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holmes urged to compete at worlds jolanda ceplak has urged britain s kelly holmes to continue competing at the major championships. double olympic gold medallist holmes has strongly hinted she will not run in this year s worlds and is undecided about next month s european indoors. but world indoor 800m record holder ceplak said: there is never an easy race when she is in the field. there is only excitement at what might happen. it is good for the sport. she always fetches the best out of everyone. ceplak has been a great rival of holmes during the briton s career and the pair fell out when holmes questioned the manner of the slovenian s runaway 800m victory at the 2002 european championships. but the controversy has since been forgotten with ceplak acting as pacemaker for holmes failed attempt on the british indoor 1500m record at the norwich union grand prix in birmingham in 2003. ceplak added: i like running against her - you know the race is always going to be fast. that is the sort of competition that i like. she is special to me. she was like my idol from the beginning of my career. meanwhile ceplak will be looking to follow up last saturday s win in boston with a fast time and victory in friday s night of athletics in erfurt germany. britain s jason gardener had been expected to defend his 60m title in erfurt but instead he will save himself for a competition in leipzig on sunday. gardener s decision means scotland s 400m man ian mackie will carry british hopes in what looks sure to be a tough preparation for next weekend s norwich union european trials in sheffield. | sports | 0 |
bp surges ahead on high oil price oil giant bp has announced a 26% rise in annual profits to $16.2bn (£8.7bn) on the back of record oil prices. last week rival shell reported an annual profit of $17.5bn - a record profit for a uk-listed company. bp added that it was increasing its fourth-quarter dividend by 26% to 8.5 cents and that it would continue with share buybacks. bp chief executive lord browne said the results were strong both operationally and financially. the company is earning about $1.8m an hour. despite the record annual profits figure bp s performance was below the expectations of some city analysts. however bp s share price rose 4p or nearly 1% in morning trading to 548p. its profit rise for the year included profits of $3.65bn (£1.97bn) for the final three months of 2004 - up from $2.89bn a year ago but below its third quarter. speaking on the bbc s today programme on tuesday lord browne said the profits were not solely down to the high oil price alone. the profits are up more than the price of oil is up he said. lord browne pointed out that bp was reaping the benefits of its investment in oil exploration. we have spent many years buying (assets) when the price is low he said. the company has made new discoveries in egypt the gulf of mexico and angola. however lord browne rejected calls for a windfall tax on his company s huge profits saying that in the north sea it paid progressively more tax the more profits it made. lord browne believes oil prices will remain quite high. currently above $40 a barrel he said: the price of oil will be well supported above $30 a barrel for the medium term. bp put production for the year at 3.997 billion barrels of oil up 10% on 2003 but slightly lower than the four billion barrels it had initially aimed for. | business | 0 |
china now top trader with japan china overtook the us to become japan s biggest trading partner in 2004 according to numbers released by japan s finance ministry on wednesday. china accounted for 20.1% of japan s trade in 2004 compared with 18.6% for the us. in 2003 the us was ahead with 20.5% and china came second with 19.2%. the change highlights china s growing importance as an economic powerhouse. in 2004 japan s imports from and exports to china (and hong kong) added up to 22 201bn yen ($214.6bn;£114.5bn). this is the highest figure for japanese trade with china since records began in 1947. it compares with 20 479.5bn yen in trade with the us. trade with the us during 2004 was hurt by one-off factors including a 13-month ban on us beef imports following the discovery of a cow infected with mad cow disease (bse) in the us. however economists predict china will become an even more important japanese trading partner in the coming years. on tuesday figures showed china s economy grew by 9.5% in 2004 and experts say the overall growth picture remains strong. analysts see two spurs to future growth as being china s membership of the world trade organisation and lower trade tariffs. during 2004 japan s trade surplus grew 17.9% to 12.011 trillion yen with more than half the surplus 6.962 trillion yen accounted for by its trade with the us. in december the surplus grew 1.8% on a year ago to 1.14 trillion yen thanks to stronger-than-expected exports. | world | 2 |
row over police power for csos the police federation has said it strongly opposes giving community support officers (csos) the power to detain suspects for up to 30 minutes. the powers - piloted in six areas - were extended to all police forces in england and wales on thursday. the federation said csos do not have the experience training and safety equipment to deal with potentially confrontational situations. but the government said the move would help police build safe communities . police federation chairman jan berry said civilian officers should act as eyes and ears for the police. they should not be placed in potentially confrontational situations - which detaining someone clearly is she said. csos can now use reasonable force to detain suspects for up to 30 minutes while they wait for police officers to arrive. the powers will be granted by chief constables of local forces. ms berry said this dramatically changes their original purpose - to be a visible presence combating low-level crime and anti-social behaviour. she said more powers would mean more paperwork and less time on the street. but home office minister hazel blears defended the move saying it would give the civilian officers just that little bit of edge . she denied their role was changing and said the new powers would not take them away from the streets. the powers that we are bringing in are things that they need to do when they are out patrolling she said. the home office has produced its own report on csos which it describes as encouraging . ms blears said the study shows csos are making a real difference in the fight against crime. but the report also showed that the public is having difficulties distinguishing between a civilian officer and a proper officer. shadow home secretary david davis said the research appeared to acknowledge that csos were having no discernible effect on crime figures. while the answer is a lot more real police the government wants to recruit 25 000 people who can t arrest anyone he said. bbc home affairs correspondent danny shaw said the research is inconclusive. there are about 3 500 csos in england and wales but the government intends to have 25 000 on the streets by 2008 at a cost of £50m. they already have powers to hand out fines for a wide range of offences. the serious organised crime and police bill proposes extra powers to search suspects enforce licensing offences direct traffic and deter begging. | politics | 0 |
chelsea clinch cup in extra-time (after extra-time - score at 90 mins 1-1) john arne riise volleyed liverpool ahead after 45 seconds but steven gerrard scored a 79th-minute own goal. blues boss jose mourinho was sent off for taunting liverpool fans after the goal and he watched on television as his side went on to win the game. drogba and kezman scored from close range before antonio nunez s header made for a tense finale. it was an amazing climax which gave mourinho his first silverware as chelsea manager. yet it was controversial too after mourinho s sending off apparently for putting his finger to his lips to hush the liverpool fans. there was no hushing them after the extraordinary opening in which the reds took a stunning lead inside the first minute. riise could not have connected any better with morientes cross as he smashed a left-foot volley past petr cech. the goal the quickest-ever in a league cup final stunned a blues side whose previously rock-solid confidence had been shaken by consecutive losses to newcastle and barcelona in the previous week. the blues attacking chances were limited and jerzy dudek was equal to frank lampard s powerfully-struck drive and drogba s low shot. despite their frustration chelsea began to dominate midfield without seriously threatening to break liverpool s well-organised defence. joe cole had a shot blocked and a promising damien duff break was halted by a good tackle from djimi traore but the reds reached half-time without any major scares. the blues began the second half with more urgency and pegged liverpool back. nevertheless liverpool were living dangerously and they needed a fantastic double save from dudek on 54 minutes first at full stretch from gudjohnsen s header then to smother william gallas follow-up. and despite chelsea s possession it was liverpool who fashioned the next clear opportunity as luis garcia fed dietmar hamann whose shot forced a superb save from cech. and the blues increasingly adventurous approach saw liverpool earn another chance on the break on 75 minutes as paulo ferreira denied gerrard with a last-ditch tackle. but gerrard was on the scoresheet minutes later - in the most unfortunate fashion - as he inadvertently deflected ferrerira s free-kick past his own keeper and in off the post to bring chelsea level. that prompted mourinho s reaction which saw him sent off but chelsea still pressed and duff had a chance to win the game with seven minutes remaining. dudek saved bravely at the irishman s feet while milan baros shot wildly at the other end to ensure extra time. drogba almost headed chelsea in front two minutes into extra-time but the striker saw the ball rebound off the post. but seconds after the half-time interval drogba made no mistake picking the ball up from glen johnson s long throw inside the six-yard box and sidefooting home. and kezman appeared to have made the game safe as he netted from close range after gudjohnsen s cross in the 110th minute. there was still drama as nunez beat cech to a high ball with six minutes remaining to head his side level but despite liverpool s desperate attacks chelsea clung on to win. dudek finnan carragher hyypia traore (biscan 67) luis garcia gerrard hamann riise kewell (nunez 56) morientes (baros 74). subs not used: pellegrino carson. hyypia traore hamann carragher. riise 1 nunez 113. cech paulo ferreira ricardo carvalho terry gallas (kezman 74) jarosik (gudjohnsen 45) lampard makelele cole (johnson 81) drogba duff. subs not used: pidgeley tiago. lampard kezman drogba duff. gerrard 79 og drogba 107 kezman 112. 78 000 s bennett (kent). | world | 2 |
how to make a gigapixel picture the largest digital panoramic photo in the world has been created by researchers in the netherlands. the finished image is 2.5 billion pixels in size - making it about 500 times the resolution of images produced by good consumer digital cameras. the huge image of delft was created by stitching together 600 single snaps of the dutch city taken at a fixed spot. if printed out in standard 300 dots per inch resolution the picture would be 2.5m high and 6m long. the researchers have put the image on a website which lets viewers explore the wealth of detail that it captures. tools on the page let viewers zoom in on the city and its surroundings in great detail. the website is already proving popular and currently has more than 200 000 visitors every day. the image was created by imaging experts from the dutch research and technology laboratory tno which created the 2.5 gigapixel photo as a summer time challenge. the goal of the project was to be one of the first groups to make gigapixel images. the first image of such a size was manually constructed by us photographer max lyons in november 2003. that image portrayed bryce canyon national park in utah and was made up of 196 separate photographs. the panorama of delft is a little staid in contrast to the dramatic rockscape captured in mr lyons image. he did it all by hand which was an enormous effort and we got the idea that if you use automatic techniques it would be feasible to build a larger image said jurgen den hartog one of the tno researchers behind the project. we were not competing with mr lyons but it started as a lunchtime bet. the dutch team used already available technologies although it had to upgrade them to be able to handle the high-resolution image. we had to rewrite almost all the tools me den hartog told the bbc news website. all standard windows viewers available would not be able to load such a large image so we had to develop one ourselves. the 600 component pictures were taken on july 2004 by a computer-controlled camera with a 400 mm lens. each image was made to slightly overlap so they could be accurately arranged into a composite. the stitching process was also done automatically using five powerful pcs over three days. following the success of this project and with promises of help from others the tno team is considering creating a full 360-degree panoramic view of another dutch city with even higher resolution. | science and tech | 0 |
tottenham bid £8m for forest duo nottingham forest have confirmed they have received an £8m bid from tottenham for andy reid and michael dawson. reid rejected a move to southampton after forest accepted a cash-plus-players offer while spurs had made previous bids for the 22-year-old. spurs had also made an undisclosed offer for 21-year-old defender dawson. forest chief executive mark arthur said: we ve received an £8m bid from spurs for the two players and we re considering the offer. southampton s offer for republic of ireland international reid comprised £3m-plus and two players - brett ormerod and darren kenton. spurs had seen previous bids of £3m £4m and £5m for reid rejected by the championship club. | sports | 0 |
manufacturing recovery slowing uk manufacturing grew at its slowest pace in one-and-a-half years in january according to a survey. the chartered institute of purchasing and supply (cips) said its purchasing manager index (pmi) fell to 51.8 from a revised 53.3 in december. but despite missing forecasts of 53.7 the pmi number remained above 50 - indicating expansion in the sector. the cips said that the strong pound had dented exports while rising oil and metals prices had kept costs high. the survey added that rising input prices and cooling demand had deterred factory managers from hiring new workers in an effort to cut costs. that triggered the second successive monthly fall in the cips employment index to 48.3 - its lowest level since june 2003. the survey is more upbeat than official figures - which suggest that manufacturing is in recession - but analysts said the survey did suggest that the manufacturing recovery was running out of steam. it appears that the uk is in a two-tier economy again said prebon yamane economist lena komileva. you have weakness in manufacturing which i think would concern policymakers at the bank of england. | business | 0 |
ibm puts cash behind linux push ibm is spending $100m (£52m) over the next three years beefing up its commitment to linux software. the cash injection will be used to help its customers use linux on every type of device from handheld computers and phones right up to powerful servers. ibm said the money will fund a variety of technical research and marketing initiatives to boost linux use. ibm said it had taken the step in response to greater customer demand for the open source software. in 2004 ibm said it had seen double digit growth in the number of customers using linux to help staff work together more closely. the money will be used to help this push towards greater collaboration and will add linux-based elements to ibm s workplace software. workplace is a suite of programs and tools that allow workers to get at core business applications no matter what device they use to connect to corporate networks. one of the main focuses of the initiative will be to make it easier to use linux-based desktop computers and mobile devices with workplace. even before ibm announced this latest spending boost it was one of the biggest advocates of the open source way of working. in 2001 it put $300m into a three-year linux program and has produced linux versions of many of its programs. linux and the open source software movement are based on the premise that developers should be free to tinker with the core components of software programs. they reason that more open scrutiny of software produces better programs and fuels innovation. | science and tech | 0 |
confusion over high-definition tv now that a critical mass of people have embraced digital tv dvds and digital video recorders the next revolution for tv is being prepared for our sets. in most corners of tv and technology industries high-definition (hdtv) is being heralded as the biggest thing to happen to the television since colour. hd essentially makes tv picture quality at least four times better than now. but there is real concern that people are not getting the right information about hd on the high street. thousands of flat panel screens - lcds (liquid crystal displays) plasma screens and dlp rear-projection tv sets - have already been sold as hd but are in fact not able to display hd. the uk is the largest display market in europe according to john binks director of gfk which monitors global consumer markets. but he added: of all the flat panel screens sold just 1.3% in the uk are capable of getting high-definition. there are 74 different devices that are being sold as hd but are not hd-ready according to alexander oudendijk senior vice president of marketing for satellite giant astra. they may be fantastic quality tvs but many do not have adaptors in them - called dvi or hdmi (high-definition multimedia interface) connectors - which let the set handle the higher resolution digital images. part of this is down to lack of understanding and training on the high street say industry experts who gathered at bafta in london for the 2nd european hdtv summit last week. we have to be careful about consumer confusion. there is a massive education process to go through said mr binks. the industry already recognised that it would be a challenge to get the right information about it across to those of us who will be watching it. eventually that will be everyone. the bbc is currently developing plans to produce all its tv output to meet hdtv standards by 2010. preparations for the analogue switch-off are already underway in some areas and programmes are being filmed with hd cameras. bskyb plans to ship its first generation set-top boxes to receive hdtv broadcasts in time for christmas. like its sky+ boxes they will also be personal video recorders (pvrs). the company will start broadcasts of hdtv programmes offering them as premium channel packages concentrating to start with on sports big events and films in early 2006. but the set-top box which receives hdtv broadcasts has to plug into a display - tv set - that can show the images at the much higher resolution that hd demands if hdtv is to be real . by 2010 20% of homes in the uk will have some sort of tv set or display that can show hd in its full glory. but it is all getting rather confusing for people who have only just taken to being digital . as a result all the key players those who make flat panel displays as well as the satellite companies and broadcasters formed a hd forum in 2004 to make sure they were all talking to each other. part of the forum has been concerned with issues like industry standards and content protection. but it has also been preoccupied with how to help the paying public know exactly what they are paying for. from next month all devices that have the right connectors and resolution required will carry a hd-ready sticker. this also means they are equipped to cope with both analogue and hdtv signals and so comply with the minimum specification set out by the industry. the logo is absolutely the way forward said david mercer analysts with strategy analytics. but it is still not appearing on many retail products. the industry is upbeat that the sticker will help but it is only a start. we can only do so much with the position we are in today with manufacturers said mr oudendijk. there may well be a number of dissatisfied customers in the next few months. the european broadcast union (ebu) is testing different flavours of hd formats to prepare for even better hdtv further down the line. it is similarly concerned that people get the right information on hdtv formats as well as which devices will support the formats. we believe consumers buying expensive displays need to ensure their investment is worthwhile said phil laven technical director for the ebu. the tv display manufacturers want us to watch hd on screens that are at least 42in (106cm) to get the true impact of hd they say although smaller displays suffice. what may convince people to spend money on hd-ready devices is the falling prices which continue to tumble across europe. the prices are dropping an average of 20% every year according to analysts. lcd prices dropped by 43% in europe as a whole last year according to mr oudendijk. | politics | 2 |
greek sprinters suspended by iaaf greek sprinters kostas kenteris and katerina thanou have been suspended after failing to take drugs tests before the athens olympics. athletics ruling body the iaaf said explanations from the pair and their former coach as to why they missed the tests were unacceptable . it added that kenteris and thanou had been provisionally suspended pending the resolution of their cases . they face two-year bans if found guilty by the greek athletics federation. the suspension also covers the athletes controversial coach christos tzekos. kenteris the 2000 olympic 200m champion and thanou the women s 100m silver medallist from the same games in sydney also face a criminal hearing in greece over the missed tests. they failed to appear to give samples in chicago and tel aviv shortly before the athens games and again in athens on 12 august the eve of the opening ceremony. greek prosecutors have also charged them with faking a midnight motorcycle crash which led to them spending four days in hospital. some medical staff have been charged with writing false medical reports. wednesday s statement said the greek federation (segas) would convene a disciplinary hearing for the trio to determine whether there had been doping violations. there will be a final right of appeal from the decision of the greek federation to the court of arbitration for sport the iaaf said. tzekos insisted he and the runners had nothing to hide. the iaaf s decision means nothing he said. we ll be presenting all our arguments to segas - we re innocent. | sports | 0 |
wolves appoint hoddle as manager glenn hoddle will be unveiled as the new wolves manager on tuesday. the club have confirmed that the former england coach will be unveiled as the successor to dave jones at a news conference at molineux at 1100 gmt. hoddle has been linked with a return to former club southampton but wolves have won the race for his services. he has been out of the game since being sacked at spurs in september 2003 and worked alongside wolves caretaker boss stuart gray at southampton. hoddle began his managerial career as player-boss with swindon before moving on to chelsea and then taking up the england job. his spell in charge of the national side came to an end after the 1998 world cup when he made controversial remarks about the disabled in a newspaper interview. the 47-year-old later returned to management with southampton where he again succeeded jones - as he has now done at wolves. he engineered an upturn in saints fortunes before being lured to white hart lane by tottenham - the club where he made his name as a player. that relationship turned sour at the start of the last campaign and he left the london club early last season. since then he has applied unsuccessfully for the post of france manager and had also been linked with a return to southampton. wolves are currently 17th in the championship and have a home game against millwall on tuesday. | 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. | politics | 0 |
