new delay hits eu software laws a fresh delay has hit controversial new european union rules which govern computer-based inventions.  the draft law was not adopted by eu ministers as planned at a brussels meeting on monday during which it was supposed to have been discussed. the fresh delay came after polish officials had raised concerns about the law for the second time in two months. critics say the law would favour large companies over small ones and could impact open-source software innovation.  there was at one point the intention to put the item on today s agenda. but in the end we could not put it on   an eu spokesman told the reuters agency. he added that no date had been chosen for more discussion of the law.  in december  poland requested more time to consider the issue because it was concerned that the law could lead to the patenting of pure computer software. its ministers want to see the phrasing of the text of the directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions changed so that it excludes software patenting. poland is a large eu member  so its backing for the legislation is vital. the eu says the law would bring europe more in line with how such laws work in the us  but this has caused some angry debate amongst critics and supporters. in the us  the patenting of computer programs and internet business methods is permitted. this means that the us-based amazon.com holds a patent for its  one-click shopping  service. critics say a similar model in europe would hurt small software developers which do not have the legal and financial might of larger companies. but supporters say current law does not let big companies protect inventions which they have spent years developing.


rapper jay-z becomes label boss rap star jay-z is to become a record company executive after being put in charge of one of hip-hop s most influential labels  def jam.  jay-z  who said he would make no more music after 2003 s the black album  will become the company s president and chief executive from january. def jam s parent company  universal  made the appointment after buying jay-z s roc-a-fella label. def jam s artists include ll cool j  dmx  ludacris  ja rule and ashanti. jay-z will continue to run roc-a-fella  which he founded with damon dash in 1995 and has kanye west and beanie sigel on its roster. universal said on wednesday it had bought the 50% of roc-a-fella it did not already own.  antonio  la  reid  chairman of the island def jam music group  said:  i can think of no-one more relevant and credible in the hip-hop community to build upon def jam s fantastic legacy.  he hoped jay-z would  move the company into its next groundbreaking era   he added. jay-z  real name shawn carter  said:  i have inherited two of the most important brands in hip-hop  def jam and roc-a-fella.   i feel this is a giant step for me and the entire artist community.  one of the most successful and respected rap stars of the last eight years  jay-z s hits have included hard knock life  dirt off your shoulder and 03 bonnie and clyde with his girlfriend beyonce knowles. he said he would retire after the black album  but has just released an album and been on an ill-fated tour with r kelly. def jam was founded in 1984 by russell simmons and producer rick rubin and signed artists including run-dmc  the beastie boys and public enemy.


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


totp turns to elvis impersonator top of the pops has turned to the star of elvis presley musical jailhouse rock after the late rock legend scooped the uk s 1 000th number one single.  mario kombou  who plays the presley role on stage  will sing one night on friday s bbc one show as producers are unable to use presley video footage. it is his second number one in a row. the show used presley photos last week. presley will feature in the charts for several more months as all 18 of his original uk chart-toppers are reissued.  a top of the pops spokesperson said:  it s a very special number one as it s the uk s 1 000th.  we wanted to pay tribute to elvis in the best way we knew how  so we thought getting a professional would be the best way for top of the pops to do that.  kombou is likely to appear on the show again next week as the next presley re-release  a fool such as i  is on course to give him his third number one in three weeks. kombou plays vince everett in jailhouse rock - the same role presley played in the 1957 film of the same name.


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


man city 0-2 man utd manchester united reduced chelsea s premiership lead to nine points after a scrappy victory over manchester city.  wayne rooney met gary neville s cross to the near post with a low shot  which went in via a deflection off richard dunne  to put united ahead. seven minutes later  the unfortunate dunne hooked a volley over david james  head and into his own net. steve mcmanaman wasted city s best chance when he shot wide from three yards in the first half. in the opening 45 minutes united had looked unlikely to earn the win they needed to maintain any chance of catching chelsea in the title race. their approach play was more laboured than patient and they managed to fashion just one chance - a paul scholes header over the bar. and city seemed to be content to sit back and try and hit their rivals on the break as the game settled into a tepid pattern. only shaun wright-phillips appeared capable of interrupting the monotony  looking lively down the right and causing gabriel heinze problems.  wes brown also found wright-phillips to be a difficult opponent when the tricky winger embarrassed him near the touchline. wright-phillips  sublime skill and pace took him past brown and he delivered a pin-point centre to the feet of mcmanaman. but the former liverpool player demonstrated why he has never scored against united by side-footing the easy chance wide. john o shea was forced off after an earlier clash with sylvain distin and cristiano ronaldo came on to replace him. he immediately caused ben thatcher some discomfort and looked set to inject some much-needed pace into the united attack. rooney was being well marshalled by dunne - but that was all about to change. after the break  united poured forward and there was a renewed urgency about their play. and when neville delivered a cross in a carbon copy of city s best first-half chance  rooney showed mcmanaman how to do it - even if he needed the help of dunne s leg. worse was to come for dunne  who had been having a fine match. on 75 minutes  he scored a horrible own goal when attempting to volley clear rooney s cross and united seemed home and dry. however  city did fight back and fowler missed another great chance from close range. and united keeper roy carroll saved well from kiki musampa. but united could have a had a third late on when substitute ryan giggs hit the post.  - manchester city boss kevin keegan:  we had a great chance to take the lead and the first goal was always going to be crucial.  we started off with a good tempo but then we allowed them to dictate the pace a bit too much.  but we still had four good chances  two after we d gone 2-0 down  the one mcmanaman missed was very similar to the one wayne rooney scored from.    - manchester united boss sir alex ferguson:  it wasn t our best performance of the last three months but i think we re deserved winners.  at times  especially in the first half  we didn t play with enough speed. but with (cristiano) ronaldo and (ryan) giggs on  the speed improved.  derby games can be like that  they can be scrappy  dull  horrible and it was maybe like that.  man city: james  mills (bradley wright-phillips 83)  dunne  distin  thatcher  shaun wright-phillips  barton (macken 68)  sibierski  mcmanaman  musampa  fowler. subs not used: weaver  onuoha  flood. booked: fowler  sibierski. man utd: carroll  gary neville  ferdinand  brown  heinze  o shea (ronaldo 33)  keane  fortune  fletcher (giggs 64)  rooney  scholes (phil neville 84). subs not used: howard  bellion. booked: rooney  scholes  keane. goals: rooney 68  dunne 75 og. att: 47 111 ref: s bennett (kent).


terror suspects face house arrest uk citizens suspected of involvement in terrorism could face house arrest as part of a series of new measures outlined by the home secretary.  it comes after law lords ruled that the detention of 12 foreign terror suspects without trial breached human rights. charles clarke s planned  control orders  mean anyone suspected of being involved in terrorism could be subject to house arrest  curfews or tagging. the law society dubbed mr clarke s new proposals an  abuse of power . deals are already being sought to deport some of the foreign detainees who are mainly held in belmarsh prison in london under the current laws introduced after the us terror attacks on 11 september 2001. mr clarke said efforts would continue to deport them to their countries of origin algeria  tunisia  egypt and jordan without them facing torture or death.  under the proposed changes - prompted by the house of lords ruling - the home secretary could order british citizens or foreign suspects who could not be deported  to face house arrest or other measures such as restrictions on their movements or limits on their use of telephones and the internet.  british citizens are being included in the changes after the law lords said the current powers were discriminatory because they could only be used on foreign suspects. mr clarke also said intelligence reports showed some british nationals were now playing a more significant role in terror threats. human rights lawyer clive stafford-smith said the plans were a  further abuse of human rights in britain .  mr clarke said prosecutions were the government s first preference and promised the powers would only be used in  serious  cases  with independent scrutiny from judges.  he told mps:  there remains a public emergency threatening the life of the nation.  he accepted the law lords  ruling but argued detention powers had helped prevent attacks and deter terrorists. the current detainees would not be freed until the new powers were in place as they were still considered a national security threat  he told mps.  there have been calls for the rules for wire-tap and intercept evidence to be allowed to be used in courts but mr clarke refused to back that change.  he said intercept evidence was only a small part of the case against the men and some of it could not be used because it could put sources  lives at risk. most of the terror suspects are being held indefinitely at belmarsh prison  in london. conservative shadow home secretary david davis was worried about extending special powers to cover british citizens. he warned:  throughout history  internment has generally backfired because of the resentment it creates.  so unless the process is clearly just  the home secretary could find himself confining one known terrorist only to recruit 10 unknown terrorists.  he suggested changing the law to let security-cleared judges view evidence gathered by phone-tapping could allow more terror cases to come to court.  liberal democrat spokesman mark oaten also backed use of wire-tap evidence. he said the standard of proof for the new powers would have to be  very high indeed  and he asked whether ministers had looked at measures which fitted with human rights laws. shami chakrabarti  from human rights group liberty  joined calls for intercept evidence to be allowed in trials. she said:  adherence to the rule of law should not be a game of cat and mouse. the government should not swap one human rights  opt out  for another.


