business fears over sluggish eu economy as european leaders gather in rome on friday to sign the new eu constitution  many companies will be focusing on matters much closer to home - namely how to stay in business.  lille is a popular tourist destination for britons who want a taste of france at the weekend. but how many tourists look at the impressively grand victorian chambre de commerce  which stands beside the opera house  and consider that it was built - like the town halls in many northern english towns - on the wealth created by coal  steel and textiles  like northern england and industrial scotland  those industries have been in long term decline - the last coal pit closed in 1990. beck-crespel is a specialist steel firm in armentieres  about 20 miles from lille. the company has not laid off a worker since 1945. it specialises in making bolts and fixings for power stations and the oil industry  but not many of those are being built in europe these days.  director hugues charbonnier says he is under pressure because factories in the far east are able to make some of his output more cheaply  while his key markets are now in china and india.  in our business the market is absolutely global  you can not imagine living with our size (of business) even within an enlarged european union  (if we did that) we would need not 350 people but perhaps just 150 or 200   he says. it isn t just globalisation that is hurting; the law in france means workers are paid for a 39 hour week even though they work just 35 hours. but at least there is still a steel industry. coal has now totally vanished and textiles are struggling. new business has been attracted  but not enough to make up the difference.  that is one reason why people here are not great fans of the eu  says frederic sawicki  a politics lecturer at the university of lille.   in the region today the unemployment rate is 12%  in some areas it is 15%. they don t see what europe is doing for them  so there is a kind of euro scepticism  especially in the working classes   he says. which is strange because lille is at the crossroads of europe - if anywhere should be benefiting from the euro it is here. the euro was designed to increase trade within the eurozone  but the biggest increase in trade has been with the rest of the world. much of that trade passes through the world s largest port  rotterdam  in holland  home to specialist crane maker huisman itrec. its cranes help build oil rigs and lifted the sunken russian submarine kursk from the sea bed  but huisman itrec is now setting up a factory in china  where costs are cheaper and its main customers are closer.  boss henk addink blames the low growth rate in europe for the lack of orders closer to home.  in the us growth is something like 6%  in china they are estimating 15%  and in the eu it is more or less 1%   he says. mr addink blames the euro for stifling demand. he much preferred the old currencies of europe  which moved in relation to each country s economic performance. in germany  industry is exporting more these days  but the economy as a whole is once again mired in slow growth and high unemployment. growth is likely to peak this year at just under 2%. in britain that would be a bad year; in germany it is one of the best in recent years. with germany making up a third of the eurozone s economy  this is a major problem. if germany doesn t once again become the powerhouse of europe  growth across the bloc is never going to be as strong as it could be. however  at one factory near the dutch border things are changing.  the siemens plant at boscholt makes cordless phones and employs 2 000 staff. staff have started working an extra four hours a week for no extra pay  after siemens threatened to take the factory and their jobs to hungary. factory manager herbert stueker says that he now hopes to increase productivity  by nearly 30% . but germany needs much more reform if all its industry is to compete with places such hungary or china. the government is reforming the labour market and cutting the generous unemployment system  but the real solution is to cut the wages of low skilled workers  says helmut schneider  director of the institute for the study of labour at bonn university.  labour is too costly in germany  especially for the low skilled labour and this is the main problem. if we could solve that problem we could cut unemployment by half   he says. the eu set itself the target of being the most efficient economy in the world by 2010. four years into that process  and the target seems further away than ever.


beastie boys win sampling battle us rappers beastie boys have won their long-running battle over the use of a sample in their song pass the mic.  the punk-rappers used three notes of music from flautist james newton s choir in their track from 1992. although the group had paid a licence fee for the sample  mr newton said his copyright had been infringed. but the us court of appeal upheld its original decision that the group did not have to pay an additional fee to license the underlying composition. the beastie boys - michael diamond  adam horowitz  and adam yauch - are considered to be one of early pioneers of sampling music.  sampling  now a standard practice among musicians  involves taking a segment of one track and using it in a different song. a three-judge panel of the court held in 2003 that the band had abided by copyright protections by paying a licence fee for a sample of mr newton s recording. that finding upheld a lower-court dismissal of the case in favour of the beastie boys.  we hold that beastie boys  use of a brief segment of that composition  consisting of three notes separated by a half-step over a background c note  is not sufficient to sustain a claim for infringement of newton s copyright   chief judge mary schroeder wrote in her opinion. mr newton is a critically acclaimed jazz and classical flutist  composer  performer  and university professor. mr newton and the beastie boys were not available for comment.


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


church anger over bollywood film roman catholic organisations in india have demanded the withdrawal of a film that depicts a priest having an affair with a girl half his age.  indian television channels are now refusing to run the promotional material for the film  sins  ahead of its release on friday. the director of the film  vinod pande  says the movie is not offensive and has refused to withdraw it. catholics are planning a protest in mumbai (bombay) on wednesday. the president of one of mumbai s main catholic organisations  dolphy d souza  says the portrayal of an ordained priest as a man of loose moral character has hurt the religious sentiments of india s catholic community.  he called the film  pornographic and sensational . mr d souza  who is also the vice-president of the catholics  national body  has accused the director of the film of portraying a priest in bad light for commercial gains. catholics have urged mr pande to withdraw the film to show respect to the christian community s hurt sentiments.  religion needs to be a personal affair and should not be a subject for entertainment or for commercial use   joseph dias  general secretary of the catholic secular forum  said in a statement.  but mr pande said that if the critics were to see the film they would not protest against it and would not insist on its withdrawal. he says he has no plans to cancel the film ahead of its scheduled screening on friday.   it s about forbidden love. there was no agenda whatsoever to hurt anyone   he said. the bbc s zubair ahmed in mumbai says that the controversial film shows a priest in steamy scenes with a girl half his age. she apparently goes to him for help but he falls in love with her. it takes place in the picturesque southern indian state of kerala. the film has already been cleared by the censor board with an  a  (adults only) certificate. mr d souza says he is shocked at the censor board s decision to clear the film. our correspondent says that india s tv channels have so far refused to be dragged into the controversy and have not screened the film s promotional material. most of the catholic community s anger has come after watching newspaper advertisements and hoardings of the film. christians make up about two per cent of india s population of more than a billion people.


google launches tv search service the net search giant google has launched a search service that lets people look for tv programmes.  the service  google video beta  searches closed caption information that comes with programmes. it only searches us channel content currently. results list programmes with still images and text from the point where the search phrase was spoken. it should expand over time to include content from more channels  said a google spokesperson. the first version of the service is part of google s expanding efforts to be a ubiquitous search engine for people to find what they want on the web and beyond.  we think tv is a big part of people s lives   said jonathan rosenberg  google s vice president of product management.  ultimately  we would like to have all tv programming indexed.   google video has been indexing us-based programmes from pbs  the nba  fox news  and c-span since december. but there were few clues from google about when more global broadcasters would be included.  over time  we plan to increase the number of television channels and video content available via google video but don t have more product details to share with you today   a google spokesperson told the bbc news website.  the results thrown up by the search will also include programme and episode information like channel  date and time. it also lets people find the next time and channel where a programme will aired locally using a us zip code search function. rival search engine yahoo has been developing a similar type of video search for webcasts and tv clips which it promotes from its homepage. it offers direct links to websites with movies or other clips relevant to the search query  but does not pinpoint when the search query occurred. a spokeswoman told the financial times on monday that yahoo was adding captioning for bloomberg  bbc and bskyb broadcasts. a smaller service  blinkx.tv  was launched last month. it searches for and links to tv news  film trailers  and other video and audio clips.


