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kerr frustrated at victory margin republic of ireland manager brian kerr admitted he was frustrated his side did not score more than one goal in their friendly win over croatia. robbie keane took his republic record to 24 with a first-half goal which proved enough for victory. we had more good chances. it is just a shame we did not take them against such a technically gifted team said kerr. but given the conditions and the standard of the croatian team we should be very happy with the win. the republic side kept a clean sheet for the eighth time in 11 matches and are unbeaten in 14 home games since kerr succeeded mick mccarthy. kerr applauded the decisive move which earned the victory. it was a brilliant goal fantastic skill by damien duff. robbie might have scuffed it a little but it was a good goal. matchwinner keane was another full of praise for duff s role in the goal. it was great play from damien said the tottenham striker. i always try to be sniffing around because you know nine times out of 10 duffer is going to get it in the box. playing three up was something different. brian kerr wanted to try it out and it was good to see young stephen elliott getting a run-out. the conditions were difficult but he did well and is definitely one for the future. it is nice to see young players coming through. man-of-the-match duff explained what went wrong when he fluffed a chance to make it 2-0 midway through the second half. he opted to bring steve finnan s cross down and shoot against the bar when a close-range header looked the best option. i would have headed that every time but i completely lost it in the lights said the chelsea star. i was desperate to get on the scoresheet myself but the result is the important thing. we have had a good year and are going nicely in the qualifiers. hopefully that can continue in 2005. | sports | 0 |
file-swappers ready new network legal attacks on websites that help people swap pirated films have forced the development of a system that could be harder to shut down. one site behind the success of the bittorrent file-swapping system is producing its own software that avoids the pitfalls of the earlier program. a test version of the new exeem program will be released in late january. but doubts remain about the new networks ability to ensure files being swapped are quality copies . in late december movie studios launched a legal campaign against websites that helped people swap pirated movies using the bittorrent network. the legal campaign worked because of the way that bittorrent is organised. that file-sharing system relies on links called trackers that point users to others happy to share the file they are looking for. shutting down sites that listed trackers crippled the bittorrent network. one of the sites shut down by the legal campaign was suprnova.org which helped boost the popularity of the bittorrent system by checking that trackers led to the movies or tv programmes they claimed to. now the man behind suprnova.org who goes by the nickname sloncek is preparing to release software for a new file-swapping network dubbed exeem. in an interview with novastream web radio sloncek said exeem would combine ideas from the bittorrent and kazaa file-sharing systems. like bittorrent exeem will have trackers that help point people toward the file they want. like kazaa these trackers will be held by everyone. there will be no centrally maintained list. this said sloncek should make the system less vulnerable to legal action aimed at stopping people swapping pirated movies and music. the exeem software has been under development for a few months and is currently being tested by a closed group of users. an early public version of the software should be available before february. sloncek said that currently only a windows version of the software was in development. there were no plans for a linux or mac version. he said that costs of writing the software will be paid for by adverts appearing in the finished version of the program. despite suprnova administrator sloncek s involvement with exeem the basic technology appears to have been developed by a firm called swarm systems that is based on caribbean island saint kitts and nevis. users of the exeem system will be able to rate files being swapped to help stop the spread of fake files sloncek told novastream. dr johan pouwelse a researcher at the delft university of technology who studies peer-to-peer networks said exeem was the next evolution in file-sharing systems. but he said it would struggle to be as popular as bittorrent and suprnova because early versions were not taking enough care to make sure good copies of files were being shared. exeem cannot prevent pollution he said. the rating system in exeem seems flawed because it is easy to insert both fake files and fake ratings he said. studies have shown that organisations working for record labels and movie studios have worked to undermine kazaa by putting in fakes. by contrast moderators on suprnova made sure files being shared were high quality. the moderators are the difference between having a system that works and one that s full of crap like kazaa he said. there is a fundamental tension between distribution and integrity he said. mr pouwelse said that future versions of file-sharing systems are likely to incorporate some kind of distributed reputation system that lets moderators prove who they are to the network and rate which files are worth downloading. when big files were being shared moderation systems were key said mr pouwelse. he added that the legal attacks on bittorrent had driven people away from sites such as suprnova but many users had simply migrated to other tracker listing sites many of which have seen huge increases in traffic. it s hard to compete with free he said. no-one from the motion picture association of america was immediately available for comment on the file-sharing development. | politics | 2 |
mcclaren hails boro s uefa spirit middlesbrough boss steve mcclaren has praised the way his side have got to grips with european football after the 2-0 uefa cup win against lazio. boro who are playing in europe for the first time in their 128-year history are top of group e with maximum points. i think we have taken to europe really well said mcclaren. we got about lazio didn t let them settle or play. and in possession we controlled it and looked threatening every time we went forward. before the match mcclaren had said that a win over the italian giants would put boro firmly on the european footballing map. and after they did just that he said: it was a perfect european night. for the team to give the fans a performance like that was the icing on the cake. there have been many good performances but this was something special. you can see that the experience we have in the squad is showing. to win in europe you need to defend well and we have done that because we have conceded only one goal in four games. we can also score goals and again that is something you can see from the performances we have had so we have good balance. mcclaren s only criticism of his side was that their dominance should have been resulted in more goals. it should have been more convincing said mcclaren. but i had watched lazio in recent weeks and i saw them score a late equaliser against inter milan on saturday so i knew we needed a second goal. no matter what anybody says lazio are favourites to win this competition. middlesbrough forward boudewijn zenden said he did not expect such a comfortable match after he scored both goals. we didn t expect it to be that one-sided said zenden. we did quite well in the first half we pressured them and they didn t cope with that. i think we played quite well and it was a very good game especially in the first half. the holland international said boro are confident of progressing in the competition after winning their first two group games. we ve got a very good feeling there is a good spirit all the lads work hard for each other and it s a squad of friendly players which i think you can see on the pitch he added. | sports | 0 |
mobiles not media players yet mobiles are not yet ready to be all-singing all-dancing multimedia devices which will replace portable media players say two reports. despite moves to bring music download services to mobiles people do not want to trade multimedia services with size and battery life said jupiter. a separate study by gartner has also said real-time tv broadcasts to mobiles is unlikely in europe until 2007. technical issues and standards must be resolved first said the report. batteries already have to cope with other services that operators offer like video playback video messaging megapixel cameras and games amongst others. bringing music download services based on the success of computer-based download services will put more demands on battery life. fifty percent of europeans said the size of a mobile was the most important factor when it came to choosing their phone but more power demands tend to mean larger handsets. mobile phone music services must not be positioned to compete with the pc music experience as the handsets are not yet ready said thomas husson mobile analyst at jupiter research. mobile music services should be new and different and enable operators to differentiate their brands and support third generation network launches. other problems facing mobile music include limited storage on phones compared to portable players which can hold up to 40gb of music. the mobile industry is keen to get into music downloading after the success of apple s itunes napster and other net music download services. with phones getting smarter and more powerful there are also demands to be able to watch tv on the move. in the us services like tivo to go let people transfer pre-recorded tv content onto their phones. but the gartner report on mobile tv broadcasting in europe suggests direct broadcasting will have to wait. currently tv-like services where clips are downloaded are offered by several european operators like italy s tim and 3. mobile tv will have to overcome several barriers before it is widely taken up though said the report. various standards and ways of getting tv signals to mobiles are being worked on globally. in europe trials in berlin and helsinki are making use of terrestrial tv masts to broadcast compressed signals to handsets with extra receivers. a service from the norwegian broadcasting corporation lets people watch tv programmes on their mobiles 24 hours a day. the service uses 3gp technology one of the standards for mobile tv. but at the end of 2004 the european telecommunications institute (etsi) formally adopted digital video broadcasting handheld (dvb-h) as the mobile tv broadcasting standard for europe. operators will be working on the standard as a way to bring real-time broadcasts to mobiles as well as trying to overcome several other barriers. the cost and infrastructure needs to set up the services will need to be addressed. handsets also need to be able to work with the dvb-h standard. tv services will have to live up to the expectations of the digital tv generation too which expects good quality images at low prices according to analysts. people are also likely to be put off watching tv on such small screens said gartner. digital video recorders like europe s sky+ box and video-on-demand services mean people have much more control over what tv they watch. as a result people may see broadcasting straight to mobiles as taking away that control. more powerful smartphones like the xda ii nokia 6600 sonyericsson p900 and the orange e200 offering web access text and multimedia messaging e-mail calendar and gaming are becoming increasingly common. a report by analysts instat/mdr has predicted that smartphone shipments will grow by 44% over the next five years. it says that smartphones will make up 117 million out of 833 million handsets shipped globally by 2009. | business | 2 |