stern dropped from radio stations controversial dj howard stern has been dropped from four us radio stations because he keeps promoting his move to a network broadcasting on satellite. cidatel broadcasting said stern had transformed his show into a continuous infomercial promoting sirius his new satellite radio employer . stern will join the sirius subscription service which is not governed by us regulators next year. citadel pulled stern s show from stations in new york and pennsylvania. stern had been holiday for two weeks but his show did not return to the four stations as expected on 3 january. citadel said it did not yet know whether it would return to its network. stern announced in october that he was leaving conventional radio where his syndicated show goes out across the us for the relatively restriction-free satellite service. the dj s broadcasts are well known for landing in trouble with regulators for obscene and sexually explicit rantings. stern was dropped by six stations owned by media giant clear channel in 2004 after it had to pay the federal communications commission $1.75m (£950 000) over breaches indecency laws. media giant viacom has also reportedly agreed to the fcc s demands that if stern is issued with another indecency violation then his show must be pulled from all of its stations. viacom has also been hit with record fines of $3.5m (£1.8m) over stern and two other new york djs. but stern continues to be one of the most popular talk show hosts particularly in the 25-54 age category. | entertainment | 0 |
call to overhaul uk state pension the uk pension system has been branded inadequate and too complex by a leading retirement think-tank. the pensions policy institute (ppi) said replacing the state pension with a citizen s pension would help tackle inequality and complexity. the change would see pensions being calculated on length of residency in the uk rather than national insurance (ni) contributions. reform could reduce poverty by aiding people with broken employment records. the ppi added that once the state system was reformed the government should look at options to overhaul private and workplace pensions. the think tank s proposals were made in response to the recent publication of the pensions commission s initial report into uk retirement savings. according to the pensions commission s report 12 million working people are not saving enough for their retirement. as a result living standards could fall for the next generation of uk pensioners. the report added that a combination of higher taxes higher savings and/or a higher average retirement age was needed to solve the uk pension crisis. | business | 0 |
worldcom boss left books alone former worldcom boss bernie ebbers who is accused of overseeing an $11bn (£5.8bn) fraud never made accounting decisions a witness has told jurors. david myers made the comments under questioning by defence lawyers who have been arguing that mr ebbers was not responsible for worldcom s problems. the phone company collapsed in 2002 and prosecutors claim that losses were hidden to protect the firm s shares. mr myers has already pleaded guilty to fraud and is assisting prosecutors. on monday defence lawyer reid weingarten tried to distance his client from the allegations. during cross examination he asked mr myers if he ever knew mr ebbers make an accounting decision . not that i am aware of mr myers replied. did you ever know mr ebbers to make an accounting entry into worldcom books mr weingarten pressed. no replied the witness. mr myers has admitted that he ordered false accounting entries at the request of former worldcom chief financial officer scott sullivan. defence lawyers have been trying to paint mr sullivan who has admitted fraud and will testify later in the trial as the mastermind behind worldcom s accounting house of cards. mr ebbers team meanwhile are looking to portray him as an affable boss who by his own admission is more pe graduate than economist. whatever his abilities mr ebbers transformed worldcom from a relative unknown into a $160bn telecoms giant and investor darling of the late 1990s. worldcom s problems mounted however as competition increased and the telecoms boom petered out. when the firm finally collapsed shareholders lost about $180bn and 20 000 workers lost their jobs. mr ebbers trial is expected to last two months and if found guilty the former ceo faces a substantial jail sentence. he has firmly declared his innocence. | business | 0 |
troubled marsh under sec scrutiny the us stock market regulator is investigating troubled insurance broker marsh & mclennan s shareholder transactions the firm has said. the securities and exchange commission has asked for information about transactions involving holders of 5% or more of the firm s shares. marsh has said it is co-operating fully with the sec investigation. marsh is also the focus of an inquiry the new york attorney-general into whether insurers rigged the market. since that inquiry was launched in october marsh has replaced its chief executive and held a boardroom shake-out to meet criticism by lessening the number of company executives on the board. prosecutors allege that marsh - the world s biggest insurance broker - and other us insurance firms may have fixed bids for corporate cover. this is the issue at the heart of the inquiry by new york s top law officer eliot spitzer and a separate prosecution of five insurers by the state of california. the sec s investigation into so-called related party transactions includes dealings in the trident funds managed by mmc capital the company s private equity firm. marsh s new chief executive michael cherkasky is trying to negotiate a settlement with mr spitzer. mr spitzer has built up a reputation as a fierce critic and campaigner against corporate america s misdeeds. the uncertainty unleashed by the scandal has prompted three credit rating agencies - standard & poor s moody s and fitch - to downgrade marsh in recent weeks. according to the financial times insurance analysts are now questioning whether marsh will be able to maintain its strong record of earning growth as they draw up forecasts for the first quarter of next year. doubts also exist over how much the company may have to pay regulators and lawyers to put the scandal behind. | entertainment | 2 |
top judge clashes with ministers the uk s top judge has revealed he has clashed with ministers about how the heads of public inquiries are chosen. lord woolf said he was determined his current veto on whether a judge should chair an inquiry should continue as a guard for judicial independence. but he told mps the lord chancellor lord falconer was insisting he should have the final say in such cases. lord hutton s inquiry into the death of dr david kelly sparked debate about who should run inquiries. the government says the lord chancellor would be unlikely to go against lord woolf s wishes. lord woolf who is lord chief justice of england and wales was giving evidence to the commons public administration select committee s inquiry into public inquiries. he said he had not been involved in the choice of lord hutton who as a law lord did not come under his jurisdiction. but he argued he should have a veto on whether judges generally should chair a particular inquiry and if so which judge it should be. in written evidence to the committee lord woolf said: i have so far failed to reach an agreement with the lord chancellor on this issue ... i intend to maintain my position and will press for this safeguard to be in any future legislation. judges should think carefully before heading an inquiry into a highly political issue such as the intelligence on iraq s weapons of mass destruction he said. he argued: the subject matter of the inquiry may be so political that it would be damaging to the judiciary for a judge to be involved. in addition the question of whether there should be an inquiry at all may be highly controversial and if a judge is appointed the judiciary as a result of the appointment may be seen as siding inappropriately with the government. he told the mps: anything that tends to undermine the confidence of the public in the judiciary worries me. lord woolf said the current rules were not written down but it was inconceivable in practice that the lord chancellor would overrule his concerns. but that situation could change with new legal reforms. the issue had been overlooked when a new agreement was drawn up about those responsibilities and the dispute had emerged in later discussions. what i am asking for is a situation where if the lord chancellor cannot obtain my agreement [on appointing a judge] it doesn t happen he said. lord woolf said he did not think there would be difficulties but he wanted to establish the principle. a department for constitutional affairs spokeswoman said lord woolf and lord falconer agreed about what happened in practice. their disagreement is about whether the legislation should include a requirement for consultation or concurrence - a very narrow dispute in lord woolf s words she said. as lord woolf also acknowledged it is highly unlikely that the lord chancellor would appoint a judge against the wishes of the lord chief justice. judges are free to decide for themselves whether to accept positions as inquiry chairs. parliament will examine the issue next year when it debates a new bill about public inquiries. | politics | 0 |
act on detention ruling uk urged the government must act quickly on the law lords ruling that detention of foreign terror suspects without trial is unlawful mary robinson has said. the former un commissioner for human rights and irish president told radio 4 s today the government s response would be scrutinised internationally. it would be very troubling if the government did not accept the judgement and then work within it she said. home secretary charles clarke has said detainees will not be freed at present. speaking to parliament on his first day in office as home secretary following david blunkett s resignation mr clarke said: i will be asking parliament to renew this legislation in the new year. in the meantime we will be studying the judgement carefully to see whether it is possible to modify our legislation to address the concerns raised by the house of lords. mrs robinson said the law lords ruling was in line with international legal opinion and praised their very decisive eight to one majority. what the law lords did was acknowledge the role of the government but say that there had been a disproportionate use that it amounted to executive detention and it was discriminatory because it didn t apply to british citizens she said. mrs robinson warned that a lack of action by the british government could lead to further action in legal arenas such as the european court of human rights in strasbourg. if the government were not to accept this ruling then there is further redress including possible damages for the individuals who could claim that the government either was tardy or was resisting the implications of the judgement of the law lords. she said a meeting of the club of madrid - a group of former world leaders - to be held in the spanish capital on the march anniversary of the train bombings there would probably discuss the ruling and its implications. i have no doubt that this judgement will be looked at both as a very positive step in clarifying the law and restating the fundamental principles but also the response of the british government will be under quite a clear international scrutiny there. the detainees took their case to the house of lords after the court of appeal backed the home office s powers to hold them without limit or charge. the government opted out of part of the european convention on human rights concerning the right to a fair trial in order to bring in anti-terrorism legislation in response to the 11 september attacks in the us. any foreign national suspected of links with terrorism can be detained or can opt to be deported. the law lords said the rules were incompatible with the european convention on human rights as they allowed detentions in a way that discriminates on the ground of nationality or immigration status . the case was heard by a panel of nine law lords rather than the usual five because of the constitutional importance of the case. | politics | 0 |
building giant in asbestos payout australian building products group james hardie has agreed to pay $1.1bn (£568m) to victims of asbestos-related diseases. the landmark deal could see thousands of people suffering from lung diseases - caused by asbestos the company once made - receive compensation. the move follows angry protests after the firm said a previous compensation fund was running out of money. a subsequent new south wales state inquiry criticised hardie s actions. in september the inquiry found that the company had misled the public about the amount of money set aside to cover its asbestos-related liabilities sparking the resignation of its then chief executive peter macdonald. campaigners welcomed news of the preliminary agreement. this is a momentous day in the fight for victims and their families said asbestosis sufferer bernie banton who leads a victims association. there is still a long way to go but we are getting there. james hardie chairwoman meredith hellicar said the deal provided for a funding arrangement that is affordable sensible and workable . at the end of the day we are dealing with compensation for people who are terminally ill. we don t know exactly how many of them there will be we don t know over what exact period they will fall ill she said. however the deal still has to receive the approval of hardie s shareholders. hardie which currently makes more than 80% of its revenues in the us was once australia s biggest supplier of asbestos building materials. in 2001 the company set up a fund to compensate asbestos victims but it later admitted the fund was running short of money. a decision by hardie to move its headquarters to the netherlands - while remaining a listed company in australia - provoked a damaging public outcry. victims groups accusing it of trying to escape its responsibilities by moving abroad a charge the company denies. australia s securities watchdog is currently investigating hardie s former chief executive and former chief financial officer over allegations of misleading investors and the general public. | entertainment | 2 |
rock band u2 break ticket record u2 have smashed irish box office records with ticket sales for their dublin concerts after more than 150 000 were sold within 50 minutes. tickets for the two concerts at the city s croke park stadium were released at 8am on friday morning. nothing like it has ever been seen in ireland before said justin green spokesman for organisers mcd promoters. we could have sold a million tickets. the dublin dates on june 24 and 25 form part of the worldwide vertigo tour. the tour begins in san diego on 28 march and will cover 13 us cities. the band will also play 24 european gigs finishing in lisbon in august. mr green said that ticket outlets had been bombarded by u2 fans. unfortunately there s thousands and thousands of disappointed fans all over the country which is disappointing but there s only two dates confirmed he said. many fans camped on the streets of the irish capital for three days to ensure they were first in line at ticketmaster in st stephen s green shopping centre where the tickets went on sale on friday. however the majority of tickets priced at between 59.50 and 80 euro each were sold online. earlier this week bono announced that the band would play two shows at the venue which holds almost 80 000 people due to the phenomenal demand for tickets. | business | 2 |
foxx and swank win us awards jamie foxx and hilary swank have won the screen actors guild awards for best male and female film actors boosting their oscars hopes this month. foxx s portrayal of late soul-singer ray charles in ray had already earned him a prestigious golden globe award. swank triumphed for playing a gutsy female boxer in million dollar baby. modest wine country comedy sideways knocked out favourites million dollar baby and the aviator by taking the top prize for best cast performance. the screen actors guild (sag) represents us film and tv actors. its winners often go on to win oscars. in other nominations cate blanchett triumphed as the best supporting actress for her role as katharine hepburn in the aviator. veteran actor morgan freeman took the best supporting actor award for playing a prize-fighter turned gym manager in million dollar baby. thank you for ray charles for just living so complex and so interesting and making us all just come together said foxx accepting his award in los angeles on saturday. he also praised the film director: thank you for taylor hackford for taking a chance with an african-american film. taylor you re my director of the year. swank too was full of praise for her director and co-star clint eastwood. i bow down to you swank said to the 74-year-old eastwood. you are a talent beyond compare. if i m half the person you are and half the talent you are when i m 74 i will know that i ve accomplished something great. both foxx and swank are now considered to be among the favourites to get oscars - the hollywood s ultimate prize. however swank has to overcome a strong challenge from annette bening a nominee for the theatre farce being julia. meanwhile ballots for oscars - the hollywood s top honours - were mailed earlier this week to members of the academy of motion picture arts and sciences. the voting is due to end on 22 february - five days before the ceremony. | entertainment | 0 |
howard attacks cost of asylum michael howard has launched an attack on the cost of britain s chaotic asylum system under tony blair. the tory leader said english local authorities have spent more than £3bn - or £140 per household - on asylum since labour won power in 1997. mr howard is expected to tell activists in kent that voters tolerance and desire to help others are being abused. other parties and refugee agencies have already attacked tory plans for annual limits on numbers. mr howard said britain should take its fair share of the world s genuine refugees . the anniversary of the liberation of auschwitz - where my grandmother was murdered along with over a million others - has reminded all of us that we have a moral responsibility to those fleeing persecution he was due to say. but if we are to fulfil responsibility we have to get a grip of the system. fair play matters. people want a government that upholds the rules - not one that turns a blind eye when they are bent and abused he said. and let s be clear. our asylum system is being abused - and with it britain s generosity. earlier this week mr howard said his party s plans to cut immigration were not racist arguing they would make the asylum system fairer for genuine refugees. if elected his party would institute an annual limit on asylum and all claims would be processed overseas. that prompted some charities to say the plans would put refugees lives at risk if they were turned away once quotas were filled. if we have a moral responsibility towards people fleeing persecution then these policies will not provide a safe haven said hannah ward of the refugee council. if people turn up in the uk asking for help they will be turned away. michael howard s policy effectively means there is no safe haven in the uk. when it comes to costs then perhaps we should start with how decisions are made on asylum seekers. so many of them are shown to be wrong - one in five decisions that are appealed are successfully overturned rising to half for some nationalities. we need good quality decision-making on asylum applications because it is delays in the system which cost so much. tony blair said labour would set out workable plans for tackling immigration abuse in the next few weeks and attacked the tory plans. by cutting the number of front-line immigration staff at our borders they will actually make the problem worse said mr blair. liberal democrat chairman matthew taylor said there needed to be a quick fair and firm asylum system. but he said it was absolutely disgusting to propose a system which could turn away genuine refugees. the conservatives say there is little risk of this happening as demand for asylum will be considered when quotas are set. on monday mr howard said: it s not racist as some people to claim to talk about controlling immigration far from it. | politics | 0 |
goodrem wins top female mtv prize pop singer delta goodrem has scooped one of the top individual prizes at the first australian mtv music awards. the 21-year-old singer won the award for best female artist with australian idol runner-up shannon noll taking the title of best male at the ceremony. goodrem known in both britain and australia for her role as nina tucker in tv soap neighbours also performed a duet with boyfriend brian mcfadden. other winners included green day voted best group and the black eyed peas. goodrem green day and the black eyed peas took home two awards each. as well as best female goodrem also took home the pepsi viewers choice award whilst green day bagged the prize for best rock video for american idiot. the black eyed peas won awards for best r n b video and sexiest video both for hey mama. local singer and songwriter missy higgins took the title of breakthrough artist of the year with australian idol winner guy sebastian taking the honours for best pop video. the vh1 first music award went to cher honouring her achievements within the music industry. the ceremony was held at the luna park fairground in sydney harbour and was hosted by the osbourne family. artists including carmen electra missy higgins kelly osbourne green day ja rule and natalie imbruglia gave live performances at the event. | entertainment | 0 |
kidman wins photographer battle actress nicole kidman has won a restraining order against two paparazzi photographers who she claims left her fearful of leaving her sydney mansion. the oscar-winning star took action against jamie fawcett and ben mcdonald after a bugging device was found outside her home earlier this week. lawyers for the pair denied allegations they had planted the device. the australian actress is currently in sydney to film her latest movie eucalyptus with russell crowe. kidman was prompted to take action following a reported high-speed car chase with members of the paparazzi in sydney last weekend. according to local newspaper the daily telegraph the incident involved paparazzi driving through red lights and on the wrong side of the road in pursuit of kidman s vehicle. lawyers for mr fawcett and mr mcdonald denied that the pair were involved in the chase. kidman sought the apprehended violence orders - normally used in australia in cases of domestic violence and similar incidents - after being advised to do so by local police. nicole would like to make it clear that she acknowledges she is a public figure and that reporters and photographers have a job to do and she respects that said kidman s publicist wendy day. however these are specific actions against two individuals who over a period of time have caused her to feel threatened intimidated and unable to leave her home without fearing for her safety. magistrate lee gilmore who issued the restraining order at waverley local court in sydney said she understood the photographers were entitled to earn a living but there had to be limits to their behaviour. miss kidman says she s willing to put up with some of it but it s gone beyond that she said. i do believe the allegation in relation to the driving is a serious issue. | sports | 2 |
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. | politics | 0 |
