing interests. yugansk will most likely end up with gazprom but could still end up with the government. there is still potential for surprises. yugansk is at the heart of yukos - pumping close to a million barrels of oil a day. the unit was seized by the government which claims the oil giant owes more than $27bn in taxes and fines. yukos says those tax demands are exorbitant and had sought refuge in us courts. the us bankruptcy court s initial order on thursday - to temporarily block the sale - in response to yukos filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection was upheld in a second ruling on saturday. the protection if recognised by the russian authorities would have allowed yukos current management to retain control of the business and block the sale of any company assets. yukos has said the sale amounts to expropriation - punishment for the political ambitions of its founder mikhail khodorkovsky. mr khodorkovsky is now in jail on separate fraud charges. but president vladimir putin has described the affair as a crackdown on corruption - and the bbc s sarah rainsford in moscow says most russians believe the destruction of yukos is now inevitable. hours before the auction lawyers for menatep a group through which mr khodorkovsky and his associates control yukos said they would take legal action in other countries. menatep lawyers who were excluded from observing the auction said they would retaliate by seeking injunctions in foreign courts to impound russian oil and gas exports. | business | 0 |
bad weather hits nestle sales a combination of bad weather rising raw material costs and the sluggish european economy has hit sales at swiss food and drink giant nestle. revenue dipped 1.4% to 86.7bn swiss francs ($74.6bn; £39.1bn) in 2004 as sales of ice cream and mineral water were dampened by the wet summer. however nestle s profits margins were helped by a strong performance in the americas and china. nestle is to raise its dividend by 11% after paying back some of its debt. nestle said that the strength of the swiss franc against the us dollar the disposal of businesses and challenging trading conditions in europe all dented sales. a poor summer across the continent - in contrast to the prolonged heat wave in 2003 - severely affected demand for ice cream. sales of bottled water also fell although chocolate coffee frozen goods and petcare products performed better. elsewhere nestle said it had enjoyed an exceptional year in north america outperforming the market in terms of sales growth. nestle added that it had performed strongly in africa and asia despite the impact of high oil prices and political instability. nestle s total earnings before interest remained broadly flat over the past year despite the company managing to boost profit margins. as well as increasing its dividend nestle plans to buy back shares worth 1bn swiss francs ($861m; £451m). looking forward nestle forecasts organic earnings growth of about 5% in 2005 although it warned that trading would remain just as competitive. uncertainty remains over the future of perrier the iconic french mineral water owned by nestle. perrier has been locked in a long-standing dispute with unions about productivity levels at the business which has lead nestle to consider selling the firm. the option of selling is perrier is still on the table chief executive peter brabeck-letmathe confirmed on thursday. | business | 0 |
greek pair set for hearing kostas kenteris and katerina thanou will fight the provisional two-year bans imposed on them by the iaaf at an independent tribunal this weekend. athletics ruling body took action against the pair for failing to take drugs tests before the athens olympics. an independent tribunal of the greek track and field federation will meet to decide whether to ratify the sanction. the sprint duo face charges of failing to give information on their location and refusing to submit to a drugs test. kenteris lawyer gregory ioannidis told bbc sport: we refute both charges as unsubstantiated and illogical. there have been certain breaches in the correct application of the rules on behalf of the sporting authorities and their officials and these procedural breaches have also violated my client s rights. there is also evidence that proves the fact that my client has been persecuted. ioannidis who is a law lecturer at the university of buckingham added: one of the important rights and foundations of law and justice - that the accused should be presumed innocent unless proved otherwise - has been tarnished. the panel will also decide on the two-year ban imposed on the athletes controversial coach christos tzekos by the iaaf. kenteris the 2000 olympic 200m champion and thanou the women s 100m silver medallist from the same games in sydney quit the olympics on 18 august after failing to give samples on the eve of the opening ceremony. testers could not find them at the olympic village and the duo were later admitted to hospital after claiming to have been involved in a motorcycle accident. they also missed tests in tel aviv chicago and athens before the games. in imposing two-year suspensions on the duo on 22 december the iaaf described their explanations for missing the tests as unacceptable . whatever the findings of the independent tribunal all parties will have the right to appeal to the court of arbitration for sport. the tribunal hearing will take place at the hellenic olympic committee building. it will start at 1200 gmt on saturday and is expected to finish early next week. the tribunal panel will consist of five members - president konstantinos panagopoulos and panagiotis dimakos haralabos hrisanthakis stilianos perakis and ioannis karmis. kenteris and thanou also face criminal charges in greece for allegedly faking the motorcycle accident. eight criminal charges have been laid against the sprinters as well as tzekos an eyewitness to the accident and hospital officials. but there has been speculation that the charges could be dropped. | sports | 0 |
wales stars need a rest - ruddock wales coach mike ruddock has defended his decision not to release any of the international stars for this weekend s regional celtic league fixtures. ruddock says the players will benefit from the rest and their absence will give youngsters a chance to impress. we ve got the wru charter in place now which outlines exactly what happens ruddock told bbc wales sport. once we re in the six nations the players will only be released in his and the wru s best interests. the ospreys and scarlets say they are happy to support the wales cause but the dragons have expressed disappointment at not being able to use their national squad players in friday s game with ulster. ceri sweeney gareth cooper ian gough and kevin morgan have been used sparingly by ruddock in the opening two six nations wins and captain jason forster believes they would benefit from a game with the dragons. i m sure the guys would want to come back to get some game time forster told bbc wales sport. it would also be a timely reminder to mike [ruddock] as to what they can do. and the supporters want to see the star players - no disrespect to the other guys - performing on the pitch. ruddock though is keen to protect his players from injury and fatigue. at this stage there s nothing more [the players] can do in games to impress me further. we ve got to look at it at another angle and see the opportunities that are provided for the younger players in the region. for example the dragons might use james ireland this weekend. i ve been looking at the lad - he s a great prospect for the future. french and english clubs have requested to have all their international players available which means stephen jones gareth thomas and mefin davies will play this weekend. the majority of ireland and scotland players have also been released for provincial duty. | entertainment | 2 |
mps assess scots fishing industry a group of mps are on a two-day fact-finding mission to scotland to gather evidence for a report into the uk s fishing industry. members of westminster s environment food and rural affairs committee will be touring fish markets and talking to fish processors. they will also talk to fisheries minister ross finnie and scientists. mps are deciding whether to recommend a new system of community quotas to conserve fish stocks. the aim is that fishing ports like peterhead or fraserburgh would be allocated a quota and local people would decide how to fish it. the scheme is a variation on the local management committees already being established by the european union. details are contained in a royal commission report for the uk government along with the more controversial idea of closing some mixed fishing grounds completely. six members of the committee will be in scotland to seek views from fishermen and processors in aberdeen and peterhead. they will also speak to mr finnie representatives of the royal society and the sea fish industry authority. committee chairman austin mitchell said some way has to be found of harvesting mixed fisheries without wasting stocks. | world | 2 |
file-swappers ready new network legal attacks on websites that help people swap pirated films have forced the development of a system that could be harder to shut down. one site behind the success of the bittorrent file-swapping system is producing its own software that avoids the pitfalls of the earlier program. a test version of the new exeem program will be released in late january. but doubts remain about the new networks ability to ensure files being swapped are quality copies . in late december movie studios launched a legal campaign against websites that helped people swap pirated movies using the bittorrent network. the legal campaign worked because of the way that bittorrent is organised. that file-sharing system relies on links called trackers that point users to others happy to share the file they are looking for. shutting down sites that listed trackers crippled the bittorrent network. one of the sites shut down by the legal campaign was suprnova.org which helped boost the popularity of the bittorrent system by checking that trackers led to the movies or tv programmes they claimed to. now the man behind suprnova.org who goes by the nickname sloncek is preparing to release software for a new file-swapping network dubbed exeem. in an interview with novastream web radio sloncek said exeem would combine ideas from the bittorrent and kazaa file-sharing systems. like bittorrent exeem will have trackers that help point people toward the file they want. like kazaa these trackers will be held by everyone. there will be no centrally maintained list. this said sloncek should make the system less vulnerable to legal action aimed at stopping people swapping pirated movies and music. the exeem software has been under development for a few months and is currently being tested by a closed group of users. an early public version of the software should be available before february. sloncek said that currently only a windows version of the software was in development. there were no plans for a linux or mac version. he said that costs of writing the software will be paid for by adverts appearing in the finished version of the program. despite suprnova administrator sloncek s involvement with exeem the basic technology appears to have been developed by a firm called swarm systems that is based on caribbean island saint kitts and nevis. users of the exeem system will be able to rate files being swapped to help stop the spread of fake files sloncek told novastream. dr johan pouwelse a researcher at the delft university of technology who studies peer-to-peer networks said exeem was the next evolution in file-sharing systems. but he said it would struggle to be as popular as bittorrent and suprnova because early versions were not taking enough care to make sure good copies of files were being shared. exeem cannot prevent pollution he said. the rating system in exeem seems flawed because it is easy to insert both fake files and fake ratings he said. studies have shown that organisations working for record labels and movie studios have worked to undermine kazaa by putting in fakes. by contrast moderators on suprnova made sure files being shared were high quality. the moderators are the difference between having a system that works and one that s full of crap like kazaa he said. there is a fundamental tension between distribution and integrity he said. mr pouwelse said that future versions of file-sharing systems are likely to incorporate some kind of distributed reputation system that lets moderators prove who they are to the network and rate which files are worth downloading. when big files were being shared moderation systems were key said mr pouwelse. he added that the legal attacks on bittorrent had driven people away from sites such as suprnova but many users had simply migrated to other tracker listing sites many of which have seen huge increases in traffic. it s hard to compete with free he said. no-one from the motion picture association of america was immediately available for comment on the file-sharing development. | science and tech | 0 |