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


small firms  hit by rising costs  rising fuel and materials costs are hitting confidence among the uk s small manufacturers despite a rise in output  business lobby group the cbi says.  a cbi quarterly survey found output had risen by the fastest rate in seven years but many firms were seeing the benefits offset by increasing expenses. the cbi also found spending on innovation  training and retraining is forecast to go up over the next year. however  firms continue to scale back investment in buildings and machinery.  the cbi said companies are looking to the government to lessen the regulatory load and are hoping interest rates will be kept on hold.  smaller manufacturers are facing an uphill struggle   said hugh morgan williams  chair of the cbi s sme council.  the manufacturing sector needs a period of long-term stability in the economy.  the cbi found some firms managed to increase prices for the first time in nine years - but many said increases failed to keep up the rise in costs. of the companies surveyed  30% saw orders rise and 27% saw them fall. the positive balance of plus 3 compared with minus 10 in the previous survey. when firms were questioned on output volume  the survey returned a balance of plus 8 - the highest rate of increase for seven years - and rose to plus 11 when looking ahead to the next three months.


bp surges ahead on high oil price oil giant bp has announced a 26% rise in annual profits to $16.2bn (£8.7bn) on the back of record oil prices.  last week  rival shell reported an annual profit of $17.5bn - a record profit for a uk-listed company. bp added that it was increasing its fourth-quarter dividend by 26% to 8.5 cents  and that it would continue with share buybacks. bp chief executive lord browne said the results were strong  both operationally and financially.   the company is earning about $1.8m an hour.  despite the record annual profits figure  bp s performance was below the expectations of some city analysts. however  bp s share price rose 4p or nearly 1% in morning trading to 548p. its profit rise for the year included profits of $3.65bn (£1.97bn) for the final three months of 2004 - up from $2.89bn a year ago but below its third quarter.  speaking on the bbc s today programme on tuesday  lord browne said the profits were not solely down to the high oil price alone.   the profits are up more than the price of oil is up   he said. lord browne pointed out that bp was reaping the benefits of its investment in oil exploration.  we have spent many years buying (assets) when the price is low   he said. the company has made new discoveries in egypt  the gulf of mexico and angola.  however  lord browne rejected calls for a windfall tax on his company s huge profits  saying that in the north sea it paid progressively more tax  the more profits it made. lord browne believes oil prices will remain quite high. currently above $40 a barrel  he said:  the price of oil will be well supported above $30 a barrel for the medium term.  bp put production for the year at 3.997 billion barrels of oil  up 10% on 2003  but slightly lower than the four billion barrels it had initially aimed for.


the gaming world in 2005 if you have finished doom 3  half life 2 and halo 2  don t worry. there s a host of gaming gems set for release in 2005.   world of warcraft   the us reception to this game from developers blizzard has been hugely enthusiastic  with the title topping its competitors in the area of life-eating  high-fantasy  massively multiplayer role-player gaming. solid  diverse  accessible and visually striking  it may well open up the genre like never before. if nothing else  it will develop a vast and loyal community. released 25 february on pc. ico 2 (working title) ico remains a benchmark for ps2 gaming  a title that took players into a uniquely atmospheric and artistic world of adventure. the (spiritual) sequel has visuals that echo those of the original  but promises to expand the ico world  with hero wanda taking on a series of giants. the other known working title is wanda and colossus. release date to be confirmed on ps2. the legend of zelda   the charismatic cel imagery has been scrapped in favour of a dark  detailed aesthetic (realism isn t quite the right word) that connects more with ocarina of time. link resumes his more teenage incarnation too  though enemies  elements and moves look familiar from the impressive trailer that has been released. horseback adventuring across a vast land is promised. release date to be confirmed on gamecube. advance wars ds the uk nintendo ds launch line-up is still to be confirmed at time of writing  but titles that exploit its two-screen and touch capacity  like warioware touched! and sega s feel the magic  are making a strong impression in other territories. personally  i can t wait for the latest advance wars  the franchise that has been the icing on the cake of nintendo handheld gaming during the past few years. release date to be confirmed on ds. s.t.a.l.k.e.r.   following in the high-spec footsteps of far cry and half-life 2  this looks like the key upcoming pc first-person shooter (with role-playing elements). the fact that it is inspired in part by andrei tarkovsky s enigmatic 1979 masterpiece stalker and set in 2012 in the disaster zone  a world of decay and mutation  makes it all the more intriguing. released 1 march on pc. metal gear solid: snake eater   more hideo kojima serious stealth  featuring action in the soviet-controlled jungle in 1964. the game see snake having to survive on his wits in the jungle  including eating wildlife. once again  expect cinematic cut scenes and polished production values. released march on ps2. dead or alive ultimate tecmo s team ninja are back with retooled and revamped versions of dead or alive 1 and 2. here s the big  big deal though - they re playable over xbox live. released 11 march on xbox. knights of the old republic ii looks set to build on the acclaimed original star wars role playing game with new characters  new force powers and a new set of moral decisions  despite a different developer. released 11 february on xbox and pc.


microsoft sets sights on spyware windows users could soon be paying microsoft to keep pcs free of spyware.  following the takeover of anti-spyware firm giant  microsoft said it would soon release a toolkit that strips machines of the irritating programs. although initially free  microsoft has not ruled out charging people who want to keep this toolkit up to date. surveys show that almost every windows pc is infested with spyware programs that do everything from bombard users with adverts to steal login data. microsoft said that a beta version of the toolkit to clean up windows machines should be available within 30 days.  designed for pcs running windows 2000 and xp  the utility will clean out spyware programs  constantly monitor what happens on a pc and will be regularly updated to catch the latest variants. before now many of microsoft s other security boosting programs  such as the firewall in windows xp  have been given away free. but mike nash  vice president in microsoft s security business unit  said it was still working out pricing and licensing issues. charging for future versions has not been discounted  he said.  we ll come up with a plan and roll that out   he said. the plan could turn out to be a lucrative one for microsoft. a recent survey by earthlink and webroot found that 90% of pcs are infested with the surreptitious software and that  on average  each one is harbouring 28 separate spyware programs. currently users wanting protection from spyware have turned to free programs such as spybot and ad-aware. spyware comes in many forms and at its most benign exploits lazy browsing habits to install itself and subject users to unwanted adverts. other forms hijack net browser settings to force people to view pages they would otherwise never visit. at its most malign  spyware watches everything that people do with their pc and steals login information and other personal data. microsoft s announcement about spyware comes after it bought small new york software firm giant company software. terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.


movie body hits peer-to-peer nets the movie industry has struck out at file-sharing networks with another round of lawsuits in the us.  the motion picture association of america (mpaa) also said it had succeeded in getting a network called lokitorrent closed down. it is the latest network which uses the peer-to-peer system called bittorrent to be hit by the mpaa. the mpaa began its legal campaign against operators of similar networks across four continents in december. a dallas court agreed that hollywood lawyers would be allowed access to lokitorrent s server records which could let them single out those who were sharing files illegally. in october 2004  the site had provided links to more than 30 000 files. the action came after the operators of lokitorrent agreed a settlement with the mpaa. a stark message has appeared on the site from the mpaa warning  you can click  but you can t hide . in bittorrent systems  server sites do not host the files being shared. they host links  called  trackers  that direct people to others that have it instead.  as well as filing an unspecified number of file suits across the us  the mpaa said it had given operators that host edonkey servers  take down  notices. hollywood studios are aggressively clamping down on file-sharers who it says infringe copyright laws by copying films and tv programmes then share the files online. but it is now targeting the operators of bittorrent networks themselves. it has filed 100 lawsuits against operators of bittorrent server sites since december. the strategy of hitting those who run the servers which link to copyrighted material is intended to stunt file-sharers  ability to swap content using bittorrent systems. the film industry says the black market for illegally copied videos and dvds already costs them billions every year and it is worried that illegal file-sharing is adding to their losses. in december  the legal action claimed its most high-profile victim. the popular suprnova.org website was forced to close  and others like phoenix torrent followed soon after.


fast moving phone viruses appear security firms are warning about several mobile phone viruses that can spread much faster than similar bugs.  the new strains of the cabir mobile phone virus use short-range radio technology to leap to any vulnerable phone as soon as it is in range. the cabir virus only affects high-end handsets running the symbian series 60 phone operating system. despite the warnings  there are so far no reports of any phones being infected by the new variants of cabir.  the original cabir worm came to light in mid-june 2004 when it was sent to anti-virus firms as a proof-of-concept program. a mistake in the way the original cabir was written meant that even if it escaped from the laboratory  the bug would only have been able to infect one phone at a time.  however  the new cabir strains have this mistake corrected and will spread via short range bluetooth technology to any vulnerable phone in range. bluetooth has an effective range of a few tens of metres. the risk of being infected by cabir is low because users must give the malicious program permission to download on to their handset and then must manually install it. users can protect themselves by altering a setting on symbian phones that conceals the handset from other bluetooth using devices. finnish security firm f-secure issued a warning about the new strains of cabir but said that the viruses do not do any damage to a phone. all they do is block normal bluetooth activity and drain the phone s battery. anti-virus firm sophos said the source code for cabir had been posted on the net by a brazilian programmer which might lead to even more variants of the program being created. so far seven versions of cabir are know to exist  one of which was inside the malicious skulls program that was found in late november. symbian s series 60 software is licenced by nokia  lg electronics  lenovo  panasonic  samsung  sendo and siemens.


