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us peer-to-peer pirates convicted the first convictions for piracy over peer-to-peer networks have been handed down in the us. new yorker william trowbridge and texan michael chicoine have pleaded guilty to charges that they infringed copyright by illegally sharing music movies and software. the two men faced charges following raids in august on suspected pirates by the fbi. the pair face jail terms of up to five years and a $250 000 (£130 000) fine. in a statement the us department of justice said the two men operated the central hubs in a piracy community organised across the direct connect peer-to-peer network. the piracy group called itself the underground network and membership of it demanded that users share between one and 100 gigabytes of files. direct connect allows users to set themselves up as central servers that act as co-ordinating spots for sharers. users would swap files such as films and music by exchanging data over the network. during its investigation fbi agents reportedly downloaded 84 movies 40 software programs 13 games and 178 sound recordings from the five hubs that made up the larger piracy group. the raids were organised under the umbrella of operation digital gridlock which was aimed at fighting criminal copyright theft on peer-to-peer networks . in total six raids were carried out in august. five were on the homes of suspected copyright thieves and one on a net service firm. the department of justice said that both men pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit felony copyright infringement. they also pleaded guilty to acting for commercial advantage. the two men are due to be sentenced on 29 april.

entertainment

golden rule boost for chancellor chancellor gordon brown has been given a £2.1bn boost in his attempts to meet his golden economic rule which allows him to borrow only for investment. the extra leeway came after the office for national statistics said it had been measuring road expenditure data wrongly over the past five years. it comes just weeks ahead of the budget and an expected general election. shadow chancellor oliver letwin said: at best the timing of these changes is very convenient for the government. a review by the ons found it had made a mistake by double counting some spending on roads since 1998/9. correcting the error would mean reducing current expenditure and increasing net investment thus helping mr brown to meet his golden rule of borrowing only to invest over the economic cycle. economists speculated that it might also allow for some vote-catching measures in the budget. the changes by the ons increase the current budget measure for the past five years by £2.1bn in total. mr letwin said: this is a very murky area... there will inevitably be suspicions that the figures are being fiddled. the conservatives also said mr brown would still be forced to raise taxes after the general election to fill an annual £10.5bn black hole in the nation s coffers. but the treasury said there would be no relaxation of economic discipline and the golden rule would be met even without the data revisions. in january the independent institute for fiscal studies (ifs) said mr brown would need to raise taxes to get public finances onto the track predicted in last year s budget. it also said the government might narrowly miss its golden rule if the current economic cycle ended in 2005/06. after the ons announcement economists said there could also be a proportionate boost to the current budget in 2004/05 of about £400m. none of this changes the big picture of a dramatic deterioration in the overall fiscal position over the last four or five years said jonathan loynes chief uk economist at capital economics. accordingly it seems very likely that some form of fiscal consolidation will be required in due course.

politics

pandas benefit from wireless net the world s dwindling panda population is getting a helping hand from a wireless internet network. the wolong nature reserve in the sichuan province of southwest china is home to 20% of the remaining 1 500 giant pandas in the world. a broadband and wireless network installed on the reserve has allowed staff to chronicle the pandas daily activities. the data and images can be shared with colleagues around the world. the reserve conducts vital research on both panda breeding and bamboo ecology. using the network vets have been able to observe how infant pandas feed and suggest changes to improve the tiny cubs chances of survival. digital technology has transformed the way we communicate and share information inside wolong and with the rest of the world said zhang hemin director of the wolong nature reserve. our researchers now have state-of-the-art digital technology to help foster the panda population and manage our precious surroundings. the network has been developed by intel working closely with the staff at wolong. it includes a 802.11b wireless network and a video monitoring system using five cameras to observe pandas around the clock. before the new infrastructure arrived at the panda park staff walked or drove to deliver floppy disks across the reserve. infant panda health was recorded on paper notebooks and research teams in the field had little access to the data. to foster cultural links across the globe a children s learning lab has been incorporated in the network in collaboration with globio (federation for global biodiversity education for children) an international non-profit organisation. it will enable children at local primary schools to hook up with their peers in portland oregon in the us. digital technology brings this story to life by enabling a global dialogue to help bridge cultures around the world said globio founder gerry ellis.

entertainment

kilroy-silk quits shameful ukip ex-chat show host robert kilroy-silk has quit the uk independence party and accused it of betraying its supporters. the mep said he was ashamed to have joined the party which he labelled as a joke . he plans to stand in the next general election but refused to confirm he is setting up a new political party called veritas - latin for truth. ukip leader roger knapman said he would break open the champagne adding: it was nice knowing him now goodbye . however he did say the ex-chat show host had been quite useful initially . he has remarkable ability to influence people but sadly after the (european) election it became clear that he was more interested in the robert kilroy-silk party than the uk independence party so it was nice knowing him now goodbye mr knapman told bbc radio 4 s today programme. mr knapman rejected the idea mr kilroy-silk posed a threat to ukip and queried why he had failed to confirm rumours he was starting a new political party. mr kilroy-silk explained his reasons to his east midlands constituents at a meeting in hinckley leicestershire. his decision came as ukip officials began a process which could have triggered mr kilroy-silk s expulsion. it marks the end of his membership of ukip after just nine months. it began with a flood of publicity which helped ukip into third place in last june s european elections but became dominated by rancour as he tried to take over the party leadership. mr kilroy-silk accused his fellow ukip meps of being content with growing fat sitting on their backsides in brussels. he told bbc news 24: i tried to change the party i nagged all the way through the summer to do things to get moving because i thought it was criminal what they were doing it was a betrayal. mr kilroy-silk also told sky news there was masses of support for him to form a new party - something he has yet to confirm will happen. ukip won 12 seats and 16.1% of the vote at the european elections on the back of its call for the uk to leave the european union in his speech mr kilroy-silk says the result offered ukip an amazing opportunity but the party s leadership had done nothing and gone awol . there were no policies no energy no vision and no spokespeople he said. the party is going nowhere and i m embarrassed with its allies in europe and i m ashamed to be a member of the party said mr kilroy-silk. he said his conviction in britain s right to govern itself had not changed. he would continue that campaign outside ukip when he contested the general election in an east midlands constituency. reports of his new party plans have prompted a formal complaint to ukip s disciplinary committee for bringing the party into disrepute . on thursday the party challenged mr kilroy-silk to stand down as an mep so voters can get a genuine ukip candidate.

politics

retirement age could be scrapped the myth that ageing is a barrier to contributing to society needs to be exploded the work and pensions minister has said. this was why the government was considering scrapping the retirement age entirely alan johnson said. it was also committed to stamping out age discrimination and would outlaw it he told a conference on ageing. all three parties have been wooing older voters with both the tories and lib dems pledging higher pensions. mr johnson told age concern s age agenda in london the government was seriously considering introducing pensions based on residency rather than national insurance contributions. this idea has been adopted by the lib dems as policy while the tories have pledged to boost pensions by restoring the link between earnings and pensions. mr johnson s speech comes after he last week unveiled plans to find a consensus on how to reform the country s pension system. this would be based on a series of principles including tackling pensioner poverty and fairer pensions for women he said. speaking at the london conference he said: generalised stereotypes of people past state pension age as dependant incapable and vulnerable are a particularly pernicious form of age discrimination . the government wanted to tackle this by moving to a culture where retirement ages were increasingly consigned to the past . we re sweeping them away entirely for people under 65 and we re giving those above that age a right to request to work past 65 which their employers will have to engage with seriously. and the review in 2011 which will look at whether it is time to sweep retirement ages away entirely is to be tied to evidence ... showing that retirement ages are increasingly outmoded . mr johnson said his department had a long-term aspiration of moving towards an 80% employment rate. this would involve an extra one million older people joining the work force he said.

politics

mobiles not media players yet mobiles are not yet ready to be all-singing all-dancing multimedia devices which will replace portable media players say two reports. despite moves to bring music download services to mobiles people do not want to trade multimedia services with size and battery life said jupiter. a separate study by gartner has also said real-time tv broadcasts to mobiles is unlikely in europe until 2007. technical issues and standards must be resolved first said the report. batteries already have to cope with other services that operators offer like video playback video messaging megapixel cameras and games amongst others. bringing music download services based on the success of computer-based download services will put more demands on battery life. fifty percent of europeans said the size of a mobile was the most important factor when it came to choosing their phone but more power demands tend to mean larger handsets. mobile phone music services must not be positioned to compete with the pc music experience as the handsets are not yet ready said thomas husson mobile analyst at jupiter research. mobile music services should be new and different and enable operators to differentiate their brands and support third generation network launches. other problems facing mobile music include limited storage on phones compared to portable players which can hold up to 40gb of music. the mobile industry is keen to get into music downloading after the success of apple s itunes napster and other net music download services. with phones getting smarter and more powerful there are also demands to be able to watch tv on the move. in the us services like tivo to go let people transfer pre-recorded tv content onto their phones. but the gartner report on mobile tv broadcasting in europe suggests direct broadcasting will have to wait. currently tv-like services where clips are downloaded are offered by several european operators like italy s tim and 3. mobile tv will have to overcome several barriers before it is widely taken up though said the report. various standards and ways of getting tv signals to mobiles are being worked on globally. in europe trials in berlin and helsinki are making use of terrestrial tv masts to broadcast compressed signals to handsets with extra receivers. a service from the norwegian broadcasting corporation lets people watch tv programmes on their mobiles 24 hours a day. the service uses 3gp technology one of the standards for mobile tv. but at the end of 2004 the european telecommunications institute (etsi) formally adopted digital video broadcasting handheld (dvb-h) as the mobile tv broadcasting standard for europe. operators will be working on the standard as a way to bring real-time broadcasts to mobiles as well as trying to overcome several other barriers. the cost and infrastructure needs to set up the services will need to be addressed. handsets also need to be able to work with the dvb-h standard. tv services will have to live up to the expectations of the digital tv generation too which expects good quality images at low prices according to analysts. people are also likely to be put off watching tv on such small screens said gartner. digital video recorders like europe s sky+ box and video-on-demand services mean people have much more control over what tv they watch. as a result people may see broadcasting straight to mobiles as taking away that control. more powerful smartphones like the xda ii nokia 6600 sonyericsson p900 and the orange e200 offering web access text and multimedia messaging e-mail calendar and gaming are becoming increasingly common. a report by analysts instat/mdr has predicted that smartphone shipments will grow by 44% over the next five years. it says that smartphones will make up 117 million out of 833 million handsets shipped globally by 2009.

science and tech

post-christmas lull in lending uk mortgage lending showed a post-christmas lull in january indicating a slowing housing market lenders have said. both the council of mortgage lenders (cml) and building society association (bsa) said lending was down sharply. the cml said gross mortgage lending stood at £17.9bn compared with £21.8bn in january last year. the bsa said mortgage approvals - loans approved but not yet made - were £2bn down from £2.6bn in january 2004. at the same time the british bankers association (bba) said lending was weaker . overall the bba said mortgage lending rose by £4bn in january a far smaller increase than the £5.1bn seen in december. this was a return to the weaker pattern of lending seen in the last months of 2004 the bba added. however it is the year-on-year lending comparisons which are the most striking. the cml said lending for house purchases and gross mortgage lending were 29% and 18% lower year-on-year respectively. these figures show beyond doubt the recent slowdown in the housing market peter williams cml deputy director said.

sports

clarke to press on with id cards new home secretary charles clarke has vowed to plough on with plans for id cards despite a call for him to pause for thought from charles kennedy. the lib dem leader said david blunkett s resignation was a good opportunity to question whether the legislation was necessary. but mr clarke said he had supported the plans when mr blunkett argued for them in cabinet and he supported them now. id cards are a means to creating a more secure society he said. mr clarke acknowledged how the measure was introduced remained a matter for debate but he said legislation had already been significantly influenced by the recommendations of the commons home affairs committee. the issue would be debated in parliament next monday as scheduled he insisted. earlier mr kennedy whose party opposes the id cards plan as deeply flawed said with christmas coming up the new home secretary had time to think again. he told bbc radio 4 s today programme that mr clarke had been reported to be less enthusiastic about id cards than his predecessors. wouldn t this be a good opportunity for a new home secretary a new broom to sweep clean in this respect and why do we need this legislation in the first place he asked. earlier this week the tories announced they would back the government s plans although michael howard was forced to deny the shadow cabinet was split over its decision. they had decided to support the plans as the police said they would help fight terror crime and illegal immigration. among those reported to have serious reservations over the strategy were senior shadow cabinet members david davis oliver letwin and tim yeo. the chairman of the bar council guy mansfield qc has warned there is a real risk that people on the margins of society would be driven into the hands of extremists. what is going to happen to young asian men when there has been a bomb gone off somewhere they are going to be stopped. if they haven t [id cards] they are going to be detained. the home office says people will pay £85 for a passport and id card together or a undecided fee for a separate id card. the first cards would be issued in 2008 and when he was introducing the bill mr blunkett suggested parliament could decide in 2011 or 2012 whether to make it compulsory for everybody to own the cards although not to carry them. the new bill will also create new criminal offences on the possession of false identity documents. and there will be civil penalties including a fine of up to £1 000 fine for people who fail to say they have moved house or changed other details and of up to £2 500 for failing to sign up if the cards become compulsory. the scheme will be overseen by a new independent watchdog.

world

standoff on deutsche s lse bid deutsche boerse investors unhappy with its london stock exchange bid will have no chance to throw out the exchange s management until may reuters says. the sunday times reported that hedge funds tci and atticus were planning to demand the removal of the group s chairman and chief executive. but deutsche boerse told news agency reuters such a move would have to wait until may s annual general meeting. investors want deutsche to return cash to shareholders rather than bid. we are long-term investors and are experienced in removing management. we are not scared to take this to its conclusion this time atticus david slager told the sunday times. however deutsche boerse told reuters: tci s request for the removal of the supervisory board will be considered at the annual general meeting on may 25. the sunday times reported that tci had been drawing up a list of heavyweight executives to replace deutsche s chairman rolf breuer and chief executive werner seifert. the group owns more than 5% of deutsche - more than enough to demand an extraordinary general meeting to call on shareholders to oust the german exchange s management. under german law deutsche does not need investor backing to make a takeover bid. tci and atticus have opposed the lse bid for some time saying it would destroy shareholder value and would be better spent on a share buyback. deutsche is in competition with pan-european bourse euronext to take over the london exchange. many commentators have suggested a bidding war between the two could break out. however any such move would have to wait until march when the office of fair trading completes an investigation into the competition aspects of the pair s takeover proposals.

business

senior fannie mae bosses resign the two most senior executives at us mortgage giant fannie mae have resigned after accounting irregularities were uncovered at the company. chief executive franklin raines a former senior official in the clinton administration and chief financial officer tim howard have left the firm. fannie mae was criticised by financial regulators and could have to restate its earnings by up to $9bn (£4.6bn). it is america s second largest financial institution. recent investigations have exposed extensive accounting errors at fannie mae which supplies funds to america s $8 trillion mortgage market. last week the firm was admonished by the securities and exchange commission which said it had made major errors in its financial reporting. the financial regulator said fannie mae would have to raise substantial new capital to restore its balance sheet. analysts said the sec s criticism made it impossible for fannie mae s senior executives to remain. mr raines head of the office of management and budget under president clinton has taken early retirement while mr howard has also stepped down the company said on tuesday. kpmg fannie mae s independent auditor will also be replaced. by my early retirement i have held myself accountable mr raines said in a statement. fannie mae was found to have violated accounting rules relating to derivatives - financial instruments used to hedge against fluctuations in interest rates - and some pre-paid loans. as a result it could be forced to restate $9bn in earnings over the past four years effectively wiping out a third of the company s profits since 2001. although not making loans directly to buyers fannie mae is the largest single player in the mortgage market underwriting half of all us house purchases. the firm operates under charter from the us congress. it has faced stinging criticism from congressional leaders who held hearings into its finances earlier this year and from government regulator the office of federal housing enterprise oversight (ofheo). we are encouraged that the board s announcement signals a new culture and a new direction for fannie mae armando falcon ofheo director said. the problems afflicting fannie mae are just the latest to hit the us mortgage industry. freddie mac the country s other largest mortgage firm was forced to restate its earnings by $4.4bn last year and pay a $125m fine after an investigation of its books.

business

wenger rules out new keeper arsenal boss arsene wenger says he has no plans to sign a new goalkeeper during the january transfer window. wenger has brought in manuel almunia for the last three games for the out-of-form jens lehmann - but the spaniard himself has been prone to mistakes. there have been suggestions that wenger will swoop for a high-quality shot-stopper in the new year. but he told the evening standard: i don t feel it will be necessary to bring in a new goalkeeper in january. the gunners manager refused to comment on the difficult start that 27-year-old almunia has made to his career at highbury. and he would not be drawn on whether lehmann would return for the top-of-the table clash with chelsea on sunday. almunia was at fault for rosenborg s goal in arsenal s 5-1 champions league win on tuesday and had some hairy moments in last week s win over birmingham. but wenger said earlier this week that his indifferent form was down to pressure caused by being under scrutiny from the media. the debate has gone on too long. everyone has an opinion and i do not have to add to it wenger added. arsenal have been linked with middlesbrough keeper mark schwarzer fulham s edwin van der sar and parma s sebastien frey. and wenger has no immediate plans to recall former england under-21 international stuart taylor from his loan spell at leicester.

world

players sought for $1m prize uk gamers are getting a chance to take part in a $1m tournament thanks to one of the country s top teams. the four-kings clan is staging a pop idol type competition to find new members who can take on the world s best in the lucrative tournament. four-kings hopes the open qualifiers will turn up gamers good enough to beat all comers at the painkiller game. top players also get a contract with the four-kings team which will pay travelling expenses for the contest. uk gamers have until 12 november to register their interest in taking part and can sign up via the four-kings jolt.co.uk and painkiller tournament websites. philip wride who co-manages the four-kings team said online qualifiers will be held from 16-28 november to find the best eight players of the painkiller game. he said the clan was running the contest because four-kings does not currently have any players that excel at painkiller. these eight players will be brought together in london on 3-5 december for the bloodline tournament that will find the best two players. the event will be filmed and the final cut made available online for others to watch. the movie is being put together by simon bysshe who has shot many other films about pro-gaming that have been widely shared online. said mr bysshe: painkiller is a new game and the opportunity is there for a new player to step up. painkiller has been described as a game that adds a few modern touches such as improved graphics to the old-fashioned first-person shooter. these two players will be put forward as the uk s entrants to the cyberathlete professional league $1m painkiller contest that will take place throughout 2005. the event is being billed as the cpl world tour and will be arranged around ten separate tournaments at different locations around the world. travel expenses to all the stops on the tour will be paid by four-kings for the two uk players who make the grade. the top prize at each stop on the world tour will be $15 000. a further $150 000 will be given to the winner of the grand final due to be held in december 2005. mr wride said any gamer that wins a few tour stop tournaments and the grand final will have a very good year. the first stop on the world tour will be istanbul turkey from 10-13 february. a total of $50 000 in cash prizes is on offer. the cpl has said that it picked a one-on-one game such as painkiller to make it easier for spectators to follow the action. counter-strike by far the most popular online game pits teams against each other and can be confusing to follow if those watching are not familiar with the layout of the maps on which it is played. the decision to pick painkiller was greeted with surprise by many gamers as it was widely expected that doom 3 would be chosen as the one-one-one title.

business

gadget market to grow in 2005 the explosion in consumer technology is to continue into 2005 delegates at the world s largest gadget show in las vegas have been told. the number of gadgets in the shops is predicted to grow by 11% while devices which talk to each other will become increasingly important. everything is going digital kirsten pfeifer from the consumer electronics association told the bbc news website. the consumer electronics show (ces) featured the pick of 2005 s products. consumers are controlling what they want and technologies like hdtvs [high-definition tvs] digital radio and digital cameras will remain strong in 2005. all the products on show really showed the breadth and depth of the industry. despite showing diversity some delegates attending complained that the showcase lacked as much wow factor as in previous years. the portable technologies on show also reflected one of the buzzwords of ces which was the time and place shifting of multimedia content - being able to watch and listen to video and music anywhere at any time. at the start of last year s ces the cea predicted there would be an average growth of 4% in 2004. that figure was surpassed with the rise in popularity of portable digital music players personal video recorders and digital cameras. it was clear also that gadgets are becoming a lot more about lifestyle choice with fashion and personalisation becoming increasingly key to the way gadgets are designed. part of this has been the rise in spending power of the generation x-ers who have grown up with technology and who now have the spending power and desire for more devices that suit them. more than 57% of the consumer electronics market is made up of female buyers according to cea research. hybrid devices which combine a number of multimedia functions were also in evidence on the show floor. a lot of this is driven by just the ability to do it said stephen baker a consumer electronics analyst with retail research firm npd group. some of these functions cost next to nothing to add. as well as the show floor showcasing everything from tiny wearable mp3 players to giant high-definition tvs several keynote speeches were made by industry leaders such as microsoft chief bill gates. despite several embarrassing technical glitches during mr gate s pre-show speech he announced several new partnerships - mainly for the us market. he unveiled new ways of letting people take tv shows recorded on personal video recorders and watch them back on portable devices. he disappointed some however by failing to announce any details of the next generation of the xbox games console. another disappointment was the lack of exposure sony s new portable games device the psp had at the show. sony said the much-anticipated gadget would most likely start shipping in march for the us and europe. it went on sale in japan before christmas. there were only two psps embedded in glass cabinets at the show though and no representatives to discuss further details. a sony representative told the bbc news website this was because sony did not consider it to be part of their consumer technology offering. elsewhere at the show there was a plethora of colour and plasma screens including samsung s 102-inch (2.6 metre) plasma - the largest in the world. industry experts were also excited about high-definition technologies coming to the fore in 2005 with new formats for dvds coming out which will hold six times as much data as conventional dvds. with so many devices on the move there were a lot of products on show offering external storage like seagate s 5gb pocket sized external hard drive which won an innovation for engineering and design prize. more than 120 000 trade professionals attended ces in las vegas which officially ran from 6 to 9 january.

