wolves appoint hoddle as manager glenn hoddle will be unveiled as the new wolves manager on tuesday.  the club have confirmed that the former england coach will be unveiled as the successor to dave jones at a news conference at molineux at 1100 gmt. hoddle has been linked with a return to former club southampton but wolves have won the race for his services. he has been out of the game since being sacked at spurs in september 2003 and worked alongside wolves caretaker boss stuart gray at southampton. hoddle began his managerial career as player-boss with swindon before moving on to chelsea and then taking up the england job.  his spell in charge of the national side came to an end after the 1998 world cup when he made controversial remarks about the disabled in a newspaper interview. the 47-year-old later returned to management with southampton  where he again succeeded jones - as he has now done at wolves. he engineered an upturn in saints  fortunes before being lured to white hart lane by tottenham - the club where he made his name as a player. that relationship turned sour at the start of the last campaign and he left the london club early last season. since then he has applied unsuccessfully for the post of france manager and had also been linked with a return to southampton. wolves are currently 17th in the championship and have a home game against millwall on tuesday.


broadband in the uk growing fast high-speed net connections in the uk are proving more popular than ever.  bt reports that more people signed up for broadband in the last three months than in any other quarter. the 600 000 connections take the total number of people in the uk signing up for broadband from bt to almost 3.3 million. nationally more than 5 million browse the net via broadband. britain now has among the highest number of broadband connections throughout the whole of europe.  according to figures gathered by industry watchdog  ofcom  the growth means that the uk has now surpassed germany in terms of broadband users per 100 people. the uk total of 5.3 million translates into 7.5 connections per 100 people  compared to 6.7 in germany and 15.8 in the netherlands. the numbers of people signing up to broadband include those that get their service direct from bt or via the many companies that re-sell bt lines under their own name. part of the surge in people signing up was due to bt stretching the reach of adsl - the uk s most widely used way of getting broadband - beyond 6km.  asymmetric digital subscriber line technology lets ordinary copper phone lines support high data speeds. the standard speed is 512kbps  though faster connections are available.  this breakthrough led to a dramatic increase in orders as we were suddenly able to satisfy the pent-up demand that existed in many areas   said paul reynolds  chief executive of bt wholesale which provides phone lines that other firms re-sell. bt retail  which sells net services under its own name  also had a good quarter and provided about 30% of the new broadband customers. this was a slight increase on the previous three months. despite the good news about growth in broadband  figures from telecommunications regulator ofcom show that bt faces increasing competition  and dwindling influence  in other sectors. local loop unbundling  (llu)  in which bt rivals install their hardware in exchanges and take over the line to a customer s home or office  is growing steadily. cable & wireless and ntl have announced that they are investing millions to start offering llu services. by the end of september more than 4.2 million phone lines were using so-called carrier pre-section (cps) services  such as talktalk and one.tel  which route phone calls across non-bt networks from a local exchange. there are now more than 300 different firms offering cps services and the percentage of people using bt lines for voice calls has shrunk to 55.4%.


apple sues to stop product leaks computer firm apple has issued a lawsuit to prevent online leaks of information about future products.  the lawsuit  against an unidentified individual  comes just weeks before the macworld conference in san francisco  used to showcase new products. the complaint said an  unidentified individual... has recently misappropriated and disseminated confidential information . the lawsuit was filed with the santa clara california superior court. apple is famously secretive about its future product launches while apple users are equally famous for speculating about new technology from the company. fans have speculated in recent weeks about the possibility of a new type of ipod being announced at the macworld conference.  apple said in the seven-page complaint  filed on 13 december  that it did not know the  true names or capacities  whether individual  associate  corporate or otherwise   of the defendants. the company said it would amend the complaint once they had discovered the names of those who had allegedly leaked information. it is not the first time apple has sued people who have posted information about future products on the internet. in december 2002  apple sued a former contractor who allegedly posted online drawings  images and engineering details of the company s powermac g4 computer. in a statement  apple said of the current lawsuit:  apple has filed a civil complaint against unnamed individuals who we believe stole our trade secrets and posted detailed information about an unannounced apple product on the internet.


radcliffe eyes hard line on drugs paula radcliffe has called for all athletes found guilty on drugs charges to be treated as criminals.  the marathon world record holder believes more needs to be done to rid athletics of the  suspicions and innuendoes  which greet any fast time.  doping in sport is a criminal offence and should be treated as such   the 30-year-old told the sunday times.  it not only cheats other athletes but also cheats promoters  sponsors and the general public.   radcliffe s comments come at a time when several american sports stars are under suspicion of steroid use.  being caught in possession of a performance-enhancing drugs should carry a penalty   she added.   the current system does not detect many of the substances being abused by athletes.  this means that often athletes do not know if they are competing on a level playing field  if their hard work and sacrifice is being trumped by an easier scientific route.  often  when an athlete puts in a good performance  they are subjected to suspicions and innuendoes instead of praise.  having been on the receiving end of accusations like this i can testify as to how much this hurts.


observers to monitor uk election ministers will invite international observers to check the forthcoming uk general election is fairly run.  the move comes amid claims the poll could be marred by electoral fraud. a report by two mps committees called on thursday for urgent changes to the electoral registration system to combat vote rigging and boost turnout. but in a written response to labour mp gordon prentice  the government said it would normally invite observers to any uk election.  junior constitutional affairs minister christopher leslie said:  i fully expect us to repeat our previous practice of doing so once the date for the next general election is announced.  the government has looked at ways of boosting voter turnout  which fell to 59% in the last general election in 2001.  but trial all-postal ballots in four english regions last summer were hit by delays and some fraud allegations. liberal democrat peer lord greaves called last week for international observers at the general election - saying otherwise there could be months of court challenges  on a scale not seen since the 19th century . thursday s report was drawn up by two committees scrutinising the work of the office of the deputy prime minister (odpm) and the department for constitutional affairs (dca). it said that  with the growth of postal voting  there was a strong case to tighten up fraud protection by requiring voters to register individually  rather than by household. it also said about three million people eligible to vote are not registered to do so.  figures for the 2001 general election suggest 29% of people aged between 18 and 24  and 19% of black voters were not on the electoral roll. young people in shared accommodation are thought to miss out because no one acts as head of the household to fill in the form. odpm committee chairman andrew bennett said individual voter registration  as opposed to registration by household  should be quickly introduced as it could  dramatically reduce the chances of fraud . but his counterpart on the dca committee  alan beith  said it should be delayed  until measures likely to increase registration have been put in place and proved effective.  shadow constitutional affairs secretary oliver heald accused the government of  dragging its feet  over  this badly needed measure .  it is vital that we move ahead with the northern ireland system of individual electoral registration to safeguard the integrity of the britain s electoral system   he said.  the report said individual registration should be treated carefully as 12% of voters disappeared from the electoral roll in northern ireland when it was introduced in 2002. the report said the government should consider fines for unregistered voters  but accepted many experts said it would be an expensive system that would be hard to enforce. it said incentives to register  such as £20 council tax rebate  were likely to be seen as  gimmicks  and risked undermining the integrity of the system  mps said. instead they called for  imaginative campaigns  to boost interest.


gm pays $2bn to evade fiat buyout general motors of the us is to pay fiat 1.55bn euros ($2bn; £1.1bn) to get out of a deal which could have forced it to buy the italian car maker outright.  fiat had sold gm a stake in 2000  as part of a partnership agreement. but fiat s heavy losses have convinced gm - whose own european operations are in the red - to back away. the pay-off means the two firms will unwind joint ventures  but fiat will keep supplying diesel engines and the money will allow it to reduce its debt. fiat s shares on the milan stock exchange rose 4.5% by 0900 gmt to 6.2 euros  having shot up more than 7% in early trading.  we now have absolute freedom to design our own future   said fiat chief executive sergio marchionne.  analysts said fiat seemed to have done well out of the deal  although some predictions had expected a 2bn euro pay-off. fiat is to get 1bn euros immediately  with another 550m to follow within 90 days. the firm is italy s largest private employer  and a failure to reach an agreement could have had severe consequences for thousands of workers and for the italian economy. for its part  gm was keen to ward off any criticism that the deal had been a mistake.   we needed scale in europe to get costs down  and we were able to do that in working with fiat   said gm chief executive rick wagoner.  the fiat-gm alliance came about in 2000 as an alternative to selling fiat outright. german-us car firm daimlerchrysler had been willing to buy the firm  but fiat patriarch gianni agnelli did not want to give up control. instead  gm swapped a 6% stake in itself for 20% of fiat - and gave fiat a  put option  to sell gm the rest of the car maker between january 2004 and july 2009. but despite the alliance fiat failed to put itself back on track  continuing to lose money and market share. as a result  the sell-off looked better and better for the italians - and much worse for gm  which is struggling with its own loss-making european marques opel and saab. the relationship soured further after fiat sold half its finance arm and recapitalised in 2003  halving gm s stake to 10%.