solutions to net security fears fake bank e-mails or phishing and stories about id theft are damaging the potential of using the net for online commerce say e-business experts. trust in online security is falling as a result. almost 70% of those asked in a poll said that net firms are not doing enough to protect people. the survey of more than 1 000 people reported that 43% were not willing to hand over personal information online. it is worrying for shopaholics and firms who want to exploit the net. more people are becoming aware of online security issues but they have little confidence that companies are doing enough to counter the threats said security firm rsa which carried out the poll. an estimated 12 million britons now use the net as a way of managing their financial affairs. security experts say that scare stories and the vulnerabilities dogging e-commerce and e-banking are being taken seriously - by banks in particular. i don t think the threat is overplayed barry beal global security manager for capgemini told the bbc news website. he added: the challenge for banks is to provide the customer with something that improves security but balances that with usability. ensuring extra security measures are in place protects them too as well as the individual and it is up to both parties to make sure they do what is necessary to prevent fraud he said. card issuers will keep us informed of types of attacks and what procedure to take to protect ourselves. if we do that they will indemnify us he said. many believe using login details like usernames and passwords are simply not good enough anymore though. one of the biggest challenges to improving security online is how to authenticate an individual s identity. several security companies have developed methods which complement or replace passwords which are easily compromised and easy to forget. last year a street survey found that more than 70% of people would reveal their password for a bar of chocolate. on average people have to remember four different passwords. some resort to using the same one for all their online accounts. those who use several passwords often write them down and hide them in a desk or in a document on their computer. in a separate survey by rsa 80% said they were fed up with passwords and would like a better way to login to work computer systems. for many the ideal is a single online identity that can be validated once with a series of passwords and questions or some biometric measurement like a fingerprint or iris scan with a token like a smartcard. activcard is just one of the many companies like rsa security which has been trying to come up with just that. rsa has a deal with internet provider aol that lets people pay monthly for a one-time passcode generation service. users get a physical token which automatically generates a code which stays active for 60 seconds. many companies use a token-based method already for employees to access networks securely already. activcard s method is more complex. it is currently trailing its one-time passcode generation technology with uk banks. steve ash from activcard told the bbc news website there are two parts to the process of identification. the most difficult is to ascertain whether an individual is who they say they are when they are online. the end solution is to provide a method where you combine something the user knows with something they have and present those both. the method it has developed makes use of the chip embedded in bank cards and a special card reader which can generate unique codes that are active for a specified amount of time. this can be adjusted at any time and can be active for as little as 30 seconds before it changes. it combines that with usual usernames and passwords as well as other security questions. you take the card put it in the reader enter your pin number and a code is given. if you wanted then to transfer funds for instance you would have to have the code to authorise the transaction. the clever bit happens back at the bank s secure servers. the code is validated by the bank s systems matching the information they expect with the customer s unique key. each individual gets a key which is unique to them. it is a 2048-bit long number that is virtually impossible to crack said mr ash. it means that in a typical security attack explains mr ash even if password information is captured by a scammer using keystroke software or just through spoof websites they need the passcode. by the time they go back [to use the information] the code has expired so they can t prove who they are according to mr ash. in the next few years mr ash predicts that this kind of method will be commonplace before we see biometric authentication that is acceptable for widespread use. pcs will have readers built into them the cost of readers will be very cheap and more people will have the cards. the gadgets we carry around like personal digital assistants (pdas) and mobiles could also have integrated card reader technology in them. the pda or phone method is a possible alternative as people are always carrying phones around he said. | science and tech | 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. | sports | 2 |
qatar and shell in $6bn gas deal shell has signed a $6bn (£3.12bn) deal with the middle eastern sheikhdom of qatar to supply liquid natural gas (lng) to north america and europe. the uk-dutch group will own 30% of the project with qatar s state oil firm owning the rest. the agreement is the latest in a string of deals reached by qatar which is trying to make itself a regional leader in natural gas. us oil giant exxonmobil signed up for a $12.8bn deal earlier on sunday. france s total is expected to join the exxonmobil scheme dubbed qatargas-2 on monday taking 5 million tonnes of lng a year. exxonmobil will be taking some 15 million tonnes each year for 25 years from the end of 2007 under the deal. shell s agreement under the name qatargas-4 foresees the building of new facilities to handle 1.4 billion cubic feet of gas and 7.8 million tonnes of lng each year from 2011 onwards. | world | 2 |
kraft cuts snack ads for children kraft plans to cut back on advertising of products like oreo cookies and sugary kool-aid drinks as part of an effort to promote healthy eating. the largest us food maker will also add a label to its more nutritional and low-fat brands to promote the benefits. kraft rival pepsico began a similar labelling initiative last year. the moves come as the firms face criticism from consumer groups concerned at rising levels of obesity in us children. major food manufacturers have recently been reformulating the content of some calorie-heavy products. kraft s new advertising policy which covers advertising on tv radio and in print publications is aimed at children between the ages of six and 11. it means commercials for some of its most famous snacks and cereals shown during early morning cartoon shows on tv will now be replaced by food and drink qualifying for kraft s new sensible solution label. but the firm said it would continue to advertise all its products in media seen by parents and all family audiences. we re working on ways to encourage both adults and children to eat wisely by selecting more nutritionally balanced diets said lance friedmann kraft senior vice president. | business | 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. | sports | 0 |
melzer shocks agassi in san jose second seed andre agassi suffered a comprehensive defeat by jurgen melzer in the quarter-finals of the sap open. agassi was often bamboozled by the austrian s drop shots in san jose losing 6-3 6-1. defending champion and top seed andy roddick rallied to beat sweden s thomas enqvist 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 7-5. but unseeded cyril saulnier beat the fourth seed vincent spadea 6-2 6-4 and tommy haas overcame eighth seed max mirnyi 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2. melzer has now beaten agassi in two of their three meetings. i had a good game plan and i executed it perfectly he said. it s always tough to come out to play andre. i didn t want him to play his game. he makes you run like a dog all over the court. and agassi who was more than matched for power by his opponent s two-handed backhand said melzer was an example of several players on the tour willing to take their chances against him. a lot more guys are capable of it now said the american. he played much better than me. that s what he did both times. i had opportunities to loosen myself up agassi added. but i didn t convert on the big points. | world | 2 |
brit awards for devon music acts devon singer joss stone and rock band muse won coveted brit awards during the event s 25th anniversary. seventeen-year-old stone from near cullumpton won two awards: best british female act and best urban act out of three award nominations. muse whose members met in south devon beat franz ferdinand jamie cullum kasabian and the libertines for best british live act. the band has sold about two million records worldwide. after beating amy winehouse jamelia natasha bedingfield and pj harvey to the best british female prize joss stone said: i don t know what to say. i don t like doing this at all. i d like to thank my family for being really supportive and everybody that made my record with me. i don t even know what to do right now. thank you all you guys for voting for me i feel sick right now. viewers of digital music tv channel mtv base voted stone the winner in the best urban act category. ms stone also performed her song right to be wrong backed by a gospel choir at the 25th award ceremony at london s earls court. her second album mind body & soul reached number one in the uk charts last october and went straight into the us charts at number 11. the teenager also has grammy nominations in the us normally dominated by home-grown acts. born jocelyn stoker the devon diva started her career in a bbc talent programme and was then discovered at a new york audition by a us record executive steve greenberg. indie rock group muse consists of matthew bellamy chris wolstenholme and dominic howard who met in their early teens in teignmouth south devon. dominic howard said of winning: we love playing live it s very important for our band. so to win something like this really feels great. the trio met aged 13 and formed the band gothic plague changing its name to fixed penalty rocket baby dolls and finally muse. the band released its first self-titled ep in 1998. the third studio album absolution was released in 2003 providing the hit singles time is running out hysteria and butterflies and hurricanes. | politics | 2 |
worldcom director ends evidence the former chief financial officer at us telecoms firm worldcom has finished giving evidence at the trial of his ex-boss bernie ebbers. scott sullivan admitted to jurors he was willing to commit fraud to meet wall street earnings projections. mr ebbers is on trial for fraud and conspiracy in relation to worldcom s collapse in 2002. he pleads not guilty. mr sullivan has spent two days being cross-examined by lawyers for former worldcom chief executive mr ebbers. attorney reid weingarten has attempted to portray mr sullivan as a liar and on thursday quizzed him about his decision to commit fraud to meet analysts profit estimates. at that point in time mr sullivan said referring to the first false entries in late 2000 i knew it was wrong and i knew it was against the law but i thought we would get through it in the short term. mr sullivan 42 has already pleaded guilty to fraud and will be sentenced following mr ebbers trial where he is appearing as a prosecution witness. mr ebbers 63 has always insisted that he was unaware of any hidden shortfalls in worldcom s finances. the former finance officer said mr ebbers knew about the improper accounting entries that were made between 2000 and 2002 to conceal soaring expenses and inflate revenue. mr ebbers could face a sentence of 85 years if convicted of all the charges he is facing. worldcom s problems appear to have begun with the collapse of the dotcom boom which cut its business from internet companies. prosecutors allege that the company s top executives responded by orchestrating massive fraud over a two-year period. worldcom emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2004 and is now known as mci. on monday mci agreed to a buyout by verizon communications in a deal valued at $6.75bn. | world | 2 |
asian banks halt dollar s slide the dollar regained some lost ground against most major currencies on wednesday after south korea and japan denied they were planning a sell-off. the dollar suffered its biggest one-day fall in four months on tuesday on fears that asian central banks were about to lower their reserves of dollars. japan is the biggest holder of dollar reserves in the world with south korea the fourth largest. the dollar was buying 104.76 yen at 0950 gmt 0.5% stronger on the day. it also edged higher against both the euro and the pound with one euro worth $1.3218 and one pound buying $1.9094. concerns over rising oil prices and the outlook for the dollar pushed down us stock markets on tuesday; the dow jones industrial average closed down 1.6% while the nasdaq lost 1.3%. the dollar s latest slide began after a south korean parliamentary report suggested the country which has about $200bn in foreign reserves had plans to boost holdings of currencies such as the australian and canadian dollar. on wednesday however south korea moved to steady the financial markets. it issued a statement that the bank of korea will not change the portfolio of currencies in its reserves due to short term market factors . japan too steadied nerves. a senior japanese finance ministry official told reuters we have no plans to change the composition of currency holdings in the foreign reserves and we are not thinking about expanding our euro holdings . japan has $850bn in foreign exchange reserves. at the start of the year the us currency which had lost 7% against the euro in the final three months of 2004 and had fallen to record lows staged something of a recovery. analysts however pointed to the dollar s inability recently to extend that rally despite positive economic and corporate data and highlighted the fact that many of the us s economic problems had not disappeared. the focus has been on the country s massive trade and budget deficits and analysts have predicted more dollar weakness to come. | business | 0 |