robinson wants dual code success england rugby union captain jason robinson has targeted dual code success over australia on saturday.  robinson  a former rugby league international before switching codes in 2000  leads england against australia at twickenham at 1430 gmt. and at 1815 gmt  great britain s rugby league team take on australia in the final of the tri-nations tournament.  beating the aussies in both games would be a massive achievement  especially for league   said robinson. england have the chance to seal their third autumn international victory after successive wins over canada and south africa  as well as gaining revenge for june s 51-15 hammering by the wallabies. meanwhile  great britain could end 34 years of failure against australia with victory at elland road. britain have won individual test matches  but have failed to secure any silverware or win the ashes (with a series victory) since 1970.   they have a great opportunity to land a trophy and it would be a massive boost for rugby league in this country if we won   said robinson.  i know the boys can do it - they ve defeated the aussies once already in the tri-nations.  but robinson was not losing sight of the task facing his england side in their final autumn international.  for us  we ve played two and won two this november   he said.  if we beat australia it would be the end to a great autumn series for england. if we stumble then we ll be looking back with a few regrets. robinson also revealed that the union side had sent the great britain team a good luck message ahead of the showdown in leeds.  we signed a card for them today and will write them an email on saturday wishing them all the best   said robinson.  everyone has signed the card - a lot of the guys watch league and we support them fully.  both games will be very tough and hopefully we ll both do well.


egypt and israel seal trade deal in a sign of a thaw in relations between egypt and israel  the two countries have signed a trade protocol with the us  allowing egyptian goods made in partnership with israeli firms free access to american markets.  the protocol  signed in cairo  will establish what are called  qualified industrial zones  in egypt. products from these zones will enjoy duty free access to the us  provided that 35% of their components are the product of israeli-egyptian cooperation. the us describes this as the most important economic agreement between egypt and israel in two decades.  the protocol establishing the zones has been stalled for years. there has been deep sensitivity in egypt about any form of co-operation with israel as long as its peace process with the palestinians remains blocked. but in recent weeks an unusual warmth has crept into relations between the two countries. both exchanged prisoners earlier this month  with egypt handing back an israeli who has served eight years in prison after being convicted for spying.  egyptian president hosni mubarak has described israeli prime minister ariel sharon as the best chance for the palestinians to achieve peace. the government in cairo now believes mr sharon is moving towards the centre and away from the positions of right wing groups. it also believes the us  pressed by europe  is now more willing to engage seriously in the search for a settlement. but there are also pressing economic reasons for egypt s decision to enter into the trade agreement. it will give a huge boost to egyptian textile exports  which are about to suffer a drop after new regulations come into force in the us at the beginning of the year.


desailly backs blues revenge trip marcel desailly insists there is no chance of history repeating itself when chelsea take on barcelona on wednesday.  the french star was part of the chelsea side crushed 5-1 at the nou camp in the champions league quarter-final second leg in 2000.  things will be totally different this time   he told bbc sport.  now everyone knows about chelsea and is a little bit afraid of them. they are one of the major clubs in europe and the pressure will be on barcelona.  chelsea have not played barcelona since that quarter-final tie five years ago. the blues had looked destined to progress after winning the first leg at stamford bridge 3-1  courtesy of two goals from tore andre flo and one by gianfranco zola. but they collapsed in the second leg  going down to strikes from rivaldo (2)  luis figo  dani and patrick kluivert.  former chelsea captain desailly  who is now playing for al-gharafa in qatar  says there is no comparison between that side and the current blues team  who are top of the premiership.  mentally they are much stronger  even though a lot of their players are young   the 36-year-old said.  we made some mistakes at the nou camp in 2000 - a lot of them were individual mistakes.  it would not happen now. this team has a new motivation and a different mentality.  world cup winner desailly saw huge changes during his time at stamford bridge. he was signed for £4.6m from ac milan in 1998 by ruud gullit and went on to play under gianluca vialli and claudio ranieri. but the biggest change occurred when billionaire roman abramovich bought the club in 2003. desailly says the russian s arrival helped to instil a winning mentality at the club as well as a demand for success.  the whole of chelsea is different now - the chairman  the manager and all the players   he said.   everything is new and there is a huge determination to win.  since that game in 2000  chelsea have gained more experience in europe and were very close to reaching the champions league final last season.  desailly is one of the most decorated players in the history of football. he won the 1998 world cup and 2000 european championship with france  the champions league in 1993 with marseilles and 1994 with ac milan  two serie a titles and the fa cup in 2000 with chelsea.  he is now winding down his career in qatar  alongside the likes of frank lebeouf  josep guardiola  titi camara  gabriel batistuta and christophe dugarry. so he is full of admiration for two of his colleagues from the great milan side of the mid-90s who are likely to line up against manchester united on wednesday - paolo maldini and alessandro costacurta.  i m happy that they have managed to play so long at a high level   he said.  i made a vow to costacurta that as long as he plays  i will continue to play.  and it s amazing that paolo has managed to play at such a high level for such a long time.


e-university  disgraceful waste  a failed government scheme to offer uk university courses online has been branded a  disgraceful waste  by mps.  the e-university was scrapped last year  having attracted only 900 students at a cost of £50m. chief executive john beaumont was paid a bonus of £44 914  despite a failure to bring in private sector backers. the commons education select committee called this  morally indefensible  but the government said the e-university project had  improved understanding .  a department for education and skills spokeswoman said the venture had been  ambitious and ground-breaking  but take-up had not been  sufficient to continue with the project . she added:  uk e-universities was not the only organisation to have lost out on private sector investment in the collapse of the dotcom boom.  the select committee found that those responsible for founding the e-university in 2000 had been caught up in the  general atmosphere of enthusiasm  surrounding the internet. initial business plans forecast a quarter of a million students joining within a decade  bringing in at least £110m in profit.  but virtually no market research was carried out and just £4.2m was spent on worldwide sales and marketing of courses. some £14m went on developing the technology to make the e-university work. this was used by just 200 students  the rest preferring to work through existing university websites. with no significant private investors and no direct accountability to a government minister  the e-university had had  too much freedom to spend public money as it wished   the report found. committee chairman barry sheerman said:  uk e-university was a terrible waste of public money.  the senior executives failed to interest any private investors and showed an extraordinary over-confidence in their ability to attract students to the scheme.  the report warns that the government should not be scared off investment in innovative but potentially risky schemes by the failure of the e-university  but  should learn the lessons from this disaster .


japan narrowly escapes recession japan s economy teetered on the brink of a technical recession in the three months to september  figures show.  revised figures indicated growth of just 0.1% - and a similar-sized contraction in the previous quarter. on an annual basis  the data suggests annual growth of just 0.2%  suggesting a much more hesitant recovery than had previously been thought. a common technical definition of a recession is two successive quarters of negative growth.  the government was keen to play down the worrying implications of the data.  i maintain the view that japan s economy remains in a minor adjustment phase in an upward climb  and we will monitor developments carefully   said economy minister heizo takenaka. but in the face of the strengthening yen making exports less competitive and indications of weakening economic conditions ahead  observers were less sanguine.  it s painting a picture of a recovery... much patchier than previously thought   said paul sheard  economist at lehman brothers in tokyo. improvements in the job market apparently have yet to feed through to domestic demand  with private consumption up just 0.2% in the third quarter.


scotland 18-10 italy six chris paterson penalties gave scotland victory in a dour but clinical encounter against italy at murrayfield.  coach matt williams  side were outmuscled and outplayed in a tense first half but led 6-3 at the break. paterson slotted four more second-half penalties and scotland were denied a try when wing sean lamont s touchdown was ruled out for a forward pass. a late andrea masi try was small consolation for italy  chasing their first away win in the six nations. scotland came out on top of the early exchanges and took a quick 3-0 lead through the boot of full-back paterson. but the more powerful azzurri pack eventually rumbled into life.  a series of drives into scottish territory set up a penalty attempt  missed by full-back roland de marigny  and a wayward drop-goal effort from luciano orquera. scotland defended the initial thrusts but on 20 minutes italy  after coming up yards short of the line  equalised through a de marigny penalty. italy were offered another penalty when scottish flanker simon taylor was offside but the left-footed de marigny pushed his kick wide. scotland finally made the most of a rare foray into the italian half and snatched three points from paterson when an italian forward handled the ball in a ruck.  as the half wore on  both sides squandered promising spells of momentum with sloppy penalties  and the period fizzled out with scotland numerically  if not psychologically  on top. italy s de marigny narrowly missed a chance to level the scores again shortly after the break but his long-range kick shaved the right upright. and scotland capitalised with a third paterson penalty on 50 minutes. williams  side seemed to have found a spark from somewhere and  after a couple of probing attacks  paterson was able to slot another three points to widen the gap.  with the pendulum of possession swinging towards scotland  lamont thought he had wriggled over in the left corner after 65 minutes but play was recalled for a marginal forward pass from paterson. another paterson penalty on 70 minutes kept the pressure on the wilting visitors. but john kirwan s men had the last laugh when gordon ross  attempted clearance was charged down and masi pounced for the try  converted by de marigny.  : c paterson; s webster  a craig  h southwell  s lamont; d parks  c cusiter; t smith  g bulloch (capt)  g kerr; s grimes  s murray; s taylor  j petrie  a hogg.  r russell  b douglas  n hines  j dunbar  m blair  g ross  b hinshelwood.  r de marigny; mirco bergamasco  c stoica  a masi  l nitoglia; l orquera  a troncon; a lo cicero  f ongaro  m castrogiovanni; s dellape  m bortolami (capt); a persico  d dal maso  s parisse.  g intoppa  s perugini  ca del fava  s orlando  p griffen  r pedrazzi  kp robertson.


