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broadband challenges tv viewing the number of europeans with broadband has exploded over the past 12 months with the web eating into tv viewing habits research suggests. just over 54 million people are hooked up to the net via broadband up from 34 million a year ago according to market analysts nielsen/netratings. the total number of people online in europe has broken the 100 million mark. the popularity of the net has meant that many are turning away from tv say analysts jupiter research. it found that a quarter of web users said they spent less time watching tv in favour of the net the report by nielsen/netratings found that the number of people with fast internet access had risen by 60% over the past year. the biggest jump was in italy where it rose by 120%. britain was close behind with broadband users almost doubling in a year. the growth has been fuelled by lower prices and a wider choice of always-on fast-net subscription plans. twelve months ago high speed internet users made up just over one third of the audience in europe; now they are more than 50% and we expect this number to keep growing said gabrielle prior nielsen/netratings analyst. as the number of high-speed surfers grows websites will need to adapt update and enhance their content to retain their visitors and encourage new ones. the total number of europeans online rose by 12% to 100 million over the past year the report showed with the biggest rise in france italy britain and germany. the ability to browse web pages at high speed download files such as music or films and play online games is changing what people do in their spare time. a study by analysts jupiter research suggested that broadband was challenging television viewing habits. in homes with broadband 40% said they were spending less time watching tv. the threat to tv was greatest in countries where broadband was on the up in particular the uk france and spain said the report. it said tv companies faced a major long-term threat over the next five years with broadband predicted to grow from 19% to 37% of households by 2009. year-on-year we are continuing to see a seismic shift in where when and how europe s population consume media for information and entertainment and this has big implications for tv newspaper and radio said jupiter research analyst olivier beauvillian.

entertainment

day-lewis set for berlin honour actor daniel day-lewis is to be presented with an award for his career in film at the berlin film festival. the 47-year-old whose credits include his oscar-winning performance in my left foot will be presented with the berlinale camera award on 15 february. the honour awarded since 1986 honours figures in cinema that the festival feels particularly indebted to . man to man a historical epic starring kristin scott thomas opens the german festival on 10 february. a candid documentary about the life and career of singer george michael a different story will also be screened at the 10-day event. day-lewis has competed four times at the berlin film festival with films in the name of the father (1994) the crucible (1997) the boxer (1998) and martin scorsese s gangs of new york (2003). the festival praises him for his sensational start with roles in my beautiful launderette and costume classic a room with a view and a great number of celebrated roles in subsequent productions. japan s oldest film studio will also be honoured along with day-lewis. shochiku film studios which was founded 110 years ago will become the first cinematic institution to receive the berlinale camera award. famous japanese directors including akira kurosawa have had films produced at the studio.

entertainment

musicians to tackle us red tape musicians groups are to tackle us visa regulations which are blamed for hindering british acts chances of succeeding across the atlantic. a singer hoping to perform in the us can expect to pay $1 300 (£680) simply for obtaining a visa. groups including the musicians union are calling for an end to the raw deal faced by british performers. us acts are not faced with comparable expense and bureaucracy when visiting the uk for promotional purposes. nigel mccune from the musicians union said british musicians are disadvantaged compared to their us counterparts. a sponsor has to make a petition on their behalf which is a form amounting to nearly 30 pages while musicians face tougher regulations than athletes and journalists. if you make a mistake on your form you risk a five-year ban and thus the ability to further your career says mr mccune. the us is the world s biggest music market which means something has to be done about the creaky bureaucracy says mr mccune. the current situation is preventing british acts from maintaining momentum and developing in the us he added. the musicians union stance is being endorsed by the music managers forum (mmf) who say british artists face an uphill struggle to succeed in the us thanks to the tough visa requirements which are also seen as impractical. the mmf s general secretary james seller said: imagine if you were an orchestra from the orkneys every member would have to travel to london to have their visas processed. the us market is seen as the holy grail and one of the benchmarks of success and we re still going to fight to get in there. it s still very important but there are other markets like europe india and china added mr seller. a department for media culture and sport spokeswoman said: we re aware that people are experiencing problems and are working with the us embassy and record industry to see what we can do about it. a us embassy spokesman said: we are aware that entertainers require visas for time-specific visas and are doing everything we can to process those applications speedily. we are aware of the importance of cultural exchange and we will do our best to facilitate that he added.

entertainment

radcliffe will compete in london paula radcliffe will compete in the flora london marathon this year after deciding her schedule for 2005. the 31-year-old won the race in 2002 on her marathon debut defended her title 12 months later and will now seek a third title in the 17 april race. it doesn t get any better than this for the 25th anniversary said race director david bedford. after announcing the greatest men s field ever we now have the greatest women s distance runner ever. three years ago radcliffe smashed the women s world record in two hours 18 minutes 15 seconds. the bedford star returned to london 12 months later lowering her mixed-race world record of 2:17:18 which she set in chicago in october 2003 by one minute 53 secs. radcliffe s career took a setback when she failed to complete the olympic marathon and later dropped out of the athens 10 000m last august. but the 31-year-old bounced back to win the new york marathon in november. radcliffe however passed up the chance to go for the big city marathon grand slam. with wins in chicago london and new york only the boston marathon remains to be conquered but that takes place a day after london. boston is definitely a race i want to do at some point but london is very special to me said radcliffe. i don t pick races thinking about things like pressure. i pick the ones in my heart i really want to do. i love the atmosphere crowds and course and know it will always be a great quality race. it is also the 25th anniversary this year which adds to the occasion.

sports

stuart joins norwich from addicks norwich have signed charlton midfielder graham stuart until the end of the season for an undisclosed fee. it was a very easy decision to make the 34-year-old told norwich s website. the attraction for me was to continue to play in the premiership. canaries boss nigel worthington added: i m delighted that graham will be joining us until the end of the season. he s gives us a wealth of experience. hopefully he can be part of keeping us in the premier league. stuart has extensive top-flight experience with everton chelsea and charlton and can play across the midfield positions. he joins norwich with the norfolk club second-from-bottom in the premiership but stuart is confident that the carrow road outfit have a bright future. i ve been very impressed with the facilities here. it s obviously a very well run football club with excellent facilities and i ve always enjoyed playing at carrow road he added. it s a nice compact ground with a good atmosphere and hopefully i can help give the fans something else to cheer. stuart a former england under-21 international made 110 appearances for chelsea scoring 18 goals before joining everton. he won the fa cup with the toffees in 1995 and remains a hero at goodison park after his 81st-minute winner against wimbledon saved everton from relegation in 1994. stuart spent just over four years at goodison park making 125 senior appearances and scoring 25 goals before signing for sheffield united - where he scored 12 goals in 68 appearances. after signing for charlton he made 164 appearances scoring 23 times but recently he has been battling a back problem and had not played for the londoners for three months before heading to norwich.

business

bmw drives record sales in asia bmw has forecast sales growth of at least 10% in asia this year after registering record sales there in 2004. the luxury carmaker saw strong sales of its three marques - bmw mini and rolls-royce - in asia last year after the launch of three new models. the company which is vying with mercedes-benz for the title of leading premium carmaker is confident about its prospects for the region in 2005. it is launching a revamped version of its 3-series saloon class next month. bmw sold nearly 95 000 cars in asia last year up 2.6% on 2003. bmw-brand sales rose 2.3% to 80 600 while sales of mini models rose 3.6% to 14 800. there was also a significant increase in sales of rolls-royces on the continent. bmw sold more than 100 of the iconic models compared with just ten the previous year. the german carmaker is aiming to boost annual sales in asia to 150 000 by 2008. here in asia we consider a double-digit increase in retail on the order of 10 to 15% to be realistic on the basis of current features said helmut panke bmw s group chief executive. china remains the main area of concern for bmw after sales there fell 16% last year. however bmw is hopeful of a much better year in 2005 as its direct investment in china begins to pay dividends. the company only began assembling luxury high-powered sedans in china in 2003. 2004 was generally a good year for bmw which saw revenues from its core car-making operations rise 11%.

business

connors rallying cry for british tennis do you have it in your heart how much guts do you have how much do you hate to lose these are the questions jimmy connors will be asking of britain s brightest tennis hopes in the months and possibly years to come. the american legend swept into london on thursday to announce a long-term relationship with the lawn tennis association after spending three days at the elite performance winter camp in la manga. and the man who epitomised the phrase will to win before lleyton hewitt was even born is clear about the qualities he hopes to convey. you know everybody hits the ball well and there s a very fine line between number one and number 100 said connors. i was that fine line for a long time. but if i can help i want to be part of teaching kids how to win. connors is not the first great name to offer his services to the lta - his long-time rival john mcenroe has repeatedly done the same. but connors is at pains to point out that his interest goes well beyond any publicity stunt and he gave a glowing recommendation to the work of lta performance director david felgate and his team. britain has a different attitude the right attitude in taking the game forward and finding the next wimbledon champion said connors. that s something you don t find every day. everybody talks a good game but not everybody puts that into effect. the impression i came away with after just seeing david and the other coaches for three days was one like i ve never seen before especially over here. this is not going to happen overnight there are no miracle workers but you re going in the right direction. the 52-year-old s enthusiasm for the work going on in this country is in marked contrast to his relationship with tennis officials back in america. i ve had discussions with the usta (united states tennis association) over a number of years he said. that s where it (my input) ended. connors is a straight-talker and will be equally blunt and honest in his dealings with the lta and the cream of britain s young players. if they re chosen they ve got to produce he said. if not someone will come and take their place. there s only one number one spot and it s lonely up there but it s got the best view. in the year that has seen andrew murray emerge as britain s great new hope connors rejected suggestions that the scot might be put under too much pressure too soon. tim henman has a whole country on his shoulder said connors. i don t know that pressure but if you like that it can be a certain push to get on to the next level. someone s going to have to come and take over from him (henman). if i was andrew murray i d embrace that. that s what we play for. despite the emphasis on hard work training and preparation connors does admit that the desire required of a champion has to come from within. the passion i had i don t know if you can find that he admitted. i was also nuts. i say that because there was nothing better for me than to compete on the tennis court. it was the most important thing in the world for me and to do that something s got to be not right with you. there was nothing better for me ever than to play tennis in front of 25 000 people. what i had when i played tennis is what i am. you have to have that you can t be moulded.

politics

global blogger action day called the global web blog community is being called into action to lend support to two imprisoned iranian bloggers. the month-old committee to protect bloggers is asking those with blogs to dedicate their sites on 22 february to the free mojtaba and arash day . arash sigarchi and mojtaba saminejad are both in prison in iran. blogs are free sites through which people publish thoughts and opinions. iranian authorities have been clamping down on prominent sites for some time. i hope this day will focus people curt hopkins director of the committee told the bbc news website. the group has a list of actions which it says bloggers can take including writing to local iranian embassies. the committee has deemed tuesday free mojtaba and arash day as part of its first campaign. it is calling on the blogsphere - the name for the worldwide community of bloggers - to do what it can to help raise awareness of the plight of mojtaba and arash as well as other cyber-dissidents . if you have a blog the least you could do is put nothing on that blog except free mojtaba and arash day said mr hopkins. that would mean you could see that phrase 7.1 million times. that alone will shine some light on the situation. if you don t have one find one dedicated to that - it takes about 30 seconds. technorati a blog search engine tracks about six million blogs and says that more than 12 000 are added daily. a blog is created every 5.8 seconds according to a us research think-tank. the committee to protect bloggers was started by us blogger curt hopkins and counts fired flight attendant blogger ellen simonetti as a deputy director. she has since started the international bloggers bill of rights a global petition to protect bloggers at work. although not the only website committed to human rights issues by any means it aims to be the hub or organisation information and support for bloggers in particular and their rights to freedom of speech. the committee although only a month old aims to be the focal point for blogger action on similar issues in the future and will operate as a non-for-profit organisation. blogging is in this weird no man s land. people think of it as being one thing or another depending on their point of view said mr hopkins. some think of themselves as pundits kind of like journalists and some like me have a private blog which is just a publishing platform. but they do not have a constituency and are out there in the cold. it is not just human rights issues in countries which have a track record of restricting what is published in the media that is of concern to bloggers. the question of bloggers and what rights they have to say what they want on their sites is a thorny one and has received much press attention recently. high profile cases in which employees have been sacked for what they have said on their personal and often anonymous blogs have highlighted the muddy situation that the blogsphere is currently in. this is a big messy argument explained mr hopkins. he added: it is just such a new way of doing business there will be clamp downs. but the way these issues get tested is through the courts which said mr hopkins is part of the whole messy conversation. if you haven t already got bloggers in your company you will have them tomorrow - and if you don t have a blogger policy now you had better start looking at having one. mr hopkins said that the blogsphere - which is doubling every five months - was powerful because it takes so little time and expertise to create a blog. everyone does this - mums radicals conservatives he said. many companies offer easy-to-use services to create a blog and publish it in minutes to a global community. that is the essential difference. what i call templating software gives every single person on earth the chance to have one. you don t even have to have your own computer.

business

critics back aviator for oscars martin scorsese s the aviator will win best film at the oscars according to the uk s leading movie critics. but several of those surveyed by the bbc news website think the veteran film-maker will lose the best director prize to clint eastwood. most of the critics tipped jamie foxx and hilary swank to scoop best actor and actress for ray and million dollar baby respectively. the jury comprised experts and critics from the top uk film publications. the panel also revealed which nominees they would personally prefer to win. all expect the aviator to win best film but many think it will be a close race between scorsese s howard hughes biopic and eastwood s boxing drama million dollar baby. the other films nominated are wine comedy sideways factual drama finding neverland and ray charles biopic ray. i m pretty sure this is the year of the aviator though my own choice would be sideways said the observer s philip french. sideways should win but it doesn t have a hope said jamie graham of total film a position shared by film 2005 presenter jonathan ross. the form going in to the oscars points to the aviator but i liked million dollar baby more said tim dams news editor of trade weekly screen international. five of the eight critics tipped scorsese to win best director with mr dams heat s charles gant and empire s angie errigo plumping for eastwood. sideway s alexander payne ray s taylor hackford and british director mike leigh - nominated for period drama vera drake - are considered outsiders in this category. up until recently i could have sworn scorsese would get it just for being scorsese ms errigo told the bbc news website. but i m beginning to think eastwood will get it. i d be very happy for mike leigh to win but i don t think he has any chance said charles gant film editor of heat. foxx s portrayal of ray charles has already seen him win prizes at the golden globes baftas and screen actors guild awards. mr dams said this made him out-and-out favourite to be named best actor on oscar night. everyone would be incredibly surprised if he didn t win he said. if you re a betting man he s as close as you get to a certainty. if paul giamatti was nominated for sideways it would be a different game says total film s jamie graham. but foxx will and should win. with vera drake star imelda staunton nominated for best actress alongside kate winslet britain has a good chance of victory - on paper. jonathan ross for one will be very happy if winslet wins for eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. but while wendy ide of the times still thinks staunton has a chance heat s charles gant believes her bafta win will cut little ice with academy voters. i d like staunton to win but her chances are not that great said mr gant who predicted a second oscar for hilary swank. i think swank will win said mr french. imelda has got as far as she s going to get playing that role. staunton is also the personal choice of steven gaydos executive editor of industry magazine variety. but while he tipped swank to win he predicted it would be a close contest. everything has the ability to flip by one vote and go the other way he told the bbc news website. there s not a sense that it s obvious how it s going to go. meanwhile thousands of people have voted in a bbc radio five live poll to find the best film never to have won a best picture oscar. the audience voted overwhelmingly for the shawshank redemption the 1994 frank darabont tale of hope and humanity which received 52% of the online votes and 68% of the text messages. the other two finalists citizen kane and a matter of life and death split the remaining votes roughly equally. this year s academy awards will be shown in the uk by sky movies 1 at 0130 gmt on monday. - tim dams screen international: film - the aviator; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - angie errigo empire: film - the aviator; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - philip french the observer: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - charles gant heat: film - the aviator; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - steven gaydos variety: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - jamie graham total film: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - wendy ide the times: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - imelda staunton. - jonathan ross film 2005: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - tim dams screen international: film - million dollar baby; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - angie errigo empire: film - the aviator; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - philip french the observer: film - sideways; director - martin scorsese; actor - jamie foxx; actress - imelda staunton. - charles gant heat: film - sideways; director - mike leigh; actor - jamie foxx; actress - imelda staunton. - steven gaydos variety: film - million dollar baby; director - clint eastwood; actor - don cheadle; actress - imelda staunton. - jamie graham total film: film - sideways; director - alexander payne; actor - jamie foxx; actress - hilary swank. - wendy ide the times: film - sideways; director - alexander payne; actor - don cheadle; actress - imelda staunton. - jonathan ross film 2005: film - sideways; director - clint eastwood; actor - jamie foxx; actress - kate winslet.