oscars race enters final furlong the race for the oscars entered its final stages as the deadline for voters to choose their winners passed.  the 5 808 academy voters had until tuesday afternoon to return their ballots - any late submissions will not be included in the count. the next five days will be spent counting the voting forms and preparing the winners  envelopes. best actor nominee leonardo dicaprio is to present a statuette for the first time at the la ceremony on sunday.  the 30-year-old actor  who is nominated for playing howard hughes in the aviator  will join other hopefuls such as co-star cate blanchett  natalie portman and kate winslet as oscar presenters. the only people who will know the oscar winners before they are revealed at the ceremony will be the auditors who are in charge of looking after the ballot count.  after collating the results  they are responsible for sealing the results in the famous golden envelopes which will be revealed by a host of celebrity presenters at the ceremony. former academy award winners gwyneth paltrow  dustin hoffman and halle berry will also present prizes. the event at the kodak theatre will be attended by 3 300 people  including some of the best-known names in film  and organisers say they expect it will be watched on television by one billion people around the world. one current concern is the torrential rain which has lashed los angeles for the past week  flooding suburbs and causing mudslides. it is hoped the forecast for sunday  for cool weather but no rain  will prove accurate.  the last time it rained on oscars night was in the mid-to-late 1980s   said oscars communications director john pavlik.  we have had rain up until the day before the show many times  but for some reason the oscar gods always shine on sunday and we hope they will do so again this year   he added.


tevez - an argentine in brazil some 65 years ago bernardo gandulla left boca juniors in his native argentina and headed for brazil.  he arrived at the vasco da gama club with considerable prestige - which he failed to live up to. he left an impression  but not for reasons he would have wanted. the only thing of note he did was to throw the ball back when it went out of play. even today   gandula  is the term used in brazil for ballboy. brazilians delighted in the failure of gandulla then  and many will delight now if history is repeated. another boca juniors player is coming to brazil.  the new maradona  - carlos tevez - is joining corinthians for nearly $20m in a strong candidate for the strangest move of the year. corinthians - or the london-based company who have just entered into partnership with them - appear to have paid well above the odds for tevez. it is particularly strange as - until last week - tevez was not even an especially big name in brazil  where the argentine championship is not shown.  presumably there is some financial logic behind the move. what is harder to work out is why tevez should be interested in heading north  rather than across the atlantic. argentina s brightest new star hit top form in august as he spearheaded the charge towards the olympic gold medal. but the subsequent months have not been easy for tevez. boca re-signed martin palermo  forcing tevez to vacate his favoured centre forward role. and off the pitch he gave the press plenty to report - atletico madrid gave up on him after declaring his private life to be  disorganized.  hounded by the press  tevez grew tired of his life in buenos aires. so now he says that he is heading for corinthians in search of  tranquillity.  anyone acquainted with the city of são paulo will relish the nonsense of this declaration. brazil s biggest city is a sprawling  ugly  restless metropolis. once it shared with buenos aires the same melancholy air of a city of italian immigrants.  but that world now lies buried under skyscrapers. the most turbulent place in this frenetic city is sport club corinthians. it is the most passionately supported club in brazil. pelé scored reams of goals against them  reasoning that unless he did something special the corinthians fans were capable of winning the game on their own. that passion can also be turned against the team - especially nowadays  when the level of urban violence gives a hysterical edge to life in brazil s big cities. corinthians fans have invaded the dressing room or ambushed the team coach to attack the players. tevez  then  can kiss tranquillity goodbye. he can also say farewell to the copa libertadores  south america s champions league. corinthians have not qualified. indeed  he will have a long wait for a worthwhile match. next year s brazilian championship only gets underway at the end of april. until then he will have to make do with the foolish são paulo state championship  an appalling waste of his talent. there will be matches in small towns on poor pitches with plenty of defenders keen to kick him all the way back to argentina. like so many of the top south american players  tevez has the gift of being able to surprise - to feint right and go left  to pass when he was expected to dribble  to shoot and catch the goalkeeper unawares. but his choice of destination is the biggest surprise of all.


labour s election love-in peace and love have been in short supply in the labour party in recent days.  if press reports are to be believed  alan milburn and gordon brown have been at each other s throats over the contents of labour s next election manifesto. but the pair were all smiles on tuesday morning  as they joined john prescott to unveil labour s latest poster campaign. the event - at old billingsgate fish market on the banks of the thames - was a carefully choreographed show of unity. and the surest sign yet that we are heading for a general election in the next few months. it was also one of the most bizarre photo opportunities of recent years.  the first inkling something slightly odd was afoot was when - in place of the soft rock music normally chosen for such occasions - labour s speakers crackled to life with the sound of booker t and the mgs. then a vw camper van trundled into view  decked out in that most mind-bending of psychedelic messages -  lowest mortgage rate for 40 years . as the side-door slid open  it looked for one glorious moment as if the cabinet had decided to bury their differences and go on the road together  scooby doo-style. but  sadly  it wasn t the cabinet who had raided the dressing-up box - just six rather ill-at-ease looking labour students. two were dressed as regency dandies - to unveil a poster trumpeting  the longest period of economic growth for 200 years . another pair of students were in a beatle wig and sgt pepper jacket to highlight the  lowest interest rates since the 1960s .  the remaining two were dressed in a vague approximation of disco chic to demonstrate the  lowest unemployment since the seventies .  the politicians - led out by john prescott - were soberly-suited as always. the event may have been designed to highlight labour s economic success under mr brown  but there was little doubt who was in charge. the chancellor walked side-by-side with mr milburn  pointedly exchanging chit chat  as they approached the microphone. but it was mr milburn who took centre stage  speaking of the  positive campaign  the party hoped to stage in the  coming weeks and months .  the mobile poster vans would  let people know britain is working again . mr brown repeated the familiar mantras displayed on the posters and spoke of labour s  shared purpose  and  united dedication . it was left to mr prescott to pay glowing tribute to the chancellor s record and  in a final flourish  to produce his famous pledge card  from 1997  claiming labour has met all of its promises. the event was carefully stage-managed to underline cabinet unity. and  more specifically  to demonstrate the  central role  mr brown will play in the election campaign  despite being sidelined as campaign chief in favour of mr milburn.  but keen students of body language will have had a field day. there was much forced smiling for the cameras  but only mr prescott  who revels in such occasions  seemed to be truly enjoying himself. mr milburn made a point of turning to face the chancellor  as he spoke  nodding thoughtfully. but it was the former health secretary s final gesture  placing an arm on mr brown s back as they walked away from the microphones  which was perhaps the most telling. thanks for dropping by gordon  he might have been saying.


philippoussis doubt over open bid mark philippoussis is almost certain to miss the australian open after suffering a groin injury during the hopman cup loss to the netherlands.  the 28-year-old suffered two tears to the adductor muscle and was unable to play in the deciding mixed doubles. he is now unlikely to be fit in time for the australian open which begins on 17 january in melbourne.  he has to strengthen it enough to cope with repetitive days of tennis   said hopman cup doctor hamish osborne.  it would be very unlikely in my opinion for him to do a five-setter once  let alone two days in a row  inside two weeks.   the injury is more common in australian rules football  and a fit footballer would normally take three to four weeks to recover fully although mark s injury is slightly different.  the australian has suffered a host of injury problems throughout his career but is still holding out slim hope that he can make the event.  it s something i ll have to go by feel. i ll start treatment as soon as possible and try to strengthen it without tearing it any more   he said.  what doesn t kill you makes you stronger. i know i can come back from this and that s all that matters.  - former world number two tommy haas is also a doubt for the australian open after picking up a thigh injury playing for germany in the hopman cup. the 26-year-old had treatment on his left thigh while leading argentine guillermo coria 7-5 2-2. he played one more game  but his movement was hampered and he quit.