dent continues adelaide progress american taylor dent reached the final of the australian hardcourt event in adelaide with a crushing 6-1 6-1 win over argentine juan ignacio chela.  dent will meet swede joachim johansson on sunday after the second seed survived a tense tie-break to defeat belgium s olivier rochus 6-1 7-6 (7/5). johansson  the boyfriend of lleyton hewitt s sister jaslyn  received strong crowd support on saturday.  it feels like home for me  because jaslyn lives here   said johansson. rochus was leading 5-4 in the second set tiebreak but his concentration was ruffled by a disputed line call and the match slipped away.  it was so close - one mistake like this and the match is over  it s tough. for me  it was clearly out   rochus said.


chinese dam firm  defies beijing  the china three gorges project corp is refusing to obey a government order to stop construction of one of its giant dams  the chinese state press has said.  the builder of the three gorges dam is continuing work on the sister xiluodu dam  said the beijing news. the xiluodu dam is one of 30 such large-scale construction projects called to a halt because of a lack of proper environmental checks. the beijing news said the company may instead choose to pay a fine. the firm has also ignored orders to stop construction at two of its other projects - the three gorges underground power plant and the three gorges project electrical power supply plant.  so far  only 22 of the 30 construction projects targeted by china s state environmental protection agency (sepa) for having not carried out mandatory environmental impact assessments have complied with its shutdown order. the china three gorges project corp could now face a fine up to 200 000 yuan ($24 000; £12 700). last week  it denied that its projects violated regulations.  the three gorges corporation has all along abided by the law and have built our projects in accordance with the law   it said.  the sepa order comes as the chinese government appears to be trying to cool the country s booming economy. previously it has encouraged construction of new electricity generating capacity to solve chronic energy shortages  which forced many factories into part-time working last year. in 2004  china increased its generating capacity by 12.6% to 440 700 megawatts (mw). the xiluodu dam is designed to produce 12 600 mw of electricity  and is being built on the jinshajiang - or  river of golden sand  as the upper reaches of the yangtze are known. it is a sister project to the main three gorges dam downstream where more than half a million people have had to be relocated  drawing criticism from environmental groups and overseas human rights activists.


christmas shoppers flock to tills shops all over the uk reported strong sales on the last saturday before christmas with some claiming record-breaking numbers of festive shoppers.  a spokesman for manchester s trafford centre said it was  the biggest christmas to date  with sales up 5%. and the regent street association said shops in central london were also expecting the  best christmas ever . that picture comes despite reports of disappointing festive sales in the last couple of weeks.  the trafford centre spokeswoman said about 8 500 thousand vehicles had arrived at the centre on saturday before 1130 gmt.  we predict that the next week will continue the same trend   she added.  it was a similar story at bluewater in kent. spokesman alan jones said he expected 150 000 shoppers to have visited by the end of saturday and a further 100 000 on sunday.  our sales so far have been 2% up on the same time last year   he said.  we re very busy  it s really strong and people will be shopping right up until christmas.  over the christmas period we re expecting people to spend in excess of £200m at the centre.   on saturday afternoon  a spokeswoman for the st david s shopping centre in cardiff said it looked like being its busiest day of the year with about 200 000 shoppers expected to have visited by the close of play. at the st enoch s shopping centre in glasgow  more than 140 000 shoppers - an all-time record - were expected to have passed through the doors by its closing time of 1900 gmt. senior business manager jon walton said:  it has been phenomenal - absolutely mobbed.  every week footfall has been showing strong growth and at the weekends it has been going mad.  regent street association director annie walker said on saturday:  the stores were heaving today and a lot of people are going to be doing last minute shopping as many people finished work on friday and can go in the week.   she said reports of a slump in pre-christmas sales were related to the growing popularity of internet sales.  i do think this has had a lot to do with reports of lower sales figures   she said.  internet shopping has gone up enormously and not all stores have websites.


microsoft gets the blogging bug software giant microsoft is taking the plunge into the world of blogging.  it is launching a test service to allow people to publish blogs  or online journals  called msn spaces. microsoft is trailing behind competitors like google and aol  which already offer services which make it easy for people to set up web journals. blogs  short for web logs  have become a popular way for people to talk about their lives and express opinions online.  msn spaces is free to anyone with a hotmail or msn messenger account. people will be able to choose a layout for the page  upload images and share photo albums and music playlists. the service will be supported by banner ads.  this is a simple tool for people to express themselves   said msn s blake irving. this is microsoft s first foray into blogging  which has taken off as a web phenomenon in the past year. competitors like google already offer free services through its blogger site  while aol provides its members with journals. accurate figures for the number of blogs in existence are hard to come by. according to blog analysis firm technorati  the so-called blogosphere  has doubled every five and a half months for the last 18 months. it now estimates that the number of blogs in existence has exceeded 4.8 million  although some speculate that less than a quarter are regularly maintained.


hantuchova in dubai last eight daniela hantuchova moved into the quarter-finals of the dubai open  after beating elene likhotseva of russia 7-5 6-4  and now faces serena williams.  australian open champion williams survived an early scare to beat russia s elena bovina 1-6 6-1 6-4. world number one lindsay davenport and anastasia myskina also progressed. davenport defeated china s jie zheng 6-2 7-5  while french open champion myskina sailed through after her opponent marion bartoli retired hurt. american davenport will now face fellow former wimbledon champion  conchita martinez of spain  who ousted seventh-seeded nathalie dechy of france 6-1 6-2. myskina will face eighth-seed patty schnyder from switzerland  who defeated china s li na 6-3 7-6 (10-8). the other quarter final pits wild card sania mirza of india against jelena jankovic of serbia and montenegro  who both won on tuesday.  before her meeting with martinez  davenport believes there is some room for improvement in her game.  i started well and finished well  but played some so-so games in the middle   she said. williams was also far from content.  i don t know what i was doing there   she said.  it was really windy and i hadn t played in the wind. all my shots were going out of here.  but hantuchova is in upbeat mood ahead of her clash with the younger williams sister  who was handed a first-round bye.  i feel i have an advantage (over serena) because i have already played two matches on these courts   she said.  it is a difficult court to play on. very fast and sometimes you feel you have no control over the ball.


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


progress on new internet domains by early 2005 the net could have two new domain names.  the .post and .travel net domains have been given preliminary approval by the net s administrative body. the names are just two of a total of 10 proposed domains that are being considered by the internet corporation for assigned names and numbers  icann. the other proposed names include a domain for pornography  asia  mobile phones  an anti-spam domain and one for the catalan language and culture.  the .post domain is backed by the universal postal union that wants to use it as the online marker for every type of postal service and to help co-ordinate the e-commerce efforts of national post offices.  the .travel domain would be used by hotels  travel firms  airlines  tourism offices and would help such organisations distinguish themselves online. it is backed by a new york-based trade group called the travel partnership. icann said its early decision on the two domains was in response to the detailed technical and commercial information the organisations behind the names had submitted. despite this initial approval  icann cautioned that there was no guarantee that the domains would actually go into service. at the same time icann is considering proposals for another eight domains. one that may not win approval is a proposal to set up a .xxx domain for pornographic websites. a similar proposal has been made many times in the past. but icann has been reluctant to approve it because of the difficulty of making pornographers sign up and use it. in 2000 icann approved seven other new domains that have had varying degrees of success. three of the new so-called top level domains were for specific industries or organisations such as .museum and .aero. others such as .info and .biz were intended to be more generic. in total there are in excess of 200 domain names and the majority of these are for nations. but domains that end in the .com suffix are by far the most numerous.