anglers could face prosecution anglers and fishermen could find themselves prosecuted under plans to crack down on animal cruelty a committee of mps has warned. sloppy wording of the draft animal welfare bill could leave anglers facing court even though it was not intended the environment select committee said. the mps said they were concerned the government had not consulted directly on its plans to improve animal welfare. they raised complex and emotive issues which needed to be resolved mps said. they called for a cast-iron guarantee that the government consults on any plans to regulate animal industries like pet fairs and game bird rearing. the draft bill seeks to modernise and improve animal welfare legislation and intends to protect kept animals and companion animals by setting up a duty of care . in addition to maintaining existing cruelty offences it creates an offence of neglect by keepers who fail to protect the animals for whom they are responsible. the bill would allow animal welfare officers to intervene to prevent harm to an animal as well as outlawing mutilation of animals - unless it can be demonstrated to be in the animal s best interest. the environment select committee made 101 recommendations after hearing evidence from 51 organisations and individuals. one was a call to amend the bill so that prosecutions against those engaged in fishing were not inadvertently encouraged - even if they were to later fail. we accept that neither commercial fishing nor recreational angling should fall within the remit of the of the draft bill and we therefore support the government s intention to exempt fishing as an activity. but the committee said an amendment was needed to ensure cases were not brought. however in exempting fishing the government should be careful to ensure that those persons who catch fish are not given carte blanche to inflict unnecessary suffering in the course of pursuing this activity the committee added. the committee also said some legal protections for animals were downgraded by the bill such as the law on abandonment of animals which would be significantly weakened . mps urged the government to redraft clauses relating to the prosecution of cruelty offences. this was because as it stood the draft bill would allow certain acts that should be prosecuted - such as unnecessary suffering caused to an animal through neglect or unnecessary mental suffering - to go unpunished. committee chairman michael jack said: any change in the law as it affects animals always arouses powerful emotions and great public interest. this draft bill is no exception. my committee welcomes the development of an approach to animal welfare which doesn t just wait for a problem to occur but enables action to be taken to protect animals before irreversible suffering takes place. but mr jack said the bill very much had the feel of a work in progress and urged the government to guarantee that an obligation to consult will be enshrined in law before it extended legislative plans to areas such as pet fairs circuses and game bird farms. the government must work hard to take the rough edges of its initial proposals before the bill is introduced to parliament he added. | science and tech | 2 |
dutch bank to lay off 2 850 staff abn amro the netherlands largest bank is to cut 2 850 jobs as a result of falling profits. the cuts - amounting to 3% of the bank s workforce - will result in a one-off charge of 790m euros ($1.1bn). about 1 100 jobs will go in investment banking while 1 200 and 550 will go in it and human resources respectively. abn amro is the third large european bank to announce cutbacks in the past month following deutsche bank and credit suisse group. its profitability has been hit by a fall in mortgage lending in the united states - the bank s largest single market - following recent interest rate rises. abn amro s operations in the netherlands and the united kingdom will be hardest hit. jobs will also be lost in the us - which accounted for 46% of profit in the first half of 2004 - and across its operations in the americas and asia-pacific regions. the restructuring is designed to improve efficiency by reducing administrative costs and increasing focus on client service. the bank said it was on course for a 10% rise in net income this year but operating profits are set to fall because of a fall in us revenues. abn amro currently has more than 100 000 staff. to get any profit growth in the coming years they will have to lower costs so shedding jobs makes total sense ivo geijsen an analyst with bank oyens & van eeghen told bloomberg. europe s leading banks seem set for a period of retrenchment. deutsche bank said earlier this month it would reduce its german workforce by 1 920 while as many as 300 jobs will be lost at credit suisse first boston. | science and tech | 2 |
us airways staff agree to pay cut a union representing 5 200 flight attendants at bankrupt us airways have agreed to a new contract that cuts pay by nearly 10%. the deal will help the carrier trying to survive by cutting costs by nearly $1bn (£530m) a year save about $94m. more than two thirds of its 28 000 staff have now accepted wage cuts. but talks are still continuing with a union representing mechanics baggage handlers and cleaners which has so far failed to negotiate a new contract. the seventh largest carrier in the us sought bankruptcy protection for a second time in two years last september. it had been one of the quickest to deal with difficulties faced by the aviation industry after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. but it emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy in march 2003 to face competition from low-cost carriers and higher fuel costs. us airways management has said it may need to start liquidating assets if it does not receive concessions from all staff by the middle of this month. | world | 2 |
ad sales boost time warner profit quarterly profits at us media giant timewarner jumped 76% to $1.13bn (£600m) for the three months to december from $639m year-earlier. the firm which is now one of the biggest investors in google benefited from sales of high-speed internet connections and higher advert sales. timewarner said fourth quarter sales rose 2% to $11.1bn from $10.9bn. its profits were buoyed by one-off gains which offset a profit dip at warner bros and less users for aol. time warner said on friday that it now owns 8% of search-engine google. but its own internet business aol had has mixed fortunes. it lost 464 000 subscribers in the fourth quarter profits were lower than in the preceding three quarters. however the company said aol s underlying profit before exceptional items rose 8% on the back of stronger internet advertising revenues. it hopes to increase subscribers by offering the online service free to timewarner internet customers and will try to sign up aol s existing customers for high-speed broadband. timewarner also has to restate 2000 and 2003 results following a probe by the us securities exchange commission (sec) which is close to concluding. time warner s fourth quarter profits were slightly better than analysts expectations. but its film division saw profits slump 27% to $284m helped by box-office flops alexander and catwoman a sharp contrast to year-earlier when the third and final film in the lord of the rings trilogy boosted results. for the full-year timewarner posted a profit of $3.36bn up 27% from its 2003 performance while revenues grew 6.4% to $42.09bn. our financial performance was strong meeting or exceeding all of our full-year objectives and greatly enhancing our flexibility chairman and chief executive richard parsons said. for 2005 timewarner is projecting operating earnings growth of around 5% and also expects higher revenue and wider profit margins. timewarner is to restate its accounts as part of efforts to resolve an inquiry into aol by us market regulators. it has already offered to pay $300m to settle charges in a deal that is under review by the sec. the company said it was unable to estimate the amount it needed to set aside for legal reserves which it previously set at $500m. it intends to adjust the way it accounts for a deal with german music publisher bertelsmann s purchase of a stake in aol europe which it had reported as advertising revenue. it will now book the sale of its stake in aol europe as a loss on the value of that stake. | world | 2 |
deutsche boerse set to woo lse bosses of deutsche boerse and the london stock exchange are to meet amid talk that a takeover bid for the lse will be raised to £1.5bn ($2.9bn). last month the german exchange tabled a 530 pence-per-share offer for lse valuing it at £1.3bn. paris-based euronext owner of liffe in london has also said it is interested in bidding for lse. euronext is due to hold talks with lse this week and it is reported to be ready to raise £1.4bn to fund a bid. euronext chief jean-francois theodore is scheduled to meet his lse counterpart clara furse on friday. deutsche boerse chief werner seifert is meeting ms furse on thursday in the third meeting between the two exchanges since the bid approach in december. the lse rejected deutsche boerse s proposed £1.3bn offer in december saying it undervalued the business. but it agreed to leave the door open for talks to find out whether a significantly-improved proposal would be in the interests of lse s shareholders and customers. in the meantime euronext which combines the paris amsterdam and lisbon stock exchanges also began talks with the lse. in a statement on thursday euronext said any offer was likely to be solely in cash but added that: there can be no assurances at this stage that any offer will be made. a deal with either bidder would create the biggest stock market operator in europe and the second biggest in the world after the new york stock exchange. according to the ft in its latest meeting deutsche boerse will adopt a charm offensive to woo the london exchange. the newspaper said the german suitor will offer to manage a combined cash and equities market out of london and let ms furse take the helm. other reports this week said the deutsche boerse might even consider selling its luxembourg-based clearstream unit - the clearing house that processes securities transactions. its ownership of clearstream was seen as the main stumbling block to a london-frankfurt merger. lse shareholders feared a deutsche boerse takeover would force them to use clearstream making it difficult for them to negotiate for lower transaction fees. | entertainment | 2 |
profile: gordon brown the ultimate prize of 10 downing street may continue to elude him but as he prepares to deliver a record-breaking ninth budget gordon brown can at least console himself with the thought that he is the longest serving chancellor of modern times. he reached that milestone last june when he overtook david lloyd george who served for seven years and 43 days between 1908 and 1915. how much longer mr brown will continue in the job is not clear (he once said there are two types of chancellor: those who fail and those who get out in time. ) there are rumours he will be moved to the foreign office if labour wins the general election. but for now mr brown dominates the domestic political scene like few chancellors - or politicians - before him. gordon brown was born in glasgow on 20 february 1951 the son of a church of scotland minister in the small fife town of kirkcaldy. at 12 he was canvassing for labour and by his 20s he was a leading political activist in scotland. he achieved a first class degree in history from edinburgh university where he went on to complete a phd. his early career was spent lecturing working in television and making a name for himself in the scottish labour party. his first attempt to enter westminster for edinburgh south in 1979 was thwarted by the present tory spokesman on foreign affairs michael ancram. but in 1983 he took dunfermline east a new constituency including rosyth naval base pit villages and coastal towns. entering westminster he came to share an office with the newly elected mp for sedgefield tony blair. within four years mr brown had gained his first frontbench post as shadow chief secretary to the treasury. he became shadow chancellor under john smith s leadership in 1992. after the death of leader john smith in 1994 he stood aside agreeing to give tony blair a clear run at the leadership during a now infamous meal at the granita restaurant in islington. the other part of the deal that mr blair will one day stand down in favour of the chancellor is the stuff of westminster legend. mr blair s supporters say such a deal never existed and endless newspaper columns - and even a television film - have been devoted to the alleged deal. but if his leadership ambitions were at least temporarily thwarted in 1994 mr brown continued his devotion to politics. during the 1997 election campaign he is said to have worked an average of 18 hours a day six days a week after running on a treadmill for an hour each morning. this dedication to his career was underlined by a comment by mr brown s former girlfriend of five years princess marguerite of romania the eldest daughter of ex-king michael of romania who said a relationship with him was politics politics politics . if that was true then mr brown who married pr executive sarah macaulay in 2000 changed his perspective when the couple were hit by tragedy early in 2002. their daughter jennifer died in edinburgh royal infirmary 10 days after being born seven weeks prematurely. a year later in october 2003 the couple had a son - john - an event which again gave the chancellor an opportunity to show his softer side. a trip to africa earlier this year to publicise his scheme to cancel the debt of poor nations also gave the chancellor an opportunity to show his more human side. the ideological differences between mr brown and mr blair remain relatively modest. the chancellor opposes the further encroachment of the market into the nhs and is seen as being more old labour than mr blair in his approach to wealth redistribution. but their shared belief that market economics are compatible with social justice continues to form the ideological heart of the new labour project. yet they are portrayed by the media as being locked in almost permanent conflict with mr brown supposedly nursing resentment at being betrayed by his younger downing street neighbour over the succession. mr blair for his part is said to be frustrated that his public service reforms are being thwarted by a vengeful mr brown who reportedly delights in keeping the prime minister in the dark over the contents of his budget until the last possible minute. after a recent run of negative headlines labour mps took the unprecedented step of making a direct appeal to the two men stop bickering for the good of the party. events like this and the testimony of former ministerial colleagues make it impossible to dismiss the brown/blair feud as just journalistic hearsay cooked up by hacks and camp followers in the hothouse atmosphere of westminster. how much it damages the ability of government to do its job is open to question. a truce appears to have been called in the run up to the general election after a fresh spat was sparked by blairite alan milburn being brought in over the head of mr brown to run the election campaign. but with the tories having appeared to get the better of the pre-election campaign thus far there are reports that mr brown - using the budget as a springboard - is to revitalise labour s campaign. amid all this it is easy to forget that mr brown remains the man most likely to succeed mr blair as labour leader. there may be no shortage of possible contenders for the crown - including mr milburn - but none can command the sort of support in the parliamentary party and beyond that mr brown can. and mr blair s decision to name his own retirement date has at least given mr brown something to aim for - even if the prime minister s intention to serve a full third term if elected took the shine off the announcement for the chancellor and his supporters. | world | 2 |
bomb threat at bernabeu stadium spectators were evacuated from real madrid s bernabeu stadium on sunday following a bomb scare during the game between the hosts and real sociedad. more than 70 000 people abandoned the ground with the score at 1-1 and only three minutes left to play. the basque newspaper gara apparently received a telephone call saying a bomb was due to explode at 2100 local time. but after searching the stadium with sniffer dogs the police said that no explosive device had been found. the police have said they have completed their search and have not found anything said real madrid president florentino perez. the best thing we can all do now is to put this nightmare behind us. madrid midfielder guti told private spanish radio station cadena ser: i have never seen this before and sport should be above it all. real took the lead just before the break when brazilian striker ronaldo cracked home with his left foot. sociedad levelled the match midway through the second half when turkish striker nihat kahveci smashed home with an acrobatic finish. it is not yet clear if the remaining three minutes of the game will be played at a later date or if the result will be allowed to stand. if the result remains at 1-1 real will drop to third place in the standings 11 points behind leaders barcelona who snatched a late 2-1 win at albacete on saturday. initial reports suggested the basque separatist group eta may be responsible for the bomb threat after issuing similar warnings before a series of small explosions in recent days. the bernabeu was targeted by eta on 1 may 2002 when madrid were about to play fc barcelona in a champions league semi-final. a car bomb exploded in a street outside the stadium and 17 people were slightly injured. | sports | 0 |
uk tv channel rapped for csi ad tv channel five has been criticised for sending offensive and threatening advertising material to viewers for a new show about murder scene scientists. five mailed thousands of fake dossiers including photos of murder victims and an e-mail suggesting the recipient was being stalked by a serial killer. following complaints the advertising standards authority contacted five to cease promotion of crime show csi:ny. five admitted it had sent out 55 000 promotion packs but had now stopped. the promotion material was sent in brown envelope of the type used by investigators in the series a spin-off from the highly successful csi: crime scene investigation series which also runs on five. the pack also features pictures of forensic evidence from a crime scene and a wanted poster which did have a csi:ny logo printed in large at the bottom. five said it had received 100 complaints but that it had been surprised at the reaction because it was obvious this material is promoting a drama . a five spokesman said: in light of the efforts we have made to make the nature of the contents so transparent we are surprised a very small minority of recipients have mistaken it as anything else. everyone who was sent this promotion has expressed an interest in receiving details about this particular genre of programming on various websites. we have also received emails and calls from recipients praising the originality and imagination of the campaign. | world | 2 |
j-lo and husband plan debut duet singers jennifer lopez and husband marc anthony a latin pop star are to perform a duet at this month s grammy awards in los angeles. anthony became lopez s third husband in june 2004. he won a grammy in 1998 and is nominated for two more this year. the 13 february ceremony will also include a rendition of the beatles across the universe by bono stevie wonder norah jones and brian wilson. the song will go on sale online to raise money for the tsunami aid effort. the awards show will also feature performances from u2 green day alicia keys and kanye west - but the lopez and anthony duet is likely to be one of the biggest talking points. anthony born in new york to a puerto rican family is reported to be the biggest-selling salsa artist of all time. he is nominated this year for best latin pop album and best salsa/merengue album. the tsunami tribute song will also feature alicia keys velvet revolver and tim mcgraw. fans will be able to download it for $0.99 (£0.53) from itunes or purchase the video from the cbs tv network s site. kanye west the rapper who leads the awards with 10 nominations will perform alongside john legend mavis staples and the blind boys of alabama. there will also be a tribute to ray charles featuring bonnie raitt and billy preston and a celebration of southern rock with tim mcgraw gretchen wilson lynyrd skynyrd dickie betts and elvis bishop. ray charles who died in june 2004 has seven posthumous nominations. alicia keys and usher share eight nominations each. | politics | 2 |
cardinal criticises iraq war cost billions of pounds spent on conflict in iraq and in the middle east should have been used to reduce poverty cardinal cormac murphy-o connor has said. the head of the catholic church in england and wales made the comments on bbc radio 4 and will re-iterate his stance in his christmas midnight mass. the cardinal used a christmas message to denounce the war in iraq as a terrible waste of money. he and the archbishop of canterbury have both spoken out about the war. speaking on bbc radio 4 s thought for the day slot he criticised the fact that billions have been spent on war instead of being used to bring people out of dire poverty and malnourishment and disease . the cardinal said 2005 should be the year for campaigning to make history poverty . he added: if the governments of the rich countries were as ready to devote to peace the resources they are willing to commit to war that would be to see with new eyes and speak with a new voice and perhaps then others would listen to us with new ears. the cardinal will touch on this theme again on friday night when he will tell the congregation of 2 000 at westminster cathedral that peace is worth always striving for . how is it that peace has not arrived the cardinal will ask. how is it that there is war in iraq violence in the holy land and the horror of pain and death amongst the poor and deprived who suffer from injustice and thus do not find peace how can one wish a happy christmas for our fellow christians in iraq or in the holy land or those who suffer in africa unless you and i in whatever way is open to us say and do what makes for peace both the cardinal and archbishop of canterbury dr rowan williams appealed for the weapons inspectors to be given more time in iraq before the war started. dr williams has since criticised the government over its case for war saying the failure to find weapons of mass destruction had damaged faith in the political system. on friday the cardinal will ask the congregation to search for peace. it is possible it is real it is worth always striving for because of the promise of our saviour he will say. i also wish you peace in your homes because peace in your home is the beginning of peace in the homes of the community. a spokesman said downing street had no comment to make. but prime minister tony blair has said he will put africa at the top of the agenda when britain chairs the g8 summit next year. | politics | 0 |
everton s weir cools euro hopes everton defender david weir has played down talk of european football despite his team lying in second place in the premiership after beating liverpool. weir told bbc radio five live: we don t want to rest on our laurels and say we have achieved anything yet. i think you start taking your eye off the ball if you make statements and look too far into the future. if you start making predictions you soon fall back into trouble. the only thing that matters is the next game. he said: we are looking after each other and hard work goes a long way in this league. we have definitely shown that. also injuries and suspensions haven t cost us too badly and we have a lot of self-belief around the place. | sports | 0 |
french consumer spending rising french consumers increased their spending by 1.5% in january a figure which bodes well for the country s economic growth figures revealed. the national statistic institute (insee) added that consumer spending in january rose 3.8% on a year-on-year basis. rising sales of household equipment were behind the increase. the insee also said that french consumer prices fell 0.6% in january but were up 1.6% on an annual basis. despite the general increase in spending in january french households bought fewer cars in january. according to the insee car sales fell 2.8% in january following a fall of 0.6% in december. but on a year-on-year basis the sector still saw a sales increase of 6.5%. consumer spending fuelled france s economic growth in the last quarter of 2004 and analysts expect that it will continue to support the economy. it s a growth that will remain fragile and vulnerable to risks like a strong rise in long-term interest rates tension in the oil price emmanuel ferry from exane bnp paribas told reuters news agency. meanwhile in italy consumer confidence rose to its highest level since october 2004. economic research group isae has said that italian consumer confidence rose to 104.4 from 103.3 despite a slight deterioration in short-term sentiment. | science and tech | 2 |
