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.


china aviation seeks rescue deal scandal-hit jet fuel supplier china aviation oil has offered to repay its creditors $220m (£117m) of the $550m it lost on trading in oil futures.  the firm said it hoped to pay $100m now and another $120m over eight years. with assets of $200m and liabilities totalling $648m  it needs creditors  backing for the offer to avoid going into bankruptcy. the trading scandal is the biggest to hit singapore since the $1.2bn collapse of barings bank in 1995. chen jiulin  chief executive of china aviation oil (cao)  was arrested by at changi airport by singapore police on 8 december. he was returning from china  where he had headed when cao announced its trading debacle in late-november. the firm had been betting heavily on a fall in the price of oil during october  but prices rose sharply instead.  among the creditors whose backing cao needs for its restructuring plan are banking giants such as barclay s capital and sumitomo mitsui  as well as south korean firm sk energy. of the immediate payment  the firm - china s biggest jet fuel supplier - said it would be paying $30m out of its own resources. the rest would come from its parent company  china aviation oil holding company in beijing. the holding company  owned by the chinese government  holds most of cao s singapore-listed shares. it cut its holding from 75% to 60% on 20 october.


rock band u2 break ticket record u2 have smashed irish box office records with ticket sales for their dublin concerts  after more than 150 000 were sold within 50 minutes.  tickets for the two concerts at the city s croke park stadium were released at 8am on friday morning.  nothing like it has ever been seen in ireland before   said justin green  spokesman for organisers mcd promoters.  we could have sold a million tickets.  the dublin dates on june 24 and 25 form part of the worldwide vertigo tour. the tour begins in san diego on 28 march and will cover 13 us cities. the band will also play 24 european gigs  finishing in lisbon in august.  mr green said that ticket outlets had been  bombarded  by u2 fans.  unfortunately there s thousands and thousands of disappointed fans all over the country which is disappointing  but there s only two dates confirmed   he said. many fans camped on the streets of the irish capital for three days to ensure they were first in line at ticketmaster in st stephen s green shopping centre  where the tickets went on sale on friday. however the majority of tickets  priced at between 59.50 and 80 euro each  were sold online. earlier this week  bono announced that the band would play two shows at the venue  which holds almost 80 000 people  due to the phenomenal demand for tickets.


markets signal brazilian recovery the brazilian stock market has risen to a record high as investors display growing confidence in the durability of the country s economic recovery.  the main bovespa index on the sao paolo stock exchange closed at 24 997 points on friday  topping the previous record market close reached the previous day. the market s buoyancy reflects optimism about the brazilian economy  which could grow by as much as 4.5% in 2004. brazil is recovering from last year s recession - its worst in a decade.  economic output declined 0.2% in 2003 and president luiz inacio lula da silva - elected as brazil s first working-class president in 2002 - was strongly criticised for pursuing a hardline economic policy.  investors have praised his handling of the economy as foreign investment has risen  unemployment has fallen and inflation has been brought under control. analysts believe the stock market will rise above the 25 000 mark for the first time before too long.  there should be more space for gains until the end of the year  somewhere up to 27 000 points   said paschoal tadeu buonomo  head of equities trading at brokers tov. brazil s currency  the real  also rose to its highest level against the dollar in more than two years on friday. although interest rates still stand at a punitive 17.25%  inflation has fallen from 9% to 7% while exports are booming  particularly of agricultural products.  for the first time in decades  we have all three economic policy pillars in line during a recovery   finance minister antonio palocci told the associated press news agency.  government accounts are in surplus  we have a current account surplus and inflation is under control.   investors were deeply suspicious of president da silva  a former trade union leader who campaigned on a programme of extensive land redistribution and a large rise in the minimum wage. however  mr da silva has stuck to an orthodox monetary policy inherited from his predecessor even in the face of last year s economic crisis. this has earned him the disapproval of rural farm workers  thousands of whom who took to the streets of brasilia on thursday to protest against government policies. president da silva has defended his policies  arguing that brazil cannot afford to continue the cycle of boom and bust which afflicted it in recent decades.


tough rules for ringtone sellers firms that flout rules on how ringtones and other mobile extras are sold could be cut off from all uk phone networks.  the rules allow offenders to be cut off if they do not let consumers know exactly what they get for their money and how to turn off the services. the first month under the new rules has seen at least ten firms suspended while they clean up the way they work. the rules have been brought in to ensure that the problems plaguing net users do not spread to mobile phones.  in the last couple of years ringtones  wallpapers  screensavers and lots of other extras for phones have become hugely popular. but fierce competition is making it difficult for firms to get their wares in front of consumers  said jeremy flynn  head of third party services at vodafone.   if you are not on the operator s portal you are going to have quite heavy marketing costs because it s a problem of how people discover your services   he said. to combat this many ringtone and other mobile content sellers started using a new tactic to squeeze more cash out of customers. this tactic involved signing people up for a subscription to give them  for instance  several ringtones per week or month instead of the single track they thought they were getting. mr flynn said that the move to using subscriptions happened over the space of a few weeks at the end of 2004. websites such as grumbletext.co.uk started getting reports from customers who were racking up large bills for phone content they did not know they had signed up for.  what made us uncomfortable was that these services were not being marketed transparently   said mr flynn.  people did not know they were being offered a subscription service.   we saw potential for substantial consumer harm here   he added.  the swift adoption of subscription services led to the creation of a new code of conduct for firms that want to sell content for mobile phones. the drafting of the new rules was led by the mobile entertainment forum and the uk s phone firms.  everyone is required to conform to this code of conduct   said andrew bud  regulatory head of the mef and executive chairman of messaging firm mblox.   it s all about transparency   he said.  consumers have to be told what they have got themselves into and how to get out of it.   the consumer has a right to be protected   he said. christian harris  partnership manager of mobile content firm zed  said the new system was essential if consumers were to trust companies that sell ringtones and other downloads.  the groundrules must be applied across the whole industry and if that s done effectively we will see the cowboys driven out   he said. the new rules came in to force on 15 january and the first month under the new regime has seen many firms cautioned for not honouring them. some have been told to revamp websites so customers know what they get for their money and what they are signing up for  said mr flynn. also  said mr flynn  vodafone has briefly cut off between eight and ten content sellers flouting the rules.  we have quite draconian contracts with firms   he said.  we do not have to say why. we can just cut them off.  under the rules consumers must be able to switch off the services by using a universal  stop  command sent via text message. he said the system had been designed to limit how much a consumer will pay if they inadvertently signed up for a service.  the mobile is so personal that people really resent the abuse of what is effectively part of their personality   said mr flynn.