bbc should allow more scrutiny mps have urged the bbc to give watchdogs more freedom to scrutinise how £2bn in licence fee money is spent. the public accounts committee called for the national audit office to be given a free hand to investigate how the bbc offers value for money. although six areas are to be opened up to scrutiny the audit office should have more power to choose what it investigated the mps said. the call was made in a report into the bbc s freeview digital service. our aim is not to rewrite the storyline of eastenders but simply to ensure that the bbc is as accountable to parliament as any other organisation spending public money said the committee chairman mp edward leigh. the bbc s spending is not subject to the full independent scrutiny and accountability to parliament. parliament requires television owners to pay a licence fee and expects the comptroller and auditor general on behalf of parliament to be able to scrutinise how that money over £2 billion a year is used. a bbc spokeswoman said: we share the committee s interest in ensuring the public money we receive is spent well. though in its infancy we think the arrangements with the nao are working well and should be given time to mature. the report said the freeview digital service has had an impressive take up since its launch but the bbc must still dispel confusion about the service. the committee found the bbc had succeeded in ensuring subscription-free access to digital channels following the collapse of itv digital in 2002. but the fact that one in four homes could not access freeview remained a problem. the report said that while gaps in the coverage were largely due to landscape issues there was need for detailed explanations on the freeview website and on promotional literature as to why it was not available in specific areas. the government has proposed switch off of the analogue television signal with 2012 the most recently proposed date. the bbc launched freeview in 2002 as an alternative to satellite subscription services such as sky to allow its digital channels such as bbc three and news 24 to be seen. there have been an estimated five million freeview set-top boxes sold since the launch and prices have fallen considerably. the corporation plans to spend up to £138m on freeview before 2014 to ensure people can receive the service throughout the uk and are aware of it. | world | 2 |
security warning over fbi virus the us federal bureau of investigation is warning that a computer virus is being spread via e-mails that purport to be from the fbi. the e-mails show that they have come from an fbi.gov address and tell recipients that they have accessed illegal websites. the messages warn that their internet use has been monitored by the fbi s internet fraud complaint center. an attachment in the e-mail contains the virus the fbi said. the message asks recipients to click on the attachment and answer some questions about their internet use. but rather than being a questionnaire the attachment contains a virus that infects the recipient s computer according to the agency. it is not clear what the virus does once it has infected a computer. users are warned never to open attachment from unsolicited e-mails or from people they do not know. recipients of this or similar solicitations should know that the fbi does not engage in the practice of sending unsolicited e-mails to the public in this manner the fbi said in a statement. the bureau is investigating the phoney e-mails. the agency earlier this month shut down fbi.gov accounts used to communicate with the public because of a security breach. a spokeswoman said the two incidents appear to be unrelated. | science and tech | 0 |
turkey knocks six zeros off lira turkey is to relaunch its currency on saturday knocking six zeros off the lira in the hope of boosting trade and powering its growing economy. the change will see the end of such dizzyingly-high denominations as five million lira - enough for a short taxi ride - and the 20m note worth $15. these valuations were the product of decades of inflation which as recently as 2001 was as high as 70%. inflation has since been tamed and economic prospects are improving. the currency - officially to be known as the new lira - will be launched at midnight on 1 january. from that point the one-million lira note will become the new one-lira coin. the government hopes the change will be seen as a promise of growing economic stability as turkey embarks on the long process of trying to join the european union. on an everyday level it is hoped the change will stimulate more international trade and end confusion among foreign investors and turks alike. the transition to the new turkish lira shows clearly that our economy has broken the vicious circle that it was imprisoned in for long years said sureyya serdengecti head of the turkish central bank. the new lira is also the symbol of the stable economy that we dreamed of for long years. the turkish economy teetered on the brink of collapse in 2001 when the lira plunged in value and two million people lost their jobs. turkey had to turn to the international monetary fund for financial assistance accepting a $18bn loan in return for pushing through a wide-ranging austerity programme. these tough measures have borne fruit. inflation fell below 10% earlier this year for the first time in decades while exports are up 30% this year. meanwhile the economy is expanding at a healthy rate with 7.9% growth expected in 2004. the government hopes that the new currency will cement the country s economic progress two weeks after eu leaders set a date for the start of turkey s accession talks. the slimmed-down lira is likely to be widely welcomed by the business community. the turkish lira has been like funny money tevfik aksoy chief turkish economist for deutsche bank told associated press. now at least in cosmetic terms it will look like real currency. however some do not feel quite so happy about seeing the nominal value of their investments reduced. if a person has 10 billion lira in investments this will suddenly decrease shop owner hayriye evren told associated press. this will definitely affect people psychologically. | business | 0 |
da vinci film to star tom hanks actor tom hanks and director ron howard are reuniting for the da vinci code an adaptation of the international best-selling novel by dan brown. distributor sony pictures said production will begin next year with a planned release in may 2006. hanks will play robert langdon who is trying to solve the murder of a member of an ancient society that has protected dark secrets for centuries. it will be hanks third collaboration with howard. they previously worked together along with howard s producing partner brian grazer on splash and apollo 13. hanks is one of hollywood s most bankable stars with his presence in a movie almost guaranteeing box office success. brown s book has become a publishing phenomenon consistently topping book charts in the uk and us. it has sold more than eight million copies worldwide in little over two years. it is a classic whodunit which centres on a global conspiracy surrounding the holy grail mythology and places heavy emphasis on symbols and cryptography. its protagonist is a harvard professor likened to a contemporary indiana jones who also appeared in brown s first book angels and demons. the tale mixes art history with mythology semiotics with medieval history. | sports | 2 |
us duo in first spam conviction a brother and sister in the us have been convicted of sending hundreds of thousands of unsolicited e-mail messages to aol subscribers. it is the first criminal prosecution of internet spam distributors. jurors in virginia recommended that the man jeremy jaynes serve nine years in prison and that his sister jessica degroot be fined $7 500. they were convicted under a state law that bars the sending of bulk e-mails using fake addresses. they will be formally sentenced next year. a third defendant richard rutkowski was acquitted. prosecutors said jaynes was a snake oil salesman in a new format using the internet to peddle useless wares news agency associated press reported. a fed-ex refund processor was supposed to allow people to earn $75 an hour working from home. another item on sale was an internet history eraser . his sister helped him process credit card payments. jaynes amassed a fortune of $24m from his sales prosecutors said. he s been successful ripping people off all these years ap quoted prosecutor russell mcguire as saying. jaynes was also found guilty of breaking a state law which prohibits the sending of more than 100 000 e-mails in 30 days virginia state attorney general jerry kilgore reportedly said. prosecutors had asked for 15 years in jail for jaynes and a jail term for his sister. but jaynes lawyer david oblon called the nine-year recommended term outrageous and said his client believed he was innocent. he pointed out that all three of the accused lived in north carolina and were unaware of the virginia state law. spam messages are estimated to account for at least 60% of all e-mails sent. | science and tech | 0 |
uk needs true immigration data a former home office minister has called for an independent body to be set up to monitor uk immigration. barbara roche said an organisation should monitor and publish figures and be independent of government. she said this would counter so-called independent groups like migration watch which she described as an anti-immigration body posing as independent. migration watch says it is not against all immigration and the government already publishes accurate figures. sir andrew green chairman of the organisation says there is no need for an independent body because office of national statistics data are accurate. he says he opposes large-scale immigration both on the grounds of overcrowding and culture . he said: for example over the next 20 years one household in three will be due to immigration. we are already more overcrowded than india and we are four times more overcrowded than france. ms roche labour mp for hornsey and wood green believes legal migration is something we should welcome. she said her proposals mean we wouldn t have so-called independent experts like migration watch who come into this debate from an anti-immigration point of view. she went on: what i would like to see is there being a body which actually looked at the figures published them and was independent of government. i think that would go a long way to allaying some of the fears that are sometimes whipped up during this debate. | politics | 0 |
cole refuses to blame van persie ashley cole has refused to blame robin van persie for leaving arsenal with no fully-fit strikers for the fa cup fifth round replay at sheffield united. van persie is suspended alongside dennis bergkamp and jose antonio reyes after being sent off at southampton when arsenal had a numerical advantage. thierry henry is ruled out with an achilles tendon injury but cole said: no-one is putting the blame on robin. it s just something that happens on the spur of the moment. cole added: i ve done it before and i hope they didn t blame me for anything. of course he ll learn. i ve been sent off a couple of times now and it s just one of those things when you go a bit crazy for one or two seconds. freddie ljungberg is likely to be used in an emergency striking role and will be partnered by either arturo lupoli quincy owusu-abeyie or jeremie aliadiere. gunners boss arsene wenger said: freddie is an option but we need a second striker. i have to decide whether it will be aliadiere quincy or lupoli who will start with him up front. those three will be involved. arsenal are also without winger robert pires who sustained an ankle injury at st mary s. wenger added: it doesn t look like anything is fractured but it is a good ankle sprain. it does not look like pires will be ready for two to three weeks. | sports | 0 |
ukip candidate suspended eurosceptic party ukip have suspended a candidate for allegedly suggesting the criminally insane should be killed. john houston 54 was due to stand in the east kilbride seat in lanarkshire at the next election. but he was suspended after his reported views including the return of the british empire were sent to two scottish newspapers. ukip spokesman mark croucher said those who selected mr houston knew nothing of his views. the episode comes at a difficult time for ukip soon after the high-profile departure of mep robert kilroy-silk. mr houston is alleged to have said that the organs of the criminally insane should be made available to law-abiding members of the community and proposed the legalisation of drugs and the sex trade. the document reportedly said: we re looking for the resurrection of the british empire. the problems for the human race - environmental and others - can only be dealt with on a global scale and that calls for a radical alliance of the english-speaking nations which they are uniquely able to do. mr croucher said the main issue would be that mr houston s reported views had been presented as ukip policy which they were not. he said they might have been submissions to a committee working on the party s manifesto but would not have been matched to mr houston when he was standing to become a candidate. he told bbc news: he appears to have said these things. we have suspended him as a member and as a candidate. by all accounts none of this was mentioned at his selection meeting. it is simply a distraction from the task in hand the eu constitution not individual idiocies. mr houston was quoted in the herald newspaper saying: i feel ukip have over-reacted and overshot the runway. peter nielson who is ukip scotland chairman said he had suspended mr houston on friday night. he will remain suspended while the matter is being investigated and then we will decide if and what further action will be taken. he said that any evidence would be looked into and mr houston may be interviewed by the party. he added: i can t comment too much at the moment i have one version from him but i haven t seen the papers yet. | business | 2 |