souness backs smith for scotland graeme souness believes walter smith would be the perfect choice to succeed berti vogts as scotland manager. souness s former assistant at rangers is hot favourite to take over from vogts who resigned on monday. walter is most definitely the ideal candidate for that job. he d be perfect for it souness told bbc sport. the scottish football association has appointed tommy burns as provisional caretaker-boss for the friendly against sweden on 17 november. he fits the bill because of his knowledge and understanding of the scotland team and football. he is experienced and has been successful. souness added: walter is a real football person as i know from working with him at ibrox. on top of all that he is a proper human being who would command the instant respect of the players and everyone involved in scottish football. souness joined sir alex ferguson in backing smith s claims. the scottish football association is about to embark on the search for vogts successor after appointing tommy burns in a caretaker capacity. ferguson said: he (smith) would be the outstanding candidate as far as i m concerned. you need somebody who knows what they re doing and walter would bring a wealth of experience to the job. the man utd boss continued: i don t know what credentials are needed to do the job but it s a job that needs a lot of experience. he was my assistant with scotland and here at manchester united and he has also managed glasgow rangers. he would need to change the whole shape of scottish football and radical changes are needed. smith was assistant to ferguson at the world cup in mexico in 1986. the former everton and rangers boss has been out of the game since a spell as manchester united assistant last term. bbc sport understands that smith would be willing to discuss taking over if he was approached by the scottish fa. if he is tempted to take over it seems almost certain smith s long-time right-hand man archie knox would also play a part in the national team set-up. smith already has the backing of many pundits and fans including former scotland manager craig brown. brown said: walter is an outstanding candidate without doubt. he would be admirable choice. i spoke to him on sunday and i got the impression he would take it. he was asking me about it and i was positive. other candidates for the job include former scotland midfielders gordon strachan and gary mcallister and vogts assistant tommy burns. | entertainment | 2 |
halo 2 heralds traffic explosion the growing popularity of online gaming could spell problems for net service firms warns network monitoring company sandvine. it issued the warning following analysis which shows that traffic on the xbox game network increased fourfold on the launch day of halo 2. the 9 november traffic explosion has continued into december said sandvine. service providers now need to make sure that their networks can cope with the increasing demands for bandwidth. as well as being a popular single-player title halo 2 can be connected to microsoft s subscription-based broadband network xbox live. gamers who want to play online can create their own clan or team and take on others to see how well they compare. but the surge in numbers and huge demands for bandwidth should be a wake-up call to the industry which must ensure that their networks can cope with the increases in traffic said sandvine s chief technology officer marc morin. in a bid to cope and ease congestion providers are increasingly making their networks intelligent finding out who is using bandwidth and for what. it could become common to charge people for the amount of bandwidth they use. the explosion in xbox live traffic attributed to halo 2 should be seen as a clarion call he said. isps need to enhance the broadband experience for these high-end users by prioritising or reserving bandwidth for games he added. one of the main factors that spoils online gaming is lag in which there is a noticeable delay between a gamer clicking on a mouse or keyboard and what happens in the online gaming world. gamers tend to migrate toward networks with the lowest lag . analysing traffic will become increasingly important for service providers if they are to hold on to bandwidth-hungry gamers said lindsay schroth an analyst with research firm the yankee group. in the competitive broadband environment operators need to differentiate the way they offer access to services like live-play gaming she said. in countries such as korea which has high levels of fast net connections to homes online gaming is hugely popular. | science and tech | 0 |
cebit fever takes over hanover thousands of products and tens of thousands of visitors make cebit the place to be for technology lovers. welcome to cebit 2005 was the message from the pilot as we landed the message on flyers at the airport and the message on just about every billboard in town. cebit fever has taken over hanover. hotels have been booked out for months; local people are letting out rooms in their homes to the hoards of exhibitors visitors and journalists. cebit itself is huge the exhibition site could almost be classified as a town in its own right. there are restaurants shops and a bus service between the halls - of which there are 27. there are more than 6 000 companies here showing their latest products. the list of them that i was given when i came in is the size and weight of a phone book. one of the mains themes this year is the digital home and one of the key buzzwords is convergence. the entertainment pc is being billed as the replacement for dvd players stereos telephones and computers - offering a one-box solution wirelessly connected throughout a house. to show them off one display has been modelled as a prototype digital lifestyle home by german magazine computer reseller news. we wanted to show how this fits into a living room or workplace to give people a feeling how it would work in their homes said claudia neulling from the magazine. the house has webcams for security in each room which can be called up on the high definition tv connected to the pc in the living room. that pc provides home entertainment movies or music. it can also be linked to the car parked outside which is kitted out with a processor of its own along with a dvd player and cordless headphones for the kids in the back. convergence for me is about how technology the transfer of data can do things that make it easier and more convenient for me as a consumer said mark brailey director of corporate marketing for intel. the real challenge is to show people it s easier than they think and fun. he firmly believes that entertainment pcs are the future but says they have to get past people s fears of frequent crashes and incompatibilities. that is something microsoft is trying to do too - its stand has computers running windows xp media centre edition 2005 for people to try out. mobile phones do not escape the convergence theme. samsung is showing off its sgh-i300 a handset with a three gigabyte hard drive that can be used to watch compressed video or as an mp3 player. and if you would rather watch live tv than a downloaded movie nec is showing a phone on sale in china which can show analogue tv on its colour screen. i think the most probable application is at somewhere like the train station - if you want to check the status of the soccer game for example said koji umemoto manager of mobile terminals marketing for nec. he admitted that the signal quality is not very good if you are on the move and they do not have plans to launch it in europe at the moment. nokia was happy to demonstrate its 6230i an upgrade to the very popular 6230. it now has a 1.3 megapixel camera and a music player that can handle multiple formats rather than just mp3s. it is also compatible with nokia s new visual radio technology. the handset can receive fm broadcasts and the user can interact with compatible broadcasts using a gprs connection to take part in competitions or get extra information such as the name of the song playing. most companies are reluctant to show prototypes preferring to display products that are already on sale or just about to hit the market. portable media player firm creative showed off a new wireless technology based on magnetic inductance rather than radio - a system some hearing aids use. the benefits over conventional bluetooth are the lack of interference and longer battery life said riccardo de rinaldini creative s european marketing manager. the firm has a prototype headset linked up to a zen micro player. the transmitter on the player creates a private magnetic bubble around the user which is picked up by the headset. the range is only about one metre so it is only suitable for personal use. a single aaa battery is said to last up to 30 hours. creative expects it to hit the market in its final form later this year. even clothing is likely to be part of the convergence trend. adidas has a trainer which according to susanne risse from the company can sense understand and adapt to your running style . it has a battery processor and motor embedded in the sole. buttons on the side allow you to set the amount of cushioning you would like by adjusting the tension on a cable running through the heel. the processor then monitors the surface you are running on and adjusts the tension accordingly. it is being billed as the world s first intelligent shoe . | science and tech | 0 |
no re-draft for eu patent law a proposed european law on software patents will not be re-drafted by the european commission (ec) despite requests by meps. the law is proving controversial and has been in limbo for a year. some major tech firms say it is needed to protect inventions while others fear it will hurt smaller tech firms. the ec says the council of ministers will adopt a draft version that was agreed upon last may but said it would review all aspects of the directive . the directive is intended to offer patent protection to inventions that use software to achieve their effect in other words computer implemented invention . in a letter ec president josé manuel barroso told the president of the european parliament josep borrell that the commission did not intend to refer a new proposal to the parliament and the council (of ministers) as it had supported the agreement reached by ministers in may 2004. if the european council agrees on the draft directive it will then return for a second reading at the european parliament. but that will not guarantee that the directive will become law - instead it will probably mean further delays and controversy over the directive. most eu legislation now needs the approval of both parliament and the council of ministers before it becomes law. french green mep alain lipietz warned two weeks ago that if the commission ignored the parliament s request it would be an insult to the assembly. he said that the parliament would then reject the council s version of the legislation as part of the final or conciliation stage of the decision procedure. in the us the patenting of computer programs and internet business methods is permitted. this means that the us-based amazon.com holds a patent for its one-click shopping service for example. critics are concerned that the directive could lead to a similar model happening in europe. this they fear could hurt small software developers because they do not have the legal and financial might of larger companies if they had to fight patent legal action in court. supporters say current laws are inefficient and it would serve to even up a playing field without bringing eu laws in line with the us. | world | 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. | sports | 2 |
blog reading explodes in america americans are becoming avid blog readers with 32 million getting hooked in 2004 according to new research. the survey conducted by the pew internet and american life project showed that blog readership has shot up by 58% in the last year. some of this growth is attributable to political blogs written and read during the us presidential campaign. despite the explosive growth more than 60% of online americans have still never heard of blogs the survey found. blogs or web logs are online spaces in which people can publish their thoughts opinions or spread news events in their own words. companies such as google and microsoft provide users with the tools to publish their own blogs. the rise of blogs has spawned a new desire for immediate news and information with six million americans now using rss aggregators. rss aggregators are downloaded to pcs and are programmed to subscribe to feeds from blogs news sites and other websites. the aggregators automatically compile the latest information published online from the blogs or news sites. reading blogs remains far more popular than writing them the survey found. only 7% of the 120 million us adults who use the internet had created a blog or web-based diary. getting involved is becoming more popular though with 12% saying they had posted material or comments on other people s blogs. just under one in 10 of the us s internet users read political blogs such as the daily kos or instapundit during the us presidential campaign. kerry voters were slightly more likely to read them than bush voters. blog creators were likely to be young well-educated net-savvy males with good incomes and college educations the survey found. this was also true of the average blog reader although the survey found there was a greater than average growth in blog readership among women and those in minorities. the survey was conducted during november and involved telephone surveys of 1 324 internet users. | business | 2 |
tory leader urges harry apology prince harry should personally make clear how sorry he is about wearing a nazi uniform to a friend s fancy dress party says tory leader michael howard. mr howard whose grandmother died in auschwitz said many people would be offended by the prince s actions clarence house has issued a statement saying the prince has apologised and realised it had been a poor costume. number 10 said an error was made but now harry had apologised the matter should be left to the palace. that was a message repeated by home secretary charles clarke who said the matter should now be left to lie. but lib dem leader charles kennedy said harry was in a privileged position and said he should apologise in person. there is a reservoir of goodwill for prince harry and prince william with him in this country but i think he needs to remember that it can t last forever. he added that sandhurst would probably be good for harry as it would teach him some self discipline. former labour mp lord janner who is a high profile member of britain s jewish community branded harry s action s stupid and evil . he told itv: the time has come for him to make a public apology. it is about common decency of respect to the people who fought the nazis to the families of those who were killed by the nazis and to people who suffered during the holocaust. he added: i would send him in the army as fast as possible. i hope that would teach him not to behave like that. a photograph of prince harry wearing a swastika armband and german desert uniform at the party appears in thursday s sun newspaper under the headline: harry the nazi. mr howard acknowledged the prince s apology and said he had no doubt the prince s father and family would have much to say to him privately about the incident. but he told bbc radio 4 s today programme: it might be appropriate to tell us himself just how contrite he is. mr howard declined to say what form the statement should take. but former buckingham palace press spokesman dicky arbiter said the prince should make a personal broadcast apology. mr clarke said he recognised people s concerns about the costume but argued: he has apologised and i think we should leave the matter there. | science and tech | 2 |
yangtze electric s profits double yangtze electric power the operator of china s three gorges dam has said its profits more than doubled in 2004. the firm has benefited from increased demand for electricity at a time when power shortages have hit cities and provinces across the country. as a hydroelectric-power generator it has not been hurt by higher coal costs. net income jumped to 3bn yuan in 2004 ($365m; £190m) compared with 1.4bn yuan in 2003. sales surged to 6.2bn yuan from 3bn yuan a year earlier. the figures topped analysts expectations even though the rate of growth has slowed from 2003. analysts forecast that it is likely to decline further this year to a rate of expansion of closer to 20%. yangtze electric has been expanding its output to meet demand driven by china s booming economy. the government has delayed the building of a number of power plants in an effort to rein in growth amid concerns that the economy may overheat. that has led to an energy crunch with demand outstripping supply. earlier this month work was halted on an underground power station and a supply unit on the three gorges dam as well as a power station on its sister xiluodu dam because of environmental worries. a total of 30 large-scale projects have been halted across the country for similar reasons. the three gorges dam project has led to more than half a million people being relocated and drawn criticism from environmental groups and overseas human rights activists. its sister project the xiluodu dam is being built on the jinshajiang - or river of golden sand as the upper reaches of the yangtze are known. | business | 0 |
moya emotional at 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 |
pm apology over jailings tony blair has apologised to two families who suffered one of the uk s biggest miscarriages of justice. the prime minister was commenting on the wrongful jailing of 11 people for ira bomb attacks on pubs in guildford and woolwich in 1974. mr blair said: i am very sorry that they were subject to such an ordeal and injustice. he made the apology to members of the conlon and maguire families in his private room at westminster. in a statement recorded for television mr blair said the families deserved to be completely and publicly exonerated . the families had hoped the apology would be made during prime minister s questions in the house of commons. however one of the so-called guildford four gerry conlon - who was wrongly convicted of planting the bombs - said the families were delighted with the apology. he said mr blair had spoken with such sincerity adding: he went beyond what we thought he would he took time to listen to everyone. you could see he was moved by what people were saying. tony blair has healed rifts he is helping to heal wounds. it s a day i never thought would come. the move followed a huge campaign in ireland for a public apology after eleven people were wrongly convicted of making and planting the ira bombs which killed seven people. mr blair s official spokesman said no-one present at the meeting would ever forget the strength of feeling of relief that the prime minister s statement brought to them . most of those convicted were either members or friends of the two families. all were arrested because of a family connection to gerry conlon. mr conlon s father giuseppe was arrested when travelling to london from belfast to help his son. he died while serving his sentence. also arrested were anne maguire and members of her family. mrs maguire was the relative with whom giuseppe planned to stay in london as well as two family friends. she said it was a wonderful feeling to have had the apology and that a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. the people who were still doubting us should now believe that we were totally innocent she said. they were all jailed for handling explosives based on scientific evidence which was later entirely discredited. in october 1989 the court of appeal quashed the sentences of the guildford four and in june 1991 it overturned the sentences on the maguire seven. mr conlon s case was highlighted in the oscar-nominated film in the name of the father starring daniel day-lewis. | politics | 0 |
musical future for phones analyst bill thompson has seen the future and it is in his son s hands. i bought my son max a 3g phone partly because they are so cheap and he needed a phone and partly because i am supposed to know about the latest technology and thought i should see how they work in real life. after using it for a while i am not at all tempted to get rid of my sonyericsson p800 smart phone. that has a relatively large screen even if it does only have slower gprs access to the network. i can read my e-mail surf the web using a proper browser and write stuff using the stylus on its touch screen. last week someone e-mailed me a document that had been compressed into a zip file and i was pleasantly surprised to discover that my phone even knew how to decompress it for me. by contrast the confusing menus complicated keyboard and truly irritating user interface of max s 3g phone simply get in the way and i did not see much value in the paid-for services especially the limited web access. the videos of entertainment news horoscopes and the latest celebrity gossip did not appeal and i did not see how the small screen could be useful for any sort of image never mind micro-tv. but then max started playing and i realised i was missing the point entirely. it is certainly not a great overall experience but that is largely due to the poor menu system and the phone layout: the video content itself is compelling. the quality was at least as good as the video streaming from the bbc website and the image is about the same size. max was completely captivated and i was intrigued to discover that i had nearly missed the next stage of the network revolution. it is easy to be dismissive of small screens and indeed anyone of my generation with failing eyesight and the view that there s never anything worth watching on tv is hardly going to embrace these phones. but just as the world wide web was the killer application that drove internet adoption music videos are going to drive 3g adoption. with vodafone now pushing its own 3g service and 3 already established in the uk video on the phone is clearly going to become a must-have for kids sitting on the school bus adults waiting outside clubs and anyone who has time to kill and a group of friends to impress. this will please the network operators who are looking for some revenue from their expensively acquired 3g licences. but it goes deeper than that: playing music videos on a phone marks the beginning of a move away from the download and play model we have all accepted for our ipods and mp3 players. after all why should i want to carry 60gb of music and pictures around with me in my pocket when i can simply listen to anything i want whenever i want streamed to my phone oh - and of course you can always use the phone to make voice calls and send texts something which ensures that it is always in someone s pocket or handbag available for other uses too. i have never really approved of using the internet protocol (ip) to do either audio or video streaming and i think that technically it is a disaster to make phone calls over the net using voice over ip . but i have to acknowledge that the net at least here in the developed western countries is fast and reliable enough to do both. i stream radio to my computer while i work and enjoy hearing the bizarre stations from around the world that i can find online but nowhere else. i am even playing with internet telephony despite my reservations and i appear on go digital on the world service streamed over the web each week. but 3g networks have been designed to do this sort of streaming both for voice and video which gives them an edge over net-based ip services. the 3g services aren t quite there yet and there is a lot to be sorted out when it comes to web access and data charges. vodafone will let you access its services on vodafone live! as part of your subscription cost but it makes you pay by the megabyte to download from other sites - this one for example. this will not matter to business users but will distort the consumer market and keep people within the phone company s collection of partner sites something that should perhaps be worrying telecoms regulator ofcom. but we should not see these new phones simply as cut-down network terminals. if i want fast access to my e-mail i can get a 3g card for my laptop or hook up to a wireless network. the phone is a lot more and it is as a combination of mini-tv personal communications device and music/video player that it really works. there is certainly room in the technology ecosystem for many different sorts of devices accessing a wide range of services over different networks. 3g phones and ipods can co-exist at least for a while but if i had to bet on the long term i would go for content on demand over carrying gigabytes in my pocket. or perhaps some enterprising manufacturer will offer me both. an mp3g player anyone bill thompson is a regular commentator on the bbc world service programme go digital. | science and tech | 0 |