court mulls file-sharing future judges at the us supreme court have been hearing evidence for and against file-sharing networks.  the court will decide whether producers of file-sharing software can ultimately be held responsible for copyright infringement. they questioned if opening the way for the entertainment industry to sue file-sharers could deter innovation. they also said that file-trading firms had some responsibility for inducing people to piracy.  the lawsuit  brought by 28 of the world s largest entertainment firms  has raged for several years. legal experts agree that if the supreme court finds in favour of the music and movie industry they would be able to sue file-trading firms into bankruptcy. but if the judge rules that grokster and morpheus - the file-sharers at the centre of the case - are merely providers of technology that can have legitimate as well as illegitimate uses  then the music and movie industry would be forced to abandon its pursuit of file-sharing providers. instead  they would have to pursue individuals who use peer-to-peer networks to get their hands on free music and movies. the hi-tech and entertainment industries have been divided on the issue. intel filed a document with the supreme court earlier this month in defence of grokster and others  despite misgivings about some aspects of the file-sharing community. it summed up the attitude of many tech firms in its submission which states that its products  are essentially tools  that like any other tools  capable of being used by consumers and businesses for unlawful purposes .  asking firms to second-guess the uses that its technologies would be put to  and to build in ways of preventing illegitimate use  would stifle innovation  it said. the electronic frontier foundation  a civil rights watchdog  is also defending streamcast networks  the company behind the morpheus file-sharing software. the case raises a question of critical importance at the border between copyright and innovation  it said. it cites  as do many  the landmark ruling in 1984 which found that sony should not be held responsible for the fact that its betamax video recorder could be used for piracy. defenders remain optimistic that the judges will rule in favour of the peer-to-peer networks  upholding the precedent set by the sony betamax case. a small band of supporters were outside the court as the lawyers entered  wearing  save betamax  t-shirts.  the betamax principles stand as the magna carta for the technology industry and are responsible for the explosion in innovation that has occurred in the us over the past 20 years   said gary shapiro  chief executive of the consumer electronics association. supreme court justice stephen breyer said that inventions from printing to apple s ipod could be used to illegally duplicate copyrighted materials but had  on balance  been beneficial to society. he said that while file-trading software can be used to illegally trade movies and music  conceptually the technology had  some really excellent uses .  based on tuesday s hearing it seems unlikely that the betamax ruling will be overturned but file-sharing firms might still be held responsible for encouraging or inducing piracy. grokster s lawyer argued that the company should be judged by its current behaviour rather than what it did when it first set up. but this argument was dismissed as  ridiculous  by justice david souter. cea boss mr shapiro thinks the case is the most important that the supreme court will hear this year.  it s about preserving america s proud history of technological innovation and protecting the ability of consumers to access and utilise technology   he said. the case has already been heard by two lower courts and both found in favour of the peer-to-peer networks. they ruled that despite being used to distribute millions of illegal songs  file-sharing could also be used to cheaply distribute software  government documents and promotional copies of music.


lawyer attacks anti-terror laws a senior barrister who has resigned in protest over the government s anti-terror laws says the current system is giving britain a bad name.  ian macdonald qc quit when the government failed to recognise a house of lords ruling that detaining terror suspects indefinitely is unlawful. he was part of a 19-strong panel who have special security clearance to act for suspected terrorists. five more barristers are now reported to be threatening to resign.  mr macdonald told bbc news:  the reason why i am resigning is because i fundamentally disagree with locking people up without any trial for an indefinite period on reasonable suspicion.  the current legal system is certainly having a very adverse effect on the muslim community in britain and the whole asian community.  i think it is giving britain a bad name internationally .  under the anti-terrorism  crime and security act introduced by the government in 2001 in response to the 11 september attacks  foreign nationals suspected of involvement in terrorism who cannot be deported can be held indefinitely without trial. but mr macdonald believes that detainees currently being held should be entitled to a trial by jury.  my own view is we need to have a full return to trial by jury  a proper criminal trial with proper accusations.  as far as i m concerned  the government have to start all over again and rethink their whole strategy for dealing with this.  he added.  the attorney general lord goldsmith will receive a letter of resignation from mr macdonald on monday. according to the independent  his resignation is expected to be followed by those of five other barristers - nicholas blake qc  andrew nicol qc  manjit singh gill qc  rick scannell and tom de la mare. they are all believed to be carefully considering their positions on the panel of special advocates who represent detainees before the special immigration appeals commission (siac) - a secure court without a jury  which tries terror suspects. mr macdonald said he had  no idea  whether further resignations would follow. but barry hugill  a spokesman for the campaign group liberty  told radio 4 s today programme that more lawyers may go.  i can assure that there is a distinct possibilty that more lawyers may be resigning   he said.  they are now in a situation where everything they have been trained to believe in  the right to trial by jury  has been abandoned and that is what gives some of them sleepless nights.   helena kennedy  a labour peer and a human rights lawyer  said the special advocates  main concern was that once they had seen any special intelligence they were not allowed to speak to the detainees.  when this whole procedure was being considered immediately after 11 september there was a great deal of argument particularly in the house of lords about whether there really was a process that could be considered a judicial review   she said.  without that you are having detention with no habeus corpus and really a blot  as ian mcdonald has said  on our legal landscape  something really quite shocking with regard to the rule of the law.


alfa romeos  to get gm engines  fiat is to stop making six-cylinder petrol engines for its sporty alfa romeo subsidiary  unions at the italian carmaker have said.  the unions claim fiat is to close the fiat powertrain plant at arese near milan and instead source six-cylinder engines from general motors. fiat has yet to comment on the matter  but the unions say the new engines will be made by gm in australia. the news comes a week after gm pulled out of an agreement to buy fiat. gm had to pay former partner fiat 1.55bn euros ($2bn; £1.1bn) to get out of a deal which could have forced it to buy the italian carmaker outright. fiat and gm also ended their five-year alliance and two joint ventures in engines and purchasing  but did agree to continue buying each other s engines.   powertrain told us today that alfa romeo engines will no longer be made in arese   said union leader vincenzo lilliu  as reported by the reuters news agency.  the assembly line will be dismantled and the six-cylinder alfa romeo motor will be replaced with an engine gm produces in australia.  reuters also said that mr lilliu and other union bosses shouted insults at fiat chairman luca di montezemolo  following a meeting on tuesday regarding the future of the arese plant. the unions said the end of engine production at the facility would mean the loss of 800 jobs. all alfa romeo models can be bought with a six-cylinder engine - the 147  156  156 sportwagon  166  gtv  gt and spider.


playstation 3 chip to be unveiled details of the chip designed to power sony s playstation 3 console will be released in san francisco on monday.  sony  ibm and toshiba  who have been working on the cell processor for three years  will unveil the chip at a technology conference. the chip is reported to be up to 10 times faster than current processors. it is being designed for use in graphics workstations  the new playstation console  and has been described as a supercomputer on a chip. sony has said the cell processor could be used to bridge the gap between movies and video games. special effects and graphics designed for films could be ported for use directly in a video game  sony told an audience at the e3 exhibition in los angeles last year.  cell could also be marketed as an ideal technology for televisions and supercomputers  and everything in between  said kevin krewell  the editor in chief of microprocessor report. the chip will be made of several different processing cores that work on tasks together. the playstation 3 is expected in 2006 but developers are expecting to get prototypes early next year to tune games that will appear on it at launch. details of the chip will be released at the international solid state circuits conference in san francisco. some details have already emerged  however. when put inside powerful computer servers  the cell consortium expects it to be capable of handling 16 trillion floating point operations  or calculations  every second.  the chip has also been refined to be able to handle the detailed graphics common in games and the data demands of films and broadband media. ibm said it would start producing the chip in early 2005 at manufacturing plants in the us. the first machines off the line using the cell processor will be computer workstations and servers. a working version of the ps3 is due to be shown off in may 2005 but a full launch of the next generation console is not expected to start until 2006.  in the future  all forms of digital content will be converged and fused onto the broadband network   said ken kutaragi  chief operating officer of sony  said last year.  current pc architecture is nearing its limits   he added.


house prices rebound says halifax uk house prices increased by 1.1% in december  the first monthly rise since september  the halifax has said.  the uk s biggest mortgage lender said prices rose 15.1% over the whole of 2004  but by only 2.8% in the second half of the year. the average price of a house in the uk now stands at £162 086  halifax said. the survey seems to fly in the face of recent evidence that the uk housing market has been slowing substantially in response to interest rate rises.  last week  the nationwide said that house prices fell 0.2% in december  with annual inflation running at a three year low.  on tuesday  figures from the bank of england showed that the number of mortgages approved in the uk has fallen to the lowest level for nearly a decade. new loans in november fell to 77 000  from 85 000 in october  the lowest rate since september 1995  the bank of england said. growth in unsecured lending  such as personal loans and credit cards  also slowed last month. capital economics  which has in the past predicted a sharp fall in uk house prices  branded halifax s findings a  temporary surprise   which would be reversed over the coming months.  the month by month volatility of the halifax house price data should not distract from the fact that there is a clear downward trend in house prices   a capital economics statement said.  experts believe five interest rate rises since november 2003 are cutting borrowers  appetite for debt.  despite recording a price rise in december  the halifax survey concluded that there was  continuing signs of a genuine slowdown in the housing market.  martin ellis  halifax chief economist  said that there was no need to revise the bank s prediction  made last month  that prices would fall by 2% in 2005.  sound housing market fundamentals will continue to underpin the market in 2005  ensuring that the market remains healthy and that house prices fall only slightly   mr ellis said. if the bank s prediction of a 2% price drop comes true  it will be the first annual fall in nine years.  the bank said that the recent pattern of house prices rising the fastest in the north of england continued in december. in the north west and yorkshire and the humber  halifax said prices rose by 3% and 1.2% in the two regions respectively during the month. at the other send of the scale  prices in the south east and london fell by 1.6% and 0.5% respectively. the biggest decline was seen in wales where prices fell by 6.2%  an area that had experienced strong house price growth during most of 2004. overall  halifax said prices in the final quarter of 2004 were 0.1% higher than in the previous quarter. this was the smallest quarterly rise since the second quarter of 2000  the bank said. as a result  annual house price inflation dipped below 20% during the final few months of 2004.