entertainment

parmalat sues 45 banks over crash parmalat has sued 45 banks as it tries to reclaim money paid to banks before the scandal-hit italian dairy company went bust last year. the firm collapsed with debts of about 14bn euros ($19bn; £10bn) and new boss enrico bondi has already taken legal action against a number of lenders. he claims the banks were aware of the problems but continued to work with the company so they could earn commissions. parmalat has not identified which banks it has gone after this time. under italian law administrators can seek to get back money paid to financial institutions prior to insolvency if there is a suspicion that the institutions knew that the company was in financial trouble. the firm also said it is preparing further law suits. according to the reuters news agency 35 of the companies sued on thursday are italian while the remaining 10 are international. the unidentified parmalat source also told reuters that the company was planning to take action against a total of 80 financial institutions. among those already targeted are bank of america ubs credit suisse first boston deutsche bank and citigroup. it has also gone after auditors grant thornton. they have all denied any wrongdoing. parmalat was declared insolvent in december 2003 after it emerged that 4bn euros thought to be held in an offshore account did not in fact exist. in the investigation that followed it became apparent that the company among other things had been billing clients twice in order to boost sales and bolster the balance sheet. that enabled parmalat to borrow heavily and expand overseas allowing it to become a darling of the italian stock exchange.

science and tech

india s reliance family feud heats up the ongoing public spat between the two heirs of india s biggest conglomerate reliance group has spilled over to the board meeting of a leading company within the group. anil ambani vice-chairman of india petrochemicals limited (ipcl) stayed away from a gathering of senior managers on thursday. the move follows a decision earlier this month by anil - the younger brother of reliance group president mukesh ambani - to resign from his post. his resignation was not accepted by his brother who is also the boss of ipcl. the ipcl board met in mumbai to discuss the company s results for the october-to-december quarter. it is understood that the board also considered anil s resignation and asked him to reconsider his decision. however anil s demand that anand jain - another ipcl board member accused by anil of creating a rift in the ambani family - be thrown out was not met. anil has accused anand jain a confidant of his brother mukesh of playing a negative role in the ambani family and being responsible for the trouble between the brothers. on wednesday the board of reliance energy another reliance group company reaffirmed its faith in anil who is the company s chief. reliance group acquired the government s 26% stake in ipcl - india s second-largest petrochemicals company - in 2002 as part of the privatisation drive. meanwhile the group s flagship company reliance industries has its board meeting on friday to consider its financial results. mukesh is the company s chairman and anil its deputy and it is expected that both brothers will come face to face in the meeting. the ambani family controls 48% of the group which is worth $17bn (£9.1bn; 745bn indian rupees). it was founded by their father dhiru bhai ambani who died two years ago.

science and tech

games win for blu-ray dvd format the next-generation dvd format blu-ray is winning more supporters than its rival according to its backers. blu-ray backed by 100 firms including sony is competing against toshiba and nec-backed hd-dvd to be the format of choice for future films and games. the blu-ray association said on thursday that games giants electronic arts and vivendi would both support its dvd format. the next generation of dvds will hold high-definition video and sound. this offers incredible 3d-like quality of pictures which major hollywood studios and games publishers are extremely keen to exploit in the coming year. in a separate press conference at the consumer electronics show in las vegas toshiba announced that dvd players for its technology would be on the market by the end of 2005. as we move from standard definition video images to high-definition images we have a much greater need for storage richard doherty from panasonic s hollywood laboratories one of the pioneers of blu-ray told the bbc news website. so by utilising blue laser-based technology we can make an optical laser disc that can hold six times as much as today s dvd. a blu-ray disc will be able to store 50gb of high-quality data while toshiba s hd-dvd will hold 30gb. mr doherty added that it was making sure the discs could satisfy all high-definition needs including the ability to record onto the dvds and smaller discs to fit into camcorders. both toshiba and blu-ray are hopeful that the emerging dvd format war akin to the betamax and vhs fight in the 1980s can be resolved over the next year when next-generation dvd players start to come out. when players do come out they will be able to play standard dvds too which is good news for those who have huge libraries of current dvds. but the support from vivendi and electronics arts is a big boost to blu-ray in the battle for supremacy. gaming is a $20 billion industry worldwide so is as crucial as the film industry in terms of money to be made. the technical requirement for game development today demands more advanced optical-disc technologies said michael heilmann chief technology officer for vivendi universal. blu-ray offers the capacity performance and high-speed internet connectivity to take us into the future of gaming. ea a leading games developer and publisher added that the delivery of high-definition games of the future was vital and blu-ray had the capacity functionality and interactivity needed for the kinds of projects it was planning. sony recently announced it would be using the technology in its next generation of playstations. mr doherty said gamers were ravenous for high-quality graphics and technology for the next generation of titles. gamers especially those working on pcs are always focused on more capacity to deliver textures deeper levels for delivering higher-resolution playback. he added: the focus for games moving forward on increased immersion. gaming companies really like to focus on creating a world which involves creating complicated 3d models and textures and increasing the resolution increasing the frame rate - all of these are part of getting a more immersive experience. fitting these models on current dvd technologies means compressing the graphics so much that much of this quality is lost. as games move to more photo-real capability the current technology is limiting. they are thrilled at the advanced capacity to start to build these immersive environments said mr doherty. currently graphics-intensive pc games also require multiple discs for installation. high-definition dvds will cut down on that need. likewise consoles rely on single discs so dvds that can hold six times more data mean much better high-resolution games. blu-ray has already won backing from major hollywood studios such as mgm studios disney and buena vista as well as top technology firms like dell lg samsung and phillips amongst others. while toshiba s hd-dvd technology has won backing from paramount universal and warner bros. the real world benefits (of hd-dvd) are apparent and obvious said jim cardwell president of warner home video. mr cardwell added that rapid time to market and dependability were significant factors in choosing to go with hd-dvd. both formats are courting microsoft to be the format of choice for the next generation xbox but discussions are still on-going. next generation dvds will also be able to store images and other data. ces is the largest consumer electronics show in the world and runs from 6 to 9 january.

sports

williams stays on despite dispute matt williams insists he has no thoughts of quitting as national coach as a result of the power struggle currently gripping scottish rugby. the chairman chief executive and three non-executive directors all departed in a row over the game s future direction. but williams said: i want to make it clear that i m committed totally to scottish rugby. i ve brought my family here and we ve immersed ourselves in scottish life. there s no way that i m walking away. however he attempted to steer clear of taking sides in the dispute. i d like to stress that the national team is separate to the political situation he said. when you come to an undertaking like this and you are trying to make a difference then there are always people who will begrudge you who are jealous and want to try to drag you down. when you have that situation you have to have the courage of your convictions to see it through. there was some very unhelpful and uninformed comment that the national team had received a massive increase in budget at the expense of other parts of scottish rugby and that is simply not the case. like all good coaches you go and ask for an increase. but we were told in no uncertain terms that the financial situation did not allow that. the idea that we are lighting cigars with £20 notes while the rest of scottish rugby flounders is absolutely untrue. we also attracted criticism because of the number of days players spent with the national team. but let me give you the truth. our irish counterparts whom we have to compete with in a few days time had 70 days together at the summer. they are currently in camp now and they will have another 21 days in camp before the six nations. that means they will have 91 days away from their club from july until the six nations. we on the other hand will have 16. there must be a win-win philosophy and attitude within scottish rugby and that is what we are after - both groups winning not competing.

sports

mogul wilson backing uk rap band tony wilson the music mogul who established the influential factory records in the 1980s is to launch a new label - convinced he has discovered his third major band . factory were the label of both joy division - who became new order after singer ian curtis committed suicide - and the happy mondays. now wilson believes rap act raw t - signed to his f4 label the fourth incarnation of factory - will complete the hat-trick . suddenly when raw t came into my life i realised they are my third major band he told bbc world service s the music biz programme. the group are set to release their first single on 21 february and follow it up with an album realise and witness in march. wilson has twice tried to resurrect factory - which lasted for 14 years before folding - but conceded these efforts had been despondent and dismal experiences . but it has not put him off. of all the things i do in my life the most exciting thing i ve ever done and the thing i have most loved is being part of a record company he added. the idea of working with brilliant young musicians and being close to the centre of popular culture is just the biggest thrill in my life. wilson explained how his son persuaded him to go and see raw t but he had initially been reluctant saying he detested young british people rapping. it s always inauthentic it s always crass it never really works for me he said. i went to see this group raw t - which stands for realise and witness talent - and like everyone else in the room that night we were utterly blown away. wilson believes raw t could be to f4 as joy division were to factory records . the story of factory records - which also owned the legendary hacienda club in manchester - was told in the michael winterbottom film 24 hour party people in which wilson was played by steve coogan. wilson stressed that the independent music scene remained as important as it had been during the 1980s when labels such as factory and rough trade proliferated. he pointed out that franz ferdinand and the white stripes - perhaps the two most important bands since the millennium - were signed to indies. i think that is a reflection of how useful and how powerful the indie philosophy is and how bands prefer it he added. they can make more money that way - it s a more generous relationship and also it s a more understanding relationship. i think independents are in a wonderful position at this moment in time.

entertainment

toxic web links help virus spread virus writers have begun using the power of the web to spread their malicious wares. a windows virus called bofra is turning infected machines into distributors of its malicious code. those clicking on the poisoned links in e-mail messages sent out by infected machines may fall victim to the virus. the trick is being used to prevent the progam being caught by anti-virus software that combs through code contained in e-mail attachments. the virus that uses this trick is called bofra and the first member of the family of worms appeared on 10 november. they exploit a windows vulnerability that was discovered only a few days earlier. like many other recent viruses bofra plunders the address book in microsoft outlook for e-mail addresses and scours other files on an infected machine for fresh target addresses. the virus uses its own mail sending software to despatch e-mail messages to potential victims but unlike many other recent viruses does not itself travel via mail. instead the body of the mail messages sent out contain fake weblinks that when clicked on connect back to the machine that distributed that e-mail. essentially bofra turns infected machines into small web servers that happily dole out copies of the virus. the messages try to trick people into clicking on the links by promising pornographic videos and images or by posing as payment confirmation for a paypal transaction. copies of the messages seen by the bbc news website had bright yellow and green backgrounds. those clicking on the links will inadvertently download the bofra virus which will then start searching for new addresses to send itself to. filtering firm clearswift said this tactic of creating thousands of mini web servers was designed to help the virus spread quickly and avoid attempts to shut it down. in the past other malicious programs have relied on a single web server that downloads viral code to target machines. shutting down this central server usually stops the virus spreading. clearswift said that fact that no viral code travels in the e-mail messages sent out by machines infected by bofra could hamper effects to limit its spread. finnish anti-virus firm f-secure said that so far it had not seen many copies of the bofra virus and its variants in circulation. tim warner spokesman for anti-virus firm finjan said: you have people getting very creative now to deliver the virus and get it propagating. mr warner said organisations needed to prepare deep defences to keep out the modern form of malicious mobile code. most firms have secured their e-mail gateway said mr warner but the irony is that most of them let malicious content through the web gateways. he said behavioural systems that monitor what users do can help to spot when viruses have penetrated organisations and have started hunting for other victims. the bofra family of viruses which were originally thought to be offshoots of the mydoom bug can infect machines running windows 2000 95 98 me nt xp and server 2003. users running windows xp that have applied the sp2 update are not vulnerable to the loophole that bofra exploits.

entertainment

qwest may spark mci bidding war us phone company qwest has said it will table a new offer for mci after losing out to larger rival verizon setting the scene for a possible bidding war. mci accepted a $6.75bn (£3.6bn) buyout from telecoms giant verizon on monday rejecting a higher offer from qwest. qwest chairman richard notebaert sent a letter to mci s board on thursday saying that it plans to submit a new offer after examining verizon s bid. formerly known as worldcom mci is a long-distance and corporate phone firm. snapping up mci would give the buyer access to a global telecommunications network and a large number of business-based subscribers. shares of mci were up more than 4% in electronic trading after the close of new york markets. qwest said on wednesday that mci had rejected a deal worth $8bn. we would like to advise you that once we have completed our review of the verizon merger agreement we do intend to submit a modified offer to acquire mci the letter from qwest said. verizon s offer is made up of cash shares and dividends and a number of investors have said that it undervalues mci. verizon plans to swap 0.41 of its shares and $1.50 in cash for each mci share as well as offering special dividends of $4.50 a share. both company boards have backed the deal but regulators will still need to give their approval. as well as trying to lure investors with the promise of better returns qwest also reckons that its offer will face less regulatory scrutiny than verizon s. the takeover would be the fifth billion-dollar telecoms deal since october as companies look to cut costs and boost client bases. earlier this month sbc communications agreed to buy its former parent and phone trailblazer at&t for about $16bn. there may be concerns other than cash however especially as mci only emerged from bankruptcy protection last april. verizon is far bigger than qwest has fewer debts and has built a successful mobile division. also mci while trading under the name worldcom became the biggest corporate bankruptcy in us history after admitting that it illegally booked expenses and inflated profits. former worldcom boss bernie ebbers is currently standing trial accused of overseeing an $11bn fraud. qwest meanwhile had to pay the securities and exchange commission $250m in october to settle charges that it massaged earnings to keep wall street happy.

business

saudi investor picks up the savoy london s famous savoy hotel has been sold to a group combining saudi billionaire investor prince alwaleed bin talal and a unit of hbos bank. financial details of the deal which includes the nearby simpson s in the strand restaurant were not disclosed. the seller - irish-based property firm quinlan private - bought the savoy along with the berkeley claridge s and the connaught for £750m last year. prince alwaleed s hotel investments include the luxury george v in paris. he also has substantial stakes in fairmont hotels & resorts which will manage the savoy and simpson s in the strand and four seasons. fairmont said it planned to invest $48m (£26m) in renovating parts of the savoy including the river room and suites with views over the river thames. work was expected to be completed by summer 2006 fairmont said.

business

lennon brands rangers favourites celtic s neil lennon admits rangers could be considered slight favourites for the old firm cis cup clash but insists his side can still win. lennon concedes rangers are in good form at the moment but they have failed to beat celtic in their last seven meetings. rangers are on the up and have been on a good run in recent weeks he said. but it s a game we believe we re capable of winning if we play our best he told the evening times. all the boys are looking forward to it because they are brilliant games to be involved in. without playing at the top of our game we have still been winning matches. at the minute we are at the top of the league and still in with a chance of staying in europe so i don t think it is the crisis people have been trying to make out. of course it is a concern when you are losing goals because we have been notorious for being a team that is hard to beat and keeping clean sheets but hopefully we are over that wee run. considering we lost henrik larsson at the end of last season we have still been scoring a lot of goals which is pleasing.

politics

lomu relishing return to action former all black star jonah lomu says he cannot wait to run out on the pitch for former england rugby union captain martin johnson s testimonial on 4 june. the 29-year-old had a kidney transplant in july 2004 but will play his first full match for three years leading a southern hemisphere side at twickenham. i actually started training three weeks after my operation but i was very limited until a few months ago. now it s basically bring it on! said the giant winger. the match on 4 june will be my first 15-man game but i have a training schedule which is quite testing and combines with sevens and a whole lot of things said lomu. i have got so much energy since my operation that i train three times a day six days a week. mohammed ali has always been my ideal. coming back to rugby people said you are dreaming but it always starts off with a dream. it s up to you whether you want to make it a reality. opinion has been divided on whether lomu should attempt to return to the game after such a major operation. but when lomu was asked whether he was taking a risk he replied: as much as someone going down the road being hit by a bus. there are a lot of people in the world with one kidney who just don t know it. i have talked this over had a chat with the donor and this is to set my soul at peace and finish something i started in 1994 [when he made his all blacks debut]. at his lowest ebb lomu was so ill he could barely walk but he says he is now getting stronger every day and his long-term target is to play for new zealand again. the only person who saw me at my worst was my wife he added. i used to take two steps and fall over but now i can run and it is all coming back and a lot more quickly than i ever thought it would. to play for the all blacks would be the highest honour i could get. that is the long-term goal and you have to start somewhere.

sports

south africa sweep top awards south africa s schalk burger was named player of the year as the tri-nations champions swept the top honours at the international rugby board s awards. the flanker topped a list which included ireland star gordon d arcy and australian sensation matt giteau. jake white claimed the coaching award while his side held off grand slam winners france to take the team award. england player simon amor beat team-mate ben gollings and argentine lucio lopez fleming to win the sevens award. burger s award came just a week after he won the equivalent prize from his fellow international players and white who also coached burger at under-21 level paid tribute to him. schalk s emergence as a major force has meant a lot to south african rugby but has also influenced world rugby said white. he s become to south african rugby what jonty rhodes was to south african cricket. it s amazing what he has achieved in such a short time so far in his international career. amor who will captain england in this season s opening irb sevens tournament the dubai sevens which start on thursday was delighted with his award. there are so many great sevens players on the circuit at the moment that this is a genuine honour said the gloucester fly-half.

sports

us gives foreign firms extra time foreign firms have been given an extra year to meet tough new corporate governance regulations imposed by the us stock market watchdog. the securities and exchange commission has extended the deadline to get in line with the rules until 15 july 2006. many foreign firms had protested that the sec was imposing an unfair burden. the new rules are the result of the sarbanes-oxley act part of the us clean-up after corporate scandals such as enron and worldcom. section 404 of the sox act as the legislation is nicknamed calls for all firms to certify that their financial reporting is in line with us rules. big us firms already have to meet the requirements but smaller ones and foreign-based firms which list their shares on us stock markets originally had until the middle of this year. over the past few months delegations of european and other business leaders have been heading to the sec s washington dc headquarters to protest. they say the burden is too expensive and the timescale too short and some particularly the uk s cbi warned that companies would choose to let their us listings drop rather than get in line with section 404. the latest delegation from the cbi met sec officials on wednesday just before the decision to relax the deadline was announced. i think this signifies a change of heart at the sec cbi director-general sir digby jones told the bbc s today programme. they have been listening to us and to many overseas companies who have reminded america what globalisation really means: that they can t make these rules in isolation. the sec said it had taken into consideration the fact that foreign companies were already working to meet more onerous financial reporting rules in their home countries. the european union in particular was imposing new international financial reporting standards in 2005 it noted. i don t underestimate the effort (compliance) will require... but this extension will provide additional time for those issuers to take a good hard look at their internal controls said donald nicolaisen the sec s chief accountant.

sports

thanou desperate to make return greek sprinter katerina thanou says she is eager to compete again after being cleared of missing a drugs test by an independent greek tribunal. thanou 30 was provisionally suspended for missing a test before the olympics but the decision was overturned. the iaaf will decide if we can compete again in greece and abroad thanou told to vima newspaper in her first interview since the athens olympics. if given the green light i will run again - that s the only thing i want. thanou 30 and her compatriot kostas kenteris were provisionally suspended by the iaaf in december for missing three drugs tests. the third was alleged to have been on the eve of the opening ceremony of the athens olympics. but an independent tribunal of the greek athletics federation overturned the provisional ban on 18 march. the iaaf - which said it was very surprised by the decision of the greek tribunal - is deciding whether to appeal against the decision at the court of arbitration for sport. however dick pound the chairman of the world anti-doping authority has said he will appeal against the decision if the iaaf does not. and thanou and kenteris face a criminal trial later this year for allegedly avoiding the test and then faking a motorcycle accident. thanou said: i can see how people can think the accident seemed like a childish excuse. i cannot deny that we made a lot of mistakes during that time. i always said we needed a pr person. an athlete would have to be very stupid to take illegal substances when he or she knows that they will undergo tests at any given moment. i am a champion. i cannot risk everything i ve achieved in such a silly way.