iraq advice claim sparks new row the tories say ministers must respond in parliament to claims that the legal advice used to justify the iraq war was drawn up at number 10.  downing street has denied the claims  made in a new book about the attorney general lord goldsmith s advice. lord goldsmith also denied them  saying he was not  leaned on  in any way. but the conservatives and liberal democrats say they want the publication of the full legal advice given by the attorney general.  the government has consistently refused to publish lord goldsmith s advice on the legality of the war - saying such papers have always been kept confidential.  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. it said it was  plain  iraq continued to be in material breach of un resolution 1441. in his new book  lawless world  philippe sands  a qc and international law professor  suggests the parliamentary answer was written in downing street. according to mr sands  lord goldsmith had warned tony blair in a document on 7 march 2003 that the use of force against iraq could be illegal and that it would have been safer to seek a second un resolution sanctioning military action.  mr sands told newsnight the government had prepared a legal team to be able to defend its case  in case legal action was taken against the uk over the war. on 10 march  military chiefs reportedly asked for an unequivocal statement about the legality of the war to make sure troops could be defended in a court of law. the book  being serialised in the guardian newspaper  says on 13 march lord goldsmith met then home office minister lord falconer and downing street adviser baroness morgan.  after that downing street proceeded to set out his [lord goldsmith s] view in a parliamentary answer which was then published on 17 march   said mr sands.  tory leader michael howard reiterated calls for the publication of the full legal advice given by the attorney general  warning:  this issue will not go away.   these revelations throw an intensive spotlight on to the cavalier way in which this government operates - even on an issue as important as peace and war.  the government needs to act to restore public confidence and trust.  liberal democrat foreign affairs spokesman menzies campbell repeated his party s calls for lord goldsmith s first piece of legal advice to be made public.  the public interest  which the government claims justifies non-publication of the whole of the advice  can only be served now by the fullest disclosure.   in a statement to newsnight  lord goldsmith said:  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.  it was certainly not a view that i expressed as a result of being leaned on in any way  nor as i have already made clear  was it written by or at number 10.  the prime minister s official spokesman also rejected the claims  saying:  the attorney general made it clear the words and the judgement were his.  but ex-foreign secretary robin cook says all the advice should now be published. he said the claims suggested parliament had only received a précis of lord goldsmith s second opinion - and that it was actually drafted in no 10. this would be wrong even if lord goldsmith had signed the statement  mr cook said  because the attorney general s advice should be an  independent legal opinion   not subject to  political negotiation of this kind .


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


dirty den s demise seen by 14m more than 14 million people saw  dirty  den watts killed off on friday  marking eastenders  20th anniversary  according to unofficial figures.  den s death came 16 years after he was supposedly shot in 1989. but he came back to the show in september 2003. the audience for bbc one s one-hour special averaged 13.7 million and peaked at 14.2 million in the last 15 minutes  overnight figures showed. den died after being confronted by zoe  chrissie and sam in the queen vic.  if the ratings are confirmed  the episode will have given the soap its highest audience for a year. the overnight figures showed almost 60% of the viewing public tuned into eastenders between 2000 and 2100 gmt  leaving itv1 with about 13%.  we are very pleased with the figures   a bbc spokesman said.  it shows viewers have really enjoyed the story of den s demise.  the show s highest audience came at christmas 1986  when more than 30 million tuned in to see den  played by leslie grantham  hand divorce papers to wife angie.  two years later  24 million saw him apparently shot by a man with a bunch of daffodils by a canal. more than 16 million viewers watched his return in 2003. the show s ratings have since settled down to about 12 million per episode. grantham hit the headlines in may after a newspaper printed photographs of him apparently exposing himself via a webcam from his dressing room. he also allegedly insulted four co-stars. he apologised for his  deplorable actions  and  a moment s stupidity .


lib dems  new election pr chief the lib dems have appointed a senior figure from bt to be the party s new communications chief for their next general election effort.  sandy walkington will now work with senior figures such as matthew taylor on completing the party manifesto. party chief executive lord rennard said the appointment was a  significant strengthening of the lib dem team . mr walkington said he wanted the party to be ready for any  mischief  rivals or the media tried to throw at it.   my role will be to ensure this new public profile is effectively communicated at all levels   he said.  i also know the party will be put under scrutiny in the media and from the other parties as never before - and we will need to show ourselves ready and prepared to counter the mischief and misrepresentation that all too often comes from the party s opponents.  the party is already demonstrating on every issue that it is the effective opposition.  mr walkington s new job title is director of general election communications.


bbc poll indicates economic gloom citizens in a majority of nations surveyed in a bbc world service poll believe the world economy is worsening.  most respondents also said their national economy was getting worse. but when asked about their own family s financial outlook  a majority in 14 countries said they were positive about the future. almost 23 000 people in 22 countries were questioned for the poll  which was mostly conducted before the asian tsunami disaster. the poll found that a majority or plurality of people in 13 countries believed the economy was going downhill  compared with respondents in nine countries who believed it was improving. those surveyed in three countries were split. in percentage terms  an average of 44% of respondents in each country said the world economy was getting worse  compared to 34% who said it was improving. similarly  48% were pessimistic about their national economy  while 41% were optimistic. and 47% saw their family s economic conditions improving  as against 36% who said they were getting worse.  the poll of 22 953 people was conducted by the international polling firm globescan  together with the program on international policy attitudes (pipa) at the university of maryland.  while the world economy has picked up from difficult times just a few years ago  people seem to not have fully absorbed this development  though they are personally experiencing its effects   said pipa director steven kull.  people around the world are saying:  i m ok  but the world isn t .  there may be a perception that war  terrorism and religious and political divisions are making the world a worse place  even though that has not so far been reflected in global economic performance  says the bbc s elizabeth blunt.  the countries where people were most optimistic  both for the world and for their own families  were two fast-growing developing economies  china and india  followed by indonesia. china has seen two decades of blistering economic growth  which has led to wealth creation on a huge scale  says the bbc s louisa lim in beijing. but the results also may reflect the untrammelled confidence of people who are subject to endless government propaganda about their country s rosy economic future  our correspondent says. south korea was the most pessimistic  while respondents in italy and mexico were also quite gloomy. the bbc s david willey in rome says one reason for that result is the changeover from the lira to the euro in 2001  which is widely viewed as the biggest reason why their wages and salaries are worth less than they used to be. the philippines was among the most upbeat countries on prospects for respondents  families  but one of the most pessimistic about the world economy. pipa conducted the poll from 15 november 2004 to 3 january 2005 across 22 countries in face-to-face or telephone interviews. the interviews took place between 15 november 2004 and 5 january 2005. the margin of error is between 2.5 and 4 points  depending on the country. in eight of the countries  the sample was limited to major metropolitan areas.


broadband set to revolutionise tv bt is starting its push into television with plans to offer tv over broadband.  as a telecoms company  bt is moving to a content distribution strategy  andrew burke  chief of bt s new entertainment unit told the iptv world forum.  we want to be an entertainment facilitator   he said on the opening day of the london conference. the bbc is also trialling a service to play programmes over the net and has not ruled out offering it to non-licence fee payers overseas. the corporation s interactive media player (imp) is its first foray into broadband tv - known as iptv (internet protocol tv).   we see several opportunities for delivering the type of content that normally broadcasters find it difficult to get to viewers   said bt s andrew burke.  with more people on broadband  and connection speeds increasing  telcos around the world are looking for new ways to make money from it. increased competition between net service providers  encouraged by ofcom  has eroded bt s position in the market. it is looking for a good return on its investment in the technology which has made broadband over adsl a reality. it also sees delivering tv over broadband as a way of getting high-definition (hd) content to people sooner than they will be able to get it through conventional  regular broadcasts. the bbc s imp has just finished successful technical trials and is set for much larger consumer trials later in 2005. before it officially launches  the bbc must show the government how it offers value for money. delivering programmes over broadband offers clear public value  says the bbc  because it gives people more control  and more choice.  iptv is a similar idea to voip services  like skype. both use broadband net connections to carry information  like video and voice  in packets of data instead of conventional means. since it uses internet technology  iptv could mean more choice of programmes  more  more interactivity  tailored programming  and more localised content outside of conventional satellite  digital cable  and terrestrial broadcasts.  it is all part of the larger changing tv technology landscape and  like personal digital video recorders (pvrs)  gives people much more control over tv. broadcasters see iptv and pvrs as both as a threat and an opportunity. the bbc recognises that tv over broadband is a reality and aims to innovate with it  said rahul chakkara  controller of bbci s 24/7 interactive tv services. the imp is based on peer-to-peer technology  and lets people download programmes the bbc owns the rights to for up to seven days after broadcast.  iptv enables us to take back that programme to our audience at different times   said mr chakkara.   so we can tell our audience that that programme they paid for [via the licence fee]  they can access it any time they want.  it helps  said mr burke  that people are more au fait with terms like  digital    interactive   now that digital tv reaches more than 56% of uk homes. according to benoit joly from broadband telecoms firm thales  30% of europe cannot get satellite tv or digital tv. they could get iptv though. analysts say that iptv will account for 10% of the digital tv market in europe alone by the end of the decade. what needs to happen now  agree analysts  is for connection speeds to be bumped up to handle the service; 20mbps connections would be ideal. bt does not see itself as a broadcaster of iptv services  rather as an  enabler   said mr burke. its strategy is a  hybrid  approach  he explained  where over-the-air conventional broadcasts are supplemented with content over broadband.  initially appealing to niche markets  like sports fans  it will widen out. but iptv could be used for home-monitoring   pet cams   localised news services  and local authority tv  too says bt. it even suggests that it could target those households in the uk that do not own a computer  40% of the country.  broadband to them would not be about data and the net - that could come later for them - but about cheap phone calls and more choice of tv programmes. home choice already offers 10 000 hours of shows and channels  delivered over broadband to homes in london. with a broadband net subscription  you can also get your tv and phone service. through content deals and partnerships  it offers satellite as well as terrestrial channels  and bespoke channels based on what viewers pick and choose from its catalogues. it aims to expand nationally  but is seeing a lot of success with what it offers its 15 000 subscribers now  and aims to double uptake as well as reach by the summer. although still at a very early stage  iptv is another application for broadband that underlines its growing prominence as a backbone network - another utility like electricity.