smartphones suffer skulls attack owners of some nokia smartphones are being warned to watch out for malicious wallpaper.  those downloading the software could find all the icons on their 7610 phone swapped for images of skulls. when installed the malicious program also locks many of the 7610 s functions making it hard to use and harder to repair. the program is only the latest in a series of viruses produced to attack mobile phones.  the file  nicknamed skulls  is thought to have surfaced on shareware sites where people can pick up free add-ons  such as wallpaper  games and ringtones  for their phones symbian said that it was not sure if the damage skulls does was intentional or simply a result of bad programming. soon after being discovered the file is thought to have been removed from the sites that were unwittingly harbouring it. the program is masquerading as software that creates new background images and themes for the main screen of the 7610 phone. the skulls program is labelled as a file called: 7610.extended.theme.manager.zip.  once installed the program replaces all the icons on the main page with skulls and replaces all the working applications  such as contacts  calendar  notebook etc with non-working versions so the phone becomes almost useless. the only thing the phone can do is make and take calls. a statement by symbian played down the significance of the malicious program and said few people would fall victim to it as users have to go through several steps to install it  one of which includes ignoring a security warning. symbian said that the spread of the skulls program was likely to be limited as the program cannot travel from one phone to another by itself. despite this finnish anti-virus lab f-secure said it had sporadic reports of 7610 owners being caught out by it. the firm has produced guidance for users caught out to help them remove the program and get their phone working again. the skulls program is thought to have been written by a malicious hacker using the alias tee-222. symbian phones produced by sony ericsson  motorola  benq  arima and fujitsu are unaffected by the skulls program.


winter freeze keeps oil above $50 oil prices carried on rising on wednesday after cold weather on both sides of the north atlantic pushed us crude prices to four-month highs.  freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls took crude oil prices past $50 a barrel on tuesday for the first time since november. declines in the dollar have also contributed to the rising oil price. us crude was trading at $51.39 at 0710 gmt in asian electronic trade on wednesday. a barrel of us crude oil closed up $2.80 at $51.15 in new york on tuesday. opec members said on tuesday that  given such high prices  the cartel saw no reason to cut its output.  although below last year s peak of $55.67 a barrel  which was reached in october  prices are now well above 2004 s average of $41.48. brent crude also rose in london trading  adding $1.89 to $48.62 at the close.  much of western europe and the north east of america has been shivering under unseasonably low temperatures in recent days. the decline in the us dollar to a five-week low against the euro has also served to inflate prices.  the primary factor is the weak dollar   said victor shum  a singapore-based analyst with purvin and gertz. expectations that a rebound in the dollar would halt the oil price rise were not immediately borne out on wednesday morning  as oil prices carried on upwards as the dollar strengthened against the euro  the pound and the yen.  several opec members said on tuesday that a cut in production was unlikely  citing rising prices and strong demand for oil from asia.  i agree that we do not need to cut supply if the prices are as much as this   fathi bin shatwan  libya s oil minister  told reuters.  i do not think we need to cut unless the prices are falling below $35 a barrel   he added.


india and iran in gas export deal india has signed a $40bn (£21bn) deal to import millions of tonnes of liquefied natural gas from iran.  firms led by the oil & natural gas corporation (ongc) will also assist in the development of iranian oil fields. ministers  eager to gain access to energy supplies to meet the demands of a booming economy  secured a similar deal to one between iran and china. the announcement comes as ongc said it was in talks to buy former assets of troubled russian oil firm yukos. the agreements with iran were sealed after talks in new delhi between middle east producers and asia s biggest energy consumers - china  india  japan and south korea.  iran - opec s second-biggest oil producer and one of the world s top gas producers - has been pursuing a series of deals  rewarding lng buyers with participation in development of its oil fields. under the agreement  it will supply india with 7.5 million tonnes of lpg annually over a 25 year period from 2009. ongc and the national iranian oil company (nioc) reached a preliminary deal for indian firms to take part in the development of the yadavaran and jufeyr oilfields  both countries said in a statement. india s oil production has stagnated over recent years  and it is having to look abroad to secure future supplies. india imports about 70% of its total oil consumption. consumption has jumped to 2.4 million barrels per day  compared with 474 000 bpd in 1973.


prutton poised for lengthy fa ban southampton s david prutton faces a possible seven-match ban when he goes before the football association.  the 23-year-old has admitted two charges of improper conduct following his dismissal against arsenal. the first charge relates to his failure to leave the field promptly  pushing referee alan wiley and remonstrating with assistant referee paul norman. and the second charge is for using threatening words and/or behaviour to a match official during the 1-1 draw.  paolo di canio was given a seven-match suspension when he pushed referee paul alcock over in a premiership game between sheffield wednesday and arsenal in 1998. prutton will be joined at wednesday s hearing by saints boss harry redknapp  who believes that the fa will throw the book at his player. redknapp himself sprinted along the touchline to help physio jim joyce and coach denis rofe shepherd the enraged prutton away from referee s assistant norman.  david has made a big mistake and he knows it. i can t condone what he s done. he was out of order but he knows that   said redknapp.  he s a decent lad. he over-reacted badly for some reason - he had a rush of blood from somewhere. off the pitch you couldn t meet a nicer lad.  prutton has apologised publicly for his actions and to arsenal s robert pires  who was injured in a wild tackle by the saints  midfield man.  he said:  it s an horrendous situation. i apologise to the ref and linesman  who were only doing their job.  i ve also seen what happened to pires  leg and i m sorry for that as well.   i apologise for the people who saw it. i know you get lots of kids going to the match now and they don t pay money to see that sort of thing.  it s not a cop-out  but it was all a bit of a blur. sometimes you react and it s beyond your control    added prutton.


uk house prices dip in november uk house prices dipped slightly in november  the office of the deputy prime minister (odpm) has said.  the average house price fell marginally to £180 226  from £180 444 in october. recent evidence has suggested that the uk housing market is slowing after interest rate increases  and economists forecast a drop in prices during 2005. but while the monthly figures may hint at a cooling of the market  annual house price inflation is still strong  up 13.8% in the year to november. economists  however  forecast that odpm figures are likely to show a weakening in annual house price growth in coming months.  overall  the housing market activity is slowing down and that is backed up by the mortgage lending and the mortgage approvals data   said mark miller  at hbos treasury services.  the odpm data is a fairly lagging indicator.   the figures come after the bank of england said the number of mortgages approved in the uk has fallen to the lowest level for nearly a decade. the halifax  meanwhile  said last week that house prices increased by 1.1% in december - the first monthly rise since september.  the uk s biggest mortgage lender said prices rose 15.1% over the whole of 2004  but by only 2.8% in the second half of the year. it is predicting a 2% fall in overall prices in 2005 as the market stabilises after large gains in recent years. the odpm attributed the monthly fall of prices in november to a drop in the value of detached houses and flats. it said annual inflation rose between october and november because prices had fallen by 1.1% in the same period in 2003.  the odpm data showed the average house price was £192 713 in england; £139 544 in wales; £116 542 in scotland  and £111 314 in northern ireland.  all areas saw a rise in annual house price inflation in november except for northern ireland and the west midlands  where the rate was unchanged  the odpm said. the north east showed the highest rate of inflation at 26.2%  followed by yorkshire and the humber on 21.7%  and the north west on 21.1%. the east midlands  the west midlands and the south west all had an annual inflation rate of more than 15%. in london  the area with the highest average house price at £262 825  annual inflation rose only slightly in november to 7.1% from 7% the previous month.