sports

best person for top legal job the best person for the job should be appointed lord chancellor and not necessarily a lawyer or mp the courts minister has told mps. under reforms the post of lord chancellor is to be stripped of its judicial functions. the lord chancellor...no more needs to be a lawyer than the secretary of health needs to be a doctor said courts minister christopher leslie. the constitutional reform bill was entering its second reading on monday. mr leslie said: the prime minister should be able to appoint the best person for the job whether they sit in the house of lords or the house of commons. under the reforms the law lords will also be replaced as the uk s highest legal authority by a supreme court and judges will be appointed by an independent panel rather than ministers. in december the lords rejected a plea by current lord chancellor lord falconer that the holder of the job should not necessarily be a lawyer or a peer. the peers voted by 229 to 206 to say in law that lord chancellors must also be peers. the debate was carried over from the last parliamentary session but with an impending general election time is crucial for the government to get the bill passed. mr leslie said it was irrelevant whether the post was called secretary of state for constitutional affairs or lord chancellor. he said: what matters most is...whether it is reformed so that the post holder no longer has those conflicting duties. it is no longer appropriate for a government minister to have such unfettered discretion in the appointment of judges. shadow attorney general dominic grieve criticised the government on its plans to change what he said was an exceptional institution providing a champion of the independence of the judiciary . the government had initially proposed to take this institution and smash it to pieces mr grieve said. convention should be nurtured and celebrated but the government distrusted and disliked it instead. he warned that unless ministers backed down over the lord chancellor remaining a member of the house of lords the government would have great difficulty in getting the bill through parliament. former cabinet minister douglas hogg whose father and grandfather served as lord chancellor said the bill was largely unnecessary bureaucratic and expensive . but the tory mp for sleaford and north hykeham admitted the lord chancellor s role and office cannot be frozen in aspic .

entertainment

actress roberts takes spider role actress julia roberts will play the part of a spider in a new film version of children s classic charlotte s web. she will voice charlotte who teams up with a girl to save their friend wilbur the pig in the story by eb white. the film - a mix of live action and animation - will be roberts first project since the birth of her twins hazel and phinnaeus two months ago. oprah winfrey will voice a goose john cleese will voice a sheep and steve buscemi a rat in the 2006 film. ten-year-old dakota fanning will play fern the girl at the centre of the story in the film to be directed by 13 going on 30 film-maker gary winick. filming is due to begin in melbourne australia later this month. charlotte s web has sold 45 million copies since it was published in 1952. an animated version was made in 1973 but this will be the first live action film. the actor who will voice wilbur the pig has yet to be revealed.

entertainment

blues slam blackburn over savage birmingham have confirmed blackburn made a bid for robbie savage - but managing director karen brady has called it derisory . rovers have reportedly offered £500 000 up front for the wales star 30 with the fee rising to £2.2m. but brady told the sun the bid was a waste of fax paper and my time . she added: the way things are going all this could affect the relationship between the clubs. they ve got into robbie s head. but he s not for sale. savage s future at birmingham has been the source of speculation for several weeks with some fans criticising his performances for the club earlier in the season. however good displays against west brom and aston villa have impressed blues fans. the crowd gave me a massive standing ovation when i came off on saturday which was nice he said. it was fantastic even though i was criticised by a number of them in recent weeks and on saturday it showed how much i mean to them. it s not for me to say (about transfer rumours) it s between the two clubs. i haven t created the speculation myself i haven t phoned every national newspaper saying blackburn are trying to buy me . it s not up to me. birmingham manager steve bruce insists he does not want to sell savage. a lot is said and written about sav but he has been terrific for birmingham city the last two and a half years he said. the fans love him because he epitomises them. he works hard they like people like that and there are not many like him. and why the hell should i sell him to someone else i am not interested.

sports

china net cafe culture crackdown chinese authorities closed 12 575 net cafes in the closing months of 2004 the country s government said. according to the official news agency most of the net cafes were closed down because they were operating illegally. chinese net cafes operate under a set of strict guidelines and many of those most recently closed broke rules that limit how close they can be to schools. the move is the latest in a series of steps the chinese government has taken to crack down on what it considers to be immoral net use. the official xinhua news agency said the crackdown was carried out to create a safer environment for young people in china . rules introduced in 2002 demand that net cafes be at least 200 metres away from middle and elementary schools. the hours that children can use net cafes are also tightly regulated. china has long been worried that net cafes are an unhealthy influence on young people. the 12 575 cafes were shut in the three months from october to december. china also tries to dictate the types of computer games people can play to limit the amount of violence people are exposed to. net cafes are hugely popular in china because the relatively high cost of computer hardware means that few people have pcs in their homes. this is not the first time that the chinese government has moved against net cafes that are not operating within its strict guidelines. all the 100 000 or so net cafes in the country are required to use software that controls what websites users can see. logs of sites people visit are also kept. laws on net cafe opening hours and who can use them were introduced in 2002 following a fire at one cafe that killed 25 people. during the crackdown following the blaze authorities moved to clean up net cafes and demanded that all of them get permits to operate. in august 2004 chinese authorities shut down 700 websites and arrested 224 people in a crackdown on net porn. at the same time it introduced new controls to block overseas sex sites. the reporters without borders group said in a report that chinese government technologies for e-mail interception and net censorship are among the most highly developed in the world.

science and tech

cebit opens to mobile music tune cebit the world s largest hi-tech fair has opened its doors in hanover for a look at the latest technologies for homes and businesses. there are more than 6 000 exhibitors registered and about 500 000 visitors are expected to pass through the doors. third generation mobiles the digital home and broadband are key themes at the show. camera phones will get better resolutions as vendors set out to prove that bigger is definitely better. samsung is set to steal some initial limelight with the launch of a 7-megapixel phone on the opening day. the sch-v770 has some of the features of high-end digital single lens reflex cameras such as manual focus and the ability to attach a telephoto or wide-angle lens. camera phones are likely to prove an interesting battle ground at the show said ben wood principal analyst at research firm gartner. it is firmly established that cameras are an integral part of phones and now the technology arms race is on in terms of megapixels. there will be a certain amount of look how big mine is he said. there will also be increasing focus on music-enabled mobiles. at 3gsm in cannes everyone went music mad and music is going to be a big theme for all the vendors at cebit said mr wood. sony ericsson will use the fair to show off the w800 - its recently unveiled walkman branded phone - and there is speculation that motorola may unveil its rokr handset widely tipped as the first to carry apple s itunes music software. apple and motorola announced they were getting together at the end of last year as a result of a long-standing friendship between motorola s chief executive ed zander and steve jobs. some analysts think motorola may save the launch for ctia a wireless show in america the following week which could be a telling sign about how operators are coming to view the german tech fair. one of the interesting things is that cebit is clearly a show in decline said mr wood. a lot of the big players such as nokia are pulling back saying it is hard to justify a big presence at all of the shows. it could be the last big year for cebit he said. other themes include tv-enabled mobiles which are bound to create a buzz in the halls as vodafone unveils a prototype handset that can show live digital television. there has been a glut of recent headlines about mobile tv - french operators are teaming up o2 is trialling a system in oxford uk and nokia begins trialling a system in finland with the finnish broadcasting company yle tv and commercial tv channels. cebit could become the battleground for the two competing methods for getting tv on to mobiles and is also likely to provide a stage for a technology slated to compete with 3g. hsdpa (high speed downlink packet access) has been described as 3g on steroids and could offer consumers much faster download times. for instance a song which currently takes one and a half minutes to download to a phone could be done in 10 seconds. korean giants lg electronics and samsung will show off hsdpa handsets at the show and the technology is set to be rolled out in the us europe and korea next year. broadband will continue to be a key theme at the show with internet telephony proving this year s killer application. germany s largest online service provider t-online is tipped to reveal software for low-cost net telephony which would see it competing with its parent company deutsche telekom. cebit is used by many to unveil cutting edge products and in the mobile sphere this is likely to mean a lot of bright colourful handsets as fashion continues to compete with technology when it comes to the device everyone has in their pockets. rainbow-coloured phones influenced by handsets from japan are just one example of how asian companies will stamp their mark on this year s show at which they will have their biggest ever presence. cebit organisers have created a digital home in hall 25 of the 27 hangar-like buildings that will house the show. the digital home will be a hyped theme at the show. the house will be totally wired and full of things that can be used for home entertainment said cebit organiser gabriele dorries.

world

broadband steams ahead in the us more and more americans are joining the internet s fast lane according to official figures. the number of people and business connected to broadband jumped by 38% in a year said the us federal communications commission (fcc). in a report it said there were more than 32 million broadband connections by the end of june 2004. but the us is still behind compared to other nations ranked 13th in the world by a un telecoms body. during his 2004 re-election campaign president george w bush pledge to ensure that affordable high-speed net access would be available to all americans by 2007. according to the report by the fcc broadband is becoming increasingly popular with people using it for research and shopping as well as downloading music and watching video. the total number of people and businesses on broadband rose by to 32.5 million in the year ending june 2004 compared to 23.5 million in june 2003. whereas in the uk most people hook up to broadband via asymmetric digital subscriber line (adsl) technology which lets ordinary copper phone lines support high data speeds. but in the us cable leads the way accounting for 18.6 million lines. broadband over the phone line makes up 11.4 million connections according to the fcc figures.

science and tech

stars pay tribute to actor davis hollywood stars including spike lee burt reynolds and oscar nominee alan alda have paid tribute to actor ossie davis at a funeral in new york. veteran star ossie davis a well-known civil rights activist died in miami at the age of 87 on 4 february 2005. friends and family including actress ruby dee his wife of 56 years gathered at the riverside church on saturday. also present at the service was former us president bill clinton and singer harry belafonte who gave the eulogy. he would have been a very good president of the united states said mr clinton. like most of you here he gave more to me than i gave to him. the 87-year-old was found dead last weekend in his hotel room in florida where he was making a film. police said that he appeared to have died of natural causes. davis made his acting debut in 1950 in no way out starring sidney poiter. he frequently collaborated with director spike lee starring in seven lee films including jungle fever do the right thing and malcolm x. attallah shabazz the daughter of activist malcolm x recalled the famous eulogy delivered by davis at her father s funeral. harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its finest hopes she said quoting the man she knew as uncle ossie. ditto. ossie was my hero and he still is said aviator star alan alda a family friend for over forty years. ossie was a thing of beauty. i want so badly someday to have his dignity - a little of it anyway added burt reynolds davis s co-star in the 90s tv comedy evening shade. before the midday funeral scores of harlem residents formed a queue outside the church to pay their respects to davis. it is hard to fathom that we will no longer be able to call on his wisdom his humour his loyalty and his moral strength to guide us in the choices that are yet to be made and the battles that are yet to be fought said belafonte himself an ardent civil rights activist who had been friends with davis for over 60 years. but how fortunate we were to have him as long as we did.

world

s korean consumers spending again south korea looks set to sustain its revival thanks to renewed private consumption its central bank says. the country s economy has suffered from an overhang of personal debt after its consumers credit card spending spree. card use fell sharply last year but is now picking up again with a rise in spending of 14.8% year-on-year. the economy is now heading upward rather than downward said central bank governor park seung. the worst seems to have passed. mr park s statement came as the bank decided to keep interest rates at an all-time low of 3.25%. it had cut rates in november to help revive the economy but rising inflation - reaching 0.7% month-on-month in january - has stopped it from cutting further. economic growth in 2004 was about 4.7% with the central bank predicting 4% growth this year. other indicators are also suggesting that the country is inching back towards economic health. exports - traditionally the driver for expansion in asian economies - grew slower in january than at any time in 17 months. but domestic demand seems to be taking up the slack. consumer confidence has bounced back from a four-year low in january and retail sales were up 2.1% in december. credit card debt is falling with only one in 13 of the 48 million cards now in default - down from one in eight at the end of 2003. one of its biggest card issuers lg card was rescued from collapse in december having almost imploded under the weight of its customers bad debts. the government last year tightened the rules for card lending to keep the card glut under control.

science and tech

moya clinches cup for spain spain won the davis cup for the second time in their history when carlos moya beat the usa s andy roddick in the fourth rubber in seville. moya won 6-2 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-5) to give the hosts an unassailable 3-1 lead with only one singles rubber remaining. roddick battled hard and had chances in the second set but moya s clay-court expertise proved the difference. mardy fish beat tommy robredo 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 in the final dead rubber to cut spain s winning margin to 3-2. spain s only other davis cup title came in 2000 when they beat australia in barcelona. this time they chose to play the final in seville and the city s olympic stadium was revamped to allow for a record crowd for a competitve tennis event of 27 000 spectators. and the home fans gave vociferous support to their players with 18-year-old nadal and moya winning both friday s singles rubbers. american twins mike and bob bryan gave the visitors hope with victory over juan carlos ferrero and tommy robredo in saturday s doubles. but it remained an uphill task for a us team far happier on hard courts than clay and 1998 french open champion moya had too much for world number two roddick. this has been incredible - the moment i ve been waiting for for years said moya who missed out in 2000 through injury. i ve prepared myself for this day. i knew that playing on clay i would have my chances to win. the davis cup is my dream. i can t ask for more. there is nothing bigger than what i ve lived today. moya stormed into a 4-0 lead on his way to taking the first set against roddick and recovered immediately from dropping serve in the second. the match came down to two tie-breaks and moya dominated both clinching victory on his third match point. wild celebrations followed with an emotional moya congratulated by his team-mates including nadal who at 18 years and 187 days becomes the youngest ever victor in davis cup history. i think we put up a better fight here than in paris two years ago said roddick who was on the us team which lost to france in the 2002 semi-finals at roland garros. they were just better than us this weekend. i have nothing to be ashamed of i gave it my all. i am not going to walk out of here with my head down that s for sure. there s no miracle answer. we have to improve.

entertainment

label withdraws mcfadden s video the new video of former westlife singer brian mcfadden has been pulled after a dublin school complained about being associated with his song irish son. st fintian s high school says it is clearly identified in the video while mcfadden never went there. mcfadden makes claims that he was beaten at his own school in the song s lyrics saying it had cell blocks . the performer s record label sony bmg has withdrawn the video and issued replacements to television stations. the label believed the school name was fictitious until they received the complaint. they have said the reference to the school was unintentional and coincidental. the head of christian brothers school st fintian s richard fogarty said the video implied that the 24-year-old pop star had attended his school and was abused there. the school has always treated its pupils with respect mr fogarty said in a statement. mcfadden makes specific references to the christian brothers in his song but did not attend st fintian s. corporal punishment was outlawed in irish schools in 1982 when mcfadden was two years old. mcfadden whose debut solo album is released next week has said that every song is autobiographical and a true story . alcoholism and domestic violence are among the other topics dealt with in his songs half of which have been written with robbie williams former collaborator guy chambers. mcfadden who quit chart-topping group westlife in march went to number one in september with his first solo single real to me. he enjoyed 12 chart-toppers with the boy band before parting company with them.

business

pompeii gets digital make-over the old-fashioned audio tour of historical places could soon be replaced with computer-generated images that bring the site to life. a european union-funded project is looking at providing tourists with computer-augmented versions of archaeological attractions. it would allow visitors a glimpse of life as it was originally lived in places such as pompeii. it could pave the way for a new form of cultural tourism. the technology would allow digital people and other computer-generated elements to be combined with the actual view seen by tourists as they walk around an historical site. the lifeplus project is part of the eu s information society technologies initiative aimed at promoting user-friendly technology and enhancing european cultural heritage. engineers and researchers working in the europe-wide consortium have come up with a prototype augmented-reality system. it would require the visitor to wear a head-mounted display with a miniature camera and a backpack computer. the camera captures the view and feeds it to software on the computer where the visitor s viewpoint is combined with animated virtual elements. at pompeii for example the visitor would not just see the frescos taverns and villas that have been excavated but also people going about their daily life. augmented reality has been used to create special effects in films such as troy and lord of the rings and in computer gaming. this technology can now be used for much more than just computer games said professor nadia magnenat-thalman of the swiss research group miralab. we are for the first time able to run this combination of software processes to create walking talking people with believable clothing skin and hair in real-time she said. unlike virtual reality which delivers an entirely computer-generated scene to the viewer the lifeplus project is about combining digital and real views. crucial to the technique is the software that interprets the visitor s view and provides an accurate match between the real and virtual elements. the software capable of doing this has been developed by a uk company 2d3. andrew stoddart chief scientist at 2d3 said that the eu project has been driven by a new desire to bring the past to life. the popularity of television documentaries and dramatisations using computer-generated imagery to recreate scenes from ancient history demonstrates the widespread appeal of bringing ancient cultures to life he said.

world

palace threat over cantona masks manchester united fans wearing eric cantona masks will not be allowed in selhurst park on saturday. united fans are planning to mark the 10th anniversary of cantona s infamous kung-fu kick on crystal palace fan matthew simmons by wearing the masks. but palace stadium manager kevin corner has warned: if they wear them inside selhurst park they will be immediately rejected on safety grounds. and no fans wearing cantona masks will be allowed entry to the stadium. united fans had declared saturday as cantona day and had planned to wear masks that were popular during the frenchman s time as a player at the old trafford club. cantona received a nine-month ban following the incident and palace are keen to avoid an incident that would stir up ill feeling between the two sets of supporters. four months after the cantona incident a palace fan paul nixon was killed prior to an fa cup semi-final at villa park.

sports

terror detainees win lords appeal detaining foreign terrorist suspects without trial breaks human rights laws the uk s highest court has ruled. in a blow to the government s anti-terror measures the house of lords law lords ruled by an eight to one majority in favour of appeals by nine detainees. most of the men are being indefinitely held in belmarsh prison south london. the law lords said the measures were incompatible with european human rights laws. the men will stay behind bars while ministers decide how to react. the ruling creates a major problem for charles clarke on his first day as home secretary following david blunkett s resignation. the liberal democrats say mr clarke should use the fact he is new to the job to take issue with a law established by his predecessor david blunkett. belmarsh prison has been dubbed britain s guantanamo bay by civil rights campaigners opposed to the use of emergency anti-terror laws. the detainees took their case to the house of lords after the court of appeal backed the home office s powers to hold them without limit or charge. the government opted out of part of the european convention on human rights concerning the right to a fair trial in order to bring in anti-terrorism legislation in response to the 11 september attacks in the us. any foreign national suspected of links with terrorism can be detained or can opt to be deported. however those detained cannot be deported if this would mean persecution in their homeland. on thursday senior law lord lord bingham said the rules were incompatible with the european convention on human rights as they allowed detentions in a way that discriminates on the ground of nationality or immigration status . lord nicholls of birkenhead in his ruling said: indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial is anathema in any country which observes the rule of law. it deprives the detained person of the protection a criminal trial is intended to afford. he said the weakness for the government s case was that it was trying to justify detention without trial for foreign suspects - but not for british suspects. lord hoffmann said: the real threat to the life of the nation in the sense of a people living in accordance with its traditional laws and political values comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these. but lord walker of gestingthorpe the one law lord to oppose the appeal said the anti-terror laws contained important safeguards against oppression. in a statement detainee a in woodhill prison said: i hope now that the government will act upon this decision scrap this illegal law and release me and the other internees to return to our families and loved ones. the case was heard by a panel of nine law lords rather than the usual five because of the constitutional importance of the case. ben emmerson qc representing seven of the detainees said the men had already been in custody for nearly three years. he said they had been given no idea when if ever they would be released had never been formally interviewed and there was no prospect they would ever be put on trial. when the men were first held they took their cases to the special immigration appeals commission (siac). the commission ruled on 30 july 2002 that the anti-terror act unjustifiably discriminated against foreign nationals as british people could not be held in the same way. but that ruling was later overturned by the court of appeal who said there was a state of emergency threatening the life of the nation.

politics

robinson ready for difficult task england coach andy robinson faces the first major test of his tenure as he tries to get back to winning ways after the six nations defeat by wales. robinson is likely to make changes in the back row and centre after the 11-9 loss as he contemplates sunday s set-to with france at twickenham. lewis moody and martin corry could both return after missing the game with hamstring and shoulder problems. and the midfield pairing of mathew tait and jamie noon is also under threat. olly barkley immediately allowed england to generate better field position with his kicking game after replacing debutant tait just before the hour. the bath fly-half-cum-centre is likely to start against france with either tait or noon dropping out. tait given little opportunity to shine in attack received praise from robinson afterwards even if the coach admitted cardiff was an unforgiving place for the teenage prodigy. robinson now has a tricky decision over whether to withdraw from the firing line after just one outing a player he regards as central to england s future. tait himself at least outwardly appeared unaffected by the punishing treatment dished out to him by gavin henson in particular. i want more of that definitely he said. hopefully i can train hard this week and get selected for next week but we ll have to look at the video and wait and see. we were playing on our own 22 for a lot of the first half so it was quite difficult. i thought we defended reasonably well but we ve just got to pick it up for france. his newcastle team-mate noon hardly covered himself in glory in his first major test. he missed a tackle on michael owen in the build-up to wales try conceded a penalty at the breakdown was turned over in another tackle and fumbled gavin henson s cross-kick into touch all inside the first quarter. his contribution improved in the second half but england clearly need more of a playmaker in the inside centre role. up front the line-out remains fallible despite a superb performance from chris jones whose athleticism came to the fore after stepping into the side for moody. it is more likely the leicester flanker will return on the open side for the more physical challenge posed by the french forwards with andy hazell likely to make way. lock ben kay also justified his recall with an impressive all-round display on his return to the side but elsewhere england positives were thin on the ground.