domain system opens door to scams a system to make it easier to create website addresses using alphabets like cyrillic could open a back door for scammers  a trade body has warned.  the internationalised domain names system has been a work in progress for years and has recently been approved by the internet engineering task force. but the uk internet forum (ukif) is concerned that the system will let scammers create fake sites more easily. the problem lies in the computer codes used to represent language.  registering names that look like that of legitimate companies but lead users to fake sites designed to steal passwords and credit card details could become a whole lot easier for determined scammers  says stephen dyer  director of ukif. domain names are the  real language  addresses of websites  rather than their internet protocol address  which is a series of numbers. they are used so people can more easily navigate the web. so-called ascii codes are used to represent european languages but for other languages a hybrid of a system called unicode is used. so  for example  website paypal could now be coded using a mixture of the latin alphabet and the russian alphabet. the resulting domain as displayed to the users would look identical to the real site as a russian  a  look just like an english  a . but the computer code would be different  and the site it would lead users to could be a fake. this is more than just a theory. a fake paypal.com has already been registered with net domain giant verisign by someone who has followed the debate around the internationalised domain name (idn) system  said mr dyer. as the idea was to prove a point rather than be malicious the fake domain has now been handed back to paypal but it sets a worrying precedent  mr dyer said.  although the idn problem is well known in technical circles  the commercial world is totally unaware how easily their websites can be faked   said mr dyer.   it is important to alert users that there is a new and invisible and almost undetectable way of diverting them to what looks like a perfectly genuine site   he added. there are solutions. for instance  browsers could spot domains that use mixed characters and display them in different colours as a warning to users. mr dyer acknowledged that it would be a huge undertaking to update all the world s browsers. another solution  to introduce idn-disabled browsers could be a case of  throwing out the baby with the bath water   he said. centr  the council of european national top level domain registries  agrees.  a rush to introduce idn-disabled browsers into the marketplace is an overly-zealous step that will harm public confidence in idns - a technology that is desperately needed in the non-english speaking world   the organisation said in a statement.


attack prompts bush site block the official re-election site of president george w bush is blocking visits from overseas users for  security reasons .  the blocking began early on monday so those outside the us and trying to view the site got a message saying they are not authorised to view it. but keen net users have shown that the policy is not being very effective. many have found that the site can still be viewed by overseas browsers via several alternative net addresses.  the policy of trying to stop overseas visitors viewing the site is thought to have been adopted in response to an attack on the georgewbush.com website. scott stanzel  a spokesman for the bush-cheney campaign said:  the measure was taken for security reasons.  he declined to elaborate any further on the blocking policy. the barring of non-us visitors has led to the campaign being inundated with calls and forced it to make a statement about why the blocking was taking place. in early october a so-called  denial of service  attack was mounted on the site that bombarded it with data from thousands of pcs. the attack made the site unusable for about five hours.  about the same time the web team of the bush-cheney campaign started using the services of a company called akamai that helps websites deal with the ebbs and flows of visitor traffic. akamai uses a web-based tool called edgescape that lets its customers work out where visitors are based. typically this tool is used to ensure that webpages  video and images load quickly but it can also be used to block traffic. geographic blocking works because the numerical addresses that the net uses to organise itself are handed out on a regional basis. readers of the boingboing weblog have found that viewers can still get at the site by using alternative forms of the george w bush domain name. ironically one of the working alternatives is for a supposedly more secure version of the site. there are now at least three working alternative domains for the bush-cheney campaign that let web users outside the us visit the site. the site can also be seen using anonymous proxy services that are based in the us. some web users in canada also report that they can browse the site.  the international exclusion zone around georgewbush.com was spotted by net monitoring firm netcraft which keeps an eye on traffic patterns across many different sites.  netcraft said that since the early hours of 25 october attempts to view the site through its monitoring stations in london  amsterdam and sydney have failed. by contrast netcraft s four monitoring stations in the us managed to view the site with no problems. data gathered by netcraft on the pattern of traffic to the site shows that the blocking is not the result of another denial of service attack. mike prettejohn  netcraft president  speculated that the blocking decision might have been taken to cut costs  and traffic  in the run-up to the election on 2 november. he said the site may see no reason to distribute content to people who will not be voting next week. managing traffic could also be a good way to ensure that the site stays working in the closing days of the election campaign. however  simply blocking non-us visitors also means that americans overseas are barred too. most american soldiers stationed overseas will be able to see the site as they use the us military s own portion of the net. akamai declined to comment  saying it could not talk about customer websites.


young debut cut short by ginepri fifteen-year-old donald young s first appearance in an atp tennis tournament proved brief as the teenager went out in round one of the san jose open.  young shot to the top of the junior world rankings when he won the boys  singles at january s australian open. but the wildcard entry was dispatched by fellow american robby ginepri in straight sets  6-2 6-2  in california. despite that he was happy with his tour debut.  it was fun. i had my chances  but they didn t come through   he said. young  who beat two players ranked in the top 200 when he was just 14  was only 2-1 down in the first set before losing 10 of the next 13 games. and ginepri - six years older than the youngest player to ever win a junior slam and top the global standings - admitted he was impressed.   he s very talented   said ginepri.  he s got a long future ahead of him.  being left-handed  he was very quick around the court.  his serve is a little deceptive. he came into the net and volleyed better than i thought.  earlier  south korean hyung-taik lee defeated american jan-michael gambill 6-3 7-6 (7-4). american kevin kim defeated jan hernych of the czech republic 7-5 6-3  canadian qualifier frank dancevic downed american jeff morrison 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-0  and denmark s kenneth carlsen beat irakli labadze of the republic of georgia 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-3. top seed andy roddick launches his defence of the title on wednesday against qualifier paul goldstein. second seed andre agassi opens his campaign on tuesday against wildcard bobby reynolds  last year s us collegiate champion. agassi has won the san jose five times  but his run of three straight titles ended last year when he fell to mardy fish in the semi-finals. fish went on to lose to roddick in the final.