brown s poll campaign move denied the government has denied reports that gordon brown is preparing to oust alan milburn as labour s election supremo. work and pensions minister alan johnson said it was wrong to suggest the chancellor would usurp mr milburn adding they would work as a team . a report in the sunday business claimed mr brown has been asked to take charge of media strategy while mr milburn would move to a behind-the-scenes role. labour has always maintained mr brown would have a central campaign role. but many labour backbenchers are said to be dissatisfied with the way election campaigning has gone and have said they wanted to see the chancellor take a bigger role. some commentators say the tories have grasped the initiative putting labour on the back foot having to respond to conservative policy announcements. these claims follow various opinion polls which suggest the tories have been gaining on labour. party strategists are believed to want to bring mr brown to centre-stage having seen support rise in private polling after his budget last week. but another report in the sunday telegraph claims mr milburn is unwilling to allow any new role for the chancellor to come at his expense. mr johnson told bbc news: gordon brown will play a central role in any election campaign. they were wrong when they said milburn was ousting brown and they re wrong now if they are saying brown is ousting milburn. we work as a team. mr milburn has repeatedly said the chancellor was key to the campaign and dismissed claims of a rift. neither downing street nor the labour party would comment directly on the reports. | politics | 0 |
howard unveils election platform the conservatives would stand up for the forgotten majority michael howard pledged as he unveiled the first part of the tory election manifesto. the tory leader argued there was a mass of people whom he says feel let down by tony blair and who share tory values. in the foreword to the manifesto he promises to focus on restoring order trying to lower taxes and giving power back to the people. labour says the document offers only a return to a failed tory past . the liberal democrats say the conservatives cannot win what they predict will be a three-party contest. campaigning activity is accelerating ahead of the general election which is widely tipped for may but could be any time before june 2006. labour on monday postponed a launch of election posters because of the asian tsunami disaster. mr howard published the introduction to the tory manifesto. other chapters will follow in coming weeks. in a speech in northamptonshire he said the forgotten majority made up the backbone of britain. they were people who were saving for their first home or their retirement working hard and accepting their responsibilities. he says in the manifesto foreword: they have been forgotten neglected and taken for granted by mr blair. saying britain must change direction mr howard argues government is too big and cannot continue down the path of ever rising taxes . he promises to ensure frontline professionals parents and patients make the key decisions rather than whitehall bureaucrats . and he says the tories would get a grip on crime immigration and disorder. the decline of responsibility and the proliferation of so-called human rights have left us in a moral quagmire unable to get a grip on rising crime and disorder he says. mr howard says he will produce a timetable for action so people can hold him to account but on issues like taxation he has so far only published options not specific plans. mr howard told bbc news: i m determined to lower taxes but i m also determined not to make any promises i can t keep. the tories were unveiling material months ahead of the expected election because they needed time to make voters aware of their policies he said. he was asked if tory support for the government on iraq and identity cards had given the lib dems the chance to portray themselves as the opposition to labour. mr howard argued the only test for his policies was whether they were best for britain. it had nothing to do with putting clear blue water between himself and his opponents. labour s election slogan will be: britain s working don t let the tories wreck it again . campaign coordinator alan milburn accused the tories of launching thatcherism in instalments while labour helped the hard working majority of families. lib dem president simon hughes said his party had set out its election stance in september. the liberal democrats will ask the british people for support this year as the party with the policies best able to deliver freedom and fairness and to restore trust he said. | world | 2 |
stalemate in pension strike talks talks aimed at averting national strikes over pension reforms have ended without agreement after 90 minutes. five public sector unions met deputy prime minister john prescott at the labour spring conference in gateshead. they want the government to withdraw regulations - due to be introduced in weeks - which would raise the pension age for council workers from 60 to 65. up to 1.4 million workers could take part in strikes earmarked for 23 march. discussions will resume next week. a spokesman for unison britain s biggest union said after saturday s meeting: at least we are still talking. all sides are anxious to avoid a major confrontation in the run up to the general election said bbc labour affairs correspondent stephen cape. in four days unison will start balloting 800 000 local government workers on strikes. other public sector unions have pledged to follow. the five unions which met mr prescott want the government to withdraw these regulations. this would allow months of tough negotiations to follow said our correspondent. but a spokesman for mr prescott warned that the changes to the local government pension scheme would have to go ahead in april. privately ministers believe this will be the less painful option our correspondent added. the public and commercial services union (pcs) will co-ordinate any industrial action with up to six other public sector unions. pcs leader mark serwotka warned last week that there could be further walkouts unless there was a government rethink. for a government that lectures everyone on choice - choice on public service choice on this and choice on that - isn t it ironic that they re saying to public sector workers there is no choice he said. if you want the pension you were promised when you started you must work for an extra five years - that is working until people drop. in the 20th century it s completely unacceptable. unison s 800 000 workers the transport and general workers union s 70 000 and amicus 20 000 are among those being balloted about a 23 march walkout. mr prescott held a private meeting with senior union figures last week. it is understood no deal was offered in that meeting but there was room for further negotiations. | politics | 0 |
citizenship event for 18s touted citizenship ceremonies could be introduced for people celebrating their 18th birthday charles clarke has said. the idea will be tried as part of an overhaul of the way government approaches inclusive citizenship particularly for ethnic minorities. a pilot scheme based on ceremonies in australia will start in october. mr clarke said it would be a way of recognising young people reaching their voting age when they also gain greater independence from parents. britain s young black and asian people are to be encouraged to learn about the nation s heritage as part of the government s new race strategy which will also target specific issues within different ethnic minority groups. officials say the home secretary wants young people to feel they belong and to understand their other cultural identities alongside being british. the launch follows a row about the role of faith schools in britain. on monday school inspection chief david bell accused some islamic schools of failing to teach pupils about their obligations to british society. the muslim council of britain said ofsted boss mr bell s comments were highly irresponsible . the home office started work on its community cohesion and race equality strategy last year and the outcome launched on wednesday is called improving opportunity strengthening society . it is aimed at tackling racism exclusion segregation and the rise in political and religious extremism. it represents a move away from the one-size-fits-all approach to focus on specifics within cultural groups said a home office spokesman. it is not right to say that if you are from a black or ethnic minority group you must be disadvantaged. the spokesman highlighted specific issues that affect particular communities - for example people of south asian origin tend to suffer from a high incidence of heart disease. it is about drilling down and focusing on these sorts of problems the spokesman added. launching the initiative mr clarke said enormous progress had been made on race issues in recent years. he added: but while many members of black and minority ethnic communities are thriving some may still find it harder to succeed in employment or gain access to healthcare education or housing. this strategy sets out the government s commitment to doing more to identify and respond to the specific needs of minorities in our society. some 8% of the uk population described themselves as coming from a non-white ethnic minority in the 2001 census. the downing street strategy unit in 2003 said people from indian and chinese backgrounds were doing well on average often outperforming white people in education and earnings. but those of pakistani bangladeshi and black caribbean origin were significantly more likely to be unemployed and earn less than whites it said. the home office wants more initiatives which try to promote a sense of belonging by encouraging young people to take part in voluntary work. the programmes are designed to support the citizenship lessons already taking place in schools. | politics | 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. | science and tech | 2 |
the memory driving brown s mission the memory gordon brown says keeps returning to him - the one that he says is burnt into him - is that of a 12 year-old girl whose parents died of aids and who is hiv positive herself. mr brown seems haunted by her eyes desolate of all hope. and then he talks of those eyes that do inspire optimism: an extraordinary performance by schoolgirls of kenya s largest slum advancing with crowded menace flicking their hips in a manner almost as disturbing before the finale of a clenched fist salute and shout of free education - free education for all . mr brown s message generally that compassion must become action before that hope is squandered. but he is such a pivotal figure in british politics it is almost impossible not to ask him why he is doing this. his answer in part is because of the missionaries that used to come to his father s church. ever since he says africa has been important to him. i ve absolutely no doubt whatsoever this is heartfelt. but he also believes it is time for the world to see a new gordon brown. not the dull reassuring bank manager but a man driven by a moral passion - and it just so happens the labour party feels an awful lot happier ridding the world of debt than ridding the world of dictators. there s also a sense of liberation. if mr blair won t allow him to run the election campaign then he can at least pretend it was all getting tedious and he d much rather be out examining social problems in the raw. it also goes some way to solving one of the overarching problems for all politicians of all parties: scepticism sliding into cynicism about politics itself. if he can help the world s poor just a little then it shows politics isn t worthless. but is his vision for africa too grand can poverty in the continent really be halved brown replies that no one thought the berlin wall would ever come down either. he s still got to overcome - not only the reluctance of other finance ministers in the world - but also the cynicism of experts who wonder whether debt relief will just be squandered by governments that just won t in the end spend wisely. | politics | 0 |