sports

roddick into san jose final andy roddick will play cyril saulnier in the final of the sap open in san jose on sunday. the american top seed and defending champion overcame germany s tommy haas the third seed 7-6 (7-3) 6-3. and saulnier survived an injury scare in his semi-final with seventh-seeded austrian jurgen melzer. the frenchman twisted his ankle early in the second set but overcame melzer who was left fuming over a series of line calls 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-3. i was feeling horrible earlier in the week roddick said. i thought tonight was another step in the right direction. on my returns i was standing in more and i m getting a little more depth even if i don t hit a perfect return. roddick won the last four points of the first-set tie-break before being broken at the start of the second set. but he broke straight back and then broke haas again to lead 4-2. it s extremely frustrating when you have chances against a top-five player and don t do anything with them admitted haas. i rushed a few backhands and he took advantage. saulnier will move into the world s top 50 for the first time after his passage through to the final. it s taken a lot of work and a lot of fighting in my mind he revealed. sometimes i didn t believe i could get to a final and now i am here. i ve stayed mentally strong. i m on the way. i ll keep fighting and work a lot and i ll be up there.

world

lions blow to world cup winners british and irish lions coach clive woodward says he is unlikely to select any players not involved in next year s rbs six nations championship. world cup winners lawrence dallaglio neil back and martin johnson had all been thought to be in the frame for next summer s tour to new zealand. i don t think you can ever say never said woodward. but i would have to have a compulsive reason to pick any player who is not available to international rugby. dallaglio back and johnson have all retired from international rugby over the last 12 months but continue to star for their club sides. but woodward added: the key thing that i want to stress is that i intend to use the six nations and the players who are available to international rugby as the key benchmark. my job along with all the other senior representatives is to make sure that we pick the strongest possible team. if you are not playing international rugby then it s still a step up to test rugby. it s definitely a disadvantage. i think it s absolutely critical and with the history of the lions we have got to take players playing for the four countries. woodward also revealed that the race for the captaincy was still wide open. it is an open book he said. there are some outstanding candidates from all four countries. and following the all blacks impressive displays in europe in recent weeks including a 45-6 humiliation of france woodward believes the three-test series in new zealand will provide the ultimate rugby challenge. their performance in particular against france was simply awesome said the lions coach. certain things have been suggested about the potency of their front five but they re a very powerful unit. with his customary thoroughness woodward revealed he had taken soundings from australia coach eddie jones and jake white of south africa following their tour matches in britain and ireland. as a result woodward stressed his lions group might not be dominated by players from england and ireland and held out hope for the struggling scots. scotland s recent results have not been that impressive but there have been some excellent individual performances. eddie in particular told me how tough they had made it for australia and i will take on board their opinions. and scotland forward simon taylor looks certain to get the call provided he recovers from knee and tendon problems. i took lessons from 2001 in that they did make a mistake in taking lawrence dallaglio when he wasn t fit and went on the trip. every player has to be looked at on their own merits and simon taylor is an outstanding player and i have no doubts that if he gets back to full fitness he will be on the trip. i am told he should be back playing by march and he has plenty of time to prove his fitness for the lions - and there are other players like richard hill in the same boat.

sports

giggs handed wales leading role ryan giggs will captain wales as he wins his 50th cap in wednesday s friendly against hungary in cardiff. john toshack in his first game as coach after succeeding mark hughes admits he is surprised that giggs has only just reached the landmark. with the games he s played for united proportionately it doesn t seem that many for wales toshack said. but he s one of the greatest of all welsh internationals and on his 50th cap it s appropriate he s captain. giggs admits he had briefly considered retirement from the international game but is now targetting playing for wales in the 2008 european championships. the manchester united wing revealed how club manager sir alex ferguson talked him into extending his wales career. i briefly discussed my international future with sir alex but he urged me to carry on giggs said. he feels like myself that i have no weight problems and keep myself fit so in three or four years time i will be able to play in the european finals if we get there. the manager has always wanted me to play for my club and country and he was keen for me to continue because i am fit enough. giggs admits he was wavering and considering joining the likes of former wales skipper gary speed and united team-mate paul scholes in committing the remaining years of his career to club football. but giggs is now focussed on making the toshack era even more successful than the time hughes spent at the helm. the manchester united winger won his first cap as a 17-year-old in 1991 an away loss to germany and now faces his landmark appearance at the age of 31. with giggs leading wales out against hungary there is every chance that he will become the permanent successor to speed. however toshack refused to reveal whether he sees giggs as a long-term option. for this particular game i think it is appropriate that ryan giggs will be captain it s his 50th cap and he s known for some time about that toshack said. on wednesday night toshack takes charge of his first match since replacing hughes and giggs said: it s my 50th cap and i am looking forward to it and i hope to play a lot more times from here on in. it s important to be here all the players feel the same. it s a new start and all the top players certainly see it as important. i see myself leading by example it is something i have taken on for wales as well as united these past few seasons. the way john is looking at things he is aiming to build his side around the experienced lads right up to the next tournament the euro 2006 event. i have told john i will be around for the next european tournament by then i will be 35 so hopefully i will still be okay. a lot can happen but i m hoping to be around. giggs own personal future at old trafford is still up in the air as he has yet to reach agreement on a new contract with manchester united offering one extra year and giggs seeking two. i have put the contract thing to the back of my mind at the moment said giggs. it is an important period for the club and i am just concentrated on that. i ve heard the suggestions hopefully there is a two-year deal about to be offered because that is what i am looking for to get it sorted out. i m enjoying my football the way united have been playing and my own form you have to enjoy it. we have massive games coming up: manchester city this week then the everton cup tie followed by ac milan in the champions league and my first wales game under john toshack so it s an important time.

business

mp attacked by muggers in kenya an mp has had more than £600 and his passport stolen after being mugged by six men in a park in kenya. quentin davies the mp for grantham and stamford was attacked in a notoriously dangerous park in the capital nairobi. he was not hurt in the mugging on saturday evening. several people are being questioned over the attack. he was in kenya before travelling to sudan with the parliamentary committee. local police were said to be surprised he was in the area. mr davies 60 said the mugging occurred 100 yards from the nairobi serena hotel and equally close to the anglican cathedral in the centre of the city at dusk. he said in a statement: it was a frightening experience. six men managed to steal up on me and grab me from behind. i knew i had to stay very calm and passive - you cannot fight six men . he had to spend an extra 24 hours in nairobi before rejoining the rest of the house of commons international development committee in dafur after the mugging. naturally i was afraid they would use a knife or gun though they never produced any weapon he said. two of them held me from behind and two others held my legs and another one expertly rifled all my pockets.

politics

parker s saxophone heads auction a saxophone belonging to legendary jazz musician charlie parker is expected to fetch up to $1m (£535 000) at an auction of jazz memorabilia next month. the sale at guernsey s auction house in new york will feature instruments from other musicians including john coltrane and benny goodman. other items will include an evening gown belonging to ella fitzgerald. organisers said the auction was the first in the us to be devoted to items belonging to jazz musicians. other items that will be auctioned include unreleased tape recordings of music by parker as well as handwritten sheet music by jazz composers john coltrane and theolonius monk. among the instruments in the sale will be a trumpet which belonged to dizzy gillespie which is expected to fetch around $500 000 (£267 000) as well as jj johnson s trombone and a vibraphone which beloned to lionel hampton. works of art by musicians including miles davis and bruni sablan will also be featured. the proceeds from the auction which will take place on 20 february will go towards several organisations including the john coltrane foundation a foundation set up in memory of benny goodman and the red cross.

sports

wales want rugby league training wales could follow england s lead by training with a rugby league club. england have already had a three-day session with leeds rhinos and wales are thought to be interested in a similar clinic with rivals st helens. saints coach ian millward has given his approval but if it does happen it is unlikely to be this season. saints have a week s training in portugal next week while wales will play england in the opening six nations match on 5 february. we have had an approach from wales confirmed a saints spokesman. it s in the very early stages but it is something we are giving serious consideration to. st helens who are proud of their welsh connections are obvious partners for the welsh rugby union despite a spat in 2001 over the collapse of kieron cunningham s proposed £500 000 move to union side swansea. a similar cross-code deal that took iestyn harris from leeds to cardiff in 2001 did go through before the talented stand-off returned to the 13-man code with bradford bulls. kel coslett who famously moved from wales to league in the 1960s is currently saints football manager while clive griffiths - wales defensive coach - is a former st helens player and is thought to be the man behind the latest initiative. scott gibbs the former wales and lions centre played for st helens from 1994-96 and was in the challenge cup-winning team at wembley in 1996.

sports

greene sets sights on world title maurice greene aims to wipe out the pain of losing his olympic 100m title in athens by winning a fourth world championship crown this summer. he had to settle for bronze in greece behind fellow american justin gatlin and francis obikwelu of portugal. it really hurts to look at that medal. it was my mistake. i lost because of the things i did said greene who races in birmingham on friday. it s never going to happen again. my goal - i m going to win the worlds. greene crossed the line just 0.02 seconds behind gatlin who won in 9.87 seconds in one of the closest and fastest sprints of all time. but greene believes he lost the race and his title in the semi-finals. in my semi-final race i should have won the race but i was conserving energy. that s when francis obikwelu came up and i took third because i didn t know he was there. i believe that s what put me in lane seven in the final and while i was in lane seven i couldn t feel anything in the race. i just felt like i was running all alone. i believe if i was in the middle of the race i would have been able to react to people that came ahead of me. greene was also denied olympic gold in the 4x100m men s relay when he could not catch britain s mark lewis-francis on the final leg. the kansas star is set to go head-to-head with lewis-francis again at friday s norwich union grand prix. the pair contest the 60m the distance over which greene currently holds the world record of 6.39 seconds. he then has another indoor meeting in france before resuming training for the outdoor season and the task of recapturing his world title in helsinki in august. greene believes gatlin will again prove the biggest threat to his ambitions in finland. but he also admits he faces more than one rival for the world crown. there s always someone else coming. i think when i was coming up i would say there was me and ato (boldon) in the young crowd greene said. now you ve got about five or six young guys coming up at the same time.

entertainment

federer forced to dig deep top seed roger federer had to save two match points before squeezing past juan carlos ferrero at the dubai open. the world number one took two hours 15 minutes to earn his 4-6 6-3 7-6 victory saving match points at 6-4 in the tiebreak before claiming it 8-6. federer made a number of unforced errors early on allowing ferrero to take advantage and claim the first set. but the swiss star hit back to reach the quarter-finals where he will face seventh seed russian mikhail youzhny. the russian beat germany s rainer schuettler 7-5 6-4. federer was not unduly worried despite being taken to three sets for the third consecutive match. the world number one was forced to go the distance against ivan ljubicic in the rotterdam final and against ivo minar in the first round in dubai. i definitely had a slow start again and to come back every time is quite an effort he said. i haven t been playing well but i ve been coming through. i m winning the crucial points and that shows i m on top of my game when i have to be.

world

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.

business

parliament s record of scandal in a locked room at the heart of parliament there is a hive of scandal. sex betrayal and custody of children are all there in this affair but this time it has nothing to do with the recent troubles of david blunkett or boris johnson. few realise that westminster in effect has its own divorce den. for sprinkled among 12 floors of archives are blow-by-blow accounts of marital break-ups - and now you can search what s there online. until 1857 the only way in england to get a full divorce which allowed re-marriage was to obtain an act of parliament by proving adultery or life-threatening cruelty. the legacy is pages of testimonies used in the hearings dating back to 1670 all recorded among the 325 000 items which fill the 12 floors of the parliamentary archives in parliament s victoria tower. most people researching their family history want to discover some tale of illicit love. this gives them the chance. divorce by parliament was an expensive process open really only to the rich but the records also include the testimony of maids butlers and coachmen about their masters and mistresses. among the records is the story of jane campbell the first woman ever to divorce her husband. that happened in 1801 after she had discovered her husband edward addison had committed adultery with her sister jessy. a transcript of evidence from jessy s maid amelia laugher shows her telling how addison frequently passed by her on the way to the room where she had just put her mistress naked to bed. it must have been a killer blow to addison s case - he had already fled abroad rather than pay the £5 000 damages ordered by a civil court. as well as making divorce history jane campbell won custody of her children - unusual for a woman at the time. but divorces are by no means the only documents in the archives which hold personal details of people often far removed from politics and parliament. there are the protestation returns from 1642 - lists of the protestants who pledged to maintain the true reformed protestant religion . there are details of foreign nationals made british citizens by act of parliament including composer george frideric handel in 1727. and the mass of private bills which for example authorise the building of railways and roads contain both the names and addresses of those involved and testimonies giving people a unique perspective on how their ancestors opposed them. tax bills may be an extra source for pedigree hunters - the longest stretches for about 300m and is longer than the palace of westminster itself listing the names of appointed tax collectors. this wealth of material has long been open to the public at the house of lords record office with visitors able to phone ahead when they want to view particular items in the search room. but now five years of work has produced an online catalogue. david prior assistant clerk of the archives says the catalogue opens up new possibilities for research. before you just could not do it you faced trawling through pages and pages of printed material he says. mr prior sees the changes as part of a wider revolution in archives generally. the archive profession may look fairly staid but is in an enormous period of change mainly motivated by the potential of it which is opening up all sorts of vistas for us he says. the archives do of course hold records of high (and low) politics too for both houses of parliament including copies of all acts passed since 1497 - the oldest dealing with the employment of workers in the woollen industry in norfolk. records for the commons only date back to 1834 - anything earlier was wiped out by the fire which destroyed most of the parliament buildings in 1834. but that still leaves some of the most important documents of uk political history - parts of the bill of rights from 1689 the death warrant for charles i the private papers and diaries of major politicians such as david lloyd george and andrew bonar law. there is also the 1606 act establishing 5 november as a thanksgiving day - the year after the gunpowder plot. that document is likely to feature in the exhibition the archives will put on next year as part of a series of events across london to mark the 400th anniversary of guy fawkes conspiracy. as mr prior remarks as we walk by shelf after shelf of vellum (parchment made from goat s skin): all human life is here.

sports

shares rise on new man utd offer shares in manchester united closed up 4.75% on monday following a new offer from us tycoon malcolm glazer. the board of the football club is expected to meet early this week to discuss the latest proposal which values the club at £800m ($1.5bn). manchester united revealed on sunday that it had received a detailed proposal from mr glazer which looks set to receive more serious scrutiny. the club has previously rejected mr glazer s approaches out of hand. but a senior source at the club told the bbc: this time it s different. supporters group shareholders united however urged the club to reject the new deal. a spokesman for the shareholders united said: i can t see any difference (compared to mr glazer s previous proposals) other than £200m less debt. he isn t bringing any money into the club; he ll use our money to buy it. mr glazer s latest move is being led by mr glazer s two sons avi and joel according to the financial times. a proposal was received by david gill united s chief executive at the end of last week pitched at about 300p a share. david cummings head of uk equities for standard life investments said he believed a well funded 300p a share bid would be enough for mr glazer to take control of the club. i do not think there is anything that manchester united fans can do about it he told the bbc. they can complain about it but it is curtains for them. they may not want him but they are going to get him. the us tycoon who has been wooing the club for the last 12 months has approached the united board with detailed proposals it has confirmed. mr glazer who owns the tampa bay buccaneers team hopes this will lead to a formal bid being accepted. he is believed to have increased the amount of equity in the new proposal though it is not clear by how much. for his proposal to succeed he needs the support of united s largest shareholders the irish horseracing tycoons jp mcmanus and john magnier. they own 29% of united through their cubic expression investment vehicle. mr glazer and his family hold a stake of 28.1%. but it is not yet known whether mr mcmanus and mr magnier would support a glazer bid. nm rothschild the investment bank is advising mr glazer according to the financial times. his previous adviser jpmorgan quit last year when mr glazer went ahead and voted against the appointment of three united directors to the board against its advice. but the ft said it thought jp morgan may still have had some role in financing mr glazer s latest financial proposal.

business

double win for sea inside spanish movie the sea inside has been named best picture and star javier bardem best actor at the bangkok international film festival. based on the true story of a paralysed man s battle to end his life the sea inside was best foreign language film at the 2005 golden globe awards. annette bening and ana geislerova shared the best actress award at the bangkok festival. this year s event was scaled down following the asian tsunami disaster. falling down and the phantom of the opera director joel schumacher won a lifetime achievement award while hong kong director wong kar-wai was honoured for promoting asian cinema. it s a great honour i want to share this honour with my thai colleagues wong said. french writer christophe barratie and korean writer park chan-chook shared the best screenplay award for les choristes and old boy respectively. now in its third year the bangkok international film festival is donating profits from ticket sales to the tsunami relief fund.

entertainment

argentina venezuela in oil deal argentina and venezuela have extended a food-for-oil deal which helped the former to overcome a severe energy crisis last year. argentine president nestor kirchner and venezuelan president hugo chavez signed the deal in buenos aires on tuesday. last april argentina signed a $240m agreement to import venezuelan fuel in exchange for agricultural goods and this deal has now been extended. venezuela will now import cattle medicines and medical equipment. last year argentina s severe energy crisis forced president kirchner to suspend gas exports to chile. argentina fears that rising demand could spark another crisis and wants to prevent it by signing this deal. the two countries also formalised a co-operation deal between venezuelan energy firm pdvsa and argentina s enarsa. under this deal the argentine market will be opened to venezuelan investment. president chavez added that brazil s petrobras could join soon the co-operation deal. president chavez is an ardent promoter of the concept of a south american oil company which could include the state-owned companies of venezuela argentina brazil and bolivia. the two presidents also agreed to create television sur a latin american network of state-owned television channels.

politics

sony psp handheld console hits us the latest handheld gaming gadget sony s playstation portable goes on sale in the us on thursday. the entertainment device which also stores images music and video is intended to compete with nintendo s ds released earlier this month in the uk. gamers have been queuing outside shops across the us to get their hands on the gadget which costs $250 (about £132). the first million sold will come with the spider-man 2 film on umd sony s own disc format for the device. the psp can be linked up with others for multiplayer gaming via a wireless connection. sony has touted the machine as the walkman of the 21st century and has sold more than 800 000 units in japan since its launch there last year. but it faces stiff competition from the nintendo ds which sold more than the gamecube in its first few days on release in europe. it too allows for multiplayer gaming over the air. nintendo dominates the handheld market with more than a 90% share of the market in the us alone. the gizmondo combined media player phone and gaming gadget also went on sale in the uk last week. it hopes to take a share of the handheld gaming market too. the story of the psp is it s not a gaming device as much as it is a portable entertainment device said michael pachter analyst at wedbush morgan securities. he told the reuters news agency that he expected sony to sell about 10 million psps in enough time to rival apple s ipod. there is no date for the psp s release in europe yet. sony has promised to have a million units ready for its us launch but there are fears demand may not be met. it also said it expected to ship three million psps worldwide by the end of its fiscal year ending 31 march. the machine s european launch was put back a few months last week in order to make sure enough of the devices were ready for its us launch as well as satisfying the japanese market. the psp has almost as much processing power in it as the playstation 2 console. hundreds of gamers gathered at us shops some waiting for more than 36 hours to be the first to get their hands on the gadget. a spokesman for one us shop said it expected the device to sell out on its first day. the 24 games for the mini console include ape academy formula one wipeout pure and fired up. movie studios including lions gate entertainment and disney have also announced forthcoming film titles that will be made available on the umd format.

science and tech

novartis hits acquisition trail swiss drugmaker novartis has announced 5.65bn euros ($7.4bn; £3.9bn) of purchases to make its sandoz unit the world s biggest generic drug producer. novartis which last month forecast record sales for 2005 said it had bought all of germany s hexal. it also acquired 67.7% of hexal s us affiliate eon labs and offered to buy the remaining shares for $31 each. novartis said that it would be able to make cost savings of about $200m a year following the acquisitions. novartis shares rose 1% to 57.85 swiss francs in early trading. the deal will see novartis sandoz business overtake israel s teva pharmaceuticals as the world s biggest maker of generics. based on 2004 figures the newly merged producer would have sales of more than $5bn the company estimated. novartis said that it would merge a number of departments adding that there may be job cuts. the strong growth outlook for sandoz which will create jobs is expected to partially compensate for necessary reductions in the work force the firm said in a statement. generic drugs are chemically identical to their more expensive branded rivals. producers such as sandoz can copy the branded products usually after their patent protection expires and can sell them more cheaply as they do not have to pay research and development cost. there are more than 150 generic drugmakers worldwide and analysts have predicted consolidation in a market that they call fragmented. however not all analysts were initially convinced about the deal. this is a very expensive acquisition birgit kuhlhoff from sal oppenheim investment bank told reuters. i find it strange that they are making acquisitions in exactly those markets where they suffered price pressure.

business

wipro beats forecasts once again wipro india s third-biggest software firm has reported a 60% rise in profit topping market expectations. net income in the last quarter was 4.3bn rupees ($98m; £52m) against 2.7bn a year earlier. profit had been forecast to be 4.1bn rupees. wipro offers services such as call centres to foreign clients and has worked for more than half of the companies on the fortune 500 list. wipro said demand was strong allowing it to increase the prices it charged. on the face of it the results don t look very exciting said apurva shah an analyst at ask-raymond james. but the guidance is positive and pricing going up is good news. third-quarter sales rose 34% to 20.9bn rupees. one problem identified by wipro was the high turnover of its staff. it said that 90% of employees at its business process outsourcing operations had had to be replaced. we have to get that under control said vice-chairman vivek paul. wipro is majority owned by india s richest man azim premji.