business

looks and music to drive mobiles mobile phones are still enjoying a boom time in sales according to research from technology analysts gartner. more than 674 million mobiles were sold last year globally said the report the highest total sold to date. the figure was 30% more than in 2003 and surpassed even the most optimistic predictions gartner said. good design and the look of a mobile as well as new services such as music downloads could go some way to pushing up sales in 2005 said analysts. although people were still looking for better replacement phones there was evidence according to gartner that some markets were seeing a slow-down in replacement sales. all the markets grew apart from japan which shows that replacement sales are continuing in western europe mobile analyst carolina milanesi told the bbc news website. japan is where north america and western european markets can be in a couple of years time. they already have tv music ringtones cameras and all that we can think of on mobiles so people have stopped buying replacement phones. but there could be a slight slowdown in sales in european and us markets too according to gartner as people wait to see what comes next in mobile technology. this means mobile companies have to think carefully about what they are offering in new models so that people see a compelling reason to upgrade said gartner. third generation mobiles (3g) with the ability to handle large amounts of data transfer like video could drive people into upgrading their phones but ms milanesi said it was difficult to say how quickly that would happen. at the end of the day people have cameras and colour screens on mobiles and for the majority of people out there who don t really care about technology the speed of data to a phone is not critical. nor would the rush to produce two or three megapixel camera phones be a reason for mobile owners to upgrade on its own. the majority of camera phone models are not at the stage where they can compete with digital cameras which also have flashes and zooms. more likely to drive sales in 2005 would be the attention to design and aesthetics as well as music services. the motorola razr v3 phone was typical of the attention to design that would be more commonplace in 2005 she added. this was not a women s thing she said but a desire from men and women to have a gadget that is a form of self-expression too. it was not just about how the phone functioned but about what it said about its owner. western europe has always been a market which is quite attentive to design said ms milanesi. people are after something that is nice-looking and together with that there is the entertainment side. this year music will have a part to play in this. the market for full-track music downloads was worth just $20 million (£10.5 million) in 2004 but is set to be worth $1.8 billion (£94 million) by 2009 according to juniper research. sony ericsson just released its walkman branded mobile phone the w800 which combines a digital music player with up to 30 hours battery life and a two megapixel camera. in july last year motorola and apple announced a version of itunes online music downloading service would be released which would be compatible with motorola mobile phones. apple said the new itunes music player would become motorola s standard music application for its music phones. but the challenge will be balancing storage capacity with battery life if mobile music hopes to compete with digital music players like the ipod. ms milanesi said more models would likely be released in the coming year with hard drives. but they would be more likely to compete with the smaller capacity music players that have around four gigabyte storage capacity which would not put too much strain on battery life.

sports

mourinho receives robson warning sir bobby robson has offered chelsea boss jose mourinho some advice on coping under pressure. the pair worked together at barcelona and porto and robson had a word of warning for his protege. it has all gone for him just lately and that is marvellous but sometimes you have to have a bit of humility and learn how to lose said robson. it is when it goes against you and you get a bit of bad luck that you learn and he ll get it straight. robson was speaking after being formally granted the freedom of the city of newcastle. jose is doing very well at the moment robson added of the man who worked for him for six years. he has got one pot - possibly two to follow - a big game against barcelona to come and i cannot see them losing their lead in the premiership. they are in a good position and i would expect them to go on and win it which is a wonderful achievement. what has occurred over the last couple of weeks will stand him in very good stead for the future. if he is intelligent he will take it on board - and he is very intelligent. he will have learned more in the last fortnight than the last eight months. before that it was all about winning. robson also admitted he would relish the chance to get back into management and test his skills against mourinho. i am not in a hurry to take the wrong job but i am ready to take the right job and i feel there is another job in me he added. i know the area i am capable of working in and of course i would like a job in the premiership if one was available. it would not worry me if i had to pit my wits against jose. but it is not just a case of him and me against one another. it would be his team against my team - but i would not be afraid of that.

sports

little britain vies for tv trophy bbc hits little britain and strictly come dancing are among numerous british shows nominated for the prestigious golden rose television awards. homegrown reality programmes dominated that category including channel 4 s supernanny and itv1 s hell s kitchen. eastenders and coronation street were overlooked in the soap category but doctors and family affairs gained nods. the festival which honours the best tv from around the globe will take place in lucerne switzerland from 3-8 may. little britain which is now in its second series faces competition from bbc two s the catherine tate show and sacha baron cohen s creations borat and bruno. in the separate sitcom category dark comedy nighty night - which began life on bbc three - will do battle with mainstream bbc one show my family. bbc one s strictly come dancing which saw celebrities compete against each other to become champions of the dancefloor is among five british nominations in the varirty category. lenny henry who won a golden rose for his in pieces series in 2001 picks up another nomination for his recent bbc show. british television music shows have picked up six nominations with bbc three s flashmob - the opera up against the uk music hall of fame series which was screened on channel 4. british television has performed very well in the arts and specials category gaining a total of 11 nominations. the bbc leads the way with its programmes on the sound of music agatha christie and rolf on art - the big event - which saw harris lead an effort to produce a life-size painting in london s trafalgar square. british shows - which picked up a total of 48 nominations - will have to overcome competition from a host of other countries including the us canada japan and across europe. uk nominee tv diaries which is shown around the world is owned by a british company but has yet to be screened in this country. previous uk winners have included ant & dec s saturday night takeaway pop idol channel 4 show faking it and comedy duo french and saunders who became the first winners to receive and honorary golden rose. individual performers will also be rewarded with prizes for best comics best sitcom actor and actress and best gameshow host. last year actor shane richie won an award for his portrayal of alfie moon in eastenders.

sports

rovers reject third ferguson bid blackburn have rejected a third bid from rangers for scotland captain barry ferguson bbc sport has learnt. it is thought blackburn want £6m for the midfielder but chief executive john williams has confirmed the club are still in dialogue with rangers. the 26-year-old has already handed in a transfer request at ewood park as he seeks a return to ibrox. but the clubs have been unable to reach agreement over a fee for ferguson who moved to lancashire in 2003 for £6.5m. on thursday rangers said they would not be increasing their offer of £4m. blackburn have said all along that they want £6m for the midfielder and williams has rejected proposals from rangers over a player-swap deal. williams said: we are in dialogue with glasgow rangers but we have no agreement. the negotiations will have to be concluded by midnight on monday when the winter transfer window shuts. williams conceded any deal for ferguson was looking unlikely before the close of the transfer window but rangers still had a chance to seal the deal. we have no comment to make other than we have not got an agreement with glasgow rangers he added. the way things are looking i think it is unlikely we are going to. the ball is in their court but we have not got an offer that is acceptable at this moment. it is understood that blackburn accepted a £5m offer for ferguson from everton at the weekend. but the player is determined to return to scotland and rejected a move to goodison park. ferguson did not play in the fa cup win over colchester on saturday despite recovering from a groin injury with rovers boss mark hughes claiming it had been an emotional and difficult time for the player.

sports

safety alert as gm recalls cars the world s biggest carmaker general motors (gm) is recalling nearly 200 000 vehicles in the us on safety grounds according to federal regulators. the national highway traffic safety administration (nhtsa) said the largest recall involves 155 465 pickups vans and sports utility vehicles (suvs). this is because of possible malfunctions with the braking systems. the affected vehicles in the product recall are from the 2004 and 2005 model years gm said. those vehicles with potential faults are the chevrolet avalanche express kodiak silverade and suburban; the gmc savana sierra and yukon. the nhtsa said a pressure accumulator in the braking system could crack during normal driving and fragments could injure people if the hood was open. this could allow hydraulic fluid to leak which could make it harder to brake or steer and could cause a crash it warned. gm is also recalling 19 924 cadillac xlr coupes srx suvs and pontiac grand prix sedans from the 2004 model year. this is because the accelerator pedal may not work properly in extremely cold temperatures requiring more braking. in addition the car giant is calling back 17 815 buick raniers chevrolet trailblazers gmc envoys and isuzu ascenders from the 2005 model years because the windshield is not properly fitted and could fall out in a crash. however gm stressed that it did not know of any injuries related to the problems. news of the recall follows an announcement last month that gm expects earnings this year be lower than in 2004. the world s biggest car maker is grappling with losses in its european business weak us sales and now a product recall. in january gm said higher healthcare costs in north america and lower profits at its financial services subsidiary would hurt its performance in 2005.

business

verizon seals takeover of mci verizon has won a takeover battle for us phone firm mci with a bid worth $6.8bn (£3.6bn) reports say. the two firms are expected to seal the deal on monday morning according to news agency reports despite what was thought to be a higher bid from qwest. the us telecoms market is consolidating fast with former long-distance giant at&t being bought by former subsidiary sbc earlier this year for $16bn. mci exited bankruptcy in april having gone bust under previous name worldcom. the bankruptcy followed its admission in 2002 that it illegally booked expenses and inflated profits. shareholders lost about $180bn when the company collapsed while 20 000 workers lost their jobs. former worldcom boss bernie ebbers is currently on trial accused of overseeing an $11bn fraud. qwest has itself come under suspicion of sub-standard behaviour paying the securities and exchange commission $250m in october to settle charges that it manipulated its results to keep wall street happy. mci is the us s second-biggest long distance firm after at&t. consolidation in the us telecommunications industry has picked up in the past few months as companies look to cut costs and boost client bases. a merger between mci and verizon would be the fifth billion-dollar telecoms deal since october. last week sbc communications agreed to buy its former parent and phone trailblazer at&t for about $16bn. buying mci would give either qwest or verizon access to mci s global network and business-based subscribers. the rationale is similar to the one underpinning sbc s at&t deal. verizon is by far the bigger company and has its own successful mobile arm - factors which may have swung the board in its favour since both suitors are offering a mixture of cash and shares.

business

us to rule on yukos refuge call yukos has said a us bankruptcy court will decide whether to block russia s impending auction of its main production arm on thursday. the russian oil firm has filed for bankruptcy protection in the us in an attempt to halt the forced sale. however judge letitia clark said the hearing would continue on thursday when arguments in the case would be heard. russian authorities are due to auction off yuganskneftegas on 19 december to pay a huge tax bill sent to yukos. russian prosecutors are forcing the sale of the firm s most lucrative asset yuganskneftegas to help pay a $27bn (£14bn) back tax bill which they claim is owed by yukos. filing for bankruptcy protection in the us was a last resort to preserve the rights of our shareholders employees and customers said yukos chief executive steven theede. the company added it had opted to take action through american courts as us bankruptcy law gives worldwide jurisdiction over a debtor company s property and because it was seeking a judiciary willing to protect the value of shareholders investments. however as the firm is based in russia and has no significant us assets lawyers are unsure of the outcome of the case. we are here to stop 60% of our body from being cut off on sunday zack clement a lawyer for yukos told judge clark in an emergency hearing in houston texas on wednesday. as well as the bid to get chapter 11 bankruptcy - which protects firms from creditors allowing them to continue trading as they restructure their finances - the group also made a claim for damages against the russian government. yukos asked the houston court to order russia to arbitration so that it can press claims for billions of dollars in damages over a campaign of illegal discriminatory and disproportionate tax claims. mr clement said that under russian law the russian government was obliged to enter into arbitration as set out in international law. he added that the opening bid for the firm s yuganskneftgas unit was $8bn - less than half of the $20bn that yukos advisers say it is worth. we believe the only significant bidder at the auction on sunday is gazprom he said referring to russia s natural gas giant. yukos maintains that the forced auction is illegal and will cause the company to suffer immediate and irreparable harm. many commentators believe the russian government s aggressive pursuit of yukos is a politically-motivated response to the political ambitions of its former chief executive mikhail khodorkovsky. mr khodorkovsky who had funded liberal opposition groups was arrested in october last year on fraud and tax evasion charges and is still in jail analysts believe that if its production unit is auctioned off it is likely to be bought up by a government-backed firm like gazprom effectively bringing a large chunk of russia s lucrative oil and gas industry back under state control.

politics

hollywood hunts hits at sundance the sundance film festival the movie industry s top destination for uncovering the next independent hits and new talent opens on thursday. the event will see screen executives decamp from hollywood to park city utah for 11 days to search for low-key movies that could make it big in 2005. open water napoleon dynamite garden state and super-size me were all snapped up at last year s festival. but stars like keanu reeves and pierce brosnan also have films showing there. the festival is being opened by a screening of quirky comedy happy endings starring former friends actress lisa kudrow and maggie gyllenhaal on thursday. kudrow s friends co-star david schwimmer plays a divorced drunkard in duane hopwood while brosnan stars as a hit man in comedy the matador. keanu reeves appears in coming-of-age tale thumbsucker while kevin costner and michael keaton are among the other big names whose films are involved. robert redford founded sundance in 1981 and it has gone on to showcase future successes such as reservoir dogs the blair witch project and the full monty. but it has received criticism that it has become more commercial and mainstream over the years. as much as the press argues that sundance has completely changed it hasn t changed that much festival director geoffrey gilmore said. it s still a place for discovery. it s a place for common ground among film-makers and audiences more than it is the celebrity stuff. other films generating interest before this year s festival include hustle & flow about an aspiring rapper the squid and the whale an autobiographical film by writer-director noah baumbach and comedy/drama pretty persuasion. it also has two new international cinema competitions.

entertainment

jarvis sells tube stake to spain shares in engineering group jarvis have soared more than 16% on news that it is offloading its stake in london underground consortium tube lines. the sale of the 33% stake to spain s ferrovial for £146m ($281m) is a lifeline to jarvis which was weighed down by debts of more than £230m. the company recently warned it could go under if it did not secure a refinancing deal by mid-january 2005. but now its banks have agreed to extend its credit facilities until march 2006. the company also said it had agreed terms over the completion of 14 of its biggest construction projects under the government s private finance initiative (pfi). jarvis wants to scale back the division which has proved too costly and has been blamed for many of its problems. instead it plans to focus on uk rail renewal roads and plant hire work. madrid-based ferrovial already holds a 33% stake in tube lines which maintains the jubilee northern and piccadilly lines. the spanish group has been keen to snap up more uk infrastructure assets having bought amey in 2003. jarvis said the sale which raked in more than the £100m analysts had expected would substantially enhance its financial position. i am now confident that we can now move forward in 2005 towards rebuilding jarvis and return it to growth as a profitable business said chief executive alan lovell. shares in jarvis were up more than 16% to 18 pence by the close of trade on friday.

business

brookside creator s channel 4 bid the creator of defunct tv soap brookside has written to the culture minister to offer to buy channel 4. phil redmond now chairman of mersey tv told tessa jowell he would run it with its current remit intact for the next 10 years. but media watchdog ofcom has said the the commercially funded public service broadcaster will not be privatised. a spokesman for the department for culture media and sport said there were no plans to sell the channel. he added that primary legislation would be required for the station to be sold off which the government was not intending to introduce. brookside was axed in 2003 after its ratings slumped from a peak of seven million to just 1.5 million. redmond also brought teen soap hollyoaks to channel 4 and created grange hill the school-based drama serial which was first broadcast on bbc one in 1978. he was awarded the cbe for services to drama earlier this year.

entertainment

chelsea sack mutu chelsea have sacked adrian mutu after he failed a drugs test. the 25-year-old tested positive for a banned substance - which he later denied was cocaine - in october. chelsea have decided to write off a possible transfer fee for mutu a £15.8m signing from parma last season who may face a two-year suspension. a statement from chelsea explaining the decision read: we want to make clear that chelsea has a zero tolerance policy towards drugs. mutu scored six goals in his first five games after arriving at stamford bridge but his form went into decline and he was frozen out by coach jose mourinho. chelsea s statement added: this applies to both performance-enhancing drugs or so-called recreational drugs. they have no place at our club or in sport. in coming to a decision on this case chelsea believed the club s social responsibility to its fans players employees and other stakeholders in football regarding drugs was more important than the major financial considerations to the company. any player who takes drugs breaches his contract with the club as well as football association rules. the club totally supports the fa in strong action on all drugs cases. fifa s disciplinary code stipulates that a first doping offence should be followed by a six-month ban. and the sport s world governing body has re-iterated their stance over mutu s failed drugs test maintaining it is a matter for the domestic sporting authorities. fifa is not in a position to make any comment on the matter until the english fa have informed us of their disciplinary decision and the relevant information associated with it said a fifa spokesman. chelsea s move won backing from drug-testing expert michelle verroken. verroken a former director of drug-free sport for uk sport insists the blues were right to sack mutu and have enhanced their reputation by doing so. chelsea are saying quite clearly to the rest of their players and their fans that this is a situation they are not prepared to tolerate. it was a very difficult decision for them and an expensive decision for them but the terms of his contract were breached and it was the only decision they could make. it is a very clear stance by chelsea and it has given a strong boost to the reputation of the club. it emerged that mutu had failed a drugs test on october 18 and although it was initially reported that the banned substance in question was cocaine. the romanian international later suggested it was a substance designed to enhance sexual performance. the football association has yet to act on mutu s failed drugs test and refuses to discuss his case.