new harry potter tops book chart harry potter and the half-blood prince has topped amazon s book chart less than 24 hours after its release date - 16 july - was announced.  thousands of customers placed pre-orders on the amazon.co.uk website for the sixth book in the series. rowling revealed she had completed the novel on tuesday  ahead of the scheduled announcement on 25 december. it will be published simultaneously in the uk  the us  canada  australia  new zealand and south africa. jk rowling s fifth book in the wizard series  harry potter and order of the phoenix was amazon s largest pre-ordered item ever  with 420 000 copies pre-ordered prior to its release in june 2003. customers who pre-order harry potter and the half-blood prince avoid standing in long queues at bookshops on the day of the book s release next july.  the fact that the book has already hit number one in our hot 100 books chart shows how incredibly excited customers are about the sixth harry potter   said amazon s robin terrell.  harry potter and the half-blood prince takes up the story of harry potter s sixth year at hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry as lord voldemort grows stronger. rowling has already revealed that the half-blood prince is neither harry nor voldemort. and she added that the opening chapter of the book had been brewing in her mind for 13 years. rowling said she had plenty of time while pregnant  to tinker with the manuscript to my satisfaction and i am as happy as i have ever been with the end result . she also previously revealed that a character will be killed in the sixth book  but she has given no hints as to who it might be. following publication of the sixth book  just one novel remains to complete the series.


speak easy plan for media players music and film fans will be able to control their digital media players just by speaking to them  under plans in development by two us firms.  scansoft and gracenote are developing technology to give people access to their film and music libraries simply by voice control. they want to give people hands-free access to digital music and films in the car  or at home or on the move. huge media libraries on some players can make finding single songs hard.  voice command-and-control unlocks the potential of devices that can store large digital music collections   said ross blanchard  vice president of business development for gracenote.  these applications will radically change the car entertainment experience  allowing drivers to enjoy their entire music collections without ever taking their hands off the steering wheel   he added.  gracenote provides music library information for millions of different albums for jukeboxes such as apple s itunes. the new technology will be designed so that people can play any individual song or movie out of a collection  just by saying its name. users will also be able to request music that fits a mood or an occasion  or a film just by saying the actor s name.  speech is a natural fit for today s consumer devices  particularly in mobile environments   said alan schwartz  vice president of speechworks  a division of scansoft.  pairing our voice technologies with gracenote s vast music database will bring the benefits of speech technologies to a host of consumer devices and enable people to access their media in ways they ve never imagined.  the two firms did not say if they were developing the technology for languages other than english. users will also be able to get more information on a favourite song they have been listening to by asking:  what is this   portable players are becoming popular in cars and a number of auto firms are working with apple to device interfaces to control the firm s ipod music player. but with tens of thousands of songs able to be stored on one player  voice control would make finding that elusive track by elvis presley much easier. the firms gave no indication about whether the ipod  or any other media player  were in mind for the use of the voice control technology. the companies estimate that the technology will be available in the fourth quarter of 2005.


pearce keen on succeeding keegan joint assistant boss stuart pearce has admitted he would like to succeed kevin keegan as manager at manchester city.  keegan has decided to step down as city manager when his contract comes to an end in 18 months.  you don t have to be einstein to realise there will be a manager s job available at a really good club   pearce told bbc gmr.  i will certainly be applying for it  although whether the board deem me good enough to take it  i do not know.  pearce initially joined city as a player under keegan in 2001 before becoming part of the coaching staff. he was promoted to joint assistant-manager following the departure of arthur cox last summer.  the former england defender had a year as player-boss with nottingham forest eight seasons ago but has made no secret of his desire to have another crack at the job. he was linked with the manager s job at oldham and keegan has stated he would not get in the way if pearce wanted to leave. but it now appears pearce is keen to wait for his chance at city. he added:  by that time  i will have been here for five years so at least they will have had a good look at me and they are aware of my feelings with regard to being kevin s successor.  obviously  the issue is out of my hands but it is a fantastic job for anybody - i just hope it will be me.


playstation 3 processor unveiled the cell processor  which will drive sony s playstation 3  will run 10-times faster than current pc chips  its designers have said.  sony  ibm and toshiba  who have been working on the cell processor for three years  unveiled the chip on monday. it is being designed for use in graphics workstations  the new playstation console  and has been described as a supercomputer on a chip. the chip will run at speeds of greater than 4 ghz  the firms said. by comparison  rival chip maker intel s fastest processor runs at 3.8 ghz. details of the chip were released at the international solid state circuits conference in san francisco. the new processor is set to ignite a fresh battle between intel and the cell consortium over which processor sits at the centre of digital products. the playstation 3 is expected in 2006  while toshiba plans to incorporate it into high-end televisions next year. ibm has said it will sell a workstation with the chip starting later this year.  cell is comprised of several computing engines  or cores. a core based on ibm s power architecture controls eight  synergistic  processing centres. in all  they can simultaneously carry out 10 instruction sequences  compared with two for current intel chips.  later this year  intel and advanced micro devices plan to release their own  multicore  chips  which also increase the number of instructions that can be executed at once. the cell s specifications suggest the playstation 3 will offer a significant boost in graphics capabilities but analysts cautioned that not all the features in a product announcement will find their way into systems.  any new technology like this has two components   said steve kleynhans  an analyst with meta group. he said:  it has the vision of what it could be because you need the big vision to sell it.  then there s the reality of how it s really going to be used  which generally is several levels down the chain from there.   while the playstation 3 is likely to be the first mass-market product to use cell  the chip s designers have said the flexible architecture means that it would be useful for a wide range of applications  from servers to mobile phones. initial devices are unlikely to be any smaller than a games console  however  because the first version of the cell will run hot enough to need a cooling fan. and while marketing speak describes the chip as a  supercomputer  - it remains significantly slower than the slowest computer on the list of the world s top 500 supercomputers. ibm said cell was  os neutral  and would support multiple operating systems simultaneously but designers would not confirm if microsoft s windows was among those tested with the chip. if cell is to challenge intel s range of chips in the marketplace  it will need to find itself inside pcs  which predominantly run using windows.


ask jeeves tips online ad revival ask jeeves has become the third leading online search firm this week to thank a revival in internet advertising for improving fortunes.  the firm s revenue nearly tripled in the fourth quarter of 2004  exceeding $86m (£46m). ask jeeves  once among the best-known names on the web  is now a relatively modest player. its $17m profit for the quarter was dwarfed by the $204m announced by rival google earlier in the week. during the same quarter  yahoo earned $187m  again tipping a resurgence in online advertising.  the trend has taken hold relatively quickly. late last year  marketing company doubleclick  one of the leading providers of online advertising  warned that some or all of its business would have to be put up for sale. but on thursday  it announced that a sharp turnaround had brought about an unexpected increase in profits. neither ask jeeves nor doubleclick thrilled investors with their profit news  however. in both cases  their shares fell by some 4%. analysts attributed the falls to excessive expectations in some quarters  fuelled by the dramatic outperformance of google on tuesday.