jowell rejects las vegas jibe the secretary of state for culture media and sport tessa jowell has hit out at critics of the gambling bill. she told the guardian newspaper there would be no las vegas-style super-casinos as rumoured in the press. meanwhile labour backbencher stephen pound labelled casino-related regeneration schemes a pile of pants . the mp for ealing north claimed the legislation would encourage a mafia-like culture of vice and corruption in an interview on bbc radio 4. you look at some of the people who are involved...they aren t in there to regenerate blackpool. they are in it to fill their boots mr pound told the today programme. i just really think that we have made a terrible mistake here. and over all of it hangs the shadow of the men in the chalk-stripe suits with names that rhyme with spaghetti he said. ms jowell complained of the scale of misrepresentation in the media over the bill in her interview with the newspaper her first since the bill was launched. the culture secretary said a four year consultation period had produced a consensus on the need to protect children and the vulnerable in a swiftly changing sector. ms jowell insisted: we have a good track record for extracting planning gain in this country for instance in social housing. and continued: we can be proud to have one of the lowest rates of problem gambling in the world. i intend to keep it that way. ms jowell will set out her position when the bill is debated in the commons on monday. in prime minister s questions last week tony blair assured parliament that 90% of the bill was about tightening up the regulation of the gambling industry. | politics | 0 |
blair sees greater bush consensus george w bush will display a more consensual approach to world politics as he begins his second term as us president tony blair has said. the prime minister said mr bush had learned military force was not the only way to fight terrorism. he understood that the best prospect of peaceful co-existence lies in the spread of democracy and human rights mr blair told the guardian newspaper. mr bush was sworn in at a ceremony in washington dc on thursday. echoing the new us secretary of state condoleezza rice the prime minister said there has been a clear evolution of us policy since the war in afghanistan in 2001. mr blair had personally seen the change over time in conversations with mr bush. the president understood that while military and security measures were important there also needed to be a multilateral approach to solving the world s problems. turning to critics fears that the us was poised for further military action mr blair refused to give succour to suggestions it was preparing for strikes against iran. the prime minister conceded that the us had what appears to be a harder position towards the state than europe. but the prime minister pointed out that until now the us had allowed britain france and germany to take the lead in trying to halt the iranian nuclear programme. following claims that us forces had worked inside iran to identify potential targets mr blair was asked if the sas had also been in the country. we never answer questions about special forces but do not take that as indicating an affirmative said mr blair. mr blair said he believed the president was keen to work with other countries while trying to spread democracy and human rights. it is significant in my view that he is coming to europe as his first foreign visit said mr blair. following his inauguration mr bush is due in europe at the end of january. | business | 2 |
henson stakes early lions claim the six nations may be a glittering prize in itself but every player from the four home unions will also have one eye on a possible trip to new zealand with the lions this summer. the player who staked the biggest claim for a place in the starting xv over the weekend was gavin henson. he s very confident. you just had to listen to his interview afterwards - he beamed with confidence - but although there s an element of arrogance it s good arrogance. he certainly showed some nice touches. he once showed a clean pair of heels to mathew tait when he got outside him his defence was very good and he made some great kicks out of hand. and that s without even mentioning his majestic match-winning penalty. but i think we need to wait and see what happens because he needs to be put to the test. he needs to come up against brian o driscoll or a big french midfield. wales fly-half stephen jones was another player who impressed me. he gave good direction he was very confident and he was a nice general for his side. he showed he can control a game. with jonny wilkinson not playing at the moment due to inury the number 10 shirt could be up for grabs and jones or maybe even henson could make the lions team at fly-half. jones stuck his hand up and he certainly looks a better bet than charlie hodgson after saturday s game. some of the wales forwards surprised me because i thought they would be out-muscled in the tight five. england prop julian white is a capable player but when it comes down to selection gethin jenkins is now going to have the upper hand because he came out on top. however i still think white and phil vickery will be in the frame. some english players did their cause no harm. i thought joe worsley had a solid game and jason robinson and josh lewsey both did nothing wrong. but it looked too soon for young mathew tait and i think it will be a while before we see him again. despite being written off beforehand several scots caught my eye against france. tom smith has been there and done it before but the likes of chris cusiter jason white and ally hogg all made their mark. hogg made a couple of good runs while white had a pretty robust game - his defence is right up there. cusiter looked very lively and he could be a very good option for lions coach sir clive woodward. the star of ireland s win over italy in rome looks like a certainty to make the starting xv against new zealand. brian o driscoll is a class act. he ran some good lines against italy made the breaks and fed his outside backs although italy defended man on man which made it easy for him. gordon d arcy was unlucky to go off injured early on but i think you could get a henson d arcy o driscoll combination in the lions midfield. paul o connell just needs to add a hard edge to his game and malcolm o kelly keeps on going and seems to be putting his hand up while shane byrne seems to be a lively character. but they will be a bit worried after the italian pack drove them off their own ball on sunday although i used to play in italy and i know how difficult it can be. one player who didn t impress me was wales scrum-half dwayne peel. he choked late on in the second half when wales were trailing. they had good possession and he kicked the ball away - i wouldn t want him as my lions scrum-half after that. | science and tech | 2 |
wru proposes season overhaul the welsh rugby union wants to restructure the northern hemisphere season into four separate blocks. the season would start with the celtic league in october followed by the heineken cup in february and march and the six nations moved to april and may. after a nine week break the wru then proposes a two-month period of away and home international matches. wru chairman david pickering said the structure would end problems of player availability for club and country. he added: we feel sure that spectator interest would respond to the impetus of high intensity rugby being played continuously rather than the fragmented timetable currently in operation. equally we suspect that the sponsors would prefer the sustained interest in a continuous tournament and hopefully the broadcasters would also enjoy increased exposure. moving the six nations from its traditional february beginning should also ensure better weather conditions and stimulate greater interest in the games and generally provide increased skills and competition and attract greater spectator viewing pickering argued. the plan will be put before the international rugby board next month where four other plans drawn up by independent consultants for a global integrated season will also be discussed. pickering added: it s very early days and there are a number of caveats associated with it - not least the revenue from the broadcasters which is extremely important. we ve got a good plan and one which should be judged on its merits. | politics | 2 |
murray to make cup history andrew murray will become britain s youngest-ever davis cup player after it was confirmed he will play in the doubles against israel on saturday. the 17-year-old will play alongside fellow debutant david sherwood against israel s jonathan erlich and andy ram. murray will eclipse the record set by roger becker back in 1952. greg rusedski takes tim henman s place as first choice in the singles while alex bogdanovic will play in the second singles clash. rusedski will take on former world number 30 harel levy and bogdanovic - who has previously played in two singles rubbers against australia - will face noam okun. murray is the brightest young hope in british tennis after winning the us open junior title last year and the bbc young sports personality of the year. british number one tim henman who announced his davis cup retirement earlier this year believes britain can win the tie in tel aviv. it s going to be as really tough match. israel have some really good players - and their doubles pair of andy ram and jonathan erlich are among the top eight in the world - but i fancy our chances he said. but henman urged bogdanovic who has had run-ins with british tennis officials in the past to seize his chance. alex is a quality player - he s young but he s got to keep pushing forward. he s got to be stronger he s got a lot of ability but he s got to be more disciplined mentally and physically and if he does that he s got a good chance. | sports | 0 |
scrum-half williams rejoins bath bath have signed their former scrum-half andy williams on a short-term deal from the neath-swansea ospreys. wales international williams whose contract with the welsh region was due to expire in june has agreed a contract until the end of the season. with martyn wood s injury likely to keep him out until february bath need experienced back-up to nick walshe. said williams: when this opportunity presented itself i did not really have to think twice about it. williams capped by wales against romania in 2003 should figure in the match squad for monday s zurich premiership match at sale sharks. he lost his ospreys starting place to new zealander jason spice and has fallen further behind in the pecking order. the welsh region has two outstanding young no 9 prospects in richie rees and rhodri wells. bath director of rugby jack rowell though believes williams fits the bill perfectly. he has been playing regular heineken cup and celtic league rugby and he has a great affection for bath rowell told bath s official website. we are delighted to be able to welcome him back to the club. | entertainment | 2 |
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 |
hague given up his pm ambition former conservative leader william hague says he will not stand for the leadership again having given up his ambition to be prime minister. mr hague 43 told the daily telegraph he would now find a life dominated by politics too boring and unfulfilling. mr hague who stepped down after his party s 2001 election defeat does not rule out a return to the front bench. he also told the paper he hopes to remain mp for richmond north yorks and start a family with wife ffion. mr hague who recently had published the biography of william pitt the younger also said he wanted to continue writing books and speech-writing. he told the newspaper: i don t know whether i will ever go back on to the front but don t rush me. asked if he would stand for the leadership again mr hague replied: no. definitely not. his determination to stay away from a central role will disappoint some senior conservative members who say the party needs him. tim collins the shadow education secretary said last week it would be a huge boost to the party if mr hague returned to the front bench. mr hague became an mp at 27 and leader of the opposition at 36. he said: i feel fortunate that by the age of 40 i had crammed in an entire political career. i had been in the cabinet and been leader of the party so now i can branch out into other things...it is a very liberating feeling. mr hague added that he may have misjudged his own ambition to be prime minister. maybe i wasn t as driven by politics as i thought i was he said. | science and tech | 2 |
lacroix label bought by us firm luxury goods group lvmh has sold its loss-making christian lacroix clothing label to a us investment group. the paris-based firm has been shedding non-core businesses and focusing on its most profitable brands including moet & chandon champagne and louis vuitton. lvmh said the french designer s haute couture and ready-to-wear labels had been purchased by the falic group for an unspecified sum. the falic group bought two cosmetics labels from lvmh in 2003. the sale of the lacroix label comes as many fashion houses are struggling to make money from their expensive haute couture ranges. the florida-based falic group which also runs a chain of 90 duty free stores in the us said it planned to expand the brand by opening new stores. mr lacroix said he planned to stay at the label he founded in 1987 although exact details are still to be confirmed. | politics | 2 |