lifestyle governs mobile choice faster better or funkier hardware alone is not going to help phone firms sell more handsets research suggests. instead phone firms keen to get more out of their customers should not just be pushing the technology for its own sake. consumers are far more interested in how handsets fit in with their lifestyle than they are in screen size onboard memory or the chip inside shows an in-depth study by telecommunications company ericsson. historically in the industry there has been too much focus on using technology said dr michael bjorn senior advisor on mobile media at ericsson s consumer and enterprise lab. we have to stop saying that these technologies will change their lives he said. we should try to speak to consumers in their own language and help them see how it fits in with what they are doing he told the bbc news website. for the study ericsson interviewed 14 000 mobile phone owners on the ways they use their phone. people s habits remain the same said dr bjorn. they just move the activity into the mobile phone as it s a much more convenient way to do it. one good example of this was diary-writing among younger people he said. while diaries have always been popular a mobile phone -- especially one equipped with a camera -- helps them keep it in a different form. youngsters use of text messages also reflects their desire to chat and keep in contact with friends and again just lets them do it in a slightly changed way. dr bjorn said that although consumers do what they always did but use a phone to do it the sheer variety of what the new handset technologies make possible does gradually drive new habits and lifestyles. ericsson s research has shown that consumers divide into different tribes that use phones in different ways. dr bjorn said groups dubbed pioneers and materialists were most interested in trying new things and were behind the start of many trends in phone use. for instance he said older people are using sms much more than they did five years ago. this was because younger users often the children of ageing mobile owners encouraged older people to try it so they could keep in touch. another factor governing the speed of change in mobile phone use was the simple speed with which new devices are bought by pioneers and materialists. only when about 25% of people have handsets with new innovations on them such as cameras can consumers stop worrying that if they send a picture message the person at the other end will be able to see it. once this significant number of users is passed use of new innovations tends to take off. dr bjorn said that early reports of camera phone usage in japan seemed to imply that the innovation was going to be a flop. however he said now 45% of the japanese people ericsson questioned use their camera phone at least once a month. in 2003 the figure was 29%. similarly across europe the numbers of people taking snaps with cameras is starting to rise. in 2003 only 4% of the people in the uk took a phonecam snap at least once a month. now the figure is 14%. similar rises have been seen in many other european nations. dr bjorn said that people also used their camera phones in very different ways to film and even digital cameras. usage patterns for digital cameras are almost exactly replacing usage patterns for analogue cameras he said. digital cameras tend to be used on significant events such as weddings holidays and birthdays. by contrast he said camera phones were being used much more to capture a moment and were being woven into everyday life. | 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. | entertainment | 2 |
no jail for singer courtney love singer courtney love has been spared jail for assault and drug offences but must serve three years probation. she had back-to-back court appearances in two separate cases in los angeles first pleading no contest to attacking a woman with a whisky bottle. in the second ms love 40 pleaded guilty to possessing a forged prescription and painkiller oxycodone. she must also do 100 hours community service have drug treatment attend narcotics anonymous and pay a fine. the ex-hole singer s lawyer howard weitzman said ms love had turned her life around and she was clean and sober . the assault charge stemmed from april 2004 when ms love found musician kristin king in her boyfriend s home. ms king said the singer threw the bottle at the left side of my face in an angry vicious and erratic attack. ms love was originally charged with the more serious offence of assault with a deadly weapon but that was reduced to assault. judge rand rubin said she must: - spend three years on probation - have one year s anger management counselling - have one year s drug rehabilitation - do 100 hours community service - pay $1 000 (£535) fine - have random drug tests - go to three narcotics anonymous meetings per week in the drugs case she was sentenced to 18 months probation to run concurrently with the probation for the assault. that offence stemmed from october 2003 when she suffered an overdose after breaking a window at her boyfriend s home. in a separate case relating to the same incident ms love was sentenced to 18 months in drug rehabilitation for being under the influence of cocaine and opiates. in another case last october she pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for hitting a man on the head with a microphone stand at a new york city nightclub. last month her lawyers said she had won back custody of frances bean her 12-year-old daughter with former nirvana frontman kurt cobain. the girl was removed from her care following her double arrest in october 2003. cobain committed suicide in 1994. | sports | 2 |
tautou film tops cesar prize nods french film a very long engagement has received 12 nominations for france s cesar film awards despite a recent ruling it was not french enough . the world war i romantic drama starring audrey tautou was recently ruled too american by a paris court as it was partially backed by warner bros. but the cesar organisers modified their rules to allow the film to compete. the film directed by jean-pierre jeunet received best actress picture and director nominations. last november a court judged the film was too american to compete in french film festivals. two associations of french producers challenged jeunet s right to french government subsidies because warner bros was a backer. the ruling meant the movie - which was filmed in france and used french actors and technicians - was not eligible to compete for french prizes. but alain terzian president of cesar organisers the academie des arts et techniques du cinema said the changes in eligibility rules which allow films of french expression were made three months prior to the court decision. other films in the best film category include police drama 36 quai des orfevres arnaud desplechin s kings and queen abdellatif kechiche s l esquive and france s number one film at the 2004 box-office the chorus. best actors are daniel auteuil for 36 mathieu amalric for kings and queen gerard jugnot for the chorus philippe torreton for l equipier and benoit poelvoorde for podium. tautou will compete against maggie cheung emmanuelle devos yolande moreau and karin viard for best actress. michael moore s fahrenheit 9/11 the motorcycle diaries lost in translation eternal sunshine of the spotless mind and 21 grams are all vying in the best foreign film prize. the awards ceremony will be held on 26 february. this year will smith star of i robot independence day and men in black will be given an honorary cesar along with french singer/actor jacques dutronc. | entertainment | 0 |
software watching while you work software that can not only monitor every keystroke and action performed at a pc but also be used as legally binding evidence of wrong-doing has been unveiled. worries about cyber-crime and sabotage have prompted many employers to consider monitoring employees. the developers behind the system claim it is a break-through in the way data is monitored and stored. but privacy advocates are concerned by the invasive nature of such software. the system is a joint venture between security firm 3ami and storage specialists bridgehead software. they have joined forces to create a system which can monitor computer activity store it and retrieve disputed files within minutes. more and more firms are finding themselves in deep water as a result of data misuse. sabotage and data theft are most commonly committed from within an organisation according to the national hi-tech crime unit (nhtcu) a survey conducted on its behalf by nop found evidence that more than 80% of medium and large companies have been victims of some form of cyber-crime. bridgehead software has come up with techniques to prove to a legal standard that any stored file on a pc has not been tampered with. ironically the impetus for developing the system came as a result of the freedom of information act which requires companies to store all data for a certain amount of time. the storage system has been incorporated into an application developed by security firm 3ami which allows every action on a computer to be logged. potentially it could help employers to follow the trail of stolen files and pinpoint whether they had been emailed to a third party copied printed deleted or saved to cd floppy disk memory stick or flash card. other activities the system can monitor include the downloading of pornography the use of racist or bullying language or the copying of applications for personal use. increasingly organisations that handle sensitive data such as governments are using biometric log-ins such as fingerprinting to provide conclusive proof of who was using a particular machine at any given time. privacy advocates are concerned that monitoring at work is not only damaging to employee s privacy but also to the relationship between employers and their staff. that is not the case said tim ellsmore managing director of 3ami. it is not about replacing dialogue but there are issues that you can talk through but you still need proof he said. people need to recognise that you are using a pc as a representative of a company and that employers have a legal requirement to store data he added. | politics | 2 |
iraqis win death test case probe the family of an iraqi civilian allegedly killed by uk troops have won a challenge against the government s refusal to order a full inquiry. the high court ruled on tuesday that baha mousa s death in british custody in iraq fell within the european convention on human rights. and the judges paved the way for an independent inquiry by saying previous investigations were inadequate. but judicial reviews into five other deaths in southern iraq were ruled out. their families will be appealing against the judgement. the families solicitor phil shiner described it as a historic day for human rights and the rule of law in the uk . father-of-two mr mousa 28 a hotel receptionist was arrested with eight men seized at a hotel in basra in september 2003. he was allegedly beaten to death while in the custody of the queen s lancashire regiment. the iraqi families lawyer argued that failing to adequately investigate the death breached the european convention on human rights. ministry of defence lawyers argued the uk-controlled area of southern iraq was outside european jurisdiction. but lord justice rix and mr justice forbes ruled that uk jurisdiction could extend to a uk-run prison but did not apply to the total territory of another state . they said as mr mousa was in custody when he died his case came within the uk s jurisdiction. the other five iraqis did not die in custody so their cases had to fail they said. and it was difficult to say that the investigation which had already occurred has been timely open or effective the judges said. after the ruling carla ferstman legal director of the human rights organisation redress said: it is not enough for the military to investigate behind closed doors. there must be an effective public investigation by an independent official body. only such an investigation could reveal what really happened and who might be responsible. other allegations involving british soldiers included the shooting of an iraqi police commissioner and the shooting of four iraqi civilians in may 2003. both sides were granted permission to appeal. prime minister tony blair s official spokesman said: obviously we will need to study this detailed judgment. i would point out however that a separate criminal case is currently being considered by the army prosecuting authority. i can t say anything further for obvious reasons. the mod are considering whether to appeal. but former british commander colonel bob stewart said : anyone at the top [of the military] will be saddened by the verdict that has taken place but will say: if there s a case to answer let s have it out. because we don t want people thinking that british soldiers beat up civilians and get away with it he said. the ministry of defence does everything in its power to try to prove we act ethically and properly under the rules of war. | politics | 0 |
foxx and swank take actors awards jamie foxx and hilary swank have won the screen actors guild awards for best male and female film actors boosting their oscars hopes this month. foxx s portrayal of late soul-singer ray charles in ray had already earned him a prestigious golden globe award. swank triumphed for playing a gutsy female boxer in million dollar baby. modest wine country comedy sideways knocked out favourites million dollar baby and the aviator by taking the top prize for best cast performance. the screen actors guild (sag) represents us film and tv actors. its winners often go on to win oscars. in other nominations cate blanchett triumphed as the best supporting actress for her role as katharine hepburn in the aviator. veteran actor morgan freeman took the best supporting actor award for playing a prize-fighter turned gym manager in million dollar baby. thank you for ray charles for just living so complex and so interesting and making us all just come together said foxx accepting his award in los angeles on saturday. he also praised the film director: thank you for taylor hackford for taking a chance with an african-american film. taylor you re my director of the year. swank too was full of praise for her director and co-star clint eastwood. i bow down to you swank said to the 74-year-old eastwood. you are a talent beyond compare. if i m half the person you are and half the talent you are when i m 74 i will know that i ve accomplished something great. both foxx and swank are now considered to be among the favourites to get oscars - the hollywood s ultimate prize. however swank has to overcome a strong challenge from annette bening a nominee for the theatre farce being julia. meanwhile ballots for oscars - the hollywood s top honours - were mailed earlier this week to members of the academy of motion picture arts and sciences. the voting is due to end on 22 february - five days before the ceremony. | entertainment | 0 |
prutton poised for lengthy fa ban southampton s david prutton faces a possible seven-match ban when he goes before the football association. the 23-year-old has admitted two charges of improper conduct following his dismissal against arsenal. the first charge relates to his failure to leave the field promptly pushing referee alan wiley and remonstrating with assistant referee paul norman. and the second charge is for using threatening words and/or behaviour to a match official during the 1-1 draw. paolo di canio was given a seven-match suspension when he pushed referee paul alcock over in a premiership game between sheffield wednesday and arsenal in 1998. prutton will be joined at wednesday s hearing by saints boss harry redknapp who believes that the fa will throw the book at his player. redknapp himself sprinted along the touchline to help physio jim joyce and coach denis rofe shepherd the enraged prutton away from referee s assistant norman. david has made a big mistake and he knows it. i can t condone what he s done. he was out of order but he knows that said redknapp. he s a decent lad. he over-reacted badly for some reason - he had a rush of blood from somewhere. off the pitch you couldn t meet a nicer lad. prutton has apologised publicly for his actions and to arsenal s robert pires who was injured in a wild tackle by the saints midfield man. he said: it s an horrendous situation. i apologise to the ref and linesman who were only doing their job. i ve also seen what happened to pires leg and i m sorry for that as well. i apologise for the people who saw it. i know you get lots of kids going to the match now and they don t pay money to see that sort of thing. it s not a cop-out but it was all a bit of a blur. sometimes you react and it s beyond your control added prutton. | sports | 0 |
ministers lose slopping out case the scottish executive has lost an appeal against an inmate s compensation for being forced to slop out in prison. armed robber robert napier 25 won £2 450 after he claimed he suffered an outbreak of the skin complaint eczema when slopping out at barlinnie prison. napier said that the practice where prisoners use buckets in their cells as toilets breached his human rights. on thursday the court of session threw out a move by the executive to apply a more rigorous standard of proof. the executive faces more than 1 000 similar claims for damages from prisoners and former inmates. more than 310 actions have already been raised in the court of session and sheriff courts in scotland. an executive spokesman said: we will study this judgement in detail. much has changed to address the issues raised in the napier case for example slopping out has ended at barlinnie and work in other prisons is being accelerated. today s judgement does not affect the outcome of other cases. napier a remand prisoner at the time raised a legal challenge in 2001 under the european convention on human rights in which he sought £5 000. he was awarded compensation last april after winning his case. executive ministers raised an appeal arguing that the standard of proof to be applied in cases alleging a breach of the european convention on human rights through degrading and inhumane treatment should be beyond reasonable doubt . this is the standard normally applied in criminal trials in scotland. however civil litigation is settled on the test of a balance of probabilities . judge lord cullen sitting with lord osborne and lord hamilton ruled that alleged human rights breaches involving degrading treatment should be dealt with on the normal civil standard. napier s lawyer tony kelly believes the action will soon be followed by others. mr kelly said: there are hundreds of people still undergoing slopping out overcrowding and poor regime and those people will certainly be heartened by today s judgement. scottish national party justice minister kenny macaskill said that the slopping out case had been a fiasco from start to finish . he said: ministers were fully aware of the state of scotland s jails. funds were available but they chose to ignore the problem and after this ruling i suspect we will be faced with even more claims and no doubt more payouts. a short term executive saving has resulted in a long term public cost. | sports | 2 |
bath faced with tindall ultimatum mike tindall s agent has warned bath they have until next week to improve their contract offer to the england man or risk losing him to a rival club. dipo alli says he has received an offer for tindall which dwarfs bath s deal and that two other clubs want to talk. mike does not want to go into the six nations worrying about where he will be playing his club rugby next season alli told the guardian newspaper. it is up to (bath owner) andrew brownsword. he has to make it happen. tindall is out of contract at the end of the season but it is understood that brownsword is unwilling to break the club s salary structure to accommodate the 26-year-old s demands. but alli insists the player is worth more than bath have put on the table. mike has been at bath for eight years and wants to remain with the club and his demands are anything but excessive the agent added. but brownsword has to recognise mike s value and we want to resolve things by the end of next week. | science and tech | 2 |
mobile games come of age the bbc news website takes a look at how games on mobile phones are maturing. a brief round-up follows but you can skip straight to the reviews by clicking on the links below. if you think of snake when some mentions mobile games then you could be in for a bit of a surprise. this is because mobile games have come a long way in a very short time. even before nokia s n-gage game phone launched in late 2003 many mobile operators were realising that there was an audience looking for something to play on their handset. and given that many more people own handsets than own portable game playing gadgets such as the gameboy it could be a very lucrative market. that audience includes commuters wanting something to fill their time on the way home game fans looking for a bit of variety and hard core gamers who like to play every moment they can. life for all these types of player has got immeasurably better in the last year as the numbers of titles you can download to your phone has snowballed. now sites such as wireless gaming review list more than 200 different titles for some uk networks and the ranges suit every possible taste. there are ports of pc and arcade classics such as space invaders lunar lander and bejewelled. there are also versions of titles such as colin mcrae rally that you typically find on pcs and consoles. there are shoot-em-ups adventure games strategy titles and many novel games only found on handsets. rarely now does an action movie launch without a mobile game tie-in. increasingly such launches are all part of the promotional campaign for a film understandable when you realise that a good game can rack up millions of downloads. the returns can be pretty good when you consider that some games cost £5. what has also helped games on mobiles thrive is the fact that it is easier than ever to get hold of them thanks to technology known as wap push. by sending a text message to a game maker you can have the title downloaded to your handset. far better than having to navigate through the menus of most mobile operator portals. the number of handsets that can play games has grown hugely too. almost half of all phones now have java onboard meaning that they can play the increasingly sophisticated games that are available - even the ones that use 3d graphics. the minimum technology specifications that phones should adhere to are getting more sophisticated which means that games are too. now double key presses are possible making familiar tactics such as moving and strafing a real option. the processing power on handsets means that physics on mobile games is getting more convincing and the graphics are improving too. some game makers are also starting to take advantage of the extra capabilities in a mobile. many titles particularly racing games let you upload your best time to see how you compare to others. usually you can get hold of their best time and race against a ghost or shadow to see if you can beat them. a few games also let you take on people in real time via the network or if you are sitting close to them via bluetooth short-range radio technology. with so much going on it is hard to do justice to the sheer diversity of what is happening. but these two features should help point you in the direction of the game makers and give you an idea of where to look and how to get playing. too fast too furious (digital bridges) as soon as i start playing this i remember why i never play driving games - because i m rubbish at them. no matter if i drive the car via joystick or keypad i just cannot get the hang of braking for corners or timing a rush to pass other drivers. the game rewards replay because to advance you have to complete every section within a time limit. winning gives you cash for upgrades. graphically the rolling road is a convincing enough evocation of speed as the palm trees and cactus whip by and the city scrolls past in the background. the cars handle pretty well despite my uselessness but it was not clear if the different models of cars were appreciably different on the track. the only niggle was that the interface was a bit confusing especially when using a joystick rather than the keypad to play. fatal force (macrospace) a futuristic shooter that lets you either play various deathmatch modes against your phone or run through a series of scenarios that involves killing aliens invading earth. graphics are a bit cartoon-like but only helps to make clear what is going on and levels are well laid out and encourage you to leap about exploring. both background music and sounds effects work well. the scenarios are well scripted and you regularly get hints from the fatal force commanders. weapons include flamethrowers rocket launchers grenades and at a couple of points you even get chance to use a mech for a short while. with the right power-up you can go into a matrix-style bullet time to cope with the onslaught of aliens. the game lets you play via bluetooth if others are in range. online the game has quite a following with clans player rankings and even new downloadable maps. | science and tech | 0 |