business

france telecom gets orange boost strong growth in subscriptions to mobile phone network orange has helped boost profits at owner france telecom. orange added more than five million new customers in 2004 leading to a 10% increase in its revenues. increased take-up of broadband telecoms services also boosted france telecom s profits which showed a 5.5% rise to 18.3bn euros ($23.4bn; £12.5bn). france telecom is to spend 578m euros on buying out minority shareholders in data services provider equant. france telecom one of the world s largest telecoms and internet service providers saw its full-year sales rise 2.2% to 47.2bn euros in 2004. orange enjoyed strong growth outside france and the united kingdom - its core markets - swelling its subscriber base to 5.4 million. france telecom s broadband customers also increased rising to 5.1 million across europe by the end of the year. the firm said it had met its main strategic objectives of growing its individual businesses and further reducing its large debt. an ill-fated expansion drive in the late 1990s saw france telecom s debt soar to 72bn euros by 2002. however this has now been reduced to 43.9bn euros. our results for 2004 allow us to improve our financial structure while focusing on the innovation that drives our strategy said chief executive thierry breton. looking ahead the company forecast like-for-like sales growth of between 3% and 5% over the next three years. france telecom is consolidating its interest in equant which provides telecoms and data services to businesses. subject to approval by shareholders of the two firms it will buy the shares in equant it does not already own. france telecom said it would fund the deal by selling an 8% stake in telephone directory company pagesjaunes.

business

patti smith to host arts festival rock star patti smith has been made artistic director of this year s meltdown festival to be held at london s south bank centre in june. the punk pioneer follows morrissey david bowie and nick cave in directing 15 days of concerts and events. smith has yet to decide the line-up for meltdown which begins on 11 june. i want to touch on all aspects of our culture perhaps with readings from genet and i have an idea for jeremy irons to read proust she said. the 58-year-old us singer of because the night told the observer newspaper that the festival would be her response to these material exploitative and greedy times . it is important we explore the new but we should also salute the best art there is aesthetically and spiritually she said. last year s meltdown festival directed by the ex-smiths star morrissey included appearances by singer jane birkin nancy sinatra and playwright alan bennett. he also persuaded punk band the new york dolls to reform for a reunion show.

world

police detain chinese milk bosses chinese police have detained three top executives at milk firm yili with reports suggesting that they are being investigated for embezzlement. yili - full name inner mongolia yili industrial - confirmed its chairman chief financial officer and securities representative were all in custody. the company china s third-largest milk producer is to hold an emergency meeting to debate the issue. a yili spokesman said it may now move to oust chairman zheng junhuai. the spokesman did not say why the three had been detained by the police. the official xinhua news agency said the arrest was linked to alleged embezzlement. yili has recently been the subject of intense media speculation over its financial operations. executives are suspected of wrongly using 417m yuan ($50.4m; £26m) of company funds to support a management buyout back in july 2003. yili s shares were suspended on tuesday having fallen by 10% on monday. the company and its two main rivals - market leader mengniu dairy and second place bright dairy - dominate a chinese milk market that has grown by almost 30% over the past five years. analysts wondered if the scandal at yili - the latest to befall chinese companies this year - could be followed by further revelations of corporate wrongdoing. investors wonder if yili s scandal one of a slew to be uncovered this year isn t just the tip of the iceberg said chen huiqin an analyst at huatai securities.

science and tech

game warnings must be clearer violent video games should carry larger warnings so parents can understand what their children are playing the trade and industry secretary has said. patricia hewitt is expected to call for the law banning the sale of 18-rated games to children to be enforced better at a games industry meeting on sunday. she is concerned too many children are playing games aimed at adults which include high levels of violence . parents are expected to spend millions on video games as christmas presents. violent games have been hit by controversy after the game manhunt was blamed by the parents of 14-year-old stefan pakeerah who was stabbed to death in leicester in february. his mother giselle said her son s killer warren leblanc 17 - who was jailed for life in september - had mimicked behaviour in the game. police investigating the stefan s murder dismissed its influence and manhunt was not part of its legal case. ahead of sunday s meeting in london ms hewitt said she was proud of the uk s vibrant games industry but was concerned too many children were playing games which should only be sold to adults. roger bennett head of gaming industry body elspa said banning violent games would be wrong. he said: we don t want to go down that route. we have seen that the government is supportive of the industry. the government is holding a further meeting on friday with industry and retail representatives as well as the british board of film classification to discuss how labelling can be made clearer. ms hewitt said: adults should be treated as adults and children as children. it is important that retailers respect the classifications and do not sell games with high levels of violence to minors. equally parents need to know what they might be buying for their children. video games are different to films or videos and not all parents have grown up playing games in the way our children do. we need to look carefully at how we improve content warnings and strengthen sales enforcement. her call was backed by culture media and sport secretary tessa jowell who said: you wouldn t let your child watch the texas chainsaw massacre. you wouldn t let them go to a strip club. so you shouldn t let them play an 18-rated game. it s the same principle - adults can make their own informed choices but children can t always and need to be protected. anyone convicted of selling an 18-rated game to a child can be jailed for six months and fined up to £5 000. rockstar games the makers of manhunt has said in the past it markets its games responsibly and only targets its adverts at adults.

science and tech

labour battle plan hides blair the tories have accused tony blair of being terrified of scrutiny after labour unveiled details of how it will fight the next general election. in a break with tradition the party will ditch the leader s battle bus and daily press briefings in westminster. instead mr blair will travel to key cities and marginal seats to deliver the party s message. labour election chief alan milburn denied the party was trying to hide the prime minister. he promised the most positive and upbeat election campaign labour has ever run . but tory co-chairman liam fox said labour s plans showed mr blair was terrified of facing proper scrutiny . at a time when the british people are looking for more accountability and openness this government turns its back on them; abandoning plans to tour the country and scared to face journalists in a press conference - it does rather beg the question what have they got to hide the general election is widely expected next may and all the parties are stepping up their campaign preparations. mr milburn said the economy would take centre stage in labour s campaign in what would be a watershed election and the last stand of the thatcherites . mr milburn said labour s slogan would be britain is working - don t let the tories wreck it. the tone of the campaign said mr milburn would be more conversational than rhetorical; more spontaneous less scripted; less national more local and less based on issues and more concentrated on people. the approach is particularly designed to appeal to women voters he said. mr milburn brushed aside questions over why the chancellor was not present at the cabinet meeting to discuss election strategy particularly since such importance was being given to the economy. i m not privy to everybody s diary he said. mr brown has headed labour s preparations for previous polls but mr milburn is taking that role this time. in a break with the past labour will not hold a daily news conference in london. it will not be a battle bus style campaign either he said. in previous elections each party leader has had their own battle bus transporting national newspaper television and radio reporters to staged campaign events around the country. mr milburn said labour s media effort this time would focus more on local newspapers and broadcasters with every local radio station given the chance to interview the prime minister. mr milburn said there would also be a greater effort to set up face-to-face meetings between ministers and the electorate. former downing street media chief alastair campbell is also returning to advise labour on media strategy and campaigning. mr milburn said no decision had been taken yet over whether david blunkett would have a prominent role in the election. liberal democrat chief executive lord rennard suggested labour was avoiding news conferences in london because it wanted less scrutiny of its record and proposals. tony blair seems to have disappeared from labour leaflets and broadcasts he said. in contrast charles kennedy will feature prominently in the liberal democrat campaign right across the country.

sports

minimum wage increased to £5.05 the minimum wage will rise in october benefiting more than 1m people the government has announced. adults must be paid at least £5.05 an hour up from £4.85 while 18 to 21 year olds will be paid £4.25. the recommendations came from the low pay commission which said the number of jobs had continued to grow since the minimum wage was introduced in 1999. businesses wanted it frozen warning more rises could damage competitiveness but the unions want a £6 rate. a further increase in the adult rate to £5.35 an hour is provisionally scheduled for october 2006. according to the commission many businesses had found the last two significant increases in the minimum wage challenging . we have therefore recommended only a slight increase above average earnings and concentrated it in the second year to allow business more time to absorb the impact said chairman adair turner. the government says most of those on the minimum wage are women - with many working in cleaning catering shops and hairdressing. unveiling the latest increase mr blair said he wanted the minimum wage to become a symbol of decency and fairness . for too long poverty pay capped the aspiration and prosperity of far too many hard-working families he said. too often people were told to make a choice between the indignity of unemployment or the humiliation of poverty pay. chancellor gordon brown and transport secretary alistair darling promoted the news in edinburgh wales secretary peter hain and welsh first minister rhodri morgan in cardiff and northern ireland minister john spellar in belfast. the government has not accepted the commission s recommendation that 21-year-olds should be paid at the adult rate but says it will look again at the rate later on. mr brown said: we want to do nothing that can damage the employment opportunities for young people particularly young people entering the labour market for the first time. the government has said it will look at tougher action against the small number of employers who consistently refuse to pay the minimum wage. the national minimum wage is currently set at £4.85 per hour for those aged 22 and above and at £4.10 for those aged 18 to 21. a £3 per hour minimum wage was introduced last october for 16 to 17-year-olds but apprentices are exempt. the trade unions congress welcomed the increase but has called for a £6 minimum wage by next year. but the confederation of british industry (cbi) called for a pause year to assess the impact of the above inflation rise in the minimum wage in october. and david frost director of the british chambers of commerce said: the level of increase each year has increased by rates far outstripping the rates of inflation. what employers are saying to us now is that it s at a level where it s starting to bite into the competitiveness of companies right across the country. the liberal democrats economics spokesman vincent cable said he supported the move to raise the minimum wage. it s not just good for the workers themselves but it lifts them out of benefits and therefore is good for the exchequer too he said. conservative leader michael howard said he accepted the principle of the minimum wage and would not seek to disturb the increase. speaking on bbc radio 4 s woman s hour mr howard hinted the tories might go into the general election with a promise to cancel income tax for the lowest-paid workers. there are people on very low salaries very low incomes indeed who really shouldn t be paying income tax he said. it would be better to decrease taxes on earnings below £12 000 a year with say no tax on below £6 000. the losses in tax can be recouped by having a 50pc tax band for people making over £100 000. our minimum wage is going to be effectively almost twice the us minimum wage yet our economy per person is only 2/3rds of the us! perhaps we have to really starting questioning why some products cost 50-60% more here than they do in the us. this combined with the tax decreases would make the pounds the low-paid people do make go much further. it s still not good enough! i got a part time job at 16 when i was doing my a-levels in an attempt to get a little money saved for uni. this was only 2 years ago and i was getting paid £2.75 an hour and working as hard as any of the older staff maybe it s about time 16 - 21 year olds got a fair wage! we must remember that the minimum wage is only part of the picture and must not rise to a level that makes employing people unattractive and encourages businesses to send work and therefore jobs abroad. still government and local councils employ staff via their contractors that pay at the minimum wage or very close to it. an easy way for the government to do as it preaches would be to insist on floor pay levels for all government workers and take tens of thousand of civil servants out of the social security system all together. any increase is certainly welcome news. however for all those whining about the pressures of an increase in the minimum wage i would simply ask them: would you be happy to work for less than £5.05 an hour . thought not ... so then don t expect others to either. i can t believe that so many of these comments are against the minimum wage! also i personally take great offence at the insinuation that people earning minimum wage were lazy at school if everyone went to university then who would serve you in the supermarkets and clean up after you it s about time that these hardworking people are rewarded with only what they deserve and have earned fair pay and a bit of respect wouldn t go a miss either. br /> this is good news. the minimum wage has put a sense of equality back into a worker s relationship with their employer. wages are supposed to be a fair reflection of an employee s efforts. for too long wages were a point of exploitation - what could an employer get away with. in very simplistic terms this put a pressure to keep low-paid wages low. with the minimum wage this downward pressure is at least partly removed. it is also interesting to read the comments from so called business leaders. they are the first to defend the rights and privileges of boards to award fat-cat salaries bonuses and pension rights to the select few but they are the first to attack policies that are put in place to merely defend the rights of those that really make those fat cats purr! i feel there are both negatives and positives to the increase on one hand some businesses will struggle to stay afloat but on the other hand in today world many young people can t afford to move out as property costs too much and only by earning more will they be able to get on in life. its true many may get complacent but the minimum wage could be looked at as more of a stepping stone rather than a hand out. here come the usual whines about how difficult it will be for businesses! we all remember michael howard s protestations that the minimum wage would cost a million jobs when it was introduced - funny how he s gone quiet on that one! jobs have continued to increase since this humane legislation was brought in. i think if any job is worth doing then it s worth being paid a fair wage for and £5.05 is hardly a fortune. if your business cannot pay its workers a decent wage then maybe it s not being run properly and if it folds a better-run company will take over its duties and employ more people so everybody wins except incompetent business owners! great keep at it tony i remember the despair of the 80s and the low wages employers got away with. at last we can make a difference to people and reward them for working. we can t afford not to pay a decent wage. it s not a jobs at any price economy goodbye sweatshops hello decency. the increase in minimum wage is a good thing. living in the southwest where house prices and rent have increased hugely (like the rest of the country) over the past 5 years has made living for you average 18-21 years old very difficult. in the south west the increase in living costs have not been matched by an increase in pay for example a job i did in plymouth was underpaid to an equivalent worker in exeter by 75p an hour. hopefully the increase in the minimum wage will bring in to balance pay on a regional and national level and in turn allow people like myself who do work hard but might never earn a 6 figure salary the chance to branch out on our own. i work at a large hospital where the contractors providing all ancillary services - domestic catering & portering etc - pay the minimum wage of £4.85 as the basic rate. someone has to do these unglamorous jobs and earn enough to live decently. how dare people suggest we are lazy or complacent for accepting these jobs and these wages who do they think will be carrying out these public service jobs if contractors are allowed to pay as little as their consciences allow this is definitely the right step in the right direction. it shows that this government cares for the low income earners as well. this is a million votes more. good strategy isn t it although i would not deny people the minimum wage increase its timing stinks. i am quite prepared for a raft of bribes to come from the government before the election and a raft of taxes afterwards they are playing us for the fools they think we are. this is extremely bad news for any business - whether they are small and medium enterprises or even large companies. by increasing overheads for business there will be an almost certain rise in costs to the consumer who while they openly welcome the idea of an increase in the minimum wage are the same people who still want to buy that shirt or that pair of trainers for next to nothing. the extra cost this increase will bring will only be reflected in the price of the goods we buy which in turn will only serve to discourage companies from setting-up business in the uk or encourage those companies already based here to look elsewhere. the jubilation felt by low-paid workers here will soon give way to misery as they lose their jobs. this will only lead to a reduction in jobs. why have many of the call centre jobs gone to india. blair say s the economy is strong and stable economy however consumer debt and the country s debt is at its highest and now they heap this onto businesses that will have no choice but to cut the workforce. the timing cannot be coincidental. this is blatant electioneering and should be exposed as such. andrew in derby complains that raising the minimum wage is blatant electioneering . i don t mind if it is. in our degraded democracy elections are the one time when elites really have to worry about doing something concrete for the majority. my only complaint is the paltry figures being discussed. if my maths is right a 35 hour week at £5.05 gives you an annual income just over £9 000 and raising it to £6 leaves it under £11 000. the unions should be putting the government under pressure for much more. businesses complaining might like to take a look at corporate pay shareholder payouts and profits before wondering if paying a living wage is really a controlling factor in the viability of their firm. i am all for lifting the minimum wage of workers to a reasonable level but we have to accept that with this will come competition from overseas workers. also small businesses will have to be able to afford this manpower cost. we are already seeing a sweeping change in it work being lost to india where people are paid much less. it is difficult for me to understand that only five years ago cheap labour abroad was classified as sweat shop but now we are told it is global competition. with our manufacturing industry in serious decline the country cannot be entirely service industries without something tangible to serve. there has to be something at the top of the food chain and that is manufacturing. the whole picture needs to be looked at. this is great news but that might be because i work for minimum wage. seems a good idea and will hopefully be an incentive to those who live to claim to actually get a job. when you can earn more from claiming than you can from work there is no incentive. perhaps a step in the right direction. if the tuc get their way a very large number of smes will have to close - this will put more people out of work. how then will the government fudge the unemployment figures! the government know it is not big business that keeps the economy going but the smes but we always get overlooked they will only take notice if these large corporations close and move to other countries after all they are predominantly owned by foreign companies. we are a specialist company but with these increases have already had an effect on us and we have lost work another one will close us. while i m delighted for those on low pay that this increase is being put forward i am extremely concerned at the implications for small businesses. as an employee for a small nursery i know this increase will cause great hardship for my employer who has been unable to increase salaries for higher paid employees because of last october s increase for the lower paid employees - who were originally being paid slightly above the minimum but are now on the minimum. this latest increase of 20p an hour will cause even more financial hardship. if the rate rises to £6 then i can foresee many small businesses having to pay off employees. the increase in minimum wage will have a serious effect on my business. although we pay above the minimum level we will have to increase our pay rates to maintain the differential. the raise is well above inflation and without significant increases in sales it will mean that i will not be taking on a new member of staff as planned and i will be looking to reduce the total hours worked by the other members of staff overtime being the first to go. i currently employ 42 staff whose wages mirror the national minimum wage. increases above inflation are fine but all of my business is conducted with local authorities who will not accept above inflation rises in my service delivery. 80% of my costs are labour. the other aspect that is always hidden is that the thresholds for tax credits do not move in line with these increases so that all that happens is that employees tax credit support is reduced by the amount of the increase thereby saving the government money but increasing the financial burden on small to medium businesses it is very good that the government has decided to increase the minimum wage - this should hopefully motivate people to undertake the lower status jobs. i know about this great idea - don t bother getting qualifications laze about at school no need to do anything other than attend so your parents don t get fined because remember when you do eventually start working doesn t matter how lazy you are you ll be guaranteed a decent wage. the ones who suffer are the employers. i hope that if industry and business have to pay this new rate that mr blair and mr brown will increase tax allowances and raise national insurance thresholds so that the treasury won t take some of this increase off the people they say they are helping or is this just another form of stealth tax on business through the back door i don t believe in the minimum wage at all! i think jobs should create their own wage value and that if people want higher wages they should earn them. now before everyone thinks that i am some rich-kid i can assure you i am not. i came from a very much working class background and started work 20 years ago on a youth opportunity program earning £25 per week. i worked hard went to college part time got my a-levels and degree & bettered myself. i now earn a 6 figure salary. i did that through hard work and getting off my backside. a minimum wage just makes people complacent. to ashley of swindon: when you earned £25 per week it was worth something. these days that £25 would need to be near to £60 to have the equivalent buying power. i might add that thanks to successive governments holding down the tax allowance threshold below inflation people earning the minimum wage are paying taxes that they never would have done 10 years ago at equivalent wages. in my day type arguments are a view that belong in the your day - 20 years ago! as a graduate working for minimum wage i welcome any increase of pay i can get. i disagree with ashley swindon saying i have to work harder to get more pay. i have my gcse s a-levels and a degree and have chosen to work for a small business that can t afford the wages i should be getting i should be on at least 3x what i m getting but they can t afford it. we all work hard but the money is just not there. but on the plus side i love my job and wouldn t change it just to get more pay. as an employer of staff in several shops the last rise in the minimum wage cost my company an additional £5000 per year. these next rises will cost me more. i have to get the money from somewhere so pass it on to customers. so no one really wins in the end. in answer to emma from sleaford regarding no one really wins in the end... on the contrary mr blair wins - he wins because he obviously has announced this to be a vote winner and his treasury wins because as an employer you will know that the amount of tax and national insurance that the government will receive from all the minimum wage increases will rise and of course not only will be paying out higher wages but as an employer higher employer ni contributions as well. if the minimum wage increases again and if it hits anywhere near the £6.00 mark there will be 12 more people on the employment line and one more small business going bankrupt - namely mine. think of us employers as well mr blair we are not all big corporations earning millions. all workers should be entitled to a fair day s pay for a fair day s work. how many people on the minimum wage have any hope of obtaining a mortgage or saving towards retirement it is good news for many asians living in uk. students who do odd jobs can increase their income and can help there family in their home country. i thank mr. blair and his government for increase in the national minimum wage.

entertainment

ferguson hails man utd s resolve manchester united s alex ferguson has praised his players gutsy performance in the 1-0 win at aston villa. that was our hardest away game of the season and it was a fantastic game of football end-to-end with lots of good passing said the old trafford boss. we showed lots of character and guts and we weren t going to lose. i look at that fixture and think we ve been there and won while arsenal and chelsea have yet to come and villa may have some players back when they do. ferguson also hailed senior stars ryan giggs and roy keane who came off the bench for the injured john o shea. roy came on and brought a bit of composure to the midfield which we needed and which no other player has got. giggs was a tremendous threat and he brings tremendous penetration. all we can do is maintain our form play as we are and we ll get our rewards.