mayor will not retract nazi jibe london mayor ken livingstone has again refused to retract a nazi insult made to a jewish reporter.  labour s mr livingstone  who says he is  standing by  his remarks  had accused an evening standard journalist of being like a  concentration camp guard . at his weekly press conference on tuesday he said his comments were not racist and refused to apologise. he said to media representatives:  if you think they are racist  i think you are wrong.  the mayor said his comments would not affect the 2012 olympic bid and added that his determination to stand up for what he believed in may impress bid chiefs  who arrived in london on tuesday.  i think it is important that the ioc (international olympic committee) members realise that when we get the games...they have a mayor who is not going to panic  change course or get in a great flap but will deliver the games on time and to budget   he said.  on tuesday  the mayor said he would be making a full written response to the chairman of the assembly. two motions were passed by the london assembly  which is made up of 25 members elected to examine the mayor s activities  on monday asking him to apologise and withdraw his comments. the mayor said he had recounted to the assembly a number of  examples of intrusion by journalists  into his  and his family s private life.  i don t suggest for one minute that has anything to do with the holocaust which was uniquely the most evil chapter in history.  but when reporters say to me i m only doing this because it s my job... that s the same abdication of moral responsibility at the thin end of the wedge that in its most extreme and horrific version ends up with others being prepared to stand as a concentration camp guard.   we are responsible for our own choices in this life  i always have been and so have reporters.  an official complaint has been made to local government watchdogs by the board of deputies of british jews  demanding an investigation by the standards board of england. it has the power to suspended or bar him from office but mr livingstone said:  there must have been 20 instances like this over the last 24 years.   i have never in response to any of that modified a policy i believed to be right or modified a position i believed to be right and i don t intend to now.  because if i do that effectively you hand power over your policies and position to the editors of papers.  on tape mr livingstone  who once worked as a freelance restaurant critic on the paper  is heard asking reporter oliver finegold if he is a  german war criminal . mr finegold replies:  no  i m jewish  i wasn t a german war criminal. i m quite offended by that.  the mayor then says:  ah right  well you might be  but actually you are just like a concentration camp guard  you are just doing it because you are paid to  aren t you


uk s national gallery in the pink the national gallery  home to some of the uk s greatest artworks  has seen a big jump in visitor numbers.  five million visitors made the london gallery - which houses treasures like raphael s madonna of the pinks - the uk s most visited museum in 2004. it recorded a 13.8% rise in numbers and was the country s second most visited tourist attraction  behind blackpool pleasure beach. charles saumarez smith  the gallery s director  said he was  delighted . he said the number of visitors through the doors had boosted figures to pre-11 september 2001 levels. mr saumarez smith added that the pedestrianisation of trafalgar square  where the gallery is located  and strong temporary collections throughout 2004 had led to the strong performance.   our 2004 exhibition programme of el greco  russian landscape in the age of tolstoy and raphael: from urbino to rome was particularly strong and exceeded all targets   he said.  the exceptional quality of the paintings in our permanent collection is also huge draw for the public.  the expectations of today s visitors are higher than ever and we have kept pace with their demands.  mr saumarez smith said he was confident the gallery could maintain the attendance.  with important exhibitions of the work of caravaggio  stubbs and rubens in place for 2005  i am confident that the gallery is set for another highly successful year   he added. the figures were prepared by the association of leading visitor attractions (alva).  it found that the figures had been boosted by an increase in europeans travelling to the uk on budget airlines. popular cultural tourist spots such as the tate modern and the natural history museum all recorded increases of more than 10% in visitor numbers compared with 2003. but for legal or confidentiality reasons some alva members did not submit figures for 2004  including buckingham palace  windsor castle  madame tussauds and alton towers. alva director robin broke said:  visits from western europe were up by 10% and from north america by some 9% compared to 2003  while numbers from the rest of the world rose 20%.  european figures were helped by the rapid growth of low-cost flights to britain from europe  especially from new eu countries.


school sport  is back   says pm tony blair has promised that  sport is back  as a priority for schools.  the prime minister launched a £500m initiative to allow school sports clubs in england to provide up to three hours of extra activity a week by 2010.  it s an important part of education and it s an important part of health   mr blair said. but the conservatives say government proposals - which include two hours  pe within school for 75% of pupils by 2006 - are unrealistic.  the latest move is aimed at encouraging more diversity in sport  with activities such as yoga and tai chi being options. launching the initiative  mr blair completed an agility course and shot basketball hoops with students from the all-girl waverley sports college in southwark  south london. he said:  you ve got to bring back school sport. it s got to be done differently than it was 30 or 40 years ago. it s still very  very important.   earlier  education secretary charles clarke told bbc news there were at least three areas which needed  a coherent framework  and  dedicated funding . these were training for pe teachers  establishing more specialist schools and the development of partnerships for activities such as inter-school competitions. he added the government had originally pledged  for every pupil to get at least two hours of high-quality physical education  a week. the proportion was currently at 62%  and the government was hoping this would rise to 85% by 2008 and 100% by 2010. the money for the initiative will come from a new £500m fund.  the £500m move will also increase the number of specialist sport colleges from 350 to 400. but the conservatives warned of rising obesity levels and said that since only a third of children do two hours of sport a week currently  the government is promising something it cannot guarantee. shadow spokesman for sport hugh robertson said:  i suspect the correct way to tackle it is to look at the other end of the spectrum and try to enable the clubs - which is where the real passion for sport exists - to deliver the school sport offer.  he said more emphasis should be put on traditional sports  saying that an  anti-competitive sport agenda  had been pursued in recent years. martin ward  of the secondary heads association  said members did not like  ring-fenced funds  and that it should be up to the schools themselves to decide how to spend their money.


china s shanda buys stake in sina chinese online game operator shanda interactive entertainment has bought a 20% stake in sina  the country s biggest internet portal firm.  the move may be a precursor to a full takeover  with analysts saying that a better-known international firm may also now show an interest in sina. shanda said that it may boost its stake in sina  even buying it outright. a merger would create a firm that offers online role-playing games  news  entertainment and wireless messaging.  sina said that the purchase of a stake by shanda would have no impact on its business.  the board of directors said in a statement that it would  continue to act in the best interests of all the company stakeholders  including shareholders  employees and customers . both companies are listed on the new york stock exchange s (nyse) technology-dominated nasdaq index. in a filing with the us securities and exchange commission  sina said its shares were purchased between 12 january and 10 february for about $230m. rumours about a possible takeover boosted sina s shares by more than 10% on friday. they added an extra 6.4% to $27.24 in electronic trading after the trading session had finished. and there may be more gains amid bid speculation when trading resumes in new york on tuesday after monday s public holiday  analysts forecast.  there could still be some potential parties that could still counter bid   said wallace cheung  an analyst at dbs vickers.  even though shanda has 20% of sina  they still have quite a long way to take full control.  however  mr cheung noted that a foreign company trying to take control of a chinese internet portal firm  with its ability to filter and pass on news  may not be viewed very favourably by beijing.