williams battles to aussie title serena williams staged a remarkable recovery to beat lindsay davenport and win her second australian open title.  the 2003 champion claimed her seventh grand slam title  and her first since wimbledon in 2003  2-6 6-3 6-0. williams had looked close to quitting with a rib injury when she left the court for treatment after five games. she quickly dropped the first set but from 3-3 in the second found another gear as davenport s game collapsed  allowing williams to take the title. williams later explained her injury problem  saying it was the result of lunging for a ball early in the first set.  lindsay had me on the run out wide on my backhand and my back went but eventually i was able to come back  thank goodness   she said. davenport paid tribute to williams  saying:  she s had a tough couple of years and she s come back like a champion.   the 23-year-old former world number one was in desperate trouble in the early stages as the injury hampered her service action. davenport took advantage to race through the opening set and held six break points in game five of the second.  i kept thinking to myself  i m not losing this game   said williams afterwards.   i don t care if my arm falls off  i m not losing this game . and i guess that s what happened.  i didn t want to lose that particular game because it would have given her a lot of momentum  and a lot of confidence.  despite letting the break points slip away davenport looked comfortable enough at 3-3  but from 40-0 up she just folded. williams won nine consecutive points for the set and powered through the decider as a lacklustre davenport looked to have run out of energy after a gruelling two weeks.  i felt like i was playing well and in control pretty much of the match   said davenport.  then i just had that horrible lapse  i think serving up 40-0  and made a few errors and opened up the door for her and she just kept going through it.  at the end i think i was a little bit fatigued but she took advantage of it and kept going - she s a great frontrunner when she gets going.


pernod takeover talk lifts domecq shares in uk drinks and food firm allied domecq have risen on speculation that it could be the target of a takeover by france s pernod ricard.  reports in the wall street journal and the financial times suggested that the french spirits firm is considering a bid  but has yet to contact its target. allied domecq shares in london rose 4% by 1200 gmt  while pernod shares in paris slipped 1.2%. pernod said it was seeking acquisitions but refused to comment on specifics.  pernod s last major purchase was a third of us giant seagram in 2000  the move which propelled it into the global top three of drinks firms. the other two-thirds of seagram was bought by market leader diageo. in terms of market value  pernod - at 7.5bn euros ($9.7bn) - is about 9% smaller than allied domecq  which has a capitalisation of £5.7bn ($10.7bn; 8.2bn euros). last year pernod tried to buy glenmorangie  one of scotland s premier whisky firms  but lost out to luxury goods firm lvmh. pernod is home to brands including chivas regal scotch whisky  havana club rum and jacob s creek wine. allied domecq s big names include malibu rum  courvoisier brandy  stolichnaya vodka and ballantine s whisky - as well as snack food chains such as dunkin  donuts and baskin-robbins ice cream. the wsj said that the two were ripe for consolidation  having each dealt with problematic parts of their portfolio. pernod has reduced the debt it took on to fund the seagram purchase to just 1.8bn euros  while allied has improved the performance of its fast-food chains.


abba queen enters music rich list the woman behind the abba musical mamma mia! has joined a list of british-based music millionaires.  producer judy craymer is the highest new entry in the sunday times  music rich list  with a £67m fortune. ms craymer remortgaged her home to finance her idea of a musical based around abba s hits  which has since become a global triumph. teenage soul singer joss stone is a new entry on a list of britain s young music millionaires with £5m.  ms craymer  who developed mamma mia! with playwright catherine johnson and members of abba  is at number 31 on the music rich list. but taking the top spot for a second year is former record label boss clive calder  whose wealth has risen to £1.3bn. mr calder is the man behind acts including britney spears. he made his fortune by selling his independent label zomba to record giant bmg. former beatle sir paul mccartney is second on the list with £800m - up £40m on last year. andrew lloyd-webber s wealth rose an estimated £300m on last year  to £700m  while theatre impresario sir cameron mackintosh s fortune rose from £340m to £400m.  his recent hits have included the west end show mary poppins. but pop idol mogul simon fuller has seen his wealth plummet from £220m last year to £75m after selling his entertainment company 19 for less than expected  according to the sunday times. joss stone  the 17-year-old soul singer from devon  was a new entry in the young music millionaires list. the list also features charlotte church  coldplay  daniel bedingfield  will young and david and victoria beckham. at number one is dhani harrison  son of the late beatle george harrison  who has inherited £140m. the beckhams - who qualify thanks to victoria s former singing career - are in second place with £75 million between them - up £10m on last year.


wine comedy up for six film gongs sideways  a wine-tasting comedy starring paul giamatti  is up for six independent spirit awards  the art-house version of the oscars.  the awards are held on 26 february  the day before the oscars. spanish drama maria full of grace  about a colombian woman who becomes a drug courier  got five nominations. controversial biopic kinsey  starring liam neeson as sex researcher alfred kinsey  was one of four films to get four nominations. the awards  now in their 20th year  honour quirky low-budget films  all of which must have a degree of independent financing. sideways is written and directed by alexander payne  who directed the 2002 hit about schmidt  winning jack nicholson his 12th academy award nomination.   these awards  for better or worse  mean everything   said sideways producer michael london  adding they were a  huge first step  toward getting recognition from other awards. among the other films receiving four nominations apiece were brother to brother  a drama about a young gay black man forced to live on the streets  robbing peter and primer. primer  a $7 000 (£3 650) tale of discovery  won top prize at the sundance film festival earlier this year. walter salles critically acclaimed the motorcycle diaries and the forthcoming thriller the woodsman  starring kevin bacon  received three nominations each. also in the running  with two nominations  are high school comedy napoleon dynamite  the door in the floor and garden state - written  directed and starring scrubs star zach braff alongside natalie portman. the awards were announced by actors selma blair and dennis quaid in los angeles on tuesday.


jones doping probe begins an investigation into doping claims against marion jones has been opened by the international olympic committee.  ioc president jacques rogge has set up a disciplinary body to look into claims by victor conte  of balco laboratories. jones  who says she is innocent  could lose all her olympic medals after conte said he gave her performance-enhancing drugs before the sydney olympics. but rogge said it was too early to speculate about that  hoping only that  the truth will emerge .  any decision on the medals would be taken by the ioc s executive board and could hinge on interpretation of a rule stating that olympic decisions can only be challenged within three years of the games closing. the sydney olympics ended more than four years ago  but world anti-doping agency chief dick pound said the rule may not apply because the allegations are only coming out now.  we will find a way to deal with that   pound said. in a statement released through her attorney rich nichols  jones repeated her innocence and vowed she would be cleared.  victor conte s allegations are not true and the truth will be revealed for the world to see as the legal process moves forward   she said.  conte is someone who is under federal indictment and has a record of issuing contradictory  inconsistent statements.


cebit fever takes over hanover thousands of products and tens of thousands of visitors make cebit the place to be for technology lovers.   welcome to cebit 2005  was the message from the pilot as we landed  the message on flyers at the airport  and the message on just about every billboard in town. cebit fever has taken over hanover. hotels have been booked out for months; local people are letting out rooms in their homes to the hoards of exhibitors  visitors  and journalists. cebit itself is huge  the exhibition site could almost be classified as a town in its own right.  there are restaurants  shops  and a bus service between the halls - of which there are 27. there are more than 6 000 companies here  showing their latest products. the list of them that i was given when i came in is the size and weight of a phone book. one of the mains themes this year is the digital home  and one of the key buzzwords is convergence.  the  entertainment pc  is being billed as the replacement for dvd players  stereos  telephones and computers - offering a one-box solution  wirelessly connected throughout a house. to show them off  one display has been modelled as a prototype  digital lifestyle home  by german magazine computer reseller news.  we wanted to show how this fits into a living room or workplace  to give people a feeling how it would work in their homes   said claudia neulling from the magazine. the house has webcams for security in each room  which can be called up on the high definition tv  connected to the pc in the living room.  that pc provides home entertainment  movies or music. it can also be linked to the car parked outside  which is kitted out with a processor of its own  along with a dvd player and cordless headphones for the kids in the back.  convergence for me is about how technology  the transfer of data  can do things that make it easier and more convenient for me as a consumer   said mark brailey  director of corporate marketing for intel.  the real challenge is to show people it s easier than they think  and fun.   he firmly believes that entertainment pcs are the future  but says they have to get past people s fears of frequent crashes and incompatibilities. that is something microsoft is trying to do too - its stand has computers running windows xp media centre edition 2005 for people to try out. mobile phones do not escape the convergence theme. samsung is showing off its sgh-i300  a handset with a three gigabyte hard drive  that can be used to watch compressed video or as an mp3 player. and if you would rather watch live tv than a downloaded movie nec is showing a phone  on sale in china  which can show analogue tv on its colour screen.   i think the most probable application is at somewhere like the train station - if you want to check the status of the soccer game for example  said koji umemoto  manager of mobile terminals marketing for nec. he admitted that the signal quality is not very good if you are on the move  and they do not have plans to launch it in europe at the moment. nokia was happy to demonstrate its 6230i  an upgrade to the very popular 6230.  it now has a 1.3 megapixel camera  and a music player that can handle multiple formats  rather than just mp3s. it is also compatible with nokia s new visual radio technology. the handset can receive fm broadcasts  and the user can interact with compatible broadcasts using a gprs connection  to take part in competitions or get extra information such as the name of the song playing. most companies are reluctant to show prototypes  preferring to display products that are already on sale  or just about to hit the market.  portable media player firm creative showed off a new wireless technology  based on magnetic inductance rather than radio - a system some hearing aids use.  the benefits over conventional bluetooth are the lack of interference  and longer battery life   said riccardo de rinaldini  creative s european marketing manager. the firm has a prototype headset linked up to a zen micro player. the transmitter on the player creates a private  magnetic  bubble  around the user  which is picked up by the headset. the range is only about one metre so it is only suitable for personal use. a single aaa battery is said to last up to 30 hours. creative expects it to hit the market in its final form later this year. even clothing is likely to be part of the convergence trend. adidas has a trainer which  according to susanne risse from the company  can  sense  understand  and adapt to your running style . it has a battery  processor  and motor embedded in the sole. buttons on the side allow you to set the amount of cushioning you would like by adjusting the tension on a cable running through the heel. the processor then monitors the surface you are running on  and adjusts the tension accordingly. it is being billed as  the world s first intelligent shoe .