ireland win eclipses refereeing  errors  the international rugby board may have to step in to stop frustrated coaches and players from publicly haranguing referees when things go belly-up.  it may have to go the whole way and have nfl-style video cameras all over the field  or slap the vociferous perpetrators over the knuckles. what the irb does not want is a football scenario where the verbal slanging matches often overshadow the game itself. sunday s explosive six nations clash at lansdowne road was a good example as ireland took another step towards their first grand slam since 1948. the game was as exciting as it comes  with a much-improved england side enraged at a few decisions that did not go their way. one can understand that frustration. there was no doubt that ireland had the rub of the green in their 19-13 victory  but the reaction from the england camp may not have endeared them to the sport s  blazers . referee jonathan kaplan was not perfect by any means and two decisions in particular made him the villain of the piece. i doubt whether kaplan would have been too pleased at the comments made. after all  he has no public recourse to criticism.  it was the same for simon mcdowell  the touch judge who was heavily criticised by scotland coach matt williams after their defeat against france. as far as england were concerned  there were queries over mark cueto s first half-effort when he went over in the corner from a charlie hodgson kick.  england coach andy robinson referred to a similar case at ravenhill in january when ulster were playing gloucester in the heineken cup. on that occasion  david humphreys kicked to tommy bowe  who touched down in the corner only for the try to be wiped out. but you cannot have cameras at every conceivable angle to pick up such anomalies. perhaps robinson was right to say the referee should have gone upstairs when josh lewsey was driven over the irish line near the end.  lewsey claims he touched it down and was in full control. however  one has to credit ireland flanker johnny o connor for cleverly scooping the ball away and blocking any evidence of a touchdown. but in rugby  everything tends to even out over the 80 minutes. the referee also missed england s danny grewcock taking out ronan o gara off the ball to allow martin corry a sunday stroll to the line. those were the stand-out moments in a classic game between the two old foes.  but there were many more  and one should not take away from those. brian o driscoll s winning try was as well-conceived as they come  while charlie hodgson s brilliant kicking display was another highlight. and ronan o gara s tremendous ability to control the game was also a crucial component. but the defining moments came with ireland under the cosh in the final 15 minutes. two outstanding pieces of defensive play denied england and allowed ireland to hold on. the first was denis hickie s brilliant double tackle in the right-hand corner. he gobbled up cueto from another hodgson cross-field kick  then regained his feet to stop lewsey from scoring a certain try. ireland s second-row colossus paul o connell was equally superb. england had turned ireland one way then the other  and the defence cordon was slowly disintegrating. england prop matt stevens ran in at full steam to suck in a few more tacklers. unfortunately he ran into o connell who hit him hard - very hard - and then wrestled the ball away for a crucial turnover. that spoke volumes about ireland s back-foot display  with defensive coach mike ford taking a bow at the end. to win a game like that showed that ireland have moved forward. it may be tries that win games  but it is defence that wins championships.


hollywood ready for oscars night hollywood is preparing for the biggest night in the film world s calendar  the 77th academy awards  on sunday.  a host of stars are expected to grace the red carpet outside los angeles  kodak theatre  including johnny depp  cate blanchett and leonardo dicaprio. british actors in attendance include nominees clive owen  imelda staunton  kate winslet and director mike leigh. the aviator leads the shortlist  but critics believe the night may belong to clint eastwood s million dollar baby. a recent poll of us pundits found eastwood s boxing drama had become the new favourite to win best film over the howard hughes biopic.  if the 74-year-old does win  he will become the oldest person ever to be named best director at the ceremony. uk critics still favour the aviator for best film  but believe the best director title will generate a close fought battle between eastwood and martin scorsese.  scorsese has never won the best director prize  despite four previous nominations for films including raging bull  goodfellas and gangs of new york. eastwood has won best director once before  for unforgiven in 1993. most experts predict the twice-nominated jamie foxx will win best actor for his portrayal of singer ray charles  while vera drake star imelda staunton looks likely to lose out in the best actress field to hilary swank in million dollar baby. the uk s highest hopes remain with clive owen  who has scooped both the golden globe and the bafta for his supporting role in closer. actor and comedian chris rock will host the event  which will be broadcast with a seven-second time delay to allow censors to cut out any unsuitable content.   we have the bleep machine ready  but bleeps will be used as needed   producer gil cates told reporters. however  he added that he strongly disapproved of the growing tendency to censor live broadcasts on us tv.  he also played down fears that rock  who is known for using strong language in his stand-up routines  might cause controversy on the night. the 40-year-old comic has already promised not to swear live on air during the show.  chris has a sense of humour and everything he says is really said humorously   cates said.  you need a movie star and someone who is a stand-up comic so they can deal with the vicissitudes of the show.  security will also be tight  with police employing a system to detect sarin nerve gas.  we are pulling out all the stops   said john miller  chief of counterterrorism at the los angeles police department. the show is  a symbol of american culture and has the potential to be a high-visibility target   he added. meanwhile  organisers have erected a canopy over the red carpet following an outbreak of torrential rain in los angeles over the past week. cates said the covers would be removed if the threat of wet weather receded. details have also emerged of the contents of this year s gift bags  which are given to nominees and presenters on the night. this year s bags will include a gift certificate for a luxury beach resort  a pair of mink eyelashes and a kitchen set with a year s supply of tea and coffee. the event will be televised by the abc network from 1700 local time (0100 gmt)  and on sky movies in the uk from 0130 gmt.


us blogger fired by her airline a us airline attendant suspended over  inappropriate images  on her blog - web diary - says she has been fired.  ellen simonetti  known as queen of the sky  wrote an anonymous semi-fictional account of her life in the sky. she was suspended by delta in september. in a statement  she said she was initiating legal action against the airline for  wrongful termination . a delta spokesperson confirmed on wednesday that ms simonetti was no longer an employee. delta has repeatedly declined to elaborate on what it calls  internal employee matters . a spokesperson reiterated this position on wednesday  confirming only that ms simonetti was no longer with the company. the spokesperson also confirmed that there were  very clear rules  attached to the unauthorised use of delta branding  including uniforms. ms simonetti announced on her blog she had been fired on 1 november.  she said in an official statement:  as a result of my suspension and subsequent termination without cause by delta airlines i am moving forward with filing a discrimination complaint with the federal government eeoc [us equal employment opportunity commission].  she added she had also hired a texas-based law firm to initiate legal action for  wrongful termination  defamation of character and lost future wages.  ms simonetti told the bbc news website she had received no warning or further explanation when she was suspended on 25 september. queen of the sky has received a lot of support and advice from the global blogging community since news of her suspension was brought to light on the bbc news website and others.  her story has highlighted concerns amongst the growing blogging community about conflicts of interest  employment law and free speech on personal websites. the blog  which she started in january as a way of getting over her mother s death  contains a mix of fictional and non-fictional accounts. queen of the sky developed over the months as a character in her own right  according to ms simonetti. in the postings  she made up fictional names for cities and other companies she mentioned to protect anonymity. but some postings contained images of herself in uniform. of the 10 or so images only one showed ms simonetti s flight  wings . she removed them as soon as she was informed of her suspension.  i never meant it as something to harm my company and don t understand how they think it did harm them   ms simonetti said. a legal expert in the us speculated that delta might be concerned that the fictional content on the blog may be linked back to the airline after the images were posted.  delta has been hit recently by pressures of rising fuel costs and fierce competition. it has said it needs to cut between 6 000 and 7 000 jobs and reduce costs by $5bn (£2.7bn) a year. analysts had warned recently that the airline might have to seek chapter 11 bankruptcy prevention. last week  it struck a $1bn cost-cutting deal with its pilots which could save it from bankruptcy. the deal would see pilots accept a 32% pay cut in return for the right to buy 30 million delta shares  unions said. and on monday  it negotiated a deal to defer about $135m in debt which was due next year  until 2007. the airline also said it had agreed the terms of a $600m loan from american express.


us hacker breaks into t-mobile a man is facing charges of hacking into computers at the us arm of mobile phone firm t-mobile.  the californian man  nicholas lee jacobsen  was arrested in october. mr jacobsen tried at least twice to hack t-mobile s network and took names and social security numbers of 400 customers  said a company spokesman. the arrest came a year after t-mobile uncovered the unauthorised access. the us secret service has been investigating the case.  t-mobile has stringent procedures in place where we monitor for suspicious activity so that limited his activities and we were able to take corrective action immediately   peter dobrow  a t-mobile spokesperson said. it is thought that mr jacobsen s hacking campaign took place over at least seven months during which time he read e-mails and personal computer files  according to court records.  although mr jacobsen  21  managed to get hold of some data  it is thought he failed to get customer credit card numbers which are stored on a separate computer system  said mr dobrow. t-mobile confirmed that the us secret service was also looking into whether the hacker accessed photos that t-mobile subscribers had taken with their camera phones. the associated press agency reported that mr jacobsen also read personal files on the secret service agent who was apparently investigating the case. a los angeles grand jury indicted mr jacobsen with intentionally accessing a computer system without authorisation and with the unauthorised impairment of a protected computer between march and october 2004. he is currently on bail. t-mobile is a subsidiary company of deutsche telekom and has about 16.3 million subscribers in the us.