ink helps drive democracy in asia the kyrgyz republic a small mountainous state of the former soviet republic is using invisible ink and ultraviolet readers in the country s elections as part of a drive to prevent multiple voting. this new technology is causing both worries and guarded optimism among different sectors of the population. in an effort to live up to its reputation in the 1990s as an island of democracy the kyrgyz president askar akaev pushed through the law requiring the use of ink during the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. the us government agreed to fund all expenses associated with this decision. the kyrgyz republic is seen by many experts as backsliding from the high point it reached in the mid-1990s with a hastily pushed through referendum in 2003 reducing the legislative branch to one chamber with 75 deputies. the use of ink is only one part of a general effort to show commitment towards more open elections - the german embassy the soros foundation and the kyrgyz government have all contributed to purchase transparent ballot boxes. the actual technology behind the ink is not that complicated. the ink is sprayed on a person s left thumb. it dries and is not visible under normal light. however the presence of ultraviolet light (of the kind used to verify money) causes the ink to glow with a neon yellow light. at the entrance to each polling station one election official will scan voter s fingers with uv lamp before allowing them to enter and every voter will have his/her left thumb sprayed with ink before receiving the ballot. if the ink shows under the uv light the voter will not be allowed to enter the polling station. likewise any voter who refuses to be inked will not receive the ballot. these elections are assuming even greater significance because of two large factors - the upcoming parliamentary elections are a prelude to a potentially regime changing presidential election in the autumn as well as the echo of recent elections in other former soviet republics notably ukraine and georgia. the use of ink has been controversial - especially among groups perceived to be pro-government. widely circulated articles compared the use of ink to the rural practice of marking sheep - a still common metaphor in this primarily agricultural society. the author of one such article began a petition drive against the use of the ink. the greatest part of the opposition to ink has often been sheer ignorance. local newspapers have carried stories that the ink is harmful radioactive or even that the ultraviolet readers may cause health problems. others such as the aggressively middle of the road coalition of non-governmental organizations have lauded the move as an important step forward. this type of ink has been used in many elections in the world in countries as varied as serbia south africa indonesia and turkey. the other common type of ink in elections is indelible visible ink - but as the elections in afghanistan showed improper use of this type of ink can cause additional problems. the use of invisible ink is not without its own problems. in most elections numerous rumors have spread about it. in serbia for example both christian and islamic leaders assured their populations that its use was not contrary to religion. other rumours are associated with how to remove the ink - various soft drinks solvents and cleaning products are put forward. however in reality the ink is very effective at getting under the cuticle of the thumb and difficult to wash off. the ink stays on the finger for at least 72 hours and for up to a week. the use of ink and readers by itself is not a panacea for election ills. the passage of the inking law is nevertheless a clear step forward towards free and fair elections. the country s widely watched parliamentary elections are scheduled for 27 february. david mikosz works for the ifes an international non-profit organisation that supports the building of democratic societies. | entertainment | 2 |
downloads enter us singles chart digital music downloads are being included in the main us singles chart for the first time. billboard s hot 100 chart now incorporates data from sales of music downloads previously only assigned to a separate download chart. green day s boulevard of broken dreams is currently number two in billboard s pop chart and tops its digital chart. download sales are due to be incorporated into the uk singles chart later this year. digital sales in the us are already used to compile billboard s hot digital sales chart. they will now be tallied with sales of physical singles and airplay information to make up its new hot 100 chart. its second new chart - the pop 100 - also combines airplay digital and physical sales but confines its airplay information to us radio stations which play chart music. in addition to green day other artists in the current us digital sales top 10 include kelly clarkson the game and the killers. sales of legally downloaded songs shot up more than tenfold in 2004 with 200 million track purchased online in the us and europe in 12 months the international federation of the phonographic industry (ifpi) reported last month. in the uk sales of song downloads overtook those for physical singles for the first time at the end of last year. the last week of december 2004 saw download sales of 312 000 compared with 282 000 physical singles according to the british phonographic industry. the uk s first official music download chart was launched last september compiling the most popular tracks downloaded from legal uk sites - including itunes od2 mycokemusic.com and napster. westlife s flying without wings - a 1999 track reissued for the occasion - was the first number one of the uk download chart. a spokesman for the british phonographic industry (bpi) said the first combined uk download and sales chart was due to be compiled within the first half of this year . work is going on across the music business right now to make sure the new chart works to plan he said. the bpi spokesman described the uk music download chart compiled by the official charts company as having been a great success since its launch. it has provided a focus for the industry and has really driven interest in downloads among music fans he said. | sports | 2 |
japanese growth grinds to a halt growth in japan evaporated in the three months to september sparking renewed concern about an economy not long out of a decade-long trough. output in the period grew just 0.1% an annual rate of 0.3%. exports - the usual engine of recovery - faltered while domestic demand stayed subdued and corporate investment also fell short. the growth falls well short of expectations but does mark a sixth straight quarter of expansion. the economy had stagnated throughout the 1990s experiencing only brief spurts of expansion amid long periods in the doldrums. one result was deflation - prices falling rather than rising - which made japanese shoppers cautious and kept them from spending. the effect was to leave the economy more dependent than ever on exports for its recent recovery. but high oil prices have knocked 0.2% off the growth rate while the falling dollar means products shipped to the us are becoming relatively more expensive. the performance for the third quarter marks a sharp downturn from earlier in the year. the first quarter showed annual growth of 6.3% with the second showing 1.1% and economists had been predicting as much as 2% this time around. exports slowed while capital spending became weaker said hiromichi shirakawa chief economist at ubs securities in tokyo. personal consumption looks good but it was mainly due to temporary factors such as the olympics. the amber light is flashing. the government may now find it more difficult to raise taxes a policy it will have to implement when the economy picks up to help deal with japan s massive public debt. | business | 0 |
us regulator to rule on pain drug us food and drug regulators will decide on friday whether to recommend the sale of painkillers that have been linked to a high risk of heart attack and stroke. the food and drug administration (fda) advisory panel will give its verdict after hearing evidence for three days. the painkillers - called cox-2 inhibitors - are sold under brand names such as celebrex and vioxx. vioxx was withdrawn from shops last year but merck said it would consider selling it if it gets fda approval. the fda has been asked to decide if the benefits to patients justify the increased risks. putting vioxx back on the shelves is likely to boost profits at merck and make easier any legal battles with people who claim to have been injured by the drug analysts said. merck voluntarily stopped sales of vioxx on 30 september a move which caused the firm s fourth-quarter earnings to slide to $1.1bn (£581m) from $1.4bn a year earlier. merck s shares tumbled more than 10% on the news and the company has had to set aside millions of dollars to cover the cost of vioxx-related litigation. alarm bells were rung by a research note called approve which showed that the risk of heart attack and stroke doubled in patients who had been taking the drug for at least 18 months. the cox-2 inhibitors were developed by drug companies including merck and pfizer because they cause users fewer stomach problems than other painkillers. pfizer is still selling its celebrex and bextra products though investigations have suggested that they may also be harmful to the heart. merck s announcement of a possible reintroduction of vioxx caught analysts by surprise. merck s head of research peter kim said that it withdrew vioxx based on the information that was available to us at the time knowing there were alternative therapies . he went on to say that things have since changed in the light of new reports. given this new information its is not clear that the cardiovascular risk observed in approve makes vioxx unique in the class of similar drugs marketed in the us mr kim explained. on thursday david graham from the fda s office of drug safety told the advisory panel that there really doesn t appear to be a need for cox-2 inhibitors. according to calculations presented to the us senate by dr graham in november vioxx may be linked to as many as to 56 000 american deaths. facing stem criticism for its handling of the vioxx case the fda said on tuesday that it will create an independent body to oversee the safety of drugs already in the market place. european regulators meanwhile ruled on thursday that patients who have had heart disease or a stroke should not take cox-2 inhibitors. the european medicines agency also said doctors should be cautious about giving the drugs to patients who have risk factors for heart disease. | business | 0 |
no seasonal lift for house market a swathe of figures have provided further evidence of a slowdown in the uk property market. the council of mortgage lenders (cml) british bankers association (bba) and building societies association (bsa) all said mortgage lending was slowing. cml figures showed gross lending fell by 4% in november as the number of people buying new homes fell. elsewhere the bba added underlying mortgage lending rose by £4m in november compared to october s £4.29m. the cml said that loans for new property purchases fell 25% year-on-year to 85 000 - the lowest total seen since february 2003. data from the cml showed lending fell to just over £25bn in november from £25.5bn a year earlier. separate figures from the building societies association showed the value of mortgage approvals -- loans agreed but not yet made -- stood 32% lower than at the same time last year at a seasonally-adjusted £2.98bn. the figures come hot on the heels of new data from property website rightmove which suggested owners must indulge in a winter sale and slash prices by up to 8%. miles shipside commercial director at rightmove said sellers would have to be more realistic with their asking prices to tempt buyers. the average asking price of a home fell by more than £600 from £190 329 in november to £189 733 in december while the length of time it takes to sell a home rose to 81 days from 53 in the summer. rightmove said estate agents were set to enter 2005 with a third more properties on their books than a year ago. even once the quieter holiday period is over sellers will find themselves competing with a lot of other properties on the market. in any business excess supply and low demand means one thing - cut prices mr shipside said. the proof is that some properties that have been appropriately discounted are selling even in the current market. overall asking prices have fallen 3.3% from their july peaks as the equivalent of £6 500 has been cut from an average property. a host of mortgage lenders and economists have predicted that property prices will either fall or stagnate in 2005. what is apparent is a picture of a slowing market but one that should remain stable as we return to more normal volumes of lending over 2005 as a whole cml director general michael coogan said. it s a fairly consistent picture showing that mortgage demand has fallen back again which is consistent with a continuing correction in the housing market investec economist philip shaw said. however the figures do suggest only a modest weakening and we stand by our view that the property market will remain in the doldrums for some time though a collapse is still unlikely. | sports | 2 |