blogs take on the mainstream web logs or blogs are everywhere with at least an estimated five million on the web and that number is set to grow. these online diaries come in many shapes and styles ranging from people willing to sharing their views pictures and links to companies interested in another way of reaching their customers. but this year the focus has been on blogs which cast a critical eye over news events often writing about issues ignored by the big media or offering an eye-witness account of events. most blogs may have only a small readership but communication experts say they have provided an avenue for people to have a say in the world of politics. the most well-known examples include iraqi salam pax s accounts of the us-led war former iranian vice-president mohammad ali abtahi exclusive insight into the islamic republic s government and the highs and lows of the recent us election campaign. there are already websites pulling together these first-hand reporting accounts heralded by blogs like wikinews.com launched last november. the blogging movement has been building up for many years. andrew nachison director of the media center a us-based think-tank that studies media technology and society highlights the us presidential race as a possible turning point for blogs. you could look at that as a moment when audiences exercised a new form of power to choose among many more sources of information than they have never had before he says. and blogs were a key part of that transformation. among them were blogs carrying picture messages saying we are sorry for george w bush s victory and the responses from his supporters. mr nachison argues blogs have become independent sources for images and ideas that circumvent traditional sources of news and information such as newspapers tv and radio. we have to acknowledge that in all of these cases mainstream media actually plays a role in the discussion and the distribution of these ideas he told the bbc news website. but they followed the story they didn t lead it. some parts of the so-called traditional media have expressed concerns about this emerging competitor raising questions about the journalistic value of blogs. others like the french newspaper le monde have applied a different strategy offering blogs as part of its content. i don t think the mission and role of journalism is threatened. it is in transition as society itself is in transition says mr nachison. however he agrees with other experts like the linguist and political analyst noam chomsky that mainstream media has lost the traditional role of news gatekeeper. the one-to-many road of traditional journalism yes it is threatened. and professional journalists need to acclimate themselves to an environment in which there are many more contributors to the discourse says mr nachison. the notion of a gatekeeper who filters and decides what s acceptable for public consumption and what isn t that s gone forever. with people now walking around with information devices in their pockets like camera or video phones we are going to see more instances of ordinary citizens breaking stories. it seems unlikely that we will end up living in a planet where every human is a blogger. but the current number of blogs is likely to keep on growing in a web already overloaded with information. blog analysis firm technorati estimates the number of blogs in existence the so-called blogosphere has already exceeded five million and is growing at exponential levels. tools such as google s blogger movabletype and the recently launched beta version of msn spaces are making it easier to run a blog. us research think-tank pew internet & american life says a blog is created every 5.8 seconds although less than 40% of the total are updated at least once every two months. but experts agree that the phenomenon allowing individuals to publish share ideas exchange information comment on current issues post images or video on the web easily is here to stay. we are entering one era in which the technological infrastructure is creating a different context for how we tell our stories and how we communicate with each other said mr nachison. and there s going to be bad that comes with the good. | sports | 2 |
ecb holds rates amid growth fears the european central bank has left its key interest rate unchanged at 2% for the 19th month in succession. borrowing costs have remained on hold amid concerns about the strength of economic growth in the 12 nations sharing the euro analysts said. despite signs of pick-up labour markets and consumer demand remain sluggish while firms are eyeing cost cutting measures such as redundancies. high oil prices meanwhile have put upward pressure on the inflation rate. surveys of economists have shown that the majority expect borrowing costs to stay at 2% in coming months with an increase of a quarter of a percentage point predicted some time in the second half of the year. if anything there may be greater calls for an interest rate cut especially with the euro continuing to strengthen against the dollar. the euro land economy is still struggling with this recovery said economist dirk schumacher. the ecb may sound rather hawkish but once the data allows them to cut again they will. data coming out of germany on thursday underlined the problems facing european policy makers. while germany s economy expanded by 1.7% in 2004 growth was driven by export sales and lost some of its momentum in the last three months of the year. the strength of the euro is threatening to dampen that foreign demand in 2005 and domestic consumption currently is not strong enough to take up the slack. inflation in the eurozone however is estimated at about 2.3% in december above ecb guidelines of 2%. ecb president jean-claude trichet has remained upbeat about prospects for the region and inflation is expected to drop below 2% later in 2005. the ecb has forecast economic growth in the eurozone of 1.9% in 2005. | sports | 2 |
shark tale dvd is us best-seller oscar-nominated animation shark tale has raked in $80m (£42.4m) in the first week of its us dvd release becoming the year s best-selling home video so far. the tally for its dvd and video sales soared past the film s opening week us box office takings of $56m (£29.7m). shark tale is now the sixth-highest earning dvd for first week sales. the all-time first-week record is held by 1995 s lion king followed by shrek 2 finding nemo the original shrek and monster s inc. shark tale whose voice cast includes will smith robert de niro renee zellweger and martin scorsese sold more than 6 million dvds and videos across the united states and canada. it becomes the highest first-week earner for february outshining my big fat greek wedding which sold four million units in 2003. films which are expected to earn strong home video returns are usually timed for release in the busiest retail season which falls before christmas. the best-selling home video of last year was the dreamworks hit shrek 2 which took an estimated $458 m (£242.7m) in north america alone. | entertainment | 0 |
rapper films music video in jail a us rapper awaiting trial for murder has filmed part of a music video in jail angering a sheriff who says he was tricked into letting tv crews in. c-murder a former member of rap group tru was filmed in his orange prison suit for the video for his y all heard of me single in a new orleans jail. he is awaiting a second trial after an original conviction was thrown out. i m not pleased jefferson parish sheriff harry lee said. he will not make another video in my jail. footage for the video was filmed by two crews who had permission to interview c-murder - one from court tv and one from a local cable show. but mr lee said he did not know the rapper had filmed the video and made an album behind bars and said he was fooled into letting the cameras in. the rapper s lawyer ron rakosky said: the bottom line is we didn t do anything wrong. mr rakosky said it was better than c-murder real name corey miller just sitting there wasting away . here s a guy in jail making constructive use of his time instead of withering away he said. he s lost more than three years of his life locked up for a crime he did not commit. but local group victims and citizens against crime said he should not be working behind bars. he is a suspect in a murder case. i don t think he should be allowed these privileges especially earning money until his name is totally cleared the group s president beverly siemssen said. in 2003 c-murder was found guilty of killing a 16-year-old in a nightclub but that decision was thrown out last april. he is now facing a second trial on a charge of second-degree murder. with two brothers in the group tru he had two us top 10 albums in the late 1990s before going solo when he scored another three top 10 albums. | entertainment | 0 |
spider-man creator wins profits spider-man creator stan lee is to get a multi-million dollar windfall after winning a court battle with comic book company marvel. a judge has upheld lee s demand for 10% of marvel s profits from the hugely successful spider-man films. spider-man and its sequel made $1.6bn (£857m) at box offices worldwide. of the cut now due to lee 82 who created spider-man in 1962 his lawyer said: it could be tens of millions of dollars that s no exaggeration. us district court judge robert w sweet ruled lee should get a tenth of profits generated since november 1998 by marvel tv and movie productions involving the company s characters. lee took legal action in 2002 saying marvel shut him out of jackpot profits from the first blockbuster film. he said the company - where he worked for more than 60 years - had gone back on agreement to give him the 10%. as well as spider-man lee co-created the incredible hulk x-men daredevil and fantastic four characters. he said: i am gratified by the judge s decision although since i am deeply fond of marvel and the people there i sincerely regret that the situation had to come to this. the ruling also means he is entitled to a slice of profits from dvd sales and certain merchandise. marvel said it would appeal and did not expect the decision to impact on financial forecasts for 2004 and beyond. the new york court did not rule on lee s claims to a share of profits from some spider-man and hulk movie merchandise which will be decided at a future trial marvel said. | entertainment | 0 |
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. | sports | 0 |
egypt and israel seal trade deal in a sign of a thaw in relations between egypt and israel the two countries have signed a trade protocol with the us allowing egyptian goods made in partnership with israeli firms free access to american markets. the protocol signed in cairo will establish what are called qualified industrial zones in egypt. products from these zones will enjoy duty free access to the us provided that 35% of their components are the product of israeli-egyptian cooperation. the us describes this as the most important economic agreement between egypt and israel in two decades. the protocol establishing the zones has been stalled for years. there has been deep sensitivity in egypt about any form of co-operation with israel as long as its peace process with the palestinians remains blocked. but in recent weeks an unusual warmth has crept into relations between the two countries. both exchanged prisoners earlier this month with egypt handing back an israeli who has served eight years in prison after being convicted for spying. egyptian president hosni mubarak has described israeli prime minister ariel sharon as the best chance for the palestinians to achieve peace. the government in cairo now believes mr sharon is moving towards the centre and away from the positions of right wing groups. it also believes the us pressed by europe is now more willing to engage seriously in the search for a settlement. but there are also pressing economic reasons for egypt s decision to enter into the trade agreement. it will give a huge boost to egyptian textile exports which are about to suffer a drop after new regulations come into force in the us at the beginning of the year. | business | 0 |
moya suffers shock loss fifth seed carlos moya was the first big name to fall at the australian open as he went down to fellow spaniard guillermo garcia-lopez on monday. moya began the year with victory at the chennai open but looked out of sorts from the start in the melbourne heat. garcia-lopez ranked 106 in the world dominated from the outset and withstood a third-set rally from moya to hang on for a 7-5 6-3 3-6 6-3 victory. the 21-year-old plays kevin kim or lee hyuung-taik in the second round. garcia-lopez was delighted with the victory in only his third ever grand slam match. i think this was the most important win of my life as carlos is one of the best players in the world he said. this has given me a lot of confidence. now i feel i can beat all these players. moya said: i was playing well before i came here. it was the perfect preparation but something was wrong today. four-time champion andre agassi began what could be his last australian open with a convincing win over german qualifier dieter kindlmann. the 34-year-old american who had been struggling with a hip injury earlier in the week stormed to a 6-4 6-3 6-0 win. agassi will play france s olivier patience or germany s rainer schuettler - the man he beat in the 2003 final - in the next round. no one was more concerned (about the injury) than myself said eighth seed agassi. i d worked hard to be down here and ready. but the last few days i ve pushed through the injury and it seemed to do pretty good. in other matches world junior champion gael monfils made use of his wild card with a magnificent 1-6 6-3 6-4 7-6 (8-6) win over american robby ginepri. the 2002 champion thomas johansson fought back to beat peter luczak 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-3 4-6 6-0 and french open champion gaston gaudio beat justin gimelstob 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 6-3. seeds dominik hrbaty ivan ljubicic and mario ancic made comfortable progress but former french open champion albert costa lost to bjorn phau. | sports | 0 |
lib dems bold election policy charles kennedy has told voters his liberal democrats will offer them an honest choice at the next general election. with the other two big parties battling over which will impose the lowest taxes mr kennedy is going into the looming election pledged to increase taxation. it is a bold policy and certainly ensures there is that choice between the lib dems and the other two. with his party s previous pledge to increase taxes by one penny in the pound to spend on public services already adopted by the government he has switched tack. now he is promising to levy a modest increase of the same amount on earnings over £100 000 a year to allow him to finance a series of pledges. they are to scrap student fees finance free long term care for the elderly and replace the council tax with a local income tax. that last policy will also see about 3% of the most well off paying more while others pensioners in particular will pay less. labour and the tories have attacked his policies as both unworkable and not properly costed. inevitably they insist there is no need to raise taxes to fund improvements in services. the tories claim they can improve services and cut taxes through £35bn efficiency savings while labour has offered £22bn savings but has yet to map out precise tax proposals although there is little chance they will propose increases. in many ways the argument between the lib dems and the others over taxation and spending echo the sort of arguments that raged between labour and the tories in the 1980s and early 1990s. but unlike the old tory-labour debate he believes voters are ready to see modest tax increases on the well off in order to fund improvements in services. that is a view partly endorsed by recent polls suggesting people would rather have cash spent on public services than tax cuts. similarly there is a different tone to the lib dem approach to asylum and immigration with mr kennedy stressing politicians should not foment an artificial debate about immigration and attacking michael howard s proposals for quotas. once again with the two other big parties singing similar songs on immigration mr kennedy is stressing the different more liberal approach of his party. mr kennedy was also in buoyant mood over his party s election chances declaring the tories were not going to be significant players in the poll. he repeated his pledge not to do post-election deals with either party after the election. mr kennedy went on to suggest the re-election of a labour government with a small majority would amount to a massive vote of no confidence in tony blair s government. that suggests the lib dem leader believes he may well find himself in a powerful even pivotal position in a vastly different house of commons after the next election. it is a dream the third party has dreamed many times before. | world | 2 |
bookmakers back aviator for oscar the aviator has been tipped by uk bookmakers as the favourite to win the best film award at this year s oscars. ray star jamie foxx is clear favourite in the best actor category while million dollar baby s hilary swank is tipped to win the best actress prize. bookmakers predict cate blanchett will be named best supporting actress. william hill and ladbrokes have given the aviator 4/9 and 8/13 odds of winning best film with million dollar baby in second place at 9/4. bet direct and bet 365 also tip the aviator with the majority of bookmakers regarding finding neverland as the outsider. the aviator is also widely tipped to win the best director prize for martin scorsese. british star clive owen is second favourite at william hill to take the best supporting actor award for his performance in closer. the favourite in that category is sideways star thomas hayden church. vera drake star imelda staunton has 5/1 odds of winning the best actress oscar at bet 365 and william hill ahead of fellow uk star kate winslet who has odds of 25/1 at william hill. mike leigh is the outsider in the best director category for vera drake a position he holds jointly with ray s taylor hackford at bookmakers vc bet. this year s academy awards will be handed out in hollywood on 27 february. x factor judge sharon osbourne will present sky television s live coverage of the event. meanwhile clive owen s best supporting actor nomination has led a bookmaker to shorten his odds of becoming the next james bond. he has moved from 4/1 to 5/2 favourite to play 007 with hugh jackman and ewan mcgregor joint second favourite. clive owen s nomination has sparked a betting frenzy from james bond fans who feel that his heightened global recognition will have done his chances of becoming the next bond a world of good said william hill spokesman rupert adams. | entertainment | 0 |
disney backs sony dvd technology a next generation dvd technology backed by sony has received a major boost. film giant disney says it will produce its future dvds using sony s blu-ray disc technology but has not ruled out a rival format developed by toshiba. the two competing dvd formats blu-ray developed by sony and others and toshiba s hd-dvd have been courting top film studios for several months. the next generation of dvds promises very high quality pictures and sound as well as a lot of data. both technologies use a blue laser to write information. it has a shorter wavelength so more data can be stored. disney is the latest studio to announce which technology it is backing in a format battle which mirrors the 1980s betamax versus vhs war. sony lost out to jvc in that fight. the current battle for hollywood s hearts and minds is a crucial one because high-definition films will bring in billions of revenue and the studios would prefer to use one standard. last month paramount universal and warner brothers said they were opting for the toshiba and nec-backed format hd-dvd high-definition discs. those studios currently produce about 45% of dvd content. sony pictures entertainment and mgm studios have already staked their allegiance with the blu-ray disc association whose members also include technology companies dell samsung and matsushita. twentieth century fox is still to announce which technology it will be supporting. if fox decided to go with blu-ray too it would mean the format would have a 47% share of dvd content. disney said its films would be available on the blu-ray format when dvd players for the standard went on sale on north america and japan expected in 2006. universal is to start producing films on the hd-dvd format in 2005 and paramount will start releasing titles using the standard in 2006. toshiba expects sales of hd-dvds to reach 300bn yen ($2.9bn £1.5bn) by 2010. | world | 2 |
concern over rfid tags consumers are very concerned about the use of radio frequency id (rfid) tags in shops a survey says. more than half of 2 000 people surveyed said they had privacy worries about the tags which can be used to monitor stock on shelves or in warehouses. some consumer groups have expressed concern that the tags could be used to monitor shoppers once they had left shops with their purchases. the survey showed that awareness of tags among consumers in europe was low. the survey of consumers in the uk france germany and the netherlands was carried out by consultancy group capgemini. the firm works on behalf of more than 30 firms who are seeking to promote the growth of rfid technology. the tags are a combination of computer chip and antenna which can be read by a scanner - each item contains a unique identification number. more than half (55%) of the respondents said they were either concerned or very concerned that rfid tags would allow businesses to track consumers via product purchases. fifty nine percent of people said they were worried that rfid tags would allow data to be used more freely by third parties. ard jan vetham capgemini s principal consultant on rfid said the survey showed that retailers needed to inform and educate people about rfid before it would become accepted technology. acceptance of new technologies always has a tipping point at which consumers believe that benefits outweigh concerns. with the right rfid approach and ongoing communication with consumers the industry can reach this point. he said that the survey also showed people would accept rfid if they felt that the technology could mean a reduction in car theft or faster recovery of stolen items. the tags are currently being used at one tesco distribution centre in the uk - the tags allow the rapid inventory of bulk items. they are also in use as a passcard for the m6 toll in the midlands in the uk. mr vetham said the majority of people surveyed (52%) believed that rfid tags could be read from a distance. he said that was a misconception based on a lack of awareness of the technology. at least once consumer group - consumers against supermarket privacy invasion and numbering (caspian) - has claimed that rfid chips could be used to secretly identify people and the things they are carrying or wearing. all kinds of personal belongings including clothes could constantly broadcast messages about their whereabouts and their owners it warned. | business | 2 |
hewitt overcomes wobble in sydney lleyton hewitt gave himself the perfect preparation for next week s australian open with victory over ivo minar in the final of the sydney international. the defending champion brushed aside the czech qualifier 7-5 6-0. the australian world number three strolled to the first five games of the match but was shocked as minar won the next five. the top seed was rattled but recovered to close out the set and raced to victory in exactly an hour. it was a strange match . . . momentum swings said hewitt. i felt like i came out of the blocks extremely well but then he loosened up a bit. when he got back to 5-5 i had to try to settle down and take it up a notch and i was able to do that. hewitt has now lifted the sydney title four times in the last six years. it just keeps getting better and better every year hewitt said. i ve only played this tournament four times and i ve won it four times. hewitt went into the final as a short-priced favourite to clinch his 24th career title after dropping only one set all week. he is set to meet frenchman arnaud clement in the first round of the australian open. minar ranked 158th in the world was forced to pull out of the australian open qualifying draw to play in his first atp final. for me this was a big success said the 20-year-old. i was so nervous last night i couldn t sleep. i ve never played a top-10 player before. i wanted to play qualifying in melbourne but it s saturday and i m still here. but this is a main draw and i need the points and the money. alicia molik takes on samantha stosur in an all-australian women s final later on saturday. | sports | 0 |