scotland 18-10 italy six chris paterson penalties gave scotland victory in a dour but clinical encounter against italy at murrayfield. coach matt williams side were outmuscled and outplayed in a tense first half but led 6-3 at the break. paterson slotted four more second-half penalties and scotland were denied a try when wing sean lamont s touchdown was ruled out for a forward pass. a late andrea masi try was small consolation for italy chasing their first away win in the six nations. scotland came out on top of the early exchanges and took a quick 3-0 lead through the boot of full-back paterson. but the more powerful azzurri pack eventually rumbled into life. a series of drives into scottish territory set up a penalty attempt missed by full-back roland de marigny and a wayward drop-goal effort from luciano orquera. scotland defended the initial thrusts but on 20 minutes italy after coming up yards short of the line equalised through a de marigny penalty. italy were offered another penalty when scottish flanker simon taylor was offside but the left-footed de marigny pushed his kick wide. scotland finally made the most of a rare foray into the italian half and snatched three points from paterson when an italian forward handled the ball in a ruck. as the half wore on both sides squandered promising spells of momentum with sloppy penalties and the period fizzled out with scotland numerically if not psychologically on top. italy s de marigny narrowly missed a chance to level the scores again shortly after the break but his long-range kick shaved the right upright. and scotland capitalised with a third paterson penalty on 50 minutes. williams side seemed to have found a spark from somewhere and after a couple of probing attacks paterson was able to slot another three points to widen the gap. with the pendulum of possession swinging towards scotland lamont thought he had wriggled over in the left corner after 65 minutes but play was recalled for a marginal forward pass from paterson. another paterson penalty on 70 minutes kept the pressure on the wilting visitors. but john kirwan s men had the last laugh when gordon ross attempted clearance was charged down and masi pounced for the try converted by de marigny. : c paterson; s webster a craig h southwell s lamont; d parks c cusiter; t smith g bulloch (capt) g kerr; s grimes s murray; s taylor j petrie a hogg. r russell b douglas n hines j dunbar m blair g ross b hinshelwood. r de marigny; mirco bergamasco c stoica a masi l nitoglia; l orquera a troncon; a lo cicero f ongaro m castrogiovanni; s dellape m bortolami (capt); a persico d dal maso s parisse. g intoppa s perugini ca del fava s orlando p griffen r pedrazzi kp robertson. | sports | 0 |
mutu to hold talks with juventus disgraced former chelsea striker adrian mutu is to begin talks with juventus as he looks for a new club. mutu will be in our club s main stand to watch the match between juventus and fiorentina said a juventus official who declined to be named. then he will meet some important people of the club he added. mutu 25 sacked by chelsea and banned for seven months for taking cocaine is now represented by alessandro moggi son of juve manager luciano moggi. mutu banned by the english fa can resume playing next may. he is to undergo a drug education and rehabilitation programme. mutu wants to train with romanian side dinamo bucharest whilst serving his ban say the bucharest side. | sports | 0 |
more to do on adult literacy the government will only hit its target for improving adult maths and literacy skills if courses are made more attractive a report says. the national audit office praised ministers for reaching the benchmark of 750 000 adults in england gaining basic qualifications by this year. but a target of 1.5 million more by 2010 needed creative ideas. some 26 million adults lack maths or english skill levels expected of school-leavers. according to the report more than half the qualifications achieved were by learners aged 16 to 18. these are defined as adults by the government for the purpose of compiling these figures. normally adults are defined as being aged over 19. the number of these people gaining qualifications was rising slowly . auditor general sir john bourn said: higher levels of literacy and numeracy will benefit england both socially and economically. more people will have the opportunity to live richer lives. in 2001 the government launched the get on scheme - aimed at reducing illiteracy and innumeracy. sir john said substantial progress had been made since adding that this was only the beginning . the government and its partners would need to be creative and responsive . some £3.7bn will be spent on implementing the programme by 2006. the report recommends gathering more details on the educational needs of areas so courses can be set to meet local demand. existing adult learners could use their enthusiasm commitment and local knowledge to attract other people. the department for education and skills could also use more personalised learning and work with voluntary groups councils and employers. it should also assess adult learners progress at frequent intervals the report adds. when the government announced it had reached its 2004 target earlier this month prime minister tony blair said it was only the start of the journey . an estimated 5.2 million adults have worse literacy than that expected of 11 year olds while 14.9 million have numeracy skills below this level. this is thought to cost the uk economy hundreds of millions of pounds each year. the qualifications achieved by those taking part in the government s scheme range up to gcse equivalents. get on s participation target has been set at 2.25 million by 2010 with an interim figure of 1.5 million by 2007. education minister ivan lewis said: we will continue to use creative ways of involving people with the lowest skill levels and the report shows that our efforts are gathering pace. shadow education secretary tim collins said: this is the third report in two days to highlight labour s failure to ensure young people acquire the necessary levels of literacy and numeracy for their working life. employers and business leaders have repeatedly voiced concern over the number of school-leavers without these basic skills but all the government have offered is more talk. liberal democrat education spokesman phil willis added: far too little has been done to enable adult learners to fit learning into their busy lives. | entertainment | 2 |
worldcom director admits lying the former chief financial officer at us telecoms firm worldcom has admitted before a new york court that he used to lie to fellow board members. speaking at the trial of his former boss bernard ebbers scott sullivan said he lied to the board to cover up the hole in worldcom s finances. mr ebbers is on trial for fraud and conspiracy in relation to worldcom s collapse in 2002. he pleads not guilty. the firm had been overstating its accounts by $11bn (£8.5bn). mr sullivan 42 has already pleaded guilty to fraud and will be sentenced following mr ebbers trial where he is appearing as a prosecution witness. mr ebbers 63 has always insisted that he was unaware of any hidden shortfalls in worldcom s finances. in the new york court on wednesday mr ebbers lawyer reid weingarten asked mr sullivan: if you believe something is in your interest you are willing and able to lie to accomplish it isn t that right on that date yes. i was lying replied mr sullivan. mr weingarten has suggested that mr sullivan is implicating mr ebbers only to win a lighter sentence something mr sullivan denies. mr sullivan also rejects a suggestion that he had once told fellow worldcom board member bert roberts that mr ebbers was unaware of the accounting fraud at worldcom. the trial of mr ebbers is now into its third week. under 23 hours of questioning from a federal prosecutor mr sullivan has previously told the court that he repeatedly warned mr ebbers that falsifying the books would be the only way to meet wall street revenue and earnings expectations. mr sullivan claims that mr ebbers refused to stop the fraud. mr ebbers could face a sentence of 85 years if convicted of all the charges he is facing. worldcom s problems appear to have begun with the collapse of the dotcom boom which cut its business from internet companies. prosecutors allege that the company s top executives responded by orchestrating massive fraud over a two-year period. worldcom emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2004 and is now known as mci. | science and tech | 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. | entertainment | 0 |
ultra fast wi-fi nears completion ultra high speed wi-fi connections moved closer to reality on thursday when intel said it would list standards for the technology later this year. intel is developing ultra-wideband technology (uwb) which would allow fast data transfer but with low power needs. uwb is tipped to be used for wireless transfer of video in the home or office and for use in wireless usb devices which need low power consumption. a rival uwb standard is being developed by motorola and chip firm freescale. at the mobile phone conference 3gsm in cannes last month samsung demonstrated a phone using uwb technology from freescale. at a press conference on thursday intel announced that two uwb groups wimedia alliance and multi-band ofdm alliance had merged to support the technology. uwb makes it possible to stream huge amounts of data through the air over short distances. one of the more likely uses of uwb is to make it possible to send dvd quality video images wirelessly to tv screens or to let people beam music to media players around their home. the technology has the potential to transmit hundreds of megabits of data per second. consumer electronics companies want uwb to replace cables and simplify set-up jeff ravencraft technology strategist at intel and chairman of the wireless usb promoter group told technology site zdnet. thirty percent of consumer electronics returns are because the consumer couldn t set up the equipment. the first products using uwb technology from intel are due to hit the market later this year. initially they will be products using wireless usb 2.0 connections. uwb could also be used to create so-called personal area networks that let a person s gadgets quickly and easily swap data amongst themselves. the technology works over a range up to 10 metres and uses billions of short radio pulses every second to carry data. intel says the benefit of uwb is that it does not interfere with other wi-fi technologies already in use such as wi-fi wimax and mobile phone networks. | science and tech | 0 |
gallas sees two-horse race chelsea s william gallas believes they will battle it out with arsenal for the premiership in the coming months. it ll be a two-horse race all the way to the end of the season because we are both going to give it everything he told bbc sport. you need to be good and you need a lot of luck. you need a bit of both but it will be as hard for the arsenal players as it is for the chelsea boys. we know that we have got the power in our hands just now added gallas. but you never know what is going to happen in football - two seasons ago manchester united picked up so many points towards the end of the season when they won the title. obviously nobody at chelsea wants to come second but you never know what happens in football. we will be challenging to come first as much as every arsenal player will be challenging to come first. gallas has been given extra confidence by the impact manager jose mourinho has had since taking over as manager during the summer. and the french international defender believes mourinho is perfectly suited to boss the squad of chelsea stars and says his managerial expertise will prevent any player revolt. it s only normal when you have got a team put together of such big names that you put the finishing touch to it and the finishing touch at chelsea is a fantastic manager like mourinho he said. he is the icing on the cake at the club. he has this fantastic knack of thinking of everything. another incredible quality that mourinho has is that every player even though the fans may consider them to be a stars within the dressing-room they are absolutely equal. mourinho reminds everyone but he doesn t have to because he has created a wonderful atmosphere where everybody is playing and laughing every day. it is a changed dressing-room from the atmosphere there was last year. | politics | 2 |