sports

microsoft makes anti-piracy move microsoft says it is clamping down on people running pirated versions of its windows operating system by restricting their access to security features. the windows genuine advantage scheme means people will have to prove their software is genuine from mid-2005. it will still allow those with unauthorised copies to get some crucial security fixes via automatic updates but their options would be limited . microsoft releases regular security updates to its software to protect pcs. either pcs detect updates automatically or users manually download fixes through microsoft s site. those running pirated windows programs would not have access to other downloads and add-ons that the software giant offers. people who try to manually download security patches will have to let microsoft run an automated checking procedure on their computer or give an identification number. microsoft s regular patches which it releases for newly-found security flaws are important because they stop worms viruses and other threats penetrating pcs. some security experts are concerned that restricting access to such patches could mean a rise in such attacks and threats with more pcs left unprotected. but graham cluley senior consultant at security firm sophos told the bbc news website that it was a positive decision. it sounds like their decision to allow critical security patches to remain available to both legitimate and illegitimate users of windows is good news for everyone who uses the net he said. windows genuine advantage was first introduced as a pilot scheme in september 2004 for english-language versions of windows. microsoft s windows operating system is heavily exploited by virus writers because it is so widespread and they are constantly seeking out new security loopholes to take advantage of. the company is trying to tackle security threats whilst cracking down on pirated software at the same time. software piracy has cost the company billions it says. the company announced earlier in january that it was releasing security tools to clean up pcs harbouring viruses and spyware which 90% of pcs are infected with. the virus-fighting program updated monthly is a precursor to microsoft s dedicated anti-virus software. last year it introduced the windows xp counterfeit project a uk-based pilot scheme which ran from november to december. the scheme meant that anyone with pre-installed copies of the operating system in pcs bought before november could replace counterfeit versions of windows xp with legal ones for free. it is also increasing efforts to squash software piracy in china norway and the czech republic where pirated software is a huge problem by offering discounts on legitimate software to users of pirated copies windows. china in particular is a problem with piracy estimated at 92% said mr cluley.

science and tech

the producers scoops stage awards the producers has beaten mary poppins in the battle of the blockbuster west end musicals at the olivier awards. the producers won three prizes at the uk s most prestigious annual theatre awards while mary poppins won two. mel brooks hit show triumphed in the battle for best new musical where it was up against mary poppins and andrew lloyd webber s the woman in white. alan bennett s the history boys was the big winner in the straight theatre categories picking up three trophies. but all eyes were on the musical prizes after the producers mary poppins and the woman in white all had high-profile openings in the last six months. the producers nathan lane a last-minute replacement for richard dreyfuss beat his former co-star lee evans to win best musical actor. lane has already left the production. a smash hit on broadway before moving to london the show also won best musical performance in a supporting role for conleth hill who plays director roger debris. mary poppins awards came for best choreography and best musical actress for its star laura michelle kelly. it led the nominations going into sunday s ceremony at london s hilton hotel up for nine awards. both shows are stage adaptations of 1960s films. the history boys set in a grammar school in the early 1980s and partly based on bennett s experiences as a teacher was named best new play. it also won best actor for richard griffiths who beat his harry potter film co-star michael gambon nominated for endgame as well as jonathan pryce and ben whishaw. the play also won national theatre artistic director nicholas hytner best director and bennett got a special award for outstanding contribution to british theatre. dame judi dench who starred in all s well that ends well at the gielgud lost out in the best supporting role category to amanda harris who played emilia in othello for the royal shakespeare company. the olivier awards have been handed out by the society of london since 1976. - best lighting design - his dark materials designed by paule constable at the olivier - best sound design - the woman in white designed by mick potter at the palace - best new opera - lady macbeth of mtsensk at the royal opera house - outstanding achievement in opera - thomas ades and the royal opera house for the world premiere of the tempest - best costume design - all s well that ends well designed by deirdre clancy at the gielgud - best revival - hamlet by william shakespeare at the old vic - best set design - his dark materials designed by giles cadle at the olivier - outstanding musical production - grand hotel at the donmar warehouse - best supporting role in a musical - conleth hill for the producers at theatre royal drury lane - best theatre choreographer - matthew bourne and stephen mear for mary poppins at the prince edward - best actor - richard griffiths for the history boys at the lyttelton - outstanding achievement or performance in an affiliate theatre - andrew scott for a girl in a car with a man at the jerwood theatre upstairs at the royal court - best new dance production - rambert dance company s swamp at sadler s wells - outstanding achievement in dance - san francisco ballet for their season at sadler s wells - best performance in a supporting role - amanda harris for othello at trafalgar studios - best actress - clare higgins for hecuba at the donmar warehouse - best musical actor - nathan lane for the producers at theatre royal drury lane - best musical actress - laura michelle kelly for mary poppins at the prince edward - best director - nicholas hytner for the history boys at the lyttelton - best new play - the history boys by alan bennett at the lyttelton - best new musical - the producers at theatre royal drury lane - special award - alan bennett for his outstanding contribution to british theatre

world

brussels raps mobile call charges the european commission has written to the mobile phone operators vodafone and t-mobile to challenge the high rates they charge for international roaming. in letters sent to the two companies the commission alleged the firms were abusing their dominant market position in the german mobile phone market. it is the second time vodafone has come under the commission s scrutiny. the uk operator is already appealing against allegations that its uk roaming rates are unfair and excessive . vodafone s response to the commission s letter was defiant. we believe the roaming market is competitive and we expect to resist the charges said a vodafone spokesman. however we will need time to examine the statement of objections in detail before we formally respond. the commission s investigation into vodafone and deutsche telekom s t-mobile centres on the tariffs the two companies charge foreign mobile operators to access their networks when subscribers of those foreign operators use their mobile phones in germany. the commission believes these wholesale prices are too high and that the excess is passed on to consumers. the commission aims to ensure that european consumers are not overcharged when they use their mobile phones on their travels around the european union the commission said in a statement. vodafone and o2 britain s other big mobile phone operator were sent similar statements of objections by the commission in july last year. vodafone sent the commission a response to those allegations in december last year and is now waiting for a reply. the vodafone spokesman said a similar process would be set in motion with these latest statement of objections about its operations in germany. the companies will have three months to respond to the commission s allegations and the process may go on for some time yet the spokesman said. the commission could charge the companies up to 10% of their annual turnover though in practice that sort of figure is rarely demanded. the commission s latest move comes just a few months after national telecoms regulators across europe launched a joint investigation which could lead to people being charged less for using their mobile phone when travelling abroad. the investigation involves regulators assessing whether there is effective competition in the roaming market.

business

card fraudsters targeting web new safeguards on credit and debit card payments in shops has led fraudsters to focus on internet and phone payments an anti-fraud agency has said. anti-fraud consultancy retail decisions says card-not-present fraud where goods are paid for online or by phone has risen since the start of 2005. the introduction of chip and pin cards has tightened security for transactions on the high street. but the clampdown has caused fraudsters to change tack retail decisions said. the introduction of chip and pin cards aimed to cut down on credit card fraud in stores by asking shoppers to verify their identity with a confidential personal pin number instead of a signature. retail decisions chief executive carl clump told the bbc that there was no doubt that chip and pin would reduce card fraud in the card-present environment . however it is important to monitor what happens in the card-not-present environment as fraudsters will turn their attention to the internet mail order telephone order and interactive tv he said. we have seen a 22% uplift in card-not-present fraud here in the uk... since the start of the year. fraud doesn t just disappear it mutates to the next weakest link in the chain he said. retail decisions survey on the implementation of chip and pin found that shoppers had adapted easily to the new system but that banks performance in distributing the new cards had been patchy at best. the main issue is that not everyone has the pins they need said mr clump. nearly two thirds - 65% - of the 1 000 people interviewed said they had used chip and pin to make payments. of these 83% were happy with the experience though nearly a quarter said they struggled to remember their pin number. however only 34% said they had received replacement cards with the necessary chip technology from all their card providers. furthermore 16% said that none of their cards had been replaced while 30% said only some had. uk shoppers spent £5.3bn on plastic cards in 2003 the last full year for which figures are available from the association of payment clearing services (apacs). altogether card scams on uk-issued cards totalled £402.4m in 2003. card-not-present fraud rose an annual 6% to £116.4m making it the biggest category even then. within this internet fraud totalled £43m apacs figures show.

business

robots march to us cinema summit animated movie robots has opened at the top of the us and canada box office chart taking $36.5m (£19m) on its first weekend on release. featuring the voices of ewan mcgregor halle berry robin williams and mel brooks robots follows a robot inventor who moves to a big city. vin diesel s family comedy the pacifier fell to the number two spot taking $18.1m (£9.4m). new bruce willis movie hostage opened at number four with $9.8m (£5.1m). however a recut version of mel gibson s the passion of the christ which featured less violence than last year s original movie took just $239 850 (£125 000) despite opening in 957 cinemas. the new version of the film received little publicity and the original version is available across the us on dvd. we certainly had higher expectations than what we got said rob schwartz head of distribution for newmarket films which released the passion of the christ. we were trying to get the film out there hoping it would reach an audience that it didn t quite reach the first time around. it doesn t seem to have worked out quite as well as we had hoped. meanwhile will smith comedy hitch has become the top film at the global box office after taking an estimated $30.1m (£15.6m) over the weekend at cinemas outside north america according to industry website screen daily. it has taken $65.5m (£34.1m) so far buoyed by opening at number one in the uk last weekend and a successful run in germany. the movie which cost a reported $70m (£36.4m) to make has taken $138m (£72m) in the us so far.

sports

player burn-out worries robinson england coach andy robinson says english rugby has to act now to prevent injury destroying players careers. he will be without a host of big names for the six nations as the intensity of professional rugby union hits players. injuries are part of the sport but we have to have a look at the amount of injuries that occur in the english season robinson told bbc sport. i think players are probably going to have three or four years taken off their careers. robinson will be missing an entire midfield for the six nations with the likes of jonny wilkinson mike tindall and will greenwood injured. rugby union has become far more physically demanding since the game went professional nearly 10 years ago. as a result three of the major stakeholders in english rugby have launched an injury audit to find out how players are coping. the audit is jointly funded by the professional rugby players association the rugby football union and premier rugby. as far as robinson is concerned its findings must not be ignored. i think there s an injury audit coming out in march that s got some great information in there that i think everybody in the english game has got to look at he said. if we don t the situation is going to get worse and not better so i think rugby as a whole has got to look at this.

politics

hong kong in 2011 world cup bid hong kong is hoping to join japan as co-host of the 2011 rugby world cup. japan has applied to host the tournament on its own with the aim of taking it outside rugby s traditional strongholds for the first time. but hong kong rugby football union (hkrfu) chairman john molloy has called for the territory to host one of the pools and a quarter-final. the japanese rugby football union (jrfu) says it has yet to receive a formal presentation from the hkrfu. at this stage we are only considering hosting the event by ourselves said jrfu secretary koji tokumasu. we cannot examine any proposal unless we get it in a definitive form. japan faces stiff competition in the form of south africa and new zealand to host the event in seven years time. until now the world cup has been held in countries from the six nations or tri-nations said tokumasu. we think and the irb thinks that it is time for rugby to go global. japan is ready to host the tournament and we are looking forward to welcoming the world of rugby to japan. tokumasu added that the 2002 football world cup co-hosted by japan and south korea had been a huge success. as well as having the infrastructure in place japan also has the commercial clout to host one of sport s top competitions he said. last year japan launched its first professional rugby league and it has the fourth largest number of registered players (125 508) in the world after england south africa and france.

sports

uk s useless quangos under fire the uk has 529 quangos financed with billions of pounds of taxpayers cash - many of which are useless or duplicate each other s efforts a report claims. essential guide to british quangos 2005 author dan lewis said at least 111 of the appointed bodies had been set up since labour won power in 1997. he urged a limit on the number of quangos that could be set up by any individual government department. tories and lib dems welcomed the report and called for a slimming down . conservative deregulation spokesman john redwood said: the research endorses our policy of destroying unwanted and unnecessary quangos and slimming down the rest. a conservative government will axe 162 quangos as part of its drive for more efficient and more accountable government. lib dem spokesman ed davey meanwhile said instead of the bonfire of quangos new labour had promised there had been an explosion of them. for over two decades under both tory and labour governments these unaccountable agencies have mushroomed. liberal democrats would abolish many merge others and make any that remain properly accountable. labour representatives were unavailable for comment. the quango guide follows last year s government-commissioned gershon report which recommended significant cuts in bureaucracy across the public sector. mr lewis wants a public inquiry into regional development agencies which cost £1.8bn a year - cash he says which appears to be almost entirely wasted . as well as a departmental limit on quangos he also wants a statutory five-year limit on any such body with executive powers. he also listed what he dubbed the nine most useless quangos . they were the british potato council the milk development council the energy savings trust agricultural wages committees the wine standards board the westminster foundation for democracy the football licensing authority investors in people uk and the economic and social research council. mr lewis branded the existence of the 60-employee potato council set up in 1997 to research and promote overseas potato markets surprising . he said the £80m spent annually on the energy savings trust which promotes renewable energy would be better spent on eight million boiler jackets for british homes. and he argued it was absurd to charge farmers for agricultural wages committees which set working and wage standards in the industry when many were prepared to take advantage of immigrant labour prepared to work for £1 an hour. if a football team can afford to pay £27m for wayne rooney why should the taxpayer - not all of whom like football - be forced to fund the football licensing authority to the tune of over £1.1m a year mr lewis asked. the report is published by the efficiency in government unit - a joint effort by right of centre think tanks the economic research council and the centre for policy studies. it says before a new public body is set up an assessment should be made whether its proposed role is already carried out by an existing charity or other private organisation.

politics

high fuel prices hit ba s profits british airways has blamed high fuel prices for a 40% drop in profits. reporting its results for the three months to 31 december 2004 the airline made a pre-tax profit of £75m ($141m) compared with £125m a year earlier. rod eddington ba s chief executive said the results were respectable in a third quarter when fuel costs rose by £106m or 47.3%. ba s profits were still better than market expectation of £59m and it expects a rise in full-year revenues. to help offset the increased price of aviation fuel ba last year introduced a fuel surcharge for passengers. in october it increased this from £6 to £10 one-way for all long-haul flights while the short-haul surcharge was raised from £2.50 to £4 a leg. yet aviation analyst mike powell of dresdner kleinwort wasserstein says ba s estimated annual surcharge revenues - £160m - will still be way short of its additional fuel costs - a predicted extra £250m. turnover for the quarter was up 4.3% to £1.97bn further benefiting from a rise in cargo revenue. looking ahead to its full year results to march 2005 ba warned that yields - average revenues per passenger - were expected to decline as it continues to lower prices in the face of competition from low-cost carriers. however it said sales would be better than previously forecast. for the year to march 2005 the total revenue outlook is slightly better than previous guidance with a 3% to 3.5% improvement anticipated ba chairman martin broughton said. ba had previously forecast a 2% to 3% rise in full-year revenue. it also reported on friday that passenger numbers rose 8.1% in january. aviation analyst nick van den brul of bnp paribas described ba s latest quarterly results as pretty modest . it is quite good on the revenue side and it shows the impact of fuel surcharges and a positive cargo development however operating margins down and cost impact of fuel are very strong he said. since the 11 september 2001 attacks in the united states ba has cut 13 000 jobs as part of a major cost-cutting drive. our focus remains on reducing controllable costs and debt whilst continuing to invest in our products mr eddington said. for example we have taken delivery of six airbus a321 aircraft and next month we will start further improvements to our club world flat beds. ba s shares closed up four pence at 274.5 pence.

business

belle named best scottish band belle & sebastian have been named the best scottish band of all time after a three month-long public poll. the group beat travis and idlewild into second and third place respectively. franz ferdinand who recently picked up five brit award nominations ended up in 15th place while the eurythmics wound up at a lowly 38. other scottish acts such as the mull historical society who also featured in the top 50 performed at a party in glasgow where the result was announced. scottish-based band snow patrol who finished 14th in the vote and have been nominated for a pair of brit awards were among the performers who covered well-known scottish pop songs at the party on wednesday night. indie stalwarts belle & sebastian have enjoyed a chart career stretching back to 1997. they were the surprise winners of the brit award for best breakthrough act two years later. scottish bands from earlier musical eras also made it into the final list including 1970s tartan boy band the bay city rollers and goth favourites the jesus and mary chain. scottish magazine the list recently compiled a list of the top 50 scottish bands of all time but left the final decision to the public. the magazine s music editor mark robertson said: the idea behind the project was simple - to rediscover the very best of scottish music from the finest musical talent spanning from the age of 70s rock through to 80s pop right up to today s international stars. everyone has strong opinions about this and we wanted to open it up to the public to decide he added. bbc radio scotland presenter vic galloway who has been involved in the project said it had been great fun to look back at scotland s musical heritage and take note of up-and-coming scottish acts.

sports

businesses fail to plan for hiv companies fail to draw up plans to cope with hiv/aids until it affects 20% of people in a country new research says. the finding comes in a report published on thursday by the world economic forum harvard and the un aids agency. too few companies are responding proactively to the social and business threats said dr kate taylor head of the wef s global health initiative. nearly 9 000 business leaders in 104 countries were surveyed for business and hiv/aids: commitment and action dr taylor described the level of action taken by businesses as revealed by the report as too little too late . the issue will be highlighted to business and world leaders at the world economic forum which meets in davos switzerland next week. the wef report shows that despite the fact that 14 000 people contract hiv/aids every day concern among businesses has dropped by 23% in the last 12 months. most (71%) have no policies in place to address the disease. nor could over 65% of the business leaders surveyed say or estimate the prevalence of hiv among their staff. the un programme tackling aids unaids pointed out that having a clear strategy for dealing with hiv/aids was a good investment as well as being socially responsible. one company that does have a plan is anglo-american the international mining company which estimates an hiv prevalence of 24% among its 130 000-strong southern african workforce. over the last two years the company has implemented extensive voluntary counselling and testing for hiv infection coupled with anti-retroviral therapy for employees progressing to aids. over 90% of the 2 200 employees who have accessed and remained on treatment are well and have returned to normal work. effective action on hiv/aids is synonymous with good business management and leads to more profitable and sustainable operations said brian brink senior vice-president health at anglo-american. companies should encourage all workers to know their hiv status making it as routine as monitoring blood pressure or cholesterol he said. providing access to treatment is a critical part of this. across sub-saharan africa even in countries with an hiv prevalence of 10-19% only around 7% of companies have formal hiv/aids policies in place according to the report. the gap is even wider in china ethiopia india nigeria and russia the so-called next wave countries which are predicted to experience the highest numbers of new hiv/aids cases worldwide by 2010. the report adds an important building block to our understanding of how the business community is experiencing the hiv/aids epidemic and to whether and how it is reacting said david bloom professor of economics and demography at the harvard school of public health. the wef report concludes that businesses need to understand their exposure to hiv/aids risks and come up with good local practices to manage them. a key priority in both high and low-prevalence settings said the wef is to establish a policy based on non-discrimination and confidentiality.