original exorcist to be screened the original version of horror prequel exorcist: the beginning dropped by producers over claims it was not scary enough is to have its world premiere. the film directed by paul schrader will be screened on 18 march at the international festival of fantastic film in brussels. the psychological drama stars stellan skarsgard and foreruns the 1973 film. schrader was replaced by director renny harlin who made a new version of the film which debuted in 2004. the prequel project was originally announced in 2001 with actor liam neeson in the lead role and john frankenheimer as director. however frankenheimer pulled out in 2002 a month before he died. skarsgard then replaced neeson in the role of father merrin made famous by max von sydow in the 1973 film. principal footage was shot in morocco and rome at a reported cost of $32m. however in august 2003 it emerged that producers morgan creek were shelving schrader s version of the film having complained it was not scary enough. as well as replacing schrader with harlin - the director behind die hard 2 and cliffhanger - the producers also changed most of the cast but swedish star skarsgard stayed in the merrin role. harlin s film released in the uk in october 2004 received lukewarm reviews but went on to make over $76m (£40.7m) worldwide. the festival screening will be the first time that schrader s film has been seen in public. reports that it will be released either in cinemas or on dvd have yet to be confirmed. other films at the festival in the belgium capital which runs from 11-26 march include the us horror hit boogeyman and the forthcoming sequel ring 2 as well as a selection of films adapted from the works of jules verne. | entertainment | 0 |
global digital divide narrowing the digital divide between rich and poor nations is narrowing fast according to a world bank report. the world bank questioned a united nation s campaign to increase usage and access to technology in poorer nations. people in the developing world are getting more access at an incredible rate - far faster than... in the past said the report. but a spokesman for the un s world summit on the information society said the digital divide remained very real. the digital divide is rapidly closing the world bank report said. half the world s population now has access to a fixed-line telephone the report said and 77% to a mobile network. the report s figures surpass a wsis campaign goal that calls for 50% access to telephones by 2015. the un hopes that widening access to technology such as mobile phones and the net will help eradicate poverty. developing countries are catching up with the rich world in terms of access [to mobile networks] the report said. africa is part of a worldwide trend of rapid rollout... this applies to countries rich and poor reformed or not african asian european and latin american. a spokesman for the world summit for the information society (wsis) which is meeting this week in geneva told the bbc news website: the digital divide is very much real and needs to be addressed. some financing has to be found to help narrow the divide. on tuesday a meeting of the wsis in geneva agreed to the creation of a digital solitary fund. the fund is voluntary and will help finance local community-based projects said the wsis spokesman. under the proposals agreed voluntary contribution of 1% on contracts obtained by private technology service providers could be made to the digital solidarity fund. the exact financing mechanism of the fund is to be ironed out in the coming days said the wsis. sixty percent of resources collected by the fund will be made available for projects in least developed countries 30% for projects in developing countries and 10% for projects in developed countries. | politics | 2 |
mirza shocks kuznetsova sania mirza continued her remarkable rise with victory over us open champion svetlana kuznetsova at the dubai championships on tuesday. the 18-year-old indian who is already a huge star in her home country won 6-4 6-2 in front of a delirious crowd. it was mirza s sixth straight victory following her first wta tournament win in hyderabad last month. earlier daniela hantuchova built on her improving form with a 7-6 6-2 win over sixth seed alicia molik. mirza needed attention to an ankle injury after the second game against kuznetsova. she quickly slipped 4-0 down but staged a dramatic comeback that thrilled the large indian contingent in the crowd. i really didn t expect that after my ankle turn said mirza. i played a great match and i think (the crowd) did it again. i knew that i had to play an all-round game and that s what happened. i did everything well but i wasn t missing the ball - i don t know how that happened. mirza plays silvia farina elia or jelena jankovic next. hantuchova has risen from 31 in the world at the turn of the year to number 22 having reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals at her last two events. it was such a tough first-round match and i am glad to come through said hantuchova. she was serving so well. i just decided to hang in there and keep fighting. the slovakian will meet elena likhovtseva in the second round after the russian struggled past tunisian wild card selima sfar 2-6 6-2 7-6. likhovtseva needed nine match points before seeing off sfar who got a point penalty for swearing in the third set. seventh seed nathalie dechy and elena bovina were among other first-round winners on tuesday. | sports | 0 |
hewitt overcomes wobble in sydney lleyton hewitt gave himself the perfect preparation for next week s australian open with victory over ivo minar in the final of the sydney international. the defending champion brushed aside the czech qualifier 7-5 6-0. the australian world number three strolled to the first five games of the match but was shocked as minar won the next five. the top seed was rattled but recovered to close out the set and raced to victory in exactly an hour. it was a strange match . . . momentum swings said hewitt. i felt like i came out of the blocks extremely well but then he loosened up a bit. when he got back to 5-5 i had to try to settle down and take it up a notch and i was able to do that. hewitt has now lifted the sydney title four times in the last six years. it just keeps getting better and better every year hewitt said. i ve only played this tournament four times and i ve won it four times. hewitt went into the final as a short-priced favourite to clinch his 24th career title after dropping only one set all week. he is set to meet frenchman arnaud clement in the first round of the australian open. minar ranked 158th in the world was forced to pull out of the australian open qualifying draw to play in his first atp final. for me this was a big success said the 20-year-old. i was so nervous last night i couldn t sleep. i ve never played a top-10 player before. i wanted to play qualifying in melbourne but it s saturday and i m still here. but this is a main draw and i need the points and the money. alicia molik takes on samantha stosur in an all-australian women s final later on saturday. | science and tech | 2 |
court mulls file-sharing future judges at the us supreme court have been hearing evidence for and against file-sharing networks. the court will decide whether producers of file-sharing software can ultimately be held responsible for copyright infringement. they questioned if opening the way for the entertainment industry to sue file-sharers could deter innovation. they also said that file-trading firms had some responsibility for inducing people to piracy. the lawsuit brought by 28 of the world s largest entertainment firms has raged for several years. legal experts agree that if the supreme court finds in favour of the music and movie industry they would be able to sue file-trading firms into bankruptcy. but if the judge rules that grokster and morpheus - the file-sharers at the centre of the case - are merely providers of technology that can have legitimate as well as illegitimate uses then the music and movie industry would be forced to abandon its pursuit of file-sharing providers. instead they would have to pursue individuals who use peer-to-peer networks to get their hands on free music and movies. the hi-tech and entertainment industries have been divided on the issue. intel filed a document with the supreme court earlier this month in defence of grokster and others despite misgivings about some aspects of the file-sharing community. it summed up the attitude of many tech firms in its submission which states that its products are essentially tools that like any other tools capable of being used by consumers and businesses for unlawful purposes . asking firms to second-guess the uses that its technologies would be put to and to build in ways of preventing illegitimate use would stifle innovation it said. the electronic frontier foundation a civil rights watchdog is also defending streamcast networks the company behind the morpheus file-sharing software. the case raises a question of critical importance at the border between copyright and innovation it said. it cites as do many the landmark ruling in 1984 which found that sony should not be held responsible for the fact that its betamax video recorder could be used for piracy. defenders remain optimistic that the judges will rule in favour of the peer-to-peer networks upholding the precedent set by the sony betamax case. a small band of supporters were outside the court as the lawyers entered wearing save betamax t-shirts. the betamax principles stand as the magna carta for the technology industry and are responsible for the explosion in innovation that has occurred in the us over the past 20 years said gary shapiro chief executive of the consumer electronics association. supreme court justice stephen breyer said that inventions from printing to apple s ipod could be used to illegally duplicate copyrighted materials but had on balance been beneficial to society. he said that while file-trading software can be used to illegally trade movies and music conceptually the technology had some really excellent uses . based on tuesday s hearing it seems unlikely that the betamax ruling will be overturned but file-sharing firms might still be held responsible for encouraging or inducing piracy. grokster s lawyer argued that the company should be judged by its current behaviour rather than what it did when it first set up. but this argument was dismissed as ridiculous by justice david souter. cea boss mr shapiro thinks the case is the most important that the supreme court will hear this year. it s about preserving america s proud history of technological innovation and protecting the ability of consumers to access and utilise technology he said. the case has already been heard by two lower courts and both found in favour of the peer-to-peer networks. they ruled that despite being used to distribute millions of illegal songs file-sharing could also be used to cheaply distribute software government documents and promotional copies of music. | science and tech | 0 |
kennedy criticises unfair taxes gordon brown has failed to tackle the fundamental unfairness in the tax system in his ninth budget charles kennedy has said. how was it right that the poorest 20% of society were still paying more as a proportion of their income than the richest 20% the lib dem leader asked. the new £200 council tax rebate for pensioners did nothing to fix the unfair tax he added. the government could not go on patching up the system he added. speaking in the commons after mr brown had delivered what is widely thought to be the last budget before the general election mr kennedy acknowledged that the uk was one of the most successful economies in the world. but he criticised both the chancellor and the tories for failing to address the ticking bomb of council tax revaluation. he said the recent experience of wales indicated seven million households in england would pay significantly more after revaluation. the chancellor s announcement that he was to offer a £200 council tax rebate paid by pensioner households was merely a sticking plaster to a much bigger problem. the lib dem plan for a local income tax would benefit the typical household by more than £450 a year with half of all pensioners paying no local tax and about three million being better off. on pensions mr kennedy said it was a scandal that the system discriminated against women who had missed making national insurance payments when they were having children. he said a residency criteria would end at a stroke this fundamental iniquity . mr kennedy added his party s priorities of free long-term care for the elderly abolishing top-up fees and replacing the council tax would be funded by charging 50% income tax to those earning more than £100 000 per annum. he contrasted his approach with mr brown s pledge in 2001 not to increase income tax. the chancellor went on to put up national insurance contributions after the election. for most individuals most families most households it adds up to exactly the same thing said mr kennedy. and they wonder why people get cynical about their politicians when they give one impression before an election and do exactly the opposite after that election. | world | 2 |
uk set to cut back on embassies nine overseas embassies and high commissions will close in an effort to save money uk foreign secretary jack straw has announced. the bahamas east timor madagascar and swaziland are among the areas affected by the biggest shake-up for the diplomatic service for years. other diplomatic posts are being turned over to local staff. mr straw said the move would save £6m a year to free up cash for priorities such as fighting terrorism. honorary consuls will be appointed in some of the areas affected by the embassy closures. nine consulates or consulates general will also be closed mostly in europe and america. they include dallas in the us bordeaux in france and oporto in portugal with local staff replacing uk representation in another 11. the changes are due to be put in place before the end of 2006 with most savings made from cutting staff and running costs. some of the money will have to be used to fund redundancy payments. in a written statement mr straw said: the savings made will help to underpin higher priority work in line with the foreign and commonwealth office s strategic priorities including counter- proliferation counter-terrorism energy and climate change. some of the savings will also be redeployed to strategic priority work within certain regions where we are closing posts. in africa for instance we plan to create new jobs to cover these issues across the region with a new post in nairobi to help support our work on climate change one in nigeria to cover energy and one in pretoria to cover regional issues more generally as well as covering maseru and mbabane. the foreign office currently has about 6 100 uk-based staff. it has opened major new missions on baghdad and basra in iraq kabul in afghanistan and pyongyang in north korea since 1997 in response to what the government says are changing needs. since 1997 10 overseas posts have been closed - excluding wednesday s cuts - but 18 new embassies or consulates have been opened. the shake-up is aimed at helping making £86m in efficiency savings between 2005 and 2008. the chancellor has demanded all government departments make similar savings. shadow foreign secretary michael ancram said there was a constant need to ensure value for money from foreign missions. but the government must give a far clearer reason for making the dramatic changes it has announced and must show that british commercial interests and the interests of britons abroad will not be adversely affected he said. | politics | 0 |
box office blow for alexander director oliver stone s historical epic alexander has failed in its bid to conquer the box office entering the us film charts at number six. the swords and sandals blockbuster rumoured to have cost more than $150m (£79m) to make earned just $13.5 (£7m) over three days at the us box office. due to the thanksgiving holiday the film opened on wednesday bringing its total takings to $21.6m (£11.4m). top of the box office for a second week was action movie national treasure. the family adventure starring nicolas cage took $33.1m (£17.m) ahead of animated comedy the incredibles - now in its fourth week in the charts - which took $24.1m (£12.7m). last week oliver stone s film met with scathing reviews from us critics. the film stars irish actor colin farrell as one of history s most celebrated leaders - a relentless and arrogant warrior who conquered much of the known world by the age of 25. in particular its portrayal of alexander as a bisexual has met with a hostile reception and the threat of legal action from greek lawyers. though the battles have the blood-and-sinew bravado you expect from oliver stone this three-hour buttnumbathon is hamstrung by a hectoring grandiosity wrote one reviewer in rolling stone magazine. others poured scorn on farrell s bleached hair and angelina jolie s unwieldy accent which variety called a combination of mata hari and count dracula . but novelist gore vidal defended the film saying it was barrier-breaking for its frank depiction of bisexuality. in sweden last thursday to pick up a lifetime achievement award at the stockholm international film festival stone expressed the hope that alexander might be better appreciated in europe. one of the reasons i am being honoured here is europeans tend to see me a little differently than they do in the us said the director behind jfk platoon and born on the fourth of july. he added alexander was not an easy movie but then i ve never made easy movies . | sports | 2 |
federer breezes into semi-finals roger federer reached the last four of the qatar open with an easy 6-1 6-2 win over seventh seed feliciano lopez. the swiss world number one reeled off a series winners to outclass the spaniard and set up a semi-final match against russian nikolay davydenko. federer who lost in the quarter-final in his last qatar appearance in 2003 was happy with his form. i think i played better than against greg rusedski and i am happy i am playing so well said the top seed. lopez showed glimpses of resolve early in the second set when he held his first service game and came close to breaking federer. but the swiss saved a break point and promptly broke serve in the following game to seize control. davydenko meanwhile upset french third seed sebastien grosjean 2-6 6-3 6-2. fabrice santoro completed a miserable day for france when he was forced to retire when 6-2 3-0 down to albert costa. spaniard costa will next face croatian ivan ljubicic after the sixth seed beat rafael nadal 6-2 6-7 (3/7) 6-3. | sports | 0 |
hospital suspends no welsh plan an english hospital has suspended plans to stop treating welsh patients who have waited more than three months. hereford county hospital had earlier said that from the new year patients waiting longer than this would be taken off waiting lists for hip and knee operations. gps in wales had feared patients could be pushed to the back of another queue. but after talks with powys health board the hospital called off its plan until health chiefs meet early in january. hereford hospital trust caused an outcry when it sent out a letter telling patients that for financial and administrative reasons it planned to turn down some orthopaedic patients. shocked health officials in powys said this meant they would be left with the prospect of patients and doctors having to find new appointments in other hospitals. andy williams chief executive of powys local health board had said it was a totally unacceptable way to behave . mr williams had said he did not think it was a welsh-english issue but said hereford hospital was struggling financially and trying to pass the problem back to powys . he had told bbc radio wales: i have written straight back to the trust... to insist they withdraw this threat and treat the patients i am paying them to treat. but after the hospital had agreed to the suspension mr williams said he was optimistic a compromise could be reached which would ensure welsh patients continued to be treated there. he said the problem had been caused by the difference in waiting time targets between england and wales. the target is 12 months for welsh patients but just three months in england. the contract with the powys health board was worth £7m a year for the hospital and accounts for 12% of its patients. in a statement before the suspension of the idea the welsh assembly government said the situation was unacceptable . but powys local health board is committed to ensuring our patients receive the care that is appropriate said the assembly government. although we will be challenging hereford s decision we will put in place appropriate care for our patients. they will be contacted by their gps in the next week. earlier david rose chief executive of hereford hospitals nhs trust had said: it is with real regret that we have taken this step. we want to continue providing an excellent and fast service to powys people but can only do this if we are paid to provide the service. in 2005 our waiting time will fall to a maximum of 6-months and we want powys people to ask to be referred to our modern hospital. we appeal to powys local health board to allow powys people to choose hereford for their treatment. | politics | 0 |
wenger offers mutu hope arsenal boss arsene wenger would consider signing adrian mutu once the striker has served his drugs ban. mutu was sacked by chelsea on friday after testing positive for cocaine - a move wenger has backed. but he said: i don t even wonder if that could happen because i think he will be suspended for a long period. but once he has served his suspension he has the right again to start from zero. i would then meet the player and see what he tells me. mutu faces a ban of between six months and two years when the football association decides on his punishment. chelsea decided to act before his case was heard and sacked the striker on grounds of gross misconduct after it was revealed that he had failed a drug test. but mutu has hit out at the club s decision saying: chelsea have destroyed me. he told the sunday mirror: i don t know what i m going to do. i am shocked and surprised by their decision. i didn t expect them to pay me while i was suspended but i never thought they would sack me either. why didn t they wait to do this now my career is in ruins. i might as well walk away from football. what is there left for me chelsea have been criticised for their stance with the professional footballers association accusing the club of failing in their duty of care to the player. and mutu agreed adding: it is unfair. if they were going to sack me they should have done it afterwards. why did they go public to make an example of me it makes it very difficult for me now. | sports | 0 |
uk broadband gets speed injection broadband s rapid rise continues apace as speeds gear up a notch. an eight megabit service has been launched by internet service provider uk online. it is 16 times faster than the average broadband package on the market and will pave the way for services such as video-on-demand and broadband tv. the service is possible due to a new regime which allows other operators to use bt s exchanges and will initially only be available in towns. it represents a big leap forward for broadband said chris stening uk online general manager. the service comes with a hefty £39.99 monthly price tag but will mean users can download mp3s in seconds and offers tv-quality video streaming. the service includes wifi as standard meaning users can connect multiple pcs laptops and game consoles from any room in the house. not everybody will be able to take advantage of the service as it will be restricted to metropolitan areas. the service will initially be available to users within 2km radius of 230 telephone exchanges in areas such as london birmingham glasgow and cambridge. that represents about 4.4 million households. the service is possible due to a decision to loosen bt s strangle-hold on telephone exchanges. the process known as local loop unbundling was put in motion by the now defunct telecoms watchdog oftel but has only proved popular in recent months due to falling costs. uk online is looking at the possibility of bundling services such as cheap net telephone calls video-on-demand and tv by 2005 if the service proves popular. the service is twice as fast as any other service on offer in the uk and 16 times faster than most broadband services said mr stening. it takes a big leap for broadband and we are very excited about it he said. countries such as south korea and france have found the advantage of upping the speeds of broadband. in south korea video-on-demand over the net is cheaper than renting a dvd and online gaming is huge. mr stening believes the service will appeal to people in multi-occupancy buildings as well as easing family arguments. a typical family with two adults and two children is currently sharing a 512 kilobit service. this will basically give them 2 megabits each he said. | science and tech | 0 |