tory candidate quits over remark a conservative election challenger is quitting after being quoted as wanting a  period of creative destruction in the public services .  danny kruger  who also works in the tory research unit  had been due to take on tony blair in sedgefield. he says his remark last week was misrepresented but he will not contest the election for fear of damaging the conservative cause. tory leader michael howard accepted his decision  with regret . mr kruger was quoted in the guardian newspaper saying:  we plan to introduce a period of creative destruction in the public services.   in a statement  the party said the comment had been taken out of context.  he fully supports the party s policies on  and approach to  the public services   said the statement.  however  in order to avoid any further misrepresentation of his views and any damage to the party  he has decided not to stand in the sedgefield constituency at the next election.  mr kruger is continuing in his job at the tory campaign headquarters. labour election coordinator alan milburn claimed mr kruger had exposed the tory agenda for £35bn of cuts to public services. mr milburn said:  he is not some unknown hopeful fighting an unwinnable seat. he is a man who has worked at the heart of conservative policy development...  his claim that the tories were planning  a period of creative destruction in the public services  is not a rogue claim.  it is the authentic and shocking voice of the conservative party. it reveals the true picture of what they would do.


tindall wants second opinion england centre mike tindall is to seek a second opinion before having surgery on a foot injury that could force him to miss the entire six nations.  the bath player was already out of the opener against wales on 5 february because of a hand problem.  mike had a specialist review on a fracture in his right mid foot   said england doctor simon kemp.  before a final decision is made on surgery... medical teams have decided he should see a second specialist.   england coach andy robinson is already without centre will greenwood and flanker richard hill while fly-half jonny wilkinson is certain to miss at least the first two games. robinson is expected to announce his new-look england line-up on monday for the match at the millennium stadium. and newcastle s 18-year-old centre mathew tait is set to stand in for tindall alongside club team-mate jamie noon.  meanwhile  tindall is targeting a return to action before the end of the regular zurich premiership season on 30 april. he will also aim to be back to full fitness before the lions tour to new zealand this summer.


mobile multimedia slow to catch on there is no doubt that mobile phones sporting cameras and colour screens are hugely popular.  consumers swapping old phones for slinkier  dinkier versions are thought to be responsible for a 26% increase in the number of phones sold during the third quarter of 2004  according to analysts gartner more than 167 million handsets were sold globally between july and september 2004  a period that  according to gartner analyst carolina milanesi is  seldom strong . but although consumers have mobiles that can take and send snaps  sounds and video clips few  so far  are taking the chance to do so.  in fact  the numbers of people not taking and sending pictures  audio and video is growing. figures gathered by continental research shows that 36% of british camera phone users have never sent a multimedia message (mms)  up from 7% in 2003. this is despite the fact that  during the same period  the numbers of camera phones in the uk more than doubled to 7.5 million. getting mobile phone users to send multimedia messages is really important for operators keen to squeeze more cash out of their customers and offset the cost of subsidising the handsets people are buying. the problem they face  said shailendra jain  head of mms firm adamind  is educating people in how to send the multimedia messages using their funky handsets.   also   he said   they have to simplify the interface so its not rocket science in terms of someone understanding it.  research bears out the suspicion that people are not sending multimedia messages because they do not know how to. according to continental research  29% of the people it questioned said they were technophobes that tended to shy away from innovation. only 11% regarded themselves as technically savvy enough to send a picture or video message. the fact that multimedia services are not interoperable across networks and phones only adds to people s reluctance to start sending them  said mr jain.  they ask themselves:  if i m streaming video from one handset to another will it work    he said.  there s a lot of user apprehension about that.   there are other deeper technical reasons why multimedia messages are not being pushed as strongly as they might. andrew bud  executive chairman of messaging firm mblox  said mobile phone operators cap the number of messages that can be circulating at any one time for fear of overwhelming the system.  the rate we can send mms into the mobile network is fairly constant   he said. the reason for this is that there are finite capacities for data traffic on the second generation networks that currently have the most users.  no-one wants to take the risk of swamping these relatively narrow channels so the number of mms messages is capped  said mr bud. this has led to operators finding other technologies  particularly one known as wap-push  to get multimedia to their customers. but when networks do find a good way to get multimedia to their customers  the results can be dramatic. israeli technology firm celltick has found a way to broadcast data across phone networks in a way that does not overwhelm existing bandwidth. one of the first firms to use the celltick service is hutch india  the largest mobile firm in the country. the broadcast system gets multimedia to customers via a rolling menu far faster than would be possible with other systems. while not multimedia messaging  such a system gets people used to seeing their phones as a device that can handle all different types of content. as a result 40% of the subscribers to the hutch alive  which uses celltick s broadcast technology  regularly click for more pictures  sounds and images from the operator.  operators really need to start utilising this tool to reach their customers   said yaron toren  spokesman for celltick. until then  multimedia will be a message that is not getting through.


s korean credit card firm rescued south korea s largest credit card firm has averted liquidation following a one trillion won ($960m; £499m) bail-out.  lg card had been threatened with collapse because of its huge debts but the firm s creditors and its former parent have stepped in to rescue it. a consortium of creditors and lg group  a family owned conglomerate  have each put up $480m to stabilise the firm. lg card has seven million customers and its collapse would have sent shockwaves through the country s economy.  the firm s creditors - which own 99% of lg card - have been trying to agree a deal to secure its future for several weeks. they took control of the company in january when it avoided bankruptcy only through a $4.5bn bail-out.  they had threatened to delist the company  a move which would have triggered massive debt redemptions and forced the company into bankruptcy  unless agreement was reached on its future funding.  lg card will not need any more financial aid after this   laah chong-gyu  executive director of korea development bank - one of the firm s creditors - said.  the agreement will see some 12 trillion won of debt converted into equity.  the purpose of the capital injection is to avoid delisting and the goal will be met   david kim  an analyst at sejong securities  told reuters. south korea s consumer credit market has been slowly recovering from a crisis in 2002 when a credit bubble burst and millions of consumers fell behind on their debt repayments. lg card returned to profit in september but needed further capital to avoid being thrown off the market. south korea s stock exchange can delist any firm if its debt exceeds its assets two years running.


dame julie pops in to see poppins mary poppins star dame julie andrews watched the hit stage version of her classic film at a charity performance in london s west end.  it was the first time dame julie  who shot to fame as the nanny in the 1964 disney movie  had seen the musical  staged at the prince edward theatre. she watched laura michelle kelly  23  reprise the role on stage. the show has been one of the west end s hottest tickets since opening in december  winning two olivier awards. kelly was named best musical actress at last month s ceremony and the musical also won best choreography.  but kelly said she was  very nervous  about meeting dame julie because she was  my absolute hero . the gala performance saw dame julie  69  return to the theatre where she had her first starring role in a performance of humpty dumpty in 1948. the mary poppins musical has been masterminded by theatre impresario sir cameron mackintosh and directed by richard eyre with choreography by matthew bourne. sir cameron said he hoped the production  which cost £9m to bring to the stage  was a blend of the sweet-natured film and the original book by pl travers. proceeds from thursday s show will go to charities including absolute return for kids (ark)  international relief agency operation usa and drama school lamda.


profile: david miliband david miliband s rapid rise through the ranks of government continues with his promotion to cabinet office minister.  elected in a safe labour seat in 2001 his previous job was school standards minister - a role he won in may 2002. prior to the last election he was a key figure in new labour as the head of the downing street policy unit where he was a key member of the manifesto writing team. seen as one of the more intellectual figures in the government  he was also working for tony blair in his policy unit when he was leader of the opposition.  a brief glance at mr miliband s family background reveals an impressive socialist pedigree in the form of his father ralph  who died in 1994. he was an eminent and influential leftwing academic. and while david miliband is seen as a key blair lieutenant his brother ed is a special advisor to chancellor gordon brown. prior to working for mr blair  david miliband spent time at the left-leaning institute for public policy research. he then became secretary of the commission on social justice. the 39-year-old was educated at haverstock comprehensive before going on to oxford to study politics  philosophy and economics. he also took an msc in political science from the massachusetts institute of technology.