sports

us firm bids for lacroix label a us firm has said it is in final negotiations with luxury goods group lvmh to buy the loss-making christian lacroix haute-couture house. paris-based lvmh has been selling non-core businesses and focusing on its most profitable labels including moet & chandon champagne and louis vuitton. privately-held falic group bought two cosmetics brands hard candy and urban decay from lvmh in early 2003. the florida company also own a chain of 90 duty free stores in the us. lvmh refused to comment on the reports. but one of the three brothers behind the falic group said the firm had also held talks with the designer christian lacroix and wished to retain him. we are buying his name simon falic told the reuters news agency. we have plans to increase the exposure of the brand and increase the volume of business.

entertainment

wales make two changes for france wales coach mike ruddock has made two changes from the team that beat italy 38-8 for saturday s trip to france. kevin morgan takes over from his injured newport-gwent dragons colleague hal luscombe on the right wing. and in the pack neath-swansea ospreys forward ryan jones is preferred at blindside flanker to jonathan thomas. thomas a try-scorer in rome drops down to the bench instead of ian gough while cardiff back rhys williams steps up in place of morgan. luscombe is sidelined by a hamstring problem sustained during the six nations game against italy last weekend. however the experienced and in-form morgan was already pushing hard for a start at stade de france. due to his impressive performances from the bench kevin was very much in the selection mix anyway and the unfortunate injury to hal gives him the chance to start said ruddock. now that ryan jones has recovered from injury we have increased the options in the back row. jonathan thomas is unlucky to lose his spot after performing well against italy and scoring a try but such is the competition for places that every position is debated in detail. for this particular game we felt we might not always be afforded the open spaces out wide we were able to exploit against italy so an extra big ball-carrier in the back-row is thought to be necessary on this occasion. obviously it s a 22-man game these days and there is every chance that jonathan will be making an impact from the bench. wales have beaten france on two of their last three visits to paris and another victory this time around would keep them firmly on course for a first five or six nations title triumph since 1994. graham henry (former wales coach) said a couple of years ago that we should be bold when going to france and he was proved right said ruddock. that is a great way to approach the game and something we will further endorse with the players this week. g thomas (toulouse capt); k morgan (newport-gwent) t shanklin (cardiff) g henson (neath-swansea) s williams (neath-swansea); s jones (clermont auvergne) d peel (llanelli); g jenkins (cardiff) m davies (gloucester) a jones; (neath-swansea) b cockbain (neath-swansea) r sidoli (cardiff); r jones (neath-swansea) m williams (cardiff) m owen (newport-gwent). replacements: r mcbryde (llanelli) j yapp (cardiff) j thomas (neath-swansea) r sowden-taylor (cardiff) g cooper (newport-gwent) c sweeney newport-gwent) r williams (cardiff).

sports

hewitt falls to dent lleyton hewitt suffered a shock defeat to taylor dent in the quarter-finals of the australian hardcourt championships in adelaide on friday. the top seed was a strong favourite for the title but went down 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to the american. dent will face juan ignacio chela next after the fourth seed was too strong for jurgen melzer. olivier rochus beat third seed nicolas kiefer 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 and will take on second seed joachim johansson. the swede reached the last four by beating compatriot thomas enqvist 6-3 4-6 6-1. i felt like i was striking the ball much better said johansson. i felt like i had a lot of break chances i didn t take care of them all but i broke him four times and he only broke me once. i felt that was the key to get up in the set early.

entertainment

blair rejects iraq advice calls tony blair has rejected calls for the publication of advice on the legality of the iraq war amid growing calls for an investigation. the prime minister told his monthly press conference the matter had been dealt with by the attorney general. earlier conservative mp michael mates joined calls for a probe into claims lord goldsmith s statement to parliament was drawn up at number 10. mr blair said the statement was a fair summary of lord goldsmith s opinion. that s what he (lord goldsmith) said and that s what i say. he has dealt with this time and time and time again mr blair told his monthly news conference in downing street. he refused to answer further questions on the issue saying it had been dealt with literally scores of times and the position has not changed . lord goldsmith has denied being leaned on and says the words written were his. the government refuses to publish his advice on the legality of the war - saying such papers have always been kept confidential. mr mates who is a member of the commons intelligence and security committee and was part of the butler inquiry into pre-war intelligence told the bbc on friday: that as a general rule is right but it s not an absolute rule. he said there had been other occasions when advice had been published most recently regarding prince charles s marriage plans. the government could not pick and choose when to use the convention he said. mr mates added: we discovered that there were two or three occasions in the past when law officers advice to the government has been published. and this may be one of those special occasions... when it would be in the public interest to see the advice which the attorney general gave to the prime minister. this is argument was rejected by mr blair who said: firstly we haven t broken the precedent and secondly peter goldsmith has made his statement and i have got absolutely nothing to add to it. in a book published this week philippe sands qc a member of cherie blair s matrix chambers says lord goldsmith warned tony blair on 7 march 2003 that the iraq war could be illegal without a second un resolution sanctioning military action. but a short statement about lord goldsmith s position was presented in a written parliamentary answer on 17 march 2003 - just before a crucial commons vote on the military action. mr sands book suggests it was actually written by home office minister lord falconer and downing street adviser baroness morgan. former minister clare short who resigned from the government over the iraq war said it was the same statement that was earlier shown to the cabinet as it discussed military action. she told the bbc the full advice should have been attached according to the ministerial code. my view is we need the house of lords to set up a special committee summon the attorney get all the papers out look at exactly what happened she said. the conservatives and liberal democrats say they want the publication of the full legal advice given by the attorney general. on thursday lord goldsmith said his statement had not been written by or at number 10 . in my parliamentary answer on march 17 2003 i explained my genuinely held independent view that military action was lawful under the existing security council resolutions he said.

politics

henman decides to quit davis cup tim henman has retired from great britain s davis cup team. the 30-year-old who made his davis cup debut in 1994 is now set to fully focus on the atp tour and on winning his first grand slam event. i ve made no secret of the fact that representing great britain has always been a top priority for me throughout my career henman told his website. captain jeremy bates has touted alex bogdanovic and andrew murray as possible replacements for the veteran. henman added that he was available to help britain in its bid for davis cup success with the next tie against israel in march . although i won t be playing i would still like to make myself available to both jeremy and the lta in the future so that i can draw upon my experience in the hope of trying to help the british players develop their full potential he added. i ve really enjoyed playing in front of the thousands of british fans both home and abroad and would like to thank every one of them for their unwavering support over the years. henman leaves davis cup tennis with an impressive record having won 36 of his 50 matches. great britain captain jeremy bates paid tribute to henman s efforts over the years. tim has quite simply had a phenomenal davis cup career and it has been an absolute privilege to have captained the team with him in it said bates. tim s magnificent record speaks for itself. while it s a great loss i completely understand and respect his decision to retire from davis cup and focus on the grand slams and tour. looking to the future this decision obviously marks a watershed in british davis cup tennis but it is also a huge opportunity for the next generation to make their mark. we have a host of talented players coming through and despite losing someone of tim s calibre i remain very optimistic about the future. henman made his davis cup debut in 1994 against romania in manchester. he and partner bates won their doubles rubber on the middle saturday of the tie. britain eventually lost the contest 3-2. henman and britain had little luck in davis cup matches until 1999 when they qualified for the world group. britain drew the usa and lost the tie when greg rusedski fell to jim courier in the deciding rubber. they made the final stages again in 2002 but this time lost out to the might of sweden.

sports

charity single for quake relief singers including sir cliff richard and boy george are recording a charity single to help raise funds for victims of the asian tsunami. they hope the song will raise more than £2m for the relief fund. the song titled grief never grows old and described as a melancholy ballad was written by radio dj mike read. former boyzone singer ronan keating may also take part if a studio can be found close to where he is holidaying in switzerland. other music stars being approached include robin and barry gibb of the bee gees jazz sensation jamie cullum chris rea and olivia newton-john. sir cliff has recorded his vocal part in barbados while boy george has recorded his in new york. read wrote the song before the boxing day tragedy but had thought it was too gloomy to release. now he plans to have it recorded by a collection of pop stars under the name one world project. it s a natural home for it because people kept saying to me it s such a good song but it s such a sad song read said. he said the song was a slow ballad and would work with around 10 singers rather than a sing-along like the band aid 20 single raising money for famine relief in africa. the backing track has already been recorded and organisers hope it can be finished within the next week to get it into record shops as soon as possible. read went to the disasters emergency committee (dec) which is co-ordinating the british relief effort with the idea the day after boxing day. i was totally shocked at the enormity and suddenness of the disaster and in tears on seeing the orphaned children wandering aimlessly in search of their parents he said. read said all the funds raised by the record would go to the dec. i d only be pleased in terms of what it meant for sales if it got to number one he added. the charity welcomed the news of the single and said money raised would help its agencies working in the affected region to rebuild survivors lives and livelihoods.

business

potter director signs warner deal harry potter director alfonso cuaron has signed a three-year deal with hollywood studio warner brothers according to variety trade magazine. the mexican film-maker who directed harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban will produce mainstream movies and smaller spanish-language films. we had a wonderful experience with alfonso on harry potter warner producer jeff robinov told variety. cuaron s other films include mexican movie y tu mama tambien. the 2001 rites-of-passage drama about two teenage boys who embark on a relationship with an older woman brought cuaron international attention - and box office glory. it also won him and his brother carlos with whom he co-wrote the screenplay an oscar nomination for best original screenplay. warner will distribute cuaron s films in several languages outside the us. this deal will give us the opportunity to collaborate with alfonso on movies that make the most of his artistry and vision and continue to offer him the mainstream worldwide audiences that our studio provides so successfully said mr robinov. his first film for warner brothers was 1995 s family fantasy movie a little princess. based on the novel by frances hodgson burnett a little princess tells the story of a young girl who is sent to live in a new york boarding school when her widowed father enlists for war. after the erotic nature of y tu mama tambien cuaron was a surprise choice to direct the third harry potter film but his dark interpretation was received well by the public and critics alike.

entertainment

mps issued with blackberry threat mps will be thrown out of the commons if they use blackberries in the chamber speaker michael martin has ruled. the £200 handheld computers can be used as a phone pager or to send e-mails. the devices gained new prominence this week after alastair campbell used his to accidentally send an expletive-laden message to a newsnight journalist. mr martin revealed some mps had been using their blackberries during debates and he also cautioned members against using hidden earpieces. the use of electronic devices in the commons chamber has long been frowned on. the sound of a mobile phone or a pager can result in a strong rebuke from either the speaker or his deputies. the speaker chairs debates in the commons and is charged with ensuring order in the chamber and enforcing rules and conventions of the house. he or she is always an mp chosen by colleagues who once nominated gives up all party political allegiances.

politics

reds sink 10-man magpies titus bramble s own goal put liverpool on the comeback trail as injury-hit newcastle were well beaten at anfield. patrick kluivert s close-range finish put newcastle ahead after 31 minutes but they were pegged back as bramble headed in steven gerrard s corner. neil mellor gave liverpool the lead before half-time from milan baros pass before the czech added a third after rounding shay given on the hour. newcastle then had lee bowyer sent off for two bookable offences. liverpool brought back luis garcia after a hamstring injury while newcastle were forced to draft in kluivert after craig bellamy was a late withdrawal with a back injury sustained in the warm-up. and garcia should have crowned his return with a goal inside the opening minute when he took a pass from baros but shot wildly over the top from eight yards. olivier bernard was only inches away from giving newcastle the lead after 20 minutes when he fired just wide from a free-kick 25 yards out. but souness s side did go ahead 11 minutes later in highly controversial circumstances. kluivert looked suspiciously offside when kieron dyer set bowyer free but the dutchman was then perfectly placed to score from six yards. the lead lasted three minutes with liverpool back on terms as bramble headed gerrard s corner into his own net under pressure from sami hyypia. and liverpool were ahead after 37 minutes when baros slid a perfect pass into mellor s path for the youngster to slip a slide-rule finish into given s bottom corner. garcia s finishing was wayward and he was wasteful again in first-half injury time shooting tamely at given after good work by xabi alonso. any hopes of a newcastle recovery looked to be snuffed out on the hour when a brilliant turn and pass by harry kewell set baros free and he rounded given to score. jermaine jenas then missed a glorious chance to throw newcastle a lifeline shooting over from just eight yards out from shola ameobi s cross. then bowyer who had already been booked for a foul on alonso was deservedly shown the red card by referee graham poll for a wild challenge on liverpool substitute florent sinama-pongolle. dudek finnan hyypia carragher riise luis garcia (nunez 73) gerrard alonso kewell (traore 85) baros mellor (sinama pongolle 75). subs not used: hamann harrison. bramble 35 og mellor 38 baros 61. given andrew o brien elliott bramble bernard bowyer dyer (ambrose 80) jenas milner (n zogbia 72) kluivert (robert 58) ameobi. subs not used: harper. bowyer (77). bowyer elliott bernard. kluivert 32. 43 856. g poll (hertfordshire).

entertainment

weak end-of-year sales hit next next has said its annual profit will be £5m lower than previously expected because its end-of-year clearance sale has proved disappointing. clearance rates in our end-of-season sale have been below our expectations the company said. the high street retailer said it now expected to report annual profits of between £415m and £425m ($779m-798m). next s shares fell more than 3% following the release of the trading statement. next chief executive simon wolfson admitted that festive sales were below where we would expect a normal christmas to be but said sales should still top analyst expectations. among areas where next could have done better mr wolfson said menswear ranges were a little bit too similar to the previous year . mr wolfson also said that disappointing pre-christmas sales were more to do with the fact that we went in with too much stock rather than (the fact that) demand wasn t there for the stock . next s like-for-like store sales in the five months from 3 august to 24 december were up 2.9% on a year earlier. this figure is for existing next stores which were unaffected by new next store openings. like-for-like sales growth at the 49 next stores directly affected by new store openings in their locality was 0.5%. overall sales across both its retail and mail order divisions were up 12.4% next said. its next directory mail order division saw sales rise 13.4% during the five-month period. in terms of all the worries about their trading pre-christmas it s a result said nick bubb an analyst at evolution securities. profits of around £420m would be well within the comfort zone. however one dealer who asked not to be named told reuters the seasonal sales performance was not what people had hoped for . christmas has been tough for the whole sector and this is one of the best retailers he said. next s trading statement comes a day after house of fraser and woolworths disappointed investors with their figures.

business

napster offers rented music to go music downloading for those that have rejected the free peer to peer services can be a costly business. the cost of paying even as little as 70p per track can add up particularly for those people who own one of the new generation of players that can store thousands of songs. paying per track for music is becoming as outmoded as paying per minute for internet access and alternative monthly or yearly subscription models are springing up as a more convenient and ultimately cheaper way of owning music. music fans are moving away from buying the traditional bundled package of a dozen or more songs that we used to call an album to newer ways that fit their lifestyle; either single tracks or subscriptions services said paul myers chief executive of wippit a uk-based music download service. while itunes is doing good business with its sales of individual tracks to ipod owners others are questioning whether the concept of owning music is even valid in the digital age. napster is due to launch a new rental subscription service - dubbed napster to go in the uk in the next few months. the service can be used on players that support microsoft windows latest digital rights management technology known as janus. this includes players made by samsung rio and creative. currently on offer in beta-version in the us the service costs $15 per month for unlimited downloads. the technology ensures that music downloaded to the player only remains playable while the user subscribes to the service. users need to update their license on a monthly basis or the tunes will no longer play. this has outraged some digital music lovers especially as napster already offers a cheaper service for downloading music to the pc. napster claims the higher price is a result of record labels charging more for the to-go service and says it also offers greater value for customers. mr myers is not convinced a rental model will work for consumers. we ve been offering our unlimited music subscription service for more than three years now and our customers know what they want. format interoperability excellent value and the reassurance that music purchased from wippit is theirs to keep and enjoy on whatever device they choose he said. who wants to download a track that won t play next month if you decide to unsubscribe to the service or change portable player for an ipod or the latest mobile phone wippit offers a download subscription service for £4.99 per month or £50 per year. it has a catalogue of around 60 000 songs.

science and tech

dance music not dead says fatboy dj norman cook - aka fatboy slim - has said that dance music is not dead but has admitted it is currently going through a fallow patch . the commercial failure of the latest albums by britain s two biggest dance acts - fatboy slim s palookaville and the prodigy s always outnumbered never outgunned - has been coupled with the closure of many superclubs and the folding of three dance music magazines. last month the brit awards announced they would no longer be awarding a best dance act prize with the brits committee announcing that dance music is no longer where it s happening in music. these developments lead some to suggest that dance was finished as a popular music genre. cook acknowledged that much change in the dance world in the four years since his last album halfway between the gutter and the stars but he stressed this did not mean the dance scene was permanently over. every week when i was making the album i was reading articles about the demise of dance music - and obviously that affects you somewhat he told bbc world service s the ticket programme. i personally don t believe it s either dead or going to die but it s going through a bit of a fallow patch. so i think consciously or subconsciously reading every week that dance music was dead i would think right scrub that track then . although his album sales in the uk are down - palookaville stayed in the uk top 75 for just three weeks - cook has achieved recent global success with his beach parties. and event on brighton sea front in 2002 attracted 250 000 people while a later one in rio achieved a crowd of 360 000. the dvd of the rio set was the biggest seller of that year. with a crowd that big if the weather s nice the atmosphere before i even go is so good that about halfway through the first record i think i ve got them cook said. i m always really really nervous before the big ones - they had to give me valium before rio because two hours before i was literally just pacing the floor. for some reason especially now i ve got a reputation for it the atmosphere and the joie de vivre that s already going on means all i have to do is play up records. he promised more such parties in more locations around the world - despite problems after the brighton event which ended in chaos with many revellers finding themselves stranded as transport ground to a halt. one man also died of a heart attack and a woman fell to her death during the free party. we re having to widen our horizons from just beaches because there s landlocked countries that want to get involved cook said. we re doing rio at the carnival at the maracana and sao paolo - our new gig is famous football stadiums. the dj admitted however that his massive worldwide success had a downside with intense media interest in his personal life. in particular he said he had struggled to cope with tabloid intrusion during the temporary break-up of his marriage to radio one presenter zoe ball after she was linked with dj dan peppe. the tabloid thing has been difficult at times cook said. especially the me-and-zoe-gate - it s quite scary. he said that he had been determined that what had happened with ball did not affect the album. at first i was doing deliberately jolly tunes so that people wouldn t think i was depressed he explained. then i thought that s not right . and he highlighted a bizarre coincidence - that one song written before they split had turned out to have a great deal more meaning than intended. i said to zoe i did this track called my masochistic baby went and left me do you mind if it s on the album he recalled. she said yeah it s hilarious because your masochistic baby did leave you . cook also added that he had some ways of coping with the intense paparazzi pressure which accumulates at the end of the private road he lives on - where paul mccartney is a neighbour. it s almost like prisoners rattling the bars with their mugs cook explained. if there s a pap at the end of the road everyone knocks on each other s doors - paul comes round and we warn him because we don t know who they re after.

entertainment

mitsubishi in peugeot link talks trouble-hit mitsubishi motors is in talks with french carmaker psa peugeot citroen about a possible alliance. on tuesday mitsubishi the only major japanese car firm in the red confirmed earlier reports of negotiations. but a spokesman refused to comment on speculation that mitsubishi could end up building cars for psa and perhaps its japanese rival nissan. mitsubishi has been hit by a recall scandal and the withdrawal of support from shareholder daimlerchrysler. the us-german firm once a majority shareholder decided last april to stop providing financial backing. mitsubishi s sales have slid 41% in the past year catalysed by the revelation that the company had systematically been hiding records of faults and then secretly repairing vehicles. mitsubishi is due to unveil a recovery plan later in january. analysts said that alliances with other carmakers would be a necessary part of whatever it came up with not least because its own slow sales have left its manufacturing capacity under-used.

world

screensaver tackles spam websites net users are getting the chance to fight back against spam websites internet portal lycos has made a screensaver that endlessly requests data from sites that sell the goods and services mentioned in spam e-mail. lycos hopes it will make the monthly bandwidth bills of spammers soar by keeping their servers running flat out. the net firm estimates that if enough people sign up and download the tool spammers could end up paying to send out terabytes of data. we ve never really solved the big problem of spam which is that its so damn cheap and easy to do said malte pollmann spokesman for lycos europe. in the past we have built up the spam filtering systems for our users he said but now we are going to go one step further. we ve found a way to make it much higher cost for spammers by putting a load on their servers. by getting thousands of people to download and use the screensaver lycos hopes to get spamming websites constantly running at almost full capacity. mr pollmann said there was no intention to stop the spam websites working by subjecting them with too much data to cope with. he said the screensaver had been carefully written to ensure that the amount of traffic it generated from each user did not overload the web. every single user will contribute three to four megabytes per day he said about one mp3 file. but he said if enough people sign up spamming websites could be force to pay for gigabytes of traffic every single day. lycos did not want to use e-mail to fight back said mr pollmann. that would be fighting one bad thing with another bad thing he said. the sites being targeted are those mentioned in spam e-mail messages and which sell the goods and services on offer. typically these sites are different to those that used to send out spam e-mail and they typically only get a few thousand visitors per day. the list of sites that the screensaver will target is taken from real-time blacklists generated by organisations such as spamcop. to limit the chance of mistakes being made lycos is using people to ensure that the sites are selling spam goods. as these sites rarely use advertising to offset hosting costs the burden of high-bandwidth bills could make spam too expensive said mr pollmann. sites will also slow down under the weight of data requests. early results show that response times of some sites have deteriorated by up to 85%. users do not have to be registered users of lycos to download and use the screensaver. while working the screensaver shows the websites that are being bothered with requests for data. the screensaver is due to be launched across europe on 1 december and before now has only been trialled in sweden. despite the soft launch mr pollmann said that the screensaver had been downloaded more than 20 000 times in the last four days. there s a huge user demand to not only filter spam day-by-day but to do something more he said before now users have never had the chance to be a bit more offensive.