new drink limit would cut toll more lives than previously thought could be saved by cutting drink-drive limits by a third a report says. university college london research claims cutting the limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg would save 65 lives a year. the findings are being published by the parliamentary advisory council for transport safety as mps are due to vote on the government s road safety bill. the bill includes changes to speeding fines but not to the drink-drive limit. the research carried out by transport expert professor richard allsop says cutting the limit would also lead to 230 fewer serious injuries on the uk s roads compared with 2003. he estimates that this would save the country £119m a year. a previous estimate contained in a 1998 department of transport document suggested such a move could save 50 lives a year. the findings are based on the assumption that drivers who currently keep below the legal limit would continue to do so were it to be lowered and that those who tend to exceed the limit slightly would also lower their drinking. professor allsop said: reducing the limit from 80mg to 50mg can be expected to save around 65 lives a year or around half of those who die in accidents where the driver s bac [blood alcohol content] is within 30mg of the current limit. only about one in 50 of those driving during weekend evenings and nights will need to moderate their drinking to achieve this and fewer still at other times. ministers do not support a lower limit saying it is not clear it would have a major impact on drink drive casualties. they believe educating drivers is more important. the aa motoring trust said it was not sure what affect dropping the limit would have on drivers attitudes to drink-driving. road safety head andrew howard said: it remains to be seen whether the social disapproval of the drinking driver will stay at the current rate if the alcohol limit is cut. parliamentarians need to consider this carefully. britons police themselves by consensus much more effectively than they do by weight of enforcement alone. liberal democrat transport spokesman john thurso said drink-driving remained a major killer with figures showing a worrying rise in the number of accidents involving drivers who had been drinking. he said there had been a 29% drop in the number of drivers being breathalysed since 1997 which he said the government needed to address if it wanted to reduce the danger caused by drink-driving. the road safety bill which gets its second reading on tuesday would allow the results of roadside breath tests to be used in court - currently a blood test is needed. it also includes plans for a staggered speeding fines and points system penalising drivers who exceed limits by a wide margin more than those who are caught going just over. these have been criticised by road safety campaigners including labour backbencher gwyneth dunwoody who says it will reduce the incentive for drivers to stay within the limits in residential areas leading to more road casualties. in an article for the times newspaper ms dunwoody who chairs the transport select committee says: slight increases to low car speeds increase hugely the risks to pedestrians and cyclists. it is quite simple: if you hit someone at 30mph they have a 50 per cent chance of survival. if you are going at 40mph nine times out of ten they will die. | entertainment | 2 |
domain system scam fear a system to make it easier to create website addresses using alphabets like cyrillic could open a back door for scammers a trade body has warned. the internationalised domain names system has been a work in progress for years and has recently been approved by the internet electronic task force. but the uk internet forum (ukif) is concerned that the system will let scammers create fake sites more easily. the problem lies in the computer codes used to represent language. registering names that look like that of legitimate companies but lead users to fake sites designed to steal passwords and credit card details could become a whole lot easier for determined scammers says stephen dyer director of ukif. domain names are the real language addresses of websites rather than their internet protocol address which is a series of numbers. they are used so people can more easily navigate the web. so-called ascii codes are used to represent european languages but for other languages a hybrid of a system called unicode is used. so for example website paypal could now be coded using a mixture of the latin alphabet and the russian alphabet. the resulting domain as displayed to the users would look identical to the real site as a russian a look just like an english a . but the computer code would be different and the site it would lead users to could be a fake. this is more than just a theory. a fake paypal.com has already been registered with net domain giant verisign by someone who has followed the debate around the internationalised domain name (idn) system said mr dyer. as the idea was to prove a point rather than be malicious the fake domain has now been handed back to paypal but it sets a worrying precedent mr dyer said. although the idn problem is well known in technical circles the commercial world is totally unaware how easily their websites can be faked said mr dyer. it is important to alert users that there is a new and invisible and almost undetectable way of diverting them to what looks like a perfectly genuine site he added. there are solutions. for instance browsers could spot domains that use mixed characters and display them in different colours as a warning to users. mr dyer acknowledged that it would be a huge undertaking to update all the world s browsers. another solution to introduce idn-disabled browsers could be a case of throwing out the baby with the bath water he said. centr the council of european national top level domain registries agrees. a rush to introduce idn-disabled browsers into the marketplace is an overly-zealous step that will harm public confidence in idns - a technology that is desperately needed in the non-english speaking world the organisation said in a statement. | business | 2 |
bosvelt optimistic over new deal manchester city s paul bosvelt will find out within a month whether he is to be offered a new one-year deal. the 34-year-old dutch midfielder is out of contract in the summer and although his age may count against him he feels he can play on for another season. i told the club i would like to stay for one more year. they promised me an answer within the next month so i am waiting to see he said. the main concern is my age but i think i have proved i am fit enough. bosvelt joined city from feyenoord in 2003 and at first he struggled to adapt to life in england. but his professionalism and dedication impressed manager kevin keegan. he realised the pace of the game was faster than anything he was used to but he drove himself back into the team. he is an unsung hero said keegan. | sports | 0 |
tv show unites angolan families angolan families who are attempting to track each other down after being separated by nearly 30 years of war are succeeding thanks to a hugely popular tv show. meeting point has become one of tv angola s most watched programmes and has reunited hundreds of families. it runs daily not only on the television but also on the radio. every friday hundreds of people gather in luanda s independence square to record a message in front of the tv cameras in the hope that a lost relative will see it. many relatives have been reunited on air. at the beginning there was an absolute explosion - huge huge crowds sergio gera the programme s chief co-ordinator told bbc world service s assignment programme. now things are a little calmer there are slightly less people - but after two and a half years of broadcasting there are still a lot of people going. the media in the southern african country twice the size of france has been gripped by the quest of so many people to find their relatives. hundreds of thousands of people died in angola s 30-year civil war which finally ended in 2002 and tens of thousands of people are still missing. many have not heard anything for 10 or more years - in all 90% of angolan families have lost someone. the idea of recording in independence square was modelled on a square in the argentine capital buenos aries where mothers go to talk about the dead and the missing and to exchange news. one woman victoria lapete found her sister - the only remaining member of her family - in independence square live on meeting point. she had not seen her sibling for 28 years. when we saw each other we threw ourselves into each other s arms she told assignment. we started to cry. i felt very very happy because i d spent so long without any family. suddenly i had a sister again. however angola is one of the poorest countries in africa and the number of people with access to either a television or radio is comparatively few. this means that elsewhere in the country the task of reuniting families lies primarily with the international committee of the red cross (icrc). in the city of wambo the icrc runs the gazetta - a 200-page tabloid-size book which contains 13 000 names of missing or displaced. their task is made much harder by the huge number of landmines dotted around the country. it s very difficult - there are many displaced stated joaquim sahundi head of tracing in wambo. as they try to go back [home] others are trying to relocate their relatives. many people are getting injured because of that - in the villages in the bush there has been no clearance of mines. when people are crossing these areas they step on mines. the icrc also uses the media where it can running four daily broadcasts of their lists of the missing on radio angola. meanwhile there remain massive challenges to angolan families even once they are reunited. the programme of family reunification is extremely important but for these families to remain reunified there has to be social integration job access education healthcare said rafael marques of the pro-democracy george soros foundation for southern africa. essentially the government is waiting for the international community to pay for the reconstruction - that s why it has been persistently calling for a donor s conference. that is just a way of detaching itself from its political responsibilities. | science and tech | 2 |
casual gaming to take off games aimed at casual players are set to be even bigger in 2005 according to industry experts. easy-to-play titles that do not require too much time and that are playable online or downloadable to mobile devices will see real growth in the coming year. the trend shows that gaming is not just about big-hitting games console titles which appeal more to hardcore gamers said a panel of experts. they were speaking before the annual consumer electronics show in las vegas which showcases the latest trends in gadgets and technologies for 2005. the panel also insisted that casual gamers were not just women a common misconception which pervades current thinking about gamer demographics. casual games like poker pool bridge bingo and puzzle-based titles which can be played online or downloaded onto mobile devices were gender neutral and different genres attracted different players. greg mills program director at aol said its figures suggested that sports-based games attracted 90% of 18 to 24-year-old males while puzzle games were played by 80% of females. games like bridge tended to attract the over-50 demographic of gamers. but hardcore gamers who are more attracted to blockbuster gamers which usually require hi-spec pcs like half-life 2 or halo 2 on xbox also liked to have a different type of gaming experience. when hardcore gamers are not playing halo they are playing poker and pool based on our research said geoff graber director of yahoo games which attracts about 12 million gamers a month. with the growth of powerful pc technology and ownership broadband take-up portable players and mobile devices as well as interactive tv casual gaming is shaping up to be big business in 2005 according to the panel. the focus for the coming year should be about attracting third-party developers into the field to offer more innovative and multiplayer titles they agreed. we are at a time where we are on the verge of something much bigger said mr graber. casual games will get into their stride in 2005 will be really big in 2006 and will be about community. with more people finding more to do with their gadgets and high-speed connections casual games would start to open up the world of gaming as a form of mass-market entertainment to more people. key to these types of titles is the chance they give people who may not see themselves as gamers to dip in and out of games when they liked. portal sites which offer casual games like aol yahoo and realarcade as well as other games-on-demand services allow people to build up buddy lists so they can return and play against the same people. this aspect of community is crucial for gamers who just want to have quick access to free or cheap games without committing long periods of time immersed in £30 to £40 console or pc titles said the panel. about 120 000 people are expected to attend the ces trade show which stretches over more than 1.5 million square feet and which officially runs from 6 to 9 january. the main theme is how new devices are getting better at talking to each other allowing people to enjoy digital content like audio video and images when they want and where they want. | science and tech | 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. | politics | 2 |