athens memories soar above lows well  it s goodbye to another olympic year and as usual there were plenty of highs and lows in athens.  obviously  there s no getting away from the differing fortunes of kelly holmes and paula radcliffe. but i want to remind you of a few more events that made 2004 another year to remember - or forget - for athletics.      one of my favourite olympic moments was kelly s success in the 800m.  winning that race was the key to her success because if she won that then the 1500m would be a bit of a formality. kelly had been full of  should i  shouldn t i   thoughts about going for the double in athens. i thought why wouldn t you do the 800m  it s your best event  it was such good fun to commentate on her 1500m and it was nice to be able to be part of her athens story.      the victory for the british men s 4x100m relay team was a bit of a surprise but a great climax to the games. i think the four of them - jason gardener  darren campbell  marlon devonish and mark lewis-francis - knew deep down that it was their best chance of a medal. the lads had run poorly in the individual sprints so maybe they did lift their game when they knew something was really at stake.      hicham el guerrouj s olympic double is a much bigger achievement than kelly s on a global scale.  he was the first man since for 80 years to win both the 1500m and 5 000m titles. as soon as he had added the 5 000m crown and i had finished commentating  i jumped up  ran down the stairs  pushed everyone out the way and just gave him a big hug. he is one of the few african runners who has embraced the tradition of the mile and he loves to hear all the roger bannister stories. hicham is someone i enjoy having a bit of time with  even though my french and his english are not very good.      what happened to paula in athens this year is the obvious low on a personal level and for the expectations of the nation as well. there were a set of circumstances around athens that conspired to produce a very dramatic ending which i think has been greatly misunderstood. dropping out of the marathon was the right thing to do but starting in the 10 000m five days later was not wise. that was her heart and not her head reacting. paula had a lot of little things going wrong in her preparation and on the day.  things like niggling injuries  not being able to do all her running sessions and feeling the pressure of the race looming ahead of her. i think she came to the start line in athens physically and emotionally drained. and if even the smallest thing doesn t feel right when you are preparing to race a marathon  10 miles down the road it will hit you like a brick wall. the positive thing to take from paula s olympics it that she will have learned a lot from it and so will a lot of people - including me.      purely as a race  paula s victory in the new york marathon has to go down as one of the most thrilling. it was so nip-and-tuck between her and kenya s susan chepkemei and you don t usually get that kind of excitement in marathons. it was also a real delight for all athletics fans because  to use one of my favourite words  paula showed real  bouncebackability . and it was a bit of a rarity for me too because i genuinely did not have an inkling how the race was going to pan out.      kelly and the 4x100m boys  victories papered over the cracks in the general performance of the british team. we should be concerned that we re not producing enough people who are capable of reaching finals at senior level.  the only individual men s finalist on the track was michael east in the 1500m. i am beginning to look down and wonder where are the new breed  and that s where things begin to look even gloomier for british athletics as we did not win any medals at the world junior championships in italy. dani barnes came fourth in the 1500m and she was the highest finisher for team gb. the thing is if we don t have athletes getting into the finals at junior level then it really doesn t look good for the beijing olympics and beyond.      i tell you what i really enjoyed this year  benita johnson winning the world cross country championships back in march. in the absence of paula  we tend to think of the event as something of an african preserve. so to have an australian come up and deliver such a surprise was something special.      to be honest  i m getting bored with all the drug scandals  especially balco. i just wish the whole thing would come to a head so we can move on.  having said that  i m always pleased when drugs cheats are caught because it shows the sport is standing up to it and not turning a blind eye anymore. and one of the positive things to come out of balco is people are starting to blow the whistle. we need more people to come forward and help the authorities kick out the cheats. as regards the case against greek sprinters kostas kenteris and katerina thanou  well suspicions have been hanging over kenteris for a while. the bottom line is we cannot keep letting drugs damage the sport because if we do then it stops everyone enjoying it.


uk rebate  unjustified  - chirac french president jacques chirac has called the uk s £3bn rebate from the european union  unjustified .  speaking after a summit meeting he said unless it was put up for discussion the eu would never be able to reach agreement on its medium term finances. earlier foreign secretary jack straw said the uk was prepared to veto any bid to reduce the rebate secured by margaret thatcher in 1984. he said it remained justified because less eu farm money came to the uk.  mr chirac told reporters in brussels:  one can only have a reasonable budgetary balance if we put back on the table the british cheque. it can no longer be justified. it was from the past.  but a uk government official responded:  even with the rebate  the uk pays two and a half times more than france contributes to the eu budget. without it we would pay 14 times as much as france.  there can be no deal on future financing which does not protect the rebate.   the 25-member eu is gearing up for tough negotiations on its budget plans for the period 2007-2013  with the bloc s luxembourg presidency hoping to strike a deal at a june summit. earlier conservative graham brady said the rebate was a  crucial test  of how firmly ministers were prepared to stand up for britain. eu commission president jose manuel barroso has indicated he wants the rebate to come to an end. mr straw said that as well as the veto over the rebate the uk wanted to keep a tight rein on national contributions.  the uk  france  germany  austria  the netherlands and sweden want the eu budget to be capped at 1% of member states  combined national incomes - the european commission has urged an increase to 1.26%. mr straw has said the eu commission s proposal would mean a 35% hike in the budget. shadow europe minister mr brady said:  i believe it is essential that britain keeps the rebate and i think it s a crucial test of how firmly the british government is prepared to stand up for britain internationally in europe.   the uk is already one of the biggest net contributors to the eu .  the foreign secretary meanwhile said the  justice  of the rebate remained.  we have one of the lowest net receipts of any eu country because of the relatively small size of our agriculture sector and its efficiency.  that continues to be the case.   uk independence party leader roger knapman said the rebate was  set in stone  and there was no reason to negotiate about it.  it is extraordinary to do it at this time  just as we are becoming the biggest contributor to the eu. if we lose our rebate as well  the british taxpayer is going to be bled at such a rate that i think everyone will go off the european project.  eu leaders are holding talks in brussels on how to re-energise the sluggish european economy. uk prime minister tony blair is meeting his eu counterparts to finalise a package of measures aimed at stimulating growth and boosting employment ahead of a series of referendums on the european constitution. the plans could introduce a free market into everything from computer services to construction. critics - including germany and france - believe liberalisation could result in companies shifting staff to cheaper bases in eastern europe  undercutting large eu economies and undermining social protections. there are also concerns about the number of workers from eastern european countries who will head west  exacerbating the already high unemployment levels in germany.  mr straw insisted there was nothing to fear from the services directorate.  european countries overall have benefited hugely from the free market in goods   he said.  what we are now talking about is developing that market into an internal market in services.  britain s low unemployment meant there was less  neurosis  about people coming from eastern european countries.  in countries like germany and france  where frankly because of a tighter social market they have much higher levels of unemployment  there is increasing anxiety about other people coming in   he said.


police probe bnp mosque leaflet police are investigating a british national party leaflet posted to homes in south wales opposing plans for a new mosque.  anti-racism campaigners in swansea have handed copies to south wales police. swansea s muslim community is raising money to open a new mosque and community centre in the former st andrews united reform church. the building on george street has been derelict since the 1980s.  taha idris  director of the swansea bay race equality council  said his organisation contacted police after receiving complaints from the public.  i m quite shocked to see this sort of leaflet by the bnp in swansea   he said.   the bnp has tried in the past to get into swansea and this is another example of them trying again.  i am in no doubt that the bnp are not needed and not wanted here.  a south wales police spokeswoman confirmed that they were looking at the contents of the leaflet. according to the bnp s website  they have been posted to homes in the castle ward. the bnp website carries a photograph of party leader nick griffin - who lives near welshpool  mid wales - delivering the leaflet. the bnp has denied it is trying to stir up hatred of any race or religion  but argues that they should be able to debate this without fear of arrest. swansea unite against fascism (uaf) is meeting this week to plan a campaign. following the death earlier this year of kalan kawa karim  an iraqi kurd living in swansea  it organised an anti-racism march in the city that was supported by more than 1 000 people. it is planning its own mail shot campaign and may launch a petition in support of the plans for the mosque.  andy richards  of swansea uaf  said the leaflet was exactly what he had come to expect from the bnp.   the people of swansea will not put up with this.  swansea s muslim community bought the former church  just across the road from the existing mosque on st helen s road  in the late 1990s. mr idris said the community was now raising money to renovate the building.  it is a landmark building in swansea and would otherwise just crumble   he said.  it is the ideal opportunity for the building to be restored and used in the proper manner.  it will be a muslim community centre. it s a holistic place used for education  weddings  deaths and births.  he said space was limited in the current mosque and on some occasions muslims had to travel to llanelli for cultural events.