singer ferguson  facing eviction  three degrees star sheila ferguson is the favourite to be evicted from itv s i m a celebrity... get me out of here on monday.  bookmakers ladbrokes says the singer has even odds of being the first contestant to be voted off the show.  it s going to be close but sheila is favourite as she has shown herself to be a bit of a troublemaker   said ladbrokes  warren lush. comic joe pasquale remains odds on favourite to win the reality show. mr lush added that nancy sorrell s chances of an early departure had increased since the surprise arrival of husband vic reeves in the jungle camp last wednesday. notwithstanding  comedian reeves remains 3/1 favourite to win the show  after pasquale.  huggy bear actor antonio fargas also remains a contender for eviction having  done nothing to live up to the pre-show hype .  there has been a big gamble on natalie [appleton] to go... but bookies fancy the millions at home will keep piling on the misery by putting her through more bushtucker trials   added mr lush. the former all saint star has performed dismally in bushtucker trials which have seen her plunged into glass tanks containing putrid waste and challenged to eat fish eyes. on friday  ladbrokes suspended betting after singer brian harvey quit the show folllowing a blazing row with janet street-porter. harvey  who entered the camp a day later than other contestants after learning that his grandmother had died  reached the end of his tether following days of meagre rations and rows.


ministers deny care sums  wrong  ministers have insisted they are committed to free personal care for the elderly despite research suggesting the cost of the policy was under-estimated.  a report by the fraser of allander institute says the decision to push ahead with the flagship policy was based on flawed research. deputy health minister rhona brankin has pledged to study the research. snp holyrood leader nicola sturgeon said the public needed reassurance that the care programme was secure.  the rise in costs stems from a series of mistakes in the research used by the  care development group  of scottish executive experts who prepared the original costings  according to findings published in the quarterly economic commentary of strathclyde university s fraser of allander institute.  dubious  assumptions about improving health expectancy could drive the cost of the policy up by another £130m by 2022  the report warned.  it was carried out by husband and wife economist team jim and margaret cuthbert. but ms brankin told bbc radio scotland:  we don t think we got our sums wrong.  obviously we will examine the findings of this new report  along with figures from our own research that we have already commissioned.  we will look in great detail at any contribution to this  because we need to be sure we can provide free personal care and nursing care for our older people into the future.  and we are absolutely committed to doing that.   but the scottish national party called on ministers to reassure people that enough funding is in place to support the free personal care policy. ms sturgeon said that while she had no reason to doubt the executive s support for the policy  there were questions which needed to be answered and  if necessary  sums redone. she said:  serious concerns have been raised and there are questions which need to be answered by the scottish executive.  we need to know that the money is there  not just for this year or next year  but into the future so that older people  and those who are looking forward to older age  can rest assured that their personal care needs will be met.


ad firm wpp s profits surge 15% uk advertising giant wpp has posted larger-than-expected annual profits and predicted that it will outperform the market in 2005.  pre-tax profits rose 15% from a year ago to reach £546m ($1.04bn)  ahead of average analysts  forecasts of £532m. revenues were £4.3bn while the firm s operating margins were 14.1%  which it said could reach 14.8% by 2006. during the year wpp bought us rival grey global  creating a giant big enough to rival sector leader omnicom.  chief executive martin sorrell on friday told reuters news agency that wpp had submitted a proposal for united business media s nop world market research unit. analysts say the unit sell could sell for up to £350m. wpp in recent years has also bought firms such as ogilvy & mather and cordiant communications. it also includes the firms young & rubicam and j walter thompson. events such as the olympics helped boost wpp s profits in 2004. the company said the us congressional elections and the fifa world cup are likely to present advertising opportunities in the near future. the long-term outlook looks  very favourable  because of media and technology developments and the strength of the us economy  wpp said.


beckham virus spotted on the net virus writers are trading on interest in david beckham to distribute their malicious wares.  messages are circulating widely that purport to have evidence of the england captain in a compromising position. but anyone visiting the website mentioned in the message will not see pictures of mr beckham but will have their computer infected by a virus. the pernicious program opens a backdoor on a computer so it can be controlled remotely by malicious hackers.  the appearance of the beckham windows trojan is just another example in a long line of viruses that trade on interest in celebrities in an attempt to fuel their spread. tennis player anna kournikova  popstars britney spears and avril lavigne as well as arnold schwarzenegger have all been used in the past to try to con people into opening infected files. the huge amount of interest in mr beckham and his private life and the large number of messages posted to discussion groups on the net might mean that the malicious program catches a lot of people out.  the public s appetite for salacious gossip about the private life of the beckhams might lead some into an unpleasant computer infection   said graham cluley from anti-virus firm sophos. simply opening the message will not infect a user s pc. but anyone visiting the website it mentions who then downloads and opens the fake image file stored on that site will be infected. the program that installs itself is called the hackarmy trojan and it tries to recruit pcs into so-called  bot networks that are often used to distribute spam mail messages or to launch attacks across the web. computers running microsoft windows 95  98  2000  nt and xp are vulnerable to this trojan. many anti-virus programs have been able to detect this trojan since it first appeared early this year and have regularly been updated to catch new variants.


harinordoquy suffers france axe number eight imanol harinordoquy has been dropped from france s squad for the six nations match with ireland in dublin on 12 march.  harinordoquy was a second-half replacement in last saturday s 24-18 defeat to wales. bourgoin lock pascal pape  who has recovered from a sprained ankle  returns to the 22-man squad. wing cedric heymans and ludovic valbon come in for aurelien rougerie and jean-philippe grandclaude.  rougerie hurt his chest against wales while grandclaude was a second-half replacement against both england and wales. valbon  capped in last june s tests against the united states and canada  was a second half replacement in the win over scotland.  france coach bernard laporte said harinordoquy had been axed after a poor display last weekend.  imanol has been dropped from the squad because the least i can say is that he didn t make a thundering comeback against wales   said laporte.  we know the ireland game will be fast and rough and we also want to be able to replace both locks during the game if needed  and gregory lamboley can also come on at number seven or eight.  the grand slam is gone but we ll go to ireland to win.  it will be a very exciting game because ireland have three wins under their belt  have just defeated england and have their eyes set on a grand slam.  france  who lost to wales last week  must defeat the irish to keep alive their hopes of retaining the six nations trophy. ireland are unbeaten in this year s tournament and have their sights set on a first grand slam since 1948.  dimitri yachvili (biarritz)  pierre mignoni (clermont)  yann delaigue (castres)  frederic michalak (stade toulousain)  damien traille (biarritz)  yannick jauzion (stade toulousain)  ludovic valbon (biarritz)  christophe dominici (stade francais)  cedric heymans (stade toulousain)  julien laharrague (brive)  sylvain marconnet (stade francais)  nicolas mas (perpignan)  olivier milloud (bourgoin)  sebastien bruno (sale/eng)  william servat (stade toulousain)  fabien pelous (stade toulousain  capt)  jerome thion (biarritz)  pascal papé (bourgoin)  gregory lamboley (stade toulousain)  serge betsen (biarritz)  julien bonnaire (bourgoin)  yannick nyanga (béziers)