gatlin and hayes win owen awards american olympic stars justin gatlin and joanna hayes have been named the winners of the 2004 jesse owens awards usa track & field s (usatf) top honour. gatlin 22 won the closest 100m final in games history with a career-best time of 9.85 seconds in athens. he also won bronze in the 200m and silver in the 4x100m relay becoming the only male athlete to win three athletics medals this summer. hayes 27 set an olympic record of 12.37 in winning the 100m hurdles. established in 1981 the jesse owens awards - named in honour of the late olympic great who won four gold medals at the 1936 berlin games - are presented annually to the outstanding us male and female track and field performers. the 2004 awards will be presented on 3 december in conjunction with the usatf annual meeting in portland. it is such a great honour to win the jesse owens award said gatlin. it is one of the biggest honours in track and field and it is a great end to a great year. hayes said: knowing some of the great people who have won this award before me and knowing what it represents i feel a sense accomplishment and pride which lets me know that everything that i have worked for is and always will be worth it. | politics | 2 |
tories urge change at the top tory delegates are gathering for what is expected to be their last conference before the general election declaring britain needs a change at the top . the party goes into its spring forum trying to highlight what it sees as a clear choice between it and labour. tory co-chairman liam fox has opened proceedings with a speech criticising tony blair s record in government. labour s rule has been characterised by lost trust and failure to deliver he told the brighton conference. he also attacked the government s failure to control immigration and asylum and criticised its record on the nhs telling delegates labour cannot be trusted on education or crime. a tory government would sort out the shambles of immigration put patients before statistics and bring discipline to schools he said. dr fox also underlined tory promises to cut tax by £4bn. bbc political correspondent shaun ley says opinion polls suggest the tories still lag some way behind labour on the issues of health education and the economy. conservative leader michael howard who had been due to welcome delegates to the conference on friday will address them in a lunchtime speech. his welcome address had to be postponed after he stayed in london to lead the party s opposition to the prevention of terrorism bill in its lengthy progress through parliament. the bill was finally passed on friday evening after more than 30 hours of debate. mr howard is likely to defend his party s handling of the bill which was only passed after the conservatives accepted prime minister tony blair s promise that mps would be able to review it within a year. | business | 2 |
gangsters dominate gaming chart video games on consoles and computers proved more popular than ever in 2004. gamers spent more than £1.34bn in 2004 almost 7% more than they did in 2003 according to figures released by the uk gaming industry s trade body. sales records were smashed by the top title of the year gta: san andreas - in which players got the job of turning central character cj into a crime boss. the game sold more than 1 million copies in the first nine days that it was on sale. this feat made it the fastest selling video game of all time in the uk. although only released in november the sprawling story of guns gangsters game beat off strong competition and by year end had sold more than 1.75 million copies. there were also records set for the number of games that achieved double-platinum status by selling more than 600 000 copies. five titles including sony eyetoy play and ea s need for speed: underground 2 managed this feat according to figures compiled by chart-track for the entertainment and leisure software publishers association (elspa). electronic arts the world s biggest games publisher had 9 games in the top 20. 2004 was a stellar year said roger bennett director general of elspa. in a year with no new generation consoles being released the market continued to be buoyant as the industry matured and the increasingly diverse range of games reached new audiences and broadened its player base - across ages and gender he said. part of the success of games in 2004 could be due to the fact that so many of them are sequels. 16 out of the top 20 titles were all follow-ups to established franchises or direct sequels to previously popular games. halo the sims driver need for speed fifa football burnout were just a few that proved as popular as the original titles. despite this fondness for older games doom 3 did not make it to the top 20. movie tie-ins also proved their worth in 2004. games linked to shrek the incredibles spider-man harry potter and lord of the rings were all in the top 20. elspa noted that sales of xbox games rose 37.9% during the year. however sony s playstation 2 was the top seller with 47% of the £1.34bn spent on games in 2004 used to buy titles for that console. despite winning awards and rave reviews half-life 2 did not appear in the list. this was because it was only released on pc and compared to console titles sold in relatively small numbers. also the novel distribution system adopted by developer valve meant that many players downloaded the title rather than travel to the shops to buy a copy. valve has yet to release figures which show how many copies of the game were sold in this way. | world | 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. | sports | 2 |
mexican in us send $16bn home mexican labourers living in the us sent a record $16.6bn (£8.82bn) home last year. the bank of mexico said that remittances grew 24% last year and now represent the country s second-biggest source of income after oil. better records and greater prosperity of mexican expatriates in the us are the main reasons behind the increase. about 10 million mexicans live in the us where there are 16 million citizens of mexican origin. remittances now represent more than 2% of the country s gdp according to the bank of mexico s figures. last year there were 50.9 million transactions with an average value of $327 per remittance the bank said. according to standard & poor s which has recently upgraded mexico s sovereign debt rating the rise in remittances helps protect the mexican economy against a potential fall in the international oil prices. the growth in remittances has sparked fierce competition between banks. bank of america announced last week that it planned to eliminate transfer fees for some customers. remittance charges are estimated to have dropped by between 50 and 60% reports from the us treasury and the inter-american development bank have said. the inter-american development bank estimates that remittances to latin america and the caribbean reached $45bn in 2004. | world | 2 |
steady job growth continues in us the us created fewer jobs than expected in december but analysts said that the dip in hiring was not enough to derail the world s biggest economy. according to labor department figures 157 000 new jobs were added last month. that took 2004 s total to 2.2 million the best showing in five years. job creation was one of last year s main concerns for the us economy. while worries still remain the conditions are set for steady growth in 2005 analysts said. the unemployment rate stayed at 5.4% in december and about 200 000 jobs will need to be created each month if that figure is to drop. it was a respectable report said michael moran analyst at daiwa securities. payroll growth in december was a little lighter than the consensus forecast but we had upward revisions to the prior two months and an increase in manufacturing employment. manufacturing is a cyclical area of the economy and if it s showing job growth it s a good indication that the economy is on a solid growth track. that means that the federal reserve is likely to continue its policy of raising interest rates. the fed lifted borrowing costs five times last year to 2.25% citing evidence the us economic recovery was becoming more robust. job creation was one of last year s main concerns for the us economy and proved to be a main topic of debate in the us presidential election. while demand for workers is far from booming the conditions are set for steady growth. overall compared to the previous year it looks great it just keeps going stronger and stronger and i expect that to be the case in 2005 said kurt karl economist at swiss re in new york. meanwhile economists cautioned against reading too much into data from the federal reserve showing an unexpected $8.7bn drop in consumer debt in november. a fall in consumer spending which makes up about two-thirds of all us economic activity could help limit the extent of any future interest rate rises. but economists said there could be a number of reasons for a fall in the borrowing which include credit cards and personal loans while noting that such figures can vary on a month-to-month basis. | business | 0 |
snicket tops us box office chart the film adaptation of lemony snicket novels has topped the north america box office chart displacing ocean s 12. a series of unfortunate events starring jim carrey took $30.2m (£15.5m) in its debut weekend. ocean s 12 fell to number two while new entry spanglish entered the chart at number three taking $9m (£4.6m). a series of unfortunate events also stars scottish comedian billy connelly while carrey takes on a number of different roles in the surreal film. the only other new entry in the top 10 was re-make flight of the phoenix at number eight starring dennis quaid. carrey entertained crowds at the uk premiere of lemony snicket in london on friday. the actor grabbed co-star meryl streep and whisked her around leicester square. based on the cult children s books by author daniel handler the film follows three children who are orphaned when their parents die in a fire. they are taken in by their wicked uncle count olaf played by carrey who schemes to get his hands on their fortune. | entertainment | 0 |
wilkinson fit to face edinburgh england captain jonny wilkinson will make his long-awaited return from injury against edinburgh on saturday. wilkinson who has not played since injuring his bicep on 17 october took part in full-contact training with newcastle falcons on wednesday. and the 25-year-old fly-half will start saturday s heineken cup match at murrayfield on the bench. but newcastle director of rugby rob andrew said: he s fine and we hope to get him into the game at some stage. the 25-year-old missed england s autumn internationals after aggravating the haematoma in his upper right arm against saracens. he was subsequently replaced as england captain by full-back jason robinson. sale s charlie hodgson took over the number 10 shirt in the internationals against canada south africa and australia. wilkinson s year has been disrupted by injury as his muscle problem followed eight months on the sidelines with a shoulder injury sustained in the world cup final. | sports | 0 |
malik rejects all-black mp lists a call for ethnic minority shortlists to boost the number of black and asian mps has been rejected by one of labour s most senior asians. shahid malik who is on labour s ruling nec accepted people s frustration but said there should be targets not lists to boost representation of minorities. just 13 of britain s 659 mps are from ethnic minority groups he added. commission for racial equality chief trevor phillips argued on sunday the time had come for such shortlists. that came after it emerged that one of britain s most ethnically diverse constituency west ham was to get a women-only shortlist for the next election following an nec ruling. mr phillips said changes to the race relations legislation might allow political parties to reserve seats for under-represented groups. for example in west ham this might allow only women and minorities to seek to be candidates. if we get to the other side of the general election and find that minorities are not represented we have to say that after 20 or 30 years of talking about this we cannot go on the same way he said. he added: it would be terribly disappointing if in the least white constituency [west ham] in the whole of europe we didn t have a minority candidate. appearing on bbc radio 4 s today programme mr malik who is himself running for the seat of dewsbury acknowledged that so far women-only shortlists had failed to deliver a boost in the number of ethnic minority candidates. but he argued: i do think that there currently things that parties can do and which they aren t doing... for example setting targets to ensure that existing democratic structures are more reflective. labour mp diane abbot who backs mr phillips proposal of shortlists said she had been elected along with three other ethnic minority mps - keith vaz paul boateng and bernie grant - in 1987 but it took another 10 years before another black woman was able to win a seat. that was a rate of progress ms abbott described as painful . i am a little older than shahid and served on the national executive committee in the 1990s - i was the first black person on the nec ... crossing our fingers and hoping we are going to get more black and asian mp hasn t worked she said. the shortlist strategy works for women and i believe that it can be made to work for black and asian people. on tuesday labour chairman ian mccartney said his party was ambitious to improve black and asian representation. we haven t ruled out all-black shortlists and welcome a debate in the party about this he said. | politics | 0 |
o connor aims to grab opportunity johnny o connor is determined to make a big impression when he makes his rbs six nations debut for ireland against scotland on saturday. the wasps flanker replaces denis leamy but o connor knows that the munster man will be pushing hard for a recall for the following game against england. it s a horses for courses selection really said o connor. there s a lot of competition here and i can t just drag my heels around if i don t get picked. it looks a definite head-to-head battle between himself and 23-year-old leamy - three stone heavier than o connor - for the number seven role against the world champions. nonetheless all o connor is currently concerned about is making an impression while winning his third cap. missing the italian game was disappointing certainly but you can t dwell on these things - it s part and parcel of rugby. denis has been playing really well and deserved his opportunity. it s a good situation to be in if there are good players around you pushing for a place in the side. o connor who celebrated his 25th birthday on wednesday was touted by wasps director of rugby warren gatland as a possible 2005 lions test openside as far back as last september. and his reputation as a breakdown scavenger and heavy hitter has seen him come to the forefront of o sullivan s mind for the scottish tussle. o connor added: it will be interesting to see how situations on the deck is reffed with the new laws having come in. obviously the breakdown a big part of what i do on the pitch so i m hoping to hold some influence there against what is a very solid scottish pack. o connor will be winning his third cap after making his debut in the victory over south africa last november. | politics | 2 |
firefox browser takes on microsoft microsoft s internet explorer has a serious rival in the long-awaited firefox 1.0 web browser which has just been released. few people get excited when some new software is released especially when the program is not a game or a music or movie player. but the release of the first full version of firefox has managed to drum up a respectable amount of pre-launch fervour. fans of the software have banded together to raise cash to pay for an advert in the new york times announcing that version 1.0 of the browser is available. the release of firefox 1.0 on 9 november might even cause a few heads to turn at microsoft because the program is steadily winning people away from the software giant s internet explorer browser. firefox has been created by the mozilla foundation which was started by former browser maker netscape back in 1998. much of the development work done since then has gone into firefox which made its first appearance under this name in february. earlier incarnations but which had the same core technology were called phoenix and firebird. since then the software has been gaining praise and converts not least because of the large number of security problems that have come to light in microsoft s internet explorer. rivals to ie got a boost in late june when two us computer security organisations warned people to avoid the microsoft program to avoid falling victim to a serious vulnerability. internet monitoring firm websidestory has charted the growing population of people using the firefox browser and says it is responsible for slowly eroding the stranglehold of ie. before july this year according to websidestory internet explorer was used by about 95% of web surfers. that figure had remained static for years. in july the ie using population dropped to 94.7% and by the end of october stood at 92.9%. the mozilla foundation claims that firefox has been downloaded almost eight million times and has publicly said it would be happy to garner 10% of the windows- using net-browsing population. firefox is proving popular because at the moment it has far fewer security holes than internet explorer and has some innovations lacking in microsoft s program. for instance firefox allows the pages of different websites to be arranged as tabs so users can switch easily between them. it blocks pop-ups has a neat way of finding text on a page and lets you search through the pages you have browsed. one of the most powerful features of firefox is the many hundreds of extras or extensions produced for it. the mozilla foundation is an open source organisation which means that the creators of the browser are happy for others to play around with the core code for the program. this has resulted in many different add-ons or extensions for the browser which now include everything from a version of the familiar google toolbar to a homeland security monitor that keep users aware of current threat levels. firefox which used to be called firebird and before that phoenix also has a growing number of vocal net-based fans. a campaign co-ordinated by the spread firefox website attempted to raise the $50 000 needed for a full page advert in the new york times. the campaign set itself a target of recruiting 2500 volunteers. ten days in to the campaign 10 000 people had signed up and now about $250 000 has been raised. the ad is due to run sometime in a three-week period in late november/early december. the surplus cash will be used to help keep the mozilla foundation running. microsoft is facing a growing challenge to ie s hold on the web using population. from alternative browsers such as opera safari amaya and even netscape. | science and tech | 0 |
boothroyd calls for lords speaker betty boothroyd has said the house of lords needs its own speaker and that peers should lead the way on reforming the upper chamber. baroness boothroyd who was the first woman to be commons speaker said she believed tony blair initiated reforms without a clear outcome in mind. now we have to take care of it ourselves and make the best of it she told the bbc s breakfast with frost. in 1999 labour removed all but 92 of the lords 750 hereditary peers. that was billed as the first stage of reform of the institution. the lord chancellor hinted further reforms could be unveiled in the next labour manifesto. i think we need to look very carefully at the relationship between the lords and the commons lord falconer told bbc1 s breakfast with frost. how it interacts with the commons is a very very important issue. we need to address the issue in the manifesto but you will have to wait for when the manifesto comes. the lord chancellor currently has the role of house of lords speaker. he is also head of the judiciary and a member of the cabinet as constitutional affairs secretary. lady boothroyd said she believed it was unacceptable for the lord chancellor to have the role of speaker. i would really like to see a speaker of the house of lords she said. i don t go for the idea of somebody - a lord chancellor - who is head of the judiciary a senior cabinet minister and speaker of the lords. i want somebody there who is going to look after that house and do a job there. | world | 2 |
radcliffe enjoys winning comeback paula radcliffe made a triumphant return to competitive running with victory in the new york marathon. the briton running for the first time since dropping out of the olympic marathon and 10 000m held off kenyan susan chepkemei in a thrilling finish. the pair were locked together for the last few miles before radcliffe finally sprinted clear to win in two hours 23 minutes and 10 seconds. it s a good way to end the year she said. i m ready for a good rest now. radcliffe decided only recently to run in the race and many had doubted whether she had sufficiently recovered from her olympic ordeal just 11 weeks ago. but the world record-holder was prominent at the head of the field for the whole race as her rivals slowly dropped off the pace. just chepkemei and radcliffe were left in contention as the race came into the final few miles. the kenyan put in several bursts of speed to throw off radcliffe but the briton managed to hang in. both runners looked to be suffering as they reached the final mile in central park. but it was radcliffe who managed to dredge up a final sprint to see off chepkemei in the closest finish in the race s history and in the process make a huge step in erasing the disappointment she suffered in athens. | politics | 2 |
leeds v saracens (fri) headingley friday 25 february 2000 gmt the tykes have brought in newcastle prop ed kalman and tom mcgee from the borders on loan while fly-half craig mcmullen has joined from narbonne. raphael ibanez is named at hooker for saracens in one of four changes. simon raiwalui and ben russell are also selected in the pack while kevin sorrell comes in at outside centre. - friday s game at headingley got the go-ahead on friday after passing an early pitch inspection. leeds: balshaw; rees christophers bell doherty; mcmullen dickens; mcgee rawlinson gerber; murphy palmer (capt) morgan parks popham. replacements: kalman regan hyde rigney mcmillan rock vickerman. saracens: bartholomeusz; castaignede sorrell harris vaikona; jackson bracken; yates ibanez visagie; raiwalui fullarton; randell russell vyvyan (capt). replacements: cairns lloyd broster chesney johnston rauluni little. | world | 2 |
star trek fans fight to save show star trek fans have taken out a full-page ad in the los angeles times in an attempt to persuade tv executives not to scrap star trek: enterprise. made by the upn tv network the latest spin-off from the hit sci-fi show is due to end in may after four series. but fans around the world have pitched in to pay for the advert which had the headline save star trek . they are also asking the sci-fi channel to pick it up from upn and will stage a rally in los angeles on 25 february. the advert described the star trek franchise as a cultural icon . enterprise stars former quantum leap actor scott bakula as captain archer and is set before the original 1960s star trek series. captain archer and the crew of the nx-01 need your help to continue their journeys! the advert said. it also included a cut-out coupon for fans to send to upn s parent companies paramount and viacom plus the sci-fi channel. it also urged supporters to join the rally outside the paramount studios. fan website trek united is hoping to raise $32m (£17m) from donations by the end of march to pay for a fifth series. more than $23 000 (£12 000) has been pledged so far according to the site. the 98th and final episode of star trek: enterprise will air in the us on 13 may. the fourth series has averaged 2.9 million viewers per episode - half the amount it got in its first series. star trek: enterprise began in 2001 following other star trek spin-off series the next generation deep space nine and voyager. | entertainment | 0 |
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