science and tech

vera drake leads uk oscar hopes mike leigh s film vera drake will lead british hopes at this year s academy awards after getting three nominations. imelda staunton was nominated for best actress for her role in the abortion drama while leigh received nods for best director and original screenplay. kate winslet was also nominated in the best actress category for her role in eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. and clive owen and sophie okonedo both got nominated for supporting roles in closer and hotel rwanda respectively. owen has already been made bookmakers favourite for best supporting actor for the role in closer that has already clinched him a golden globe award. and it is the first nomination for actress okonedo chosen for her performance in hotel rwanda about the 1994 rwandan genocide. it is also a debut nomination for staunton 49 who told bbc news 24 she had not thought the film would appeal to academy voters. it was an extraordinary time making the film and i can t believe what has happened this morning she said. i hope it just shows mike up to be the extraordinary filmmaker he is. we are also dealing with a very difficult subject matter and it is amazing to have it accepted in this way. leigh who had previously received three oscar nominations for secrets and lies and topsy turvy told bbc news 24 the latest success was amazing . he said: we hoped that imelda staunton would get a nomination but i never expected to get director and screenplay. it s just absolutely wonderful. i think people are aware that it s about life - and i hope it is the warmth and compassion that really talks to people. winslet said she was ecstatic about the fourth nomination of her career. being nominated means so much to me. to be nominated for a film that was released a while ago i feel so honoured and overwhelmed she said. john woodward chief executive of the uk film council said it was extremely heartening to see british filmmaking talent recognised on the global stage. britain has a hugely talented industry and these nominations show why national lottery investment in film pays major dividends for our culture and economy. among a total of 24 british nominees composer andrew lloyd webber and lyricist charles hart are up for best original song for learn to be lonely from the phantom of the opera movie. cinematographer john mathieson who was nominated for gladiator in 2001 is also up for the phantom of the opera. and finding neverland has garnered two more nominations for brits. gemma jackson who has also worked on bridget jones s diary and iris is up for art direction while costume designer alexandra byrne whose previous films have included captain corelli s mandolin and elizabeth is in the running. the uk has two contenders in the best live action short film category. wasp was made by ex-children s tv presenter andrea arnold while little terrorist is the work of ashvin kumar. this year s awards will be handed out in hollywood on 27 february.

sports

bangkok film festival battles on organisers of the third bangkok international film festival have been determined to carry on with this year s event despite the ravages of the asian tsunami disaster. the festivities have been scaled down red carpets have been mothballed and profits from ticket sales are being donated to the tsunami relief fund. apart from this however the festival has continued as originally planned. when the disaster happened we naturally asked ourselves if we should cancel said the festival s executive director craig prater. the decision was made that we would continue but that the focus would change. our premieres became fundraisers the opening night was visibly toned down and 10% of every ticket sold goes to the disaster fund he continued. but we feel like we ve turned a page. we ve acknowledged our position and now it s business as usual. mr prater s sentiments were echoed by christine rush director of the festival s sister event the bangkok film market. we have been careful to be respectful of the thai nation s recovery from this terrible disaster she said. however the nation s recovery very much depends upon it continuing its economic life. we are encouraging attendees to keep the victims in mind and aggressively support the aid organisations helping out she added. given the conspicuously low audience figures that support may be more symbolic than significant. however poor ticket sales have less to do with any fallout from the disaster and more to do with administrative and promotional difficulties. the eclectic programme contains a wide range of titles including such oscar hopefuls as ray charles biopic ray and mike leigh s abortion drama vera drake. that said the absence of thai subtitles on most film prints might have proved offputting to local cinemagoers. on a more positive note the celebrity guests attending the event have generated huge media interest in this busy capital city. problems securing air transport the clash with last sunday s golden globes ceremony in los angeles and other factors have forced some big names to cancel. but the festival has still attracted such hollywood directors as oliver stone and joel schumacher alongside such screen stars as michael douglas jeremy irons and jean-claude van damme. irons whose film being julia is in competition for the festival s golden kinnaree awards said he had wondered whether he should attend after december s catastrophe. i questioned whether i should come when such a tragedy had happened the british actor said. i thought it might be in rather bad taste. but then i spoke to the organisers and i was encouraged to let life go on. now i ve come here i m very glad. what impresses me about thai culture is they get over these things far quicker than we do in the west he continued. basically i was invited here by thailand. if they still want you to come you should. now in its third year bangkok is a relatively recent addition to the hectic film festival calendar. and while it has yet to attain the stature of more established events held in hong kong tokyo and pusan in south korea mr prater predicts it will soon become their equal. it s grown awfully fast in three years - maybe too fast he concedes. we ve had some bumps in the road but that s only because the festival is still a baby. i have no doubt in my mind that in five years this will be the top asian film festival in the world. the golden kinnarees will be awarded on friday. the festival itself runs until 24 january.

entertainment

profile: david blunkett before he resigned the position of home secretary on wednesday david blunkett had been in charge of a substantial body of government portfolios including race policing and immigration. his responsibilities in running the home office included civil emergencies security terrorism and expenditure. named home secretary after the 2001 general election mr blunkett had seen the focus on his office intensify. the attacks on the world trade center on 11 september 2001 heightened concern for security and immigration in particular. a labour loyalist from a working class background mr blunkett 57 had been unafraid of pushing for tough changes to labour policy. recently the issue of identity cards had provoked controversy with questions raised over cost and invasions of civil liberties. mr blunkett was also at the centre of a humiliating scandal involving the former immigration minister beverly hughes. having received his full backing ms hughes was forced to resign in april over abuses in the visa processing system which she claimed to be unaware of. mr blunkett s own comments on immigration had prompted censure - he told refugees from afghanistan and kosovo to get back home to start rebuilding their countries. and he also urged people from ethnic minorities to develop a sense of belonging in britain telling them to speak english at home. avoiding political correctness is second nature to the former home secretary who spurns a metropolitan elite and airy fairy libertarians and earlier in the year coined the phrase liberati as an amalgam of glitterati and liberal . yet in january of this year he courted further controversy over his seemingly liberal reclassification of cannabis from a grade b to grade c status drug . before the recent furore mr blunkett had always appeared more interested in politics than his personal life. mr blunkett told the daily telegraph in 2001 that he continued to wear his wedding ring in spite of being a divorcee as a useful way of ensuring that people don t casually think i am available . he added: i am not available because i am just getting on with the job. mr blunkett entered parliament for sheffield brightside in 1987 after first contesting the sheffield hallam seat in 1974. he is one of very few blind mps and was the first to reach the front bench and the cabinet. his relaxed performances - with his guide dog by his side - at the despatch box in the labour party s national executive and on the conference platform made it easy to forget his disability. mr blunkett himself described not being able to see as simply an inconvenience . using braille for speeches and briefed by his officials on tape he also has a sharp tongue at times and a pragmatic approach to politics. mr blunkett was schooled in sheffield where he led the city council for seven years before entering the commons. he chaired the labour party nationally and was a unifying force in the 80s and 90s shadowing health and education. in tony blair s first government mr blunkett was put in charge of education and employment where he won big increases in funds for schools while insisting on improved standards of literacy and numeracy. he was prepared to stand up to the teaching unions - which sometimes heckled his speeches - and his policy of charging university students for tuition fees was not popular. in the labour party he has been regarded as a loyal colleague a conciliator who avoids factions and a man whose humour and determination make him widely popular. there have been wry smiles as well. in 1999 his then guide dog lucy threw up in the chamber during the speech of his tory opponent. lucy was replaced by her half-sister sadie a black labrador-curly-coated retriever cross in 2003 after nearly a decade by mr blunkett s side.

politics

pre-poll clash on tax and spend labour and the tories have clashed over tax and spending plans as the row over gordon brown s budget turned into a full scale pre-election battle. tony blair claimed a tory government would cut £35bn from public services hitting schools hospitals and police. tory chairman liam fox accused labour of at best misrepresentation at worst a downright lie and said the smear tactics were a sign of desperation. the lib dems accused mr brown of ducking the issue of council tax rises. appearing together at a labour poster launch the prime minister hailed his chancellor s brilliant performance. and he claimed the tories would cut £35bn from public services which was the equivalent of sacking every doctor and teacher in the uk. the tories said they would not cut spending but agreed public spending would increase more slowly under their plans - leading to a total of £33.5bn less spending than that anticipated by labour by 2011. but they say not a single doctor teacher or nurse will be cut. dr fox said: we have said we will be spending more year on year over and above inflation. and to call that a cut is at best a misrepresentation at worst a downright lie. tory shadow chancellor oliver letwin also predicted mr brown would have to raise taxes by £10bn or £11bn if labour was re-elected because he was borrowing and spending too much. for the lib dems vince cable said the chancellor had failed to deal with the looming problems of revaluation of council tax bands which he argued would result in massive increases for some. mr brown and mr blair staged a show of unity on thursday morning the day after the chancellor delivered a record-breaking ninth budget. mr cable said taxation as a share of the economy would go up under all three of the main parties. the chancellor meanwhile insisted his spending plans were affordable . in wednesday s budget mr brown doubled the level at which homebuyers pay stamp duty unveiled a rise in child tax credit and a £200 council tax refund for over-65s. defending the plans he told today: i will take no risks with the stability of the economy. all our spending plans announced yesterday [wednesday] including what we can do for pensioners as well as for young families and on stamp duty and inheritance tax all these are costed and affordable. in a further sign if any were needed that the election is approaching the house of commons authorities have formally told mps their offices will be deep cleaned during the three-week poll campaign. mr blair has yet to name the day - but it is widely expected to be 5 may.

politics

honour for uk games maker leading british computer games maker peter molyneux has been made an obe in the new year honours list. the head of surrey s lionhead studios was granted the honour for services to the computer games industry. mr molyneux has been behind many of the ground-breaking games of the last 15 years such as populous theme park dungeon keeper and black and white. he is widely credited with helping to create and popularise the so-called god-game genre. speaking to the bbc news website mr molyneux said receiving the honour was something of a surprise. it s come completely out of the blue he said i never would have guessed that i d have that kind of honour. he said he was surprised as much because not too long ago many people thought computer gaming was a fad. it was thought to be like skateboarding he said a craze that everyone thought would go away. now he said the gaming world rivals the movie industry for sales and cultural influence. britain plays a big part in it he said. it s one of the founding nations that made the industry what it is. mr molyneux has been a pivotal figure in the computer games industry for almost 20 years. his career started at bullfrog studios which in 1987 produced populous one of the first god-games. the title gave players control over the lives a small population of computerised people. mr molyneux said that his involvement with the games industry started almost by accident as back in the early days game making was more a hobby than a career. i thought everyone would treat populous as weird he said but it became a huge international success. he left bullfrog in 1997 to set up lionhead studios which was behind the ambitous and widely acclaimed game black & white. one of the next titles to come from lionhead puts players in charge of a movie studio and tasks them with producing and directing a hit film. the veteran game maker says he has one problem still to solve. being an absolute geek i ve got no idea what i m going to wear when i go and pick it up he said.

sports

us casino tricks face ban in uk controversial new uk casinos will be banned from using american tricks of the trade to ensure they are socially responsible it has been suggested. culture secretary tessa jowell said proposed super-casinos will be different from their us counterparts. in america pheromones have reportedly been released from machines to encourage aggressive gambling and clocks are often removed from walls. eight super-casinos are proposed from 2010 if the gambling bill becomes law. ms jowell said the legislation would ban psychological trickery. she told the times: british casinos will be quite different to those overseas. they will have to act in a socially responsible way and will be tightly regulated. they will be run according to british rules and we ll simply not allow any tricks which people are subjected to unawares and which increase the risk of problem gambling. one tactic used in the us is simulating daylight during night-time to lull players into remaining at the tables and slot machines. casinos also frequently offer free food drink and hotel accommodation to keep punters betting. a spokesman for the british casino association which represents the uk industry said the government was trying to allay fears over a uk las vegas . he said the way the licences were being awarded meant uk firms were at a massive disadvantage and foreign companies would be certain to win the contracts. the uk industry is one of the world s most respected he said. we have the lowest level of problem gambling in the world. we certainly don t use pheremones. the uk gambling industry is being totally frozen in time and the foreign companies will take over.

entertainment

india and russia in energy talks india and russia are to work together in a series of energy deals part of a pact which could see india invest up to $20bn in oil and gas projects. on the agenda are oil and gas extraction as well as transportation deals to be led by russian energy giant gazprom and india s ongc. the indian firm is also expected to hold talks on tuesday about buying a stake in assets once owned by yukos. it is reported to be keen on buying a 15% stake in oil unit yuganskneftegas. the former yukos subsidiary was controversially sold off last year and eventually acquired by state-owned energy giant rosneft. russian media reported that india and russia signed a memorandum of understanding on energy co-operation on tuesday during a meeting between oil and natural gas corporation chairman subir raha gazprom chairman aleksey miller and india s petroleum minister mani shankar aiyar. the agreement is likely to see the two companies develop refining facilities in russia india and elsewhere and organise delivery of oil gas and petrochemicals from russia to india and other countries across asia. ongc could invest in gas and oil fields in sakhalin in the far east of russia and may also take part in joint tender bids for projects in eastern siberia and the caspian sea. india is urgently searching for fresh energy supplies - particularly liquefied natural gas - as domestic demand is growing at more than 5% a year. ongc s mr raha said the two could work together on joint bids from next year. at current oil and gas prices our cash flow situation is good he told reuters. what we are saying is - gazprom has a huge amount of gas and we have the money. the investment may go up to $20bn or more for a period of five years or so. russian news agencies reported that india s petroleum minister mr aiyar and russian energy minister viktor khristenko would discuss the future of yugansk at a meeting on tuesday. ongc s mr raha declined to be drawn on his firm s reported interest in the company. however he stressed that ongc was not interested in a loan-for-oil deal in connection to yugansk similar to that concluded recently between rosneft and china s national petroleum corporation. china s problem is it has immediate demand and they needed the oil for their coastal refineries. we do not. we would like long-term security through equity participation. it is thought that any decision over yugansk will be delayed until a us court has decided whether to grant yukos bankruptcy protection. yukos is suing a host of companies involved in the sale of yugansk auctioned off to pay a huge back-tax bill. it has also threatened legal action against any business which has future commercial dealings with its former subsidiary.

entertainment

consumer concern over rfid tags consumers are very concerned about the use of radio frequency id (rfid) tags in shops a survey says. more than half of 2 000 people surveyed said they had privacy worries about the tags which can be used to monitor stock on shelves or in warehouses. some consumer groups have expressed concern that the tags could be used to monitor shoppers once they had left shops with their purchases. the survey showed that awareness of tags among consumers in europe was low. the survey of consumers in the uk france germany and the netherlands was carried out by consultancy group capgemini. the firm works on behalf of more than 30 firms who are seeking to promote the growth of rfid technology. the tags are a combination of computer chip and antenna which can be read by a scanner - each item contains a unique identification number. more than half (55%) of the respondents said they were either concerned or very concerned that rfid tags would allow businesses to track consumers via product purchases. fifty nine percent of people said they were worried that rfid tags would allow data to be used more freely by third parties. ard jan vetham capgemini s principal consultant on rfid said the survey showed that retailers needed to inform and educate people about rfid before it would become accepted technology. acceptance of new technologies always has a tipping point at which consumers believe that benefits outweigh concerns. with the right rfid approach and ongoing communication with consumers the industry can reach this point. he said that the survey also showed people would accept rfid if they felt that the technology could mean a reduction in car theft or faster recovery of stolen items. the tags are currently being used at one tesco distribution centre in the uk - the tags allow the rapid inventory of bulk items. they are also in use as a passcard for the m6 toll in the midlands in the uk. mr vetham said the majority of people surveyed (52%) believed that rfid tags could be read from a distance. he said that was a misconception based on a lack of awareness of the technology. at least once consumer group - consumers against supermarket privacy invasion and numbering (caspian) - has claimed that rfid chips could be used to secretly identify people and the things they are carrying or wearing. all kinds of personal belongings including clothes could constantly broadcast messages about their whereabouts and their owners it warned.

business

asian quake hits european shares shares in europe s leading reinsurers and travel firms have fallen as the scale of the damage wrought by tsunamis across south asia has become apparent. more than 23 000 people have been killed following a massive underwater earthquake and many of the worst hit areas are popular tourist destinations. reisurance firms such as swiss re and munich re lost value as investors worried about rebuilding costs. but the disaster has little impact on stock markets in the us and asia. currencies including the thai baht and indonesian rupiah weakened as analysts warned that economic growth may slow. it came at the worst possible time said hans goetti a singapore-based fund manager. the impact on the tourist industry is pretty devastating especially in thailand. travel-related shares dropped in europe with companies such as germany s tui and lufthansa and france s club mediterranne sliding. insurers and reinsurance firms were also under pressure in europe. shares in munich re and swiss re - the world s two biggest reinsurers - both fell 1.7% as the market speculated about the cost of rebuilding in asia. zurich financial allianz and axa also suffered a decline in value. however their losses were much smaller reflecting the market s view that reinsurers were likely to pick up the bulk of the costs. worries about the size of insurance liabilities dragged european shares down although the impact was exacerbated by light post-christmas trading. germany s benchmark dax index closed the day 16.29 points lower at 3.817.69 while france s cac index of leading shares fell 5.07 points to 3.817.69. investors pointed out however that declines probably would be industry specific with the travel and insurance firms hit hardest. it s still too early for concrete damage figures swiss re s spokesman floiran woest told associated press. that also has to do with the fact that the damage is very widely spread geographically. the unfolding scale of the disaster in south asia had little immediate impact on us shares however. the dow jones index had risen 20.54 points or 0.2% to 10 847.66 by late morning as analsyts were cheered by more encouraging reports from retailers about post-christmas sales. in asian markets adjustments were made quickly to account for lower earnings and the cost of repairs. thai airways shed almost 4%. the country relies on tourism for about 6% of its total economy. singapore airlines dropped 2.6%. about 5% of singapore s annual gross domestic product (gdp) comes from tourism. malaysia s budget airline airasia fell 2.9%. resort operator tanco holdings slumped 5%. travel companies also took a hit with japan s kinki nippon sliding 1.5% and his dropping 3.3%. however the overall impact on asia s largest stock market japan s nikkei was slight. shares fell just 0.03%. concerns about the strength of economic growth going forward weighed on the currency markets. the indonesian rupiah lost as much as 0.6% against the us dollar before bouncing back slightly to trade at 9 300. the thai baht lost 0.3% against the us currency trading at 39.10. in india where more than 2 000 people are thought to have died the rupee shed 0.1% against the dollar analysts said that it was difficult to predict the total cost of the disaster and warned that share prices and currencies would come under increasing pressure as the bills mounted.

business

gadget show heralds mp3 season partners of those who love their hi-tech gear may want to get their presents in early as experts predict a gadget shortage this christmas. with apple s ipod topping wish lists again there may not be enough ipod minis to go round predicts oliver irish editor of gadget magazine stuff. the ipod mini is likely to be this year s tracey island said mr irish. stuff has compiled a list of the top 10 gadgets for 2004 and the ipod is at number one. for anyone bewildered by the choice of gadgets on the market stuff and what hi-fi are hosting a best-of gadget show in london this weekend. star of the show will be sony s qrio robot an all-singing all-dancing football-playing man-machine who can even hold intelligent conversations. but he is not for sale and sony has no commercial plans for the robot. he will greet visitors and is flying in from japan. he probably has his own airplane seat that is how highly sony prize him said mr irish. also on display will be a virtual keyboard which projects itself onto any flat surface. the event will play host to a large collection of digital music players from companies such as creative sony and philips as well as the ubiquitously fashionable ipod from apple. suggestions that it could be a gaming or wireless christmas are unlikely to come true as mp3 players remain the most popular stocking filler said mr irish. demand is huge and apple has promised that it can supply enough but people might struggle to get their hands on ipod minis said mr irish. for those who like their gadgets to be multi-talented the gizmondo a powerful gaming console with gps and gprs that also doubles up as an mp3 player movie player and camera could be a must-have. what is impressive is how much it can do and how well it can do them said mr irish. this christmas gadgets will not be an all-male preserve. women will be getting gadgets from husbands and boyfriends as well as buying them for themselves said mr irish. gadgets nowadays are lifestyle products rather than just for geeks.