sports

uk firm faces venezuelan land row venezuelan authorities have said they will seize land owned by a british company as part of president chavez s agrarian reform programme. officials in cojedes state said on friday that farmland owned by a subsidiary of the vestey group would be taken and used to settle poor farmers. the government is cracking down on so-called latifundios or large rural estates which it says are lying idle. the vestey group said it had not been informed of any planned seizure. the firm whose agroflora subsidiary operates 13 farms in venezuela insisted that it had complied fully with venezuelan law. prosecutors in the south of the country have targeted hato el charcote a beef cattle ranch owned by agroflora. according to reuters they plan to seize 12 900 acres (5 200 hectares) from the 32 000 acre (13 000 hectare) farm. officials claim that agroflora does not possess valid documents proving its ownership of the land in question. they also allege that areas of the ranch are not being used for any form of active production. the legal boundaries did not match up with the actual boundaries and there is surplus state prosecutor alexis ortiz told reuters. as a consequence the government has taken action. controversial reforms passed in 2001 give the government the right to take control of private property if it is declared idle or ownership cannot be traced back to the 19th century. critics say the powers - which president chavez argues are needed to help the country s poorest citizens and develop the venezuelan economy - trample all over private property rights. the vestey group said it had owned the land since 1920 and would co-operate fully with the authorities. but a spokesman added: agroflora is absolutely confident that what it has submitted will demonstrate the legality of its title to the land. the company pointed out that the farm which employs 300 workers provides meat solely for the venezuelan market. last month the government said it had identified more than 500 idle farms and had yet to consider the status of a further 40 000. the authorities said landowners whose titles were in order and whose farms were productive had nothing to fear . under president chavez the venezuelan government has steadily expanded the state s involvement in the country s economy. it recently said all mining contracts involving foreign firms would be examined to ensure they provided sufficient economic benefits to the state.

business

no-one can define new hunt ban the new law banning hunting with dogs is so poorly drafted no-one can define the offence pro-hunt mps say. the accusation came after it emerged a devon man had been told he could use his four dogs to chase away unwanted animals from his farm. because he did not intend to kill deer or foxes it was not hunting. lib dem mp lembit opik said ministers had invented a new category of hunting - chasing away - and asked how police were supposed to interpret the rules. north devon landowner giles bradshaw was put in touch with the middle way group of which mr opik is a co-chairman after he had been in contact with the rural affairs ministry defra. he had asked whether his technique of using his four dogs to frighten off deer and foxes would be outlawed under the hunting act. mr bradshaw was initially told it was an offence - prompting him to complain. the middle way group also said mr bradshaw would be put in a position where he would have to buy a rifle to shoot animals that would have previously gone free. in a later conversation mr bradshaw was told that according to defra s lawyers chasing away unwanted animals was not in fact hunting as described in the hunting act 2004 therefore you would not be committing an offence . mr opik said: hunting with dogs and flushing are not defined in the hunting act. now defra have also invented a completely new category of hunting - chasing away which isn t even covered by the act. however all these activities involve the use of dogs to chase wild mammals. how is the village bobby who sees a group of people with dogs supposed to distinguish between illegal hunting exempt hunting drag hunting unintentional hunting a hunt exercising hounds or simply chasing away tory mp peter luff another co-chairman of middle way said that the legislation was so poorly drafted nobody appears able to properly define the offence . it is no wonder the government desperately wants to move on from this disastrous law. however i seriously doubt the countryside will be that accommodating. mike hobday of the league against cruel sports said: there is no confusion it is a matter of simple common sense. if mr bradshaw is setting his dogs to chase wild animals then he is hunting them and that will be a criminal offence. if all the dogs are doing is barking at the deer then nobody can define that as hunting.

politics

steel firm to cut 45 000 jobs mittal steel one of the world s largest steel producers could cut up to 45 000 jobs over the next five years its chief executive has said. the netherlands-based company is due to complete its $4.5bn acquisition of us firm isg next month making it one of the largest global firms of its kind. however lakshmi mittal has told investors the combined company will have to shed thousands of jobs. the indian-born magnate did not say where the job losses would fall. mr mittal told us investors that once the acquisition of international steel group was completed the company would aim to reduce its workforce by between 7 000 and 8 000 annually. this could see its workforce trimmed from 155 000 to 110 000 staff by 2010. we are investing in modernisation so employees will go down mr mittal told the conference in chicago. mittal steel was formed last year when mr mittal s lnm holdings merged with dutch firm ispat. a combination of mittal steel and isg would have annual sales of $32bn (£16.7bn; 24.1bn euros) and a production capacity of 70 million tonnes. a mittal steel spokeman said that no decisions on job cuts have been made yet. we are trying to create a sustainable steel industry and if we want to do that we have to invest in new technology a spokesman said. mittal steel has operations in 14 countries. many of its businesses - particularly those in eastern europe - were previously state owned and have huge workforces. it employs 50 000 staff in kazakhstan alone and has large operations in romania the czech republic south africa and the united states.

sports

brits debate over urban music joss stone a 17-year-old soul singer from devon beat dizzee rascal jamelia lemar and the streets to win best british urban act at the brit awards. her victory has reignited the debate about what urban music is. i m not really comfortable with the word urban. it s a word that s been manufactured in this country and america to describe black music. the word urban seems to cover such a broad range of black music that it s wrong. how far are the brits removed from inner-city music and what people are doing it s so far removed that i don t expect them to get it bang on. the music industry isn t championing music from our particular genre very well anyway. people don t feel like that s anything to do with us. i don t feel like urban music s just been celebrated by [joss stone] winning or her being nominated or by the brits acknowledging that there s an urban music scene because it s all a kick in the teeth at the end of the day. it s not really relevant. if joss stone is the closest thing that they feel comfortable championing because of what she looks like and how she sounds and who she s signed to then so be it. it s got nothing to do with what s really going on. urban as a genre is very broad. if you look underneath urban there are a number of core elements that include hip-hop r&b garage and into that obviously comes soul. joss stone is a soul artist. her first album was called the soul sessions. so urban is a very broad brushstroke that is the umbrella over the top of sub-genres and there are offshoots of all of those. joss stone has had amazing success [in the us] given that she s a uk artist. what has really captured everybody s imagination is that here you have a 17-year-old from devon with a voice to die for and a bunch of really really good tunes and she looks good - i think that s what s done it. the award for best british urban act was voted for by viewers of mtv base. i don t think joss was not a worthy winner. she makes soul music and that definitely comes under the category of what we describe as urban. the fact that she s from devon is the interesting thing because most of the music we cover is made in large cities and she s literally rural. the great thing about urban music is that there s a big range. if there is some sort of root with black music or dance music in britain i think that s where you can call it urban - that s where this new sub-category or uber-category has come from. joss stone is certainly not old enough to have had some of the experiences of an older soul singer but you couldn t argue that she was being inauthentic with her emotions - it is coming from somewhere genuine. it has to come across as real. that s the only cut-off point we have here and that s the only way by which we judge people. what urban means to us as an organisation is the politically correct term to describe music which originated from a black background. music should become inclusive and if we are fighting for a multi-cultural britain then we should be fighting for inclusion rather than exclusion. if joss stone can be accepted within the urban music community i think acts from other ethnicities doing classical music and rock should be accepted too. race doesn t make a difference if everyone is included. out of all the awards dished out yesterday i m still trying to find out what people of other races received any sort of recognition or award. a type of music (especially street music) that originates from a city and typically reflects or is characteristic of urban life. she might not be urban but when did r&b become the hip hop tainted thing it is now r&b stands for rhythm and blues remember! that joss stone is rubbish is certain. if anyone deserves to win an award for urban music (i think probably should include hip-hop soul & funk at least but not rock or pop) this year its the streets although dizzee rascal stakes a good claim she definitely deserved to win a prize joss stone s albums are quite simply amazing easily better than anything else that was released last year. this whole debate about what is urban what isnt urban is completely pointless and probably fueled by urban artists who weren t nominated or didn t win. i cant see why people can t just congratulate her for the talent that she is. she did deserve it but i agree with the comments about urban music. its a stupid phrase and particularly british. in the states they tend to use hip hop and r&b if i say hip hop here a lot of people have no idea what i m talking about. very strange. what s in a name a rose by any other name etc... if people want to call it urban why not if we really analysed it the term dance music is misleading because it doesn t describe everything you can dance to. whilst i agree that the term urban is open to interpretation it strikes me as simply weird that joss stone has won. urban to me is what i hear being played in parties in the inner cities - i live in brixton and have never heard the soul sessions pumping out of of a bass heavy sound system in any parties i ve been to. good luck to joss stone let s celebrate her victory - let s also question why with artists so successful and talented as jamelia lemar kanye west dizzee rascal alicia keys and outkast - we didn t see a single black artist on stage collecting an award. so what you re saying is that any music that has black heritage is not allowed to be sung by anyone who isn t black. and if it is then they shouldn t be acknowledged for it even if they re pretty dam good at it she s 17 has an amazing voice and won. good on her. oh but she s not black well let s make her feel real bad about it then. how dare she! though hang on didn t the so-called public vote on this one this idea of pigeonholing whatever is popular at the time is no different than what was happening in the 1940s and 50s in relation to what jazz was. the media then called anything that had a swinging beat syncopated melody or soulful feeling jazz much to the chagrin of the artists. it would mean that blues would be put in the same mould as bebop cool and ragtime all very different styles at that time. jazz was and remains such a massively misunderstood term. and so what of urban music in truth it s a lazy term to categorise music that you don t really understand. soul and garage are worlds apart musically (marvin gaye v tuff jam ) but no doubt have their connections. if we just let the music speak for itself and not judge the success of an artist by the number of awards won then maybe we can enjoy the music for what it is rather than what it represents. i demand a prize for rural music! sucks to the cities- it s way better out here. we have hay for one thing. excluding her from what has become known as urban music would be as bad as excluding lenny kravitz or hendrix from rock music for being black surely i dont understand the point that ty is making. if lemar who makes music which is less soulful than joss work won he might have said nothing. (btw i m black too) how can she be urban if she spent most of her life in the devon countryside nonsense. i love joss to bits and don t care what her branding is - it s amazing music full stop. stop puting it all in brackets and let s just call it music and let s especially drop the black / urban tag - nearly all music came from black origin this just sets an example that it is ok to pigeonhole people and their music by their colour. surely the point of having an urban music category is simply to acknowledge artists that are making what is (historically) considered urban music irrelevent of the colour of their skin or where they originate from. joss stone is simply singing a certain type of music that can be considered urban in style just as someone from an inner city and indeed not from the usa could sing country music. if that person was good at it and authentic in sound would we criticise it being referred to as country music or the artist for representing that style the term urban in reference to a music genre in uk has developed in part from the controversy surrounding the branding of the mobo awards. the very term music of black origin has confused and offended many people. this is particularly strange given the existence of the asian music awards. it appears that the use of black or white in relation to music makes people feel uncomfortable. the term urban therefore has been invoked to sidestep the debate of which type of music came first black or white thereby rendering the issue colourblind. the result is now a redundant new debate as to what urban also means. perhaps we should have created a new term altogether to describe the various strains of soul/rnb and hip-hop one which does not also mean something else - as we have done with crunk . urban is just a word that s come about recently to describe black music that s become popular now. the word wasn t even in use or common use five of six years ago. it s just a way of the industry clumping it all together without having to call it black music because some people are oversensitive and might call them racist for it. i m in a band that has been called urban and i despise the label. i d hate to think i belonged to any neat marketing niche because that s all it is. ever since the music channels and record comapnies tried to fracture what they consider music of black origin these labels have been used to undermine the status of good music into a commodity. look at all the tv broadcasters unable to reach young people without condesending they simply play some urban music on the soundtrack as if its some dreadful cheap lift music. ignore the labels it is what it is just music. as a black man i think i agree with some of the statements at least the statements made by the key executives. black people should lead the music they invented . we should stop calling a genre meaningless northing is meaningless. the real question is would joss stone would have been that successful doing the music she was doing if she were black same thing with streets amy winehouse etc. who s ever heard of terri walker or rhian benson.. they are both 10 times better than joss stone and both of them have won urban music awards and i think mobos but why not brits so what if joss stone won the urban awards. her music is great soul and surely that is under the urban banner what if the streets had won would people be whining because mike skinner is white... it seems that a lot of the fuss is about race where the real issue should be music and nothing else. urban is pc version for saying black music. i m not doubting ms stone s talent but why didn t jamelia or lemar get a brit this reminds me of what happened to craig david and soul ii soul in the past getting nominations are easy to get but picking up a brit seems to be the hardest thing. refreshing to see people making reasonable intelligent comments on any topic these days. more power to you people! you have said it: there is music you like and music you don t like - who cares what label you put on it that entire category was a mess. how can you have people like dizzee rascal up against joss stone its like putting eminem against bob geldof. she should have been nominated for best british r & b act. joss stone deserved to win an award for her talents but i don t think it was very urban of her to sing angels with robbie williams. urban is a nonsense term - music of black origin well doesn t that include rock music made in the inner cities well almost all bands end up making music in london/manchester etc. and doesn t that make some weird implication that all black people live in cities it doesn t make any sense. why does music have to be put into a genre it s music you like it or you don t. simple as that. i play in a heavy metal band. we are urban music as far as i m concerned. we live in cities and spend our working life in an urban environment; it therefore directly shapes what we write musically. urban seems to be the new name for all styles of black music. why it needed a rebrand i don t know as the name is misleading. oasis originate from a city and characterise the urban life they know therefore more than fit the term urban yet as they re a white rock band they won t be described as such. joss stone has a fantastic voice and great timing and delivery - what other reason do they need to award her the brit all this urban and other such categorisation is just the red-tape of the music business and is best ignored. yeah she deserved it. she is talented. urban is a crap meaningless politically correct and probably actually racist marketing term though. there s only two kinds of music: good and bad.

sports

johnson announces june retirement former england captain martin johnson has announced he is to retire from rugby union at the end of the season. johnson who captained england to world cup glory in 2003 will play his final match in june. johnson won 84 england caps and quit test rugby at the start of 2004 just two months after leading sir clive woodward s team to victory in sydney. the 34-year-old leicester lock s final match will be his testimonial at twickenham on 4 june. i m confident i have made the right decision to retire said johnson. i m sure there will be times next season when i ll wish i was out there playing for the tigers but you know when the time is right to go and i feel this is the right time. i feel physically that i could play for another season but playing week in and week out in the premiership is a full-time occupation and i only want to be out there for the right reasons. johnson will always be revered by england fans for captaining england to their dramatic world cup win against australia in sydney but his list of achievements does not stop at that. he is the only man to captain the lions twice and he also led england to a six nations grand slam. johnson also had huge success as captain of leicester guiding the tigers to back to back heineken cup victories and several premiership titles. apart from his marvellous captaincy johnson was also one of the finest second rows to ever play the game. teak tough and physically intimidating he ruled the rucks and mauls for the best part of a decade and was integral in england s rise to the top of the world game. his final appearance will be in his testimonial at twickenham where he will lead a team against a side captained by new zealand winger jonah lomu. the all black is aiming to return to action after a kidney transplant and johnson expects it to be a memorable occasion. this game against jonah will be a great way to end the season and end my career said johnson. lomu rugby union s first global superstar after his exploits in the 1995 world cup said he was proud to be part of johnson s farewell. we hold him in such high esteem said lomu. he is such a great leader and i am just honoured to be on the same pitch.