civil servants in strike ballot the uk s biggest civil service union is to ballot its 290 000 members on strikes in protest at government plans to extend their pension age to 65. the public and commercial services union will co-ordinate any action with up to six other public sector unions. unions have already earmarked 23 march for a one-day strike which could involve up to 1.4 million uk workers. the government says unions will be consulted before any changes are made to the pension system. pcs leader mark serwotka warned there could be further walkouts unless there was a government rethink. for a government that lectures everyone on choice - choice on public service choice on this and choice on that - isn t it ironic that they re saying to public sector workers there is no choice he said. if you want the pension you were promised when you started you must work for an extra five years - that is working until people drop. in the 20th century it s completely unacceptable. bbc correspondent stephen cape said the combined unions represented a formidable force which could embarrass the government in the run-up to the general election. a stoppage involving civil servants in particular could seriously disrupt or close government departments agencies and museums he said. opposition to raising the retirement age is one thing all the unions are agreed on our correspondent added. unison s 800 000 workers the transport and general workers union s 70 000 and amicus 20 000 are among those being balloted about a 23 march walkout. deputy prime minister john prescott held a private meeting with senior union figures on thursday night. our correspondent said that he understood no deal had been offered in that meeting but that there was room for further negotiations. there was some possibility of the strike action being avoided he added. | entertainment | 2 |
my memories of marley... to mark the 60th anniversary of the birth of reggae star bob marley rob partridge - marley s former head of press at island records - remembers the man behind the legend. partridge worked with marley from 1977 until the jamaican musician s death in 1981. : i joined island records in 1977 and the first week i was there i worked on his show at the rainbow theatre. it was one of the last dates he did in london. : the album exodus came out in 1977 and that provided five hits and confirmed his global superstar status. by 1979 he was the biggest touring attraction in the world. i remember going to see dates in milan and turin and they were enormous concerts. : bob was one of the most mesmeric people i ve ever had the privilege to work with. he must have had an iron will to succeed. bob was a very driven individual. you realised from the start there was a manifest destiny within him that he believed in. he didn t suffer fools gladly. at the risk of stating the obvious he was an extraordinary song writer and his stage act was perhaps the greatest i ve ever seen. i saw him many times. : i recall in 1978 he came to the uk for top of the pops and a daily mirror journalist did a half-hour interview. it was interrupted to do a rehearsal. he came back into the dressing room to resume the interview but saw a world cup match on tv. he sat down in front of the tv and after 10 minutes it was obvious he wasn t going to move. that was the end of it. the mirror had a very truncated interview. the last time i saw him was in london in 1980. i arranged for him to play four days of football indoors in fulham. bob was a good player. we are talking about jamaican-style football. he was an attacking midfield player. his team assembled wherever his gigs were. we played in brazil against some world cup-winning players. : it was always a struggle for him to connect with black america. reggae did not correspond with disco in the 70s. but bob in the 1990s became one of the great icons in america and the third world. in 1991 ten years after his death he sold more records than at any time during his life. we saw black america taking bob into their hearts for the first time. : bob in worldwide terms is the greatest music star there has ever been. if you went to africa he would be recognised everywhere in places john lennon or elvis wouldn t be. no disrespect to the other artists but a case can be made for him as the greatest the best and the most influential artist in popular music. : well 1981 was to be the year he toured africa with stevie wonder. he had only performed in zimbabwe and guinea before. of course the 1981 tour never happened but the whole of africa would have embraced him. we can t speculate but he was at the height of his powers and just 36 years old. i had no sense his career was going to go downhill. : bob was endlessly optimistic about the way africa would turn out. he realised that nothing was perfect but he had total belief in the power of mankind. i m sure if he were alive today he would believe africa would firstly become politically free and secondly be able to defeat the aids epidemic. : the final tune of his final album was redemption song - one of the most incredible classics of all time. | entertainment | 0 |
digital guru floats sub-$100 pc nicholas negroponte chairman and founder of mit s media labs says he is developing a laptop pc that will go on sale for less than $100 (£53). he told the bbc world service programme go digital he hoped it would become an education tool in developing countries. he said one laptop per child could be very important to the development of not just that child but now the whole family village and neighbourhood . he said the child could use the laptop like a text book. he described the device as a stripped down laptop which would run a linux-based operating system we have to get the display down to below $20 to do this we need to rear project the image rather than using an ordinary flat panel. the second trick is to get rid of the fat if you can skinny it down you can gain speed and the ability to use smaller processors and slower memory. the device will probably be exported as a kit of parts to be assembled locally to keep costs down. mr negroponte said this was a not for profit venture though he recognised that the manufacturers of the components would be making money. in 1995 mr negroponte published the bestselling being digital now widely seen as predicting the digital age. the concept is based on experiments in the us state of maine where children were given laptop computers to take home and do their work on. while the idea was popular amongst the children it initially received some resistance from the teachers and there were problems with laptops getting broken. however mr negroponte has adapted the idea to his own work in cambodia where he set up two schools together with his wife and gave the children laptops. we put in 25 laptops three years ago only one has been broken the kids cherish these things it s also a tv a telephone and a games machine not just a textbook. mr negroponte wants the laptops to become more common than mobile phones but conceded this was ambitious. nokia make 200 million cell phones a year so for us to claim we re going to make 200 million laptops is a big number but we re not talking about doing it in three or five years we re talking about months. he plans to be distributing them by the end of 2006 and is already in discussion with the chinese education ministry who are expected to make a large order. in china they spend $17 per child per year on textbooks. that s for five or six years so if we can distribute and sell laptops in quantities of one million or more to ministries of education that s cheaper and the marketing overheads go away. | science and tech | 0 |
mobiles not media players yet mobiles are not yet ready to be all-singing all-dancing multimedia devices which will replace portable media players say two reports. despite moves to bring music download services to mobiles people do not want to trade multimedia services with size and battery life said jupiter. a separate study by gartner has also said real-time tv broadcasts to mobiles is unlikely in europe until 2007. technical issues and standards must be resolved first said the report. batteries already have to cope with other services that operators offer like video playback video messaging megapixel cameras and games amongst others. bringing music download services based on the success of computer-based download services will put more demands on battery life. fifty percent of europeans said the size of a mobile was the most important factor when it came to choosing their phone but more power demands tend to mean larger handsets. mobile phone music services must not be positioned to compete with the pc music experience as the handsets are not yet ready said thomas husson mobile analyst at jupiter research. mobile music services should be new and different and enable operators to differentiate their brands and support third generation network launches. other problems facing mobile music include limited storage on phones compared to portable players which can hold up to 40gb of music. the mobile industry is keen to get into music downloading after the success of apple s itunes napster and other net music download services. with phones getting smarter and more powerful there are also demands to be able to watch tv on the move. in the us services like tivo to go let people transfer pre-recorded tv content onto their phones. but the gartner report on mobile tv broadcasting in europe suggests direct broadcasting will have to wait. currently tv-like services where clips are downloaded are offered by several european operators like italy s tim and 3. mobile tv will have to overcome several barriers before it is widely taken up though said the report. various standards and ways of getting tv signals to mobiles are being worked on globally. in europe trials in berlin and helsinki are making use of terrestrial tv masts to broadcast compressed signals to handsets with extra receivers. a service from the norwegian broadcasting corporation lets people watch tv programmes on their mobiles 24 hours a day. the service uses 3gp technology one of the standards for mobile tv. but at the end of 2004 the european telecommunications institute (etsi) formally adopted digital video broadcasting handheld (dvb-h) as the mobile tv broadcasting standard for europe. operators will be working on the standard as a way to bring real-time broadcasts to mobiles as well as trying to overcome several other barriers. the cost and infrastructure needs to set up the services will need to be addressed. handsets also need to be able to work with the dvb-h standard. tv services will have to live up to the expectations of the digital tv generation too which expects good quality images at low prices according to analysts. people are also likely to be put off watching tv on such small screens said gartner. digital video recorders like europe s sky+ box and video-on-demand services mean people have much more control over what tv they watch. as a result people may see broadcasting straight to mobiles as taking away that control. more powerful smartphones like the xda ii nokia 6600 sonyericsson p900 and the orange e200 offering web access text and multimedia messaging e-mail calendar and gaming are becoming increasingly common. a report by analysts instat/mdr has predicted that smartphone shipments will grow by 44% over the next five years. it says that smartphones will make up 117 million out of 833 million handsets shipped globally by 2009. | entertainment | 2 |