levy tipped for whitbread prize novelist andrea levy is favourite to win the main whitbread prize book of the year award  after winning novel of the year with her book small island.  the book has already won the orange prize for fiction  and is now 5/4 favourite for the £25 000 whitbread. second favourite is a biography of mary queen of scots  by john guy. a panel of judges including sir trevor mcdonald  actor hugh grant and writer joanne harris will decide the overall winner on tuesday.  the five writers in line for the award won their respective categories - first novel  novel  biography  poetry and children s book - on 6 january. small island  levy s fourth novel  is set in post-war london and centres on a landlady and her lodgers. one is a jamaican who joined british troops to fight hitler but finds life difficult out of uniform when he settles in the uk.  what could have been a didactic or preachy prospect turns out to hilarious  moving humane and eye-popping. it s hard to think of anybody not enjoying it   wrote the judges. the judges called guy s my heart is my own: the life of mary queen of scots  an impressive and readable piece of scholarship  which cannot fail but leave the reader moved and intrigued by this most tragic and likeable of queens . guy has published many histories  including one of tudor england. he is a fellow at clare college  cambridge and became a honorary research professor of the university of st andrews in 2003.  the other contenders include susan fletcher for eve green  which won the first novel prize. fletcher has recently graduated from the university of east anglia s creative writing course. the fourth book in the running is corpus  michael symmons roberts  fourth collection of poems. as well as writing poetry  symmons roberts also makes documentary films. geraldine mccaughrean is the final contender  having won the children s fiction category for the third time for not the end of the world. mccaughrean  who went into magazine publishing after studying teaching  previously won the category in 1987 with a little lower than angels and in 1994 with gold dust.


google shares fall as staff sell shares in google have fallen 6.7% after employees and early investors in the web search took advantage of the first chance to sell their holdings.  restrictions were imposed ahead of its flotation in august  to prevent shares being dumped quickly onto the market. in one of the most closely-watched initial public offerings in stock market history  the us-based company sold 19.6 million shares at $85 each. google shares have risen since but fell $12.33 on tuesday to close at $172.55. the restriction - known as a lockup - is being eased piecemeal: in all  some 227 million additional shares will become free to trade by february 2005. selling the shares could turn many of google s workers into millionaires.  there were fears that the potential increase of shares in circulation from tuesday would ease demand for stock. however  analysts say they expected most shareholders would be holding back from selling all their shares immediately  as google s good performance and future growth potential means demand will hold.  in its first earnings report since floating on the stock market  google said it made a net profit of $52m in the three months ending 30 september. sales surged to $805.9m in the third quarter  up from $393.9m a year earlier. google s main service - its internet search - is free to users  so the firm makes much of its money from selling advertising space linked to the words for which its users search. it also sells the use of its technology to companies who need to make either their websites  or their internal information systems  searchable.


india-pakistan peace boosts trade calmer relations between india and pakistan are paying economic dividends  with new figures showing bilateral trade up threefold in the summer.  the value of trade in april-july rose to $186.3m (£97m) from $64.4m in the same period in 2003  the indian government said. nonethless  the figures represent less than 1% of india s overall exports. but business is expected to be boosted further from 2006 when the south asian free trade area agreement starts. both countries eased travel and other restrictions as part of the peace process aimed at ending nearly six decades of hostilities.  sugar  plastics  pharmaceutical products and tea are among the major exports from india to its neighbour  while firms in pakistani have been selling fabrics  fruit and spices.  if the positive trend continues  two-way trade could well cross half a billion dollars this fiscal year   india s federal commerce minister kamal nath said. according to official data  the value of india s overall exports in the current fiscal year is expected to reach more than $60bn  while in pakistan s case it is set to hit more than $12bn. meanwhile  the indian government said the prospects for the country s booming economy remained  very bright  despite a  temporary aberration  this year. its mid-year economic review forecasts growth of 6-6.5% in 2004  compared with 8.2% in 2003. higher oil prices  the level of tax collections  and an unfavourable monsoon season affecting the farm sector had hurt the economy in april-september  it said.


ask jeeves joins web log market ask jeeves has bought the bloglines website to improve the way it handles content from web journals or blogs.  the bloglines site has become hugely popular as it gives users one place in which to read  search and share all the blogs they are interested in. ask jeeves said it was not planning to change bloglines but would use the 300 million articles it has archived to round out its index of the web. how much ask jeeves paid for bloglines was not revealed.  bloglines has become popular because it lets users build a list of the blogs they want to follow without having to visit each journal site individually. to do this it makes use of a technology known as really simple syndication (rss) that many blogs have adopted to let other sites know when new entries are made on their journals. the acquisition follows similar moves by other search sites. google acquired pyra labs  makers of the blogger software  in 2003. in 2004 msn introduced its own blog system and yahoo has tweaked its technology to do a better job of handling blog entries. jim lanzone  vice president of search properties at ask jeeves in the us  said it did not acquire bloglines just to get a foothold in the blog publishing world. he said ask jeeves was much more interested in helping people find information they were looking for rather than helping them write it.   the universe of readers is vastly larger than the universe of writers   he said. mr lanzone said the acquisition would sit well with ask s my jeeves service which lets people customise their own web experience and build up a personal collection of useful links.  search engines are about discovering information for the first time and rss is the ideal way to keep track of and monitor those sites   he said. it would also help drive information and entries from blogs to the portals that ask jeeves operates. there would be no instant sweeping changes to bloglines  said mr lanzone.  our intent is to take our time to figure out the right business model not to try to monetise it right away   he said. though mr lanzone added that ask jeeves would be helping organise the database of 300m blog entries bloglines holds with its own net indexing technology.  being able to search the blogosphere as one corpus of information will be very useful in its own right   said mr lanzone. rumours about the acquisition were broken by the napsterization weblog which said it got the hint from ask jeeves insiders.


swiss cement firm in buying spree swiss cement firm holcim has bid $800m (£429m) to buy two indian cement firms and a holding company in the country.  it plans to buy associated cement companies (acc)  ambuja cement eastern and the holding firm  ambuja cement india ltd  a holcim statement said. shares in acc fell 5.5% as investors  who thought the offer was underpriced  decided to sell. meanwhile  uk-based firm aggregate industries said it had agreed a £1.8bn takeover by holcim.  the deal with aggregates will give holcim  the world s second-biggest cement maker  an entry into the uk market and boost its presence in the us. peter tom  who will remain as aggregate chief executive  said the 138p a share offer provided  significant value  for shareholders. the markfield  leicestershire-based company runs 142 quarries in the uk and the us. it also has 164 ready-mixed concrete plants  90 asphalt plants and 32 pre-cast concrete factories.  if the indian deals go ahead  it will give holcim a major presence in the world s fastest-growing market behind china. acc is india s second-largest cement maker with an annual capacity of 18.2 million tonnes and a market share of 13%.  holcim is looking to buy it (acc) very cheap   said kk mittal  a fund manager with escorts mutual fund in new delhi.  the market is not impressed. if they want a substantial chunk  then they should be paying a premium over the market price.  shares in holcim rose by 2.3% on thursday following news of the takeover.


gritty return for prince of persia still basking in the relatively recent glory of last year s sands of time  the dashing prince of persia is back in warrior within  and in a more bellicose mood than last time.  this sequel gives the franchise a grim  gritty new look and ramps up the action and violence. as before  you control the super-athletic prince from a third-person perspective. the time-travelling plot hinges on the dahaka  an all-consuming monster pursuing our hero through the ages. the only way to dispel it is to turn back the clock again and kill the sultry empress of time before she ever creates the sands of time that caused the great beast s creation.  studiously structured though this back story is  everything boils down to old-fashioned fantasy gameplay which proves  on the whole  as dependable as it needs to be. ever since the series  then-groundbreaking beginnings on the commodore amiga  prince of persia has always been about meticulously-animated acrobatic moves  that provide an energetic blend of leaping preposterously between pieces of scenery and lopping off enemies  body parts.  those flashy moves are back in full evidence  and tremendous fun to perform and perfect. combining them at speed is the best fun  although getting a handle of doing so takes practice and plenty of skill. until you reach that point  it is a haphazard business. all too often  you will perform a stunning triple somersault  pirouette off a wall  knock out three enemies in one glorious swoop  before plummeting purposefully over a cliff to your doom. that in turn can mean getting set back an annoyingly long distance  for you can only save at the fountains dotted along the path. the expected fiendish puzzles are all present and correct  but combat is what is really been stepped up  and there is more of it than before. the game s developers have combined acrobatic flair with gruesome slaying techniques in some wonderfully imaginative ways. slicing foes down the middle is one particularly entertaining method of seeing them off.  warrior within is a very slick package; the game s intro movie is so phenomenally good that it actually does an ultimate disservice once the game itself commences.  it is on a par with the jaw-dropping opening sequence of onimusha 3 earlier this year  and when the game begins  it is something of an anti-climax. that said  the graphics are excellent  and indeed among the most striking and satisfying elements of the game. the music is probably the worst aspect - a merit-free heavy metal soundtrack that you will swiftly want to turn off. there is something strangely unsatisfying about the game. perhaps precisely because its graphics and mechanics are so good that the story and overall experience are not quite as engaging as they should be. somehow it adds up to less than the sum of its parts  and is more technically impressive than it is outright enjoyable. but that is not to say warrior within is anything other than a superb adventure that most will thoroughly enjoy. it just does not quite take the character to the new heights that might have been hoped for.