world

borders 19-20 ulster ulster clung on for a morale-boosting celtic league win over bottom club borders at netherdale on friday night. a late try by borders substitute jonny weston had set up a dramatic finish but the scottish side could not complete the fightback. ulster had led 20-6 with tries from paul steinmetz and bryn cunningham. but the irish province failed to add to the tally in the second half and ended up relieved to get the win to lift them to eighth place in the table. borders had edged ahead with a sixth-minute penalty by charlie hore - only to hand the visitors the initiative via a gift try. calum macrae surrendered possession before centre steinmetz sent a chip into the danger zone. substitute joe pattison - who had come on for the injured gareth morton - wrongly thought the ball was trickling out of play and eased up on the chase. the speedy steinmetz had other ideas and he raced up to get the vital touch in the nick of time giving adam larkin an easy conversion. ally warnock clawed back three points for borders but they were soon hit by another double-blow. first mark blair was yellow carded for killing the ball on the ground and then full-back cunningham bagged the second touchdown in the wake of fine work by skipper andy ward. larkin again added the extras. even worse was to come for borders when larkin kicked two more penalties just before the break the second of which also led to kelly brown being sin-binned. the hosts gave themselves a glimmer of hope immediately after the restart however when warnock struck a penalty at the other end. and he repeated the feat to set up the tense finale. ulster coach mark mccall said he was delighted to get the victory. borders are a tougher proposition this year in spite of the fact that they have not had a victory in some time said mccall. in the first 20 minutes we were edgy but in the second 20 minutes we played some of our best rugby this season and scored two good tries. morton moffat macrae hore berthinussen warnock moore thomson ford douglas blair stewart gray brown mcentee. kay parr mcgee rennick weston millar pattison. cunningham maxwell bell steinmetz howe larkin campbell s. best shields moore frost mccullough ward feather n. best. brady mccormick longwell browne doak s. young bowe. phil fear (wru)

entertainment

taxes must be trusted - kennedy public trust in taxes is breaking down because labour and tories are not being straight with people on the issue lib dem leader charles kennedy has said. a day ahead of the government s pre-budget report mr kennedy used a speech to say his party was facing up to painful economic realities . he said the current level of taxation was about right although he would put a new 50% tax on top earners. other parties have accused the lib dems of making uncosted promises. mr kennedy made it clear he was determined to counter that accusation. the lib dems have already published what they say are the full costings for all their plans and wednesday s speech did not announce new policies. speaking at the commonwealth club mr kennedy said it was critical for a political party to have economic credibility both on what it promised and what it was expected to deliver. he said. budgets have to add up. tough choices are needed in public spending. the lib dems would cut low priority spending including the government s id cards scheme and the child trust fund. those cutbacks would free up funds for increasing basic state pensions for over-75s putting more police on the streets and reintroducing fee eye and dental checks he said. the lib dems argue they were honest about taxes in the past by calling for a 1p rise on income tax. now they say the only simple tax rise they want is a new 50% tax band for top earners to pay for scrapping university tuition fees providing free personal care for elderly and disabled people and keeping local taxes down. there would also be a local income tax to replace council tax and a number of changes to environmental taxes to ensure it is the polluter who pays . the lib dems say the tories have only laid out possible options for cutting taxes to grab headlines while labour has hidden most of its tax rises. mr kennedy said: that contract with the people - that the government will only tax fairly and will spend their money wisely - can only be sustained if the political parties are straightforward about their plans. with the stealth tax strategy of gordon brown the obvious unfairness of our current tax system - especially the council tax and the empty promises of the conservative party on this issue - it is no wonder that trust in taxation is breaking down. he challenged the treasury to open up its books so the national audit office can report on the government s performance. conservative co-chairman liam fox said: liam fox said if charles kennedy is serious about making his budgets add up he should start by explaining how they would fund their 100 spending commitments. the reality is the lib dems lack the courage to tackle waste and bureaucracy and the only people who would face tough choices would be the families who would be £630 worse off a year. and chancellor gordon brown said the lib dem figures did not add up. he accused the party of claiming it would spend less while across the country committing itself to spend more.

politics

anti-tremor mouse stops pc shakes a special adaptor that helps people with hand tremors control a computer mouse more easily has been developed. the device uses similar steady cam technology found in camcorders to filter out shaking hand movements. people with hand tremors find it hard to use conventional mice for simple computer tasks because of the erratic movements of the cursor on the screen. about three million britons have some sort of hand tremor condition said the uk national tremor foundation. using a computer mouse is well known for being extremely hard for people with tremors so we re delighted to hear that a technology has been developed to address this problem said karen walsh from the uk national tremor foundation. most commonly associated with tremors is parkinson s disease but they can also be caused by other conditions like essential tremor (et). tremors more often affect older people but can hit all ages. et for example is genetic and can afflict people throughout their lives. the assistive mouse adapter (ama) is the brainchild of ibm researcher jim levine who developed the prototype after seeing his uncle who has parkinson s disease struggle with mouse control. i knew that there must be way to improve the situation for him and the millions of other tremor sufferers around the world including the elderly. the number of elderly computer users will increase as the population ages and at the same time the need for computer access grows he said. computer users plug the device into a pc and it can be adjusted depending on how severe the tremor is. it is also able to recognise multiple clicking on a mouse button caused by shaky digits. ibm said it would partner up with a small uk-based electronics firm montrose secam to produce the devices which will cost about £70. james cosgrave one of the company s directors said it would make a big difference to those with tremors. i m a pilot and my tremor condition has not limited my ability to fly a plane he said. but using a pc has proven almost impossible simply because everything revolves around using the mouse to accurately manipulate the tiny cursor on the screen. he said a prototype of the gadget had transformed his life. the device could help open up computing to millions more people who have found shaking to be a barrier. last year the office for national statistics reported that for the first time more than half of all households in britain had a home computer. with prices getting cheaper to get online too computer ownership is increasing. but although 62% of british people have tried the internet only 15% of britons aged 65 or over have been online. more than six million uk households now have a broadband net. by the middle of 2005 it is estimated that 50% of all uk net users will be on broadband. there are still millions using the net through dial-up connections too.

politics

call to save manufacturing jobs the trades union congress (tuc) is calling on the government to stem job losses in manufacturing firms by reviewing the help it gives companies. the tuc said in its submission before the budget that action is needed because of 105 000 jobs lost from the sector over the last year. it calls for better pensions child care provision and decent wages. the 36-page submission also urges the government to examine support other european countries provide to industry. tuc general secretary brendan barber called for a commitment to policies that will make a real difference to the lives of working people. greater investment in childcare strategies and the people delivering that childcare will increases the options available to working parents he said. a commitment to our public services and manufacturing sector ensures that we can continue to compete on a global level and deliver the frontline services that this country needs. he also called for practical measures to help pensioners especially women who he said are most likely to retire in poverty . the submission also calls for decent wages and training for people working in the manufacturing sector.

politics

fockers keeps us box office lead film comedy meet the fockers sequel to meet the parents has topped the us box office for a third week. the movie which stars ben stiller robert de niro dustin hoffman and barbra streisand took $28.5m (£15.2m) making a total of 204.3m (£109m). michael keaton thriller white noise was second with $24m (£12.8m) despite negative reviews. martin scorsese s howard hughes biopic the aviator came third with $7.6m (£4m) and a total of $42.9m (£22.8m). children s adventure lemony snicket s a series of unfortunate events starring jim carrey and meryl streep fell two places to fourth position with $7.4m (£3.9m). it is also the ninth jim carrey film to hit the $100m (£53.2m) mark according to exhibitor relations. and fat albert a live-action adaptation of bill cosby s tv cartoon fell one place to number five with takings over the three days beginning on friday of $5m (£2.6m). ocean s twelve took sixth place in the us chart with $5.4m (£2.8m) but it led the non-us chart at the weekend according to hollywood reporter with an estimated $17.7m (£9.4m) and total takings of $137m (£73m). the incredibles took $300m (£160m) outside the us while meet the fockers topped box office charts in australia and mexico with non-us takings of $19.35m (£10.2m).

entertainment

thanou bullish over drugs hearing katerina thanou is confident she and fellow sprinter kostas kenteris will not be punished for missing drugs tests before the athens olympics. the greek pair appeared at a hearing on saturday which will determine whether their provisional bans from athletics ruling body the iaaf should stand. after five months we finally had the chance to give explanations. i am confident and optimistic said thanou. we presented new evidence to the committee that they were not aware of. the athletes lawyer grigoris ioanidis said he believed the independent disciplinary committee set up by the greek athletics federation (segas) would find them innocent. we are almost certain that the charges will be dropped said ioanidis. we believe that we have presented [a case] that the charges are unreasonable. thanou the 2000 olympic women s 100m silver medallist and sydney 200m champion kenteris were suspended by the iaaf for missing three drugs tests. the third was supposed to take place on the eve of the athens games last august but the pair could not be found in the athletes village. they were later taken to hospital after claiming to have been involved in a motorcycle accident. thanou s coach christos tzekos was also suspended by the iaaf. we were asked [by the disciplinary committee] all kinds of questions about the night of 12 august said tzekos. we did not leave any gaps. as far as i am concerned there is no such issue [of refusing to be tested] and i am very optimistic. tzekos thanou and kenteris who have all denied the charges can expect a decision within a month. deliberations will start after some additional documents are brought in by thursday said committee chairman kostas panagopoulos. i estimate that the final ruling will be issued by the end of february.

world

trial date is set for balco case a us judge has set a preliminary trial date for the balco steroid distribution case which has rocked athletics. us district court judge susan ilston rejected an attempt by the defence team to have the case dismissed at a pre-trial hearing in san francisco. and she set a march date for the case of the four men accused of distributing illegal performance-enhancing drugs to elite athletes to be heard. a firm decision on whether the trial takes place is expected in january. the judge said that she may conduct hearings in january into whether federal agents illegally searched the balco headquarters and wrongfully obtained statements from the company s founder victor conte and its vice-president james valente. the two men - along with personal trainer greg anderson and athletics coach remy korchemny - were all indicted earlier this year but have pleaded their innocence. the outcome of those hearings could result in some or all of the charges being dismissed. conte said that he would be telling his side of the story on an american tv show on friday. the world deserves to know the truth about performance-enhancing drugs he said. balco (the bay area laboratory cooperative) is the company at the centre of the scandal. the company has been accused by the united states anti-doping agency (usada) of being the source of the banned steroid thg and modafinil. the usada claims that 10 athletes have received sanctions for testing positive for thg and modafinil. former double world champion kelli white and olympic relay star alvin harrison have both been banned on the basis of materials discovered during the balco investigation. britain s former european 100m champion dwain chambers is currently serving a two-year ban after testing positive for thg in an out-of-competition test in 2003.

sports

tories would cut number of mps the conservative party would cut the number of mps by about one-fifth if they were elected tory leader michael howard has said. the plan forms part of the party s smaller government bill to be unveiled later this week. mr howard told the sunday times the party would also reduce the number of government special advisers. and he said a referendum would be held in wales to decide whether or not to scrap the welsh assembly. the changes would all take place within five years of the conservatives winning a general election mr howard told the paper. the precise number of mps to go would depend on the result of the welsh referendum but it would probably mean a reduction of around 120 from the current total of 659. if wales decided to keep its assembly it would stand to lose more mps. mr howard said as both parties planned to cut the number of civil servants at whitehall - labour by more than 80 000 and the tories by almost 100 000 - they should accept a similar drop in their own numbers. it is all very well saying government departments should be reduced but what about ministers parliament and special advisers he said. shadow leader of the commons oliver heald said: this will be part of our aim to reduce unnecessary and costly interference in people s lives by reducing the size and role of the state . mr howard said the plan would also even out the great unfairness of there being proportionately more scottish and welsh mps at westminster than those from england. the average size of an english constituency was 70 000 people mr howard said. in northern ireland it was just over 66 000 in wales just over 59 000 and in scotland 53 000. the number of welsh mps would be set at an amount that was consistent and fair in terms of representation with the rest of the united kingdom if the assembly was scrapped. mr howard said the changes should be carried out quickly and could even be implemented by the election after next. you have got to have a big bang. we don t want this like the house of lords reform getting to one stage and then not having the next stage.

entertainment

february poll claim speculation reports that tony blair is planning a snap general election for february 2005 have been described as idle speculation by downing street. a spokesman said he had no idea where the reports in the sunday times and sunday telegraph had come from. the papers suggest ministers believe the government could benefit from a baghdad bounce following successful iraq elections in january. a british general election was last held in february in 1974. in that election edward heath lost and failed to build a coalition with the liberals. harold wilson took over and increased his majority later in the year in a second election the latest speculation suggests the prime minister favours a february poll in order to exploit his current opinion poll lead over conservative leader michael howard. but that strategy could prompt criticism he was seeking to cut and run after less then four years of a parliamentary term. the papers report that alan milburn labour s head of elections strategy has played a key role in the plan for a february election which would include a new year advertising blitz. new labour s campaign both newspapers said would be centred around the slogan britain is working . a labour party spokesman said the election date was ultimately a matter for mr blair but he was unaware of anything to suggest it would be in february. most commentators have been expecting an election on 5 may. the last election was in june 2001.

science and tech

yeading face newcastle in fa cup premiership side newcastle united face a trip to ryman premier league leaders yeading in the fa cup third round. the game - arguably the highlight of the draw - is a potential money-spinner for non-league yeading who beat slough in the second round. conference side exeter city who knocked out doncaster on saturday will travel to old trafford to meet holders manchester united in january. arsenal were drawn at home to stoke and chelsea will play host to scunthorpe. the only other non-league side in the draw are hinckley united who held brentford to a goalless draw on sunday. they will meet league one leaders luton if they win their replay against martin allen s team at griffin park. a number of premiership teams face difficult away games against championship sides on the weekend of 8/9 january. third-placed everton visit plymouth liverpool travel to burnley crystal palace go to sunderland fulham face carling cup semi-finalists watford bolton meet ipswich while aston villa were drawn against sheffield united. premiership strugglers norwich blackburn west brom are away at west ham cardiff and preston north end respectively. southampton visit northampton having already beaten the league two side in the carling cup earlier this season. middlesbrough were drawn away against either swindon or notts county while spurs entertain brighton at white hart lane. arsenal v stoke swindon/notts co v middlesbrough man utd v exeter plymouth v everton leicester v blackpool derby v wigan sunderland v crystal palace wolves v millwall yeading v newcastle hull v colchester tottenham v brighton reading v stockport/swansea birmingham v leeds hartlepool v boston milton keynes dons v peterborough oldham v man city chelsea v scunthorpe cardiff v blackburn charlton v rochdale west ham v norwich sheff utd v aston villa preston v west brom rotherham v yeovil burnley v liverpool bournemouth v chester coventry v crewe watford v fulham ipswich v bolton portsmouth v gillingham northampton v southampton qpr v nottm forest luton v hinckley/brentford matches to be played on weekend of 8/9 january.

politics

serena ends sania mirza s dream sania mirza the first indian woman to reach the third round of a grand slam tennis event has lost to women s favourite serena williams. the 18-year-old mirza who got a wild card entry into the australian open in melbourne lost to williams 1-6 4-6 in the third round. williams took just 56 minutes to defeat mirza and sail into the fourth round. the only other indian woman to win a match at a grand slam is nirupama vaidyanathan. vaidyanathan made it to the second round of the australian open in 1998. playing the biggest match of her life mirza made little impact on williams in the early stages of the game. but the teenager showed more confidence in the second set and engaged the seventh-seeded williams in some well contested rallies. mirza a junior wimbledon doubles title winner became the first indian woman to reach the third round of a grand slam tennis event when she beat hungarian petra mandula on wednesday. i m really excited. i was confident but i didn t think it was going to be that easy mirza said after her second round win. my aim was to win a round here. when i did that i was so relieved there was no pressure. tennis is not a particularly popular sport in india but a number of indians watched the live telecast of the match between mirza and williams. mirza who lives in the southern indian city of hyderabad known for producing a host of top indian cricketers turned professional two years ago. she says she was considered too small when she went for her first tennis classes as a six-year-old girl. then finally [the coach] called my parents up and said the way she hits the ball i ve never seen a six-year-old hit a ball like that mirza told the associated press.

science and tech

enron bosses in $168m payout eighteen former enron directors have agreed a $168m (£89m) settlement deal in a shareholder lawsuit over the collapse of the energy firm. leading plaintiff the university of california announced the news adding that 10 of the former directors will pay $13m from their own pockets. the settlement will be put to the courts for approval next week. enron went bankrupt in 2001 after it emerged it had hidden hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. before its collapse the firm was the seventh biggest public us company by revenue. its demise sent shockwaves through financial markets and dented investor confidence in corporate america. the settlement is very significant in holding these outside directors at least partially personally responsible william lerach the lawyer leading the class action suit against enron said. hopefully this will help send a message to corporate boardrooms of the importance of directors performing their legal duties he added. under the terms of the $168m settlement - $155m of which will be covered by insurance - none of the 18 former directors will admit any wrongdoing. the deal is the fourth major settlement negotiated by lawyers who filed a class action on behalf of enron s shareholders almost three years ago. so far including the latest deal just under $500m (£378.8m) has been retrieved for investors. however the latest deal does not include former enron chief executives ken lay and jeff skilling. both men are facing criminal charges for their alleged misconduct in the run up to the firm s collapse. neither does it cover andrew fastow who has pleaded guilty to taking part in an illegal conspiracy while he was chief financial officer at the group. enron s shareholders are still seeking damages from a long list of other big name defendants including the financial institutions jp morgan chase citigroup merrill lynch and credit suisse first boston. the university of california said the trial in the case is scheduled to begin in october 2006. it joined the lawsuit in december 2001alleging massive insider trading and fraud claiming it had lost $145m on its investments in the company.