new harry potter tops book chart harry potter and the half-blood prince has topped amazon s book chart less than 24 hours after its release date - 16 july - was announced. thousands of customers placed pre-orders on the amazon.co.uk website for the sixth book in the series. rowling revealed she had completed the novel on tuesday ahead of the scheduled announcement on 25 december. it will be published simultaneously in the uk the us canada australia new zealand and south africa. jk rowling s fifth book in the wizard series harry potter and order of the phoenix was amazon s largest pre-ordered item ever with 420 000 copies pre-ordered prior to its release in june 2003. customers who pre-order harry potter and the half-blood prince avoid standing in long queues at bookshops on the day of the book s release next july. the fact that the book has already hit number one in our hot 100 books chart shows how incredibly excited customers are about the sixth harry potter said amazon s robin terrell. harry potter and the half-blood prince takes up the story of harry potter s sixth year at hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry as lord voldemort grows stronger. rowling has already revealed that the half-blood prince is neither harry nor voldemort. and she added that the opening chapter of the book had been brewing in her mind for 13 years. rowling said she had plenty of time while pregnant to tinker with the manuscript to my satisfaction and i am as happy as i have ever been with the end result . she also previously revealed that a character will be killed in the sixth book but she has given no hints as to who it might be. following publication of the sixth book just one novel remains to complete the series. | business | 2 |
us tv host clark suffers stroke veteran us television host dick clark is in hospital in los angeles after suffering a mild stroke. the 75-year-old presented long-running show american bandstand from 1956-87 and has since hosted game shows and produced award ceremonies. clark is scheduled to welcome in the new year on the abc network a job he has done for 33 years. the presenter said that he is hopeful of getting better in time to lead the festivities in new york s times square. clark s publicist paul shefrin said the television host was recovering and there was no cause for alarm. clark who produces the golden globe and american music awards disclosed last year that he was suffering from diabetes. his popular music show american bandstand was first broadcast in 1952 and attracted an audience of 20 million people after it was picked up by abc in 1957. the long-running weekly series which featured guests including elvis presley buddy holly and aretha frankin came to an end in 1989. clark was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame in 1993 for his contribution to the music industry. he has also been responsible for television series such as tv bloopers celebrity boxing and drama american dreams. clark is also expected to act as executive producer for the upcoming golden globe awards ceremony which is taking place on 16 january. | entertainment | 0 |
italy to get economic action plan italian prime minister silvio berlusconi will unveil plans aimed at kickstarting the country s sputtering economy on thursday night in rome. he will present an action plan for the development of italy in a meeting with industrialists and trade union leaders. mr berlusconi is expected to table reforms aimed at boosting research and development (r&d) spending and the competitiveness of small firms. also in focus will be bankruptcy laws and the slow pace of the legal system. the prime minister is scheduled to start the meeting at 1830 gmt. the government has been accused of underfunding r&d making it harder for italy to compete with other european nations and leading to a brain-drain of the country s brightest talents. analysts say that hiring and firing staff is still too difficult and expensive hampering the development of small- and medium-sized businesses. as a result they say italy s corporate landscape is filled with numerous smaller companies that are often reluctant to become bigger because of all the extra hassle that would accompany the running of a larger firm. at the same time bankruptcy laws make it difficult for failed company directors to set up new businesses and emerge from their debts a situation that is hampering italy s entrepreneurial spirit. the government says that it has set about tackling the problems adding that getting growth going was the responsibility of all of italy s 60 million population. according to il sole 24 ore italy s business newspaper the government will focus on opening up markets infrastructure research making more incentives available bankruptcy law the slow pace of the justice system . mr berlusconi has previously promised to cut taxes by 6.5bn euros ($8.6bn; £4.5bn) this year in an effort to get people and companies to spend. he has also promised to cap spending on transport education and health so as to trim the ballooning budget deficit. italy plans to raise as much as 25bn euros from privatisations in 2005 including a partial flotation of the post office and utility enel. critics argue that these moves do not go far enough and could make italy s problems worse. limiting government spending will lead to job losses they counter while the income tax cuts will have a negligible effect on sentiment and ultimately favour the wealthy. the country has been one of the eurozone s worst economic performers in recent years. growth was 1.1% in 2004 up from just 0.3% in 2003 and 0.4% in 2002 - an improvement but still a long way from ideal. at the same time business and consumer confidence has dipped and analysts have raised concerns that what little spending there is stems from italians dipping into their savings accounts or using credit cards. without a pick up in national growth they say the money could eventually run out bringing italy s economy to a juddering halt. consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of italy s economy. | business | 0 |
mobiles get set for visual radio the growth in the mobile phone market in the past decade has been nothing less than astonishing but the ability to communicate on the go is not the only reason we are hooked. games cameras and music players have all been added to our handsets in the last few years but 2005 could see another big innovation that won t just see a change in our mobile phone habits - it might alter the way we listen to the radio. finnish handset giant nokia has been working on a technology called visual radio which takes an existing fm signal from a radio station and enables that station to add enhancements such as information and pictures. it is not the first time that such an idea has been suggested - the early days of dab digital radio had similar intentions that never really saw the light of day. one problem is that the name visual radio leads people to think of television but reidar wasenius a senior project manager at nokia was adamant that visual radio should not be confused with the more traditional medium. he said: i m very happy to say it s not television what we re talking about is an enhancement of radio as we know it today. if you have a visual radio enabled handset when you hear an artist you don t know or there s a competition or vote that you d like to participate in you pull out your handset and with one click you turn on a visual channel parallel to the on-air broadcast you ve just been listening to. that visual channel is run from a computer within the radio station and sends out different kinds of information to the handset depending on what you are listening to. as well as details on the track or artist of a particular song there is also the ability to interact immediately with the radio station itself in a similar way to digital television s red button content. possible interactive content includes competitions votes and even the chance to rate the song that is playing. but the interactive aspect will make the service especially attractive to radio stations who will be able to track the number of people taking part in such activities on a real-time basis. this in turn should lead to an additional source of revenue as it is very likely that advertisers will be keen to exploit new opportunities to reach listeners. as the visual radio content is transmitted by existing gprs technology you would need to have that service enabled by your network. and there will be a cost for the service as well although it may depend on your usage. if you enjoy the visual channel occasionally and interact it ll be two or three pounds per month said mr wasenius. but typically what we see happening is the operator offering a package deal for an all you can eat arrangement per month. the payment system could therefore be similar to the way that broadband internet works versus dial-up connections. one thing that is for sure - assuming that nokia retains its market share in handsets it is estimating that there will be 100 million visual radio-enabled mobile phones in circulation by the end of 2006. basically visual radio is not really revolutionary but rather an evolution where we are providing tools with which people can participate in radio much more easily than ever before. the first visual radio service in the uk will begin in a few months time with virgin radio who are positive about the impact it could have on their listeners. station manager steve taylor commented: listeners can interact with the radio station in a new way. not only does this give listeners more information on the music we play but means they can instantly purchase things they like; mp3 music downloads and the latest gig tickets. initially visual radio functionality will be limited to two nokia handsets due out soon - the 3230 and 7710 - but if successful it is very likely that other manufacturers will want to join them. listen again to the interview on the radio five live website. | science and tech | 0 |
plaid mp s cottage arson claim a plaid cymru mp believes uk security services were involved in some arson attacks blamed on welsh extremists. it is 25 years since the start of 12 years of fire-bombings attributed to a shadowy group known as meibion glyndwr. plaid cymru s elfyn llwyd has suggested the security services could have been involved with the intention of discrediting the nationalist vote. ex-welsh office minister lord roberts of conwy denied security services were involved. in march this year north wales police reopened the case saying materials kept during their investigations would be examined to find whether it would yield dna evidence. meibion glyndwr - which means sons of glyndwr - began burning property in december 1979 in protest at homes in rural wales being sold as holiday cottages to people from england. the group was linked to most of the 220 or so fire-bombing incidents stretching from the llyn peninsula to pembrokeshire. the campaign continued until the early 1990s. police were accused in some quarters of targeting anyone who was a nationalist. although one man sion aubrey roberts was convicted in 1993 of sending letter bombs in the post the arson cases remain unsolved. as a solicitor elfyn llwyd represented welsh singer bryn fôn when he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the arson campaign. fôn was released without charge . but now as mp for merionnydd nant conwy and plaid cymru s parliamentary leader mr llwyd has argued that some of the terror attacks may have had the involvement of the security services and not meibion glyndwr. he believes that elements of the british security services may have carried out renegade actions in order to discredit plaid cymru and the nationalist vote ahead of elections. the claim is made in an interview for bbc wales maniffesto programme to be shown on s4c on sunday. mr llwyd said that the sophistication of many of the devices used in the attacks compared to the crude nature of many others suggests a degree of professionalism which could only have come from individuals who knew exactly what they were doing. he said: what i m saying is that the role that they took wasn t the appropriate one i.e. like an agent provocateur and perhaps interfering and creating a situation where it looked like it was the nationalists that were responsible. the programme also heard from lord roberts of conwy who was a welsh office minister at the time. he denied that the security services played any improper role. mr llwyd s theory has also been questioned by plaid cymru s former president dafydd wigley. he accepted that the fires damaged plaid cymru s public image but believed that the security services had their hands full at the time with the ira and animal rights activists. - maniffesto can be seen on s4c on sunday 12 december at 1200 gmt. | business | 2 |
labour attacked on howard poster labour has been accused of using anti-semitic images in posters which critics claim depict tory leader michael howard as fagin. the poster shows mr howard hypnotising people with a pocket watch saying: i can spend the same money twice. the image prompted concern from the editor of the jewish chronicle but labour insists it is simply anti-tory. labour later took the image off its website saying an alternative idea had proved more popular with party members. the party will now use focus groups to test a poster showing mr howard and shadow chancellor oliver letwin with a blackboard reading: 2+2=5 . the hypnotism poster has been compared to the portrayal of the dickens character fagin in the stage version of the musical oliver! there was controversy over another poster choice offered to labour members. it showed mr howard and mr letwin - who are both jewish - as flying pigs. mr howard did not comment on the anti-semitism claims when asked about the poster on monday. instead he pointed to how tony blair had in 1997 complained about personalised abusive campaigning . mr howard told greater manchester radio: it is such a pity that mr blair doesn t practise what he preaches. jewish chronicle editor ned temko said there had been a mixed reaction to the first poster but e-mails from jewish chronicle readers showed deeper concern about the hypnotism image. shylock and fagin are inextricably linked to notions of centuries-old prejudice he told bbc radio 4 s world at one. whatever the idea is i think it s a difficult exercise to use images like that and to argue that you can divorce them from their historical context or meaning. mr temko said he blamed cock-up not conspiracy saying he did not detect inherent anti-semitism in any of the parties election campaigns. the poster is among one of a series of ideas shown to labour members who have been asked to choose which one should be used ahead of the election. labour mp louise ellman said the hypnotism image was insensitive but urged people not to rush to call things anti-semitic when they only challenged tory economic policies. labour campaign spokesman fraser kemp said the poster had been misunderstood. the image simply portrayed mr howard as a hypnotist he argued. concern has been expressed and clearly we have to take those views on board but i would emphasise that if you see the posters the common theme... is that the tories are trying to con you. a labour spokesman later said the timing of removing the controversial image from the party s website was not affected by the row. this has been up on the website for two weeks and there has only been a fuss in the last four days so a substantial number of people voted before there was any fuss he said. but a conservative spokeswoman said: this poster campaign - which was offensive to many people - was a big misjudgement by labour s campaign team. | politics | 0 |