moya sidesteps davis cup in 2005 carlos moya has chosen not to help spain try and defend the davis cup crown they won in seville in november.  moya led spain to victory over the usa but wants to focus on the grand slams in 2005  although insists he will return to the davis cup in 2006.  after two years of total commitment with the davis cup team... i have taken this difficult decision to concentrate on the regular circuit   said moya.  they know that after this season they can count on me again if they so wish.  the 1998 french open champion is determined to make an impact in the major events after spending much of the last eight years in the top 10.  at the age of 29 i have set some tough goals in my professional career and this season i need to fix my objectives on specific dates and tournaments   he said.  since the davis cup in seville i have been working on my condition as well as technical and medical aspects of my game which will allow me to come into the big events of the year in top form.   moya began 2005 with victory in the chennai open on sunday.


prodigy monfils blows away gaudio french prodigy gael monfils underlined his huge promise by beating french open champion gaston gaudio 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in the first round of the qatar open.  the 18-year-old wild card won three of the four junior grand slam events last year  including wimbledon. fabrice santoro  the 2000 champion  beat sweden s thomas johansson 6-4 6-2 but fourth seed mikhail youzhny lost 6-3 7-6 (7-3) to rafael nadal. roger federer plays greg rusedski in the second round on wednesday. monfils  who was given a wildcard into the tournament  said:  this is my first win over a top 10 player and i am delighted.  i play my best tennis when i am fired up on the court and the reason i won today was because i was able to play my natural  attacking game   he said.  of course i was a bit tired in the second set. but i was confident i could survive had there been a third set.


yukos owner sues russia for $28bn the majority owner of embattled russian oil firm yukos has sued the russian government for $28.3bn (£15.2bn).  the kremlin last year seized and sold yukos  main production arm  yugansk  to state-run oil group rosneft for $9.3bn to offset a massive back tax bill. group menatep  the gibraltar-based holding company which controls 51% of yukos  says this was illegal. menatep has already asked rosneft to repay a $900m loan that yugansk had secured on its assets.  the russian government s argument for selling yuganskneftegaz - the unit s full name - was that yukos owed more than $27bn in back taxes for the years from 2000 onwards. it accused the firm of using a web of offshore firms to avoid its tax liabilities  and the courts sent in bailiffs to freeze yukos accounts and seize yugansk.  but critics say the sell-off  and the assault on yukos  finances  are part of an attempt to bring the energy industry back under state control. according to menatep  the government s actions were contrary to the 1994 energy charter treaty  which was designed to regulate disagreements over energy investments.  we have warned the russian government about their continuing attacks against yukos  its personnel and its shareholders and we have warned any buyer of yuganskneftegaz that they would face a lifetime of litigation   said tim osborne  a director of group menatep.  the time for warning is over and actions to recover the value of our losses begin in earnest today.   menatep said the value of its yukos shareholding had gone from $17.8bn to  virtually nothing  since 2003 as a result of the russian government s action  as its shares have fallen 97%. according to its paris lawyer  emmanuel gaillard of shearman and sterling  the overall claim is based on that figure  with a 60% addition for the share gains that could have accrued since then. arbitration of the lawsuit could take place in stockholm or the hague  mr gaillard said. while russia has signed the charter  it has never ratified it - which some experts say could make it difficult for menatep to press its case. but mr gaillard told bbc news that the charter came into effect on signature  not ratification.  russia has said in the past that it is bound by it  so as to attract foreign investors   he said.  yukos is still waiting to see what will happen to its filing in a us court for bankruptcy protection. it took the action to try to prevent the forced sale of yugansk - first to a little-known shell company  which in turn was bought by rosneft. yukos claims its downfall was punishment for the political ambitions of its founder mikhail khodorkovsky. mr khodorkovsky  currently facing fraud and tax evasion charges of his own  was one of the founders of menatep. he has since signed over his shareholding to one of his fellow investors.


new browser wins over net surfers the proportion of surfers using microsoft s internet explorer (ie) has dropped to below 90%  say web analysts.  net traffic monitor  onestat.com  has reported that the open-source browser firefox 1.0  released on 9 november  seems to be drawing users away from ie. while ie s market share has dropped 5% since may to 88.9%  mozilla browsers - including firefox - have grown by 5%. firefox is made by the mozilla foundation which was set up by former browser maker netscape in 1998. although there have been other preview versions of firefox  version 1.0 was the first complete official program.  it seems that people are switching from microsoft s internet explorer to mozilla s new firefox browser   said niels brinkman  co-founder of amsterdam-based onestat.com.  mozilla browsers - including firefox 1.0 - now have 7.4% of the market share  the figures suggest. mozilla said that more than five million have downloaded the free software since its official release. supporters of the open-source software in the us managed to raise $250 000 (£133 000) to advertise the release of firefox 1.0 in the new york times  and support the mozilla foundation. there was a flurry of downloads on its first day of release.  the figures echo similar research from net analyst websidestory which suggested that ie had 92.9% of users in october compared to 95.5% in june. microsoft ie has dominated the browser market for some time after taking the crown from netscape  and its share of users has always stayed at around the 95% mark. firefox is attractive to many because it is open-source. that means people are free to adapt the software s core code to create other innovative features  like add-ons or extensions to the program. fewer security holes have also been discovered so far in firefox than in ie. paul randle  microsoft windows client product manager  responded to the figures:  we certainly respect that some customers will choose alternative browsers and that choosing a browser is about more than a handful of features.  microsoft continues to make significant investments in ie  including service pack 2 with advanced security technologies  and continues to encourage a vibrant ecosystem of third party add-ons for internet explorer.  firefox wants to capture 10% of the market by the end of 2005. other browser software  like opera and apple s safari  are also challenging microsoft s grip on the browser market. opera is set to release its version 7.60 by the end of the year. onestat.com compiled the statistical measurements from two million net users in 100 countries.


campbell returns to election team ex-downing street media chief alastair campbell will return to the fold to strengthen labour s general election campaign  the party has confirmed.  mr campbell has consistently made public his keenness to play a part in the poll  expected in may. both culture secretary tessa jowell and deputy prime minister john prescott have welcomed his return.  he is a strong labour party member   mr prescott told bbc one s breakfast with frost programme.  mr campbell quit number 10 in august 2003 after being tony blair s right-hand man at the 1997 and 2001 elections. labour have refused to discuss his exact new position and have not said how it would affect his downing street replacement david hill.  of course alastair s going to be part of the election campaign and i think that all of us who will also be part of the election campaign are very pleased about that   ms jowell told sky news.  but she said his return would not put anybody else s  nose out of joint .  this is the daft thing about the way in which politics is written about   ms jowell added.  there s room for everybody. we serve the country better if we make room for all the talent.  a labour source told the sunday times mr campbell would  effectively front  the election media campaign but said he would be given no formal title.  labour strategists told the paper he would be  set loose  on conservative leader michael howard in attacking his party s economic record when it was in power.  they used pictures from the 1970s in the 1992 campaign to remind people of the winter of discontent - and now it s our turn   the source told the paper.  making michael howard leader gives us an unmissable opportunity to remind people what it was like to pay mortgage rates of 15% even if it was more than a decade ago.  mr campbell was at the centre of the government s row with bbc over andrew gilligan s story about the iraq weapons dossier. the hutton inquiry cleared him of  sexing up  the dossier in the run-up to the iraq war. since leaving downing street  he has toured the country with his one man show  an audience with alastair campbell and presented a number of interview programmes for channel 4.


williams says he will never quit defiant matt williams says he will not quit as scotland coach even if his side slump to a new low with defeat by italy at murrayfield.  that would leave the scots as favourites to win the wooden spoon for the second year running.  i have never quit anything in my life  apart from maybe painting the kitchen   he told bbc sport.  the support we have been given from murrayfield in my whole time here has been 100%.  williams has yet to experience an rbs six nations victory after seven attempts and scotland have lost 12 of their 14 games under his leadership. but he rejected the comparison made in some media sources with berti vogts  recently sacked as scotland football manager after a poor run of results.   how can a german football coach and an australian rugby coach have anything in common   he asked.  it is a bizarre analogy. it is so absurd that it borders on the humorous.  williams insists that he is revelling in the pressure  despite the possibility of a second six nations series without a victory.  that is not beyond the realms of possibility   he admitted.  there s nothing much between the teams  so we could win the next three games or lose them.  but i actually really enjoy seeing how you cope with such pressure as a coach.  it helps the team grow and helps you grow as a coach.  we could have won in paris but for the last five minutes and now we have two defeats  but we were confident for those two first games and we are confident we can beat italy too.