business

brown outlines third term vision gordon brown has outlined what he thinks should be the key themes of new labour s next general election bid. he said ensuring every child in britain had the best start in life could be a legacy to match the nhs s creation. the chancellor has previously planned the party s election strategy but this time the role will be filled by alan milburn - a key ally of tony blair. the premier insisted mr brown will have a key role in labour s campaign and praised his handling of the economy. writing in the guardian newspaper mr brown outlined his view of the direction new labour should be taking. as our manifesto and our programme for the coming decade should make clear labour s ambition is not simply tackling idleness but delivering full employment; not just attacking ignorance disease and squalor but promoting lifelong education good health and sustainable communities. bbc political editor andrew marr said that mr brown s article was a warning shot to mr blair not to try and cut him out of the manifesto writing process. it was as always coded and careful... but entirely deliberate was mr marr s assessment. the prime minister was asked about mr brown s article and about his election role when he appeared on bbc radio 4 s today programme. mr blair said a decision had yet to be taken over how the election would be run but the chancellor s role would be central . mr blair argued that under new labour the country had changed for the better and that was in part because of mr brown s management of the economy. and he pledged childcare would be a centrepiece of labour s manifesto. he also predicted the next general election will be a tough tough fight for new labour. but the prime minister insisted he did not know what date the poll would take place despite speculation about 5 may. mr blair said he was taking nothing for granted ahead of the vote - warning that the tory strategy was to win power via the back door by hinting they were aiming to cut labour s majority instead of hoping for an outright win.

entertainment

vickery out of six nations england tight-head prop phil vickery has been ruled out of the rest of the 2005 rbs six nations after breaking a bone in his right forearm. vickery was injured as his club side gloucester beat bath 17-16 in the west country derby on saturday. he could be joined on the sidelines by bath centre olly barkley who sat out the derby due to a leg injury. barkley will have a scan on sunday and might miss england s trip to six nations leaders ireland next weekend. the news is just the latest blow for coach andy robinson who has seen his side lose their opening two matches in the 2005 six nations. robinson is already without world cup winners jonny wilkinson will greenwood mike tindall richard hill and trevor woodman through injury. vickery has broken the radius a large bone in his forearm. he only returned to the england side last weekend after a long-term back injury which was followed by a fractured eye socket. and the gloucester prop was only recalled after leicester tight-head julian white suffered a neck injury which has already seen him ruled out of the ireland game. bath prop matt stevens is the only remaining tight-head in england s training squad and could be involved against ireland. but he has to play second fiddle at club level to duncan bell who excelled for england a against france and may now be called into the squad. the extent of barkley s injury is not yet clear but bath boss john connolly rates him no better than 50-50 to face ireland. barkley played at inside cente in england s defeat by france and if he is unable to play england s constantly-changing midfield will once again have to be altered. robinson could choose to recall mathew tait or henry paul although tait endured a nightmare for newcastle against leicester on saturday and paul limped off with an ankle injury against bath. in-form leicester centre ollie smith is the other outstanding candidate and two tries against newcastle will have boosted his chances. fly-half andy goode is also a strong contender for the match-day 22 after an immaculate kicking display on saturday. england fourth in the six nations table with zero points play ireland top of the table in dublin on 27 february kick-off 1500 gmt.

business

remote control rifle range debuts soon you could go hunting via the net. a texas company is considering letting web users use a remote-controlled rifle to shoot down deer antelope and wild pigs. for a small fee users will take control of a camera and rifle that they can use to spot and shoot the game animals as they roam around a 133-hectare texas ranch. the live-shot website behind the scheme already lets people practise shooting at targets via the internet. john underwood the man behind the live-shot website said the idea for the remote-control hunting came to him a year ago when he was watching deer via a webcam on another net site. we were looking at a beautiful white-tail buck and my friend said if you just had a gun for that . a little light bulb went off in my head mr underwood told the reuters news agency. a year s work and $10 000 has resulted in a remote-controlled rig on which sits a camera and .22 calibre rifle. mr underwood is planning to put one of these rigs in a concealed location in a small reserve on his texas ranch and let people shoot at a variety of game animals. also needed is a fast net connection so remote hunters can quickly track and aim at passing game animals with the camera and rifle rig. each remote hunting session will cost $150 with additional fees for meat processing and taxidermy work. species that can be shot will include barbary corsican and mouflon sheep blackbuck antelope and wild pigs. already the live-shot site lets people shoot 10 rounds at paper and silhouette targets for $5.95 for each 20-minute shooting session. for further fees users can get the target they shot and a dvd recording of their session. handlers oversee each shooting session and can stop the gun being fired if it is being aimed off-range or at something it should not be. mr underwood said that internet hunting could be popular with disabled hunters unable to get out in the woods or distant hunters who cannot afford a trip to texas. in a statement the rspca said it had grave concerns about people being allowed to go online and remotely control a rifle. we assume it would be extremely difficult to accurately control a gun in this way and therefore it would be difficult to ensure a clean kill something the rspca accepts is the intention of those shooting for sport it said. animals hit but not killed would without doubt be caused to suffer unnecessarily said the statement. mike berger wildlife director of the texas parks and wildlife department said current hunting statutes did not cover net or remote hunting. he said state laws on hunting only covered regulated animals such as native deer and bird species. as such there was nothing to stop mr underwood letting people hunt unregulated imported animals and wild pigs. mr underwood also lets people come in person to the ranch to hunt and shoot game animals.

science and tech

adriano s chelsea link rejected adriano s agent gilmar rinaldi has insisted that he has had no contact with chelsea over the striker. chelsea were reported to have made inquiries about inter milan s 22-year-old brazilian star. rinaldi told bbc sport from rio de janeiro: i can assure you that chelsea have had no dealings whatsoever with either me or adriano. parma and real madrid are interested but there s nothing new there. their interest has been known for some time. adriano has scored 14 goals in 20 serie a appearances this season. and chelsea boss jose mourinho had claimed that he was in milan talking to adriano on the day he is alleged to have held a clandestine meeting with arsenal defender ashley cole. mourinho said he was just practising my portuguese with him because i don t need strikers . rinaldi told bbc sport: i have to say that nobody from chelsea or any other london club has contacted me. if they want to that s fine. i can tell them what the situation is. if chelsea are interested then they must make an offer. inter are reported to have slapped a price tag in the region of £40m on the head of adriano who joined them just over a year ago from parma. real madrid view him as a natural replacement for compatriot ronaldo. but rinaldi said: i cannot give you a price that inter would accept for adriano. that s something that would have to be negotiated between the interested clubs.

politics

gta sequel is criminally good the grand theft auto series of games have set themselves the very highest of standards in recent years but the newest addition is more than able to live up to an increasingly grand tradition. the 18 certificate gta: san andreas for the playstation 2 could have got away with merely revisiting a best-selling formula with a more-of-the-same approach. instead it builds and expands almost immeasurably upon the last two games and stomps carefree over all the driv3r and true crime-shaped opposition. even in the year that will see sequels to halo and half-life it is hard to envisage anything topping this barnstorming instant classic. the basic gameplay remains familiar. you control a character on this occasion a youth named cj who sets out on a series of self-contained missions within a massive 3d environment. cj can commandeer any vehicle he stumbles across from a push-bike to a city bus to a plane. all come in handy as he seeks to establish his presence in a tough urban environment and avenge the dreadful deeds waged upon his family. to make things worse he is framed for murder the moment he arrives in town and blackmailed by crooked cops played by samuel l jackson and chris penn. the setting for all this rampant criminality is the fictional us state of san andreas comprising three major cities: los santos which is a thinly-disguised los angeles san fierro aka san francisco and las venturas a carbon copy of las vegas. san andreas sucks you in with its sprawling range cast of characters and incredibly sharp writing. its ability to capture the ambience of the real-world versions of these cities is something to behold assisted no end by the monumental graphical advances since vice city. the streets and vast swathes of countryside are by turns gloriously menacing grungy and preppy. flaunting awesome levels of graphical detail the game s overall look particularly during the many unusual weather conditions and dramatic sunsets is stupendous. the outstanding bread-and-butter gameplay mechanics provide a solid grounding for the elaborate plot to hang on. cars handle more convincingly than ever a superb motion blur kicks in when you hit high speeds and there s more traffic to navigate than before. park your vehicle across the lanes of a freeway and within seconds there will be a huge pile-up. pedestrians are also out in force and are a loquacious bunch. cj can interact with them using a simple system on the control pad. they will pass comments on his appearance and credibility aspects that the player now has control over. clothes tattoos and haircuts can all be purchased and funding these habits can be achieved by criminal means or by indulging in mini-games like betting on horses and challenging bar patrons to games of pool. the character will put on or lose weight according to how long he spends on foot or in the gym. he will have to pause regularly in restaurants to keep energy levels up but will swell up as a result of over-eating. and at last this is a gta hero who can swim. at a time when games are once again under fire for their supposed potential to corrupt the young san andreas violence or specifically the freedom it gives the player to commit violence are sure to inflame the pro-censorship brigade. developers rockstar have not shied away from brutality and in some respects ramp it up from past outings. when hijacking a car for example cj will gratuitously shove the driver s head into the steering wheel rather than just fleeing with the vehicle. indeed the tone is darker than the jokey vice city. the grim subject matter here hardly lends itself to gags in quite the same way as the cheesy 80s setting of the last game. this title incidentally is set in 1992 but that is really neither here nor there apart from the influence it has on the radio playlists. the wit is still present just more restrained than in previous outings. a further reason for this is that the incredible range of in-vehicle radio stations available means you will spend less time happening upon the hilarious talk radio options where gta games trademark humour is anchored. the quality of voice acting and motion capture is simply off-the-chart. the game s rather odious gangland lowlifes swagger and mouth off in a way that rings very true indeed. it is a testament to san andreas magnificence that it has a number of prominent flaws but plus-points are so numerous that the niggles don t detract. the on-screen map for instance is needlessly fiddly an unwelcome change from past editions. there is also a very jarring slowdown at action-packed moments. and the game suffers from the age-old problem that can be relied upon to blight all games of this genre setting you back a vast distance when you fail right at the very end of a long mission. but the gameplay experience in its entirety is overwhelmingly positive. you simply will not be bothered by these minor failings. san andreas is among the few unmissable games of 2004.

science and tech

standard life cuts policy bonuses standard life europe s largest mutual life insurer has cut bonuses for with-profit policyholders. annual bonus rates on its with-profits life policies were cut from 2.5% to 2% while bonuses on pension policies were reduced from 3.25% to 2.5%. it is the sixth time in three years standard life has made cuts to bonus rates despite an 8.7% rise in the value of the with-profits fund in 2004. the insurer blamed the cuts on poor share returns and low interest rates. with-profits policies are designed to smooth out the peaks and troughs of stock market volatility. profits made in good years are kept in reserve to pay investors an annual bonus even when the stock market performs badly. slumping share prices throughout 2001 and 2002 forced most firms to trim bonus rates on their policies. standard life came in for criticism for sticking with stock market investments during 2001 and 2002. the insurer argued that shares outperformed other investments over the long term and that policyholders would feel the benefit when the stock market recovered. recently norwich union and axa sun life both cut their with-profit bonus rates. john gill managing director of the insurer s life and pensions division said that a strong stock market recovery in the past two years had only partly compensated for losses during 2001 and 2002 . in addition low interest rates meant that long-term investment returns are well below historic levels mr gill added. however mr gill maintained that with-profits continued to perform well over the long term. our payouts continue to stand up well against other types of long-term investments over similar periods he said. standard life has an estimated 2.4 million with-profits policyholders. last year the company announced that it was looking to float on the stock market in 2006.

science and tech

indy buys into india paper irish publishing group independent news & media is buying up a 26% stake in indian newspaper company jagran in a deal worth 25m euros ($34.1m). jagran publishes india s top-selling daily newspaper the hindi-language dainik jagran which has been in circulation for 62 years. news of the deal came as the group announced that its results would meet market forecasts. the company reported strong revenue growth across all its major markets. group advertising revenues were up over 10% year-on-year the group said with overall circulation revenues are expected to increase almost 10% year-on-year. this was helped by the positive impact of compact newspaper editions in ireland and the uk it said. 2004 has proven to be an important year for independent news & media said chief executive sir anthony o reilly. our simple aim at independent is to be the low cost producer in every region in which we operate. i am confident that we will show a meaningful increase in earnings for 2005. meanwhile the group made no comment about the future of the independent newspaper despite recent speculation that sir anthony had held talks with potential buyers over a stake in the daily publication. he has consistently denied suggestions that the independent and the independent on sunday are up for sale. buy it is understood that the recent success of the smaller edition of the independent which has pushed circulation up by 20% to 260 000 has prompted interest from industry rivals with daily mail & general trust tipped as the most likely suitor. the loss-making newspaper is not expected to reach break-even until 2006.

politics

ailing eurodisney vows turnaround eurodisney the european home of mickey mouse and friends has said it will sell 253m euros (£175m; $328m) of new shares as it looks to avoid insolvency. the sale is the last part of a plan to restructure 2.4bn euros-worth of debts. despite struggling since it was opened in 1992 eurodisney has recently made progress in turning its business around and ticket sales have picked up. however analysts still question whether it attracts enough visitors to stay open even with the restructuring. eurodisney remains europe s largest single tourist attraction attracting some 12.4 million visitors annually. a new attraction - walt disney studios - has recently opened its site near paris. the company s currently traded stock tumbled in paris on the latest news shedding 15% to 22 euro cents. eurodisney will sell the new shares priced at 9 euros cents each. the us disney corporation and saudi arabian prince al-walid bin talal the firm s two main shareholders will buy the new stock. the restructuring deal is the second in the firm s troubled financial history; its finances were first reorganised in 1994.

science and tech

warning over tsunami aid website net users are being told to avoid a scam website that claims to collect cash on behalf of tsunami victims. the site looks plausible because it uses an old version of the official disasters emergency committee webpage. however dec has no connection with the fake site and says it has contacted the police about it. the site is just the latest in a long list of scams that try to cash in on the goodwill generated by the tsunami disaster. the link to the website is contained in a spam e-mail that is currently circulating. the message s subject line reads urgent tsunami earthquake appeal and its text bears all the poor grammar and bad spelling that characterises many other phishing attempts. the web address of the fake site is decuk.org which could be close enough to the official www.dec.org.uk address to confuse some people keen to donate. patricia sanders spokeswoman for the disaster emergency committee said it was aware of the site and had contacted the computer crime unit at scotland yard to help get it shut down. she said the spam e-mails directing people to the site started circulating two days ago shortly after the domain name of the site was registered. it is thought that the fake site is being run from romania. ms sanders said dec had contacted us net registrars who handle domain ownership and the net hosting firm that is keeping the site on the web. dec was going to push for all cash donated via the site to be handed over to the official organisation. bt and dec s hosting company were also making efforts to get the site shut down she said. ms sanders said sending out spam e-mail to solicit donations was not dec s style and that it would never canvass support in this way. she said that dec hoped to get the fake site shut down as soon as possible. all attempts by the bbc news website to contact the people behind the site have failed. none of the e-mail addresses supplied on the site work and the real owner of the domain is obscured in publicly available net records. this is not the first attempt to cash in on the outpouring of goodwill that has accompanied appeals for tsunami aid. one e-mail sent out in early january came from someone who claimed that he had lost his parents in the disaster and was asking for help moving an inheritance from a bank account in the netherlands. the con was very similar to the familiar nigerian forward fee fraud e-mails that milk money out of people by promising them a cut of a much larger cash pile. other scam e-mails included a link to a website that supposedly let people donate money but instead loaded spyware on their computers that grabbed confidential information. in a monthly report anti-virus firm sophos said that two e-mail messages about the tsunami made it to the top 10 hoax list during january. another tsunami-related e-mail is also circulating that carries the zar worm which tries to spread via the familiar route of microsoft s outlook e-mail program. anyone opening the attachment of the mail will have their contact list plundered by the worm keen to find new addresses to send itself to.

entertainment

hanks greeted at wintry premiere hollywood star tom hanks was in london s leicester square for the uk premiere of polar express. the west end landmark was turned into a festive landscape complete with snow and carol singers to celebrate the arrival of the animated film. this is leicester square like you ve never seen it before said hanks who plays five roles in the movie. polar express is based on a children s book which tells the story of a young boy s journey to meet santa claus. the 48-year-old actor crossed a three-metre high bridge built in the square which he said was almost impossible to get across . hundreds of fans greeted the star all wearing santa hats and mince pies were on offer. hanks said that the new film has an elegant message . christmas is a special time of the year and you get out of it what you put into it added the two-time academy award winner. i believe in the spirit of christmas and i think that s embodied in santa claus he said. polar express uses technology similar to that used in lord of the rings to bring gollum to life. the performance capture technique enables hanks to play a number of roles including the eight-year-old boy who is at the centre of the story and father christmas. it is directed by robert zemeckis who has previously worked with hanks on forrest gump and castaway.

entertainment

text message record smashed uk mobile owners continue to break records with their text messaging with latest figures showing that 26 billion texts were sent in total in 2004. the figures collected by the mobile data association (mda) showed that 2.4 billion were fired off in december alone the highest monthly total ever. that was 26% more than in december 2003. the records even surpassed the mda s own predictions it said. every day 78 million messages are sent and there are no signs of a slow down. before december s bumper text record the previous highest monthly total was in october 2004 when 2.3 billion were sent. text messaging is set to smash more records in 2005 too said the mda with forecasts suggesting a total of 30 billion for the year. even though mobiles are becoming increasingly sophisticated with much more multimedia applications texting is still one of the most useful functions of mobiles. people are using sms to do much more too. booking cinema tickets text voting and news or sports text alerts are growing popular. mobile owners have also given the chance to donate to the disasters emergency committee s (dec) asian tsunami fund by texting donate to a simple short code number. looking further ahead in the year the mda s chairman mike short has predicted that more people will go online through their mobiles estimating 15 billion wap page impressions. handsets with gprs capability - an always on net connection - will rise to 75% while 3g mobile ownership growing to five million by the end of 2005. these third generation mobiles offer a high-speed connection which means more data like video can be received on the phone. globally mobile phone sales passed 167 million in the third quarter of 2004 according to a recent report from analysts gartner. that was 26% more than the previous year. it is predicted that there would be two billion handsets in use worldwide by the end of 2005.