brits debate over urban music joss stone a 17-year-old soul singer from devon beat dizzee rascal jamelia lemar and the streets to win best british urban act at the brit awards. her victory has reignited the debate about what urban music is. i m not really comfortable with the word urban. it s a word that s been manufactured in this country and america to describe black music. the word urban seems to cover such a broad range of black music that it s wrong. how far are the brits removed from inner-city music and what people are doing it s so far removed that i don t expect them to get it bang on. the music industry isn t championing music from our particular genre very well anyway. people don t feel like that s anything to do with us. i don t feel like urban music s just been celebrated by [joss stone] winning or her being nominated or by the brits acknowledging that there s an urban music scene because it s all a kick in the teeth at the end of the day. it s not really relevant. if joss stone is the closest thing that they feel comfortable championing because of what she looks like and how she sounds and who she s signed to then so be it. it s got nothing to do with what s really going on. urban as a genre is very broad. if you look underneath urban there are a number of core elements that include hip-hop r&b garage and into that obviously comes soul. joss stone is a soul artist. her first album was called the soul sessions. so urban is a very broad brushstroke that is the umbrella over the top of sub-genres and there are offshoots of all of those. joss stone has had amazing success [in the us] given that she s a uk artist. what has really captured everybody s imagination is that here you have a 17-year-old from devon with a voice to die for and a bunch of really really good tunes and she looks good - i think that s what s done it. the award for best british urban act was voted for by viewers of mtv base. i don t think joss was not a worthy winner. she makes soul music and that definitely comes under the category of what we describe as urban. the fact that she s from devon is the interesting thing because most of the music we cover is made in large cities and she s literally rural. the great thing about urban music is that there s a big range. if there is some sort of root with black music or dance music in britain i think that s where you can call it urban - that s where this new sub-category or uber-category has come from. joss stone is certainly not old enough to have had some of the experiences of an older soul singer but you couldn t argue that she was being inauthentic with her emotions - it is coming from somewhere genuine. it has to come across as real. that s the only cut-off point we have here and that s the only way by which we judge people. what urban means to us as an organisation is the politically correct term to describe music which originated from a black background. music should become inclusive and if we are fighting for a multi-cultural britain then we should be fighting for inclusion rather than exclusion. if joss stone can be accepted within the urban music community i think acts from other ethnicities doing classical music and rock should be accepted too. race doesn t make a difference if everyone is included. out of all the awards dished out yesterday i m still trying to find out what people of other races received any sort of recognition or award. a type of music (especially street music) that originates from a city and typically reflects or is characteristic of urban life. she might not be urban but when did r&b become the hip hop tainted thing it is now r&b stands for rhythm and blues remember! that joss stone is rubbish is certain. if anyone deserves to win an award for urban music (i think probably should include hip-hop soul & funk at least but not rock or pop) this year its the streets although dizzee rascal stakes a good claim she definitely deserved to win a prize joss stone s albums are quite simply amazing easily better than anything else that was released last year. this whole debate about what is urban what isnt urban is completely pointless and probably fueled by urban artists who weren t nominated or didn t win. i cant see why people can t just congratulate her for the talent that she is. she did deserve it but i agree with the comments about urban music. its a stupid phrase and particularly british. in the states they tend to use hip hop and r&b if i say hip hop here a lot of people have no idea what i m talking about. very strange. what s in a name a rose by any other name etc... if people want to call it urban why not if we really analysed it the term dance music is misleading because it doesn t describe everything you can dance to. whilst i agree that the term urban is open to interpretation it strikes me as simply weird that joss stone has won. urban to me is what i hear being played in parties in the inner cities - i live in brixton and have never heard the soul sessions pumping out of of a bass heavy sound system in any parties i ve been to. good luck to joss stone let s celebrate her victory - let s also question why with artists so successful and talented as jamelia lemar kanye west dizzee rascal alicia keys and outkast - we didn t see a single black artist on stage collecting an award. so what you re saying is that any music that has black heritage is not allowed to be sung by anyone who isn t black. and if it is then they shouldn t be acknowledged for it even if they re pretty dam good at it she s 17 has an amazing voice and won. good on her. oh but she s not black well let s make her feel real bad about it then. how dare she! though hang on didn t the so-called public vote on this one this idea of pigeonholing whatever is popular at the time is no different than what was happening in the 1940s and 50s in relation to what jazz was. the media then called anything that had a swinging beat syncopated melody or soulful feeling jazz much to the chagrin of the artists. it would mean that blues would be put in the same mould as bebop cool and ragtime all very different styles at that time. jazz was and remains such a massively misunderstood term. and so what of urban music in truth it s a lazy term to categorise music that you don t really understand. soul and garage are worlds apart musically (marvin gaye v tuff jam ) but no doubt have their connections. if we just let the music speak for itself and not judge the success of an artist by the number of awards won then maybe we can enjoy the music for what it is rather than what it represents. i demand a prize for rural music! sucks to the cities- it s way better out here. we have hay for one thing. excluding her from what has become known as urban music would be as bad as excluding lenny kravitz or hendrix from rock music for being black surely i dont understand the point that ty is making. if lemar who makes music which is less soulful than joss work won he might have said nothing. (btw i m black too) how can she be urban if she spent most of her life in the devon countryside nonsense. i love joss to bits and don t care what her branding is - it s amazing music full stop. stop puting it all in brackets and let s just call it music and let s especially drop the black / urban tag - nearly all music came from black origin this just sets an example that it is ok to pigeonhole people and their music by their colour. surely the point of having an urban music category is simply to acknowledge artists that are making what is (historically) considered urban music irrelevent of the colour of their skin or where they originate from. joss stone is simply singing a certain type of music that can be considered urban in style just as someone from an inner city and indeed not from the usa could sing country music. if that person was good at it and authentic in sound would we criticise it being referred to as country music or the artist for representing that style the term urban in reference to a music genre in uk has developed in part from the controversy surrounding the branding of the mobo awards. the very term music of black origin has confused and offended many people. this is particularly strange given the existence of the asian music awards. it appears that the use of black or white in relation to music makes people feel uncomfortable. the term urban therefore has been invoked to sidestep the debate of which type of music came first black or white thereby rendering the issue colourblind. the result is now a redundant new debate as to what urban also means. perhaps we should have created a new term altogether to describe the various strains of soul/rnb and hip-hop one which does not also mean something else - as we have done with crunk . urban is just a word that s come about recently to describe black music that s become popular now. the word wasn t even in use or common use five of six years ago. it s just a way of the industry clumping it all together without having to call it black music because some people are oversensitive and might call them racist for it. i m in a band that has been called urban and i despise the label. i d hate to think i belonged to any neat marketing niche because that s all it is. ever since the music channels and record comapnies tried to fracture what they consider music of black origin these labels have been used to undermine the status of good music into a commodity. look at all the tv broadcasters unable to reach young people without condesending they simply play some urban music on the soundtrack as if its some dreadful cheap lift music. ignore the labels it is what it is just music. as a black man i think i agree with some of the statements at least the statements made by the key executives. black people should lead the music they invented . we should stop calling a genre meaningless northing is meaningless. the real question is would joss stone would have been that successful doing the music she was doing if she were black same thing with streets amy winehouse etc. who s ever heard of terri walker or rhian benson.. they are both 10 times better than joss stone and both of them have won urban music awards and i think mobos but why not brits so what if joss stone won the urban awards. her music is great soul and surely that is under the urban banner what if the streets had won would people be whining because mike skinner is white... it seems that a lot of the fuss is about race where the real issue should be music and nothing else. urban is pc version for saying black music. i m not doubting ms stone s talent but why didn t jamelia or lemar get a brit this reminds me of what happened to craig david and soul ii soul in the past getting nominations are easy to get but picking up a brit seems to be the hardest thing. refreshing to see people making reasonable intelligent comments on any topic these days. more power to you people! you have said it: there is music you like and music you don t like - who cares what label you put on it that entire category was a mess. how can you have people like dizzee rascal up against joss stone its like putting eminem against bob geldof. she should have been nominated for best british r & b act. joss stone deserved to win an award for her talents but i don t think it was very urban of her to sing angels with robbie williams. urban is a nonsense term - music of black origin well doesn t that include rock music made in the inner cities well almost all bands end up making music in london/manchester etc. and doesn t that make some weird implication that all black people live in cities it doesn t make any sense. why does music have to be put into a genre it s music you like it or you don t. simple as that. i play in a heavy metal band. we are urban music as far as i m concerned. we live in cities and spend our working life in an urban environment; it therefore directly shapes what we write musically. urban seems to be the new name for all styles of black music. why it needed a rebrand i don t know as the name is misleading. oasis originate from a city and characterise the urban life they know therefore more than fit the term urban yet as they re a white rock band they won t be described as such. joss stone has a fantastic voice and great timing and delivery - what other reason do they need to award her the brit all this urban and other such categorisation is just the red-tape of the music business and is best ignored. yeah she deserved it. she is talented. urban is a crap meaningless politically correct and probably actually racist marketing term though. there s only two kinds of music: good and bad. | world | 2 |
us composer recreates bach score a us musicologist has recreated a lost musical score by german composer johann sebastian bach. the 1728 composition called wedding cantata bwv 216 was found among the papers of japanese pianist chieko hara who died in japan in 2001 aged 86. the work written for the wedding of a daughter of a german customs official was missing for 80 years. joshua rifkin - a composer and leading interpreter of bach - has recreated the missing instrumental parts. he said he originally wanted to let the lost cantata lie in rest. maybe a fragment should stay a fragment said rifkin. then i thought of palaeontologists from one bone they figure the entire dinosaur. this is my dinosaur. the eight rediscovered pages consist of vocal pieces in german for soprano and alto with the seven movements lasting for a total of between 20 and 25 minutes. the instrumental parts were entirely lost except for two recycled movements a duet and an aria which had been used elsewhere in bach s work. rifkin likened the challenge to a musical rubik s cube . i could not reconstruct what bach wrote but i could give the people of today an idea of what his music was like he said. it sounds like bach s music but the listener should not know which part is bach s and which part is mine. | entertainment | 0 |