rings of steel combat net attacks gambling is hugely popular especially with tech-savvy criminals. many extortionists are targeting net-based betting firms and threatening to cripple their websites with deluges of data unless a ransom is paid. but now deep defences are being put in place by some of the uk s biggest net firms to stop these attacks. increasing numbers of attacks and the huge amounts of data being used to try to bump a site off the web are prompting firms to adopt the measures. net firms are realising that it s not just about anti-virus and firewalls said paul king chief security architect at cisco. there are more things that can be done in the network to protect data centres. mr king said the only way to properly combat these so-called distributed denial-of-service attacks was with intelligent net-based systems. many of the gambling sites suffering ddos attacks are in offshore data and hosting centres so any large scale data flood could knock out access to many more sites than just the one the criminals were targeting said mr king. this overspill effect was only likely to grow as attacks grow in size and scale. malcolm seagrave security expert at energis said the most common types of attacks hit sites with 10 megabytes of data over short periods of time. bigger attacks sending down 200 megabytes of traffic or more were rarely seen he said. it does feel like they are turning the dial because you see this traffic gradually growing he said. so far there have been no attacks involving gigabytes of data said mr seagrave. however he added that it was only a matter of time before such large attacks were mounted. maria capella spokeswoman for net provider pipex said that when ddos attacks were at their height customers were getting hit every four to five days. the defences being put in place constantly monitor the streams of data flowing across networks and pluck out the traffic destined for target sites. it s about understanding what s genuine traffic and keeping attack traffic from going to the site she said. we study the profile of their traffic and as soon as we see an anomaly in the profile that s when we start to get the backbone engineering boys to see if we are going to sustain an attack said ms capella. this traffic can be hard to spot because ddos attacks typically use thousands of computers in many different countries each participating machine only sends a small part of the entire data flood. typically these computers have been infected by a virus or worm which reports its success and the net address of compromised machines back to the malicious hacker or hi-tech criminal that set off the virus. hijacked computers are known as zombies or bots and collections of them are called bot nets. many spammers rent out bot nets to help them anonymously send junk mail. most of the zombies are based outside the country that hosts the target site so getting the attacking pcs shut off can be difficult. often pipex and other net suppliers do get advance notice that an attack is about to happen. the serious players tend to precede an attack with some kind of ransom e-mail said ms capella. we ask as part of the service we provide that customers notify us of anything they have in advance that would give us forewarning. once an attack is spotted dedicated net hardware takes over to remove the attack traffic and ensure that sites stay up. energis took a similar approach said mr seagrave. we have technology out there that allows us to detect attacks in minutes rather than let network engineers spend hours pulling the information together said mr seagrave. also net firms were starting to work more closely together on the problem of ddos attacks and pool information about where they are coming from. information gathered on attacks and where they originated has led to some arrests. he said energis also did its own intelligence work to get in insight into which sites criminal gangs plan to target. we have people in places where they shouldn t be monitoring tech sites he said. sometimes though he said spotting the next victim was easy. you can see them going alphabetically through the list with the gambling sites trying one after another said mr seagrave. | science and tech | 0 |
rapper snoop dogg sued for rape us rapper snoop dogg has been sued for $25m (£13m) by a make-up artist who claimed he and his entourage drugged and raped her two years ago. the woman said she was assaulted after a recording of the jimmy kimmel live tv show on the abc network in 2003. the rapper s spokesman said the allegations were untrue and the woman was misusing the legal system as a means of extracting financial gain . abc said the claims had no merit . the star has not been charged by police. the lawsuit filed in los angeles on friday says the woman s champagne was spiked and she was then assaulted. the rapper s spokesperson said: snoop will have the opportunity to prove in a court of law that [the alleged victim] is opportunistic and deceitful. we are confident that in this case [the alleged victim s] claims against snoop dogg will be rejected. the lawsuit names snoop dogg - real name calvin broadus - plus three associates the walt disney company and its parent company abc inc. the woman waited two years to sue because she was trying to negotiate a settlement with the media companies her lawyer perry wander said. disney and abc failed to provide a safe working environment for my client he said. the legal action comes after the rap star sued a woman who claimed they tried to blackmail him to keep quiet about an alleged assault. the 32-year-old rapper has enjoyed six us top 10 albums since bursting onto the music scene with hit songs like what s my name and gin and juice in 1993. | sports | 2 |
reyes tricked into real admission jose antonio reyes has added to speculation linking him with a move from arsenal to real madrid after falling victim to a radio prank. the spaniard believed he was talking to real madrid sporting director emilio butragueno when he allegedly berated his team-mates as bad people . i wish i was playing for real madrid the 21-year-old told cadena cope. hopefully it could happen. i love the way madrid play. i m not happy with the way things are. the striker joined the gunners from seville for £17m at the start of 2004 but it has frequently been reported that he is homesick. he began the season in superb form but has struggled to maintain his high standards as arsenal have gradually lost the premiership initiative to manchester united and chelsea. if i m not (playing for real) i m going to have to carry on playing with some bad people he added. i m sure there are none in the real dressing room. i m happy madrid is interested in me because it has always been my dream since i was little to play there. before the story surfaced reyes had moved to play down reports linking him with the spanish giants issuing a statement through arsenal describing the speculation as flattering . i have seen the stories in the media linking me with real madrid he had said on thursday lunchtime. but not only am i under contract at arsenal i am happy here and committed to helping the team win more trophies. butragueno meanwhile was angry at being impersonated by the radio disc jockey. it is a disgrace there is no foundation to this he said. he is an arsenal player and we have to be respectful. we have to be careful because of the rumours that appear in the news. | business | 2 |
us in eu tariff chaos trade row the us has asked the world trade organisation to investigate european union customs tariffs which it says are inconsistent and hamper trade. the eu s own institutions have noted the uneven way eu customs rules are applied but failed to act the us trade representative s office said. small and mid-sized us firms were worst-hit it added. the eu expanded from 15 to 25 member states in may. the us said it filed the complaint after talks failed to find a solution. the move came in the same week that the us and eu stepped back from confrontation in a tense dispute over aircraft subsidies to european manufacturer airbus and us firm boeing. new eu trade commissioner peter mandelson said on tuesday that the two sides had agreed to reopen talks in the aircraft subsidies row which led to tit-for-tat wto filings in last autumn. explaining why it has asked the wto to set up a dispute settlement panel on customs barriers the us trade representative s office said that it wants to tackle the issue early in the eu s process of dealing with the problems of enlargement . ten countries mostly in eastern europe joined the eu in may. the us said its trade with the 25 eu member countries was worth $155.2bn (£82.8bn) in 2003. although the eu is a customs union there is no single eu customs administration a statement issued on behalf of robert zoellick us trade representative said. lack of uniformity coupled with lack of procedures for prompt eu-wide review can hinder us exports especially for small to mid-sized businesses an eu spokesman in washington dismissed the us complaint. we think the us case is very weak. they haven t come up with any evidence that us companies are being harmed said anthony gooch. it could take several months for the wto s dispute settlement panel to report its findings. | world | 2 |
brown in appeal for labour unity gordon brown has made an appeal for unity after reports claimed mr blair went back on a pledge to stand down before the next general election. the chancellor would not comment on the reports but insisted he would not be diverted or distracted from tackling the challenges faced by the country. his only motivation was to ensure labour was re-elected he insisted. mr blair earlier dismissed the claim he had reneged on a promise to stand aside for gordon brown as old news. according to a new book brown s britain by sunday telegraph journalist robert peston mr blair went back on a pledge to make way for mr brown after cabinet allies intervened in june 2004. in an interview with bbc one s breakfast with frost mr blair said: i ve dealt with this six months ago. i said then you don t do deals over jobs like this - you don t. what both of us are actually concentrating on are the issues that concern the country. in a separate interview with bbc political editor andrew marr mr brown said: it s very important that we all do what we can in a unified way to ensure the election of a labour government. i think it is very important to stress that that is the motivation that i have. that is my purpose in politics and that is what every day i seek to do. and i am not going to be diverted or distracted nor is tony blair by newspaper stories or books or rumours or gossip. the only reason why we are in government is to get on with the job in a unified way to deal with the challenges facing this country. mr brown also said he had discussed the general election campaign with the prime minister on saturday and pledged to play his part as he had been asked to do. but mr peston said the pair had mutual animosity and contempt for each other and that mr blair had decided in november 2003 he would quit because he felt he had lost voters trust because of the iraq war. he then changed his mind in june 2004 following intervention from allies in the cabinet and the suspicion that the chancellor was deliberately manoeuvring against him according to the book. andrew marr said: this is enormously damaging. gordon brown knows it as well as tony blair. i think the relationship is genuinely privately very poor indeed. things are very difficult. he added: lots of ministers believe tony blair will attempt to move gordon brown out of the treasury after the election. that depends on whether there s still a labour government and their majority. senior mps are expected to raise concerns about the latest reports of infighting at the regular meeting of labour backbenchers on monday. health secretary john reid said those fuelling such reports were damaging labour s re-election chances and would not be easily forgiven. fresh speculation of a rift recently followed mr blair and mr brown s separate responses to the asian tsunami. these rumours were fuelled by mr blair s decision to hold his monthly media conference at the same time as a long-planned speech by mr brown on uk plans to tackle global poverty with a new marshall plan for africa. there was speculation the pair were trying to outdo each other s response to the disaster. but the prime minister said he had discussed these claims with the chancellor and dismissed them as a load of nonsense . tory leader michael howard accused the prime minister and mr brown of squabbling like schoolboys . liberal democrat parliamentary chairman matthew taylor said the personal ambition of mr blair and mr brown was getting in the way of good government . | politics | 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. | business | 0 |