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


how to make a greener computer the hi-tech industry is starting to get more environmentally aware. bill thompson thinks it s about time.  my first car ran on four star petrol and pumped vast quantities of lead into the atmosphere as i drove around cambridge. now you can t buy petrol with lead additives  and we re all better off as a result. chip giant intel recently began shipping computer circuit boards that are lead free too  reflecting a growing awareness on the part of the technology industry that products have to be designed and built in more environmentally friendly ways.  apart from reducing the use of toxic materials like arsenic  mercury  cadmium and other heavy metals in the products themselves  the manufacturing process is also being cleaned up  with fewer complex and potentially damaging organic chemicals used as solvents. and work is going into making power supplies that are more energy efficient  since current transformers are astonishingly wasteful as they charge our laptops  mobiles and music players.  one of the key aspects of the new approach is to design products that are easier to recycle. if you have got a phone or a computer with toxic chemicals or heavy metals in it then extracting them can be tricky and expensive. a well-designed electronic component is able to be recycled at low cost. this is going to be very important to hardware manufacturers in europe since from august the new waste electronic and electrical equipment directive will oblige them to accept returned products for recycling.  they will end up paying if they build things that are expensive or impossible to take apart and will find their profits hit  something which is likely to motivate them where appeals to the wider public interest might fall on deaf ears. it is  as they say  about time. we have a long and depressing history of developing new technologies with complete disregard for their potential impact on the environment  and waiting until there is a crisis looming before we try to redesign them to cause less damage. the car engine is a case in point: lead additives helped stop petrol vapour exploding too early in the cylinder  a phenomenon called  knocking   so they were simply used without any real thought for the fact that the lead would end up in the atmosphere. redesigning engines and making petrol slightly different was a lot more work  so it took decades before it was done. we re seeing the same thing in the technology industry and  as a result  there are billions of devices  from old mobile phones to antique handhelds  that will have to be recycled in years to come. if apple gets its way then a lot of people are going to be buying a new mac mini and throwing away their old pc  keeping the monitor and other peripherals.  even if apple does not get its way  four or five-year-old computers are not good enough to run modern programs and it s not unreasonable to replace them. but what do we do with the old ones   i ve just looked around my office and i find two monitors  an old 386 pc  two old handhelds  three ancient laptops  four antique mobile phones  a collection of rechargeable batteries and even a sun workstation that is no longer really much use. they are all old enough to be hazardous waste - the monitors alone will be full of arsenic and lead - but it s possible that some of the components could be useful. i could take them up the to the council recycling centre  but it s a 10-mile drive away across town  and like many other people my commitment to recycling is shallow at best. here in cambridge we have green bins for compostable waste  a box for glass  cans and paper that can be recycled  and a black bin for the rest. there are bottle banks and clothing banks scattered around town and in supermarket car parks. would it be too much to ask for an electronics recycling box too  i d probably remember to take my old mobile with me to the supermarket and drop it in a box - at least eventually.  bill thompson is a regular commentator on the bbc world service programme go digital.


csi shows give  unrealistic view  people have unrealistic expectations of forensic science thanks to the success of the csi tv shows  real experts say.  evidence submitted to forensic labs has shot up as a result of the programmes  at a time when many have large backlogs  science investigators claim. lawyers also fear the effect because jurors have a distorted view of how forensic evidence is used. the issue was discussed at a major science conference in washington dc. crime scene investigation (csi) and its spin-offs  csi: miami and csi: new york  have proven exceptionally popular with audiences on both sides of the atlantic.  each episode  a team of forensic investigators goes about solving a crime through the ingenious appliance of science - and the extensive resources at their disposal.  the csi effect is basically the perception of the near-infallibility of forensic science in response to the tv show   said max houck  who runs a forensic science graduate course at west virginia university  us.  this tv show comes on and everyone starts watching it - including the cops and prosecutors - and submissions to forensic laboratories go through the roof   he told the annual meeting of the american association for the advancement of science (aaas). the american forensics expert said there were roughly 200 000-300 000 backlogged dna samples in us labs. yet these constituted just 10% of the total test backlog  said dr houck. forensic pathologist dr patricia mcfeeley said she had started to see the show s influence in dealing with the families of victims.  what i find is that families now are more dissatisfied with the investigation than was previously the case   she explained.  for example  on television  the toxicology results are available almost instantaneously. but when people find out that it can take several months  they can find that very difficult.   dr mcfeeley added that the accuracy with which forensic investigators can determine time of death was far lower than most people s perceptions. the show s influence can follow forensic investigators all the way into the courtroom  making lawyers jittery.  prosecutors fear the csi effect with juries because  for example  they wonder:  why wasn t everything tested   well  in fact  not everything needs to be tested   dr houck explained.  defence attorneys also worry about the csi effect because they think that jurors come in and have this view of science as a juggernaut; this objective method that s always accurate.  however  he admitted the show had had positive as well as negative effects on the field.  my university course started with four graduates in 1999; we re now the largest major on campus - with 400 students   he said. dr houck added that there was an urgent need for better funding of forensic science at the university level:  there s more money spent in this country on holistic medicine than there is on forensic science research.


broadband fuels online expression fast web access is encouraging more people to express themselves online  research suggests.  a quarter of broadband users in britain regularly upload content and have personal sites  according to a report by uk think-tank demos. it said that having an always-on  fast connection is changing the way people use the internet. more than five million households in the uk have broadband and that number is growing fast.  the demos report looked at the impact of broadband on people s net habits. it found that more than half of those with broadband logged on to the web before breakfast. one in five even admitted to getting up in the middle of the night to browse the web.  more significantly  argues the report  broadband is encouraging people to take a more active role online. it found that one in five post something on the net everyday  ranging from comments or opinions on sites to uploading photographs.  broadband is putting the  me  in media as it shifts power from institutions and into the hands of the individual   said john craig  co-author of the demos report.  from self-diagnosis to online education  broadband creates social innovation that moves the debate beyond simple questions of access and speed.  the demos report  entitled broadband britain: the end of asymmetry   was commissioned by net provider aol.  broadband is moving the perception of the internet as a piece of technology to an integral part of home life in the uk   said karen thomson  chief executive of aol uk   with many people spending time on their computers as automatically as they might switch on the television or radio.  according to analysts nielsen//netratings  more than 50% of the 22.8 million uk net users regularly accessing the web from home each month are logging on at high speed they spend twice as long online than people on dial-up connections  viewing an average of 1 444 pages per month. the popularity of fast net access is growing  partly fuelled by fierce competition over prices and services.


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


britney attacks  false tabloids  pop star britney spears has attacked  false  and  desperate  us tabloid magazines  questioning their honesty after they reported she was pregnant.  in a letter on her website  the singer named celebrity tabloids us weekly  in touch and star as the worst offenders.  until you face what is going on in your life  i guess you ll remain a false tabloid   the 23-year-old wrote. stories about the state of her marriage to kevin federline and rumours about a pregnancy have recently appeared. but the chart-topping singer s letter did not shed any further light on those stories. in february  spears clashed with us weekly for publishing pictures of her honeymoon in fiji without permission. the couple  who married in los angeles last september  claimed staff took photographs of them which were later sold.  they said they allowed the pictures to be taken after they were assured they would only be used for a private scrapbook  which they later received as a souvenir. us magazine was unrepentant about their decision to publish  saying:  britney should start her own magazine if she d like to dictate her own coverage.   coming from a celebrity who sold pictures of both her wedding and her stepdaughter  it s unlikely the issue here is privacy   they added. spears claimed that other magazines were approached with the pictures but chose to contact her instead.


s&n extends indian beer venture the uk s biggest brewer  scottish and newcastle (s&n)  is to buy 37.5% of india s united breweries in a deal worth 4.66bn rupees ($106m:£54.6m).  s&n will buy a 17.5% equity stake in united  maker of the well-known kingfisher lager brand  and make a public offer to buy another 20% stake. a similar holding will be controlled by vijay mallya  chair of the indian firm. the deal was a  natural development  of its joint venture with united  said tony froggatt  s&n s chief executive.  its top brands include newcastle brown ale  foster s  john smith s  strongbow and kronenbourg. in 2002 s&n and united agreed to form a strategic partnership  one that would include a joint venture business and a uk investment in the indian brewer. the joint venture was established in may 2003. with both parties having a 40% stake in the venture - millennium alcobev. millennium alcobev will now be merged with united  which expects post-merger to have about half of india s beer market.  india  with a population of more than one billion  consumes about 1.2 billion bottles of beer every year. kingfisher has market share of about 29%. in addition to the equity stake s&n is to invest 2.47bn rupees in united through non-convertible redeemable preference shares. meanwhile  united s budget airline  kingfisher airlines  is to buy 10 a320 aircraft from airbus and has the option to buy 20 more aircraft in a deal worth up to $1.8bn. the airline  the brainchild of mr mallya  expects to start its operations by the end of april. the new airline would break even in the very first year of operation  mr mallya said.


moore questions captaincy brian moore believes the england captain should not be a full-back.  jason robinson has led the team during their opening three defeats in the six nations tournament  in the absence of fly-half jonny wilkinson. the world champions have struggled since the retirement of former captain martin johnson  a lock forward. and former england captain moore told the bbc:  full-backs are too far away from the action. that s not a reflection on robinson personally.  he added:  i just think the point of influence needs to move closer to the pack - which is  after all  where games usually start and finish.  moore says a lack of cohesion in the forwards is one of the reasons why england have lost against wales  france and ireland in this year s tournament.  assertiveness in the pack isn t there  we re not getting enough people into the breakdowns   he explained.  wer e not getting quick ball  which means the backs are being stifled. their creativity depends on quick ball and we re not getting that.   with injuries depriving him of key players like wilkinson  coach andy robinson has given youngsters such as harry ellis and jamie noon a chance. and moore believes the last two games against italy and scotland are a good opportunity to experiment further.  the problem is the players that are around to replace the icons which have been lost because of retirement and injury don t have the requisite experience   moore added.  you can t do anything about that but play them. there are players who have been knocking on the door  it s time for them to be looked at in these last two games because there s nothing on them.  we then go into next season with a greater certainty of who can and cannot handle the pressure of international rugby.