guantanamo man  suing government  a british terror suspect held in guantanamo bay for 33 months plans to sue the government  it is reported.  martin mubanga claimed in the observer that an mi6 officer played a key role in consigning him to the us camp in cuba  following his arrest in zambia. mr mubanga  32  from wembley  london  said he was brutally interrogated and daubed with urine at the camp. the home secretary said he would not be launching an investigation and that the media reports were not  well informed . mr mubanga  who has dual british and zambian nationality  was one of four britons who were released from the us camp in january.  he said he was sent there after being interrogated by a british man who said he was from mi6  shortly after his arrest in zambia in march 2002. mr mubanga said he had been in afghanistan and pakistan to study islam. but he said he was unable to return to the uk because he had lost his british passport  and was travelling on his zambian passport instead. mr mubanga said the  mi6 agent  told him the passport had been found in a cave in afghanistan along with documents listing jewish groups in new york and suggested he had been on an al-qaeda reconnaissance mission. mr mubanga said the man  and an american female defence official  tried to recruit him as an agent  but he refused and within three weeks was told he would be sent to guantanamo bay.  his lawyer louise christian said:   we are hoping to issue proceedings for the misfeasance of officials who colluded with the americans in effectively kidnapping him and taking him to guantanamo.  and menzies campbell  the liberal democrats  foreign affairs spokesman  said it was vital to establish whether ministers approved mr mubanga s transfer to guantanamo. but a foreign office spokesman said he could not comment on the activities of british intelligence or security agencies. and home secretary charles clarke told bbc one s breakfast with frost:  i m not organising a specific investigation into it.  mr mubanga is the first of the four detainees freed last month to give a media interview. he told the observer his worst moment was when he was told he would be released last march  only to be confined and told he would be there for many more years.  he claimed he was stripped of his clothes and mattress and forced to remain in an empty metal box  naked except for boxer shorts. and he said an interrogator used a mop to daub him with his own urine while he was chained hand and foot. mr mubanga  who insists he does not feel bitter  said:  i ve lost three years of my life  because i was a muslim. he added:  the authorities wanted to break me but they strengthened me. they ve made me what i am - even if i m not quite sure yet who that person is.  the us government denied the claims  saying it condemned and prohibited torture. in a statement  it said:  the department of defense has no doubt that mr mubanga was properly detained as an enemy combatant under the laws of war.  he was detained to prevent him from fighting against the us and our allies in the war on terror.  but fair trials abroad director stephen jakobi said there were similarities between mr mubanga s account and those of other guantanamo detainees. he said:  the pattern is the same. the real problem is the concentration camp conditions in guantanamo.  is [charles clarke] really pretending this is all made up   mr mubanga and the three other freed british detainees were released without charge by uk police on their return from cuba.


winemaker rejects foster s offer australian winemaker southcorp has rejected a takeover offer worth 3.1bn australian dollars ($2.3bn; £1.8bn) from brewing giant foster s group.  southcorp  whose brands include penfolds  rosemount and lindemans  dismissed the offer as inadequate. the two companies held four days of talks after foster s bought an 18.8% stake in southcorp on 13 january. a merger would create a global player with worldwide annual sales of 39m cases and revenues of a$2.6bn.  southcorp said foster s a$4.17-a-share takeover proposal offered a  excellent strategic fit  but undervalued the company.  southcorp s board has informed foster s that it is not prepared to recommend the offer as it does not adequately reflect the strategic value of the company   said southcorp chairman brian finn.  southcorp said foster s takeover offer was  opportunistic . however  it said that the offer may represent an  opening bid   opening up the possibility of foster s returning with an improved offer.  foster s said a combination of the two companies would create a global player with an  unrivalled  collection of premium wine brands. despite being best known for brewing foster s lager  foster s is already one of australia s largest wine producers  owning the beringer and wolf blass brands among others.  the combination of foster s and southcorp will transform the global wine industry and significantly enhance australia s competitive position on the global stage   said trevor o hoy  foster s chief executive officer. foster s spent a$584m on buying an 18.8% stake in southcorp from the oatley family  which founded the rosemount estates business and later merged it into southcorp. shares in both companies were suspended while the two held talks about a deal. southcorp s shares rose 12% to a$4.76 on news of the offer but foster s shares fell 3.7% to a$5.44.


ray dvd beats box office takings oscar-nominated film biopic ray has surpassed its us box office takings with a combined tally of $80m (£43m) from dvd and video sales and rentals.  ray s success on dvd outstripped its $74m (£40m) us box office total  earning more than $40m (£22m) on the first day of the dvd s release alone. ray has been nominated in six oscar categories including best film and best actor for jamie foxx. the film recounts the life of blues singer ray charles  who died in 2004. in its first week on home entertainment release the film was the number one selling dvd  with the limited edition version coming in at number 11. sony horror film the grudge  starring michelle gellar  was the us  second best-selling dvd  with jennifer lopez and richard gere s romantic comedy shall we dance  at number three. foxx s critically acclaimed performance as ray has already earned him a screen actors guild award for best actor  as well as a prestigious golden globe. ray director taylor hackford  responsible for the classic 1982 film an officer and a gentleman  has also received an oscar nomination in the best director category. the film s three other oscar nominations are for costume  film editing and sound mixing.


dawson set for new wasps contract european champions wasps are set to offer matt dawson a new deal.  the 31-year-old world cup winning scrum-half has impressed since joining the london side from northampton this summer on a one-year contract. wasps coach warren gatland told the daily mirror:  we have not yet offered matt a new contract but we will be doing so.  i m very happy with his contribution and i think he s good enough to play for another couple of years.  dawson played a vital part in england s world cup win last year but has fallen out of favour with new coach andy robinson after missing a training session in september. however he hopes the new deal will help him regain his england place.   rugby is still my priority and there s still a burning desire within me to play the best rugby i possibly can   he said.  i know within myself  if i was given the chance i could play for england again.  i know i m fit enough  i m strong enough  i m skilful enough.


goldsmith denies war advice claim the attorney general has denied his statement to parliament about the legality of the iraq war was drafted by downing street officials.  lord goldsmith said lord falconer and baroness morgan played no part in drafting the answer. he added the answer represented his view that the war was legal  but was not a summary of his advice to the pm. the government has resisted calls to publish the full advice  saying such papers are always kept confidential.  in a statement  lord goldsmith said:  i was fully involved throughout the drafting process and personally finalised  and of course approved  the answer.  he said the answer had been prepared in his office with the involvement of solicitor general harriet harman  two of his own officials  three foreign office officials  a qc  christopher greenwood and the then lord chancellor  lord irvine of lairg.   no other minister or official was involved in any way.  he suggested the claim that lord falconer and lady morgan had drafted the answer were the result of a mis-transcription of his evidence to the butler inquiry into pre-war intelligence.  as i have always made clear  i set out in the answer my own genuinely held  independent view that military action was lawful under the existing (un) security council resolutions   he said.  the answer did not purport to be a summary of my confidential legal advice to government.  former foreign secretary robin cook said lord goldsmith s admission that his parliamentary answer was not a summary of his legal opinion suggested parliament may have been misled.  the attorney general may never have presented his answer as a summary  but others certainly did   he said.  what is clear from his statement today is that he does not believe that it was a full  accurate summary of his formal opinion.   earlier  tony blair dismissed questions about the attorney general s advice  and said his parliamentary statement had been a  fair summary  of his opinion.  that s what he (lord goldsmith) said and that s what i say. he has dealt with this time and time and time again   mr blair told his monthly news conference in downing street. he refused to answer further questions on the issue.  on the question of whether such papers have always been kept confidential  tory mp michael mates  who is a member of the commons intelligence and security committee and was part of the butler inquiry  told the bbc:  that  as a general rule  is right  but it s not an absolute rule.  he said there had been other occasions when advice had been published  most recently regarding prince charles s marriage plans. the government could not pick and choose when to use the convention  he said. mr mates added:  this may be one of those special occasions... when it would be in the public interest to see the advice which the attorney general gave to the prime minister.   the claims about lord falconer and baroness morgan s involvement were made in a book published this week by philippe sands qc  a member of cherie blair s matrix chambers. he also says lord goldsmith warned tony blair on 7 march 2003 that the iraq war could be illegal without a second un resolution sanctioning military action.  a short statement about lord goldsmith s position presented in a written parliamentary answer on 17 march 2003 - just before a crucial commons vote on the military action - did not suggest this. former minister clare short  who resigned from the government over the iraq war  said the ministerial answer was the same statement that was earlier shown to the cabinet as it discussed military action. she said the full advice should have been attached  according to the ministerial code  and demanded a lords inquiry into the matter. the conservatives and liberal democrats say they still want the publication of the full legal advice given by the attorney general. lib dem foreign affairs spokesman sir menzies campbell said lord goldsmith s statement still did not clear up the outstanding issues.  if his original advice of 7 march accepted that military action might be illegal  how was it that he resolved any such doubts by the time the parliamentary answer was published on 17 march   he said.  only the fullest disclosure will now do.