science and tech

labour mp praises tory campaign the conservatives have been a lot smarter in the way they have conducted the general election campaign a labour backbencher has said. derek wyatt said having a five month campaign turned off voters and suggested people were already rather bored of the thing . he wants a greater campaigning role for chancellor gordon brown. labour said the economy was at the heart of the campaign and mr brown therefore had a prominent role. but mr wyatt argued: by some way he is currently the figure in all of the polls that people trust and see that has delivered over eight years an economy unmatched anywhere in the world. so it would be a tad foolish of the labour party if we did not use him as we have done over the past three elections. labour s election chief alan milburn denied there was an attempt to sideline mr brown after facing criticism for letting the tories set the agenda. however mr wyatt predicted the campaign would get under way properly once the chancellor delivered his budget. the mp for sittingbourne and sheppey said prime minister tony blair had been trying very hard to improve his own standing with the electorate through a sort of campaign of trust . but mr blair had been hurt by the iraq controversy he added. a labour party spokesman played down differences with mr wyatt and said mr brown already had a prominent campaign role. this election is a choice between labour taking britain forward and the conservatives taking us back.

politics

seamen sail into biometric future the luxury cruise liner crystal harmony currently in the gulf of mexico is the unlikely setting for tests of biometric technology. as holidaymakers enjoy balmy breezes their ship s crew is testing prototype versions of the world s first internationally issued biometric id cards the seafarer s equivalent of a passport. along with the owner s picture name and personal details the new seafarers identity document incorporates a barcode representing unique features of its holder s fingerprints. the cards are due to be issued in february next year in line with the revised un convention on seafarers identity documents of june 2003. tests currently under way in the caribbean are designed to ensure that new cards and their machine readers produced by different companies in different countries are working to interoperable standards. results of the current tests which involve seafarers from a wide range of occupations and nationalities will be published by the international labour organisation (ilo) by the end of november. crystal cruises which operates the crystal harmony is exploring the use of biometrics but has not yet committed to the technology. authenti-corp the us technology consultancy has been working with the ilo on its technical specifications for the cards. if you re issued a seafarer s id in your country you want to be sure that when the ship lands in a port in say my country you can validate yourself using whatever equipment we have installed authenti-corp s ceo cynthia musselman told the bbc s go digital programme. she said french jordanian and nigerian nationals would be the first seafarers to get the new id cards since their countries have already ratified the convention. it aims to combat international terrorism whilst guaranteeing the welfare the one million seafarers estimated to be at sea. the convention highlights the importance of access to shore facilities and shore leave as vital elements to a sailor s wellbeing and therefore it says to safer shipping and cleaner oceans. by increasing security on the seas as well as border control and protection the cards will hopefully reduce the number of piracy problems around the world said ms musselman. it should be a safer environment for seafarers to work in and will allow people protecting their borders to have confidence that the people getting off the ship are in fact seafarers.

science and tech

aids and climate top davos agenda climate change and the fight against aids are leading the list of concerns for the first day of the world economic forum in the swiss resort of davos. some 2 000 business and political leaders from around the globe will listen to uk prime minister tony blair s opening speech on wednesday. mr blair will focus on africa s development plans and global warming. earlier in the day came an update on efforts to have 3 million people on anti-aids drugs by the end of 2005. the world health organisation (who) said 700 000 people in poor countries were on life-extending drugs - up from 440 000 six months earlier but amounting to only 12% of the 5.8 million who needed them. a $2bn funding gap still stood in the way of hitting the 2005 target the who said. the themes to be stressed by mr blair - whose attendance was announced at the last minute - are those he wants to dominate the uk s chairmanship of the g8 group of industrialised states. other issues to be discussed at the five-day conference range from china s economic power to iraq s future after this sunday s elections. aside from mr blair more than 20 other world leaders are expected to attend including french president jacques chirac - due to speak by video link after bad weather delayed his helicopter - and south african president thabo mbeki whose arrival has been delayed by ivory coast peace talks. the ukraine s new president viktor yushchenko will also be there - as will newly elected palestinian leader mahmoud abbas. showbiz figures will also put in an appearance from u2 frontman bono - a well-known campaigner on trade and development issues - to angelina jolie a goodwill campaigner for the un on refugees. unlike previous years protests against the wef are expected to be muted. anti-globalisation campaigners have called off a demonstration planned for the weekend. at the same time about 100 000 people are expected to converge on the brazilian resort of porto alegre for the world social forum - the so-called anti-davos for campaigners against globalisation for fair trade and many other causes. in contrast the davos forum is dominated by business issues - from outsourcing to corporate leadership - with bosses of more than a fifth of the world s 500 largest companies scheduled to attend. a survey published on the eve of the conference by pricewaterhousecoopers said four in ten business leaders were very confident that their companies would see sales rise in 2005. asian and american executives however were much more confident than their european counterparts. but the political discussions focusing on iran iraq and china are likely to dominate media attention.

business

baghdad blogger on big screen a film based on the internet musings of the baghdad blogger has been shown at the rotterdam film festival. the film has been directed by the man who calls himself salam pax the author of the weblog about iraqi life during and after the war. the movie version comes in the form of a series of shorts made by pax on a hand-held camera. baghdad blogger is among a number of films about iraq showcased at the dutch festival which runs until sunday. following the fascination with the writing of salam pax - not his real name - he began a regular column in the guardian newspaper and was given a crash course in documentary film-making. for the film he travelled iraq to document the changing landscape of the country and the problems it has faced since the invasion speaking to ordinary iraqis about their experiences. the festival will also see the screening of underexposure one of iraq s first features to emerge since the toppling of saddam hussein. director oday rasheed made the film on discarded 1980s kodak film taken from the remains for the former ministry of culture building. it centres on the lives of families and strangers going about their everyday business as baghdad is under siege. rasheed said the title was refers to the isolation felt by iraqis under saddam s regime and the difficult time the country is now experiencing. saddam s regime was hell but now i think the hell has doubled rasheed said. the festival was also due to screen murdered dutch film-maker theo van gogh s film about the treatment of woman under islam but it was withdrawn due to safety fears. van gogh was shot and stabbed in november 2004 following death threats he received about his film submission.

entertainment

tate & lyle boss bags top award tate & lyle s chief executive has been named european businessman of the year by a leading business magazine. iain ferguson was awarded the title by us publication forbes for returning one of the uk s venerable manufacturers to the country s top 100 companies. the sugar group had been absent from the ftse 100 for seven years until mr ferguson helped it return to growth. tate s shares have leapt 55% this year boosted by firming sugar prices and sales of its artificial sweeteners. after years of a sagging stock price and a seven-year hiatus from the ftse 100 one of britain s venerable manufacturers has returned to the vaunted index forbes said. mr ferguson took the helm at the company in 2003 after spending most of his career at consumer goods giant unilever. tate & lyle which was an original member of the historic ft-30 index in 1935 operates more than 41 factories and 20 more additional production facilities in 28 countries. previous winners of the forbes award include royal bank of scotland chief executive fred goodwin and former vodafone boss chris gent.

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cherie accused of attacking bush cherie blair has been accused of criticising george w bush s policies in a private address she gave during a united states lecture tour. the prime minister s wife is said to have praised the supreme court for overruling the white house on the legal rights of guantanamo bay detainees. the tories said she broke a convention that british political figures do not act in a partisan way when abroad. but downing street said she was speaking in her capacity as a lawyer. it said she was not expressing political opinions. mrs blair s remarks are said to have been made in a speech to law students in massachusetts. she said the decision by the us supreme court to give legal protection to two britons held at guantanamo bay was a significant victory for human rights and the international rule of law. she also described the us legal code as an outdated grandfather clock and welcomed a decision to throw out a law backed by mr bush relating to sodomy in texas. bbc news correspondent gary o donoghue said mrs blair was likely to face further calls for restraint since the us election is imminent. there have been some objections from people reasonably close to the bush administration about her making these comments in their backyard just two days before a presidential election he said. conservatives here too have made their feelings clear. cherie booth has always regarded herself as having an independent career. she has continued to practise as a major human rights lawyer in the courts. it s not unusual for her to make these sorts of criticisms clear but it can be embarrassing.

politics

gamers could drive high-definition tv films and games have been gearing up for some time now for the next revolution to transform the quality of what is on our screens. it is called high-definition - hd for short - and it is already hugely popular in japan and the us. it is set according to analysts to do for images what cds did for sound. different equipment able to receive hd signals is needed though and is expensive. but europe s gamers may be the early adopters to drive demand. europeans will have to wait until at least 2006 until they see mainstream hdtv. to view it it needs to be transmitted in hd format and people need special receivers and displays that can handle the high-quality resolution. the next generation of consoles however are expected to start appearing at the end of 2005 start of 2006. and most new computer displays and plasma sets are already capable of handling such high-resolution pictures. in the next generation [of consoles] hd support is mandatory dr mark tuffy games systems director at digital content firm thx told the bbc news website. every game is going to be playable in hd. so consumers who have gone out and spent all this money on hdtvs and who have no content to watch are going to be blown away by these really high-detail pictures. it s going to change really the way they look at gaming. at the end of last year chris deering sony s european president made a prediction that 20 million european households would have hdtv sets by 2008. a previous prediction from analysts datamonitor put the figure at 4.6 million by 2008 an increase from an estimated 50 000 sets at the end of 2003. but those in europe may see little point in buying what is quite an expensive bit of technology - about £2 000 - if there are few programmes or films to watch on them. satellite broadcaster bskyb is planning hdtv services in 2006 and the bbc intends to produce all of its content in hd by 2010. until broadcast rights format standards - and the practicalities of updating equipment - are agreed tv content will be limited. all tv images are made up of pixels which go across the screen and scan lines which go down the screen. most standard uk tv pictures are made up of 625 lines and about 700 pixels. hd offers up to 1 080 active lines with each line made up of 1 920 pixels. this means the picture is up to six times as sharp as standard tv. probably in the uk [gaming] is going to be the only thing you are going to really be able to show off as in look what this tv can do until hd is really adopted by broadcasters explains dr tuffy. but gamers are also the ideal target audience for hd because they always crave better quality graphics and more immersive gaming experiences. they are used to spending money on hardware to match a game s requirements. demographics have changed too and the sweet spot for the games industry is the gamer in his or her late 20s. this means they are likely to have higher disposable incomes and can afford the price of big-screen high-definition display technologies and hd projectors earlier than others. higher capacity storage discs such as hd-dvd and blue-ray are set to be standard in the next round of games consoles - allowing developers more room for detailed graphics. for console developers though hd offers some production changes. it could make games production slightly more expensive thinks dr tuffy. but we may see the cross-platform development of games becoming more common because they will more easily be able to take a pc game and apply it to a console he says. you are literally going to get to the point with a lord of the rings game for example is going to be closer and closer to the actual film especially the cgi stuff from the dvd. and the transition when they move from a cut scene to the game just now they have almost got it seamless. with hd he says the transition will be completely seamless and the same quality as the big-screen cinema release. this could herald an increasing convergence between the film and gaming industry. but it may not be until the generation after the next games consoles where the two industries really collide. at that point says dr tuffy games could become more or less interactive movies.

science and tech

nuclear strike key terror risk the uk and us must realise they cannot prevent all terror attacks and should focus on making sure they are not nuclear strikes says a top academic. amitai etzioni a key influence on new labour thinking says the us emphasis on an axis of evil is misplaced. the priority should instead be on failing states including russia and pakistan who cannot properly control their nuclear material he argues. his report demands a major overhaul of world rules on nuclear technology. professor etzioni was a senior adviser to president carter s white house and is the guru behind communitarian ideas which influenced the development of blairite third way politics. in a report for the foreign policy centre think tank he says a nuclear terrorist attack is the main danger faced by many nations. attempts to defend against it by hardening domestic targets cannot work nor can one rely on pre-emption by taking the war to the terrorists before they attack he says. that means there is an urgent need to curb terrorists access to nuclear arms and the materials used to make them. we must recognise that we will be unable to stop all attacks and thus ensure terrorists will not be able to strike with weapons of mass destruction prof etzioni continues. he suggests so-called rogue states such as iran and north korea are less of a problem than failed and failing states which are more likely to be a source of nuclear materials. he names russia as the failing state of gravest concern as it has an estimated 90% of all fissile material outside america. and he is also worried about pakistan after one of its top nuclear scientists abdul qadeer khan admitted leaking nuclear secrets. prof etzioni criticises the us for overlooking those reports suggesting it was done in return for pakistani help in hunting osama bin laden. this is like letting a serial killer go because he promised to catch some jay-walkers he says. - upgrading security at nuclear arms stores as a temporary measure - creating a new global safety authority to tackle nuclear terrorism using the intelligence links established in the wake of 11 september - backed by the united nations authority - encouraging pressuring and using all available means to persuade countries to switch their highly-enriched uranium for less dangerous less-enriched uranium - when possible taking fissile material away from failing states to safe havens where it can be blended down or converted - compelling failing and rogue states and eventually all states to destroy their nuclear bombs.

politics

mourinho takes swipe at arsenal chelsea boss jose mourinho has attempted to pile the pressure on title rivals arsenal ahead of the gunners facing newcastle on wednesday. arsenal will play the magpies a day after chelsea beat portsmouth during a busy festive programme. and mourinho said: they always seem to have two or three days rest in which to recover. perhaps it s something to do with the television schedule. all my players are tired especially john terry. chelsea boss jose mourinho admitted his side were lucky to win at fratton park but is still unhappy with the amount of games in such a short space of time during this time of year. he added: we have had to play two matches in three days which is foreign to many of my players and although i understand the traditions of football here at this time of year it is not good for your health to do it. you can sit back and smoke cigars one after another and it is a good life but it is not actually good for you. playing so many games is certainly not healthy especially for teams who still have european commitment.

sports

howard backs stem cell research michael howard has backed stem cell research saying it is important people are not frightened of the future. the controversial issue was a feature of the recent us presidential election where george bush opposed extending it. but the tory leader argued there was a moral case for embracing science which could help victims of alzheimer s parkinson s and motor neurone disease. i believe we have a duty to offer hope to the millions of people who suffer devastating illnesses he said. the use of embryonic stem cells in the uk is already allowed. stem cells are master cells that have the ability to develop into any of the body s tissue types. scientists hope that by growing such cells in the laboratory they can programme them to form specific tissue such as kidney heart or even brain tissue. mr howard acknowledged there were genuine concerns about stem cell research. but he argued: we mustn t be frightened of change or nostalgic about the past - we must be optimistic about the future. politicians must create the right framework so that the great potential of science can be harnessed for the benefit of mankind. with the life expectancy of the average briton now around the mid-70s society has a responsibility to enhance the quality of people s lives as they grow older. i know many people are concerned about stem-cell research. they are fearful of meddling with what they see as the stuff of souls. i respect those concerns. but i also believe we have a duty to offer hope to the millions of people who suffer devastating illnesses like parkinson s multiple sclerosis motor neurone disease alzheimer s and - as we saw in the papers today - now possibly heart problems. mr howard acknowledged there were no easy answers over such an issue but it was necessary to have the courage to do what we know to be morally right . he added: of course stem cells are still a recent discovery. more research needs to be done. but we must look at their potential in a responsible and grown-up way. the hopes of millions of people rest on what could be achieved. former superman actor the late christopher reeve was an advocate for the research after he was paralysed in a horse riding accident. mr howard made his remarks during a speech in westminster to the conservative national women s committee on ambitions and values.

sports

fao warns on impact of subsidies billions of farmers livelihoods are at risk from falling commodity prices and protectionism the un s food & agriculture organisation has warned. trade barriers and subsidies severely distort the market the fao report on the state of agricultural commodity markets 2004 said. as a result the 2.5 billion people in the developing world who rely on farming face food insecurity. the most endangered are those who live in the least-developed countries. the fao report said that support for farmers in industrialised nations was equivalent to 30 times the amount provided as aid for agricultural development in poor countries. the fao has urged the world trade organisation to swiftly conclude negotiations to liberalise trade easing developing countries access to the world market. it also criticised the high tariffs imposed by both developed and developing nations. it recommends that developing countries reduce their own tariffs to encourage trade and take advantage of market liberalisation. according to the organisation subsidies and high tariffs have a strong impact on the trade of products such as cotton and rice. global exports of these products are mainly in the hands of the european union and the us who - thanks to subsidies - sell them at very low prices. in fact almost 30 wealthy nations spend more than $300bn (£158.8bn; 230.9bn euros) in agricultural subsidies. the market situation has divided developing nations in two groups the fao said. the first group have a reasonably diverse range of agricultural products while in the second group agriculture lies largely in the hands of small-scale producers. for 43 developing countries more than 20% of their export incomes come from the sale of just one product. these countries are mainly situated in sub-saharan africa latin america and the caribbean.

business

smart search lets art fans browse if you don t know art but know what you like new search technology could prove a useful gateway to painting. artgarden developed by bt s research unit is being tested by the tate as a new way of browsing its online collection of paintings. rather than search by the name of an artist or painting users are shown a selection of pictures. clicking on their favourite will change the gallery in front of them to a selection of similar works. the technology uses a system dubbed smart serendipity which is a combination of artificial intelligence and random selection. it chooses a selection of pictures by scoring paintings based on a selection of keywords associated with them. so for instance a whistler painting of a bridge may have the obvious keywords such as bridge and whistler associated to it but will also widen the search net with terms such as aesthetic movement 19th century and water. a variety of paintings will then be shown to the user based partly on the keywords and partly on luck. it is much more akin to wandering through the gallery said jemima rellie head of the tate s digital programme. for richard tateson who worked on the artgarden project the need for a new way to search grew out of personal frustration. i went to an online clothes store to find something to buy my wife for christmas but i didn t have a clue what i wanted he said. the text-based search was restricted to looking either by type of garment or designer neither of which he found helpful. he ended up doing his present shopping on the high street instead. he thinks the dominance of text-based searching is not necessarily appealing to the majority of online shoppers. similarly with art browsing is often more important than finding a particular object. you don t arrive at tate britain and tell people what you want to see. one of the skills of showing off the collection is to introduce people to things they wouldn t have asked for he said. the tate is committed to making its art more accessible and technology such as artgarden can help with that said ms rellie. she hopes the technology can be incorporated on to the website in the near future. bt research is looking at extending the technology to other searching such as for music and films.

business

why cell will get the hard sell the world is casting its gaze on the cell processor for the first time but what is so important about it and why is it so different the backers of the processor are big names in the computer industry. ibm is one of the largest and most respected chip-makers in the world providing cutting edge technology to large businesses. sony will be using the chip inside its playstation 3 console and its dominance of the games market means that it now has a lot of power to dictate the future of computer and gaming platforms. the technology inside the cell is being heralded as revolutionary from a technical standpoint. traditional computers - whether they are household pcs or playstation 2s - use a single processor to carry out the calculations that run the computer. the cell technology on the other hand uses multiple cell processors linked together to run lots of calculations simultaneously. this gives it processing power an order of magnitude above its competitors. whilst its rivals are working on similar technology it is sony s which is the most advanced. the speed of computer memory has been slowly increasing over the last few years but the memory technology that accompanies the cell is a huge leap in performance. using a technology called xdr created by american firm rambus memory can run up to eight times faster than the current standard being promoted by intel. perhaps more important than any of the technology is the cell s role in the imminent war on living rooms . the big trend predicted for this year is the convergence of computers with home entertainment devices such as dvd players and hi-fis. companies like microsoft and sony believe that there is a lot of money to be made by putting a computer underneath the tv of every household and then offering services such as music and video downloads as well as giving an individual access to all the media they already own in one place. microsoft has already made its first tactical move into this area with its windows media center software which has been adopted by many pc makers. sony had a stab at something similar with the psx - a variation on the playstation - last year in japan although this attempt was generally seen as a failure. both companies believe that increasing the capabilities of games consoles to make them as powerful as pcs will make the technology accessible enough to persuade buyers to give them pride of place on the video rack. sony and ibm want to make sure that the dominance of the pc market enjoyed by microsoft and intel is not allowed to extend to this market. by creating a radically new architecture and using that architecture in a games console that is sure to be a huge seller they hope that the cell processor can become the dominant technology in the living room shutting out their rivals. once they have established themselves under the tv there is no doubt that they hope to use this as a base camp to extend their might into our traditional pcs and instigate a regime change on the desktop. cell is in fact specifically designed to be deployed throughout the house. the links between the multiple processors can also be extended to reach cell processors in entirely different systems. sony hopes to put cells in televisions kitchen appliances and anywhere that could use any sort of computer chip. each cell will be linked to the others creating a vast home network of computing power. resources of the cells across the house can be pooled to provide more power and the links can also be used to enable devices to talk to each other so that you can programme your microwave from your tv for example. this digital home of the future depends on the widespread adoption of the cell processor and there are as with all things a number of reasons it could fail. because the processor is so different it requires programmers to learn a different way of writing software and it may be that the changeover is simply too difficult for them to master. you can also guarantee that microsoft and intel are not going to sit around and let cell take over home computing without a fight. microsoft is going to be pushing its xbox 2 as hard as possible to make sure that its technology not sony s will be under your tree next christmas. intel will be furiously working on new designs that address the problems of its current chips to create a rival technology to cell so that it doesn t lose its desktop pc dominance. if cell succeeds in becoming the living room technology of choice however it could provide the jump-start to the fully digital home of the future. the revolution might not be televised but it could well be played with a videogame controller.

science and tech