italy 17-28 ireland two moments of magic from brian o driscoll guided ireland to a workmanlike victory against italy.  a pair of classic outside breaks from the ireland captain set up tries for geordan murphy and peter stringer. italy led 9-8 early in the second half but stringer s try gave ireland a lead they never lost. the hosts cut the gap to 18-12 with 10 minutes left and nearly scored through ludovico nitoglia  but denis hickie s try ensured an irish victory. italy came flying out of the blocks and took the lead through a luciano orquera penalty after seven minutes.  it could have been better for the hosts but the fly-half missed two kickable penalties and ireland drew level with a ronan o gara penalty midway through the first half. the italians were driving at the heart of the irish defence and  for the first quarter  the irish pack struggled to secure any ball for their talented backs.  when they finally did  just before the half-hour mark  o driscoll promptly created a sparkling try for murphy. the ireland captain ran a dummy scissors and made a magical outside break before drawing the full-back and putting the diving murphy in at the corner. o gara missed the twice-taken conversion and the visitors found themselves trailing once again. roland de marigny took over the kicking duties for italy from the hapless orquera  and he landed a penalty either side of the break to edge italy into a 9-8 lead.  the only ireland player offering a real threat was o driscoll  and it was his break that set up the second try for the visitors. shane horgan threw an overhead pass as he was about to be forced into touch and stringer scooted over  with o gara landing the tricky conversion. a penalty apiece saw ireland leading 18-12 as the game entered the final quarter  but they were lucky to survive when italy launched a series of attacks. winger nitoglia dropped the ball as he reached for the line and italy nearly rumbled over from a driving maul.  an o gara penalty put ireland more than a converted try ahead and they made the game safe when hickie latched onto an inside pass from murphy and crossed for a converted try. o driscoll limped off late on  joining centre partner gordon d arcy on the sidelines  and the final word went to italy. prop martin castrogiovanni powered over for a try which was fitting reward for an italian pack which had kept the irish under pressure throughout.  de marigny; mi bergamasco  canale  masi  nitoglia; orquera  troncon; lo cicero  ongaro  castrogiovanni; dellape  bortolami; persico  ma bergamasco  parisse.  perugini  intoppa  del fava  dal maso  griffen  pozzebon  robertson.  murphy  horgan  o driscoll  d arcy  hickie  o gara  stringer  corrigan  byrne  hayes  o kelly  o connell  s easterby  leamy  foley.  sheahan  horan  o callaghan  miller  g easterby  humphreys  dempsey.  p o brien (new zealand)


latest opera browser gets vocal net browser opera 8.0  due for official release at the end of next month  will be  the most accessible browser on the market   according to its authors.  the latest version of the net browser can be controlled by voice command and will read pages aloud. the voice features  based on ibm technology  are currently only available in the windows version. opera can also magnify text by up to 10 times and users can create  style sheets   its developers say. this will enable them to view pages with colours and fonts that they prefer. but the browser does not yet work well with screen reader software often used by blind people  so its accessibility features are more likely to appeal to those with some residual vision.  our mission was always to provide the best internet experience for everyone   said opera spokeswoman  berit hanson.  so we would obviously not want to exclude disabled computer users.   another feature likely to appeal to people with low vision is the ability to make pages fit to the screen width  which eliminates the need for horizontal scrolling.  the company points out that this will also appeal to anyone using opera with a handheld device. the company says that features like voice activation are not solely aimed at visually impaired people.  our idea was to take a first step in making human-computer interaction more natural   said ms hanson.  people are not always in a situation where they can access a keyboard  so this makes the web a more hands-free experience.  unlike commercially available voice recognition software  opera does not have to be  trained  to recognise an individual voice. around 50 voice commands are available and users will have to wear a headset which incorporates a microphone. the voice recognition function is currently only available in english. opera is free to download but a paid-for version comes without an ad banner in the top right hand corner and with extra support. opera began life as a research project - a spin-off from norwegian telecoms company telenor. its browser is used by an estimated 10 million people on a variety of operating systems and a number of different platforms.


ferdinand casts doubt over glazer rio ferdinand has said he is unsure of malcolm glazer s motives after the american billionaire launched a new offer to buy manchester united.  the club have confirmed that the glazer family partnership have submitted proposals of a third bid.  a lot of people want the club s interest to be with people who have grown up with the club and have got its interests at heart   said ferdinand.  no one knows what this guy will be bringing to the table.  the central defender added on bbc radio five live:  we will have to wait and see what glazer comes with.  i would like to see the situation resolved either way.  i think people are getting bored with him coming in and out of the news with new proposals.  the other stuff off the pitch takes the shine off what is going on the pitch.   glazer  currently owns a 28.1% stake in the club  and united s statement to the stock exchange said:  the board has noted the recent press speculation on this subject.  the board can confirm that it has now received a detailed proposal subject to various pre-conditions which may form the basis of an offer for manchester united from glazer.  a further announcement will be made in due course.  glazer s previous bids for the club  which united supporters opposed  were rejected by the board because of the high level of debt they would incur. but it is believed that glazer has substantially reduced the borrowing required for his latest move. he will still need the approval of major shareholders john magnier and jp mcmanus  who own 28.9% of the club to succeed. but the irish duo have cut off talks with glazer over the proposed sale of their stake  while fans remain opposed to his involvement.


jackson film  absolute disaster  a pr expert has told the michael jackson child abuse trial that the tv documentary at the heart of the case was an  absolute disaster .  ann kite told the court in the californian town of santa maria she was hired to  crisis manage  the fallout after the programme had aired in 2003. jurors saw the film  in which the pop star held hands with the alleged victim  on tuesday. mr jackson denies 10 charges of child abuse and false imprisonment. if convicted  he could face up to 21 years in prison.  ms kite suggested jackson s associates had been intent on launching a smear campaign against the accuser s family after the airing of martin bashir s film living with michael jackson. she told the court that in the aftermath of the broadcast  a jackson lawyer had told her the boy s mother would be made to look like a  crack whore . jackson s defence questioned ms kite s credibility  pointing that she worked for the singer s team for less than a week before being fired  and had never met or spoken to the star.  ms kite said she received a phone call on 13 february 2003 from a jackson associate  marc schaffel  who said the boy and his family had left the neverland ranch where they had been staying.  ms kite told the court she had later asked jackson s lawyer  david legrand  what had happened.  i said  `don t make me believe that these people were hunted down like dogs and brought back to the ranch    she said. ms kite began to work for mr jackson in february 2003  after the controversial film was televised in the us and europe. the documentary sparked a media storm and the subsequent investigation into mr jackson s relationship with the boy. in the film  the singer said he did not see anything wrong with sharing a bed with a child.  questioned by the prosecution  ms kite said her plan had been to move media coverage of the star away from a focus on his human frailties to concentrate more on his musical genius. ms kite said that an additional problem was the release of documents relating to a previous allegation of child abuse against mr jackson. the smoking gun website publication was  beyond disaster   ms kite said. correspondents say the reference is important because it was unclear whether the prosecution would be able to bring up the previous case in front of the jury.  the judge is studying whether the prosecution s first witness  reporter martin bashir  is in contempt of court. the defence protested after mr bashir  who interviewed jackson for the tv documentary  refused to answer nearly all their questions  citing a california  shield  law intended to allow journalists to protect their sources. in the prosecution s opening statement on monday  tom sneddon told the court that mr jackson had shown the boy porn and plied him with wine  in order to molest him. he said the singer had visited sexually explicit websites and showed the boy - who was 13 at the time - and his younger brother pornography at his ranch.


wales  must learn health lessons  the new health minister for wales says there are lessons to learn from england in tackling waiting lists.  dr brian gibbons  on his first full day in the job after jane hutt was sacked  admitted  big challenges  but insisted the  essentials  were in place. but both plaid cymru and the liberal democrats said dr gibbons needed to change policy. meanwhile ms hutt defended her record  saying waiting times and lists were  only 10% of the health agenda. dr gibbons  who was a gp in blaengwynfi  in the upper afan valley  before becoming am for aberavon  said nhs staff wanted a period of consolidation after  tremendous change and reform . one of the biggest problems which had faced ms hutt during her five-and-a-half years as the assembly s first health minister was the length of waiting lists in wales.  in november the british medical association said nhs staff were  weeping with despair  as figures showed 311 000 people were waiting for treatment in wales  up by 2 400 on the previous month. in the same month lists in england were at their lowest for 17 years  with 856 600 people waiting for treatment. dr gibbons told radio wales:  there is no doubt that  in managing waiting lists  england has done a lot of very very useful work  and we do need to learn from that.   but he said the nhs in wales also needed to create a healthier population rather than respond only to ill health  and a balanced view of priorities was important.  we do need a consistent across-the-board approach  recognising the patients  experience of how they use the service is going to be  at the end of the day  the main test of how the service is working.  he said nhs staff wanted a period of consolidation after  tremendous change and reform . later  dr gibbons praised the work of ms hutt  saying he  agreed with everything she s done  to change the health service in wales. dr gibbons said he accepted there was a problem  but his job now was to build on the foundations put in place by his predecessor. he also acknowledged that until the waiting list issue was sorted out  the rest of the assembly government s health policy would be overshadowed.  opposition members and some labour mps had long called for ms hutt s removal after sustained criticism over extended hospital waiting times. first minister rhodri morgan told bbc wales he had agreed with ms hutt in 2003 that she would not be health minister in the run-up to the 2007 elections.  she s been doing the job for five years and eight months and  apart from nye bevan himself  (architect of the nhs)  i don t think anybody has ever done the job for so long.  mr morgan said he had only told ms hutt of the reshuffle on monday morning  and said the nhs in wales was dr gibbons   baby  now. in response to dr gibbons  comments  ieuan wyn jones  leader of the plaid cymru group in the assembly  said:  it is apparent that this reshuffle by the first minister was just changing the deckchairs on a sinking titanic.  kisrty williams  for the lib dems  added:  if the underlying policy is going to continue  then changing the minister will serve no purpose  other than to deflect flak from labour s mps   she said. meanwhile ms hutt said she hoped  that the people of wales would benefit from my investment of the past five years and eight months  asked about waiting lists  she said that waiting times and lists were  only 10% of the health agenda  and that the welsh assembly government had  turned the corner  on the issue.