india widens access to telecoms india has raised the limit for foreign direct investment in telecoms companies from 49% to 74%.  communications minister dayanidhi maran said that there is a need to fund the fast-growing mobile market. the government hopes to increase the number of mobile users from 95 million to between 200 and 250 million by 2007.  we need at least $20bn (£10.6bn) in investment and part of this has to come as foreign direct investment   said mr maran. the decision to raise the limit for foreign investors faced considerable opposition from the communist parties  which give crucial support to the coalition headed by prime minister manmohan singh. potential foreign investors will however need government approval before they increase their stake beyond 49%  mr maran said. key positions  such as those of chief executive  chief technology officer and chief financial officer are to be held by indians  he added.  analysts and investors have welcomed the government decision.  it is a positive development for carriers and the investment community  looking to take a longer-term view of the huge growth in the indian telecoms market   said gartner s principal analyst kobita desai.  the fdi relaxation coupled with rapid local market growth could really ignite interest in the indian telecommunication industry   added ernst and young s sanjay mehta. investment bank morgan stanley has forecast that india s mobile market is likely to grow by about 40% a year until 2007. the indian mobile market is currently dominated by four companies  bharti televentures which has allied itself with singapore telecom  essar which is linked with hong kong-based hutchison whampoa  the sterling group and the tata group.


labour faces  cold calls  inquiry labour is to be investigated by a watchdog over claims its election campaign has broken the rules on  cold calling  householders.  the information commissioner is to look into a complaint from the lib dems about how labour uses its call centres. the lib dems say labour is telephoning people who have signed up to make sure they do not get marketing calls. labour denies breaking rules. it says calls are not marketing if they just ask about people s voting intentions. the party says it would expect the watchdog to take complaints seriously but it has clear legal advice on the issue.  telephone call centres are expected to be used as never before by all the three major parties in the run-up to the general election. but seven million telephone numbers are on the telephone preference service (tps) lists  which ban unsolicited sales and marketing calls. lib dem chairman matthew taylor has written to the watchdog accusing labour of a  flagrant and systematic breach  of the laws governing the tps.  he says the initial call may not be marketing but it identifies voters to whom the party can send promotional material in the future. his letter to the commissioner quotes from a labour party handbook about  identifying target voters . and it quotes a stevenage labour party members  newsletter explaining how voters will be telephoned about their voting intentions.  the voters are put in 24 categories according to their last known voting intention  ranging from  labour (firm)  to  target (conservative)  - those who supported the party in the past but this time will be voting tory. the newsletter says:  using the information we know about people  we can send them direct mailings.  for example  we could send the target (conservative) people a letter from someone who had defected from the tories to labour explaining the reasons why voting tory is a bad idea or we could send labour (weak) people a letter encouraging them to sign up for a postal vote.   mr taylor tells the commissioner:  it is clear beyond peradventure from the above that the labour party is engaging in a large-scale voter id project for subsequent promotional purposes through targeted and segmented mailings.  insofar as this project is directed at tps subscribers  it is equally clear that it is unlawful.  the lib dems raised worries about labour and conservative calls in february and 680 people have signed up to the website they set up to help people to complain. a party official said there was only scattered evidence of the tories breaking the rules but people had complained every day about labour.  a spokeswoman for the information commissioner s office said it was examining one complaint about political calls - understood to be mr taylor s.  we are investigating one of the complaints where some evidence has been given to us   she said.  obviously evidence is needed for us to start investigations.  the commissioner s office will now examine the lib dem evidence.  the guidance is that cold calling can be made as long as no marketing is going on   said the spokeswoman. if labour is judged to have broken the rules  it will be asked stop immediately. if it fails to do so after two or three warning letters  the commissioner can issue an enforcement notice spelling out what the party needs to do or stop doing.  the party could appeal against the decision to an information tribunal. if the appeal fails and it continues breaking the rules  it could be fined up to £5 000. labour says it avoids those on tps lists when telephoning people about membership or fundraising but not when making  voter identification  calls. asked about the commissioner s inquiry  a labour spokesman told bbc news:  we expect the information commissioner to take any complaint seriously. however  we are absolutely clear that we haven t broken any rules.  as the information commissioner himself has said  if people are not marketing something  if they are asking them which way they are going to vote  they are not in breach of the law.  we always ask everyone we phone up whether they would be happy to be contacted by the labour party again.


anti-terror plan faces first test plans to allow home secretary charles clarke to place terror suspects under house arrest without trial are set for their first real test in parliament.  tories  lib dems and some labour mps are poised to vote against the plans. mr clarke says the powers are needed to counter terror threats. opponents say only judges  not politicians  should be able to order detention of uk citizens. the government is expected to win wednesday s vote in the commons  but faces a battle in the house of lords.  the prevention of terrorism bill was published on tuesday. it proposes  control orders   which would mean house arrest in the most serious cases  and curfews  electronic tagging and limits on telephone and internet access for other suspects.  the two opposition parties are particularly worried that the control orders would initially be imposed on the say-so of the home secretary  rather than a judge. tory shadow home secretary david davis warned of the potential for miscarriages of justice  like the guildford four - for which tony blair recently apologised - as a result of the pressure on politicians to lock up terror suspects.  those pressures would be much more for a politician than they would on a judge and that s why we have serious concerns abut that approach   he told bbc radio 4 s today programme.  mr clarke says he does not intend to use the house arrest powers now - even for the 11 current terror detainees. he also said that any decision he made would be reviewed by a judge within seven days. the foreign terror suspects currently detained are mostly held at london s belmarsh prison. they are held under laws which the law lords have ruled break human rights rules - and which are due to expire on 14 march.  the new powers  designed to replace the existing laws and meet the law lords  concerns  would apply to british as well as foreign terror suspects. critics say that giving politicians the power to deprive uk citizens of their freedom is the biggest attack on civil liberties for 300 years. opposition mps are also angry they will have only two days - wednesday and next monday - to debate the new plans before they pass to the house of lords. but the government says the existing powers run out soon so must be replaced urgently.  in a rare move  the tories and lib dems have jointly tabled a motion opposing the new bill  saying the house arrest plans are  excessive . it argues decisions should be taken on a higher standard of proof and the plan  wrongly infringes the right to liberty  by failing to bring terrorists to trial where there is evidence. mr davis told today:  it gives a minister  for the first time in modern history  the right to detain without trial  without showing the evidence and indeed  in some respects  almost the allegation against the individual concerned.   he questioned why there was  such a rush  to introduce the legislation when mr clarke had indicated he was not planning to use the house arrest powers straight away. liberal democrat home affairs spokesman mark oaten said:  we believe it should be the judge that takes decisions  not politicians.  mr clarke said the security services and police backed his measures and it would be  rash and negligent  to ignore their advice. nobody should doubt that terrorists at home and abroad wanted to attack the uk and its interests  he argued.


plaid mp s cottage arson claim a plaid cymru mp believes uk security services were involved in some arson attacks blamed on welsh extremists.  it is 25 years since the start of 12 years of fire-bombings  attributed to a shadowy group known as meibion glyndwr. plaid cymru s elfyn llwyd has suggested the security services could have been involved  with the intention of discrediting the nationalist vote. ex-welsh office minister lord roberts of conwy denied security services were involved. in march this year  north wales police reopened the case  saying materials kept during their investigations would be examined to find whether it would yield dna evidence.  meibion glyndwr - which means  sons of glyndwr  - began burning property in december 1979 in protest at homes in rural wales being sold as holiday cottages to people from england. the group was linked to most of the 220 or so fire-bombing incidents stretching from the llyn peninsula to pembrokeshire. the campaign continued until the early 1990s. police were accused in some quarters of targeting anyone who was a nationalist. although one man  sion aubrey roberts  was convicted in 1993 of sending letter bombs in the post  the arson cases remain unsolved.  as a solicitor  elfyn llwyd represented welsh singer bryn fôn when he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the arson campaign. fôn was released without charge . but now  as mp for merionnydd nant conwy and plaid cymru s parliamentary leader  mr llwyd has argued that some of the terror attacks may have had the involvement of the security services and not meibion glyndwr. he believes that elements of the british security services may have carried out renegade actions in order to discredit plaid cymru and the nationalist vote ahead of elections. the claim is made in an interview for bbc wales  maniffesto programme to be shown on s4c on sunday.  mr llwyd said that the sophistication of many of the devices used in the attacks compared to the crude nature of many others  suggests a degree of professionalism which could only have come from individuals who knew exactly what they were doing. he said:  what i m saying is that the role that they took wasn t the appropriate one  i.e. like an  agent provocateur  and perhaps interfering and creating a situation where it looked like it was the nationalists that were responsible.  the programme also heard from lord roberts of conwy  who was a welsh office minister at the time. he denied that the security services played any improper role. mr llwyd s theory has also been questioned by plaid cymru s former president  dafydd wigley. he accepted that the fires damaged plaid cymru s public image but believed that the security services had their hands full at the time with the ira and animal rights activists.    - maniffesto can be seen on s4c on sunday  12 december  at 1200 gmt.