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


halo fans  hope for sequel xbox video game halo 2 has been released in the us on 9 november  with a uk release two days later. why is the game among the most anticipated of all time   halo is considered by many video game pundits to be one of the finest examples of interactive entertainment ever produced and more than 1.5 million people worldwide have pre-ordered the sequel. a science fiction epic  halo centred the action on a human cyborg  controlled by the player  who had to save his crew from an alien horde after a crash landing on a strange and exotic world contained on the interior surface of a giant ring in space. remembrance of things past it was not - but as a slice of schlock science fiction inspired by works such as larry niven s ringworld and the film starship troopers  it fit the bill perfectly. halo stood out from a crowd of similar titles - it was graphically impressive  had tremendous audio  using dolby digital  a decent storyline  instant playability and impressive physics.  but what marked halo as a classic were the thousands of details which brought a feeling of polish and the enormously-high production values not usually associated with video gaming.  produced by bungie software  renowned for their innovation in gaming  it caused a stir among the gaming fraternity when the developer was bought by microsoft and became an xbox exclusive. claude errera  editor of fansite halo.bungie.org  said:  bungie got everything right. they were really careful to make sure everything worked the way it was supposed to.  nothing distracts you when you were playing. there was nothing in halo that had not been done before but everything in there was as good as it could be.  he added:  graphically it was superior to everything else out there.   it also had a depth to it that made it stand out.  halo was unusually immersive  sucking the player into the action and blurring the interface between screen and controller. it also capitalised on the growing popularity of lan gaming in the pc world - for the first time it became easy to link multiple game consoles together  allowing up to 16 players to battle against each other at the same time.  the game instantly cultivated an online following  which continues today with a score of halo fan websites following every aspect of the sequel  halo 2. errera spends three to fours hours a day of his own time maintaining the hugely popular website  which attracts 600 000 page views a day from halo fans eager for the latest news.  when the xbox launched on november 15 2001 in the us  halo was one of the launch titles and had an immediate impact on critics and consumers.  halo is the most important launch game for any console ever   wrote the influential edge magazine in its review  giving it a rare 10 out of 10 mark. the game had its critics and while it is not a one-off original as a game  it brought many original touches and flourishes to the genre which have defined all other first person shooters since.  the first time i played it i just stood there watching the spent shells fall out of my gun   said errera  remarking on the level of detail in the game.  the game also inspired thousands of people to write their own fiction based on the storyline and produce downloadable video clips of the many weird and wonderful things that can be done in the game.  it blew me away the first time someone managed to climb to the top of halo   said errera  referring to a fan who had created a video of master chief scaling the landscape of the graphical world. video clips of the more outrageous stunts that are possible thanks to the game s amazing physics engine are incredibly popular and some have attained a cult following. speculation about the sequel has seen every titbit analysed and poured over with all the intent of a forensic scientist examining a body. when early screenshots of the game were released some people wrote essay-length articles highlighting everything from the texture of graphics to clues about the story line. errera said expectations of the sequel among fans were sky high.  it does not feel like a game release any more. somebody told me this was the biggest single release of any product in microsoft s history.  we re all just hoping that bungie has got it right again.   halo 2 is out on 9 november in the us and 11 november in the uk


mobiles double up as bus tickets mobiles could soon double up as travel cards  with nokia planning to try out a wireless ticket system on german buses.  early next year travellers in the city of hanau  near frankfurt  will be able to pay for tickets by passing their phone over a smart-card reader already installed on the buses. passengers will need to own a nokia 3220 handset which will have a special shell attached to it. the system would reduce queues and make travelling easier  said nokia.  transport systems around the world are seeing the advantage of using ticketless smartcards. using a mobile phone is the next step  said gerhard romen  head of market development at nokia.  the ticketless trial will start early in 2005 and people will also be able to access transport information and timetables via their phones. nokia has worked with electronics giant philips to develop a shell for the mobile phone that will be compatible with hanau s existing ticketing system. the system opens up possibilities for mobile devices to be interact with everyday environments  said mr romen.  it could be used in shops to get product information  at bus-stops to get information about the next bus or  for example  by being passed over an advert of a rock star to find out details of concerts or get ringtones   he told the bbc news website. he is confident that the trial being run in germany could be extended to transport systems in other countries.  the technology offers access to a lot of services and makes it easy to get the information you want   he said.


davenport dismantles young rival top seed lindsay davenport booked her place in the last 16 of the australian open with a convincing 6-2 6-4 win over nicole vaidisova of the czech republic.  the american had too much power for her 15-year-old opponent  breaking twice in the first set and once in the second. the german-born vaidisova rallied well at times but was unable to find a way back after falling behind 3-2 in the opening set. davenport  who closed out with an ace  plays karolina sprem in the next round.  i was fully expecting a tough opponent and was able to play well enough to get through it   said davenport.  i think she hits some great shots. she made some errors but probably some inexperience played a role in that. but she s so young and obviously has a big game and has many  many years to improve on that.  sprem  the croatian 13th seed  saw off russia s elena likhovtseva 6-3 6-2. former world number one  powered her way into the fourth round with a straight sets win over anna smashnova. the 27th seed from israel stuck with williams until 3-3 in the first set before it became one-way traffic.  the american made 26 unforced errors but was still good enough to romp through the contest in exactly an hour. she reeled off nine straight games to finish a 6-3 6-0 winner.  remains on course to become the first australian to win her home title since chris o neil in 1978. the 10th seed equalled her best performance at a grand slam event when she beat unseeded russian nadia petrova 6-3 6-2 to reach the fourth round. after a tough first set  molik grew in confidence and won in just 56 minutes. she will now meet venus williams.  bring it on   said the 23-year-old.  i played pretty well and it was nice to get through in straight sets.   we were destined to meet  i guess   williams said referring to her match with molik.  it will be a huge match for her in australia. i can tell she s probably very motivated by that so i need to get out there and play well.   beat slovakia s daniela hantuchova in a rollercoaster match. dementieva came through 7-5 5-7 6-4  becoming the seventh russian woman to reach the last 16 in melbourne. the match lasted almost three hours and featured 13 service breaks  including three in the final set when dementieva held her nerve to seal the win. she now faces  after the swiss 12th seed beat american abigail spears 7-6 6-3. french open champion  received a free ride into the last 16 after lisa raymond was forced to withdraw. raymond  the 25th seeded american  was ruled out after sustaining a left abdominal muscle tear in the doubles. myskina  the third seed  now plays france s  who beat francesca schiavone of italy 6-3 6-3.  i m extremely disappointed because i couldn t have asked to play better in my first two matches   raymond said.


fiat chief takes steering wheel the chief executive of the fiat conglomerate has taken day-to-day control of its struggling car business in an effort to turn it around.  sergio marchionne has replaced herbert demel as chief executive of fiat auto  with mr demel leaving the company. mr marchionne becomes the fourth head of the business - which is expected to make a 800m euro ($1bn) loss in 2004 - in as many years. fiat underperformed the market in europe last year  seeing flat sales.  the car business has made an operating loss in five of the last six years and was forced to push back its break-even target from 2005 to 2006. the management changes are part of a wider shake-up of the business following fiat s resolution of its dispute with general motors. as part of a major restructuring  fiat is to integrate the maserati car company - currently owned by ferrari - within its own operations. ferrari  in which fiat owns a majority stake  could be separately floated on the stock market in either 2006 or 2007.  mr marchionne  who only joined the company last year  said fiat auto was now the  principal focus  of his attention.  i have made the decision to take on the post of chief executive of the auto unit to speed up the company s recovery   he said.  a profound cultural transformation is underway following a management reorganisation that has delivered a more agile and efficient structure   he added.  although mr marchionne does not have a background in the car industry  he has been playing an increasing role in the group s activities. last year  he said that a series of new models  launched as part of the group s recovery plan  had not boosted revenues as much as hoped. the car business  best known for its alfa romeo marque  is expected to make a loss of about 800m euros in 2004. sales are expected to fall in 2005  fiat said this week  as it exits unprofitable areas such as the rental car market. mr demel  a car industry veteran  took the helm in november 2003 after being recruited by former fiat chief executive giuseppe morchio. mr morchio made a bid last year to become chairman after the death of president umberto agnelli. however  this was rejected by the founding agnelli family and mr morchio subsequently resigned. earlier this week  fiat reached an agreement with gm to dissolve an alliance which could have obliged gm to buy the italian firm outright. gm will pay fiat $2bn as part of the settlement.