world

mcdonald s boss bell dies aged 44 charlie bell the straight-talking former head of fast-food giant mcdonald s has died of cancer aged 44. mr bell was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in may last year a month after taking over the top job. he resigned in november to fight the illness. joining the company as a 15-year-old part-time worker mr bell quickly moved through its ranks becoming australia s youngest store manager at 19. a popular go-getter he is credited with helping revive mcdonald s sales. mr bell leaves a wife and daughter. as we mourn his passing i ask you to keep charlie s family in your hearts and prayers chief executive james skinner said in a statement. and remember that in his abbreviated time on this earth charlie lived life to the fullest. no matter what cards life dealt charlie stayed centred on his love for his family and for mcdonald s. after running the company s australian business in the 1990s mr bell moved to the us in 1999 to run operations in asia africa and the middle east. in 2001 he took over the reins in europe mcdonald s second most important market. he became chief operating officer and president in 2002. mr bell took over as chief executive after his predecessor as ceo jim cantalupo died suddenly of a heart attack in april. having worked closely with mr cantalupo who came out of retirement to turn mcdonald s around mr bell focused on boosting demand at existing restaurants rather than follow a policy of rapid expansion. he had promised not to let the company get fat dumb and happy and according to reuters once told analysts that he would shove a fire hose down the throat of competitors if he saw them drowning. mr bell oversaw mcdonald s i m lovin it advertising campaign and introduced successes such as mccafe now the biggest coffee shop brand in australia and new zealand. colleagues said that mr bell was proud of his humble beginnings helping out behind cash tills and clearing tables when visiting restaurants.

science and tech

boothroyd calls for lords speaker betty boothroyd has said the house of lords needs its own speaker and that peers should lead the way on reforming the upper chamber. baroness boothroyd who was the first woman to be commons speaker said she believed tony blair initiated reforms without a clear outcome in mind. now we have to take care of it ourselves and make the best of it she told the bbc s breakfast with frost. in 1999 labour removed all but 92 of the lords 750 hereditary peers. that was billed as the first stage of reform of the institution. the lord chancellor hinted further reforms could be unveiled in the next labour manifesto. i think we need to look very carefully at the relationship between the lords and the commons lord falconer told bbc1 s breakfast with frost. how it interacts with the commons is a very very important issue. we need to address the issue in the manifesto but you will have to wait for when the manifesto comes. the lord chancellor currently has the role of house of lords speaker. he is also head of the judiciary and a member of the cabinet as constitutional affairs secretary. lady boothroyd said she believed it was unacceptable for the lord chancellor to have the role of speaker. i would really like to see a speaker of the house of lords she said. i don t go for the idea of somebody - a lord chancellor - who is head of the judiciary a senior cabinet minister and speaker of the lords. i want somebody there who is going to look after that house and do a job there.

business

aviator creator in oscars snub the man who said he got oscar-nominated movie the aviator off the ground and signed up leonardo dicaprio has been shut out of the academy awards race. charles evans jr battled over his role with the people who eventually made the film and won a producer s credit. but he is not on the list of producers who can win a best film oscar due to a limit on the number of nominees. the oscars organisers have picked two of the aviator s four producers to be nominated for best film. up to three producers can be named per film but the studios behind the aviator and million dollar baby failed to trim their credits - so the academy of motion pictures arts and sciences (ampas) has done it for them. the aviator s nominated producers are michael mann and graham king - with mr evans and sandy climan mr mann s former deputy left off. mr evans sued mr mann in 2001 claiming he came up with the idea spent years developing it and persuaded dicaprio to play hughes - but said he was later excluded from the project. the two sides settled out of court in a deal that has remained secret apart from the fact mr evans name has appeared as a producer when the film s credits roll. at the golden globes mr evans - who was named among the winners when the film won best drama film - evaded a security guard to have his photo taken with dicaprio director martin scorsese mr mann and mr king. ampas decided to limit the number of producers who could be nominated after shakespeare in love s victory in 1999 saw five producers collect awards. the eligible names for the aviator and million dollar baby were decided by ampas producers branch executive committee on wednesday. the decision also saw clint eastwood get his third personal nomination for million dollar baby. he is now named in the best film category as well as being nominated for best director and best lead actor. the academy awards ceremony will be held in hollywood on 27 february. chinese actress ziyi zhang star of crouching tiger hidden dragon hero and house of flying daggers is the latest name to be added to the list of presenters on the night.

entertainment

blunkett hints at election call ex-home secretary david blunkett has given fresh clues that the general election will be announced on monday. he told bbc radio five live: i m out in my constituency getting ready for what we presume will be an announcement very shortly at the weekend. he clarified that he meant he would be in his sheffield seat this weekend not that he expected an election call then. tony blair is tipped to ask the queen on monday to dissolve parliament ready for a 5 may poll.

world

creator of first apple mac dies jef raskin head of the team behind the first macintosh computer has died. mr raskin was one of the first employees at apple and made many of the design decisions that made the mac so distinctive when it was first released. he led the team that decided to use a graphical interface and mouse that let people navigate around the computer by pointing and clicking. the 1984 release of the mac reflected mr raskin s belief that good design should make computers easy to use. mr raskin joined apple in 1978 as employee number 31 initially to lead the company s publications department. however in 1979 he was put in charge of a small team to design a computer that lived up to his idea of a machine that was cheap aimed at consumers rather than computer professionals and was very easy to use. the result was the 1984 macintosh that did away with the then common text-based interface in favour of one based around graphics that resembled a virtual desktop and used folders and documents. users navigated around the machine using a mouse and by pointing clicking and dragging. although now in common use in almost all computers these methods were pioneering when first used in the macintosh. the gui was developed by xerox parc and used in its star machine. but the acceptance of the interface did not truly begin until the concept was developed for use by apple in its pioneering lisa computer. his role on the macintosh was the initiator of the project so it wouldn t be here if it weren t for him said andy hertzfeld an early macintosh team member. although mr raskin drove the team that created the macintosh he did not stay at apple to see it released. in 1981 he was removed from the project following a dispute with apple s mercurial boss steve jobs. in 1982 mr raskin left apple entirely. the macintosh was reputedly named after mr raskin s favourite apple though the name was changed slightly following a trademark dispute with another company. after leaving apple mr raskin founded another company called information appliance and continued to work on better ways to interface with computers. he was also an accomplished musician played three instruments and conducted san francisco s chamber opera society. mr raskin was diagnosed in december 2004 with pancreatic cancer and died on 26 february at his home in california.

science and tech

budget aston takes on porsche british car maker aston martin has gone head-to-head with porsche s 911 sports cars with the launch of its cheapest model yet. with a price tag under £80 000 the v8 vantage is tens of thousands of pounds cheaper than existing aston models. the vantage is the most important car in the history of our company said aston s chief executive ulrich bez. aston - whose cars were famously used by james bond - will unveil the vantage at the geneva motor show on thursday. mr bez - himself a former executive at rival porsche - said the new car was the company s most affordable car ever and makes the brand accessible . this in turn would make aston martin globally visible but still very very exclusive he added. first shown as a concept car at the 2003 north american international auto show in detroit the v8 vantage will be available in the uk in late summer. development costs for the vantage have been kept low by sharing a platform with aston s db9 which mr bez described as the previous most important car for our company . there is currently an 18 months waiting list for the db9 mr bez said. the vantage will be built at the new aston factory in gaydon near warwick and should more than double aston s total output from about 2 000 presently.

world

pupils to get anti-piracy lessons lessons on music piracy and copyright issues are to be taught to secondary school pupils in the uk. the lessons aimed at 11 to 14-year-olds will introduce them to copyright - including the issues of downloading from the internet and the illegal copying of cds - and its role in protecting creativity. music piracy including illegally swapping music online costs the uk music industry millions every year and has been blamed for a decline in world-wide cd sales. british music rights (bmr) - which was formed to represent the interests of songwriters and composers - worked with education experts to put together a learning pack. songwriter guy chambers who has worked with stars including robbie williams has thrown his support behind the scheme. he said as well as educating children about music piracy it would also protect young people planning a career in the music industry from unscrupulous individuals. at a debate in london to launch the scheme chambers said: i think it is important that young people receive practical and engaging learning in schools. these lessons will give them an insight into how the creative industries work which will help them in possible future careers. the education pack which has already been requested by more than 1 600 secondary schools is aimed at giving children an understanding of copyright in relation to the music industry. it will also teach children about the importance of royalties and raises awareness of different careers in the music industry particularly in the digital age. henri yoxall general manager of british music rights told bbc news schools had been crying out for a resource to help them educate pupils about the issues. the scheme - which is an extension of bmr s respect the value of music campaign - is also being backed by singer-songwriters feargal sharkey lucie silvas and grammy award-winning composer david arnold. silvas said: i think it is so important that students gain an understanding of how the music industry works when they are at a young age. i wish i had been given an opportunity like this when i was at school. emma pike director general of british music rights said: we believe that copyright is an essential part of teaching music in schools. it is vital that the creatives of the future know how to turn their ideas into value. copyright education has always been important... creatives are facing more challenges and more opportunities from technological change. technology is allowing people to create music and distribute their music to the public in a whole host of new ways.

entertainment

tautou to star in da vinci film french actress audrey tautou star of hit film amelie will play the female lead in the film adaptation of the da vinci code it has been reported. the movie version of dan brown s best-selling novel is being directed by ron howard and also stars tom hanks. tautou will play hanks code-cracking partner according to various newspapers. she is currently starring in a very long engagement directed by jean-pierre jeunet. jeunet was also responsible for directing tautou in amelie in 2001 which launched the actress into the mainstream. she also starred as the lead role in critically-acclaimed film dirty pretty things in 2002. oscar-winning director ron howard chose tautou for the part preferring a french actress to a big name hollywood star. uk actress kate beckinsale had been widely tipped as a possibility for the role alongside vanessa paradis and juliette binoche. the thriller upon which the movie is based has sold more than 17 million copies and is centred on a global conspiracy surrounding the holy grail mythology. the louvre museum scene of the gruesome murder at the beginning of the novel recently gave permission for filming to take place there showbusiness newspaper variety reported. the $100m movie will be produced by columbia/sony pictures and is due for release on may 19 2006 in the united states and france.

business

mobiles rack up 20 years of use mobile phones in the uk are celebrating their 20th anniversary this weekend. britain s first mobile phone call was made across the vodafone network on 1 january 1985 by veteran comedian ernie wise. in the 20 years since that day mobile phones have become an integral part of modern life and now almost 90% of britons own a handset. mobiles have become so popular that many people use their handset as their only phone and rarely use a landline. the first ever call over a portable phone was made in 1973 in new york but it took 10 years for the first commercial mobile service to be launched. the uk was not far behind the rest of the world in setting up networks in 1985 that let people make calls while they walked. the first call was made from st katherine s dock to vodafone s head office in newbury which at the time was over a curry house. for the first nine days of 1985 vodafone was the only firm with a mobile network in the uk. then on 10 january cellnet (now o2) launched its service. mike caudwell spokesman for vodafone said that when phones were launched they were the size of a briefcase cost about £2 000 and had a battery life of little more than 20 minutes. despite that they were hugely popular in the mid-80s he said. they became a yuppy must-have and a status symbol among young wealthy business folk. this was also despite the fact that the phones used analogue radio signals to communicate which made them very easy to eavesdrop on. he said it took vodafone almost nine years to rack up its first million customers but only 18 months to get the second million. it s very easy to forget that in 1983 when we put the bid document in we were forecasting that the total market would be two million people he said. cellnet was forecasting half that. now vodafone has 14m customers in the uk alone. cellnet and vodafone were the only mobile phone operators in the uk until 1993 when one2one (now t-mobile) was launched. orange had its uk launch in 1994. both newcomers operated digital mobile networks and now all operators use this technology. the analogue spectrum for the old phones has been retired. called global system for mobiles (gsm) this is now the most widely used phone technology on the planet and is used to help more than 1.2 billion people make calls. mr caudwell said the advent of digital technology also helped to introduce all those things such as text messaging and roaming that have made mobiles so popular.

sports

call centre users lose patience customers trying to get through to call centres are getting impatient and quicker to hang up a survey suggests. once past the welcome message callers on average hang up after just 65 seconds of listening to canned music. the drop in patience comes as the number of calls to call centres is growing at a rate of 20% every year. customers are getting used to the idea of an always available society says cara diemont of it firm dimension data which commissioned the survey. however call centres also saw a sharp increase of customers simply abandoning calls she says from just over 5% in 2003 to a record 13.3% during last year. when automated phone message systems are taken out of the equation where customers have to pick their way through multiple options and messages the number of abandoned calls is even higher - a sixth of all callers give up rather than wait. one possible reason for the lack in patience ms diemont says is the fact that more customers are calling on the move using their mobile phones. the surge in customers trying to get through to call centres is also a reflection of the centres growing range of tasks. once a call centre may have looked after mortgages now its agents may also be responsible for credit cards insurance and current accounts ms diemont says. problems are occurring because increased responsibility is not going hand-in-hand with more training the survey found. in what dimension data calls an alarming development the average induction time for a call centre worker fell last year from 36 to just 21 days leaving agents not equipped to deal with customers . this ms diemont warns is scary and not good for the bottom line either. poor training frustrates both call centre workers and customers. as a result call centres have a high churn rate with nearly a quarter of workers throwing in the towel every year which in turn forces companies to pay for training new staff. resolution rates - the number of calls where a customer s query is resolved to mutual satisfaction - are running at just 50%. when the query is passed on to a second or third person - a specialist or manager - rates rise to about 70% but that is still well below the industry target of an 85% resolution rate. suggestions that outsourcing - relocating call centres to low-cost countries like india or south africa - is to blame are wrong ms diemont says. there are no big differences in wait time and call resolution between call centres based in europe or north america and those in developing countries around the world. you can make call centres perform anywhere if you have good management and the right processes in place she says. however companies that decide to offshore their operations are driven not just by cost considerations. only 42% of them say that saving money is the main consideration when closing domestic call centre operations. half of them argue that workers in other countries offer better skills for the money. but not everybody believes that outsourcing and offshoring are the solution. nearly two-thirds of all firms polled for the survey have no plans to offshore their call centres. they give three key reasons for not making the move: - call centre operations are part of their business core function - they are worried about the risk of going abroad - they fear that they will damage their brand if they join the offshoring drive. the survey was conducted by sunovate on behalf of dimension data and is based on in-depth questionnaires of 166 call centres in 24 countries and five continents. what are your experiences with call centres are you happy to listen to vivaldi or greensleeves or do you want an immediate response and if you work in a call centre: did your training prepare you for your job

entertainment

lib dems unveil women s manifesto the liberal democrats are attempting to woo female voters with the launch of their manifesto for women. charles kennedy is pledging a maternity income guarantee and a pension system based on years of residence rather than national insurance payments. he also thinks women will back plans to end university tuition fees and for free long-term care for the elderly. both labour and the conservatives have said they also plan to boost pensions and to improve childcare support. mr kennedy says he wants to deal with policy areas that disadvantage women. two million pensioners in britain currently live below the government s own poverty line - two-thirds of whom are women he said. he says that pensions based on the number of years worked ignore the contribution women make caring for children. the lib dem s citizen s pension based on length of residency not on national insurance contributions would address that imbalance mr kennedy argues. under the package new mothers would be offered minimum guaranteed maternity pay of £170 a week for the first six months after the birth of their first child. mr kennedy also believes the party s plans to use the money saved from not introducing illiberal id cards to boost police numbers by 10 000 would appeal to women too. the policies are not new announcements but the way they are structured as a package to appeal to women is. mr kennedy also points to the fact that 40% of the party s candidates set to stand in winnable or target seats are women. party strategists claim that where women candidates replace men turnout rises by 4%. mr kennedy began the pitch for female support with an interview on bbc radio 4 s women s hour on monday. during the interview mr kennedy revealed that he planned to structure the party s general election campaign around the birth of his first child which is expected in april. the baby and his wife sarah would be priority number one even if it arrived in the middle of the election campaign he said. party strategists believe winning over a significant proportion of women voters is key to electoral success. a party spokesman said it was courting female votes because they tended to vote more than men and are believed to be more considered and open-minded in deciding who they vote for. labour s deputy minister for women jacqui smith accused the lib dems of offering false promises to women and said their sums did not add up. she said: these proposals would increase the costs to the public purse drastically year on year and hard working families will pay dearly through either increased taxes or reduced spending on public services . the labour party has committed itself to universal affordable and flexible childcare for parents of all 3 to 14 year-olds including childcare centred on schools to be available from 8am to 6pm. in september trade and industry secretary patricia hewitt said she would like to see longer paid maternity leave higher paternity pay and the extension of flexible working rights to carers if labour won a third term. the conservatives are yet to unveil their manifesto plans for childcare but said in november they would increase maternity pay and pay the child tax credit in cash to parents to spend as they like on a nanny au pair or even a family member such as a grandparent acting as a carer. they were also consulting on making childcare costs tax deductible.