solutions to net security fears fake bank e-mails  or phishing  and stories about id theft are damaging the potential of using the net for online commerce  say e-business experts.  trust in online security is falling as a result. almost 70% of those asked in a poll said that net firms are not doing enough to protect people. the survey of more than 1 000 people reported that 43% were not willing to hand over personal information online. it is worrying for shopaholics and firms who want to exploit the net. more people are becoming aware of online security issues but they have little confidence that companies are doing enough to counter the threats  said security firm rsa  which carried out the poll. an estimated 12 million britons now use the net as a way of managing their financial affairs. security experts say that scare stories and the vulnerabilities dogging e-commerce and e-banking are being taken seriously - by banks in particular.   i don t think the threat is overplayed   barry beal  global security manager for capgemini  told the bbc news website. he added:  the challenge for banks is to provide the customer with something that improves security but balances that with usability.  ensuring extra security measures are in place protects them too  as well as the individual  and it is up to both parties to make sure they do what is necessary to prevent fraud  he said.  card issuers will keep us informed of types of attacks and what procedure to take to protect ourselves. if we do that  they will indemnify us   he said. many believe using login details like usernames and passwords are simply not good enough anymore though. one of the biggest challenges to improving security online is how to authenticate an individual s identity. several security companies have developed methods which complement or replace passwords  which are easily compromised and easy to forget. last year  a street survey found that more than 70% of people would reveal their password for a bar of chocolate.  on average  people have to remember four different passwords. some resort to using the same one for all their online accounts. those who use several passwords often write them down and hide them in a desk or in a document on their computer. in a separate survey by rsa  80% said they were fed up with passwords and would like a better way to login to work computer systems. for many  the ideal is a single online identity that can be validated once with a series of passwords and questions  or some biometric measurement like a fingerprint or iris scan with a token like a smartcard.  activcard is just one of the many companies  like rsa security  which has been trying to come up with just that. rsa has a deal with internet provider aol that lets people pay monthly for a one-time passcode generation service. users get a physical token which automatically generates a code which stays active for 60 seconds. many companies use a token-based method already for employees to access networks securely already. activcard s method is more complex. it is currently trailing its one-time passcode generation technology with uk banks. steve ash  from activcard  told the bbc news website there are two parts to the process of identification. the most difficult is to ascertain whether an individual is who they say they are when they are online.   the end solution is to provide a method where you combine something the user knows with something they have and present those both.  the method it has developed makes use of the chip embedded in bank cards and a special card reader which can generate unique codes that are active for a specified amount of time. this can be adjusted at any time and can be active for as little as 30 seconds before it changes. it combines that with usual usernames and passwords  as well as other security questions.  you take the card  put it in the reader  enter your pin number  and a code is given.  if you wanted then to transfer funds  for instance  you would have to have the code to authorise the transaction.  the clever bit happens back at the bank s secure servers. the code is validated by the bank s systems  matching the information they expect with the customer s unique key.  each individual gets a key which is unique to them. it is a 2048-bit long number that is virtually impossible to crack   said mr ash. it means that in a typical security attack  explains mr ash  even if password information is captured by a scammer using keystroke software or just through spoof websites  they need the passcode.  by the time they go back [to use the information]  the code has expired  so they can t prove who they are   according to mr ash. in the next few years  mr ash predicts that this kind of method will be commonplace before we see biometric authentication that is acceptable for widespread use.  pcs will have readers built into them  the cost of readers will be very cheap  and more people will have the cards.  the gadgets we carry around  like personal digital assistants (pdas) and mobiles  could also have integrated card reader technology in them.  the pda or phone method is a possible alternative as people are always carrying phones around   he said.


bnp leader nick griffin arrested the leader of the british national party has been arrested as part of a police inquiry following the screening of a bbc documentary.  a party spokesman said nick griffin was arrested on tuesday morning on suspicion of incitement to commit racial hatred. west yorkshire police confirmed they had arrested a 45-year-old man from outside their area. bnp founding chairman john tyndall was arrested on sunday on the same charge.  in july  the bbc documentary secret agent featured covertly-filmed footage of bnp activists. mr griffin is the twelfth man to be arrested following the documentary. nine men from west yorkshire and another man from leicester have been arrested and freed on bail. seven of the men had been held variously in connection with suspected racially aggravated public order offences  conspiracy to commit criminal damage and possession of a firearm. two men  both from keighley  were arrested in september on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage. a 24-year-old man from leicester was detained on monday on suspicion of incitement to commit racial hatred. a bnp spokesperson said mr tyndall  from brighton  was arrested following a speech he made in burnley  lancashire  and was released on police bail.


casual gaming to  take off  games aimed at  casual players  are set to be even bigger in 2005  according to industry experts.  easy-to-play titles that do not require too much time and that are playable online or downloadable to mobile devices will see real growth in the coming year. the trend shows that gaming is not just about big-hitting  games console titles  which appeal more to  hardcore  gamers  said a panel of experts. they were speaking before the annual consumer electronics show in las vegas which showcases the latest trends in gadgets and technologies for 2005. the panel also insisted that casual gamers were not just women  a common misconception which pervades current thinking about gamer demographics.  casual games like poker  pool  bridge  bingo and puzzle-based titles  which can be played online or downloaded onto mobile devices  were  gender neutral  and different genres attracted different players.  greg mills  program director at aol  said its figures suggested that sports-based games attracted 90% of 18 to 24-year-old males  while puzzle games were played by 80% of females. games like bridge tended to attract the over-50 demographic of gamers.  but hardcore gamers who are more attracted to blockbuster gamers which usually require hi-spec pcs  like half-life 2  or halo 2 on xbox  also liked to have a different type of gaming experience.  when hardcore gamers are not playing halo  they are playing poker and pool  based on our research   said geoff graber  director of yahoo games  which attracts about 12 million gamers a month.  with the growth of powerful pc technology and ownership  broadband take-up  portable players and mobile devices  as well as interactive tv  casual gaming is shaping up to be big business in 2005  according to the panel. the focus for the coming year should be about attracting third-party developers into the field to offer more innovative and multiplayer titles  they agreed.  we are at a time where we are on the verge of something much bigger   said mr graber.  casual games will get into their stride in 2005  will be really big in 2006 and will be about community.  with more people finding more to do with their gadgets and high-speed connections  casual games would start to open up the world of gaming as a form of mass-market entertainment to more people. key to these types of titles is the chance they give people who may not see themselves as gamers to dip in and out of games when they liked.  portal sites which offer casual games  like aol  yahoo  and realarcade  as well as other games-on-demand services  allow people to build up buddy lists so they can return and play against the same people. this aspect of  community  is crucial for gamers who just want to have quick access to free or cheap games without committing long periods of time immersed in £30 to £40 console or pc titles  said the panel. about 120 000 people are expected to attend the ces trade show which stretches over more than 1.5 million square feet and which officially runs from 6 to 9 january. the main theme is how new devices are getting better at talking to each other  allowing people to enjoy digital content  like audio  video and images  when they want  and where they want.


ebbers  aware  of worldcom fraud former worldcom boss bernie ebbers was directly involved in the $11bn financial fraud at the firm  his closest associate has told a us court.  giving evidence in the criminal trial of mr ebbers  ex-finance chief scott sullivan implicated his colleague in the accounting scandal at the firm. mr sullivan  worldcom s former number two  is the government s chief witness in its case against mr ebbers. mr ebbers has denied multiple charges of conspiracy and fraud.  senior worldcom executives are accused of orchestrating a huge fraud at the former telecoms company in which they exaggerated revenues and hid the cost of expenses. the firm was forced into bankruptcy  the largest in us history. mr sullivan  42  pleaded guilty to fraud last year and agreed to assist the government with its case against mr ebbers.  prosecutors have alleged that mr ebbers  63  directed mr sullivan to hide the true state of the company s finances by providing false information to the firm s accountants. mr ebbers has denied all the charges  saying he was unaware of the fraud. his lawyers claim that their client was unfamiliar with detailed accounting practices and left that side of the business to mr sullivan.  however  on monday mr sullivan named mr ebbers as one of five executives who participated in the accounting fraud.  he [ebbers] has got a hands-on grasp of financial information   mr sullivan told a new york court. on his first day of questioning  mr sullivan admitted to falsifying the company s financial statements.   we did not disclose these adjustments   he said.  we did not talk about these adjustments and the information was false.  mr sullivan said his former boss knew more about accounting matters than many chief financial officers and described him as  detail-oriented .  he portrayed mr ebbers  a charismatic businessman who built up worldcom from a small regional operator into one of america s largest telecoms firms  as obsessed with costs.  he would talk about that there were more coffee filters than coffee bags and that means employees are taking coffee home   he said.  we needed to cut expenses. we needed to cut a lot more than coffee expenses.  mr sullivan is at the centre of the government s case against mr ebbers. mr ebbers could face a sentence of 85 years if convicted of all the charges he is facing.