microsoft debuts security tools microsoft is releasing tools that clean up pcs harbouring viruses and spyware.  the virus-fighting program will be updated monthly and is a precursor to microsoft releasing dedicated anti-virus software. also being released is a software utility that will help users find and remove any spyware on their home computer. although initially free it is thought that soon microsoft will be charging users for the anti-spyware tool.  the anti-spyware tool is available now and the anti-virus utility is expected to be available later this month. microsoft s windows operating system has long been a favourite of people who write computer viruses because it is so ubiquitous and has many loopholes that can be exploited. it has proved such a tempting target that there are now thought to be more than 100 000 viruses and other malicious programs in existence. latest research suggests that new variants of viruses are being cranked out at a rate of up to 200 per week. spyware is surreptitious software that sneaks on to home computers  often without users  knowledge. in its most benign form it just bombards users with pop-up adverts or hijacks web browser settings. the most malicious forms steal confidential information or log every keystroke that users make. surveys have shown that most pcs are infested with spyware. research by technology firms earthlink and webroot revealed that 90% of windows machine have the malicious software on board and  on average  each one harbours 28 separate spyware programs. before now microsoft has left the market for pc security software to specialist firms such as symantec  mcafee  trend micro and many others. it said that its virus cleaning program would not stop machines being infected nor remove the need for other anti-virus programs. on spyware freely available programs such as ad-aware and spybot have become widely used by people keen to keep the latest variants at bay. microsoft s two security tools have emerged as a result of acquisitions the company has made over the last two years. in 2003 it bought romanian firm gecad software to get hold of its anti-virus technology. in december 2004 it bought new york-based anti-spyware firm giant company software. last year microsoft also released the sp2 upgrade for windows xp that closed many security loopholes in the software and made it easier for people to manage their anti-virus and firewall programs.


isinbayeva heads for birmingham olympic pole vault champion yelena isinbayeva has confirmed she will take part in the 2005 norwich union grand prix in birmingham on 18 february.   everybody knows how much i enjoy competing in britain. i always seem to break records there   said isinbayeva.  as olympic champion there will be more attention on me this year  but hopefully i can respond with another record in birmingham.  kelly holmes and carolina kluft are among other athens winners competing. the organisers are hoping that isinbayeva s main rival  fellow russian svetlana feofanova  will also take part in the event. the pair had a thrilling battle in athens which ended with isinbayeva finally jumping a world record of 4.91m to claim the gold medal. isinbayeva  22  has set 10 world records in the pole vault  three of which have come on british soil.


new media battle for bafta awards the bbc leads the nominations for the bafta interactive awards  including one for the radio times website and one for sport interactive s euro 2004 coverage.  the awards  which were started in 1997  recognise the best websites  digital tv shows and cd roms. other nominees include the guardian news website  the national theatre  mtv  the science museum and the london stock exchange. the winners from 12 different categories are crowned on 2 march 2005. there were nearly 400 entries this year - a third more than last year. the bbc has 16 nominations while the guardian has three nominations.   this year s nominees are a testament to the creative and innovative work going on within the industry   said grant dean  chair of the interactive committee. categories include interactive tv  film  digital tv  mobile phones and music. shaun of the dead  oasis  definitely maybe  really bend it like beckham  the chaplin collection and the day today will battle it out in the dvd category.  itv s great british spelling test takes on the bbc s olympics and spooks interactive for the interactive tv award. and the guardian takes three of a possible five nominations in the news and sport category for its website coverage of euro 2004  the tour de france and the us elections. the bbc s ican site is up for the technical and social innovation award alongside the likes of nottingham university s uncle roy all around you. in 2002  the british academy of film and television decided to split the awards into separate games and interactive ceremonies  to fully cover the range of innovation outside the gaming industry.


keanu reeves given hollywood star actor keanu reeves  best known for his role in the matrix movies  has been awarded a star on the prestigious hollywood walk of fame.  the 40-year-old attended the unveiling of the star with his mother  patricia  and thanked her for inspiring him to become an actor.  when i was 15 years old i asked my mom if it was ok to be an actor   reeves said.  she said:  whatever you want .  his star is the 2 277th to be embedded in the pavement on hollywood boulevard.  the actor  who was born in the lebanese capital beirut  also spoke of how he dropped out of school to pursue an acting career.  hollywood was calling   he said   so i got in my car  a 1969 british racing green volvo with holes in the floor and bricks holding up the seats. i was a young man full of hopes and dreams.  reeves first found fame in the teen comedy bill and ted s excellent adventure  and went on to combine such blockbusters as speed  the devil s advocate and the matrix series  with smaller films including my own private idaho. more recently he was seen in something s gotta give alongside jack nicholson and diane keaton. his next film  the supernatural thriller constantine  is released in the us later this month and opens in the uk in march.


u2 s desire to be number one u2  who have won three prestigious grammy awards for their hit vertigo  are stubbornly clinging to their status as one of the biggest bands in the world.  the most popular groups in the history of rock all have several things in common. the music must be inspired and appeal across generations and be distinctive  if not always groundbreaking. but such success is down to more than music. they have to be compelling performers  charismatic and intelligent enough to make good decisions and keep their feet on the ground. they also have to want it. they have to want to be the biggest band ever and not stop wanting it. the beatles had it  the rolling stones still have it  rem hold onto it and queen were it in a catsuit. and u2 have it in spades  and keep churning it out. their new album  how to dismantle an atomic bomb  comes 28 years after the schoolfriends got together in dublin and 17 years after the joshua tree cemented their place on the all-time rock a-list.  they may have lost some of the edginess and raw  youthful force that propelled them to the top  but they have lost none of the desire or ability to craft songs and albums.  vertigo  the first single from the new album  went straight into the uk singles chart at number one  knocking eminem off the top spot and giving them their 26th top 10 hit.  the challenge is to be bigger and bolder and better - to make records the whole world will listen to   bono recently said. drummer larry mullen jr echoed those sentiments:  we re very competitive - we want to be on the radio  have big singles. we don t want to be thought of as a veteran band.  the band have done  everything in their considerable powers  to ensure they remain the biggest band in the world  according to q magazine editor paul rees.   this makes them hugely determined and formidable.  he added:  they are equally determined to push themselves to make music that continues to stand up.  as such  they ve constantly re-invented and challenged themselves. they are  perhaps  alone as the only rock band that has got better with age.  the other key ingredient was the fact they were highly organised  mr rees said.  they do everything in the right way.  the group were born when mullen put an appeal for bandmates on a high school notice board  attracting fellow pupils paul hewson (bono  vocals)  adam clayton (bass)  david evans (the edge  guitar) and his brother dick.  dick evans soon dropped out and the four-piece were known as the feedback and the hype before settling on u2.  by 1978  they had won a talent contest and got noticed by a manager  paul mcguinness.  they were brilliant  but very coarse   mcguinness recently said.  in a way  they were doing exactly what they do now. only badly.  they struggled to attract record company attention  later being described as  pretty damn average  and  strange and eerie  by scouts who saw them live. they released two ireland-only singles  which topped the national charts in 1979 and 1980  leading to a deal with island and their debut album boy. the stadium-filling  anthemic sound was u2 s aim from the start  and their third album  war  saw them make the breakthrough on both sides of the atlantic  going to number one in the uk and 12 in the us. songs like sunday bloody sunday and new year s day brought success and an image as a political and spiritual band - which bono rejected as a cliche.  his stage performances - which included flag-waving  speaker-climbing and drum-throwing - earned him a reputation as an electric performer  and their appearance at 1985 s live aid is widely seen as sealing their global stardom.  in 1987  the joshua tree broke sales records and saw the band reach the height of their powers with hits including where the streets have no name  i still haven t found what i m looking for and with or without you. those songs took the band s epic  atmospheric sound to a simple  powerful and popular pinnacle. the end of the decade marked a crucial point for the band - they had reached the top but still yearned for new challenges and achievements. these came in the form of explorations of different branches of rock and forays into electronic dance music  plus wildly extravagant stage shows  while still trying to retain their mass appeal. the achtung baby album in 1991 was followed by zooropa  pop and their corresponding stadium tours  which featured giant olives  flying cars  live phone calls to the white house and bono s transformation into alter-egos the fly and macphisto. he was also building a parallel reputation - not always to the pleasure of his bandmates - as a campaigner on issues from global debt to aids. before the release of how to dismantle an atomic bomb  they had sold 125 million albums around the world. but they still want more.