child access law shake-up planned parents who refuse to allow former partners contact with their children could be electronically tagged under plans being considered by ministers. curfews and community service orders were other options which could be used if court orders to allow parental access were defied lord falconer said. the constitutional affairs secretary outlined some of the plans on tuesday. he denied fathers activists had forced the changes telling the bbc there is a recognition that something is wrong . between 15 000 and 20 000 couples go to court to resolve access disputes each year although in nine out of 10 separations there is no court intervention. lord falconer told bbc radio 4 s today programme he hoped voluntary mediation could help solve disputes before they reached court. but he opposed compulsory mediation saying that it would lead to many people taking part with the wrong attitude. other plans include: - parenting plans to give advice on access arrangements based on real-life examples that have worked in the past - extending in-court conciliation - more informal hearings before contested court cases - better access to legal emotional and practical advice by telephone and internet - legal aid changes to give incentives for early resolution of disputes. judges can already jail parents who breach contact orders but that was a nuclear option which was rarely used as it was not seen as being in the child s interests a spokesman said. the aim of the new legislation was to provide a medium range of penalties such as fines community service orders compulsory anger management or parenting classes or curfews. failure to comply with these measures could result in offenders being electronically tagged. on the possibility of tagging uncooperative parents lord falconer said: tagging may be going too far but let s have a debate about that. full details of the new powers will not be revealed until a bill is published in the next two weeks a spokesman said. the government s proposals have met with disapproval from fathers rights groups. john ison from the controversial group fathers 4 justice said: it is very disappointing. what we have got is a cynical case of recycling existing legislation. jim parton from families need fathers said the new proposals lacked compulsion . we would like to see couples develop a plan and then have it as a source of a court order - then you know where you stand you know what the minimum access is. otherwise you see people make agreements which then fall apart. mr parton said he had been told by children s minister margaret hodge there was not enough time to pass the bill through parliament before the general election which is likely to take place in may. the conservatives have called for an equal split between parents on access to be made law. theresa may shadow secretary for the family told bbc radio 4 s today programme that the government s plans were inadequate and were papering over the cracks of the current system . she said a conservative government would bring a radical reform of the family courts as well as enforcing a legal presumption of co-parenting and compulsory mediation . we want to make courts the last resort rather than the first resort she added. the government says children cannot simply be divided up like property when a marriage collapses. the liberal democrats have argued for flexibility in deciding access rules rather than having rigid targets . | sports | 2 |
britannia members £42m windfall more than 800 000 britannia building society members are to receive a profit share worth on average £52 each. members of the uk s second largest building society will share £42m with 100 000 receiving a windfall of more than £100. depending on how much they borrow or invest members earn reward points which entitle them to a share of the society s profits. the payouts are bigger than last year because of stricter eligibility rules. last year britannia members shared £42m but the average payment was only £38. to qualify for this year s payment customers must have been members for at least two years on 31 december 2004. britannia has also stopped making payments to members if they are worth less than £5. to qualify for the profit share members must have either a mortgage or an investment account other than a deposit account. customers can also qualify if they have permanent interest bearing shares (pibs). the profit share scheme was introduced in 1997 and has paid out more than £370m. britannia will unveil its results on wednesday. | world | 2 |
regiments group in poll move a regiments campaign group is to target nine marginal labour seats at the general election. save the scottish regiments will also field a candidate against armed forces minister adam ingram in east kilbride. the group which is unhappy at defence merger plans is endorsing opposition candidates in nine seats. the marginals are aberdeen south dumfriesshire dundee east and west south west edinburgh ochil stirling east renfrewshire and western isles. the campaigners unveiled a huge poster featuring black watch soldiers fighting the war in iraq before they announced their election plans. former scots guardsman allan hendry will challenge mr ingram. the group said it is well organised with 350 volunteers and will be announcing at least one other candidate later. it added that it can only be stopped from inflicting serious damage on labour if the government reverses its plan to merge the six scottish regiments. scotland s only conservative mp peter duncan said the save the scottish regiments had done a superb job in fighting against defence cuts. he added: their actions have reflected the pride that most people in this country have in our troops and have shown a steely determination to make labour pay for their betrayal. i have been honoured to speak at their rallies throughout scotland. scottish national party leader alex salmond said it had received a big boost from the campaign s decision to endorse snp candidates in four marginal seats. labour s arrogance has been their undoing. in trying to get rid of scotland s historic regiments labour mps will end up being scrapped themselves he said. however labour mp george foulkes said the campaigners would not make any difference to the outcome of the election and would not win the argument. a serving soldier knows that what labour is proposing is right he said. as well as their election move save the scottish regiments will join other campaigners at a rally in london in the spring. defence secretary geoff hoon announced last year that scotland s regiments would be combined into a single unit. the move was part of overall army reforms. | sports | 2 |
no half measures with half-life 2 could half-life 2 possibly live up to the hype after almost two years of tantalising previews and infuriating delays it s safe to say that this is the most highly-anticipated computer game of all time. fortunately it doesn t merely live up to its promise but exceeds it. no-one who plays the finished product will wonder why it took so long. the impression is of a game that has been endlessly refined to get as close to perfection as could realistically be hoped. all the money - or indeed time - is on the screen. the player sees things through the eyes of gordon freeman the bespectacled scientist who starred in the original 1998 half-life. having survived that skirmish in an desolate monster-infested research facility he s back in another foreboding troublespot - the enigmatic city 17. it has the look of a beautiful eastern european city but as soon as your train pulls in to the station it s clear that all is not well here. sinister police patrol the unkempt streets and the oppressive atmosphere clobbers you like a sledgehammer. a casual smattering of the nightmarish creatures from the first game makes this an even less pleasant place to be. you are herded around like a prisoner and have to mingle with a few freedom-fighting civilians to gather information and progress in your task. it is not immediately explained what your objectives are nor precisely why everything is so ravaged. finding out step-by-step is all part of the experience although you never fully get to understand what it was all about. that does not really matter. hl2 does not waste energy blinding you with plot. underplaying the narrative in this way is gloriously effective and immerses the player in the most vivid convincing and impressive virtual world they are likely to have seen. there are no cut-scenes to interrupt the flow. exposition is accomplished by other characters stopping to talk directly to you. whereas the highly impressive doom iii felt like a top-notch theme park thrill-ride wandering through half-life s world truly does feel like being part of a movie. considering its sophistication the game runs surprisingly well on computers that only just match the modest minimum specifications. but if ever there was an incentive to upgrade your pc s components this is it. on our test machine - an alienware system with an athlon 3500+ processor and ati s radeon x800 video card - everything ran at full quality without trouble and the visual experience was simply jaw-dropping. it is not simply that the surfaces textures and light effects push the technical envelope without mercy but that such care and artistic flair has gone into designing them. the haunting grim landscapes become strangely beautiful. luckily you get time to pause mid-task and marvel at the awesome graphical flourishes of your surroundings. so impressive are the physics that you ll find yourself hurling bits of rubbish around and prodding floating corpses just to marvel at the lifelike way they move. there are puzzles to be solved along the way pitched at about the right difficulty but most progress is achieved by force. freeman is quickly reunited with the original game s famous crowbar and an array of more sophisticated weapons soon follow. virtually anything not nailed to the floor can be interacted with and in realistic fashion. you will be wowed by the attention-to-detail as you chip bits of plaster off walls chase a pigeon out of your way or dodge exploding barrels as they ping around at deadly speed. at times half-life 2 feels like one of those annoying people who are unfeasibly brilliant at everything they turn their hand to and in a curious way its unrelenting goodness actually becomes almost tiresome. running around on foot is great enough but jumping into vehicles proves even more fun. human foes are rendered just as well as alien ones. the stealth sections are as exhilarating as the open gun battles. in gameplay terms hl2 somehow gets almost everything perfect. and without resorting to the zombies-leaping-out-of-shadows approach of doom iii it s all incredibly unsettling. the vacant environment is distinctly eerie and at one point i even caught myself hesitating to go down a murky tunnel for fear of what might be inside. the game does have a couple of problems. firstly the carefully-scripted way that you progress through each level might irk some people. a lot of things are meticulously choreographed to happen on cue which makes for exciting moments but may be an annoyance to some players and limit the appeal of playing again once you ve completed it. if you like things open-ended and free-ranging far cry will be a lot more pleasing. but the real downside is the hassle of getting the game to run. installing it proved a life-draining siege that would test a saint s patience. developer valve has rashly assumed that everyone wanting to play the game will have an internet connection and it forces you to go online to authenticate your copy. the box does warn you of this anti-piracy measure but does not say just how many components have to be downloaded. the time spent doing this will depend on your connection speed the temperamental valve servers and the time of day but it can take hours. it would take a mighty piece of work to feel worthwhile after such annoyances - but luckily half-life 2 is up to the challenge. it is surely the best thing in its genre and possibly many will feel of any genre. the bar has been raised and so far out of sight that you have to sympathise with any game that tries to do anything remotely similar in the near future. half-life 2 is out now for the pc | science and tech | 0 |