politics

ocean s twelve raids box office ocean s twelve the crime caper sequel starring george clooney brad pitt and julia roberts has gone straight to number one in the us box office chart. it took $40.8m (£21m) in weekend ticket sales according to studio estimates. the sequel follows the master criminals as they try to pull off three major heists across europe. it knocked last week s number one national treasure into third place. wesley snipes blade: trinity was in second taking $16.1m (£8.4m). rounding out the top five was animated fable the polar express starring tom hanks and festive comedy christmas with the kranks. ocean s twelve box office triumph marks the fourth-biggest opening for a december release in the us after the three films in the lord of the rings trilogy. the sequel narrowly beat its 2001 predecessor ocean s eleven which took $38.1m (£19.8m) on its opening weekend and $184m (£95.8m) in total. a remake of the 1960s film starring frank sinatra and the rat pack ocean s eleven was directed by oscar-winning director steven soderbergh. soderbergh returns to direct the hit sequel which reunites clooney pitt and roberts with matt damon andy garcia and elliott gould. catherine zeta-jones joins the all-star cast. it s just a fun good holiday movie said dan fellman president of distribution at warner bros. however us critics were less complimentary about the $110m (£57.2m) project with the los angeles times labelling it a dispiriting vanity project . a milder review in the new york times dubbed the sequel unabashedly trivial .

world

blair labour s longest-serving pm tony blair has become the labour party s longest-serving prime minister. the 51-year-old premier has marked his 2 838th day in the post overtaking the combined length of harold wilson s two terms during the 1960s and 1970s. if mr blair wins the next election and fulfils his promise to serve a full third term he will surpass margaret thatcher s 11 years by the end of 2008. in 1997 mr blair became the youngest premier of the 20th century when he came to power at the age of 43. the last prime minister to be installed at a younger age was lord liverpool who was a year his junior in 1812. mr blair s other political firsts include becoming the first labour leader to win two successive full terms in power after the 2001 labour landslide. and the birth of the blairs fourth child leo on 20 may 2000 was the first child born to a serving prime minister in more than 150 years. the last downing street dad was lord john russell in 1848. labour won a huge majority of 167 over the conservatives in 2001 but mr blair has since been criticised by many in his own party. the war in iraq and reforms of the health service and education system have provoked dissent from backbenchers. gordon brown chancellor of the exchequer under mr blair became britain s longest-serving chancellor of modern times in 2004. former labour leader lord kinnock said the chancellor would be best placed to take over from mr blair. when asked about the future leadership of the party he told itv wales waterfront programme: that contest is a long way away and it will occur only when the prime minister tony blair decides he s subscribed all he can and then wants to go. i think that the main contender will be gordon brown who is a man of virtually unmatched capability and now great experience. both mr brown and mr blair rose to prominence when lord kinnock led labour between 1983 and 1992.

politics

hatfield executives go on trial engineering firm balfour beatty and five railway managers are to go on trial for manslaughter over the hatfield rail crash in 2000. four people died when a section of rail broke and a high speed train derailed. balfour beatty s railway maintenance arm was in charge of the upkeep of the line at hatfield hertfordshire. balfour beatty managers anthony walker and nicholas jeffries and railtrack managers alistair cook sean fugill and keith lea all face individual charges. all five men along with four others are also accused of breaches of health and safety laws. balfour beatty rail maintenance faces a corporate manslaughter charge. it is expected the trial could last as long as a year. the accident on 17 october 2000 happened when the london to leeds express came off the tracks at 115 mph when it was derailed by a cracked section of rail. the accident on the east coast main line sparked major disruption. the overall responsibility for the line was railtrack s - the company that has now become network rail. those who died in the accident were steve arthur 46 from pease pottage west sussex; peter monkhouse 50 of headingley leeds; leslie gray 43 of tuxford nottingham; and robert james alcorn 37 of auckland new zealand.

politics

safin plays down wimbledon hopes newly-crowned australian open champion marat safin has ruled out any chance of winning wimbledon in the future. after losing in round one last year safin said he had given up on wimbledon and winning his second grand slam title has not changed his mind. i ll play but with no expectations. i feel like i can t waste my time my energy on that surface he said. some people they cannot play on clay. some people they cannot play on a hard court. me i can t play on grass. however safin is hopeful that winning the australian open will give him the belief he needs to win more grand slam titles. it s a relief for me. two grand slams it s already something. but with this one i worked really hard for it he said. basically i would love to win a couple more. i think i have a chance if i continue this way. if (coach) peter lundgren will stick around with me and wants to work with me for a bit longer i think i can make it. the 25-year-old shocked pete sampras in the 2000 us open final to win his first major title but then lost in two australian open finals. safin admitted he had begun to doubt whether he would win another grand slam. i didn t expect that (to win the 2000 us open) - it was against sampras i wasn t the favourite so i had no pressure whatsoever he said. after the first final that i didn t win against thomas johansson (in 2002) i couldn t see myself winning the grand slams anymore. i was once in the semi-finals of the french open but i didn t believe i can win it. i just couldn t handle the pressure. you need to believe in yourself and i didn t. and after losing the first set 6-1 to lleyton hewitt in sunday s final safin said he began to doubt himself again. i am 25. i m playing against hewitt. at least you have to have the opportunity to win it at least have a chance he said. it s like you go there and you lose first set 6-1 then you start to think: this is not my day. the way i m playing is ridiculous. but then you start to really be a little bit more selfish and try to find a way out of there. and i found it. i was like really much i was much happier than in 2000 that s for sure because i get over it.

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wall street cheers bush victory the us stock market has closed higher in response to george w bush s victory in the presidential elections. the benchmark dow jones share index closed more than 1% higher at 10 137 while the nasdaq rose 0.9% to 2 004. many investors believe that mr bush s policies are more business-friendly than those of his democrat challenger john kerry. the higher share prices also reflect relief that a clear winner has emerged from what proved to be a tight poll. investors had worried that the outcome of the poll would be inconclusive paving the way for a repeat of the legal wrangling that marred the 2000 election. the dow lost 5% of its value in the three weeks immediately after that election when it was unclear who would occupy the white house. mr kerry conceded defeat on wednesday abandoning last-ditch hopes of carrying the vote in the swing state of ohio. the relief for the markets may be that we have a decision and can move forward said tim ghriskey chief investment officer of solaris asset management. some analysts predicted that the jump in share prices would be short-lived saying investors would quickly focus once again on the health of the us economy. i would look at the stock market rally for bush as kind of a one-day event said ken mayland at clearview economics. the us recent economic performance has been mixed with solid growth offset by disappointingly low job creation figures and mounting worries over a record budget deficit. elsewhere in the financial markets on wednesday the dollar dipped slightly against the euro and climbed against the yen while us oil prices closed up $1.26 at $50.88 a barrel in new york. the rise in oil prices partly reflects the view that president bush is less likely than mr kerry to release supplies from the us strategic oil reserve. share prices in london frankfurt and paris also closed higher. successive polls in the run-up to tuesday s election had shown the two candidates running neck and neck. economic issues as well as the war in iraq were the forefront of the campaign. in key swing states such as ohio which has suffered substantial job losses in the past four years president bush s handling of the economy became a crucial election issue. senator kerry attacked president bush s economic record during his campaign hammering home the fact that a net 800 000 jobs were lost during his term in office. president bush focused on the fact that two million jobs have been created in the past year claiming that it has vindicated his tax-cutting agenda. as for future policies both candidates pledged to bring america s $422bn federal budget deficit under control. senator kerry planned to increase taxes on those earning more than $200 000 a year. president bush has placed reform of the pensions system at the heart of his economic agenda for a second term. however economists have said both candidates economic programmes rested on questionable assumptions about future growth.

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podcasters look to net money nasa is doing it 14-year-old boys in bedrooms are doing it couples are doing it gadget lovers - male and female - are definitely doing it. it is podcasting - diy radio in the form of downloadable mp3 audio files. they can done by anyone who has a microphone simple software the net and something to say. some liken them to talking audioblogs because many complement text-based weblogs - diary-like sites where people share their thoughts. they are essentially amateur radio shows on the net on demand and the movement is at very early stages. it s about real people saying real things and communicating says adam curry former mtv vj and the pied piper of podcasting. he was one of a community of people who created ipodder a small computer program known as an aggregator . it collects and automatically sends mp3 files to any digital music-playing device that can play wmp formats. those with digital music players can select which podcasts they like and subscribe - for free - to that show s feed . when a new podcast is available it is automatically sent to the device when connected to a computer. it is totally going to kill the business model of radio thinks curry. i just did a tour of madison avenue where all the big brands and advertising agencies of the world are he says. and they are scared to death of the next generation - like my daughter who is 14 - who don t listen to radio. they are on msn they ve got their ipod their mp3 player they ve got their xbox - they are not listening to radio. so how are they going to reach these audiences it is the distribution that is changing and the barriers are being brought down so everyone can be part of it. it is a fledgling movement but it is gaining momentum now that people have started thinking about how to make a business from it. ian fogg jupiter research analyst thinks there could be potential for business but it could take an interesting turn if big companies like apple and microsoft get involved. it is a nascent area but quite exciting. it is yet another area that demonstrates the move to a digital lifestyle and digital home is not over he says. podcasting is one of those interesting areas that bridges what you do at home and what you do out and about - a classic hybrid. it is another aspect of the time-shifting of content - the latest industry buzzword for being able to listen to what you want when and wherever you want. audiences are in the 10s 100s and 1 000s rather than millions. more than 4 300 podcasts are currently listed. curry s daily source code - which he committed to doing daily to inspire the community - has 10s of thousands of listeners. but dave winer is doubtful. he designed the format called rss (really simple syndication) which gives web users an easy way to keep updated automatically on sites they like. podcasts rely on his technology because it is the way they are distributed. he is also writer of the longest-running weblog on the net scripting news. he thinks its power lies in its democratising potential not in its over-hyped business promise. we re the sources the people doing stuff and podcasting is a way to tell people who care what we re doing. no matter how you look at it commercialising this medium isn t going to make very much money he says. podcasting is going to be a medium of niches with audiences measured in the single digits like e-mail or blogs. maybe in a few years maybe six or seven digits. but it will have to sustain interest beyond the hype balloon. curry and associate ron bloom s new venture called podshow is to help ordinary people produce post distribute and market their podcasts. because of the way podcasts work based on rss the latest podcasts which people can select mean that they are ready-made targets. when you look at podcasting - wow this is a pretty interesting audience. the audience is pre-selected. they have decided to subscribe to your program explains curry. advertising in his eyes can be tailored to podcasts to make it more imaginative and unobtrusive. how i believe this will work is to create a network that in aggregation will have enough numbers to support a return on investment for the advertisers and for the podcasters. i have 50 60 70 000 listeners. i could make a couple of bucks off that but not much. if you are talking a million podcasters and then you can kind of divide that amongst ourselves then that is kind of interesting. essentially he says if you are doing a bass fishing podcast someone who is selling bait and tackle will probably want to advertise on your show. he is clear the ads will not be the traditional in-your-face type familiar to commercial radio now. we are really going to see these microcosms and commerce will be all over the place. it is happening already. coffee-loving curry has sold $4 000 worth of coffee machines through a referral link to amazon from his site. others use in-show promotions like the dawn and drew show. one eric rice has won sponsorship from warner bros. he can now legally play the music of a band warner bros wants to push. some commentators on the net say it has a similar feel to the dotcom days. others say it is just another element of setting media free from big companies and letting people be creative. one thing is for sure; they are not about to disappear in a hurry. the creative forces behind radio are elated says curry. for now he tunes out the negative comments within the podcasting community. i should be knighted for this he adds with a wry chuckle people are going to be so happy to sit at home make their podcast and make a little money.

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davenport hits out at wimbledon world number one lindsay davenport has criticised wimbledon over the issue of equal prize money for women. reacting to a disputed comment by all england club chairman tim phillips the american said: i think it is highly insulting if prize money is taken away. somebody i think it was mr phillips said they won t have money for flowers at wimbledon. that s insulting. an all england club spokesperson denied phillips made the remark insisting: he definitely didn t say it. the statement added: it was said by someone else and was a humorous aside at the end of a radio interview when the conversation had moved to talking about the wimbledon grounds. davenport was speaking following the announcement that this week s dubai duty free event will join the us and australian opens in offering equal prize money for women. you hear about women playing only three sets while men play five said daveport. and the best women are never going to beat the best men. but it s a different game you go to watch with the women - it doesn t make it better or worse. hopefully we will be able to change people s minds. serena williams who is also in dubai added: i m obviously for equal prize money. women s tennis is exciting. men s tennis is exciting as well but the women have it right now. if you are bringing in the spectators you should be able to reap what everyone else is able to reap.

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eu software patent law faces axe the european parliament has thrown out a bill that would have allowed software to be patented. politicians unanimously rejected the bill and now it must go through another round of consultation if it is to have a chance of becoming law. during consultation the software patents bill could be substantially re-drafted or even scrapped. the bill was backed by some hi-tech firms saying they needed protections it offered to make research worthwhile. hugo lueders european director for public policy at comptia an umbrella organization for technology companies said only when intellectual property was adequately protected would european inventors prosper. he said the benefits of the bill had been obscured by special interest groups which muddied debate over the rights and wrongs of software patents. other proponents of the bill said it was a good compromise that avoided the excesses of the american system which allows the patenting of business practices as well as software. but opponents of the bill said that it could stifle innovation be abused by firms keen to protect existing monopolies and could hamper the growth of the open source movement. the proposed law had a troubled passage through the european parliament. its progress was delayed twice when polish meps rejected plans to adopt it. also earlier this month the influential european legal affairs committee (juri) said the law should be re-drafted after it failed to win the support of meps. to become law both the european parliament and a qualified majority of eu states have to approve of the draft wording of the bill. the latest rejection means that now the bill on computer inventions must go back to the eu for re-consideration.

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blair ready to call election tony blair seems certain to end weeks of phoney war on monday and announce there will be a general election on 5 may. the date has been pencilled into the diaries of politicians and political journalists for many months and despite occasional panics that the prime minister was on the verge of calling a snap poll it has not shifted. over the weeks there have been any number of signs that 050505 was going to be the day mr blair would go for an historic third term. and the calling of a special political cabinet meeting has only added to the belief that the announcement is imminent. the prime minister and his campaign boss alan milburn have already insisted the election will be fought on the economy and what they claim is a stark choice between labour s stability and investment against tory cuts and boom and bust. and chancellor gordon brown has stepped into the front line of the campaign - to the relief of many of his supporters in westminster - to underline that economic message. and it is certain one of the big arguments at the centre of the election battle will be around the big parties tax and spend policies. during the phoney campaign labour got into trouble over its central claim that michael howard was planning £35 bn cuts in public services. the prime minister found himself struggling to explain how a smaller slower increase in spending planned by the tories compared to labour s plans was a cut. and it looked like the labour campaign - which was already being criticised for being thrown into defensive mode by mr howard on issues such as immigration and health - was on the rocks. then deputy conservative chairman howard flight was reported to have suggested mr howard was secretly planning even bigger cuts . he was sacked for his gaffe but the damage had been done and the faltering labour campaign was back on track. a second central argument will be over taxation with the tories claiming the chancellor has to fill a black hole at the centre of his finances and will be forced to raise taxes if labour wins again. mr brown slaps that aside claiming his forecasts are accurate and that previous claims of looming economic disaster have proved inaccurate. as usual the liberal democrats will have to fight to get their voice heard over the sounds of battle between the two big parties. but leader charles kennedy believes he has set out a distinctive manifesto with plans for a tax rise for the wealthiest to finance extra spending and the abolition of the council tax in favour of a local income tax. other issues are certain to play a part - immigration and asylum the war on iraq law and order and education for example. but as ever it will be the economy that will almost certainly decide the outcome. and whatever that outcome 2005 is set to be a far more lively even bitter campaign than 2001 s non-event.

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david blunkett in quotes david blunkett - who has resigned as home secretary - built his reputation as a plain-speaking yorkshire man. i fell in love with someone and they wouldn t go public and things started to go very badly wrong in the summer and then the news of the world picked up the story. i tried for three years to make something work. trust plain-speaking and straight talking is something which matters so much to me as a politician and as a man that i have decided of my own volition to request an independent review of the allegations that i misused my position. i don t think anyone can say i have said one thing in public and done another in private. it would be dangerous territory if i wasn t practising what i preach which is to always accept responsibility always accept the consequences of your actions. none of us believe countering terrorism is about party politics. i accepted by necessity we have to have prevention under a new category which is to intervene before the act is committed rather than do so by due process after the act is committed when it s too late he said in reference to new anti-terrorism measures. our work with the french government...has been hugely successful said mr blunkett. the number of illegal immigrants detected in dover has dropped dramatically. strengthening our identity is one way or reinforcing people s confidence and sense of citizenship and well-being. i foolishly thought as this was a celebrity edition it would be more relaxed than normal. you wake up and you receive a phone call - shipman s topped himself. you have just got to think for a minute: is it too early to open a bottle

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