mourinho expects fight to finish chelsea manager jose mourinho expects the champions league clash with barcelona to be a fight to the finish.  mourinho is relishing the first leg of the tie against his former club in the last 16 in the nou camp. he said:  i wouldn t be surprised if nothing had been decided by the last minute of the return leg and the match had to go into extra time.  i have to defend what is mine and the champions league is mine at the moment. i m the last manager to have won it.  mourinho never coached barcelona  assisting both sir bobby robson and louis van gaal. but he is not envious  insisting:  i don t have to be jealous about barcelona because they have 100 years of history and have won the european cup once.   i have been managing for five years and i have the same amount of champions league trophies to my name.  barcelona star ronaldinho admitted:  i think that it is going to be a difficult match for us because chelsea have a good team full of big stars.  i have seen chelsea a few times on television  tactically they are very good and they are very strong on the counter-attack.  they pressure very well and keep possession of the ball so it will be important that we play our own game.  i believe they are the two strongest teams in europe. nevertheless  barcelona are accustomed to playing big games at the nou camp  where they have to face the likes of real madrid each season.  it is a special game  the atmosphere in the city changes  there are lots of journalists but inside the dressing room there is not a lot of difference   ronaldinho added.  we are only thinking of winning the match with all respect to the opposition.


prince crowned  top music earner  prince earned more than any other pop star in 2004  beating artists such madonna and elton john in us magazine rolling stone s annual list.  the singer banked $56.5m (£30.4m) from concerts  album and publishing sales with his musicology tour and album. he kept madonna in second place  as she earned $54.9m (£29.5m) while embarking on her global re-invention tour. veterans simon and garfunkel were in 10th place  their comeback tour helping them earn $24.9m (£13.4m) last year.   prince returned to centre stage after a decade in the commercial wilderness   the magazine reported. the singer s 2004 tour took $90.3m (£48.5m) in ticket sales and he sold 1.9 million copies of his latest album musicology.  although she grossed more than prince last year  madonna remained in second place because of the  monumental  production costs of her tour. heavy metal band metallica s madly in anger with the world tour helped push their 2004 earnings up to $43.1m (£23.1m). they were ahead of sir elton john  who took fourth place and almost $42.7m (£23m) from performances including a debut on the las vegas strip. other seasoned performers in the list included rod stewart  whose sold-out shows and third volume of the great american songbook covers album helped net him £35m (£19m). the highest-ranking rap act in the list was 50 cent  who at number 19 took $24m (£13m) to the bank.


tory  stalking horse  meyer dies sir anthony meyer  the tory backbencher who challenged margaret thatcher for the party leadership in 1989  has died.  he was 84  had been suffering from cancer for many months  and died at his london home. that failed  stalking horse  leadership challenge made it easier for michael heseltine to mount his own bid. that in turn paved the way for john major to move into 10 downing street  after the second ballot. meyer s constituency party  clwyd north west  which he had represented as an mp for more than 20 years  deselected him as a result of that challenge. sir anthony john charles meyer was born on 27 october  1920. educated at eton  and at new college  oxford  he served in the scots guards from 1941 to 1945 and was wounded in tanks in normandy. he worked under edward heath on europe at the foreign office and subsequently won the eton and slough seat for the tories in 1964 - by 11 votes. labour regained the seat two years later  and meyer had to wait until 1970 before he could re-enter parliament. his prospects of a front bench slot remained remote because he tended to defy the party line.


boro suffer morrison injury blow middlesbrough midfielder james morrison has been ruled out for up to eight weeks after an operation on tuesday.  the 18-year-old  who has played in 13 of the club s last 14 games  had surgery to repair a double hernia. a club spokesman confirmed:  it is a bilateral sportsman s hernia  which was operated on yesterday.  morrison was sent for scans after being substituted at half-time during boro s 2-1 uefa cup win over graz ak in which he scored the equaliser. his injury is the latest blow for the teessiders  who have been without gaizka mendieta  george boateng and mark viduka for extended periods. meanwhile  the kick-off time for boro s uefa cup match at sporting lisbon on 17 march has been brought forward from 2115 gmt to 1945 gmt.


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


campese berates whingeing england former australian wing david campese has told england to stop whingeing in the wake of their defeat to ireland.  england coach andy robinson lambasted referee jonathan kaplan for costing them the game after disallowing tries from mark cueto and josh lewsey. but campese told bbc sport:  robinson is living up to england s reputation as whingeing poms.  stop going on about it as who really cares  they re acting like they re the first team to be cheated of a win.   england are contemplating a complaint to the international rugby board after potential  tries  by cueto in the first half and lewsey late on were ruled out without recourse to the video referee. but campese added:  scotland could have beaten france in the same way  but do you see them whingeing   basically  things didn t go england s way and  in typical fashion  they make more of it when they believe they ve lost unfairly.   england are second bottom in the six nations table following defeats by wales  france and ireland. but although campese admitted he was surprised about their current predicament  he insisted england were  no longer world class .  england are beginning to realise that being world champions doesn t mean you deserve to win every game   he said.  they lost a few key players and suddenly everyone s realised the ones on the fringes were not all that good in the first place.  added to that  the senior players aren t standing up and they can t do anything when the pressure mounts.   campese  a veteran of 101 international caps  said full-back jason robinson would now be the sole englishman in his world xv. robinson has been blamed for poor leadership in the tournament  while his coach has been castigated for appointing a full-back captain.  i agree that you can t captain from full-back   said campese.  you need someone in the thick of the action  and it s very hard to give orders from all the way back there.  some people are leaders and some aren t. he s not but there s no one who stands out in england s pack - no clear-cut leaders.  campese  though  defended coach andy robinson  who he believes was the  only choice  after sir clive woodward s resignation.  but he blamed  a lack of talent in the england camp  for making the current coach look poor. england face a potential wooden spoon match against italy on 12 march. and the ex-wallaby added:  if england lost that  they d be in bloody turmoil. that said  i don t think they will.  campese has tipped wales to win both the six nations and grand slam come the end of the tournament.  it s been a surprising tournament   he said   and maybe ireland have a little bit more talent overall.  but playing at home is a major boost. and the possible grand slam decider at the millennium stadium will be just too much for the irish.