strike threat over pension plans millions of public service workers could strike if ministers scrap their final salary pension scheme and make them work longer  warn union leaders.  the cabinet office has confirmed it is reviewing the current pension system  prompting unions representing 4.5m workers to threaten united action. they believe the plans include raising the mandatory retirement age for public service workers from 60 to 65. the government says unions will be consulted before any changes are made.  it is thought the proposed overhaul  due on thursday  could mean pensions could be based on a  career average  salary. for each year served  staff currently get one eightieth of their highest salary in the final three years. ministers will be anxious to avoid mass strike action in the lead-up to the next general election  which is widely expected next may. in a statement on sunday  the cabinet office said it was reviewing the civil service pension scheme  and hoped to announce proposals soon.  unions will of course be consulted about any proposed changes.  public sector pension schemes need to remain affordable and sustainable. people are living longer and pensions are getting more expensive.  to maintain the long-term affordability of our pension scheme  the government announced in its green paper on pensions that pension age would rise from 60 to 65.  on monday  tony blair s official spokesman declined to say whether the prime minister backed the plans. he said:  what s important is that there s a process going on  it s out for consultation at the moment  let s wait for that process to complete itself.   there is already widespread anger over the chancellor s plans to get rid of more than 100 000 civil servants. now public service unions are united against the plans and the trades union congress is discussing the issue next monday. dave prentis  general secretary of unison  said changes to pension provisions for workers in the public sector would mean they had to pay in more but would still face a raw deal.  members working in the nhs or for local government have never had high pay or city bonuses  but they could look forward to a decent pension - now all that is being taken away   he said.  what really riles me is the breathtaking hypocrisy of mps who recently voted themselves the best pension scheme in europe  but say they can t afford it for anyone else.  this is a position that unison cannot accept and will oppose. it will lead to conflict between unison and the government  if not this year then next.   mr prentis said workers did not want to go on strike and called for talks between unions and the highest level of government. mark serwotka  from the public and commercial services union said there should be a co-ordinated one day strike unless there was a government rethink. the fire brigades union said the government was planning to cut ill health retirement benefits for firefighters and other measures to chip away at pensions. pensions officer paul woolstenholmes said:  the pensions of millions of public sector workers are under threat - apart from mps and judges who have the most generous pensions arrangements in the country.


halo 2 heralds traffic explosion the growing popularity of online gaming could spell problems for net service firms  warns network monitoring company sandvine.  it issued the warning following analysis which shows that traffic on the xbox game network increased fourfold on the launch day of halo 2. the 9 november traffic explosion has continued into december  said sandvine. service providers now need to make sure that their networks can cope with the increasing demands for bandwidth. as well as being a popular single-player title  halo 2 can be connected to microsoft s subscription-based broadband network  xbox live. gamers who want to play online can create their own clan  or team  and take on others to see how well they compare.  but the surge in numbers and huge demands for bandwidth should be a wake-up call to the industry which must ensure that their networks can cope with the increases in traffic  said sandvine s chief technology officer marc morin.  in a bid to cope and ease congestion  providers are increasingly making their networks intelligent  finding out who is using bandwidth and for what. it could become common to charge people for the amount of bandwidth they use.  the explosion in xbox live traffic attributed to halo 2 should be seen as a clarion call   he said.  isps need to enhance the broadband experience for these high-end users by prioritising or reserving bandwidth for games   he added.  one of the main factors that spoils online gaming is  lag  in which there is a noticeable delay between a gamer clicking on a mouse or keyboard and what happens in the online gaming world. gamers tend to migrate toward networks with the lowest  lag . analysing traffic will become increasingly important for service providers if they are to hold on to bandwidth-hungry gamers said lindsay schroth  an analyst with research firm the yankee group.  in the competitive broadband environment  operators need to differentiate the way they offer access to services like live-play gaming   she said. in countries such as korea  which has high levels of fast net connections to homes  online gaming is hugely popular.


star trek fans fight to save show star trek fans have taken out a full-page ad in the los angeles times in an attempt to persuade tv executives not to scrap star trek: enterprise.  made by the upn tv network  the latest spin-off from the hit sci-fi show is due to end in may after four series. but fans around the world have pitched in to pay for the advert  which had the headline  save star trek . they are also asking the sci-fi channel to pick it up from upn and will stage a rally in los angeles on 25 february.  the advert described the star trek franchise as a  cultural icon . enterprise stars former quantum leap actor scott bakula as captain archer and is set before the original 1960s star trek series.  captain archer and the crew of the nx-01 need your help to continue their journeys!  the advert said. it also included a cut-out coupon for fans to send to upn s parent companies paramount and viacom plus the sci-fi channel. it also urged supporters to join the rally outside the paramount studios.  fan website trek united is hoping to raise $32m (£17m) from donations by the end of march to pay for a fifth series. more than $23 000 (£12 000) has been pledged so far  according to the site. the 98th and final episode of star trek: enterprise will air in the us on 13 may. the fourth series has averaged 2.9 million viewers per episode - half the amount it got in its first series. star trek: enterprise began in 2001 following other star trek spin-off series the next generation  deep space nine and voyager.


murphy: that was a bruising battle that s what i call a tough game. it was very physical and fair play to the italians they made us work very hard for our victory.  their organisation was very  very good and they proved again that they are getting better and better as the years go by. it is by far the strongest italian team that we have faced. we knew all along that we would be a huge threat particularly the first game in the championship. it was not like the days gone by when you could get scores on the board early. we had to work our socks off and try and build our scores gradually. it was really hard work out there and the players have plenty of bumps and bruises to prove it. i m not too bad  but there are one or two others who will be feeling it a bit on monday morning. in the backs  we were not frustrated at such  but the new rucking laws were a little bit problematical. the different interpretations between the referee and the players was a little difficult. but we managed to get the ball in our hands and i got a try near the end of the first half. it s always good to score. it was great work by brian and i always knew i had scored even though it went upstairs to the video referee. eddie (o sullivan) was very calm at half-time even though we were only 8-6 ahead. he spelled out what we needed to do and advocated getting the ball out of our own territory.  that new ruck law made it a bit more difficult to get out of our own half. we were penalised a lot at the breakdown  and if they had kicked all their chances at goal we would have been behind at the break. so really we went back to playing a territory game and simplifying things and having more patience on the ball. every one was a little down after the game following the injuries to brian and gordon. as yet we do not know the full extent of the injuries  but it does not that good. now we have to focus on scotland and only six days to recover. it s a big ask after such a bruising encounter. i was very impressed the way the scots played against the french on saturday. it could so easily have gone their way but for a couple of decisions. we will be under no illusions it is going to be tough for us. in the meantime  when in rome ... .


ford gains from finance not cars ford  the us car company  reported higher fourth quarter and full-year profits on thursday boosted by a buoyant period for its car loans unit.  net income for 2004 was $3.5bn (£1.87bn) - up nearly $3bn from 2003 - while turnover rose $7.2bn to $170.8bn. in the fourth quarter alone ford reported net income of $104m  compared with a loss of $793m a year ago. but its auto unit made a loss. fourth quarter turnover was $44.7bn  compared to $45.9bn a year ago.  though car and truck loan profits saved the day  ford s auto unit made a pre-tax loss of $470m in the fourth quarter (compared to a profit of £13m in the year-ago period) and its us sales dipped 3.8%.  yesterday general motor s results also showed its finance unit was a strong contributor to profits. however  ford is working hard to revitalise its product portfolio  unveiling the fusion and zephyr models at the international motor show in detroit. it also brought out a number of new models in the second half of 2004.  in 2004  our company gained momentum  delivering...more new products  and more innovative breakthroughs  such as the escape hybrid  the industry s first full-hybrid sport utility vehicle   said chairman and chief executive officer bill ford.    we also confronted operating challenges with our jaguar brand and high industry marketing costs   he added. but ford declined to provide guidance for first quarter 2005. it will do so at a presentation in new york on 26 january. in addition  the company said 2004 net income was affected by a fourth-quarter pre-tax charge taken to reduce the value of a receivable owed to ford by visteon  a former subsidiary. recent new models introduced by ford include the ford five hundred and mercury montego sedans  the ford freestyle crossover  the ford mustang  the land rover lr3/discovery  and volvo s40 and v50 in north america and europe. total company vehicle unit sales in 2004 were 6 798 000  an increase of 62 000 units from 2003. fourth-quarter vehicle unit sales totalled 1 751 000  a decline of 133 000 units. for the full year  ford s worldwide automotive division earned a pre-tax profit of $850m  a $697m improvement from $153m a year ago.