edu blasts arsenal arsenal s brazilian midfielder edu has hit out at the club for stalling over offering him a new contract.  edu s deal expires next summer and he has been linked with spanish trio real madrid  barcelona and valencia. he told bbc sport:  i m not sure if i want to stay or not because the club have let the situation go on this far.  if they had really wanted to sign they should have come up with an offer six months before indicating they wanted to sign me and that s made me think.  edu s brother and representative amadeo fensao has previously said that arsenal s current offer to the midfielder was well short of what he was seeking. and edu  26  added:  my brother is due to come to london on thursday.   there is a meeting planned for 6 or 7 january to sort it out with arsenal.  now i have a choice to stay or go. i want to sort it out as soon as possible  that s in the best interests of both the club and myself.  i m going to make my decision after the meeting later this week.  edu is now able to begin negotiations with other clubs because fifa regulations allow players to start talks six months before their contracts expire. the midfielder  who broke in to the brazilian national side in 2004  admitted he had been flattered to have been linked with the three spanish giants. edu said:  i ve just heard stories from the news that the madrid president florentino perez  the valencia people  as well as barcelona are interested.   that s nice  but i ve never talked to them  so i can t say they want me sign 100%.  last month wenger said he we was hopeful edu would sign a new deal and played down suggestions that the lure of a club like real madrid would be too strong for edu. edu added that he had been encouraged by wenger s support for him.  i still have a good relationship with arsene wenger - he s always said he wants me to sign.


johansson takes adelaide victory second seed joachim johansson won his second career title with a 7-5 6-3 win over taylor dent at the australian hardcourt championships in adelaide.  the swede was made to graft  american dent surviving three break points in the fifth game of the match. but johansson got the breakthrough with a sublime backhand return winner and won the second set with more ease. his first tournament win was at memphis in 2004  helping him leap from 113th in the world rankings to number 11. afterwards  dent said he rated us open semi-finalist johansson as a top contender at the australian open  which starts on 17 january.  i believe men s tennis is all about holding serve and if he s playing like that on his own serve i don t see how guys are going to break him   said dent. johansson was more restrained in his assessment:  i have to improve my serve if i m going to go all the way in melbourne.


dvd review: spider-man 2 it s a universal rule that a film can either be a superhero special effects extravaganza or it can be good. but spider-man 2 breaks that rule in two.  it s not fantastically deep but you get quickly drawn into the tale of spidey versus doc ock and more so into the fate of poor peter parker. gigantic action set pieces seamlessly work with more brooding personal torment and it all looks stunning. a few effects look false but tobey maguire  kirsten dunst and alfred molina make this compelling. the other universal rule is that dvds of superhero films will have making of features only about the effects. this disc covers those special effects enough but as just one part of a detailed look at the film. then there are commentaries  trailers and a blooper reel.  sometimes quality comes in bulk: this set contains no less than 34 john wayne films ranging from the westerns and war movies to the quiet man.  now is that a christmas present or what  give this to someone on 24 december and you won t see them again until early in the new year. it s not truly a complete collection and leans more toward wayne s earlier films: there s no true grit  for instance  though there is hellraisers. the films look well transferred to dvd  though none has extras.  it was very daft but it knew it was and somehow this famous 1979 series became a cult favourite that s been long awaited on dvd. this set has the first season of buck (gil gerard) and wilma s (erin gray) tongue-in-cheek adventures and it s all as camp and gaudy as you remember. but it s also a disappointment. the us dvd has this and the more po-faced second season - and you can import it for just about the same price. the bigger omission  though  is that there are no extras. that s particularly disappointing because originally there were meant to be commentaries and stars gerard and gray had agreed to do them.


newest eu members underpin growth the european union s newest members will bolster europe s economic growth in 2005  according to a new report.  the eight central european states which joined the eu last year will see 4.6% growth  the united nations economic commission for europe (unece) said. in contrast  the 12 euro zone countries will put in a  lacklustre  performance  generating growth of only 1.8%. the global economy will slow in 2005  the unece forecasts  due to widespread weakness in consumer demand.  it warned that growth could also be threatened by attempts to reduce the united states  huge current account deficit which  in turn  might lead to significant volatility in exchange rates.  unece is forecasting average economic growth of 2.2% across the european union in 2005. however  total output across the euro zone is forecast to fall in 2004 from 1.9% to 1.8%. this is due largely to the faltering german economy  which shrank 0.2% in the last quarter of 2004. on monday  germany s bdb private banks association said the german economy would struggle to meet its 1.4% growth target in 2005.  separately  the bundesbank warned that germany s efforts to reduce its budget deficit below 3% of gdp presented  huge risks  given that headline economic growth was set to fall below 1% this year. publishing its 2005 economic survey  the unece said central european countries such as the czech republic and slovenia would provide the backbone of the continent s growth. smaller nations such as cyprus  ireland and malta would also be among the continent s best performing economies this year  it said. the uk economy  on the other hand  is expected to slow in 2005  with growth falling from 3.2% last year to 2.5%.  consumer demand will remain fragile in many of europe s largest countries and economies will be mostly driven by growth in exports.  in view of the fragility of factors of domestic growth and the dampening effects of the stronger euro on domestic economic activity and inflation  monetary policy in the euro area is likely to continue to  wait and see   the organisation said in its report. global economic growth is expected to fall from 5% in 2004 to 4.25% despite the continued strength of the chinese and us economies. the unece warned that attempts to bring about a controlled reduction in the us current account deficit could cause difficulties.  the orderly reversal of the deficit is a major challenge for policy makers in both the united states and other economies   it noted.


abortion not a poll issue - blair tony blair does not believe abortion should be an election issue  arguing it is a matter for individual conscience.  the prime minister s spokesman set out mr blair s view after the top catholic in england and wales backed michael howard s stance on abortions. the tory leader supports a reduction in the legal limit from 24 weeks to 20 and has said current rules are  tantamount to abortion on demand . the prime minister has made it clear he has no plans to the change the law.  mr blair s spokesman said:  the catholic church has a well-known position on this issue and it was one of many issues the cardinal mentioned and therefore it should be seen in that context.  his words came as cardinal cormac murphy o connor  the archbishop of westminster  backed mr howard s stance and distanced himself from labour. in a statement  he said abortion was a  very key issue   saying:  the policy supported by mr howard is one that we would commend  on the way to a full abandonment of abortion.   cardinal o connor claimed labour had  developed  the notion that it was the natural party of catholics  but he said:  we are not going to suggest people support one particular party.  the family planning association says a reduction would particularly affect young women who often seek help later. more than 180 000 women in england and wales had terminations last year  of which fewer than 1% were carried out between 22 and 24 weeks.  in the cosmopolitan interview mr howard said:  i believe abortion should be available to everyone  but the law should be changed.  in the past i voted for a restriction to 22 weeks and i would be prepared to go down to 20.  all three main parties say the issue is one for each mp s conscience  rather than one where there is a party-wide policy. mr howard stressed his views were his personal views. shadow home secretary david davis said he understood mr howard had been signalling that a conservative government would allow a commons vote on the issue. mr blair and liberal democrat leader charles kennedy also gave their views during interviews  conducted as part of the magazine s  high heeled vote  campaign.  mr blair  who last year denied he planned to join his wife and four children in the catholic faith despite regularly taking communion  said abortion was a  difficult issue .  however much i dislike the idea of abortion  you should not criminalise a woman who  in very difficult circumstances  makes that choice.  obviously there is a time beyond which you can t have an abortion  and we have no plans to change that although the debate will continue.  mr kennedy said he had previously voted for a 22-week limit but medical advances mean  i don t know what i would do now . the roman catholic archbishop of cardiff  the most reverend peter smith  told bbc radio 4 s today programme that the church merely wanted people to  reflect on issues in light of the gospel  before voting. anne weyman  chief executive of the family planning association  asked:  what is the benefit to women  or to the potential child  of forcing a woman to have a baby   anti-abortion group the pro-life alliance  congratulated  mr howard on his new stance  but said it did not go far enough.