howard s unfinished business  he s not finished yet   whispered the conservative party person as your reporter attempted to slip quietly from the hall. and indeed he wasn t. michael howard had already broken away from the printed text of his speech  at his party s spring conference in brighton  to deliver a smart rebuff to peter hain s description of him as an  attack mongrel   claiming such personal abuse meant labour was  rattled  by the tory challenge. and here he was again  moving to the front of the stage as the party faithful rose to their feet in applause  to make a personal  ad-libbed appeal to them to go out and fight for victory.  one day you will be able to tell your children and grandchildren as i will tell mine   i was there. i did my bit. i played my part. i helped to win that famous election - the election that transformed our country for the better .  the speech  which was peppered with references to mr howard s humble beginnings as the  child of immigrants   had been introduced by his son nick  a trainee vicar  who praised his father s honesty.  i always know where i am with him because all my life he has meant what he has said to me   he said. mr howard was also joined on stage by his wife sandra  daughter larissa and stepson sholto.  the audience s reaction to all of this was a little muted by party conference standards.  but mr howard s overall message - that the tories have labour on the run and that they can win the next election - did not sound quite as hollow as it might have done six months ago. mr howard claimed  with some justification  that the tories  campaign has got off to a  great start . they have had labour on the back foot over immigration  with tony blair hastily adding a sixth promise on the issue to his latest pledge card  and have even managed to score points in traditional labour territory such as health and education. the stunts involving margaret dixon with her postponed operation and maria hutchings with concerns about her son s special needs education may not have been to everyone s taste  but they succeeded in bringing the issues alive and forcing labour to react. senior tories believe they are  at long last  starting to tap into the public mood  cutting through the background noise to connect with the ordinary voter. their latest poster campaign flags up a range of policies from better school discipline  cleaner hospitals ( i mean  how hard is it to keep a hospital clean  ) and immigration ( it s not racist to impose limits on immigration ) - under the headline  are you thinking what we are thinking   this  they say  contrasts with labour s negative campaigning  such as its now infamous  flying pigs  poster.  oliver letwin  one of the men lampooned in the labour poster  affects bewilderment at what he believes is labour s loss of its once sure footing on the campaign trail. the peter hain  mongrel  attack  he says  is just the latest example of the party getting the tone wrong - a by-product  he claims  of the tories setting the agenda.   i have to say i don t understand what they are doing. the labour machine appears to be in some kind of state of shock  it doesn t seem to know what to do.  a few weeks of positive headlines have also done wonders for tory activists  morale - likely to be a crucial factor at an election which  most analysts seem to agree  will hinge on which party can get their core support out.  it has been a fantastic few weeks   said 20-year-old politics student nick vaughan.  our policies have been getting in the media and there is a sense that we can win. i wouldn t be here if i didn t think we could.  some delegates even spoke of the next election being like 1970  when ted heath  behind in the polls and written off by the pundits  snatched victory from harold wilson s labour party.  they all insisted it was not going to be a re-run of 2001.  we thought in 2001 we were going to dent that massive majority but it just didn t happen   said john murray  of aldridge browhills conservatives.  it was very disappointing. this time it really is different.  whoever is running our strategy from the top has got it bang on. blair is on the back foot.  much of the credit for the tories  recent change of fortune must go to lynton crosby  the australian strategist who succeeded in turning political veteran and apparent no-hoper john howard  of australia s liberal party  into a serial election winner. the tories still have a mountain climb if michael howard is to walk through the doors of number 10. even allowing for the natural bias against the tories in some opinion polls  they are still behind  when to have a chance of overturning labour s whopping majority  they should really be ahead. but as they gear up for the start of the campaign proper  the party at least has reason to hope that  like his australian namesake  mr howard really isn t finished yet.


edu describes tunnel fracas arsenal s edu has lifted the lid on the scenes that followed manchester united s win over the gunners.  the brazilian confirmed tempers had flared but could shed no light on reports that food was thrown at united boss sir alex ferguson.  i saw people being pulled apart  people pushing  pointing and shouting   he told uefa s official website.  the united players were trying to wind us up about the result but i didn t see any soup being thrown at anyone.  however  edu tried to play down the incidents  adding:  there was nothing that i haven t seen in brazilian derbies.  derby matches in brazil are worse. i like to play in games like this with this intense rivalry.  but edu was highly critical of the ferocity of some of united s challenges during the game  particularly on jose antonio reyes.  i think we were a lot fairer in the tackles than united   he said.  reyes was being kicked all over the park - they were beating up the boy and gary neville was tackling in such a way that he should have been sent off.  following the game  the football association said it would look into events in the tunnel. it also charged ruud van nistelrooy with serious foul play while arsenal boss arsene wenger has been asked to explain comments he made about the referee.


rapper 50 cent ends protege feud rapper 50 cent has ended his public feud with his protege the game as the pair said they wanted to be good role models for their communities.  the row blew up when 50 cent threw the game out of his g-unit crew and accused him of being disloyal. a member of the game s entourage was reportedly shot outside a radio station where 50 cent was being interviewed. but the pair shook hands as they handed over money to music projects for new york s deprived areas on wednesday.  the game  whose real name is jayceon taylor  told a news conference:  i want to apologise. i m almost ashamed to have participated in the things that went on over the last few weeks.  chart-topper 50 cent  real name curtis jackson  said the truce came on the anniversary of the death of the notorious big in 1997  who was part of a volatile feud between the east and west coast rap scenes.  we re here today to show that people can rise above the most difficult circumstances and together we can put negativity behind us   50 cent said.   a lot of people don t want to see it happen  but we re responding to the two most important groups - our family and our fans.  the boys choir of harlem got a cheque for $150 000 (£77 800) from 50 cent  while the game handed over $103 500 (£53 400). the game also made a contribution to the compton schools music programme. 50 cent announced he has launched the g-unity foundation  to help people overcome obstacles and make a chance for the better in their lives .   i realised that if i m going to be effective at that  i have to overcome some of my own   he said.  game and i need to set an example in the community.  50 cent is no stranger to feuds  with rapper ja rule among the targets for ridicule in his songs. on his latest album  released earlier this month  he turned his attentions to fat joe and nas  who have both worked with ja rule. both he and the game have admitted drug dealing in the past and have both been shot.


emi shares hit by profit warning shares in music giant emi have sunk by more than 16% after the firm issued a profit warning following disappointing sales and delays to two album releases.  emi said music sales for the year to march will fall 8-9% from the year before  with profits set to be 15% lower than analysts had expected. it blamed poor sales since christmas and delays to the releases of new albums by coldplay and gorillaz. by 1200 gmt on monday  emi shares were down 16.2% at 235.75 pence.  emi said two major albums scheduled for release before the end of the financial year in march - one by coldplay and one by gorillaz - have now had their release dates put back.   emi music s sales  particularly re-orders  in january have also been lower than anticipated and this is expected to continue through february and march   the company added.  therefore  for the full year  at constant currency  emi music s sales are now expected to be 8% to 9% lower than the prior year.  the company said it expected profits to be about £138m ($259.8m). alain levy  chairman and chief executive of emi music  described the performance as  disappointing   but added that he remained optimistic over future trends in the industry.  the physical music market is showing signs of stabilisation in many parts of the world and digital music  in all its forms  continues to develop at a rapid pace   he said.  commenting on the delay to the release of the coldplay and gorillaz albums  mr levy said that  creating and marketing music is not an exact science and cannot always coincide with our reporting periods .  while this rescheduling and recent softness is disappointing  it does not change my views of the improving health of the global recorded music industry   he added. paul richards  an analyst at numis securities  said the market would be focusing on the slump in music sales rather than the timing of the two albums.  it s unusual to see this much of a downgrade just because of phasing   he said.


what really divides the parties so what is the gap between labour and the tories nowadays   one starbucks  one rymans and one small greek cafe as it happens. both parties have now completed their moves to new headquarters  with labour creating its election hub just three doors away from the tories  new headquarters in victoria street  just down the road from the commons. that should make things a little easier if and when the crack-of-dawn election press conferences kick off. unlike 2001  there should be no need for colleagues to have taxis gunning their engines outside  or to buy scooters  to get themselves between the tightly-timetabled events.  and  to all intents and purposes  we already appear to be in that general election campaign. certainly the press conference hosted by election co-ordinator alan milburn  in the rather compact new conference room - still smelling of new carpet and with the garish new labour coffee mugs as yet unstained - had all the hallmarks of an election event.   welcome to the unremittingly new labour media centre   he said. and i ll bet he hadn t checked that one with gordon brown. along with work and pensions secretary alan johnson and minister for work jane kennedy  he then went on to tear into the tory plans to scrap the new deal welfare-to-work scheme  which they claimed would lead to an increase of almost 300 000 in unemployment. and they ridiculed the claims made on monday by michael howard that he could save £35 billion of labour waste and inefficiency to spend on public services while also offering £4 billion of tax cuts. labour has come up with a figure of £22 billions worth of efficiency savings so  understandably perhaps  believe mr howard must be planning cuts to squeeze the extra £13 billion. these figures  based on the two parties  own detailed studies  will be battered to within an inch of their lives during the campaign. wednesday was just the start.