moya emotional after davis cup win carlos moya described spain s davis cup victory as the highlight of his career after he beat andy roddick to end the usa s challenge in seville. moya made up for missing spain s 2000 victory through injury by beating roddick 6-2 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-5) to give the hosts an unassailable 3-1 lead. i have woken up so many nights dreaming of this day said moya. all my energy has been focused on today. what i have lived today i do not think i will live again. spain s only other davis cup title came two years ago in valencia when they beat australia. and moya nicknamed charly admitted: the davis cup is my dream and i was a bit nervous at the outset. some people have said that i am obsessed but i think that it is better this way. it helps me reach my goals if i am obsessed. it s really incredible - to get the winning point is really something. spanish captain jordi arrese said: charly played a great game. it was his opportunity and he hasn t let us down. he had lost three times to roddick and this was his day to beat him. he had been waiting years to be in this position. spain s victory was also remarkable for the performance of rafael nadal who beat roddick in the opening singles. aged 18 years and 185 days the mallorcan became the youngest player to win the davis cup. what a great way to finish the year said nadal afterwards. us coach patrick mcenroe wants roddick and the rest of his team to play more tennis on clay and hone their skills on the surface. i think it will help these guys even on slow hard courts to learn how to mix things up a little bit and to play a little bit smarter and tactically better. obviously it s unrealistic to say that we re going to just start playing constantly on clay with the schedule. but certainly i think we can put the work in at the appropriate time and play a couple more events and play against these guys who are the best on this stuff said mcenroe. roddick was left frustrated after losing both his singles on the slow clay of seville s olympic stadium. it s just tough because i felt like i was in it the whole time against one of the top three clay-courters in the world said the american. i had my chances and just didn t convert them. the bottom line is they were just better than us this weekend. they came out took care of business and they beat us. it s as simple as that. | sports | 0 |
what high-definition will do to dvds first it was the humble home video then it was the dvd and now hollywood is preparing for the next revolution in home entertainment - high-definition. high-definition gives incredible 3d-like pictures and surround sound. the dvd disks and the gear to play them will not be out for another year or so and there at are still a number of issues to be sorted out. but when high-definition films do come out on the new format dvds it will profoundly change home entertainment. for rick dean director of business development for digital content company thx a high-definition future is an exciting prospect. he has worked on the star wars dvd trilogy finding nemo the incredibles and indiana jones. there was a time not so long ago when the film world and the video world were two completely separate worlds he told the bbc news website. the technology we are dealing with now means they are very much conjoined. the film that we see in theatres is coming from the same digital file that we take the home video master he says. but currently putting a master feature film onto dvd requires severe compression because current dvd technology cannot hold as much as high-definition films demand. as much as you compress the picture data rate wise you also take qualities away from the picture that we fight so hard to keep in the master he explains. i would love to be able to show people what projects that we worked on really look like in the high-def world and i find it very exciting. high-definition dvds can hold up to six times more data than the dvds we are used to. it will take time though to persuade people who spent money on dvd players to buy the different players and displays required to watch high-definition dvds in 18 months time. mr dean is confident though: i think if they see real hd [high-definition] not some heavily compressed version of it there is such a remarkable difference. i have heard comments from people who say the images pop off the screen. high-definition will mean some changes for those working behind the scenes too. on the whole producing films for high-definition dvds will be easier in some ways because less compression is needed. equally it may mean hollywood studios ask for more to be put onto the average dvd. when we master movies right now our data rates are running at about 1.2 gigabits per second says mr dean. our dvds that we put out today have to be squashed down to about five or six megabits per second. that s a huge amount of compression that has to be applied - about 98%. so if you have anything that allows more space you don t have to compress so hard. studios could fit a lot more marketing material games and features onto high-capacity dvds. currently an entire dvd project can take up to three months says mr dean. although the step of down-converting will be bypassed this will realistically only save a day s work says mr dean. one of the most time consuming elements is building dvd navigation and menu systems. on the fairly complex star wars disks making sure the menu buttons worked took 45 human hours alone. if studios want to cash in on the extra space it could mean extra human hours for which someone has to pay. if the decision on the studio side is that they are going to put a lot more on these disks it could be more expensive because of all the extra navigation that is required. and if studios do focus on delivering more added value content thinks mr dean ultimately it could mean that they will want more money for it. those costs could filter down to the price ticket on a high-definition dvd. but if the consumer is not willing to pay a premium price studios will listen thinks mr dean. high-definition throws up other challenge to film makers and dvd production alike. more clarity on screen means film makers have to make doubly sure that attention to detail is meticulous. when we did the first hd version of star wars episode i everybody was very sun-tanned but that was make-up. in the hd version of episode i all these make-up lines showed up explains mr dean. the restoration of the older star wars episodes revealed some interesting items too. there are scans of a corridor [on the death star] and fairly plainly in one of those shots there is a file cabinet stuck behind one of the doorways. you never used to be able to see it because things are just blurred enough during the pan that you just didn t see it. what high-definition revolution ultimately means is that the line between home entertainment and cinema worlds will blur. with home theatre systems turning living rooms into cinemas this line blurs even further. it could also mean that how we get films and in what format will widen. in the future we are going to look towards file delivery over ip [internet protocol - broadband] giving a dvd-like experience from the set-top box to the hard drive says mr dean. but that is some time off for most and for now people still like to show off something physical in their bookshelves. | politics | 2 |
online games play with politics after bubbling under for some time online games broke through onto the political arena in 2004. the us presidential election provided a showcase for many aimed at talking directly to a generation that has grown up with joysticks and gamepads. experts say this reflects how video games are becoming a mainstream part of culture and society. the first official political campaign game was technically launched during the last week of 2003: the iowa game commissioned by the democrat hopeful howard dean. more than 20 followed suit including frontrunner elections president forever and the political machine which allowed players to run an entire presidential campaign including having to cope with the media. others helped raise the stakes during the bush/kerry contest by highlighting a candidate s virtues or his vices. the phenomenon has astonished the forefathers of political games a handful of multi-discipline games enthusiasts keen to push frontiers. when i started researching political games at the university about five years ago i thought it was going to be something that would take decades to happen said gonzalo frasca computer games specialist at the information technology university of copenhagen. i must admit that i was the first person to be surprised at seeing how fast they have evolved added the uruguayan-born researcher who has so far created games for two political campaigns. many artists and designers are experimenting with this form of gaming with an agenda in projects such as newsgaming.com. the aim is to comment on international news events via games. the ability of games to simulate reality makes them a powerful modelling tool to interact with actual situations in an original way. video games generate strong reactions mainly because they are new but also because our culture needs to learn how to deal with simulation mr frasca told the bbc news website. this was the case with the one he created for a political party in uruguay cambiemos an online puzzle game that offered a view on how the country s problems could be solved by working together. it s up to us to explore what we can learn from ourselves through play and video games. ultimately dr frasca sees games as a small laboratory where we can play with our hopes fears and beliefs. children learn a lot about the world through play. there is no reason why we adults should stop doing it as we grow up. but experts estimate it will still take at least about a decade until this new breed of video gaming communication become a common tool for political campaigns. this is hardly surprising compared to other forms of mass media like the worldwide web. only a few years ago most politicians did not have a webpage while now it is almost a must-have. dr frasca said: political campaigns will continue to experiment with video games. they represent a new tool of communication that can reach a younger audience in a language that can clearly speak to them. it will not replace other forms of political propaganda but it will integrate itself on to the media ecology of political campaigns. | politics | 2 |
camera phones are must-haves four times more mobiles with cameras in them will be sold in europe by the end of 2004 than last year says a report from analysts gartner. globally the number sold will reach 159 million an increase of 104%. the report predicts that nearly 70% of all mobile phones sold will have a built-in camera by 2008. improving imaging technology in mobiles is making them an increasingly must-have buy. in europe cameras on mobiles can take 1.3 megapixel images. but in japan and asia pacific where camera phone technology is much more advanced mobiles have already been released which can take 3.2 megapixel images. japan still dominates mobile phone technology and the uptake there is huge. by 2008 according to gartner 95% of all mobiles sold there will have cameras on them. camera phones had some teething problems when they were first launched as people struggled with poor quality images and uses for them as well as the complexity and expense of sending them via mms (multimedia messaging services). this has changed in the last 18 months. handset makers have concentrated on trying to make phones easier to use. realising that people like to use their camera phones in different ways they have introduced more design features like rotating screens and viewfinders removable memory cards and easier controls to send picture messages. mobile companies have introduced more ways for people to share photos with other people. these have included giving people easier ways to publish them on websites or mobile blogs - moblogs. but the report suggests that until image quality increases more people will not be interested in printing out pictures at kiosks. image sensor technology inside cameras phones is improving. the gartner report suggests that by mid-2005 it is likely that the image resolution of most camera phones will be more than two megapixels. consumer digital cameras images range from two to four megapixels in quality and up to six megapixels on a high-end camera. but a lot of work is being done to make camera phones more like digital cameras. some handsets already feature limited zoom capability and manufacturers are looking into technological improvements that will let people take more photos in poorly-lit conditions like nightclubs. other developments include wide-angle modes basic editing features and better sensors and processors for recording film clips. images from camera phones have even made it into the art world. an exhibition next month in aid of the charity mencap will feature snaps taken from the camera phones of top artists. the exhibition fonetography will feature images taken by photographers david bailey rankin and nan goldin and artists sir peter blake tracey emin and jack vettriano. but some uses for them have worried many organisations. intel samsung the uk s foreign office and lawrence livermore national laboratories in the us have decided to ban camera phones from their buildings for fear of sensitive information being snapped and leaked. many schools fitness centres and local councils have also banned them over fears about privacy and misuse. italy s information commissioner has also voiced concern and has issued guidelines on where and how the phones can be used. but camera phone fears have not dampened the manufacturers profits. according to recent figures sony ericsson s profits tripled in the third-quarter because of new camera phones. over 60% of mobiles sold during the three months through to september featured integrated cameras it said. | science and tech | 0 |
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