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. | politics | 0 |
millions to miss out on the net by 2025 40% of the uk s population will still be without internet access at home says a study. around 23 million britons will miss out on a wide range of essential services such as education and medical information predicts the report by telecoms giant bt. it compares to 27 million or 50% of the uk who are not currently online. the idea that the digital divide will evaporate with time is wishful thinking the report concludes. the study calls on the government and telecoms industry to come up with new ways to lure those that have been bypassed by the digital revolution. although the percentage of britons without home access will have fallen slightly those that remain digital refuseniks will miss out on more the report suggests. as more and more everyday tasks move online and offline services become less comprehensive the divide will become more obvious and more burdensome for those that have not got net access it predicts. the gap between have-nets and have-nots has been much talked about but predictions about how such a divide will affect future generations has been less discussed. bt set out to predict future patterns based on current information and taking account of the way technology is changing. optimists who predict that convergence and the emergence of more user-friendly technology will bridge the digital divide could be way off mark the report suggests. internet access on other devices tends to be something taken up by those who already have it said adrian hosford director of corporate responsibility at bt. costs of internet access have fallen dramatically and coverage in remote areas have vastly improved over the last year but the real barrier remains psychological. there is a hard rump of have-nots who are not engaging with the net. they don t have the motivation or skills or perceive the benefits said mr hosford. as now the most disadvantaged groups are likely to remain among low income families the older generation and the disabled. those on low incomes will account for a quarter of the digital have-nots the disabled will make up 16% and the elderly nearly a third by 2025 the report forecasts. organisations such as bt have a responsibility to help tackle the problem said mr hosford. the telco has seen positive results with its everybody online project which offers internet access to people in eight deprived communities around britain. in one area of cornwall with high levels of unemployment online training helped people rewrite cvs and learn skills to get new jobs explained mr hosford. such grassroot activity addressing the specific needs of individual communities is essential is the problem of the digital divide is to be overcome he said. if we don t address this problem now it will get a lot worse and people will find it more difficult to find jobs education opportunities will be limited and they ll simply not be able to keep up with society he said. the alliance for digital inclusion an independent body with members drawn from government industry and the voluntary sector has recently been set up to tackle some of the issues faced by the digital refuseniks. | science and tech | 0 |
labour in constituency race row labour s choice of a white candidate for one of the uk s most multi-racial seats proves the need for all-black short lists says a race group. local councillor lyn brown was selected for west ham east london in a contest between two white and five ethnic minority women. an operation black vote spokesman said they now wanted to meet labour party chairman ian mccartney for discussions. mr mccartney recently announced party consultation on all-black shortlists. however labour has so far unable been unable to comment on the implications of the west ham result. ashok vishwanathan of operation black vote which aims to increase ethnic minorities participation in the political process and their representation said the result again showed all-women shortlists were not effective in getting minority women selected. i think all-black shortlists are the only way to cut to the chase and address the lack of minority candidates mr vishwanathan said. last month the chairman of the commission for racial equality (cre) also called for ethnic minority shortlists in certain circumstances. a cre spokesman said the organisation had nothing to add on the shortlist issue specifically but would be working with all the political parties to address the under-representation of ethnic minorities in parliament. we will be raising it with each of the party leaders on a formal basis and helping them find the most appropriate way forward the spokesman said. ethnic minorities make up 8% of the united kingdom population but only 2% of mps - 13 out of 659 - are from a visible minority group. twelve of them represent labour and one is a liberal democrat. if ethnic minorities were represented in the house of commons in proportion to their numbers in the population there would be 42 ethnic minority mps. | entertainment | 2 |
mixed christmas for us retailers us retailers posted mixed results for december - with luxury retailers faring well while many others were forced to slash prices to lift sales. upscale department store nordstrom said same store sales were 9.3% higher than during the same period last year. trendy youth labels also sold well with sales jumping 28% at young women s clothing retailer bebe stores and 32.2% at american eagle outfitters. but wal-mart only saw its sales rise after it cut prices. the company saw a 3% rise in december sales less than the 4.3% rise seen a year earlier. customers at the world s biggest retailer are generally seen to be the most vulnerable to america s economic woes. commentators claim many have cut back on spending amid uncertainty over job security while low and middle-income americans have reined in spending in the face of higher gasoline prices. analysts said wal-mart faced a stand-off with shoppers stepping up its discounts as the festive season wore on as consumers waited longer to get the best bargains. however experts added that if prices had not been cut across the sector christmas sales - which account for nearly 23% of annual retail sales - would have been far worse. so far we are faring better than expected but the results are still split ken perkins an analyst at research firm retailmetrics llc told associated press. stores that have been struggling over the last couple of months appear to be continuing that trend. and for stores that have been doing well over the last several months december was a good month. overall december sales are forecast to rise by 4.5% to $220bn - less than the 5.1% increase seen a year earlier. one discount retailer to fare well in december was costco wholesale which continued a recent run of upbeat results with a better-than-expected 8% jump in same store sales. however the losers were many and varied. home furnishings store pier 1 imports saw its same store sales sink by a larger-than-forecast 8.8% as it battled fierce competition. leading electronics chain best buy meanwhile missed its sales target of a 3-5% rise in sales turning in a 2.5% increase over the christmas period. accessory vendor claire s stores also suffered as an expected last minute shopping rush never materialised leaving its same store sales 5% higher compared to a 6% rise last year. jeweller zale also felt little christmas cheer with december sales down 0.7% on the same month last year. this was not a good period for retailers or shoppers. we saw a dearth of exciting new items kurt barnard president of industry forecaster retail consulting group said. however one beneficiary of the desertion of the high street is expected to be online stores. according to a survey by goldman sachs & co harris interactive and neilsen/net ratings sales surged 25% over the holiday season to $23.2bn. | business | 0 |
tough rules for ringtone sellers firms that flout rules on how ringtones and other mobile extras are sold could be cut off from all uk phone networks. the rules allow offenders to be cut off if they do not let consumers know exactly what they get for their money and how to turn off the services. the first month under the new rules has seen at least ten firms suspended while they clean up the way they work. the rules have been brought in to ensure that the problems plaguing net users do not spread to mobile phones. in the last couple of years ringtones wallpapers screensavers and lots of other extras for phones have become hugely popular. but fierce competition is making it difficult for firms to get their wares in front of consumers said jeremy flynn head of third party services at vodafone. if you are not on the operator s portal you are going to have quite heavy marketing costs because it s a problem of how people discover your services he said. to combat this many ringtone and other mobile content sellers started using a new tactic to squeeze more cash out of customers. this tactic involved signing people up for a subscription to give them for instance several ringtones per week or month instead of the single track they thought they were getting. mr flynn said that the move to using subscriptions happened over the space of a few weeks at the end of 2004. websites such as grumbletext.co.uk started getting reports from customers who were racking up large bills for phone content they did not know they had signed up for. what made us uncomfortable was that these services were not being marketed transparently said mr flynn. people did not know they were being offered a subscription service. we saw potential for substantial consumer harm here he added. the swift adoption of subscription services led to the creation of a new code of conduct for firms that want to sell content for mobile phones. the drafting of the new rules was led by the mobile entertainment forum and the uk s phone firms. everyone is required to conform to this code of conduct said andrew bud regulatory head of the mef and executive chairman of messaging firm mblox. it s all about transparency he said. consumers have to be told what they have got themselves into and how to get out of it. the consumer has a right to be protected he said. christian harris partnership manager of mobile content firm zed said the new system was essential if consumers were to trust companies that sell ringtones and other downloads. the groundrules must be applied across the whole industry and if that s done effectively we will see the cowboys driven out he said. the new rules came in to force on 15 january and the first month under the new regime has seen many firms cautioned for not honouring them. some have been told to revamp websites so customers know what they get for their money and what they are signing up for said mr flynn. also said mr flynn vodafone has briefly cut off between eight and ten content sellers flouting the rules. we have quite draconian contracts with firms he said. we do not have to say why. we can just cut them off. under the rules consumers must be able to switch off the services by using a universal stop command sent via text message. he said the system had been designed to limit how much a consumer will pay if they inadvertently signed up for a service. the mobile is so personal that people really resent the abuse of what is effectively part of their personality said mr flynn. | science and tech | 0 |
eu software patent law delayed controversial new eu rules for the patenting of computer-based inventions have been put on hold due to a last minute intervention from poland. poland - a large and therefore crucial eu member - has requested more time to consider the issue especially as it relates to the patenting of software. critics say the law would favour large companies over small innovative ones. they say it could have massive ramifications for developments such as open source software. polish ministers want to see the phrasing of the text of the directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions changed so that it excludes the patenting of software. the planned law has ignited angry debate about whether the eu should allow the patenting of computer programs and internet business methods as currently happens in the us. so for instance us-based amazon.com holds a patent on one-click shopping . critics claim the law which the eu says is needed to harmonise with the us is little more than a law on ideas. patent rights it is claimed protect inventors but in this case it is exclusively the interests of the big companies that are protected eva lichtenberg a austrian green member of the european parliament said in a statement. smaller innovative firms cannot afford the patenting and legal costs that the directive would inflict on them she added. the european parliament has already clashed with the european union on the issue and there have been accusations that the process to decide the issue has been undemocratic. the directive has been subject to several previous delays. | entertainment | 2 |
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